"Shopkeeper Dong, please try this knife."

In the living room of Sufu in Huaihua Hutong, Su Hao handed a waist knife forged from high manganese steel to Dong Tianzhang's hand, and Hao Qing on the side brought a small piece of wood with a thick bowl and put it on the ground for Dong Tianzhang to test the knife.

Dong Tianzhang was also born in the mixed rivers and lakes in his early years, and he is no stranger to playing with knives. He took the waist knife, pulled the knife out of the scabbard, first glanced at the fish-scale pattern on the back of the knife, and praised: "Good knife, this knife must come from the hand of a good craftsman, now it is not easy to find such a good craftsman."

Su Hao smiled slightly, didn't answer, just made a gesture to Dong Tianzhang, signaling that he could try the knife.

Dong Tianzhang held the knife and walked to the piece of wood that Hao Qing carried, looked at it, and said: "This is a piece of hardwood, change it, this knife will chop down violently, I am afraid that it will hurt the edge."

Su Hao said with a smile: "Although the shopkeeper Dong chops with a knife, if he can hurt the edge of this knife, Su Hao is willing to break this knife on the spot."

"Haha, it turns out that there is such confidence in changing it." Dong Tianzhang laughed, picked up the knife, and slashed downward. There was only a thud on the ground, and the blade slashed into the wood three or four inches deep, and everyone standing on the side cheered in unison. This cheer is not only aimed at Dong Tianzhang's knife technique, but also for the quality of this knife, whether the knife edge is sharp and tough, it can be seen from the effect of chopping wood.

"Shopkeeper Dong really deserves to be an old Jianghu, this knife technique is very sophisticated." Su Hao praised, and after speaking, he changed his words and asked again: "I just don't know why Dong left some strength when he laid down the knife." Don't you still have some faith in Su's knife?"

Dong Tianzhang pulled out the knife and looked at the edge. found that there was no damage at all, so he held the knife, the head of the knife was facing down, and he hugged his fist and said to Su Hao: "See laugh, see laugh, Dong Mou really mistook this knife, but I didn't expect it to be sharp." When the knife was placed, Dong hesitated. I really didn't dare to use my full strength. ”

Su Hao invited Dong Tianzhang and Yang Laizhen to Su Mansion today to show them his achievements. Testing this high manganese steel saber is one of them. Although Dong Tianzhang believed that this knife would definitely be extraordinary, with his old experience, he felt that no matter how good the knife was, if it slashed hardwood, it would still be somewhat damaged, and everyone's faces would not look good at that time. With this in mind. The movement of his swing looked fierce, but when he dropped it, he retracted some force. After all, Su Hao has also been in the army for a few days, so he can naturally see it.

"The same knife like this one, in the hands of a friend of mine generals, can cut a tree of this thickness with a single sword. The material used in this knife is called high fierce steel. When the younger brother was in Jiangxi, it took several years with a few craftsman friends to smelt it. Su Hao said.

The word Gao Menggang was said by false rumors when Hao Tong tried the knife that day, and Su Hao thought it was good, so he stole it. Between high meng steel and high manganese steel. Although it is only a homophone, it hides the formula of the steel. Able to hide people's eyes. Manganese ore has not been used in China in the Ming Dynasty, but if Su Hao directly said this concept, I am afraid that some people with a heart will be able to understand the mystery.

"Gao Menggang? Have you ever heard of this kind of steel?" Dong Tianzhang asked Yang Laizhen.

Yang Laizhen shook his head and said: "I have already said it, this is the steel that he spent many years smelting, how can ordinary people understand?" I don't know how much it costs to make this kind of steel. ”

Su Hao said: "The trouble of refining this kind of steel is that it requires fifteen kinds of ore mixed and smelted, and it is easy to find animal stones, and some are very daughter-in-law, and it often takes a lot of manpower to find a few hundred catties." It's not enough for a furnace. The cost of this kind of steel is still very high, and a pound of steel costs seven or eight taels of silver. ”

The technology of smelting high-manganese steel, after repeated trials by Hao Yizong and Hao Qing father and son, is now relatively mature. The raw materials used in smelting are none other than iron ore and manganese ore, followed by limestone and coke. Among these raw materials, the most critical and secret is only manganese ore, Su Hao didn't want others to know that this recipe was so simple, so he said fifteen kinds of ores with one mouth, and immediately blindfolded Dong and Yang.

Due to the lack of guidance from chemical theories, the ancients often had to put in all kinds of ores when smelting metals or burning porcelain and glass, some of which were purely useless, but no one could find them. Because the formula is complex, outsiders can't learn it if they want to, which is why the technology is kept secret. Dong and Yang heard Su Hao say fifteen kinds of ores, and immediately put out the idea of stealing art, and only wanted to be Su Hao's agent.

"It's so expensive." Yang Laizhen smacked his tongue, the so-called Suzhou steel on the market, the price of a pound is only 3 cents and 6 cents of silver, this kind of steel costs seven or eight taels of cost a pound, so how high is the price?

"It's worth the price." Dong Tianzhang has a different point of view, he has just tried this knife with his own hands, and he has inspected the cutting edge after cutting wood, and knows that the steel used to make this knife is extraordinary. In his opinion, a pound of steel costs seven or eight taels of silver to match the price of such a good steel, if Su Hao said that it was cheap, Dong Tianzhang would be unhappy.

"The two shopkeepers think that such knives and such steel have a market in the stable?" Su Hao asked.

"It's so marketable!" Dong Tianzhang said, "If this knife is brought to the market, the ancestral knives of those princely families will be eclipsed." In order to buy a treasure knife, these families spent a thousand taels of silver, so if you think about it, what price can this knife sell for?"

"A thousand taels ......" Su Hao sweated, and in his heart, he felt that such a knife would be sold for 100 taels of silver, even if it was very good. Although high manganese steel is valuable, the real cost is a few dollars of silver, which is mainly the depreciation of the crucible used for steelmaking, and manganese ore is actually very cheap. The whole cost of making such a knife, even if the craftsman's salary is taken into account, that is, a dozen taels of silver, if it is sold for a thousand taels, it is not a hundredfold profit?

"Instead, how many knives have you made?" Dong Tianzhang asked again.

Su Hao said: "So far, I have made a total of more than a dozen." The main reason is that the waist knife is also a weapon, and the people cannot make it privately. I used the banner of my 100 households and asked for permission from the Jiangxi Metropolitan Division, so I made more than a dozen. ”

"You mean that you can always make more knives if you have permission?" Dong Tianzhang grabbed the flaw in Su Hao's words and asked.

Su Hao nodded and said, "It's not difficult to make a knife itself, just hire a few more blacksmiths." The main difficulty is steel smelting, I have mastered the method of steel smelting, and although the ore I need is difficult to find, I have prepared some. If there is a license, there is a market, and it is still possible to make a hundred and ten. ”

"Good!" Dong Tianzhang said, "Uncle Zhao and I can get you a license, and we can also find a buyer, just let the craftsman make the knife." The price of this knife doesn't have to be too high, after all, we have to sell more in the future, and it's not appropriate to price it too high. If I look at a knife, I will set it at 500 taels, how about it?"

"What is the price of this 500 taels?" Su Hao asked, he thought to himself, this wouldn't be the purchase price when Dong Tianzhang purchased from himself, right?

Dong Tianzhang smiled: "Of course, it's the price of the sale." Listen to the meaning of the change, the cost of a knife is dozens of taels, I simply make it up, even if it is 100 taels. The price of 500 taels is sold, the cost of 100 taels is deducted, and the remaining 400 taels are half for you and me.

"It's according to the intention of the shopkeeper Dong." Su Hao agreed in one bite.

In fact, as early as when Su Hao was still in Jiangxi, he knew that this kind of high-manganese steel used to make swords could bring huge profits. After all, this steel is a product of a time beyond its time, and its hardness and wear resistance far exceed that of other steels of the same period. For some high-ranking officers in the army, the saber is both a weapon and an ornament, and the ostentatious effect of a good knife is comparable to a famous watch or a high-end car in later generations. Think about how many officials in later generations were willing to take risks and wear famous watches to appear, and you can think of what kind of enthusiasm the high-ranking officials of the Ming Dynasty would have to buy a good knife.

Although the City Hoe Association had seen it, Su Hao didn't dare to make knives to sell, he just asked Hao's father and son to make a few knives as gifts for Deng Zilong, Zhang Hong and other military backers. The reason is that Su Hao's strength is still too weak, if the magnates knew that he had such a technology in his hands, I am afraid that he would have eaten him to the point of no slag.

The appearance of Dong Tianzhang and Yang Laizhen just made up for Su Hao's shortcomings. Dong and Yang are both people with backers, but it is absolutely safe for them to operate such profiteering products. Su Hao relied on his technical advantages to take away half of the profits, and Dong and Yang took the other half of the profits by virtue of their background and connections, which is definitely a strong alliance and a win-win situation.

"This kind of high-mamever steel can also be used to make chain mail, helmets, scissors and other things used by women, but they can only take the high-end route." Su Hao said.

Dong Tianzhang said with a smile: "The most important thing in this stable is the rich. If you can make anything, Dong will be able to sell it for you. I'm not afraid of high prices, I'm afraid of you not being able to make things worth a lot of money. ”

"Haha, with Dong's shopkeeper's words, Su Hao is relieved. As for the valuable things, what I just saw was the first one, so how about we, let's go ahead?" Su Hao said.

"Go on, go on, I'll really want to see what kind of treasure I have in my hands." Dong Tianzhang and Yang Laizhen responded together.

"Brother Hao, bring the dressing mirror, and ask the two shopkeepers to take a look." Su Hao instructed Hao Qing. (To be continued.) You are welcome to come to the starting point to vote for recommendation votes and monthly passes. For mobile phone users, please go to read