Zhang Zheng knows the situation of Yang Ning's family very well, and he is also very sympathetic, and the remuneration given to him is also the highest, for example, another blacksmith can refine two ores to get a copper coin, and Yang Ning can get it by refining one ore, and the remuneration is twice as much as his, but Yang Ning is indeed good, the speed and purity of his refining of an ore are second to none in this blacksmith shop, and others know that his labor is higher than their own, but they are not unconvinced.

"Hey, okay. Brother Zhang, I see. Open the furnace! ”

As soon as Zhang Zheng's words fell, Yang Ning rolled up his sleeves, walked to the stove where there was no blacksmith, and ordered the guy in charge of the fire, pick up a piece of ore and put it in the furnace and start drying.

"Ding, Ding, Ding......"

The ore as big as a human head burned red in the furnace, emitting bursts of high temperature, Yang Ning picked it up with tongs and put it on the forging table by the stove, and brandished a five-pound hammer in his right hand and beat it hard. On the ground next to the forging platform, there are also more than thirty or forty pieces of such large earthy yellow ore.

Such a large piece of ore, each weighing about ten catties, after refining, remove all impurities, generally can make a farm tool or ordinary weapon.

Those ordinary tools that are closely related to life and commonly used by the people are basically ten copper coins that can buy a brand new one. The cost of a piece of ore is about three copper coins, plus the blacksmith's wages and the charcoal used to make a farming implement, a total of about five or six copper coins, so the profit of the blacksmith shop is still good.

Because Zhang Zheng's craftsmanship is still somewhat famous in Nanyuan City, they can receive at least hundreds of orders every month, as well as some swords and weapons specially customized by martial arts practitioners.

All transactions on the mainland are settled in three currencies: gold, silver, and copper: one gold coin = one hundred silver coins; One silver coin = one hundred copper coins.

Yang Ning can basically earn more than two silver coins a month to make a living, and their father and son usually eat very simply, and occasionally they will solve a meal as simple as a copper coin and a bowl of the roughest somen noodles.

Most of the meat eaten is fresh fish caught by Yang Ning in the river or game caught in the mountains, and the meat sold in the market is generally expensive, and the cheapest and roughest hairy pork also costs 3 copper coins to buy a catty, and Yang Ning is not very willing to buy it.

Fortunately, Yang Ning also practiced martial arts for a few years when he was a child, so he dared to go to the mountains to hunt some beast meat by himself, so that the father and son would not even have some fishy meat.

"Whew, whew, whew......"

Less than a pillar of incense, the red ore has cooled down and changed back to its original color, after the first forging, the ore that has been reduced by one-third of the volume has been put back into the furnace, the guy in charge of the fire was reddened by the scorching fire, and pushed and pulled the handle of the furnace blast hard, increasing the fire to calcinate the ore that was initially tempered by Yang Ning. On the forging table, pieces of fine gravel that have fallen from the ore are remnant.

When the ore was heating, Yang Ning picked up a broom made of pig bristles next to the forging platform, swept all the gravel on the forging platform to the ground, and prepared to wait for the ore to burn red before refining.

The charcoal on the stove is specially used for forging, and the temperature is very high, and in a short time, the ore from the newly returned furnace has been burned to a red color, emitting a scorching high temperature.

"Good! Stop! ”

Stopping the guy who was blowing hard, Yang Ning picked up a large fire tong with both hands, picked up the reddish ore and put it on the forging platform, grabbed it with his right hand, and lifted the hammer 'Bing Bangbang' is a fierce beating.

One hammer, one hammer on the left, one hammer on the right. A slippery spark splashed everywhere, and earthy yellow gravel continued to fall on the forging platform. The ore gradually cooled down, and the volume slowly decreased, and when no gravel fell, only half of the original volume of ore was left to reveal a lump of irregular black metal, glowing with a hint of black light.

"Xiao Ming, fierce fire!"

Picking up the black iron and throwing it into the furnace again, Yang Ning greeted the guy who was burning the fire.

"Whew, whew, whew......"

Flames erupted from the furnace, scorching the black iron, and gradually turning red again. The firelight reflected Yang Ning's face, and the scorching heat rushed to his face.

"Good! Put on fire! ”

After shouting to stop the guy, Yang Ning clamped the burned red black iron to the forging platform, and once wielded a hammer and beat it. After four or five forgings, half an hour later, a hoe-shaped farm tool was created, black and shiny, with a smooth surface and a cold glow at the cutting edge.

Four hours passed, and the sky began to darken, and the day was almost over. Yang Ning has created six farm tools; The boss Zhang Zheng also created four pieces; The other blacksmith was a little worse, only making three.

"Brother Zhang, I arrived here first today, it has been raining for so many days in a row, and it has not cleared up until today. The meat at home has been eaten, and while there is still a little time before dark, I want to go up the mountain to catch two hares and pheasants and come back for An'er to eat, so I will leave first, and I will come over early tomorrow morning. ”

After cleaning up the forging platform, Yang Ning put down the hammer in his hand and said to Zhang Zheng.

"Well, good! An'er is still young, so he should make up for it more. Go ahead, but stay safe. ”

Zhang Zheng did not look back and continued to be busy with the work at hand, he has been accustomed to similar situations in the past few years, but he still did not forget to tell Yang Ning to pay attention to safety.

"Hey, got it. Brother Zhang, then I'll go first. ”

In response, Yang Ning instructed the men to put out the furnace, put away the farm tools that had been laid, and walked out of the courtyard gate.

"Huh? Why did Daddy come back so early today? ”

Yang An, who was sitting at the door and writing on the ground with a branch in his hand, just looked up and saw his father coming back from afar, and asked with some surprise.

Before the Yang family was broken, it was considered to have two small money, and for business reasons, Yang Ning was also sent to a private school by his son to study for several years when he was a child. Now that the family is in the middle of the road, he can't afford to send his son to study, so he acts as a teacher himself, and usually teaches his son to read.

"Oh, An'er. There is no meat at home, so Dad will come back early, and prepare to go up the mountain to hunt one or two hares and come back to cook tonight, so you can wash rice and cook at home first. ”

When he came to the door and heard his son ask, Yang Ning instructed Yang An, took out an iron knife, put a basket on his back, and walked out of Nanyuan Town and towards the mountains outside the town.

In fact, Nanyuan Town was established not far from the foot of Nanfeng Mountain, and less than half an hour after leaving the town, Yang Ning had already stepped into the mountain. After a few years of training, he is now a veteran hunter. I don't dare to go too deep into the depths of the mountains, but in the outer areas, there are many places where it already has a certain understanding.

There are many wild animals in the mountains, and there are two places that are most likely to be encountered. One is a small lake thirty miles east of Dashan from Nanyuan Town, where the nearby wild beasts come to drink, although there are many wild beasts, but there will be fierce large beasts, where hunting will be extremely risky.

The other place is a depression in the west, and there are many plant fruits, about forty miles away from Nanyuan Town, although the distance is farther, but most of the small beasts that come here to feed, the danger is greatly reduced.

The grass and plants were more than a foot tall, and Yang Ning walked towards the west, carefully observing the situation of the nearby grass from time to time, and occasionally leaning down to check the traces on the grass.

That's it, stop and go, stop and see. After walking more than ten miles, Yang Ning squatted down and carefully inspected the clump of grass in front of him, and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.

Stretched out his hand and slightly flicked the green blades of grass, and beside the grass roots, there were two brownish-black, small finger-long, soybean-sized strips lying quietly on the grass. Yang Ning touched it lightly with his fingers, feeling the slightest bit of temperature, obviously not long after the time left, and the grass still had traces of trampling in the distance one step ahead.