Shuzhong, a suburb of Chengdu.

Beside the blazing fire, a young and stout man stood like a pine.

His upper body was bare, and his eyes were firm and deep, as if he could see through the depths of the red flames and see the refined iron being smelted.

After a short wait, he drew a piece of burnt red iron with his iron tongs, and then the hammer in his hand fell heavily, and each blow was like a blow to the heart.

The sonorous and powerful sound echoed in the empty forge as if it were a magnificent movement.

This man standing like a pine and forging a knife is "Pu Yuan".

According to legend, he was the most outstanding craftsman of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period, he once made 3,000 knives for Zhuge Liang in the sloping valley, and the knife he made could split the bamboo tube filled with iron beads, and was known as the magic knife.

Legend has it that the main trick of Pu Yuan's knife making is to master the quenching technology of steel knives, and to be able to distinguish the influence of different water quality on quenching quality.

And choose Shujiang water with a large cooling rate, and quench the steel knife to a suitable hardness.

It is no exaggeration to say that in the later period of the Shu Han military generals, it was precisely with the benefit of the "divine sword" forged by this Pu Yuan that the combat effectiveness of the Shu army was not completely opened by the Wei army.

Even in order to praise his exploits, Jiang Wei also made a special trip to write two biographies for him, "The Biography of Pu Yuan" and "The Biography of Pu Yuan".

Of course, according to the timeline of history, Pu Yuan is still just a hermit who avoided disaster in Jingzhou to Shuzhong, although his ancestors have passed down the craft of forging knives, but they have not yet been discovered by Zhuge Liang's discernment, let alone cast the three thousand "magic knives"...

It was because of Liu Chan that he was invited out in advance, which was decades earlier than in history, when Zhuge Liang was reused when he came out of Qishan.

Speaking of which, it's also interesting.

Previously, in the letter sent by Guan Lin to Liu Chan, he focused on two things, the first was to cut off Shu Jin, secretly transport Shu Jin to Jingzhou, and solve the problem of Shu army's grain and grass in a commercial and greedy way.

The second thing is to find the swordsmith in the whole Shu - Pu Yuan.

It's not that hard.

Pu Yuan is here to avoid trouble, not a hermit master.

In order to make a living, he will still use his ancestral old profession to forge swords and blades for others, because the technique of forging knives is exquisite, Liu Chan deliberately sent people to inquire, and after coming and going, he really found this Pu Yuan.

After that, Liu Chan sent people to recruit.

Pu Yuan thought it was Uncle Liu Huang or Zhuge Kongming who recruited him, and he was quite happy.

Who would have thought that it was not Liu Bei who saw it, but in the little-known "mountain villa" on the outskirts of Chengdu, and saw this "not very famous" son Liu Chan.

Immediately... His heart was half cold, wow cool wow cool, immediately, he was a little disheartened, he didn't even have a number of salutes and greetings, and went back and forth directly.

Liu Chan was shocked directly when he heard it, everyone came, he took off his pants, do you dare to go back suddenly?

At that time, Liu Chan was angry, angry to the extreme.

Thereupon... Liu Chan did a big thing, that is, he sent someone to send the boiled beef to Pu Yuan every day, and he had to watch him eat it before he could leave!

Pu Yuan was directly stunned, he thought, how could anyone force himself to eat beef every day?

This is to cause outrage... Is this to make the peasants fight with him?

Can... Soldiers can be killed but not humiliated, how can Pu Yuan compromise so easily?

The literati have a backbone, and he also has his own style and bones as a swordsmith, so he endures humiliation and burdens, hides his guts, and would rather not give in, and eat the boiled beef sent by Liu Chan, but he will never compromise, let alone admit defeat to Liu Chan, the leader of the "underworld forces".

Later, Liu Chan would send some forging maps, which included the skills of forging steel, various weapon quenching methods, and even a book, called "Mengxi Pen Talk"...

Of course, these are all sent from Guan Lin, or from the Shui Shui Villa.

Among them, the most, the most, the most critical has to be forged steel!

Although it is said that in this era, 100 steels have appeared.

However, it is not popular, and many successful 100 steels are mostly tried and explored repeatedly, and the level of quenching is also uneven, and there is no standard at all.

However, the atlas sent by Liu Chan, whether it is forging steel or weapon quenching, many of them are completely new methods...

Even Pu Yuan, a craftsman who forged knives for a generation, had never heard of or seen it.

So, he thought it was humiliation.

This is Liu Chan's "underworld forces" who forced him to eat beef, and continued humiliation...

- Sure enough, this Uncle Liu's son Adou is not a good thing!

In desperation, Pu Yuan could only use these methods to try forging steel with the purpose of "criticism" and "verification"...

He first verified the remarks of the "steel filling method" mentioned in the atlas called "Mengxi Pen Talk"...

No, it's not a verification, it's a criticism, it's a deep criticism!

- "The so-called iron and steel of the world's wrought iron is bent with soft iron, which is trapped in the middle of pig iron, sealed with mud, and forged into each other, which is called mass steel, also called steel filling. This is a pseudo-steel ear, temporarily fake pig iron is strong, and the second and third refining pig iron is self-ripe, and it is still soft iron. However, those who do not think of it in the world do not know the true steel ears.'"

This...

When he read such a sentence in "Dream Creek Writings", Pu Yuan shook his head again and again.

Especially the last sentence:

- "No one in the world thinks it's wrong, it's just because they don't know real steel."

Pu Yuan is deeply skeptical of such a view.

Liu Chan, a son who doesn't learn and doesn't know? He knows what real steel is? Dare to make a big fuss, saying that the previous methods of forging steel were all wrong? Isn't this pure!

Further down, it is the principle of the steel filling method, which mixes pig iron with soft iron and is made by the process of "mud sealing and forging into"...

This step alone is a dozen pages in the atlas!

However, this is completely different from the theory that pure steel is compared to the gluten in the face in the empirical world of Pu Yuan, the so-called "soft noodles, gluten is seen", and the fine iron can only be formed into pure steel after a hundred times of forging.

With the purpose of criticism... Pu Yuan tried this new forging method, but it didn't matter.

Although the previous steel filling ended in failure, Pu Yuan was pleasantly surprised to find that this kind of "pig iron and soft iron" are mixed, and this kind of "mud sealing, forging and entering" process... It's really feasible.

Perhaps, it can really work miracles.

So, he went into retreat for seven days, and eventually... I really used this method to train steel!

This is a completely different method from his original "100 steel" skills.

The steel made by this steel filling method... It's obviously harder, harder than 100 steels, the most, the most, the most, the most important, it's not like the 100 steels have a complicated refining process, there are no standards... The quality of the steel cannot be guaranteed.

Immediately, Pu Yuan thought of Liu Chan, that's right... For the first time, he subconsciously thought of the leader of this "underworld force".

Something he doesn't understand?

Didn't Liu Chan want to take revenge on him?

So? Why give him a map?

Why teach him to make steel? What's in it for him?

Whereas... Only as a master cutler, will you be able to better appreciate the value of the steel-filled map, and it is not an exaggeration to say that it is invaluable.

The key is that in those maps, there is not only steel filling, but also the tempering methods of various weapons, including a large number of details.

Because of the success of the steel-filled, there is no doubt that this atlas... Let Pu Yuan have a feeling of dizziness.

It's on fire!

His whole body is on fire!

He even had a feeling that if this batch of "artifacts" was forged, the impact on the entire battlefield... will be disruptive.

He Pu Yuan will also become famous and famous for centuries.

It was also at this time...

The "beef pot" sent by Liu Chan arrived as scheduled, and this time it was also accompanied by a piece of soft armor.

Thereupon... For the first time, Pu Yuan asked the visitor, "Why do you send beef every day?" ”

The answer from the person who came was very direct, "Childe said, there are two reasons, if Mr. Pu asks, he will tell the truth, the first is that there are too many cattle on Childe's side, and Childe replaced the original plow with a curved plow, which makes the cultivated land that originally required two oxen to complete, now one is enough... Therefore, Childe bought surplus cattle from the peasants and slaughtered them every day... The meat was distributed to the subordinates, including Mr. Pu, and as for the skin... It is made of such soft armor through a complex process, according to Childe, this soft armor has saved his life, and it can be worn close to the body to be invulnerable! ”

This...

Cowhide? Soft armor? Quyuan plow?

Undoubtedly, these words were shocking, incredible, and deafening for Pu Yuan.

How could he have thought that this Liu Chan, who was in his mouth as "the leader of the underworld forces", "unlearned and unskilled", "will be retribution", and "messing around", would be... He was doing something that he admired a lot.

Immediately, Pu Yuan relented... obediently went to see Liu Chan.

Liu Chan was still soaking beef in the suburban villa at that time, and when he saw Pu Yuanlai, he didn't feel the complexity and changes in Pu Yuan's mood at all, and said directly, "Mr. Pu is here?" Come... Come and eat shabu beef! It's smelly..."

"Is there anyone else in Mr. Pu's family? Also get up together, this shabu beef, the more people must eat, the more fragrant it is. ”

That's it...

This shabu beef is directly soaked out of a forging workshop next to the Shu River, with Pu Yuan as the master, used to forge steel, quench blades, and refine short-handled weapons for front-line soldiers.

As for the short handle, why is it a short handle? There are many mountains in Shuzhong, and many times in mountain warfare, you must travel lightly, and long-handled weapons are completely unusable.

At this moment, Pu Yuan was forging the knife while recalling what happened to him during this time.

Suddenly, I don't know if it's time for the fire, or if he has some other feelings.

I saw that his eyes were blazing, and he explained loudly to the other blacksmiths in this smelter: "Quenching is also called 'dipping for a long time', when the sword is heated in the furnace fire and burned to a very high temperature, it is quickly put into cold water and dipped in it properly, so that it can be cooled quickly... This is repeated many times, it is enough to greatly enhance the strength, hardness and wear resistance of the sword, and the process is divided into 'annealing', 'normalizing', 'tempering' and 'quenching' depending on the speed... What to do, I'll only do it once, keep your eyes open, and look at it-"

It turned out that Pu Yuan was carefully explaining and teaching the skills of forging knives to other recruited blacksmiths!

In this, there are things that have been passed down from generation to generation by his family, but they are also related to the maps and scrolls of craftsmanship texts that Lintuo Liu Chan gave him.

These make him integrate theory and practice with each other, integrate and understand, and can explain them in depth and concisely.

You can hear the "clang" sound of Pu Yuan forging in the distance, and he shouted at the top of his voice.

"Qing Shui quenched its edge—"

…

On the other hand, Liu Chan felt that life was very boring.

Actually, in general, he was an obedient child.

With the help of Zhuge Ke, he followed Guan Lin's instructions, Shu Jin was secretly transported to Jingzhou, Pu Yuan was also found, and the forge next to the Shu River said that the construction was also built...

Even, with the help of Zhuge Ke, he collected three thousand trilogies in Shuzhong.

Having said that, for the collection of these 3,000 parts, he was selected from among the people in the Samba area in strict accordance with the requirements of his master Guan Lin... It is also necessary to select the poorest, the tanned, and the most tattered.

Why is it a spayer? Why are you still poor, black, and broken?

Because most of the people in Shu are peace-loving, civil war laymen, foreign war insiders...

There are not many combative people, but Sanba is located in the middle of a poor mountain, where a few acres of land are obviously not able to support the tribe.

And the mountains here are high and the emperor is far away, and it is a minority group, and the management of the government will be lax, so the people here will really fight for a well and a piece of land, from small to large, day and night, and never die!

In such an environment...

The combat effectiveness of the people is naturally compared to the Shu people who live and work in peace and contentment, which is not the same.

For example, Wang Ping is one of these people.

Both... When Zhang Fei relied on a copy of "God of War" to level Sanba, he saved a large number of people who were supposed to be moved to Guanzhong, so... The attitude of the people towards Liu Bei and the attitude towards joining the Shu army are at least not exclusive!

If, and then promise heavy profits, such as... If you can always eat beef, then this matter is stable!

"Oops..."

At this moment, Liu Chan just put a piece of old beef in his mouth, and chewed it, it seemed that because of a cow tendon, he couldn't bite it...

"Phew..."He spit on the ground, and couldn't help shaking his head, a little excited, "I eat this shabu beef all day long, and I suddenly feel that this beef tastes like chewing wax, which is boring... The beef soup is not delicious, and it is not as good as the mutton-flavored cold and delicate ear soup made by Mrs. Ren of the medical department... Oops, it's not interesting, it's not interesting..."

Later, Liu Chan spread his hands and made a "boring day... You're really bored".

Having said that, since he read the book "The Legend of Adou" sent by his master, he saw that he would be locked up in Adou Village, imprisoned for the rest of his life by a surnamed 'dead mother', counting cypress trees all day long, and renamed the dormitory as the ironic 'Dragon Palace'... His fighting spirit was suddenly high, and he not only had to share the sky with the surname "Dead Mother", but also with the surname "Cao".

Can... Scrappy is scrappy, and what he can do is too limited.

I can't go to the battlefield, and I can't let you go to transport grain, so I can only stay in this villa honestly.

Either it is to supervise the forging knife, or it is to produce the curved plow and promote the curved plow;

No matter how bad it was, he recruited 3,000 people... Liu Chan didn't know how to train, so he handed it all over to Zhuge Ke, except for the boring shabu-shabu every day... I can't do anything, and I suddenly feel that life is so boring!

Such a corrupt life will kill his fighting spirit...

It is also based on this that when eating recently, Liu Chan will always sigh from time to time.

Zhuge Ke on the side knew what Liu Chan was thinking, and immediately reminded: "Son, it's not yet time for you to go out!" The forging of the three thousand divine swords has just begun, and the cowhide soft armor is only half forged, and the training of the people is also going on, according to your master's orders, the three thousand people you have raised, the three thousand divine swords forged, but the secret weapon of our Shu army, can not be leaked prematurely, and must play a fatal effect at the most critical moment! ”

"I know, I know, I know..."Liu Chan shook his head vigorously, "I have calluses in my ears when you say this... If it weren't for this secret weapon, I wouldn't have been able to hold it anymore, and my dad is really... 200,000 soldiers, don't you dare to go up to the Dingjun Mountain? It's just a coward... If you wanted me to go, I would have already asked these 3,000 people to carry divine swords and wear cowhide soft armor to cut from Dingjun Mountain to Hanzhong City... Oops, my dad... Alas... It's really a shame to think of him, he can't fight... What a blind soldier! I don't have the guts at all... Isn't this the Sun 100,000 who learned from the first battle of Xiaoyaojin! I don't even want to lose my face..."

Belch...

When these words came out, Zhuge Ke inexplicably felt very familiar.

Well, that's right, a sense of déjà vu.

It is familiar taste.

He was about to speak, say something casually to divert the conversation.

"Adou—"

A low and restrained voice came from outside the door, and then, as the door "creaked" open, it was Yang Yi who caught everyone's eyes.

Of course, this is not the point, the point is behind Yang Yi, the man wearing a scarf, a crane, and a feather fan is Zhuge Kongming!

And with the appearance of Zhuge Liang, Liu Chan actually felt that Fang Cai's words were a little abrupt, and subconsciously covered his mouth.

He stumbled in his mouth and said, "Zhu... Master Zhuge ? ”

Zhuge Ke was also panicked, and muttered: "Uncle... Uncle..."

However, Zhuge Liang did not mention Liu Chan's words.

Instead, he directly asked what he wanted to know the most.

"Adou, as you said, your father was restricted by grain and grass at the foot of Dingjun Mountain, and the Northern Expedition was forced to run aground.

Zhuge Liang asked...

Who can't understand the meaning!

Where did you ask Liu Chan? This is obviously to ask about the batch of Shu brocade, and it is to ask the man behind Liu Chan, Guan Lin!

It seems that in Zhuge Liang's view, when he is in a desperate situation, he can turn the tide... It must be this Guan Jiashiro who has repeatedly created miracles in Jingzhou!

It's just that...

In stark contrast to Zhuge Liang's eagerness, after hearing this question, Liu Chan's panic disappeared all at once, and was replaced by a questioning rhetorical question.

"What? Dare to love, my father... Don't go to Dingjun Mountain because the food has not been delivered? Isn't it because he's cowardly? Yes... That... That's not right! ”

Liu Chan's brows immediately condensed, condensed cautiously, and he exclaimed incredibly. "Hasn't the food been delivered yet? Those merchants, dog-like things... What the hell is it for? ”

…

…

(PS: There's one more chapter in the evening!) (End of chapter)