On the huge LCD screen in the academic lecture hall of the Binhai History Museum, a black and shiny sword is projected, and the sword body is engraved with the "Eight Pillars of the Heavenly Pole" four vigorous and vigorous face style books. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

"This is a sword recently unearthed in the No. 1 Tang Tomb in Tumen Village, and the identity of the tomb owner is unknown, but from the specifications of the burial goods, it can be roughly inferred that he is likely to be an active Jiedu envoy in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, or rather, a feudal town. We tentatively named it 'Yan Ti Tianji Eight Pillars Folding Steel Sabre'. ”

In the hall, the old and neutral voice of Nie Hongqian, a first-class researcher at the History Museum, echoed.

Bu Yunfei sat on the assistant's seat on the side of the rostrum, looking at Nie Hongqian, who was dressed as if he was an unearthed cultural relic, and laughed in his heart.

Nie Hongqian is an old-fashioned old master, nearly seventy years old, with a thin complexion, silver hair, a goatee, a gray cloth placket, and black cloth shoes on his feet, standing on the podium of the lecture hall, facing a group of scholars in suits and leather shoes.

The four Yan characters of "Tianji Eight Pillars" on the sword body are the authentic works of Yan Zhenqing, and there is no conclusion at present. That's not the crux of the matter, though. ”

Nie Hongqian glanced at Bu Yunfei, and his gaze returned to the screen.

The image on the screen gradually zoomed in, gradually revealing the subtle water lines on the sword body, which were as delicate and beautiful as silk and silk, fluorescent and shining, forming a strong contrast with the swarthy nature of the sword body. Finally, the image freezes on the blade, and the stretched water ripples become subtle, imperceptible jagged teeth on the blade, emitting a blinding cold light.

In the lecture hall, there was an amazement - this kind of subtle jagged teeth formed naturally by the texture and indistinguishable by the naked eye means that this sword from more than a thousand years ago is extremely sharp!

"The crux of the matter is that the texture of the water waves on the sword, especially the subtle serrations on the blade, is a texture that is unique to folded steel......"

"I'm sorry!" A Japanese scholar stood up and interrupted Nie Hongqian impolitely: "I don't think there's anything critical about this. This is actually a Tang sword forged from folding steel. As we all know, China's folding steel forging technology, which began in the Bronze Age, reached its peak in the Tang Dynasty, and it should not be a strange thing that swords cast from folding steel appeared in the tombs of the Tang Dynasty. ”

Nie Hongqian's face was still an old-fashioned gloom: "However, X-ray flaw detection found that the sword body of the saber was forged from hard steel and semi-hard steel......"

"That's what makes folded steel a casting feature! Because of the overlap of hard steel and semi-hard steel, the sword body not only has the toughness and rigidity that can be expected, but also can form the unique flower-like texture of folding rigid. This is the reason why this Tang sword looks beautiful. Of course, it is undeniable that this is a beautifully forged Tang sword, which has considerable academic and artistic value. ”

There was a whisper in the audience, and the words of Japanese scholars represented the thoughts of many people.

Nie Hongqian continued to let out his usual deep voice: "Between hard steel and semi-hard steel, there is also a layer of spring steel!" ”

As soon as Nie Hongqian's voice fell, the audience was silent.

On the screen, an X-ray flaw detector of the saber was displayed, and a dark black shadow appeared on the inside of the blade! That is the part that the X-ray cannot penetrate, which indicates that the density inside the sword is extremely high.

High-density spring steel is the smelting product of modern oxidation converter, which requires strict control of the chemical composition in the steel in an extremely strict physical environment, and high-quality spring steel even needs to be smelted in a vacuum environment. Modern oxidation converter smelting technology only appeared in the late nineteenth century. In the Tang Dynasty of the eighth century, such smelting technology could not have been at all!

"After identification, this is a piece of high-quality spring steel that has been forged in the body of the sword!" Nie Hongqian's voice echoed in the silent hall: "It is precisely because of the existence of spring steel that the toughness and strength of this saber have reached the level of the modern steel casting industry, and it can be said that in China in the eighth century, this saber is unparalleled!" Even compared to modern knives, it is not inferior! ”

"In the antique market on the coast, it seems that you can also see this kind of goods!" The voices of Japanese scholars reached everyone's ears.

He's saying it's a modern, distressed replica!

In the hall, there was an uproar.

As a leading figure in the field of historiography, it would be an extremely embarrassing thing if he really looked away in front of a fake! Especially at this international academic conference.

The words of the Japanese scholar made Nie Hongqian very unable to step down.

Nie Hongqian's old face became more and more gloomy.

"Bu Yunfei, what do you want to say?"

Nie Hongqian suddenly fixed his eyes on Bu Yunfei, who was sitting in the assistant's seat.

Bu Yunfei didn't expect that the old man would call him by name at this time.

Bu Yunfei has great respect for the old man Nie Hongqian, this old man with a strange temper has the grace of knowing Bu Yunfei, if it weren't for the old man's support, Bu Yunfei would still be a young man in the antique market who is pouring antiques.

Bu Yunfei graduated from the Department of History of Binhai University, and after graduation, he went to the antique market to fish the world.

In his spare time, Bu Yunfei also likes to do some literary and historical research and write some research articles. A year ago, he wrote a paper on the exploration of the origins of the military system in the Tang Dynasty, which was published in an academic journal. This article was seen by Nie Hongqian, and he shouted that talents are rare, and made an exception to recruit Bu Yunfei to his research room, so Bu Yunfei changed from a gangster in the antique market to Nie Hongqian's assistant.

Bu Yunfei respects the old man. However, whenever he saw the old man standing on the podium of the academic lecture hall in old clothes, talking to a large group of scholars in suits and leather shoes under the stage, he felt funny, this old man seemed to be a time-traveler from the previous dynasty, whether it was dressed or behaved, it was incompatible with this era.

Therefore, Bu Yunfei sat in the assistant's seat, and involuntarily showed a weird smile on his face, so that he didn't notice the embarrassment of the old man on the podium.

This untimely smile did not escape the old man's eyes.

"Perhaps, it's a traverse!" Bu Yunfei wanted to make a joke. But as soon as the words came out, he was greatly annoyed.

This is not an occasion for jokes, and the old man is not a person who can joke casually!

In the hall, there was a burst of laughter.

The old man's face turned pale: "You can go out!" ”

……

Two days later, Bu Yunfei took a plane and returned to Binhai City from Jabang City.

Chabang is a small town in the southwestern mountains, and this small town in the middle of the jungle of the mountains is so small that it will not appear on any large-scale map.

The "Yan Ti Tianji Eight Pillars Folding Steel Sabre" has not become a modern imitation because of the doubts of a Japanese scholar who does not know how to be polite.

In fact, whether it is Nie Hongqian or Bu Yunfei, they have the bottom in their hearts.

Carbon-14 dating confirmed that the sword was cast in the eighth century A.D., and it could never have been a modern imitation. In the face of scientific test data, the Japanese scholar who did not know how to be polite had to admit the authenticity of the saber.

But the problem is that no one can explain the extremely dense, hard, and toughness spring steel hidden in the blade!

The only possible explanation is that in the Tang Dynasty in the eighth century, Chinese craftsmen used some lost technique to forge spring steel!

This possibility is very small, but it cannot be completely ruled out, because the casting and iron smelting technology of the Tang Dynasty was once lost.

Moreover, this possibility should be confirmed.

Because, through visiting iron casting experts, Bu Yunfei learned that in a small city called Chabang in southwest China, there is an old craftsman who can smelt extremely strong steel by the soil method!

Experts guess that it is spring steel forged by the soil method!

The old craftsman is over eighty years old and has no heirs, and he has not made a knife for nearly twenty years.

The reason is simple, even if he forged spring steel, in the 21st century, there is no market at all. Modern forging technology has been able to produce high-quality spring steel in large quantities, and no one will go to the deep mountains and old forests to buy spring steel.

So, Bu Yunfei went to Chabang to ask the old craftsman about the possibility of forging spring steel by the soil method.

If the old craftsmen can use traditional techniques to forge steel castings similar to spring steel, it can at least be confirmed from the side that spring steel can also be forged without modern oxidation converter iron smelting technology!

It is further deduced that in the Tang Dynasty in the eighth century, it was possible for the Chinese to make spring steel!

The old craftsman is too old and has little time, and if he doesn't seek verification, I'm afraid that he will never have a chance again.

The trip to Chabang was fruitful.

The old craftsman not only unreservedly revealed all the skills of earth method steel smelting to Bu Yunfei, but also personally went into battle and forged a three-foot-long section of steel with soil method.

Intuitively, the hardness and toughness of steel are very close to those of spring steel.

Now, what Bu Yunfei has to do is to bring the steel parts forged by the old craftsmen back to Binhai City and send them to the Metallurgical Research Institute for composition analysis.

If the composition of the steel is similar to that of spring steel, or even the same, it means that the traditional folk techniques can achieve the technical level that modern industry can achieve.

It also means that in the Tang Dynasty, it was entirely possible to manufacture high-strength spring steel!

Now, these three-foot steel parts are in the leather bag beside Bu Yunfei.

In the eyes of others, it was just a worthless lump of iron. However, in Bu Yunfei's eyes, it was a priceless treasure.

Outside the cabin, there were no clouds.

The sky was as pure as a curtain of pure blue, without a single star of variegation.

The monotonous colors made people drowsy, and in the cabin, everyone closed their eyes and fell asleep.

Bu Yunfei touched the leather bag beside him, and was about to close his eyes and take a nap for a while, when a bright spot appeared in the sky, as if it was poking a small hole in the blue curtain.

The bright spot is getting bigger and bigger, and Bu Yunfei's eyes are a little painful from being stabbed by that bright spot.

However, instead of closing his eyes, he opened them wider.

Because, he found that bright spot, spraying indescribable colorful beams, like a mirage!

Buyun sat up straight suddenly, and a new world seemed to appear in front of him.

Immediately after, he was engulfed in a scorching beam of light!

……

Twenty minutes later, the world's major news media reported: "At two o'clock this afternoon, Wuzhou Airlines flight WZ370 lost contact with the ground on the way to Binhai......"