Perhaps it was the year of Kaiping that continued the luck of Beiliang, time passed in a hurry, and it was the fifteenth year of Kaiping in a blink of an eye.

The gate lord clan on this land is prosperous and dead, and Beiliang is like an old man in his last years, always holding a breath.

Maybe it's out of scruples, or maybe it's the reason to shoot the first bird. Before they had enough strength, none of the gate lords were willing to take the charge of rebellion and extend their hands to the Northern Liang royal family.

In that case, he will stand on the opposite side of the world's gate lord clan, and he will definitely be attacked by a group.

Over the years, the battle between the gate lords and scholars has become more and more popular, and the royal family seems to have been forgotten by everyone.

The Northern Liang royal family can only work hard to manage their own one-third of an acre, and Liangzhou has become a rare and stable place in the world.

It's just that in the territory of Liangzhou, there are all kinds of forces. It could be the owner of a liquor store, a fruit seller on the side of the road, or a minister close to the emperor.

In the south of Luo Qingshan Mountain, there is a village not far from the battle line.

The village is inhabited by many families, because the village is very close to the official road, and there are often front-line defenders to hand over. There are also many tourist monks who tend to stop in the village.

Therefore, there are many liquor stores and hotels in the village, and most of the villagers make a living from it.

It's winter in the blink of an eye.

Shi Ming was collecting firewood in the mountains and forests not far from the village.

Although the body is thin, fortunately, it is only early winter, and the snow in the mountains is not very thick.

Shi Ming can still pick up a lot of firewood every day, in addition to satisfying the needs of the family, the rest can also be sold to the shopkeeper of the wine store, and the third uncle can exchange some sake and cooked food.

Shi Ming's third uncle is the only blacksmith in the village.

The blacksmith was owned by a mute old man in the village. Ten years ago, Uncle Shi Ming came to the village with him, saying that he had been a blacksmith for many years, and because of the changes in his hometown, he came to find a place to eat.

The people in the village were more cautious about the third uncle and Shi Ming at first, but they still let the two stay.

After a long time, they got along with the old man quite well, and the third uncle's iron-striking skills were very skilled, so everyone slowly dispelled their doubts.

Within two years, the mute old man died, and the shop was taken over by the third uncle.

In addition to forging daily utensils for the people in the village, the third uncle will also craft some swords and other weapons.

Those Jianghu Ranger monks will also often visit the shop and buy two good knives. Even the defenders of the hill would buy swords from here.

In addition to collecting firewood in the mountains and forests, Shi Ming can also pick up some coal from time to time.

Although the number is not very large, it can also make the stove at home burn more vigorously.

Luo Qingshan is rich in resources, and there are several coal mines not far from the village, but they have all been abandoned.

Luo Qingshan's winter is always dark very early, and before you know it, the sky is almost dusk.

The light and shadow in the mountains and forests are intertwined, and the snow in the mountains and forests is glowing with a faint golden light.

Shi Ming looked at the sky in the west, let out a long sigh, and brought out a long mist.

Shi Ming likes the mysterious starry sky, and always feels a faint sadness at this time. Shi Ming once remembered that the gentleman in the village said that this feeling was called melancholy, and these two words were very complicated, and he memorized them many times before he remembered them.

Coincidentally, the gentleman who taught Shi Ming also came to this village about ten years ago.

The gentleman's surname is Kong and he is tall. Although Mr. never said his age, Shi Ming looked at Mr. Kong's gray hair and guessed that it should be about fifty.

Mr. Kong has a Jizhou accent, Shi Ming found it quite interesting to hear, and over time, he learned the Jizhou accent.

Mr. Kong works as a bookkeeper in a wine shop in the village, and the owner of the wine shop trusts Mr. Kong very much.

Shi Ming always felt that Mr. Kong was unfathomable, because Mr. Kong often sat in the wine shop holding a book, muttering some obscure words from time to time, and sometimes shaking his head and looking quite strange.

Although Mr. Kong is a little old and still looks like a scholar, he is not the old and weak scholar mentioned in the book.

Shi Ming has seen a few customers who are making trouble in the store, and when Xiao Er's kind words are useless, Mr. Kong will silently walk into the back kitchen, and then rush out with a rolling pin.

None of the troublemakers could hold a rolling pin.

Shi Ming thought of what Mr. said about salute first and then soldier, probably this is what he meant.

But Mr. Kong never taught people to fight and kill, but opened a book house in the tavern to teach the young children in the village to read and write.

However, the villagers do not think that reading is of any use, and it is better to let the children do more work for the family.

But many of the children in the village went to Mr. Kong's bookstore, not to study, but to relax.

The third uncle would drink in the evening every time, and every time the third uncle got drunk, his face would be gloomy and terrible, and Shi Ming would be furious when he saw it.

Shi Ming would always come to Mr. Kong every evening.

Mr. Kong would take out a plate of peanuts for the children to eat, and usually tell some anecdotes about history, but most of the time it was obscure words and stories that Shi Ming didn't understand.

Shi Ming always felt that he was not called Ming when he was a child, and the third uncle told him that the name was taken from the ancient Tang poem "The moon is the hometown of Ming", but where is the hometown, the third uncle has never said.

When Mr. Kong talked about this poem, he said that he missed his brother, and Shi Ming argued with Mr. Kong for a long time.

However, Shi Ming thought that the third uncle was the third, and he must have two uncles, so where was his father? The third uncle never answered him.

Shi Ming shook the back basket behind him, which contained a small half of the coal.

Shi Ming looked at the increasingly dark sky and prepared to go down the mountain, but there were many coal blocks half-exposed on the snow in the distance, Shi Ming was overjoyed, and hurriedly went over to pick them up.

Before he knew it, Shi Ming had come a long way.

Shi Ming looked up at the surrounding environment, although he was still in the mountains and forests, it was still a little different from the familiar environment before.

This place, Shi Ming has never been here.

Although Luo Qingshan is very large, the people in the village dare not go too deep, first, the mountains and forests are too big, and if you are not careful, you will get lost, and secondly, there are too many fierce beasts and poisonous insects in the mountains and forests.

Shi Ming subconsciously scratched the back of his head, and secretly said that something was wrong: This place has never been here before.

But there were a lot of coal pieces scattered on the ground, and Shi Ming shook the back basket behind him, which was much heavier than before.

Shi Ming secretly thought to himself: I can fill the back basket if I pick up some more, although this place has never been there, it is not too far from the village. Mr. Kong said that the so-called wealth is in danger, and the third uncle should not blame him when he sees so many pieces of coal.

Shi Ming strengthened his confidence and walked deeper.

Not long after, Shi Ming suddenly felt a gentle vibration from the wrist guard of his right wrist when he was picking it up, and Shi Ming was quite surprised.

Taking off the thick animal skin gloves, Shi Ming straightened his sleeves vigorously, exposing the bracer of his right arm.

Shi Ming touched it lightly, and the tips of his fingers felt cold, but there was not the slightest coolness in his arms.

Shi Ming felt a slight vibration from the tips of his fingers, which was definitely not caused by the cold.

This bracer was obtained by Shi Ming by chance.

Two months ago, when Shi Ming was collecting firewood in the mountains, he accidentally picked up a stone, which was only the size of a pigeon's egg and had a gray and silver texture.

Shi Ming thought it was a piece of silver, and he almost fainted with joy. But when I took it, I didn't feel the slightest heaviness, and I held it in my hand as if it was nothing.

But the stone buzzed with a crisp sound of striking metal.

Shi Ming gave it to the third uncle, and the third uncle didn't know what this stone was.

The third uncle didn't care about thirty-seven twenty-one, so he threw this stone into the crucible, and it would be known if it was melted.

The stone gradually melted into a form similar to mercury, and the strange thing is that the color did not change at all, it was still a dark gray color, and no impurities were precipitated, and it did not change color because of the high temperature of the furnace.

The third uncle melted it several times, and was convinced that it was a metal.

And the texture is extremely hard after cooling, and the third uncle lamented that this thing was too small, otherwise it would have to be cast into a good sword.

In the end, the third uncle made a small bracer for Shi Ming to play with.

Although Shi Ming was surprised, he didn't care, shook his wrist, and prepared to pick up a few more pieces and go home.

Shi Ming continued to take five or six steps forward, and the bracer vibrated more and more intensely.

Shi Ming was stunned for a moment, feeling slightly surprised.

Looking at the rocks and weeds in front of him blocking his vision, Shi Ming's footsteps stopped, something must have caused the abnormality of the bracer, but his subconscious told him that going home was the right choice.

Shi Ming hesitated for a moment, but still driven by curiosity, he bypassed the gravel weeds in front of him.

The scene in front made Shi Ming slightly stunned.

In front of me, it turned out to be a white clearing, the clearing was not very large, about half a mile, but there was not even a single weed in the clearing, it was bare.

In this dense mountain and forest Luo Qingshan, it is strange and abnormal.

Shi Ming looked around, the shape of this clearing was very regular, almost circular, the surface was very flat, and there was a ring of protrusions in the center, which looked like a lake in winter.

But Shi Ming had the illusion that this was an ant's nest.

But in the world, how can there be such a big ant, otherwise the people in the village would have been eaten to the bottom, Shi Ming thought to himself. Straightening his somewhat sore waist, Shi Ming took off the back basket behind him and leaned lightly against the tree.

Shi Ming walked to the edge of the clearing in a few steps, leaning over to pick up the snow from the clearing. It's not ice down there, it's brown earth.

Shi Ming reflexively found a branch, poked left and right in front, and slowly walked towards the bulge.

Shi Ming walked to the center of the clearing in a moment, looking at the half-meter-high mound of soil in front of him, Shi Ming took two steps.

Standing on the mound, Shi Ming felt more and more like an ant's nest in the yard, with a convex middle depression, and only a high mound around it.

However, the depression is a ground, and there is no place like a hole.

Shi Ming poked the branch for a long time before jumping in.

At this time, the bracers had already shaken Shi Ming's arm a little numb, and Shi Ming couldn't help but remember that he had felt this way when he struck the big gong in the village before.

Shi Ming used a tree branch to pull the snow and dirt from the pit. After a while, Shi Ming poked at the hard object, and after digging out of the soil, the bracers stopped shaking as if they were exhausted.

Shi Ming slapped away the dirt on the hard stone with his hand, the shape and size of which resembled a flattened zongzi, and the texture of the stone resembled an iron ingot in a foundry.

"It's boring for anyone to hide iron in this place, and make it mysterious. Shi Ming muttered in his heart.

It's just that the color is a little unclear for some reason, Shi Ming subconsciously raised it to the sky, but saw a high hanging moon, Shi Ming's heart sank, and the secret was not good, and he couldn't help blurting out: "." ”

"I'm going to be scolded when I go back. Shi Ming thought to himself, but Mr. Kong said that it was a vulgar word, so it was better to say less.

Shi Ming pulled out three more similar pieces of iron. picked it up and hurriedly ran to the place where the back basket was.