Li Xuanba and Mingyu returned home from the mountain, and after dinner, Xuanba called Li Mingyu, who was playing with Xiao Hei. He instructed him, "Go and wash the bamboo I brought back from the mountain in the afternoon, remove the excess branches, pinch the head and tail off, keep only the middle part of the thickness evenly, and then cut it with a knife to a length of six feet." ”

Li Mingyu was inexplicable and asked, "Master, what are we going to do here?" Six feet long, don't you want to make a bamboo bed? ”

"Less nonsense, work faster! I'll give you an eye-opener later. Li Xuanba also got up and took out a horizontal knife from the house, wiped it repeatedly with a clean white cloth, and replied without raising his head.

Without much effort, more than a dozen bamboos have been made according to the master's requirements, Li Xuanba put down the knife, walked over and picked and picked, don't have scars on the bamboo pipes, don't have insects, don't have uneven bamboo joints, and under the repeated selection of more than a dozen bamboos, only three of them have to be used.

Li Xuanba set up the bamboo pipe like chopping wood, and then said to Xuanba, "Boy, you are optimistic. Then, drawing the knife in his hand, he took a deep breath, his wrist shook, and a piece of knife light appeared, like a piece of knife lotus, and slashed at the head of the bamboo pipe.

In the Tang Dynasty, one foot is 30.7 centimeters long, and the six-foot-long bamboo pipe is just equivalent to the height of a strong adult. Li Xuanba's knife slashed from top to bottom, and after a knife shadow, the bamboo with the thickness of duck eggs was split into bamboo strips with chopsticks thick, Li Mingyu could see clearly, those bamboo strips were even and uniform in thickness, and the score was exactly the same! Master Xindao's sword technique is superb, if this is split into people, it will be repaid? Isn't it a slice of human flesh?

I saw Li Xuanba nodded, as if he was very satisfied with the effect of his sword technique, and asked proudly, "Boy, can you see how many knives I made in an instant just now?" ”

Rao is Li Mingyu's eyesight is not comparable to ordinary people, and he didn't see how many knife shadows there were at that moment, he thought about it and replied, "Master just cut thirteen or fourteen knives?" ”

Li Xuanba was proud in his heart and replied, "It's eighteen knives!" Boy, do you remember that I told you that when you can cut off the bamboo the thickness of your arm with a single sword, your knife skills are considered small! And what I just showed is the effect after the completion of the knife technique, and the power is sent and received from the heart. I've taught you before, the use of power, and now it's the mastery of power! Look closer! Then Li Xuanba successively concocted the remaining two bamboo pipes in the same way and cut them into evenly sized bamboo strips.

After Li Mingyu listened to what the master said, he watched carefully with all his attention, only to find that as the master said, eighteen knives, and indeed a lot of knives!

Over there, Li Xuanba put away the bamboo strips scattered all over the place one by one, carefully checked them again, and after confirming that each one was of uniform thickness, he said to Li Mingyu, "There are several large barrels of tung oil in the house, you go and move them." ”

Li Mingyu brought a few barrels of tung oil, and when he saw the master holding the pile of bamboo strips, standing next to the big urn where he had taken a bath before, when he saw Mingyu coming, Li Xuanba ordered again, "Pour the tung oil into the big urn." ”

Li Mingyu asked, "Master, is it going to give me a bath with tung oil in the future?" What kind of routine is this? ”

Li Xuanba replied, "Now that you have built the foundation, you don't need to take a bath anymore." I have other uses for this big urn, hurry up and fill it up! ”

After Mingyu did what he said, Li Xuanba put the bamboo strips one by one into a large urn filled with tung oil to soak, and then sealed the lid.

Li Mingyu looked at it inexplicably from the side, what is Master Xindao going to do? It's splitting bamboo strips again, and it's soaked in tung oil, do you want to weave bamboo baskets? Isn't that what Lao Yang in the village is doing? Ask him if he can buy two? Yes! Do you want to make a skewer of lamb? But how big is a five-foot kebab to grill? Master is really a foodie! It takes so much effort to eat mutton skewers, but I also love to eat them, so I'll show you a hand in the future!

The next day, Li Mingyu was still the same as usual, standing on the pile every morning, being trained by the master in the afternoon, and then going up the mountain alone to practice knives for an hour. After more than ten days like this, Li Mingyu thought that the bamboo skewers should be almost soaked, so he asked Li Xuanba, "Master, should the bamboo skewers be soaked?" When are we going to eat lamb kebabs? ”

"What lamb kebabs?" Li Xuanba was inexplicably asked by him.

"Just a while ago, didn't you split bamboo strips and soak tung oil, didn't you make bamboo skewers?" Li Mingyu replied with an expression on his face that I already knew the truth.

Li Xuanba asked him with black lines, and raised his hand to give him a burst chestnut, "You foodie!" Just know how to eat! This is for you to practice martial arts! ”

Li Mingyu said strangely, "Give it to me?" Martial arts practice? Master, do you really want to make a bamboo basket? Isn't it enough to find Lao Yang? ”

"Humph! Don't ask, you'll know! Li Xuanba didn't bother to pay attention to him, and said in his heart, if I didn't do it for you stinky boy, as for spending so much effort to get this.

"How long will it take to find out?" Mingyu was really curious in his heart, and hurriedly asked.

Li Xuanba thought for a while and replied, "Early, you have to soak tung oil for about a year first, and then use it until the bamboo does not crack and deform." ”

Li Mingyu saw that the master was mysteriously unwilling to speak, and although he was curious, he had to give up.

After a long time, he forgot that there was such a thing. Every day, I just practiced martial arts according to Master's requirements. Li Xuanba's requirements for him have gradually increased, and the practice every afternoon is constantly increasing the difficulty for him.

The fifty sandbags gradually increased to eighty, and then to a hundred, at first one hand threw him, and then gradually increased to both hands, and now he threw them like beads with both hands. The flat stick gradually lengthened, and when it reached a certain length, it began to grow again, and now the stick had to be tied to both ends of a pound of stones.

said that on this day, Li Mingyu went up the mountain alone to practice the knife, although the knife was only more than a foot long, which was just right for his height to wield, but the blade was straight, the same as the horizontal knife.

Although I have practiced for more than a month, I still feel that it is not very smooth, because the blade of the knife is straight, the center of gravity is evenly distributed throughout the knife, and there is no such hearty feeling when swinging. Every day, my little hands were blistered with the handle of the knife, and I had to wrap my hands in a white cloth.

Li Mingyu was sweating profusely from practicing the knife just now, and his clothes were soaked, he saw that he hadn't had enough time to practice today, and the blisters in his little hands were worn out again, and blood seeped out through the white cloth. I lamented in my heart, this knife is so difficult to use! Although the weight is balanced and easy to control, it is inconvenient to cut without curvature.

Wait a minute? Incise? Radian? Li Mingyu suddenly slapped his head and shouted, "Oops! "I thought I'd be such a fool! In vain, I'm still a traverser, I've been here for so many years, and I haven't "invented" anything really useful, which is really a shame for the traversing army!

A straight knife is not good for chopping, so why don't I "invent" a scimitar to come out? Think of the Damascus scimitar, the Japanese samurai, and the Malayklis, which are known as the three world-famous swords in later generations, but they are all scimitars with curves. The center of gravity of the scimitar is tilted forward, making it easy to swing and cut. The knife of the Song Dynasty, the Mongolian knife of the Yuan Dynasty, the Yanling knife of the Ming Dynasty, the waist knife of the Qing Dynasty and the cavalry knife of later generations are not all curved!

The more Mingyu thought about it, the more excited he became, at the moment, the knife was no longer practiced, he found a piece of bamboo on the ground, cut it with a knife in three or two times, and sharpened it into a bamboo knife according to the shape of the cavalry knife of later generations. After playing it twice, he felt quite comfortable, and slashed twice at the bamboo leaf, and broke it off at the right time, Mingyu was satisfied, and then rushed to find the master to show off.

Over there, Li Xuanba was taking a nap on the recliner "invented" by Mingyu in the courtyard with his eyes closed, Li Mingyu trotted in and said to him, "Master!" Master, I'll show you something good! It's definitely a magic weapon! This is what I suddenly felt and realized when I practiced the knife today! The tone was very proud, and Mingyu was very sure in his heart, after all, this knife shape system was gradually formed after thousands of years of development and thousands of years of war tests. With that, he handed the bamboo knife in front of Li Xuanba.

Li Xuanba was woken up by him, and after listening to what he said, he raised his head and glanced at the bamboo knife that Mingyu had offered, but he didn't take the knife, and said with a sneer, "It turned out to be a scimitar used by Hu Ren, I really think it's something amazing!" With that, close your eyelids and get ready to continue sleeping.

Li Mingyu felt that the master must have heard it wrong, thinking that the master still didn't understand the magic of this scimitar, so he patiently explained, "Master, take a good look at it again!" This is a magic weapon! After that, he slashed twice with his hand, and said, "Master, you see, the tip of this knife is curved, and the blade is slightly curved, which is conducive to chopping." Every time I slash, the center of gravity leans forward, and the blade is arc-shaped, not only more labor-saving every time I slash, but also less resistance after cutting into the target, homeopathic can be cut, from the entry point to the entire tip of the knife can be added to the cutting, increasing the wound area! This is not comparable to a straight knife! The straight knife is only effective when the slash is in contact, and the cutting effect is not obvious! ”

Li Xuanba didn't react much after hearing this, he didn't even raise his eyelids, and said impatiently, "Oh, I know!" Have you ever practiced for an hour today? ”

Li Mingyu saw that the master was not as surprised as he expected, and wondered in his heart, didn't the master wake up? He asked, "Master, have you ever understood what I just said?" ”

Li Xuanba ignored him, and still asked, "Is there enough time to practice the knife today?" ”

Mingyu was helpless, and rushed over to offer the treasure, as if the master was in a bad mood, so he replied, "It's not enough, I'll make up for it." ”

Li Xuanba said "um" and stopped talking.

Over there, Mingyu still didn't give up, and asked carefully, "Then Master, this scimitar?" Shall I switch to this scimitar in the future? ”

Who knew that Li Xuanba, who was going to continue to make up for sleep, turned over and sat up, raised his hand and gave him another burst, and said angrily, "Who let you use this broken knife!" Who can you hack to death on the battlefield! This kind of broken knife can only be used by beards who can't afford to wear iron armor! ”

Li Mingyu saw that Master was so unreasonable, why didn't he adopt a better and more advanced design, but instead held on to the tradition, he was also annoyed in his heart, and said hatefully, "Master, didn't you hear what I just said?" The scimitar is significantly better at chopping and cutting, causing bigger wounds! ”

After Li Xuanba heard what he said, he sneered twice, and said, "Stinky boy, you're still not convinced, are you?" Well, today I will let you understand the truth. It's also a shame that you hold a broken knife as a baby all day long, and you will lose my face when you pass it out! ”

After that, Li Xuanba turned around and walked out of the yard, and after a while, he came back with a fan of pork, and then he nodded and called Mingyu over.

Li Mingyu was still unconvinced, walked over with his neck stalked, and said angrily, "If the master can't say something today, forgive the apprentice for not being convinced!" ”

Li Xuanba didn't pay attention to him, and casually found a piece of bamboo in the courtyard, which was also sharpened into a bamboo knife, but the style was the same as the horizontal knife.

Then Li Xuanba pointed to the pork on the table and said to Li Mingyu, "Use the scimitar in your hand and my bamboo knife to cut the pork hard." ”

After Ming Yu did as he said, he saw that as he expected, the scimitar in his hand cut out a significantly larger and longer wound. And the straight knife made by Master Xuanba cut out the wound was only two fingers long, less than one-third of what he cut with his scimitar!

Li Mingyu was very proud in his heart, raised his head and looked at the master, raised his eyebrows, motioned for the master to watch, and said in his heart, I have a scientific basis for this, what do you know about the soil bun more than a thousand years ago?

Li Xuanba knew such a result, and sneered, "Measure the depth of the wound!" ”

Mingyu stretched out his finger to measure, and the wound cut by the straight knife made by the master was three fingers deep, almost breaking the flesh and cutting the bone! And the depth of the wound cut by his scimitar is only less than a finger, although it is limited by the bamboo material, but it is indeed worthy of only cutting through the thick pigskin!

"How can this be ........?" Li Mingyu was a little dumbfounded, he had the experience of being in the army in his previous life, but he didn't understand it at this time, the wound was big, although it looked terrifying, but it was not deep enough, and the destructive power might not be strong. The wound is deep enough, and if it hits a person, it can break the skin and flesh and hurt the internal organs and bones, and a single knife can seriously injure people!

At this time, Li Xuanba said: "Why don't you look down on your broken knife? You can also see the effect, if you just cut people, of course it is very sharp with a scimitar, which is conducive to cutting, and the wound is also long. But on the battlefield, the two armies are facing each other, which enemy is not covered in iron armor? If you use this scimitar to cut through the enemy's armor with one slash, then wait for death! ”

After that, Li Xuanba reached out and took the straight knife he made, and said, "And this straight knife is different!" The blade is straight, the center of gravity is balanced, it is easy to grasp, and it can be stabbed and chopped. A single slash can break through the enemy's armor, and the wound is deep and the bone is visible! The horizontal knife we use now is the ring-headed knife born from the strong man, and it is the knife used on the battlefield! Even if the enemy is wrapped in iron armor, you can cut through the enemy's armor and cause casualties! On the battle array, the first thing is to be able to break the armor, otherwise no matter how sharp your knife is, it is useless to cut other people's armor! ”