Chapter 038: Horizontal Knife

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The casting city of the patriotic country "Dangyin" has become a famous city in the world, and it has the reputation of "the soldiers of the four seas out of the yin", and now the patriotic Dangyin city and the Yiyang city controlled by the Qin State, these two famous casting cities are listed side by side in the world, and the weapons of the defense are widely installed in the armies of the seven countries.

The weapons produced from Dangyin City were sold to the countries through the hands of Wei Guo merchants, and the largest "customers" were Yan and Zhao, the iron weapons produced by Dangyin City not only brought endless financial income to Wei Guo, but also used these oil weapons to trade horses with Zhao and Yan.

Today's Dangyin City has gathered the best craftsmen in the world, and even the disciples of the Mo family and the people of the Gongyi family can gather here, thanks to the law of defending the country and Wei Zheng's meritocracy.

For some craftsmen, Weiguo is undoubtedly the holy place they dream of, and the scholars of the nations are full of contempt for those who tinker with "strange and skillful skills", but they can use their skills to obtain wealth and nobility in Weiguo.

Wei Guojun reused them, and Wei Zheng's famous saying that "there is a specialization in the art industry" was widely spread all over the world, how could these people not come one after another?

Dangyin City is also a heavily guarded place, and the number of permanent elite soldiers alone is maintained at 10,000. Soldiers, fierce weapons, how can Wei Zheng not pay attention to it? In later generations, Dangyin City was a typical important place integrating "military scientific research" and "military production", and it was a strategic place, which could be said to be the most advanced armament technology today.

Although Wei Zheng reuses these skilled craftsmen who serve the country, he is also extremely domineering, and once he enters the Yin City, he will not be able to use it for other countries for life, and anyone who runs away will be regarded as treason.

Of course, despite all the domineering, no craftsman has ever had an example of treason, after all, they can show what they have learned in the country, and it is impossible for them to obtain a meritorious title in other countries. It is the Qin State to rule with the Legalist family, but if you want to get its wealth, you can only get it through farming and war, and there is indeed a broader way to defend the country, some people can get a knight in business, some people can get a knight by working hard, and even give birth to many children, especially a commoner can give birth to more than three males, and can also get rewards from the local government and so on.

However, there is one thing that remains the same in the country, the fastest way to get rich and noble is still farming and fighting, and the warring states without war are tantamount to a fool's dream, and maintaining the belligerent nature cannot be changed, so if you want to get ahead faster in the country, it is to work hard to produce food and go to the battlefield to kill the enemy, and other ways may not be worth killing an enemy's head on the battlefield with half a lifetime of effort.

Let's talk about Wei Zheng's purpose for coming to Yin City this time.

Regarding the idea of "horizontal knife", Wei Zheng had set a goal as early as twenty years ago, but he did not know the "horizontal knife" production process, after all, he was not an all-rounder, "horizontal knife" represents the pinnacle of cold weapon sword technology, Wei Zheng knew that if he wanted to make the horizontal knife appear in advance in the Warring States Period after a thousand years, it meant that a complete set of mature new smelting processes was needed.

Wei Zheng didn't know much about the ancient smelting technology, and only described it in a few fragments, but he believed that as long as he told the best craftsmen in the world about these ambiguous ideas, they would definitely invent a set of mature smelting processes.

For technology, it is more important to give those craftsmen an inspiration, they may be able to open that door because of this, and this Wei Zheng can obviously do.

But I waited for twenty years.

The craftsman who presided over the production of the "horizontal knife" had a great background, and only entered the country fifteen years ago, and settled in Dangyin City to take over the task of Wei Zheng, this person is called Ou Changcheng, the reason why he has a great background is that his ancestor is the famous swordsmith Ou Yezi, and the Zhan Lu sword in the hands of Su Dai is from the hands of Ou Yezi.

At this time, Wei Zheng led a forbidden army guard to a sword-casting shop in the city, and as soon as he entered the sword shop, he suddenly felt hot and hot. When Ou Changcheng saw Wei Zheng, he hurriedly greeted him, and arched his hand and said, "The minister greets the king!" ”

"Excuse me, sir." Wei Zheng smiled and hugged Ou Changcheng, who wanted to make a big salute, and asked: "Ten days ago, Mr. Feixin Chaoge, and the widow came non-stop after receiving Mr.'s letter, how is it, the horizontal knife production is completed?" Take the knife and look at it with the widow. ”

Ou Changcheng was dressed in burlap clothes at the moment, his face was sweating like rain, and when he saw that the king not only did not dislike it, but also came to help him in person, he was greatly moved in his heart, and felt that the fifteen years of hard work and research were worth it. Hearing that Wei Zheng couldn't wait to ask for a sample of the horizontal knife, he hurriedly waved his hand at a craftsman in the sword shop.

In a few moments, a craftsman arrived with a never-before-seen weapon, which looked more like a sword from its slender scabbard, but was clearly not a sword, but a veritable horizontal sword.

Ou Changcheng took the horizontal knife and presented it to Wei Zheng's eyes with both hands: "Your Majesty is fortunate not to be dishonored, please take a look at my king." ”

Wei Zheng couldn't help but feel refreshed, Ou Changcheng looked very confident, it seems that the horizontal knife is going to be born in the Warring States Period. Wei Zheng immediately took the sample knife, held the handle of the knife and pulled out the sharp blade, only to hear a "zheng" sound.

The mirror-like blade air-conditioned Wei Zheng's surprised face, and the little cold light condensed on the blade seemed to be constantly flowing, adding to the sharp coolness.

Wei Zheng didn't say a word, turned around and made a gesture to Mu Han, the commander of the Praetorian Guards, who immediately understood his meaning and immediately pulled out the black iron sword hanging from his waist.

The sword in Mu Han's hand is also the main standing weapon of the current patriotic army, and has always been regarded as an elite weapon by the Seven Kingdoms.

At this time, Wei Zheng was holding a horizontal sword, and Mu Han was holding a black iron sword, and the two sharp blades met and struck under everyone's gaze.

I saw a spark flash at the moment when the swords struck, and the black iron sword in Mu Han's hand was actually cut off by a horizontal knife, Wei Zheng and the accompanying guards of the Forbidden Army were surprised, the black iron sword was a treasure weapon that sharpened iron like clay in their eyes, and the bronze sword was not vulnerable at all in front of the black iron sword, but it was the same as the bronze sword in front of this strange horizontal sword.

"Good knife-" Wei Zheng looked at the horizontal knife in his hand and said approvingly. In the era when cold weapons dominated the battlefield, Wei Zheng's pursuit of sword performance has always been endless, and if the soldiers of the country are equipped with horizontal swords, they will definitely have a greater advantage in the face of the Qin army.

Ou Changcheng on the side explained: "Your Majesty, this knife is made by Weichen to improve the steel filling method and create a new steel wrapping method, which is used to make knives from the raw materials of Suzhou......"

In the case that the six countries are mainly bronze weapons, Wei Zheng has supported Ou Changcheng to improve smelting technology at any cost for fifteen years, and Wei Guo has been ahead of the six countries for a whole era.

After Ou Changcheng's introduction, Wei Zheng learned that the pig iron melted by the new steel filling method that he had repeatedly tried thousands of times and finally determined, and fused it with the wrought iron sheet in the fan at high temperature, Wei Zheng also knew some common sense, so that he could obtain steel with a more suitable carbon content.

It turns out that the so-called steel-clad method is the first secret to create this high-quality horizontal knife, and Ou Changcheng's steel-clad method is to wrap the steel outside the wrought iron with better flexibility and forge it together.

The sword made of the clad steel method used by Ou Changcheng has a higher hardness than the black iron sword, and the lethality is naturally stronger, and the black iron sword is the best proof of this. At the same time, the horizontal knife is also more flexible, reducing the probability of damage to the sword.

In order to further strengthen the dual characteristics of the horizontal knife "rigidity and softness", just like the ancestor Ou Yezi's obsession with the pursuit of the ultimate, Ou Changcheng has studied a heat treatment process covering the soil burning blade, the covering soil burning blade is to coat the part other than the blade with a special concrete mixture material, and then heat and quench together with the horizontal knife, at the moment of quenching, the exposed blade is undoubtedly cooling fast, thus becoming harder, and the part covering the soil is slow to cool down, so that the knife body can maintain better toughness.

The sword is quenched as a whole, and with the soil burning method, the hardness of the blade can be strengthened only for the blade, and the back of the sword remains correspondingly flexible, so that the combination of rigidity and softness can be truly achieved.

"Sir has made great contributions to our country! The edict of the widow, Ou Chang has become a meritorious weapon for me to defend the country, and he has been specially promoted to the third level, the lord is the supreme doctor, and the reward is 5,000 gold and cloth! Wei Zheng looked at the horizontal knife in his hand and preached.

"Thank you for my king's grace!" Ou Changcheng was overjoyed, and immediately knelt down and thanked him. Wei Zheng put the knife into the sheath, and his eyes fell on Ou Changcheng: "Sir, if the widow devotes all the country's finesse to your disposal, how many horizontal knives can be produced in a year?" ”

"...... within a year" Ou Changcheng pondered silently, Wei Zheng was also very patient waiting, for a long time, Ou Changcheng bowed his hand, and then said: "My king, if you pour the power of the country's craftsmen, the minister can ensure that 30,000 horizontal knives are produced within a year." ”

"Thirty thousand......" Wei Zheng muttered, thirty thousand horizontal knives can only give thirty thousand soldiers a quota, Wei Zheng felt that it was a little less, and immediately said: "Fifty thousand!" To tell the truth, after the widow, I intend to raise troops to attack Qin, and I will not wait for time, and I must be handed over 50,000 horizontal knives when I cut down Qin. ”

Wei Zheng's tone was unquestionable, Ou Changcheng did not dare to object to the king's increase of 20,000 amounts, so he could only accept it under pressure: "The minister must do his best at any cost!" ”

Seeing Wei Zheng nodded with satisfaction, he said: "This matter is a great success, and Mr.'s achievements can be compared to thousands of troops." He raised his eyes and looked around at the craftsmen of the sword casting shop and said: "The widow will naturally not have a negative wait, and within a year, 50,000 horizontal swords will be produced, and all the craftsmen will be promoted to the first level immediately, and there is no joke." ”

When everyone heard this, they were overjoyed, and they kowtowed again and again: "Thank you, Wang Longenβ€”β€”! ”

With the king's promise, everyone had no strength to do so.

Wei Zheng hurriedly returned to Chaoge after inspecting Dangyin City, and the top priority at the moment was to call on the Three Jin Dynasty to join forces to attack Qin.

……