"You're going to think it's a shame to burn these? Haven't you always been uninterested in what is in books? The young man's casual remarks were quite ridiculous.

The woodcutter was about to speak again when a neutral but not very clear voice came from the door of the iron-shopped backyard.

"Is Xiao Luo here?"

A middle-aged man in a gray burlap shirt strode out of the shop, and when the woodcutter and the young man saw this man, they stopped what they were doing, greeted him, and shouted in unison, "Uncle Ke." ”

The young man who ostensibly identified as a woodcutter's cart helper was Lin Shan's secret subordinate, Luo Qing, the leader of the mobile group, was ordered to burn a cart of books when Wansonggang and Lin Shan were separated, so he entrusted Qiao Cui, a group of old people who made a living from firewood in nearby Shuangjing Town, to help, mixed it in a cart of firewood, and transported it to Kejia Iron Shop.

The middle-aged man who came out of the back door was Ke Jian, the owner of the Ke family's iron shop, he was forty years old, because he had been engaged in forging iron by the high-temperature stove for a long time, his skin was full of a healthy bronz, and his arms were unusually strong due to long-term hammer blowing, and the simple cloth clothes were precisely tailored to his body, revealing strong muscle lines.

The Kejia iron shop is quite famous in Shuangjing Town, but this reputation comes from the local people, because the iron tools produced by the iron shop are mainly agricultural tools, and are only sold to the residents of Shuangjing Town, so although the agricultural tools built by the Ke family are famous for their durability and affordability, the business has not been bigger.

For this, the residents of Shuangjing Town have been completely grateful in their hearts from the initial doubts.

Perhaps the local ruffians know the secret that in addition to building farm tools, the Ke family will also help some rangers who are hidden in the rivers and lakes to build personal weapons, but this will not affect the lives of the local ruffians, and the ruffians sometimes need the iron tools created by the Ke family for some kind of activities. So this secret can basically be regarded as a tacit matter between the two families.

In addition, according to the boss of the ruffians himself, the weapons produced by the Ke family are very rare, but once they are produced, of course, they have no choice in terms of quality, and the most terrifying thing is the price. The person who can afford the weapons produced by the Ke family, even if he is not a prince or nobleman, he must be a powerful person in the rivers and lakes. Such people come to the Ke family to do things, basically just because they fall in love with the Ke family's craftsmanship, and the ruffian group in Shuangjing Town is well water and does not interfere with river water.

However, it is not without its benefits that Kejia Iron Shop gives another impression that has been unconsciously improved. Because they were afraid that the Ke family's iron shop might have a strong man behind the scenes, the ruffians in Shuangjing Town generally did not ask the Ke family to collect forced rent, and once a woodcutter collected firewood, or a scavenger collected some scrap iron, as long as it was sent to the Ke family. The ruffians did not dare to embarrass themselves.

Ke Jian was also a little surprised when he saw the books on the cart, and took a look at Luo Qing and Qiao Cui, and then moved the books on the cart to the iron shop with them.

The layout of the iron shop is divided into two areas, the front area faces the street, and is mainly used to display finished ironware. The wooden shelves in the shop were all filled with farm tools such as hoes and sickles; The area that occupies two-thirds of the entire iron shop is the forging area, and the ironwork process is here. But after Ke Jian took the work to move the books into the forging area of the iron shop, he did not put them down on the spot, but asked a guy in the shop to open the cover door of the basement, and then several people moved the books down.

The location of this basement is just below the shop in front of the iron shop facing the street for the sale of agricultural iron, but few people know about the storage of this place, and almost no one knows its real use, because this basement is used to temper high weapons. Usually, it is rarely used once or twice a year. The basement is carved out of a large stove by a dirt wall. There is a chimney at the top that is connected to the chimney of the forge above, and in the middle of the stove hangs a thick iron box, which seems to be an object used to make molten iron.

After Ke Jian, Luo Qing, and Qiao Cui moved all the books into the basement, they only called a guy named Xiaohe to come in. Then someone closed the lid door to the basement.

After the door was closed, the work above began to follow Ke Jian's instructions, activating several exhaust fans from the basement to the ground. Guy Xiao He began to light a fire in the wall according to the instructions, and when the fire was not yet strong, Ke Jian used a dagger to cut the hemp rope that tied the books into squares one by one, and after picking a book and flipping it twice, he sat on a bundle of books and said to Luo Qing with a smile: "No wonder Mr. Lin wants you to personally send these to be burned, obviously still afraid that these manuscripts will remain." ”

"Uncle Ke said that, and he saw the outside." Luo Qing, who was sitting on another bundle of books, said with a smile: "This time I came to you, and the delivery of 'firewood' is just by the way, the main thing is to take a look at Brother Lin to see the progress of the halberd." In addition, I will have to stay here for a few days until I meet up with a friend before I return. ”

"That's the case...... Ke Jian's smile faded, and after a pause, he said, "I said a joke just now, don't care." Mr. Lin's customized Fang Tian halberd has high requirements in terms of weight and quality, and he knows that he must use it, so he does not dare to slack off, and has been stepping up forging, at present, most of the halberd itself has been completed, and it will take about half a year. ”

Although Luo Qing didn't speak, his hand that was casually flipping through a book froze for a moment.

This scene fell into Ke Jian's eyes, and after he pondered for a while, he said, "It's not difficult for me to guess that Mr. Lin has already entered Beijing, so he is urging Fang Tianji's matter. If you really don't have time in time, you might as well change it to a single-bladed green dragon halberd, in this case, you only need to give me another month. ”

Luo Qing immediately shook his head and said: "There is no need to change it, the weight and size of this halberd have been agreed, and temporary changes may cause trouble to the people who use it." Half a year is half a year! I just hope that it will satisfy the people who use it after the finished product. ”

"You can rest assured that my Ke family will definitely not live up to Mr. Lin's trust." Ke Jian, who had lost the last bit of worry, was full of confidence, and his voice naturally revealed a kind of pride, and after he said that, he beckoned his buddy Xiaohe, and began to add extremely hot mineral carbon to the bottom of the fire that had been burned in the wall.

This kind of mineral carbon is expensive, and it is generally used to heat the furnace in the later stage of sword casting, but at this time, Ke Jian actually wanted to use it to burn books, Luo Qing saw this and was about to stop it, so he heard Qiao Cui, who was silently flipping through the book, "Huh". Luo Qing looked at him, and saw that he bent down and picked up a letter on the ground, which seemed to have fallen from a book in his hand.

"Lin Shan's own enlightenment?" Qiao Cui picked up the letter and looked at the words on the envelope, and naturally read it out, and said at the end: "This is not very well written!" It's just a little ugly, where did he get a friend who writes so ugly? ”

Luo Qing approached Qiao Cui, and after glancing at the letter, he suddenly said in an almost commanding tone: "The seal has not been moved, it seems that Brother Lin has not read this letter yet, I must take it back and hand it over." ”

Seeing that Qiao Cui was slightly stunned and consciously handed over the letterhead, Luo Qing took the letterhead and put it in his arms, and then his face softened, and he teased: "Yes, not only can you be literate, but you can also distinguish the advantages and disadvantages of calligraphy, do you want to come back to the group?" Don't be a woodcutter? ”

"Come on! Or the days of chopping wood are free. Qiao Cui smiled faintly, looked around at the bundles of books in the basement, and after a pause, said, "Will there be this in the other books?" Do you want to flip it? ”

Luo Qing showed a hesitant expression, after he muttered for a while, he was about to speak, when he heard Ke Jian shout, "It's time for the fire", and the thought in his heart changed direction again, and he simply said: "Burn it!" ”

The guy who was in charge of lighting the fire just now walked to the bellows at this time, responsible for the affairs of filling the wind and promoting the fire, and Luo Qing and Qiao Cui were responsible for throwing the book into the furnace. Ke Jian also picked up a few books and threw them into the mouth of the wall-chambered fire, looking at the abruptly rising fire and the smell of firewood smoke that diffused, he suddenly sighed: "Oil paper...... This is probably the most expensive 'firewood' I have ever burned in my life! ”

"It's so expensive that it's worthless, and if you throw a book in, you can 'poof' it twice, and the fire will be gone. If I hadn't known in advance that these books weren't burned for the sake of forges, I'd have thought that the people who did it were having something wrong with their brains. Qiao Cui teased at first, then he looked at Luo Qing and asked, "Brother Luo, why do you want to go around in such a big circle to bring these books to the iron shop to burn?" It's useless! ”

"Most of these are manuscripts, and they certainly can't be preserved, but if they are burned in Xingjia Village, it will be very quiet, but it is quick and easy to operate in the iron shop. Anyway, I escorted Brother Lin to the outskirts of Beijing all the way, and I happened to come to the iron shop again, so I brought it over. But to say that it's useless, it's not all right, at least it's good to use it to press the car board on the way to Beijing. After Luo Qing slowly explained this, he suddenly remembered what he wanted to stop Ke Jian just now, so he turned to Ke Jian and said, "Uncle Ke, I was about to stop you just now, we just borrowed your place for convenience, why do we use mineral carbon?" Isn't this going to cost you a lot of supplies? ”

Ke Jian shook his head and said with a smile: "You two are not all right, burning these books is not completely useless, and I use mineral carbon, in fact, to fuel the fire, burning books and forging swords!" ”

After Luo Qing and Qiao Cui heard this, one looked surprised, and the other had doubts in their eyes.

"Burning books and forging swords?"

"Uncle Ke, are you really going to use this fire to forge a sword? I'm afraid it's not enough, right? ”

"That's enough." Ke Jian pretended to smile mysteriously, and said with an unclear meaning: "Today I burned a bunch of the most expensive 'firewood' that I have ever burned in my life, and I can use this to forge a sword in a way that I have never used before, and it will not be in vain to close the store on the day Fang Tianhalberd is finished half a year later!" ”。 (To be continued.) If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendation and monthly passes, and your support is my biggest motivation