Zhu Zhanji became busy again in the next few days.

Zhou Chen was promoted, and Zhu Zhanji's subordinates became short of people again.

Glass factories and textile factories require people to be responsible for them. Both are very important. The average person Zhu Zhanji is not familiar with them and is not at ease.

Letting Zhou Chen continue to stay here is somewhat overkill. After all, it is somewhat unreasonable for a dignified Zuo Shilang of the Ministry of Industry and a senior official of the third rank to stay in the same factory every day.

As for the Jin Yiwei side, the young army is also about to be formed, and Zhang Mao will be mobilized again by then.

After all, Zhu Zhanji had said this before, but Zhang Mao left and the Jin Yiwei was free again.

Moreover, the Jin Yiwei side is even more troublesome. Although my grandfather handed over the Jin Yiwei to him,

But the people arranged here must also know how to measure what should be done and what should not be done. It is all a matter of knowledge. Zhang Mao did a pretty good job, but it may not be the same if it is replaced by another person.

Looking at it this way, he found that he was quite embarrassed. He had too few confidants and talents.

Once the hole is filled, the hole will be vacated, and every one of them is very important.

In the Prince's Mansion, Zhu Zhanji looked at a concrete brick that was crushed again in front of him, with a slight smile on his face.

Regarding the cement, Liu Zhe did a good job and left him with samples the next day.

However, this thing is simple to make, but it is a bit troublesome to make cement that meets the qualified standards, and you need to make some constant adjustments.

There were no hydraulic presses or other measuring machines in this era.

The only way Zhu Zhanji can test the hardness of cement is to directly press it with heavy objects.

After Zhu Zhanji tried the cement sample that was sent for the first time, he was not satisfied.

He just put a weight of about four tons on a small concrete block about ten centimeters on a side, and the concrete block began to deform and then break.

Converted into a standard pressure test, this data is roughly equivalent to forty standard atmospheric pressures.

Although this kind of cement is enough to surprise people of this era, and there is no problem even if some low-rise houses are built, Zhu Zhanji is not satisfied.

After all, cement is the key thing for him to start the Ming Dynasty infrastructure in the future.

Even if it cannot meet the standards of future generations, it cannot be too different.

Fortunately, after several days of testing, he finally came up with a cement that satisfied him.

It can almost reach the 90% standard of ordinary cement in later generations.

After making cement that he was satisfied with, Zhu Zhanji did not stop.

Instead, he directly asked Zhou Chen to transfer more than twenty craftsmen from the Ministry of Industry.

Now Zhou Chen has become the left minister of the Ministry of Industry, and Huang Fu, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, is indifferent. In addition, anyone with a discerning eye knows that Zhou Chen is Zhu Zhanji's man.

Huang Fu did not dare to ask anything about this grandson, who was now basically in a state of semi-retirement.

All the affairs of the Ministry of Industry, big and small, were smoothly taken over by Zhou Chen. Although Zhou Chen did not have the title of Minister of the Ministry of Industry at this time, all the rights were the same.

This is also where Zhu Zhanji is happiest. It is not difficult to promote Zhou Chen to the left minister of the Ministry of Industry.

After all, Zhou Chen himself was a Jinshi, and he had been serving as a member of the Ministry of Justice for ten years.

Plus the wool gloves.

Regardless of one's ability or qualifications, being promoted to the position of left minister of the Ministry of Industry is nothing.

But the position of the Minister of Industry is obviously impossible. After all, this is a high-ranking official of the imperial court.

Therefore, the existence of Huang Fu undoubtedly provided convenience to Zhu Zhanji.

Only when Zhu Zhanji masters the Ministry of Industry, many of Zhu Zhanji's next tasks will become smoother.

In the Prince's Mansion, Zhu Zhanji had early ordered people to clear out a useless courtyard.

There are many such courtyards in the imperial palace, and there are also many in the prince's palace.

On weekdays, some elderly fake mandarin ducks in the palace would quietly run to these places and do things that were not shameful.

As for the buildings inside, no one was using them, and no one would come here on a regular basis, so there was no need for maintenance. They had been completely abandoned over time.

Zhu Zhanji didn't care about these sesame and mung beans. The main reason for choosing this yard was that he felt that this yard was not too far from his yard.

After having all the buildings inside demolished and even the ground replaced with a new layer of soil,

Zhu Zhanji asked Liu Zhe and Zhou Chen to transport a large amount of cement and glass directly to the yard.

You still have to enjoy it, so Zhu Zhanji plans to build a greenhouse for himself first.

After all, there was glass, and even cement, Zhu Zhanji had Liu Zhe come up with it.

If everything is ready, build yourself a small greenhouse and grow some off-season vegetables, and you can naturally put it on the agenda.

Although there were buildings like fire rooms in this era, especially in palaces, the vegetables that buildings like fire rooms could cultivate were really limited.

After all, it is a house that does not see sunlight. Most of them are yellow vegetables, such as bean sprouts, leeks, and celery.

Moreover, the price was extremely high. Even if Zhu Zhanji was the grandson of the emperor, it would not be easy for him to eat such a portion.

In some private restaurants, the price of a portion of leek is so expensive in winter that it costs almost thirty or forty taels of silver to enjoy it.

Of course, there are also green vegetables grown next to hot springs. Not to mention the terrain requirements, the vegetables do not grow very well.

And the price is higher. Zhu Zhanji has seen a restaurant selling this kind of cucumber before. A small one, about the thickness of a finger, is worth several taels of silver, and the taste is not good.

The cheapest one is probably cabbage. Cabbage is very storable. In the north, people store large quantities of it almost every winter.

Cellared cabbage is the most popular in the north, especially in the Sunchon area. However, it is relatively rare in the south. It can even be said to be very rare due to the geographical environment.

Gupu

The cabbage in the palace was basically transported from the north, and the price was not low either.

So after testing the cement these days, Zhu Zhanji allocated more than 300,000 taels of silver to Liu Zhe and started planning to build a new cement factory.

On the other hand, I took my own time to design this greenhouse.

With cement, construction becomes simpler.

With the preparation in the early stage, various matters in the later stage will become simpler.

After more than twenty craftsmen became familiar with cement and glass, it took less than five days to build a decent greenhouse in the yard.

Zhu Gaochi has been busy with cultural affairs these days and doesn't pay much attention to his son's affairs.

By the time he discovered it, the greenhouse had been completely built.

For the main load-bearing structure, Zhu Zhanji used cement and special steel, plus some wood to fix it, and then covered the whole thing with glass.

In order to achieve a constant temperature, Zhu Zhanji had someone build a thick insulation wall with cement and soil on one side of the greenhouse.

Fire chambers are added at both ends, and with the addition of firewood, the temperature of the greenhouse immediately becomes like turning on the air conditioner.

Not long after Zhu Gaochi came in, sweat began to form on his forehead.

When he saw Zhu Zhanji, he quickly shouted:

"son!"

Zhu Zhanji was checking whether there was any air leakage in the greenhouse. When he heard his silly father shouting, he turned around and said hello with a smile:

"Dad, are you here?"

Zhu Gaochi walked over while wiping his sweat, looked at Zhu Zhanji, then at the greenhouse, and said: "Son, what are you planning to do..."

Zhu Zhanji saw that his silly father was sweating from the heat, and while helping Zhu Gaochi take off his coat, he explained: "This is called a greenhouse, um, it's a fire room, used to grow vegetables in winter!"

Zhu Gaochi from the fire room knew this and was not surprised about growing vegetables in winter. Instead, he pointed at the surrounding glass and opened his mouth:

"But...this...crystal..."

Mrs. Zhang knew about the glass matter. After all, Zhu Zhanji got two mirrors, and one of them was given to Mrs. Zhang. Mrs. Zhang was originally quite interested.

When you look in a glass mirror, the characters in the mirror become more real. How many women don’t like looking in the mirror?

So she felt that her son was really kind to her and actually got her such a large piece of high-quality crystal that was ground into a mirror.

But later I heard that this thing was made of a pile of sand, similar to the glazed tiles used to build a house, and you could have as much as you wanted, so I immediately lost interest.

If the glass mirror didn't look much better than the bronze mirror, Zhu Zhanji might have just rolled his eyes.

After all, how can you give your wife a gift and a pile of sand?

It is not clear why Zhu Gaochi has been busy with cultural events recently and leaves early and returns late.

This was also the first time he saw it. When he saw that the seemingly valuable crystal in front of him was used by his son to make this kind of greenhouse or firehouse, he didn't know how to speak for a moment.

.

Yes, Zhu Gaochi thought this thing was crystal at first sight.

Although he was surprised that Zhu Zhanji could get so many crystals, he was even more speechless that his son used these crystals to make a greenhouse.

It feels too luxurious.

He was not that shocked by things like glass.

After all, he knew that his son was very rich, so it was not unusual to get some crystals.
To be continued...