Zhou An saw the middle-aged blacksmith's expression and thought that this thing had basically succeeded.

In Anding County, it is much easier to catch a quick cover.

Sure enough, after the blacksmith's eyes lit up, he asked tentatively: "My lord, is this true?" As long as you enter the door, our blacksmith shop will have you covered. ”

Zhou An nodded and said, "Within the scope of your authority, as long as you find me, I will help you." ”

The middle-aged blacksmith gritted his teeth: "How much does it cost!" ”

Anding County's fishing is fast, but there is no shortage of oil and water for the people.

Although there are not many things fished every time, sometimes it is inconsequential, and it is only three melons and two dates.

But after a long time, there was no good impression in the hearts of the people.

It is normal for middle-aged blacksmiths to have this question.

Zhou An shook his head and said: "I made it clear, I won't ask you for half a penny, I just came here to learn how to strike iron." ”

"You provide me with a place where I come every day at noon."

After the middle-aged blacksmith repeatedly confirmed that Zhou An really had no other problems, he breathed a sigh of relief: "My lord, I will teach you tomorrow." ”

He didn't continue to ask why he wanted to learn to strike iron, these were all official things, and he wouldn't ask.

The people are more concerned about interests.

"Teach today." Zhou Andao.

Hurry up early, don't rush late, just learn a little when you come.

The middle-aged blacksmith didn't expect Zhou An to be in such a hurry, but he didn't bother and led Zhou An to a small platform next to him.

And when the blacksmith led Zhou An, Zhou An also knew the name of the middle-aged blacksmith.

The surname is Zhao Mingtie, which is very in line with the identity of a blacksmith.

The place in front of me is much smaller than the place where the blacksmith strikes iron.

"My lord, this is an apprenticeship, a place for specialized learning, you can come here every day at noon."

"I'm studying here, where is your apprentice going?" Zhou An asked.

Zhao Tie scratched his head embarrassedly: "I recruited several times before, but they didn't learn for long, and they all gave up, our line of work is very tiring, and we have to be roasted by fire, so there are not many people, so I simply won't recruit." ”

It's all the truth.

It takes the strength of the handle to strike iron, and you have to stay by the stove, and few people can endure this hardship.

"Let's get started." Zhou Andao.

Blacksmith Zhao didn't talk nonsense and began to explain.

When it comes to professional knowledge, he becomes very serious.

It took about a pillar of incense, and Blacksmith Zhao gave a general explanation, and Zhou An also understood some of the basics of the iron-making industry.

The three hardships of life: striking iron, supporting the boat, and grinding tofu.

Striking iron endures the heat day and night by the furnace, and living is like going to hell.

During the wind and waves, there is a danger of capsizing and dying at any time.

Selling tofu for three shifts and sleeping on five shifts, doing donkey work, I have to make a small amount of money that can only make ends meet.

Iron ranks first, and the difficulty can be imagined.

First, the blacksmith buries the cut iron in a blazing pile of coal, and burns the iron red.

When forging and forging, the blacksmith takes out a piece of fiery iron with his left hand, places it on the anvil, and holds a small hammer in his right hand to hammer the forging.

At the time of the hammer, I lift the sledgehammer and hammer it in order.

Beat until the iron turns from red to dark, and then put it back into the furnace to burn red, and so on, and finally forge iron tools with different sizes and curvatures.

After forming, it is burned red again, soaked in a pool to cool, or buried in the slag ash to cool naturally, and at the end, it is polished with a whetstone to make a profit.

These are all processes, and although the process is simple, the difficulty lies in grasping the different materials, the heat and the time of quenching.

If a blacksmith does not have a good quenching skill, it is difficult to make a living.

Under normal circumstances, it is the master's small hammer apprentice and the big hammer, but Zhao Blacksmith has no apprentice here, so he can only do it alone.

After listening to the general explanation, Zhou An also began to try.

"Let's just try it with a handful of iron bars." Zhao Blacksmith said.

Zhou An nodded and put the iron into the furnace.

Under the explanation of Blacksmith Zhao, after the iron was red, he took out the iron and began to beat it with a small hammer.

While hammering, Blacksmith Zhao was still talking.

The important thing in striking iron is quenching, but it does not mean that hammering is not important.

Under the teaching of Blacksmith Zhao, Zhou An's hand holding the hammer was very stable, and in the process of beating, even Blacksmith Zhao was surprised.

Blacksmith Zhao has lived for most of his life, and he has never seen a novice who can be so stable.

"Bell Bell Bell ......"

Inside the room, a series of banging sounds rang out.

Not long after, the reddened iron was hammered out into the shape of a long strip by Zhou An, but it looked unsightly.

After all, he is a novice, even if he has the talent in this area, he can't do the master's craft.

The red-hot iron bar is slightly curved, and if you don't tell anyone, you really don't know that it's an iron bar, it's more like a twisted bug.

"It's already good that adults have made this kind of progress." Blacksmith Zhao praised.

It's not flattery, but to be honest, it's good that newbies can play it.

"The next step is quenching, and this must be timed." Blacksmith Zhao said.

During quenching, it is necessary to quickly immerse the heated iron block in cold water or oil to achieve the effect of increasing the surface hardness of the iron block.

If it cools too quickly or too slowly, it will also cause the iron to deform or lose its hardness.

When cooling, it can be cooled according to factors such as the size, type, and hardness required of the iron block.

To put it bluntly, it depends on experience.

Zhou An nodded, put the bent iron bar into the furnace again and burned it red, and then put it into the water on the side.

Soon, white smoke rose.

The iron bars cool down quickly.

Although there is Blacksmith Zhao on the side to guide him, Zhou An is a novice after all, and he is still much worse in terms of heat.

When the cooled iron bar was taken out of the water, Zhou An's face darkened slightly.

The iron bars that were taken out were pitted and very uneven in color.

Not only that, Zhou An found that the iron bar was also very brittle.

Blacksmith Zhao on the side saw that Zhou An's face was not good, and hurriedly said: "Don't be anxious, my lord, it's already very good to be able to do this for the first time." ”

Of course, Zhou An was not in a hurry, because a line of text had already appeared in front of his eyes.

[Iron Lv.1: 1/10000]

Proficiency appears, proving that you are doing it right.

After following this method slowly, the proficiency will increase.

If you pay, you will get something, this sentence is more straightforward here in Zhou An.

"Go on!"

Zhou An shook off the mood just now, took out the iron material again, and continued to beat.

The whole noon passed like this.

When Zhou An came out of the blacksmith shop, he shook his arm.

Iron striking is very tiring, but fortunately, the Qi in his body has a restorative effect.

In front of my eyes, the words changed for a while.

[Iron Lv.1: 2580/10000]

Because I studied for a lot of time, I didn't play for long at noon, but the proficiency of level 1 increased very quickly, and I used to be able to upgrade to level 2 in one night.

Zhou An thought that he would spend noon here in the future, and went straight back to the yamen.

There was nothing to do in the afternoon, and after the dispersal, Zhou An and Yu Hang went home together.

As soon as he got home, Zhou An lit the oil lamp on the table and found that there was an extra letter on the table.