Due to the fact that the Qin State has begun to recuperate in recent years, and rarely has wars with other vassal states, the blacksmith shop located in the south of the city has been tepid, and usually helps the nearby Qin people to repair farm tools during the busy farming season, and the rest of the time has been very deserted.

In order not to become cannon fodder on the battlefield, every man will try his best to build a weapon before joining the army, even if it is the simplest weapon, it is better than the bare-handed one, and the weakness of the Qin State can be seen.

The owner of the blacksmith shop also enlisted in the army when he was young, but he was too seriously injured, in order not to increase the burden on the army, he dragged his injuries back to Yongcheng, relying on the ancestral iron-making skills, and opened an iron-making shop in Yongcheng. It's just that in recent years, my health has been bad, and I can't carry the sledgehammer, so I can only rely on tinkering to make a living.

So at the beginning of spring this year, he sold his shop to a distant relative, took the money from the shop, and left Yongcheng, saying that he was looking for a paradise to spend his old age.

The new blacksmith is very good, not only the work is beautiful, but also bold, the salary arrears for a month do not take it to heart, the most important thing is that the price of repairing farm tools here is very affordable, because of this, the neighbors, every household has taken out the farm tools that are reluctant to repair, sent to the shop for the blacksmith to repair, the original deserted shop has become busy.

A man's biggest hobby is to drink, but a man, who doesn't drink something. The neighbors had a fancy to the blacksmith's blacksmith's craftsmanship and the strength on his body, so they all found a matchmaker to talk to the blacksmith, but the blacksmith politely refused.

At this time, Qin Chuan was standing in front of the blacksmith shop, and when he heard that the blacksmith did not sell swords, his face was stunned, and he quickly remembered that he was just a five or six-year-old child, maybe the blacksmith did not sell his sword.

"Uncle, I'm six years old, why can't I buy a sword? I am still martial in the Great Qin Kingdom, and I don't have a good sword, how can I go into battle to kill the enemy when I grow up, worship the prime minister, and make contributions to the country. Qin Chuan said righteously.

"Get out, little brat, your tone is not small, just your little body is still going into battle to kill the enemy, pay homage to the prime minister, go and go, hurry home to find your father and mother, and don't make trouble for me." The blacksmith still had a calm face and said to Qin Chuan unceremoniously.

"Uncle, you see, I'm the only one in my family, and I agreed on behalf of my parents, so how about selling me casually? I can give you money, give you a lot of money, how about it? Qin Chuan still said without giving up.

"Yo, the little fart is endless, the sword has no eyes, what do you do with the injured? You better go back and play with mud during the New Year, it's not something you can play with right now. The blacksmith was a little impatient, and stretched out his hand to drive people away.

Qin Chuan took a step back, looked at the blacksmith with a fierce face, and said, "I'll give you a gold, how about you sell the sword to me just now?" ”

"Little brat, don't make fun of me, have you seen what a gold looks like? Fuck off, fuck off. As he spoke, he ignored Qin Chuan, picked up the hammer and continued to beat the previous iron bar.

Qin Chuan was a little helpless, turned around and left depressedly, thinking angrily as he walked: "You actually look down on children, I'll go back to the mansion and get a gold in a while, see what you have to say." ”

Soon, Qin Chuan ran to the Guogong Mansion, panting and putting the clothes in his arms on the bed, dragging out a box from under the bed, and after opening it, inside was the four hundred gold that Wei Ying had just sent.

He picked up two pieces of gold, put them in his arms, put the small box under the bed again, and then turned and ran out of the house.

The blacksmith was still banging, and not long after, Qin Chuan was already standing at the door of the blacksmith shop breathlessly, and after he was a little breathless, he took out a piece of gold from his arms, shook it at the blacksmith and said, "This is the gold you want, I brought it to you, how about it, sell the sword or not?" ”

The blacksmith happened to put the iron bar in the water, looked at the gold in Qin Chuan's hand, and the corners of his eyes twitched unconsciously. Putting down the hammer in his hand and walking in front of Qin Chuan, his face was not as serious as it was just now, but with a smile: "Little brat, do you really want a sword?" ”

Qin Chuan nodded quickly, and the color of expectation was beyond words.

The blacksmith first nodded, then shook his head again, and then kept pacing back and forth in front of Qin Chuan, then patted his head, laughed loudly, and turned around and walked in front of Qin Chuan.

"If you really want a sword, it's not impossible, it's just...."

"Uncle, if there is anything you want, just mention it, I can do it as hard as I can." Qin Chuan said very respectfully.

"Okay, sure enough, talking to smart people is easy to do." As he spoke, he took the gold in Qin Chuan's hand, and when Qin Chuan didn't react, he put the gold into his arms.

"Actually, it's not impossible for me to forge a sword for you, it's just that I promised a person not to cast a sword easily, but for the sake of your eagerness, I'll make an exception to help you once. Alas, it looks like I'm going to lose my trust. A hint of chagrin flashed across the blacksmith's face.

"Uncle, I still have a gold here, please take it." After Qin Chuan finished speaking, he took out another piece of gold from his arms.

The blacksmith did not hesitate, and put the gold into his arms with the same lightning speed, and his face suddenly did not have the previous chagrin, but grinned, stood up, pointed at Qin Chuan, and said: "This shop will be lent to you, and when you create your own sword, you will return it to me." ”

Hearing the blacksmith's words, Qin Chuan was a little dumbfounded, and he couldn't believe the blacksmith's words at all.

"Uncle, you're not going to let me forge a sword by myself, are you?" Qin Chuan glared, stretched out his finger and pointed to his nose and said.

The blacksmith nodded with a smile, seemingly very satisfied with Qin Chuan's intelligence.

Qin Chuan looked at the blacksmith's thick arm, then at the big hammer placed in the shop, swallowed his saliva, and immediately said angrily: "Uncle, I just want to use the sword, do you really want to embarrass a child like this?"

The blacksmith snorted coldly and said unceremoniously, "You still know that you are a child? Is a sword something a child can play with? If not, you might as well go back and play in the mud. ”

Hearing this, Qin Chuan felt a burst of anger, opened his hand, pouted and said to the blacksmith, "Give me back two gold?" I don't buy swords anymore. ”

"That's not good, I'm ready to give you the shop to forge a sword, it's your business whether to use it or not, but don't want to go back to gold." The big man crossed his arms without the slightest hint of guilt.

Qin Chuan felt an urge to kill in his heart, but when he looked at the comparison of his strength value with that of the blacksmith, he suddenly felt like a deflated balloon. Sighing, dejected to the shop, only to find that the shop has all the big and small tools, after looking for a long time, finally found a hammer that can be moved, picked up the iron bar in the water, and was about to start beating.

"Don't move, it's not for you, be careful if you break the iron bar and you will pay for it." The blacksmith snatched the iron bar from Qin Chuan's hand, put it aside, and stretched out his hand to point to a black stone in the corner.

"Your sword with this stone." The blacksmith said to Qin Chuan with a smile.

Qin Chuan also saw the stone, which was probably bigger than his head, black and not slippery, and it was covered with a layer of dust. No matter how you look at it, you can't tell that this broken stone can be made into a sword? The blacksmith of the pit people, he will not coax me with that stone at will, Qin Chuan thought in his heart, remembering the style of the blacksmith just now, and suddenly decided in his heart that the blacksmith was a liar.

"I don't strike iron." Qin Chuan turned his head and said to the blacksmith standing at the door.

"I will, how about I teach you how to strike iron? In fact, don't be discouraged, one of these two pieces of gold is used to buy this stone, and the other piece should be used to teach you to pay for iron. The blacksmith explained to Qin Chuan with a smile on his face.

Qin Chuan was in no mood to pay attention to the blacksmith anymore, squatting on the ground and looking at the charcoal fire inside the stove.

The blacksmith also squatted down and said seriously: "Boy, don't be dissatisfied, my craft is ancestral, how many people sent me gold in the first place, let me point them out, I will take the gold and drive them away, if you can learn two or three points of my craft, not to mention anything else, the beauties in the world are up to you, and you don't lose money on this piece of gold." ”

The blacksmith's words really sprinkled a handful of salt on the wound in Qin Chuan's heart.

The wood is already in the boat, even if you feel sorry for the gold, you will not come back. With a heartbeat, he raised his head to the blacksmith and asked, "How long will it take me to forge the sword?" ”

The blacksmith didn't answer immediately, looked Qin Chuan up and down, sighed a few times in his mouth, and then said to Qin Chuan: "Ordinary people can only get started in three or five years, and they will be able to forge independently in another seven or eight years." ”

"You give me back the gold." Qin Chuan said with a face full of grievances.

"Don't cry, don't cry, I'm talking about ordinary people, with your qualifications, you can get started in three or five years at most, or one or two years at least, plus my help, at most one to one and a half years, this sword will definitely succeed." The blacksmith swore by it.

Hearing it for about a year, Qin Chuan breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, stood up, bowed to the blacksmith and said, "Then Uncle Lao will teach me to strike iron." ”

The blacksmith nodded secretly when he saw Qin Chuandu's movements, and said unceremoniously: "Hurry up and get out, come to my shop tomorrow and start learning to make iron." ”

After Qin Chuan said goodbye to the blacksmith, he walked towards the Guogong Mansion. The more I thought about it on the road, the more angry I became, I didn't buy the sword, but I lost two pieces of gold, thinking of this, Qin Chuan's heart hurt again. I only thought about learning more from the blacksmith to make up for the loss of two golds.

The blacksmith was also relieved to see Qin Chuan leaving, touched the two pieces of gold in his arms, and a smile appeared on his face.

"You can drink Qin wine and eat bitter vegetables again, it makes people drool when you think about it, no, let's go buy two pots to satisfy your hunger." The blacksmith took off his apron and strode towards the tavern.

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Li Yangcheng, in the Guogong Mansion, Qin Guogong frowned, and looked at the bamboo slips that Wei Ying had handed over, and the content on them turned out to be to postpone the time for the next change.

"Why do you want to delay the start of the reform?" Qin Guogong never understood Wei Ying's intentions.

Wei Ying stood in front of the Duke of Qin, and after bowing his hand, he began to explain: "The next step of changing the law is related to the foundation of the country, and it needs to be cautious, and the Wei State has stopped the conquest of the Zhao State for some reason, and the ministers believe that the time to change the law has not come, so they want to postpone it for a while." ”

Qin Guogong nodded and motioned for Wei Ying to continue.

"Your Majesty, this change is bound to cause dissatisfaction among many ministers and nobles, so when Wei and Zhao start fighting, our Qin State can take advantage of the empty army of Wei to send troops to conscript, and it will be difficult for Wei to take care of the beginning and tail at that time, and my Great Qin State can take advantage of this time to recover the land west of Hexi in one fell swoop, which is one of them; When the Qin army attacked Wei, all families needed to participate in the war, and if the law reform was implemented at that time, it would definitely get twice the result with half the effort. This is also the second. ”

After listening to Wei Ying's words, Qin Guogong's heart suddenly became hot, recovering the land west of the river, that is a wish that he has dreamed of, since he can kill two birds with one stone, it doesn't hurt to delay it for a while.

"Da Liangzao is really far-sighted, and it is better to be far away." Qin Guogong said sincerely. Then he ordered the guards to serve wine and food, and began to drink bitterly with Wei Ying, and the hearty laughter of Qin Guogong sounded in the hall from time to time.