A good banquet, because of Yang Yi's provocation, finally lost the peaceful atmosphere it should have, barely passed the three rounds of wine, and the dishes passed the five flavors, and finally ended hastily.

During this period, Zhuge Liang also tried to alleviate the contradiction between Wei Yan and Yang Yi, but neither of them was a pot-bellied person, although the face of the military advisor had to be sold, and they also toasted each other in the middle, but in any case, the beam between each other was finally settled.

Seeing this, Zhuge Liang had no choice but to cry out in vain.

The next day was the day of separation.

On this day, General Jiang Wei led his team and escorted Si Jin Zhonglang's generals Zhang Yi, master craftsman Pu Yuan and nearly 100 blacksmiths to Chuyang, which was garrisoned by Ma Chao.

He is to implement the policy of pacifying Qiang, while Zhang Yi and Pu Yuan are to restart the official iron of Chuyang.

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty issued an edict in the fourth year of Yuanzhan (119 B.C.) to set up iron officials in 49 iron-producing counties across the country, responsible for iron smelting, production and sales of ironware.

Hanzhong Chuyang was originally one of the forty-nine official irons, but in the later Han Dynasty, Hanzhong was occupied by Zhang Lu, and the imperial court lost control of this official iron; Later, after the Battle of Hanzhong, Cao Cao moved all the soldiers and civilians in Hanzhong, and destroyed many important facilities before leaving.

This time, however, the imperial court finally freed up its hands and prepared to reset the official iron of Chuyang as a front-line base for casting weapons, military uniforms, and agricultural tools.

At the same time, Zhuge Liang will also lead the rest of his ministers to Chenggu County.

Where was Jiang Wan presiding over the rough distribution of 100,000 Jingzhou soldiers and civilians, and rushed to plant the first batch of grain this year.

And he will wait for Zhuge Liang's arrival with Guan Ping and the others to assist him in the next projects such as building cities and building water conservancy.

******

Nanzheng is only a hundred miles away from Chuyang, and it is all flat land, Jiang Wei led a team of about 200 people, starting from the morning, all the way non-stop, and it is expected to arrive in the evening.

But on the way to this trip, the master craftsman Pu Yuan kept staring at the divine knife "Lin Jia" on Jiang Wei's waist.

Jiang Wei knew that this knife was made by him, and he also knew that this person was the leading master craftsman in the Three Kingdoms period, and he had little to rely on in the future, so he gradually started to think about dating.

So when he was resting halfway, he took the initiative to approach Pu Yuan, untied the long knife at his waist and handed it up, and said with a smile:

"It is rumored that Pu Yuan in Shuzhong, is the resurrection of Ou Yezi, who once cast five thousand knives for the king of Hanzhong, including six outstanding ones. Speaking of which, I would like to thank Master Pu. ”

Pu Yuan hurriedly got up and took over the "Lin Jia", rubbed it carefully for a moment, hugged his fists and sighed: "The general has made outstanding achievements at a young age, and such a treasure knife is admired by the general, and the so-called treasure knife is matched with a hero." ”

After speaking, he handed back "Lin Jia".

Jiang Wei summoned Jiang Wu again, took off the spoils of the Battle of Yiling, Sun Quan's saber Bai Hongjian from his back, and presented it with both hands, and asked: "Master Pu is the master of the world, may I ask how this sword is in the opinion of the master craftsman?" ”

From the first moment Pu Yuan saw Bai Hongjian, he couldn't take his eyes off it.

But seeing him draw his sword out of its sheath, holding the four-foot sword body in his hand, from the tip of the sword to the spine of the sword, and then to the body of the sword, he looked at it carefully, and from time to time he stretched out his two fingers to flick it.

After playing for a long time, his eyes gradually blurred, and his face showed an intoxicated look, Fang Lian reluctantly looked away, and exclaimed:

"This sword is made of fine iron, it is made of thousands of hammers with the Dongwu Hundred Forging Technology, the sword body is smooth and straight, and there is no trace of impurities.

Jiang Wei said: "Isn't it possible to forge such a sword with the talent of a gentleman?" ”

Pu Yuan smiled and said, "It's not that it can't be cast, but it's that casting such a fastidious sword can't be done without two years of hard work, it's really time-consuming and labor-intensive." It must be known that the effort to cast such a sword is enough for Yuan to cast five hundred high-quality ring-headed knives. ”

Jiang Wei was speechless when he heard this.

There is a famous saying in later generations, called one penny for one penny, three cents for two cents, and ten for ten cents.

Pu Yuan's ring head long knife is a typical example of "three cents for two cents", and Bai Hongjian is a representative of "ten points for three cents".

In Jiang Wei's view, the sword is used for conquest in troubled times, and it is the king to be strong, durable, easy to repair, able to produce in large quantities, and able to replenish in time.

The Bai Hong Sword, which has been tempered for thousands of years, is certainly stronger than the Seventy-two Refining Ring Leader Long Sword in terms of individual performance, but if one is against five hundred, everyone knows that the one with the most will win.

This also reflects the attitude of the Han and Wu sides towards military equipment, most of the Han army is owned by the state, and the imperial court is willing to popularize high-quality weapons and armor without discrimination;

Eastern Wu was rich and could have provided better equipment for the army, but it was really because of the Wu army's military system, Sun Quan was unwilling to cheapen the ministers for nothing, and was only willing to spend a huge amount of money to provide the Chinese army with unusually sophisticated equipment.

Thinking of this, Jiang Wei couldn't help but think of the big rice given by Guan Yinping, and secretly smiled bitterly:

"My outfit is expensive, and I don't look like someone who came out to fight, it's more like a gentleman who came out to hunt......"

The two chatted a few more words about the sword, and Pu Yuan suddenly said: "On the way here, Yuan Zeng took Han water to check, but he felt that Han water was dull and weak, not as strong as Shujiang, so he didn't use it." I'm afraid that this casting knife will be difficult to achieve in Shu. ”

Jiang Wei thought for a while and said: "This year is to resume the production of official iron, and the quality is secondary, just do the quantity first." ”

After a pause, he smiled again: "And the Qiang people almost don't have an inch of armor, to deal with such an enemy, it is more than enough for our soldiers to have a ring-headed knife in their hands, and the master craftsman only casts it, the more the better." ”

******

There was no wind or rain along the way, and the brigade finally arrived safely in Chuyang at the scheduled time.

Outside the city, the two brothers Jin Ma Chao and Ma Dai, who had been absent for many years, led Yang Qian, Ke Shisan, Abu and other generals under their command, and they were already waiting here.

Jiang Wei didn't dare to hold it up, hurriedly turned over and dismounted, rushed forward, bowed down and hugged his fists and said: "How dare General Labor personally greet him!" ”

Ma Chao was still handsome in a brocade robe, but his face was even paler than when they separated last year.

He stretched out his arms to support Jiang Wei, looked up and down, smiled, and said:

"Good boy, doing such a big thing in Jingzhou! What a heroic boy! It's really a big fight for my Liangzhou man! ”

After all, Ma Chao is a senior who has been famous for many years, Jiang Wei didn't dare to be praised like this, so he was busy with a few humble words.

In between speaking, Ma Dai led Yang Wan and others to come forward to salute.

Jiang Wei and these people had fought side by side, not only familiar, but also exuding a cordiality. He laughed and hugged Yiyi to greet him, and introduced Mi Wei, Zhang Yi, Pu Yuan, Zhao Tong, Wei Rong, Pang Hong, and Liu Yin one by one.

Speaking of Wei Rong's entourage, it was because he offended Yang Yi at yesterday's banquet, and it was inconvenient to stay in Hanzhong for a long time. Jiang Wei had no choice but to take him with him, otherwise he would be sent back to Shuzhong immediately.

After all, they were all familiar partners along the way, and Wei Rong was not afraid that the journey would be lonely, and if he could still make some credit in the Battle of Pingqiang, he gladly agreed.

The men in the northwest are the most hearty, these people are Jiang Wei's friends, and they naturally regard them as their friends, so they are extremely enthusiastic. Therefore, the scene in front of him was very different from the bleak scene when Wei Yan greeted everyone yesterday and only paid attention to Zhuge Liang alone.

Yang Wan was even more decisive in giving full play to the characteristics of self-familiarity, pulling this to talk for a while, and pulling that introduction for a while, and he couldn't want to help Jiang Wei greet his good friends.

Seeing this, everyone was relieved, after all, they would have to work with these northwestern men for several months.

After the greetings, Ma Chao waved his hand and laughed loudly:

"Chao has prepared a banquet in the middle, please talk about it."

After speaking, just as he was about to turn around and lead the way, Jiang Wei quietly approached and said in a low voice:

"Wei Shen has the secret order of the king of Hanzhong, please choose a secret room after the general has arranged the entourage, and you and I will discuss it carefully."

"Secret order?"

When Ma Chao heard this, Huo Ran was shocked.