The craftsman's institute occupies a large area in the west of the industrial city, and is divided into four workshops: sword forging, refining, casting agriculture, and metallurgy, and the four workshops are subdivided into several divisions according to the different smelting methods and finished products, such as the sword forging workshop is divided into the iron casting division and the bronze division. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

Every year, the Craftsman Academy is ordered to select more than 100 apprentices from the four major tribes of the Northern Barbarians and their branches, and assign them to each division of the four workshops according to their qualifications and their wishes. Apprenticeship for three years, the first year of the small examination, those who pass the examination are retained, and those who do not pass are eliminated; the second year of the middle school examination, those who pass are assigned the main direction of their respective learning and casting, and those who do not pass are demoted to handymen; after three years of the big examination, those who pass can be promoted to craftsmen, as craftsmen in the craftsmen's workshops for more than five years, they can be designated as craftsmen by the Heavenly Khan, and are not subject to labor, soldiers, hardships and other services; those who do not pass can get a chance to make up the examination, and those who do not pass are still demoted to handymen.

Thirty men of similar age were assigned to the swordsmithing workshop, and eighteen of them, including Azul, were apprenticed to the Iron Forge Division. Azul knew nothing about forging swords, and was curious about ovens, bellows, iron piers, sledgehammers, hammers, tongs, sinks, and other objects.

There is no formal writing in the Beiban, just some simple symbols, and the skills are passed on by word of mouth between master and apprentice. The Iron Casting Division usually assigns an older, skilled craftsman to be the master, and this year the Iron Casting Division has arranged for Arit to teach the technique.

The Cast Iron Division also arranged special food and lodging, and Azule and Ahai of the Ahai family also lived in the same room first.

In the evening, Azule lay in bed and recalled the scenes and piles of the past two days in Gongcheng, and felt that he had suddenly broken the ordinary life in the tribe. Azule thought that he had taken the first step, and then he could only complete a few things independently, the first was to inquire about the assassination and investigation in the Gongcheng in the past two days, to inquire about the dead old man Fan Wenjie, what mysteries this short sword was hiding, whether he would be exposed, and how this short sword should be hidden from being discovered by his peers and masters; second, he must learn the art of forging swords well, and he must not be eliminated in the annual examination; third, after becoming a craftsman and being able to gain a foothold, he should inquire about the news about the jade pendant and his life experience, and it is best to listen to and collect some of the humanities and customs of the Central Plains; fourth, he can only have superficial archery skills, and no martial arts, once he is killedThere is no power to protect himself, he must find an opportunity to learn martial arts, only the stronger he is, the greater the possibility of realizing his wishes, so that the secret of the sword will also be on the agenda in the near future. These four things must be implemented step by step, and the first and third things can only be inquired about secretly at present. Especially when you think that your luggage may be stolen or searched, it is imperative to find a safe place to hide your sword.

Azule thought of many tricks, either between the bed boards, between the walls, or somewhere in the courtyard, but there were uncertainties. In the end, Azule decided to hide the short sword with him, after all, the temperature in the North Barbarians is low all year round, and wearing it thicker is unlikely to be suspected by others.

Early in the morning of the second day when he arrived at the Iron Casting Division, Master Arite gathered eighteen people together and introduced the basic situation of the four major workshops and each division, and briefly described the process and basic methods of forging swords.

Cast iron and bronze are distinguished according to two smelting methods, the cast iron division is relatively simple and efficient, with the main goal of production, while the bronze division is the opposite, the process is complex and the output is smaller. The cast iron smelting method is mainly to heat the pig iron, separate the impurities in the pig iron through continuous stirring, obtain wrought iron, and then smelt different weapons through the processes of oven redning, iron pier forging, iron tongs turning materials, hitting forming, small hammer fine modification, quenching and tempering.

The Cast Iron Division mainly produces large quantities of Ge, halberds and knives used by Northern Barbarian soldiers, and the Bronze Division mainly produces small quantities of swords and spears used by officers above the centurion.

This is how Azul began his apprenticeship. In the first year, he learned step by step according to the process of casting iron, the first step was how to select ore, and the last step was to cast iron into soldiers. Each apprentice has three days of rest every three months, or seven days of rest every six months.

The three months passed quickly, and Azule did not have the opportunity to go out during this period, and he has been carefully studying the method of casting iron, and is familiar with the two basic steps of selecting ore and smelting stone into iron. When it was time for a short break in March, Ah Hai, who lived with him, also took the opportunity to return to his tribe first. Azule simply asked someone to bring back the news of peace to his grandfather, because he had more important things to do. He had to take advantage of these three days to inquire about the aftermath of the assassination at that time, and also to study the secrets of the Qingfeng Sword.

Azul changed back to his usual attire and decided to investigate the place where the assassination took place and where the old man was buried. He walked to the street near his destination, made a few more circles to the place of assassination, and pretended to pass slowly, only to see that the weapons and blood on the field were long gone, and there were no suspicious people around. Then he went to the place outside the south gate where the old man was buried, and the inconspicuous cemetery had not changed, except that some weeds had slowly grown. Azule found no problems, no traces, no suspicious places, as if the assassination had never happened, on the one hand, the danger was temporarily away, and on the other hand, the unexpected thrill was gone, and it was inevitable that he felt a little lost and even disappointed.

After noon, Asul wanted to return to the swordsmithing workshop from the south gate, but when he reached the south gate, he found a portrait of the old man standing guard on the place where the sergeant was standing, and a short sword was drawn next to it. Hearing the passers-by discussing, it was as if the old man had stolen the sword of the Gongcheng Engineer, and if he could find someone or find the sword, he would be rewarded. Azule did not stop, let alone deliberately inquire, glanced at the Central Plains characters and barbarian symbols in the picture, and pretended to leave as if nothing happened.

Since the apprentices were arranged to take leave in batches, Ah Hai, who lived with him, had already returned home first, and the other apprentices were studying in the sword workshop, so Ah Sur felt very quiet when he returned to his residence. Azul closed the door and thought about his every move today, admitting that there was nothing wrong with it. He took out his dagger and looked at it carefully. The Qingfeng sword in the old man's mouth was dark and heavy, and the scabbard was engraved with unique words and patterns. Azul recalled the words of the dead old man, and felt that there must be an amazing secret hidden in the dagger, and that there was no need for an old man who had "come back from the dead" to deceive himself. For the next few days, Azule continued to live normally to outsiders, but he spent a lot of time trying many methods, soaking them in water, roasting them in the fire, and shining them in the sun, and found that nothing had changed in the dagger.

Had he only been given a sharp sword, and it was a sword that could easily cause trouble, and Azul looked at the sword as if he had seen a chicken rib, or a hot potato.