Since the old craftsman scolded, everyone no longer dared to relax, has been 'ping-pong' busy smelting new iron, Yang Jia did not leave, has been standing next to supervise, until busy until three o'clock Yang Jia made everyone stop work, carefully count the pig iron samples turned out to be more than 50, Yang Jia is still not at ease, pulled the old craftsman down and carefully asked the amount of straw and loess on the side of the pig iron sample before going back to rest, the craftsmen also touched the sweat on their foreheads, panting and going back to their residence.

After a busy day, Yang Jia was also a little tired, until three o'clock on the second day, when the sun hung high, he didn't get up, looking at the noisy sound of the busy craftsmen outside the house, Yang Jia didn't care about washing his face, put on his clothes and rushed to the forging shed.

The craftsmen in the forging shed have been working for more than an hour, but there is not much resentment on everyone's faces, but it is easy to understand that when Yang Jia is in the future, it is common for these craftsmen to stay awake all night under the whip of the supervisor, and from time to time they will be beaten by the whip, and now the young Yang engaged not only relieved himself of his slave status, no whip, but also did his part and had food to take, and when the army was short of weapons in the future, it would definitely be made all night. But it is better to be willing than to be persecuted by an overseer with a whip.

There were a few pieces of smelted iron thrown next to the furnace where Yang Jia had smelted the new iron, and looking at the still busy figures of the craftsmen and the iron that had been discarded at will, Yang Jia guessed that there was no steel yet. The old craftsman saw Yang Jia standing at the mouth of the grass shed, and immediately ran over to report the smelting situation, sure enough, the weight of these discarded iron was up to 20 catties to more than 40 catties, that is, there was no about 10 catties of iron, Yang Jia frowned and listened, but patted the old craftsman's shoulder and said: "Don't worry, there will definitely be steel, there are more than 30 pig iron samples over there!" Take your time, there will always be one that will succeed. ”

The old craftsman smiled reluctantly, turned around and went back to continue to be busy smelting, Yang Jia looked at the expression of the old craftsman, and smiled with relief, these craftsmen finally had a sense of belonging.

Just as Yang Jia was standing at the door of the straw shed and bowing his head and thinking hard, the craftsman of the furnace next to him was discussing in a whisper.

"Huh! Lao Bi, you said that this Yang Cheng asked for a free body for us, and when this iron mine is finished, where are you going to go? "This is a young craftsman in his twenties.

Lao Bi in the young craftsman's words was a shrewd man in his forties, and when he heard this, he turned his head to look at the young craftsman who asked him playfully and asked, "Then what are you going to do?" Go back to your hometown to farm?"

The young craftsman seemed to be caught in his own longing, scratched his head with a smile and grinned, "What are you doing home!" I don't have any land at home for me to plant, so I plan to find a stable place and rent land to plant. Hey! ”

Hearing the young craftsman's fantasies, Lao Bi slapped the other party's head with his hand, pointed at the other party's hair that had just reached his neck and sneered: "A person like you who has been tortured has been branded as a prisoner, and you still want to live a civilian life? ”

The young craftsman was irritated and cried out, "I have been tortured and tattooed, what's the matter!?" That was before, and now I'm a civilian, so why can't I live a civilian? ”

"Humph! Yang Zhi said that we were freed from slavery, but when did he say that we could leave? Even if he agrees to let us leave, Zu Fenwei will agree? The shortage of weapons and storming vehicles in the Northern Expeditionary Army, the ladder will promise? Let you go, is it possible that Zu Fenwei will find another craftsman to come over and forge weapons? You think it's you! "Seeing that the young craftsman was still 'unenlightened', Lao Bi couldn't help but explain out loud.

"Then what is Yang engaged in asking for amnesty for us?"

"I don't know why, I'm not a roundworm in their stomachs." The young craftsman asked a question that Lao Bi couldn't answer, Lao Bi's face was slightly embarrassed, and he hurriedly accentuated his tone to cover it up.

The young craftsman bowed his head and was silent, obviously thinking about why Yang Jia would ask for a pardon for himself, and suddenly seemed to think of the answer, and suddenly raised his head and said: "Even so, what does that have to do with the fact that I have been tortured and tattooed?" It turned out that the young craftsman was still nostalgic for the old Bi, who was sarcastically mocking that he had been punished.

Lao Bi laughed dumbly when he heard this, thinking that this pig's head had opened his mind, but he didn't expect it to be a pig's head. "Your eye-catching hair and tattoos stand out from the crowd wherever you go, and if you want to live a common life, you have to ask the governors of other states and counties." The young craftsman seemed to understand a little, and his face was pale and dumbfounded, but Lao Bi continued to attack regardless of the other party's stunned chicken: "Even if Yang is kind and allows you to leave." But the armies of other states and counties are short of craftsmen, and aren't people like you who have been tortured ready-made craftsmen? Don't stay in the county and go to other states and counties to be beaten as slaves? You think you escaped from the Longtan Tiger's Den, but in fact you left the blessed land cave. ”

At this point, the young craftsman finally understood why no one had talked about leaving in recent days, and it turned out that everyone had this doubt. "Then you plan to spend your life in Qiaojun?" The young craftsman still didn't seem to come back to his senses, and said something to confirm.

It will be the turn of the older craftsman to begin to look forward to, between Lao Bi slowly put down the hammer in his hand, staring into the distance, I don't know what he saw, two lines of turbid tears crossed the sallow cheeks and flowed down, trembling and said: "When Zu Fenwei divides the fields, I will settle in Qian County, work hard in the spring, pay the rent on time in the autumn harvest, and come over to forge weapons, receive cloth, and build a bigger house when I have money." An old bone like me can't marry a little lady in the cardamom years, so find a widow from any family to marry her, and live like this for the rest of your life. This is thanks to Yang Zhi! ”

The young craftsman also felt something in his heart and said to himself: "Yes! Thanks to Yang Cheng, otherwise I wouldn't be able to eat, how could I have the money to ask for a daughter-in-law!? ”

Just when the two of them sighed with emotion, the furnace where Yang Jia was next to them let out a deafening cheer, and the young Yang Zhi, who had always been calm, was also overjoyed and waved his fists excitedly. And those craftsmen are crazy shouting, everything seems to be a new life, and the old Bi who sees everything in his eyes said: "Being a craftsman can be so happy and excited, this life is worth it!" ”

Yang Jia is so happy of course is to smelt the steel, the emperor lives up to the painstaking people, everyone finally smelted twelve catties of steel after more than 30 failures, although it is a little deviation, but this can also be ignored, what does the twelve catties of steel represent? Although it cannot be compared with standard steel, its hardness is enough to surpass any weapon in the world. Waving his hand to stop the excitement of the crowd, Yang Jia pulled the old craftsman and said: "I heard that before crossing the river, Zu Fenwei asked you to make a batch of horse lances, how are you doing now?" ”

The old craftsman was slightly happy when he heard this, and said proudly: "I am engaged, before crossing the river, Fenwei asked us to make fifty horse lances, which lasted more than two years, and now it has been basically completed, as long as the head of the lance and the lance are cast, it can be used." Yang Jia looked at the old craftsman's smiling appearance and knew that the other party was selling guanzi, so he cooperated and asked, "How many horse lances can be used on the battlefield?" ”

"Yu Yang engaged! At the beginning, I made 30 shots of horse lance, and there were 15 failures in the middle, and 15 strokes were used on the battlefield normally! The old craftsman suddenly raised his head and shouted. Yang Jia was also happy to smash the old craftsman's chest and said, "My husband is a good craftsman!" The success rate is as high as half, which is simply unprecedented, unprecedented! The old craftsman was praised by Yang Jia for his father-in-law and the ancients who have never come before, and he smiled brightly, and said again and again that he didn't dare to dare.

Well! Zu Ti must have made a horse lance for his subordinates, and good steel was used on the blade, how could these ordinary old iron be matched with a knife and chop, a well-made lance! I'm here to fill a fire for my ancestors.

"Uncle, you go and teach the people how to smelt new iron, and let them cast fifteen steel lances and fifteen red copper lances to usurp."

The old craftsman snorted and ran to the furnace shed. The old craftsman today does not have a trace of artificiality, it is really the success rate of making the horse lance is too low, don't look at the lance is just a wooden stick, but in fact, there is a lot of attention inside, especially when making the lance, the best lance is to take the trunk of the best tough wood, peel it into a uniform thickness, and then glue it together. When peeling, you have to be extremely careful, and soak the fine scorn in oil repeatedly until it is no longer deformed and cracked, which is considered to be the first step, and these processes take more than a year. After the strips are soaked, then dried in a cool place for several months, glued with high-quality glue paint to a thick, eight zhang long, the outer layer is wrapped around the hemp rope, and then painted with raw lacquer, wrapped in kudzu cloth, dry and wrapped in a layer, until the wooden lance is split by the knife to make a metallic sound is qualified. In this way, the horse lance is light, tough, strong and durable. But it takes more than two years to manufacture the whole horse lance, and the success rate is less than forty percent, but the cost of a horse lance is amazing, which is the reason why the horse lance cannot become a mainstream weapon from the Han Dynasty to the Three Kingdoms, and the horse lance can only become a symbol of the generals from the wealthy family.

Zu Ti asked for the Northern Expedition, so he scattered all the wealth in his family and recruited troops and horses. Zu Ti made the horse lance estimated that the original intention was also to win people's hearts, but I didn't expect the pass rate of the horse lance to be as much as fifty percent, I am afraid that I can't close my mouth with a smile, if I tell him that the head of the horse lance is also made of stainless steel with iron like mud, I am afraid that I will shout excitedly.

When someone has successfully eaten the first crab, it becomes easier to encourage others to eat the crab. Under the explanation of the old craftsman for half an hour, all the craftsmen nodded their heads to indicate that they understood this simple straw loess 'decarbonization method', and after a while, the furnace shed began to make noise.

But Yang Jia didn't know what he was painting on the ground.