Fu Tinghan proposed using glass recipes for cooperation not only because glass is difficult to transport, resulting in higher costs.
It's more about what Zhao Hanzhang mentioned: during this period, the North is plagued by continuous natural disasters and man-made calamities. Though he barely arrived less than two years ago, he often witnesses the calamities of this era.
He is concerned about natural disasters.
If man-made disasters can be potentially stopped or altered, natural disasters can only be endured, and what manpower can do is to respond to the calamities.