"That's it! All right! Get up! You deserve it, don't thank me! Zhao Jie smiled and continued, "Take me to see the Horse Slashing Giant Sword!" ”

Zhao Qidou stood up and took Zhao Jie to another room in the warehouse, which was similar to the previous room, and the air in the room was also filled with a solemn atmosphere.

"Your Highness, the production of this horse slashing giant sword is more difficult than that of a horse lance, and the number of finished products is not large now, and it only takes many years to make 30 qualified products." Zhao Qidou took a glittering sword and handed it to Zhao Jiedao.

Zhao Jie took the weapon that was more than two meters long, looked at it slightly, and then said suspiciously: "The sword is two-edged, and this weapon only has one edge, and its shape is similar to a knife, it seems that this is not a sword." ”

Zhao Qidou nodded when he heard this, and then explained: "Your Highness's orders should naturally be followed, but the craftsmen have tried all the methods they can think of, but they have always been unable to make a horse slashing giant sword that meets the requirements, and the biggest problem is that the hardness of the blade is pointed to. ”

Zhao Qidou pointed to the broken knife in the corner of the room, and continued with a somewhat gloomy expression: "Those are some waste products that have not been disposed of in time. Later, Zhuo's craftsmen joined the workshop, and they proposed to use the same technique of making cavalry swords to develop weapons that met His Highness's requirements, and we took their advice when there was no way out. “

"The Zhuo clan is responsible for the production of some of the weapons of our Zhao State cavalry troops, it is not surprising that they can make such a suggestion!" Zhao Jie glanced at it carefully, and then comforted: "You don't have to be arrogant. ”

Zhao Qidou was stunned when he heard this, and then pointed to the horse cutting giant sword at the highest place and continued: "With the help of the Zhuo clan, the craftsmen created a giant knife based on the riding knife, and the effect was remarkable after the actual test, but the blade that touched the horse bone directly appeared due to the violent impact and a small gap did not affect the reuse of the weapon. After countless times of heating, burning, and forging, the blade of the giant knife became sharper and sharper, the blade became stronger and stronger, and the chopping effect was getting better and better. Although he was actually a sword, craftsmen still privately referred to it as a greatsword to commemorate its original idea. ”

"How long does it take to make a handful, and what is the yield rate?" Zhao Jie asked with concern.

Zhao Qidou's face was entangled, and then he replied: "It takes at least hundreds of heating and forging strikes to make a qualified horse cutting giant sword, and five or six craftsmen work in shifts all day and night to build it for four or five days to make one, and at least one of every three finished products is unqualified, and it needs to be refined." Nowadays, about 5 to 10 finished products can be put into storage every ten years."

"It's too inefficient, so you have to gather a lot of craftsmen to study it and think about what else you can do to reduce the amount of waste." Zhao Jie thought for a while, and then said: "In addition, double or triple the expansion of the existing workshop, and find a time to go to my house to receive funds." ”

"No!" Zhao Qidou responded, and then frowned and said: "The matter of wealth is easy to handle, but this Pingcheng is located in the north, and the population is scarce, and I am afraid that there will be a shortage of skilled wrought iron craftsmen." ”

"This matter is difficult, and there is nothing to be done about it, so you will recruit the people, bring the old with the new, and encourage it!" Zhao Jie replied helplessly after thinking for a while.

"Do your best." Zhao Qidou looked a little sad, but he still continued happily: "There is still something to report to Your Highness: now the raw materials of the ironware workshop are all sourced from Handan, which is hundreds of miles away, and the road is far away and the bandits along the road block the road, and there are a lot of losses. ”

Zhao Jie replied lightly: "Hold on for a while!" Lone has sent people into the land of the Huns to look for iron ore, maybe there will be news in the near future! ”

Zhao Jie never expected that the "not day" in his mouth would eventually increase to two years. It was not until two years later that the people sent to the land of Hetao found iron ore in the site of Baotou in the later generations.

After visiting the craftsmen in the workshop, it was time to leave. Before leaving, Zhao Jie instructed Zhao Qidou:

"Remember to send qualified horse lances and horse slashing giant swords to my house in the past few days."

"Obey Your Highness's orders!" Zhao Qidou gave up his hand and took the order, and his demeanor was humble.

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On a spring day, the sun was shining, and the warm light was shining in the shops on both sides of the road, and the shopkeeper in his forties and fifties sat on the counter by the door with a tired look, squinting his eyes and looking out onto the road.

"Xu Dalang, how do you sell the swords in your store?" An elderly man in his fifties and sixties walked into the shop and shouted loudly.

Shopkeeper Xu Dalang glanced at the visitor, and said with concern: "Old Yang, you old arms and legs, what are you doing to buy a sword?" Now that the life is peaceful, don't you enjoy the happiness well, take the opportunity to live in your old age, do you want to buy a sword and fool around? ”

Old man Yang glanced at Shopkeeper Xu and responded lightly: "We have been neighbors for more than ten years, am I the kind of person who doesn't know what to do and messes around all day long in your heart?" I didn't buy this sword for myself, but for my little grandson. ”

Shopkeeper Xu asked in surprise: "I remember that your grandson is only eight years old this year!" Wouldn't it be too early to let him practice swords at such a young age! ”

Old man Yang shook his head and said, "Not early, I heard that the children of the generals over there in Handan generally start to get involved in military affairs at the age of six or seven. ”

"But those are the sons of generals, they were born to be the palanquin of the sky, and our descendants are generally only centurions and thousand-necked people at most. Besides, martial arts training is a very hard thing, is your grandson willing to work hard? ”

"What you said is not right, wealth is always taken from danger, there is no huge pay, where is the glory. Look at the old man Chen across the street, since his sixteen-year-old grandson joined the army, his life has instantly become richer, and the county has ordered the adults to send land, money, and grain, and also specially sent people to help him sow and harvest, which can be described as a very good thing. I heard the grandson of Old Man Chen say that the county magistrate promised them that if they died in battle, their fathers and elders would be supported by the government until they were old, their wives and children would be sent to Handan to receive the best education, and their names would be entered into the Baozhong Temple run by the government to receive incense for ten thousand years. ”

"The county magistrate's handwriting is really big!" Shopkeeper Xu couldn't help but admire: "It's just that he has the ability to fulfill these promises?" ”。