Jin Jun saw that the four of them were King Chu and Zhaoyu and looked over.

He sighed and drew the saber from his waist.

This is also a black sword, but the color is much lighter than that of Zhanlu.

"King, please allow Weichen to test the sword." Jin Jun surrendered his hand and requested.

After getting the permission of the king of Chu, Jin Jun came to the wooden frame where the king of Chu had just tried the sword, put a copper sword, and then swung it hard, with a soft sound of "bell", the copper sword was also cut in two.

And Jin Jun's sword is also intact.

"This is an iron sword made of ordinary iron?"

Chen Zhen picked up the copper sword on the ground, looked at the smooth break on the copper sword, and couldn't help but be shocked in his heart.

Jin Jun's face showed a smug look, bowed slightly, and said: "Yes, this sword is also an iron sword, and the iron material is taken from the best iron produced by Gemdale, and it took several years for the senior blacksmith of Gemdale to be successfully refined." ”

As he spoke, seeing a blazing gaze flash in King Chu's eyes, Jin Jun was startled, and then regretted it.

Then he hurriedly remedied: "Of course, compared with the king's Zhan Lu, it is naturally far inferior. ”

Xiong Huai smiled when he heard this, and asked: "Jin Jun, the widow's Tai'a, has created three at the same time, but the best one of them is called Tai'a, and the other two swords, one Long Yuan and one Gongbu, I don't know how many Jin Jun's swords are baked at the same time?" ”

Jin Jun hesitated when he heard this, should the King of Chu even want my sword.

So he arched his hand again and said: "Back to the king, the sword-casting skills of Master Ou Yezi and the cadres have been lost, and Weichen's sword, Jin Jun's sword, was cast into a total of three sword embryos, and then two were destroyed when forging, and in the end, only this sword was completed." For several generations of Jin Jun, he only created this Jin Jun sword. ”

Xiong Huai frowned when he heard this, thinking that Jin Jun had already been able to create a fine-level iron sword.

No, this is still just a special iron sword at the local tyrant level, just an isolated case, and it does not mean that the technology of forging iron swords has made great progress.

Anyway, the technological progress of the iron sword still needs to be promoted by the power of the Chu State.

Xiong Huai continued the previous topic and said: "Ladies and gentlemen, Jin Jun's sword, as well as the current world's famous swords, seven or eight out of ten are made of divine iron, and only a very small part is cast with copper as the main material, which gives us an important hint, that is, really good swords are cast with iron that need to be used." ”

Saying that, Xiong Huai asked people to offer two swords, one made of copper and the other made of iron.

"Zhuqing, these two swords are swords carefully crafted by craftsmen, and unlike the bronze swords used by ordinary soldiers, these two swords are mainly provided to the lieutenants in the army."

Then Xiong Huai asked people to conduct an experiment, and the results showed that these two swords could cut off ordinary copper swords, but compared with famous swords, they were obviously inferior, and after cutting off the copper swords, a small gap appeared on both swords.

Of course, this is also related to the improper use of the sword, the sword is not conducive to chopping, or mainly thorns.

Subsequently, Xiong Huai asked people to present twenty well-crafted bronze and iron swords.

Then he ordered twenty soldiers to take ten iron swords against ten bronze swords, and ordered twenty soldiers to take the remaining swords and begin to chop ordinary bronze swords.

In a few moments, the results of the test came back.

Of the swords that were slashed, six pairs of swords were killed, and two of each of them won. Of the slashing swords, ten iron swords cut one hundred and forty-six bronze swords, while only one hundred and forty-three bronze swords were slashed.

After learning the results of the test, Xiong Huai said to the four: "These twenty swords are all carefully crafted by experienced swordsmiths, as Zhu Qing can see, the iron swords that are carefully crafted now are no worse than the well-crafted copper swords, and even slightly better. As far as few people know, the level of sword casting in other countries, in terms of the creation of low-grade swords, all countries are similar to our Chu country, and compared with the bronze sword and the iron sword, they are also roughly comparable, and the iron sword is slightly superior. ”

After a pause, Xiong Huai said: "Therefore, the widow has decided that all the widow's personal guards will be equipped with well-crafted low-grade iron swords. ”

"Goo."

Xiong Huai's words had just fallen, and a series of swallowing sounds were clearly heard.

"Your Majesty, think twice." Zhao Yu had already teethed Chen Zhen, and the three of them persuaded at the same time.

After the three of them spoke, Jin Jun said regretfully: "Please think twice, the king." ”

Don't think twice, the sword-level iron sword, each one is extremely expensive, how much does it cost.

The current iron sword is in an embarrassing period, as a low-level weapon in the hands of ordinary soldiers, the iron sword is still slightly inferior to the copper sword.

But in high-end weapons, the performance of iron swords has begun to catch up with copper swords.

The embarrassing part is that the price of building an ordinary iron sword is cheaper than the price of building an ordinary copper sword, but you get what you pay for, and the quality is not as good as that of a copper sword.

The coins that are now popular in various countries, except for the gold of the Chu State, are all made of copper, and copper itself is money.

Therefore, the person who can wear copper armor now, in addition to being particularly strong, also needs to be very rich, which is the real local tyrant warrior.

And to build a sword-level iron sword, because of technical problems, smelting difficulties and other factors, its cost far exceeds that of copper swords of the same level.

Therefore, Zhao Yu hurriedly persuaded: "Great King, now the number of your personal guards has reached three thousand, and three thousand iron swords, even if they are all made by their own craftsmen, the time and materials consumed will far exceed those of bronze swords. ”

As he spoke, Zhao Yu knelt down and fell to the ground without getting up.

Seeing this, the other three also bowed down.

"Please think twice, the king."

Xiong Huai shook his head.

On the surface, the cost of the copper sword is much lower than that of the iron sword.

But what Xiong Huai really hopes for is not 3,000 iron swords, but by forging this batch of iron swords, a large number of experienced low, medium and high-level blacksmiths can be trained from them, so as to provide enough manpower for the future technological progress of the iron smelting industry.

Otherwise, if you don't take precautions now, and wait for the rabbit to release the dog in the future, I am afraid that the problem of insufficient number of blacksmiths will seriously restrict the development of iron weapons in Chu State. After all, being a skilled blacksmith is not something that can be cultivated overnight.

Thinking of this, Xiong Huai's tone was extremely firm: "This matter has been decided, and then we will mobilize people from slaves from all over the country to start building sword-level iron swords on a large scale." ”

"In addition, it is announced that as long as you can successfully learn how to build a qualified iron sword, then you will be immediately exempted from the status of a slave and directly promoted to the swordsmith of the Chu State and enjoy the treatment of the countrymen."

"The King..." Zhaoyu got up and said hurriedly.

Xiong Huai interrupted: "It's decided at this time, Sikong doesn't need to say much. ”

When Zhao Yu heard this, he didn't admonish for the fourth time, but just said in a sluggish spirit: "The minister takes the order." ”

Xiong Huai then looked at Jin Jun and said: "Jin Jun, now there are very few blacksmiths in Chu who can make iron swords, so the widow hopes that Jin Jun can provide a batch of swords, as long as the quality is qualified, within three years, all the widows will buy them at the current market price." ”

Jin Jun swallowed his saliva and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Secretly said: Is the King of Chu planning to buy me?

If he agrees to sell the sword to the king of Chu, when he goes to court tomorrow, how can he be embarrassed to demonstrate to the king of Chu, so that he will offend the other eight feudal monarchs.

It's just that if you refuse, not only will you not gain anything at all, but you will also offend the King of Chu and the Jing family.

Although I may not be afraid.

But after the mixed benefits, especially the high price of the sword-level iron sword, the situation is different.

Thinking of this, Jin Jun bowed and said, "I am willing to die for the king." ”