Today's era is the age of steel. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Iron and steel is the torrent beating in the veins called finance, the foundation of a country's prosperity, and the hot iron gushing out of the steelmaking furnace is a proof of the country's strength and social prosperity.

But if you turn back a thousand years, back to the time of the Middle Ages, it is difficult to say.

"You mean you mean that you don't know what cast iron is?"

This is a newly opened blacksmith's workshop, officially, with the sole ownership of the Earl of Don, and the workers are newly bought slaves, these slaves are qualified blacksmiths, each of whom has at least ten years of experience in blacksmithing - which means that they have all graduated from their apprenticeships and are ready to officially become teachers, but unfortunately, before they can start their own good life, perhaps because of war, or disease or famine, these fellows have to be sold into slavery, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, It was then sold to the Earl of Don Jr. by profit-seeking merchants in exchange for a 'right of first refusal'.

"My lord, with my thirty years of experience in striking iron, even in my hometown, there is only cast copper, and I have never heard of any cast iron."

The blacksmith slaves were shy, and finally a master, who was also the most expensive of the group and said to have the title of master, came forward to explain.

"Yes, Lord Count, I can prove that even in Milan or Greece, where iron-making is most developed, there is absolutely no iron-casting technique."

It was a merchant who spoke, that is, the legendary slave trader, who carried this group of blacksmiths across the vast ocean, from Italy all the way to Ireland, for this business he even sold his own shop, which can be said to be bloody, which will make him beat a drum in his heart, this earl should not want to make trouble, make up an inexplicable reason to pit me, and then swallow the 'goods' privately?

I have to say that what this merchant thinks is still very reasonable, after all, this is the war-torn Middle Ages, several merchants were robbed and killed on the road, and the 'goods' were floated, these are all common things, and many nobles made their fortunes in this way.

But fortunately, although Count Xiao Tang has been losing his temperance recently, he has not yet reached the step of killing people and selling goods, and this merchant is indeed quite satisfactory to him, and he sent the craftsmen he needs as soon as possible. With such a quick ability to act, Earl Tang also needs to set an example for other merchants, so that they can see the tangible benefits, so that they can work harder.

"Then forget it." Count Xiao Tang shook his head, and then said to the merchant: "According to our original conditions, a qualified blacksmith can exchange for honey of his same weight, and this master can exchange honey for three times his weight, right?"

"Yes, yes, that's right, Lord Count."

The merchant was overjoyed, and immediately replied that with this honey, he could ship it back from Ireland to Italy, and then sell it for ten times the price, and it was not a dream to get rich overnight!

"Well, Crane, you take him to the hive to receive the reward, and as for you-you, come with me first, you need to retrain."

The blacksmith slaves were shy again, training, the meaning of the word, probably learning, right? But to learn the art of striking iron with such a young man who has not grown all his hair? It's not that I look down on you, there are several slaves who show disdain, even now that they have been sold into slavery, their confidence in their craft is not erased because of this.

But in the same way, because they are now slaves, they also understand their identity, slaves are not qualified to quarrel with their masters, otherwise even if they are all 'valuable' people, but there are many means to make people's lives worse than death!

So the group of blacksmith slaves did not speak, and all followed Count Tang to the 'back room' of the blacksmith shop, and when the merchant saw this situation, he looked at Klein, who made a gesture of please, and walked out very interestingly, and no longer wanted to inquire about what else was inside.

In fact, even if the merchant came in, he could not find anything wonderful, because in the open space of the house was a huge high furnace, which was filled with refractory bricks, and from the outside there was nothing to be seen.

There were also many very strange clothes by the stove, although the Irish summer could not be said to be hot, but in this kind of weather, wearing thick cotton clothes, and repeatedly wrapping two or three layers, this is not understandable to the blacksmith.

“…… Five, four, three, two, one, open the furnace! ”

As a man who looked like a foreman gave the order, everyone immediately stayed away, and then two workers with long iron crowbars in their hands slammed the door open.

White high-temperature steam immediately burst out from the furnace and instantly filled the surroundings.

These are all experiences that have been gained by paying with their lives, and they are also the reason why Count Tang is so happy to see these blacksmiths, even if they make enough good tools, there is no way to use them without qualified talents, just like the peasants in these territories, when they used the blast furnace for the first time, they didn't know how to avoid the high temperature steam, and several people were burned on the spot, and they were almost sentenced to death in this era.

The other peasants were frightened when they looked at it, they thought that this rumbling black smoke thing was the embodiment of the devil, and the molten iron flowing out of the blast furnace was the devil's breath, if it weren't for the prestige of Count Xiao Tang and the high enough status in the hearts of the peasants, otherwise this blast furnace would not be able to open.

But cast iron, not just pour the molten iron into the mold, the molten iron is cooled and formed in the mold, this is only the first process, and then annealing, the newly cast pig iron is hard and brittle, if it is not annealed, it cannot be used, but annealing, inexperienced farmers are afraid that there will be more deaths and injuries if they do it, not to mention that after annealing, they will be forged, and they will fry steel, these are the secret skills of blacksmiths. Therefore, the little Count Tang needed a skilled blacksmith.

But the blast furnace alone was enough to surprise the blacksmiths.

The red molten iron took shape in the mold in an instant, and in just a few seconds, the embryo of a sword appeared.

"This ...... This, this, this is incredible! ”

At that time, the most experienced master was speechless, and he estimated in his heart that if he wanted to build a sword, he would not ask whether the quality of the sword was good or not, even if it was a shoddy product, and it would take him at least three to five days, and he would have to hammer the iron rods little by little with the hammer - similar to the iron rods sold by the dwarves in the Dungeons and Dragons, and the blacksmiths would need to use the hammer to break it little by little before they could be cast.

And the sword in front of you, how long has it been used? A few seconds? Even if the time of ironmaking in this blast furnace is counted, can there be half a day? Moreover, this blast furnace, it is not only refining one sword at a time, a steady stream of red-hot iron keeps flowing out, that is, a sword with a handle is constantly forming.

The old blacksmith knew very well that once such a technology spread, it would be a revolution, and the status of the blacksmith would probably plummet.

"Earl, may I touch this sword?"

After thinking about it again, the old master made this request like Count Xiao Tang, and Count Xiao Tang also respected this guy who could be called a master, after all, he was counting on this old guy to train him a few more apprentices, so he made a gesture of convenience, and the old master immediately pounced.

The more he touched this sword fetus, the more surprised he was in his heart, such a quick embryo, its quality was not bad, it was not much different from the one he had built himself, and it seemed that this thing could come out so much at once, so it seemed that it was ......

"Lord Earl, please let me serve you, I am willing to serve you here for the rest of my life, as long as you can teach me the secret of this blast furnace!"