To the north of Woniu Village, there are endless hills, which belong to the branches of the Wuyi Mountains. Early in the morning, Qian Jin led a group of more than 20 people through these hills.

According to the description of the villagers, on the winter solstice of the year Qian Jin was born, a meteorite fell near Woniu Village, and the sound shook the sky. Qian Jin found a woodcutter as a guide and led a group of people to search in the mountains, hoping to find traces of this meteorite.

When it was almost noon, the woodcutter in charge of observation quickly climbed down from a mountain bag, ran to Qian Jin and said, "Master Qian, I found it, it is more than a mile to the west." ”

"Hmm. Everyone speed up a little faster, and eat lunch when they get to the place. Qian Jin shouted.

Half an hour later, the group finally came to the edge of a large circular pit. The area of this big pit is estimated to be more than five acres, and the edge of the pit has long been overgrown with weeds, and the middle is smooth.

Qian Jin slowly slid down the slope and finally found what he needed at the bottom of the pit - meteoric iron. Before he came, he was prepared for the worst. If it is a meteorite, it will be of little use to him, and it can only be left to future generations to study.

This time it was good luck. Looking at the size of this piece of meteoric iron, it is estimated that it weighs more than 200 catties, and the surface is bright silver, and it will take a lot of effort to get it back.

Qian Jin instructed everyone to bury the pot and make rice. Everyone was busy and made a big pot of broth, accompanied by cold rice brought from home, and it was quite comfortable.

After drinking to his heart's content, Qian Jin walked up to the meteorite iron, his heart was surging, and he muttered: "Brother Meteorite, I have finally found you, the culprit." Although it was definitely not you who smashed me back then, you were definitely one of your brothers and sisters. He took out a pot of wine and slowly poured it on top of the meteoric iron, not only to pay tribute to himself who had disappeared in another world, but also to announce the beginning of his new life.

After being silent for a long time, Qian Jin took a deep breath and ordered everyone to start work.

A burly man picked up a hammer and beckoned to the meteoric iron, only to hear the sound of gold and iron, but the meteorite was unharmed.

Qian Jin's face was happy, it seems that the purity of this piece of meteorite should be very high. The most important thing is that this meteorite is likely to be an iron-nickel alloy (1), and the nickel content is not low depending on the white flowers on the surface. According to Chen Guo's current smelting level, it is impossible to produce this alloy at all, so the value of this piece of meteorite is immeasurable.

The men took turns and smashed several sledgehammers, finally breaking the meteorite open. The group divided into several pieces and transported all these meteorite pieces back to Woniu Village.

……

The next day, Qian Jin led a villager to an ironmaking workshop in Guanhai City.

The workshop is in full swing. At a cursory glance, it is estimated that there are more than 1,000 people in the entire workshop. The first thing that caught Qian Jin's eye was a huge stove in the middle of the workshop, more than a foot high, and at this moment the roof of the furnace was rising with red firelight. Next to the stove is a row of wooden bellows, pulled by ox carts, whirring.

The time when the money came in was better, just in time for the molten iron to come out. I saw a middle-aged man knock the mud seal at the waist of the furnace, and red molten iron flowed out and flowed down the pipe into a square pool.

Next to the pool, several men were stirring quickly with wooden sticks, while another man was sprinkling mud into the pool. The molten iron in the pool slowly solidified with stirring. ②

Originally, Qian Jin wanted to go shopping, but a long-shirted guest in front of him intercepted his way and asked in a cold voice: "Who are you, and what are your intentions in my workshop?" ”

Qian Jin took out a hundred waist cards and threw them to him. The long-robed guest took it and looked at it carefully, then respectfully handed him back the hundred household waist cards, bowed down, and said, "The king of the grass people has wealth and is the steward of this workshop. I don't know what hundreds of households are doing in my workshop? ”

Qian Jin touched his nose and said with a smile: "Don't be nervous about Steward Wang. This official is here today to talk about some business. ”

That Wang Youcai was also an old sparrow, so he immediately put on a smiling face and said, "This is not a place to talk about things, please come with me." ”

Wang Youcai invited the money into a hall outside, served tea, and then stood in front of him respectfully, and asked carefully: "I don't know what business the hundred households want to discuss?" ”

Qian Jin couldn't help frowning slightly, he was not used to others dealing with him like a minion, so he said in a deep voice: "Steward Wang should sit and talk, so that it is convenient for you and me." ”

Wang Youcai hesitated for a moment, and finally sat down at the head of Qian Jin, but half of his buttocks were still exposed. Qian Jin didn't want to dwell on these red tapes anymore, so he let him go. He put the tea bowl on the table and said straight to the point: "This official came this time to ask you to help me make a few weapons. ”

When Wang Youcai heard this, he seemed to be much more relaxed. He used to see the money in his face, and thought that it was the newly appointed officer who came to ask for money. Seeing that Qian Jin was really here to talk about business, he immediately asked: "I don't know what weapon Baihu wants to build?" My workshop has been filed with the county government, and all kinds of weapons can be fired. ”

Qian Jin pulled out a piece of paper with a long knife and a dagger drawn on it.

The long knife was drawn by Qian Jin according to the style of the Miao knife, the knife is four feet long, and the handle is about one foot long. Because the blade is thinner and resembles a seedling, it is named Miao knife. This knife can be used with both hands and one hand, and the tip has a blood groove, which can be chopped and stabbed. The dagger was drawn by Qian Jin according to the shape of a modern military dagger, with a blade on one side and a saw on the other.

Wang Youcai took the drawings and studied them carefully, and asked Qian Jin one by one what specific requirements he had, and finally said: "Yu Baihu, this knife is not difficult to build, although the dagger will take some effort, it will not be difficult for me." ”

"Don't worry, Wang Guan in advance, let's take a look at the materials first."

After saying that, Qian Jin asked the villager to take out the meteorite iron from the basket one by one. This time, I only brought more than 30 catties of meteorite iron over. Qian Jin picked up a piece of meteorite iron and put it on the table, and asked, "Do you think this meteorite can still be used?" ”

Wang Youcai picked up the meteorite and took advantage of the sunlight to take a closer look, and his face became more and more solemn. After half a ring, his gaze reluctantly moved away from the meteorite and said, "Baihu, this is the best meteorite, it's just ...... It's a bit overkill to make swords. ”

"Oh? Steward Wang, what do you say? ”

"That's a long story. Take our workshop as an example, many delicate iron tools need to be polished with black iron (3), but black iron is easy to break and is not durable, so it will be very different if you replace it with this meteoric iron. The grass people dared to ask, how much meteorite is there in Baihu? ”

Qian Jin was noncommittal, and said in his heart that this thing was expensive, even if he exchanged a pound of gold for a pound of iron, he would not sell it. However, for those who don't know the goods, this meteorite is an iron lump, which can neither be eaten nor seen.

The two of them chatted and chatted. After inquiring, I found out that the workshop where Wang Youcai was located could produce more than 1,000 catties of iron a day, but it could only be regarded as a medium-sized workshop in Guangdong, and the large workshop could produce 3,000 catties of iron a day. Moreover, charcoal is mostly used in iron smelting in Guangdong, and the iron smelted is of high quality, which is relatively popular in Chenguo.

After some handover, Qian Jin put two taels of silver on the table and asked, "Steward Wang, this time you will help me fight two Miao knives and five daggers, do you think these silver taels and meteorite are enough?" ”

Wang Youcai hurriedly said that enough was enough. He immediately called in the craftsmen to arrange the construction. The two agreed to pick up the knife two days later.

……

After coming out of the iron-making workshop, Qian Jin invited Liu Hu and Wang Biao to the restaurant.

After the two of them sat down, Qian Jin poured a glass of water and wine for each of them, and after watching them finish drinking, he said, "Uncle Liu, Uncle Wang, you two have something to work hard again." ”

Liu Hu and the others were puzzled, and Qian Jin took out a warrant and handed it to them. Wang Biao was illiterate, so he handed the warrant to Liu Hu.

Qian Jin poured himself a glass of wine and drank it all, and said slowly: "Both of them are elders, so I'll make a long story short." It is an open secret that there is a lot of smuggling along the coast of our country. Now that Your Majesty has reimposed the sea ban, I am worried that the Japanese will cause chaos. But there is only a thousand days to be a thief, and there is no reason to prevent thieves for a thousand days. Now, the children and nephews of the hundred households are almost adults, and I wonder if I can gather them together to do something. ”

It turned out that after Qian Jin heard about the re-establishment of the sea ban in Linhai Mansion, he suggested to Xu Baolu that he set up an intelligence organization to detect the movements of pirates. Xu Baolu also agreed, so he issued a warrant to him, and asked Li Demao to contribute some silver taels for funds.

Liu Hu pondered for a while and asked, "I can summon this manpower, but I don't know how the virtuous nephew plans to operate?" ”

"Uncle Liu, don't worry, you just need to contact in the center. I have already told Li County Commander about this, and he will tell the local merchants to arrange for our people to go in. However, once the enemy situation is discovered, it must be transmitted back to Linhai Mansion immediately. I'm going to take the exam in a few days, and I'll have to work hard for Uncle Liu. ”

"Don't worry, nephew, a little thing, it's not a problem."

"Well, Uncle Liu checks more, try to pick some seedlings who can read and write, and have flexible minds, how many people...... That's all you need to get twenty people. ”

Concentrate:

(1) This article describes the method of frying steel.

(2) Iron-nickel alloy: nickel mainly plays a role in improving the comprehensive strength of the alloy without reducing the processing performance and toughness of the steel, and can prevent rust and corrosion. Since the carbon content of meteorite iron is very small, it may need to be carburized. I am not a professional, please correct.

(3) Ferro-tungsten: It is actually an early steel.