I don't know if you have ever seen a novel called "Million Pounds", which is about an adventure in London by a man named Henry, originally two rich brothers wanted to see the joke, so they lent Henry a million dollar bill that could not be cashed, but unexpectedly, Henry not only did not starve to death, but also really became a rich man later. It also exposes a strong money-worshipping ideology in twentieth-century British society.
Million pounds is a huge number, if someone wants to exchange with you, and it is only two words, will you exchange with him, the answer is definitely impossible.
But it was astonishing that during world war I, the Russians were willing to pay the British millions of pounds in tuition for two words.
In fact, when the First World War entered 1916, the war had entered a very critical turning point, and the strategic initiative of the entire war also revolved around Britain, France and Russia, but the Russians most wanted to get optical glass.
This is a very important strategic material, periscopes, measuring instruments, magnifying glasses, cameras, etc., all need it, without which many optical instruments are equivalent to blindness.
However, because Russia did not have this technology at that time, but because of the battlefield, the import channel was very inconvenient, and at that time, only britain, France and Germany had this technology.
The Russians first found Britain, and in fact we can imagine that they would have been rejected, and then they came to France, and even if they were willing to pay a million francs to buy the technology, they were still rejected, but they certainly could not go to Germany, because they were in a hostile state at that time.
Russia, still not dead-hearted, once again found Britain, because it was an ally after all, and if the Russians could not bear the hatred because of this, the war would burn on their doorstep, and the loss would be even greater. A very harsh condition was set, that is, a fierce stroke.
Eventually, they signed a deed of assignment that would not only pay a transfer fee of £1 million, but also give the producer 25 years of profit-sharing privileges and other preferential rights.
So what's the secret of the technology they spent a million on? The British gave only two words: "stir". This made many people confused, but the Russians felt that it was worth it, and later, after they mastered it, they simply disclosed this secret, and made many improvements, and since then, the monopoly of optical glass production has also been broken.