The tone of the outsider made the housekeeper feel cold, and he hurriedly said, "Yes, little fool." ”

Yang Yuanwai was silent again.

The pressure of this silence made Steward Yang's forehead sweat.

After a while, Yang Yuanwai spoke again, "It's no wonder you, who would have thought that Chen Er could make a group of half-sized people who don't know anything create a magic weapon that can be called a treasure knife in just three or four months?" ”

"Tell me, in our shop, the master takes the apprentice, even if the apprentice is his own son and teaches with his heart without concealment, it will take two years to make a good knife, how did Chen Er do it? It doesn't make sense! ”

"If I had known that Chen Xian had this ability, I would have taken him down a long time ago."

"The first time he came to offer a knife that day, I heard that he could only make one in more than half a month, so he didn't take it seriously, more than 200 times a year, how can it be worth my thoughts?"

"He said that when he brought those apprentices out, he would be able to produce ten handfuls a month, I thought that if he wanted to bring out so many apprentices, how could it take three or five years, who knows, he would bring them out in three or five months, and he would soon produce thirty handfuls a month!"

"If I had known this, how could this Tang knife business be known to everyone?"

"If I had imprisoned Chen Xian three months ago and forced him to hand over the sword forging technique, I would have no choice but to do it, but now, Tang Dao has become famous, if I take someone at this time, I will force the Bai family to turn against me! With nearly seven or eight thousand businesses a year, who dares not to fight? If Chen Xian is imprisoned at this time, not only will the Bai family immediately tear their faces, but I am afraid that the Bai family, Tang family, Li family, and Xu family of Xizhuangzi and Tangjiazhuang will also be unable to sit still. ”

After listening to Yang Yuanwai's complaint, Steward Yang's heart that almost popped out of his throat suddenly went back again, and he hurriedly admitted his mistake and said: "Yes, little fool, I can't think of this." ”

"That'...... So let's just forget it? ”

Yang Yuanwai turned his head and glared at him, "Hey! Never mind? This year's seven or eight thousand yuan of business, if it falls into the hands of the Bai family, will this Dongzhuangzi still have a way for our Yang family to live? What about turning the face, even if you press the Yang family, this business will be earned, and if you win, our Yang family will trample the Bai family under your feet, and it will be just around the corner, even if you can't win, you would rather ruin this business than fall into the hands of others! ”

Steward Yang hurriedly agreed: "Yes, I heard the report of Mother Wu in the Chen family's workshop, Bai Anfu of the Bai family came to see Chen Er a few days ago, and it happened that Chen Er went to Linqu to look for relatives, but he didn't see ...... I'm afraid that the Bai family is about to do it. ”

When Yang Yuanwai heard this, he glared at Steward Yang fiercely, and said angrily: "Why didn't you say it earlier!" ”

After scolding, he didn't care about continuing to investigate, and instructed Steward Yang: "You asked Yonghu to come to the mansion tomorrow to discuss this matter." ”

Yang Yonghu is Yang Yuanwai's uncle and cousin, and one of the two heads of the Yang family's military village.

Steward Yang hurriedly said, "Yes." ”

At this point, he could no longer care about the benefits of the knife.

However, in the evening, this matter took a turn for the better, and news came from the shop of the Yang family's military village that Yang Xiaoyi finally stole back the quenching method that Chen Xian had been secret, and sure enough, there was a way.

Early the next morning, Yang Yuanwai came to the military village, he walked into the blacksmith workshop, saw the blacksmith kneeling on the ground, and the hope in his heart suddenly came to naught, and he immediately became angry, gritted his teeth and said: "Say!" ”

The old blacksmith at the head said tremblingly: "The Tang knife forged according to the method they learned from Xiao Yi, and then used the covering and quenching method brought back by Xiao Yi, and the iron bar is still smelted, but it is ......."

"But what!"

"However, we tried to forge the knife with the ordinary method, and then quenched it with this covering method, although the knife from the quenching place is not as good as the Tang knife, but it is much better than the ordinary knife."

Hearing this, Yang Yuanwai's anger calmed down a lot, and said, "Take it!" ”

The old blacksmith hurriedly turned around and took a knife from the shelf in the corner of the wall, and handed it to Yang Yuanwai with both hands.

Yang Yuanwai took the knife and observed for a moment, and then placed a stack of copper coins on the wooden bench and slashed at the copper coins with a knife.

A stack of ten copper coins was cut open by five pieces, and looking at the blades, the damage was very small.

Yang Yuanwai nodded, "It's not like nothing this time,...... What is the name of this covering and quenching? ”

The old blacksmith said: "Quenching with this covering soil can make the red iron directly into the water without cracking, and after quenching, the blade steel fire is excellent." If there is no covering soil, the red iron can not be immediately into the water, otherwise it is very easy to burst, you need to wait for the iron color to be slightly darker, you can enter the water to quench it (pre-cooling quenching), the quenched steel fire, not as good as covering the soil. ”

Hearing this, Yang Yuanwai nodded, and said: "In other words, this covering and quenching is the secret of the extremely sharp Chen Tang knife, but it is not the whole secret. ”

The old blacksmith said: "Exactly, the old man guesses that the real secret of the Tang knife must be in the steel." ”

"Oh, tell me about it."

"I waited according to Chen Er's method, forging it without any mistakes, trial and error, and finally got a piece of wrought iron, I repeatedly asked Xiao Yi a few people, the forging process in Chen's shop, in addition to quenching, Chen Er never interfered, the old man thought about it, and the place where he could do his hands and feet was only steel."

Yang Yuanwai nodded and said, "It makes sense, then you can try a few more steels, and you can always find out." ”

The old blacksmith smiled bitterly: "I have tried, whether it is steel filling, group steel, or even wrought iron, I have tried it, and the result is the same." ”

Yang Yuanwai asked rhetorically: "Why don't you try pig iron?" ”

The old blacksmith was stunned for a moment before returning: "Outside the staff, this pig iron is too brittle, it will break when it is sold, and it cannot be forged." ”

(If Chen Xian was present at this time and listened to the conversation between the two, I am afraid that he would be shocked into a cold sweat.) ）

(In fact, the technology of annealing pig iron into malleable iron, the Chinese had mastered it in the Han Dynasty, and it was called hundred steels at that time, but after the invention of the more mature steel frying technology, the inefficient pig iron hundred refining technology was gradually discarded and finally lost.) Although the Song Dynasty still had the saying that 100 steels were made, it mostly referred to the technology of folding and forging finished steel such as steel filling to make the carbon content of the steel more uniform. ）

Yang Yuanwai nodded suddenly, perhaps because the craftsmen had finally made some progress, he seemed a lot kinder, encouraged everyone a few words, and planned to leave.

The old blacksmith seemed to remember something, and hurriedly called Yang Yuanwai, "Grandfather, the old man was confused, he almost forgot the big thing, yesterday Xiao Yi came back and said something, he said that Bai Anfu visited that Chen Er yesterday." ”

Hearing the old blacksmith's words, Yang Yuanwai didn't seem surprised, nodded his head, and said, "Got it." With that, he walked out of the blacksmith's workshop.

After Yang Yuan went out to the blacksmith workshop, he left the military village directly.

On the way back, Yang Yuanwai walked very slowly, as if thinking about things, and the accompanying Yang housekeeper and several generals followed Yang Yuanwai quietly, not daring to disturb.