The Great Song Dynasty: You were put in charge of teaching, and you produced a whole bunch of prime

Jingshi Academy, late at night.

The midnight drum had just sounded, and the academy, which had been noisy all day, finally quieted down.

Most of the disciples were so tired that they fell asleep like dead pigs, and only the light in the headmaster's study was still on.

"Get out, get out, this has nothing to do with you."

Jiang Lin unceremoniously pushed Su Zhe outside the door and casually bolted it shut.

Su Zhe, looking aggrieved, peeked through the crack in the door: "Sir, why is only Zhongcun left inside? I'm the teaching assistant for the Physics class!"

"You're too talkative, I don't trust you," Jiang Lin shouted through the door. "This is a trade secret; if it leaks, you'll be left with nothing. Go to sleep!"

After seeing Su Zhe off, Jiang Lin turned around and returned to his desk.

The lamp in the study was dim.

Shen Kuo sat upright, looking at Jiang Lin with a blank expression, like a primary school student waiting for a teacher's reprimand.

"Sir, it's so late, and you're acting all mysterious... Are you going to impart unparalleled martial arts skills to me?"

Jiang Lin rolled his eyes, walked to the deepest hidden compartment of the bookcase, fumbled around for a while, and took out a piece of parchment that was folded neatly.

"I don't have any peerless martial arts techniques, but I do have a peerless recipe."

He slammed the parchment on the table, his expression becoming more serious than ever before:

"Cunzhong, I want you to keep what you're about to say to yourself. If even a single word gets out, I'll throw you into the Bian River to feed the turtles."

Shen Kuo swallowed hard and nodded nervously, "Don't worry, sir, I'm very discreet!"

Jiang Lin slowly unfolded the parchment.

By the dim candlelight, Shen Kuo leaned closer to take a look and saw that it was covered with strange symbols and proportions:

70% quartz sand, 20% pure alkali, 10% limestone... high-temperature melting... clarification... annealing...

Shen Kuo stared for a long time, his eyes widening and his breathing becoming rapid.

"This...this is..."

"This is the glass formula I was referring to."

Jiang Lin spoke nonsense with a straight face: "This is a secret recipe I bought from an old Persian merchant who was starving when I was traveling in the Western Regions when I was young. It is said that the glass made from it is ten times clearer than glass and a hundred times cheaper than crystal."

"Really?" Shen Kuo's fingers were trembling. As a madman for investigating things, he had an innate passion for this kind of unknown technology.

"We'll know once we build it."

Jiang Lin pointed to the data on the paper: "I've written down the principles here. Quartz sand is easy to find; it's everywhere on riverbanks. Limestone is plentiful. The difficulty lies in the purification of soda ash, and also..."

"It's still warm!"

Shen Kuo suddenly stood up, his eyes gleaming with excitement: "Ordinary kilns don't reach the required temperature to burn quartz sand! We must modify the furnace, add blowers, and increase the furnace temperature!"

As he spoke, he paced back and forth in the room, gesturing with his fingers in the air:

"We also need to control the cooling rate! Too fast and it will explode, too slow and it will crystallize... My God! This is simply a genius design!"

Jiang Lin looked at Shen Kuo, who had fallen into a state of frenzy, and nodded in satisfaction.

That's why he chose Shen Kuo. This guy is a pure tech geek; give him a difficult problem, and he can study it for three days and three nights without eating or drinking.

"Sir!" Shen Kuo abruptly stopped, his face resolute. "I accept this task! Even if I fail a hundred times, I will burn it out!"

He paused, then looked towards the corner:

"Upgrading the furnace, buying coal, buying ore... that must have cost a lot of money, right?"

Jiang Lin turned to look at Qian Duoduo, who was huddled in the shadows, and smiled confidently:

"Duoduo, I managed to swindle those creditors away during the day, so we don't have to pay back that money for now. Let's take the money from the academy's account and give it to the depositor as start-up capital."

in the corner.

Qian Duoduo, who had been clutching the empty ledger tightly, slowly raised her head upon hearing this.

His face was more bitter than a bitter gourd, and he sighed softly.

"Sir, do you seem to have some misunderstanding about the financial strength of our academy?"

Jiang Lin was taken aback: "Didn't we not lose any money?"

"Yes, we've temporarily defaulted on those payments."

Qian Duoduo frantically clicked the abacus, looking utterly dejected.

"But don't forget, the previous expenses for booking the entire Fanlou venue, the academy's flyers, setting up the stage, and the food costs for the three hundred examinees... all of that cost a fortune!"

"Although the creditors have left, we don't even have a single penny of cash in our warehouse to buy coal!"

"Forget about start-up capital, we don't even have money for groceries for the academy tomorrow morning!"

Shen Kuo's excitement instantly froze: "No money? That's not even enough to start a furnace! Let alone buy fuel! Glassmaking is a money-devouring beast!"

Jiang Lin also fell silent.

Even a hero can be brought down by a lack of start-up capital. You have the technology and the talent, but you're stuck with the initial funding – that's quite an awkward situation.

"How about..." Jiang Lin stroked his chin, "Is it possible for me to borrow some from Master Ouyang?"

"No!" Qian Duoduo quickly stopped him. "If Lord Ouyang knew you were drowning in debt, he'd probably shut down the academy right away."

Just when the three of them were at their wits' end, and the atmosphere in the study was as heavy as if they were going to a funeral.

"Thump, thump, thump."

A soft, rhythmic knocking sounded suddenly.

The three of them were startled.

"Who?" Jiang Lin asked warily.

A clear, melodious voice, tinged with a hint of amusement, came from outside the door:

"Sir, it's me. Zhao Ling."

Jiang Lin was taken aback and gave Qian Duoduo a wink. Qian Duoduo quickly ran over to open the door.

The door opened, and a gust of night wind blew in.

Zhao Lingjun stood at the door, still dressed in men's clothing, carrying a heavy cloth bag in his hand.

The moonlight shone behind her, giving her a mysterious silver edge.

"It's so late, why aren't you asleep yet?" Jiang Lin frowned.

Zhao Lingjun smiled, strode into the study, and threw the cloth bag in his hand onto the table.

"Splash—"

A dull, loud thud. The bag burst open, revealing gleaming gold coins and several silver ingots inside.

Shen Kuo and Qian Duoduo's eyes widened instantly.

"I heard the academy is short of money?"

Zhao Lingjun patted the cloth bag, like a nouveau riche who regarded money as dirt:

"Here are four hundred strings of cash. Consider it my investment."

Jiang Lin raised an eyebrow, his gaze sweeping back and forth between the money pouch and Zhao Lingjun's face: "Invest?"

"right."

Zhao Lingjun found a chair, sat down, crossed his legs, and looked at Jiang Lin with a smile:

"I also want to participate in your... 'secret plan'."

"After it's done, the profits will be split 30/70—you get 70%, I get 30%. How about that?"

The study was deathly silent.

Jiang Lin looked at her, his gaze becoming somewhat profound: "How did you know I had a secret plan?"

"Just a guess."

Zhao Lingjun blinked, looking completely innocent:

"Since you dared to say such harsh words to the owner of Fanlou, you must have some confidence. Besides..."

She pointed to the parchment on the table that hadn't been put away yet:

"Looks like I guessed right."

Jiang Lin was silent for three seconds, then suddenly smiled.

This girl is indeed extraordinary.

The gatekeepers of Kaifeng Prefecture bowed and scraped before her, could casually pull out a huge sum of four hundred strings of cash, and possessed a keen insight into people's hearts...

"Okay, you can become a shareholder."

Jiang Lin didn't stand on ceremony and pressed down on the money pouch, as if afraid she would change her mind:

"We'll take the money. Qian Duoduo, put it on the tab!"

"Okay!" Qian Duoduo hugged the money bag, so happy that snot bubbles came out of his nose.

"But there's one thing—"

Jiang Lin's smile vanished, his gaze fixed on Zhao Lingjun, his tone serious:

"No matter who you are or what your family background is, in the academy, you are student Zhao Ling."

"Follow my instructions and abide by the academy's rules. Can you do that?"

Zhao Lingjun suppressed his smile, stood up, and solemnly bowed with his hands clasped in greeting:

"Don't worry, sir, I understand. I'm just here to learn, and incidentally... earn some pocket money."

Jiang Lin nodded, a hint of admiration flashing in his eyes.

"That's good."

He turned to look at Shen Kuo and Qian Duoduo, and waved his hand:

"We have money, we have people, and we have technology."

"Meet me at the brickyard outside the city early tomorrow morning."

"Project Tiangong is officially launched!"

Outside the window, the moonlight was as clear as water.

Four hundred thousand in start-up capital, a groundbreaking formula, a low-profile "angel investor," and a tech fanatic.

The glass industry revolution of the Song Dynasty quietly began in this dilapidated little study.