In the afternoon, a furnace was to be made, and Wang Erli was in charge of the main hammer, and when Yang Qing cleaned up the burned coke ash in the iron furnace and was about to go out from the main gate on his back and pour it out, Wang Erli had already begun to prepare.

"Go to the utility room and get a box of coke, it's the wooden box on the kang, hurry up" Wang Erli commanded Yang Qing, who had just come back and had a black and gray face.

For the three apprentices, the last thing they want to do is to pull the bellows and clean the iron furnace, pulling the bellows is tired, pulling the bellows back and forth dozens of times is full of sweat, cleaning the iron furnace dirty, and the black ash is still very choking.

Yang Qing struggled to hold the two-foot-square wooden box, his steps were a little staggering, the weight of coke was not large, but the solid wood box was very heavy. When he carried the box into the blacksmith's shop, he found that Lin Bo was not there, and Zhang Bin was standing there.

In the afternoon, Lin Bo went to the front store to take care of it, and when there were customers, he sold it at a clear price, and if there were other things, he went directly to the backyard to discuss with Wang Erli, and usually Wang Erli's daughter-in-law would also go to the front store to take care of it.

Zhang Bin's craftsmanship is stronger than the other two, and this time he will be Wang Erli's deputy.

"Brother Zhang" Yang Qing's face was black and gray, grinned, and said to that Zhang Bin, when he ate at noon, he knew from Lin Bo's mouth that this person's name was Zhang Bin.

"Come, go get some wood again, put the coke in the furnace and ignite it" Zhang Bin looked impatient, and before Yang Qing could put the coke down, he opened his mouth and ordered.

Zhang Bin's eyes are small, shaped like tadpoles, and his face is white and beardless. A trace of disdain flashed in his eyes when he saw Yang Qing, his family was from Shuangxing Town, his family was wealthy, and he learned the art of ironsmithing quickly, so he looked down on Yang Qing, a native bun from the countryside.

Yang Qing could feel Zhang Bin's lofty eyes, he didn't say anything, he didn't dare to say anything at the moment, he didn't dare to say anything without identity and status, he could only be angry in his heart, he couldn't do it when he was young, he didn't care what others thought of him. Bow your head, turn and trot out to the yard to get dry wood.

"Put fine wood first, ignite it with flint, and then add coke"

"Pull the bellows, pull hard, you haven't eaten"

The bellows are very heavy, and it is difficult for adults to pull this kind of big bellows, not to mention Yang Qing, who is only fourteen years old and has a thin figure.

Wang Erli held the iron tong in his left hand, and stood on both sides of the iron pier with Zhang Bin with the hammer in his right hand. Wang Erli was in charge of the main hammer, Zhang Bin was in charge of the deputy hammer, and Sun Tao was watching.

This time it was a one-handed sword, and it didn't end until the time of the lamp, during which Yang Qing pulled the bellows to make the charcoal fire more prosperous, less charcoal and less water, and he was busy.

When Wang Erli and the other three were heating the iron and burning red, they hugged their arms and looked at Yang Qing's hands and feet and pulled the bellows with all their might, Zhang Bin laughed loudly, this scene was very interesting to him, Wang Erli felt that it was really worth it to manage three meals a day, and it was worth four meals.

"Finally the forging is finished" Yang Qing breathed a long sigh of relief, there was a deep exhaustion on his face, his whole body seemed to be filled with lead, Wang Erli and the three of them all walked out, and he still had to stay to clean up the blacksmith shop.

Wang Erli's three apprentices rarely eat dinner here at night, their families are all in this town, and they can improve their food when they go home at night, and eat a meal of meat to replenish their bodies.

"Dad, this kid is new" A chubby boy of eleven or twelve years old in a satin robe, snorting with a long snot, said to Wang Erli in a muffled voice, Wang Erli's son Wang Youcai.

"I'm here today, my good son was tired from school last day, let's go, go into the house to eat, and see what delicious food your mother makes" Wang Erli touched Wang Youcai's head dotingly, and said indifferently to Yang Qing, "Here, go to bed after eating, remember to get up early tomorrow morning to work"

"I remember, Master Wang" Yang Qing said weakly, and at this time he also cleaned up and took two cold steamed buns from Wang Erli's hands.

"I won't even say thank you, and I will raise a white-eyed wolf" Wang Youcai muttered quietly, glared at Yang Qing and walked into the house with his father.

The other apprentices didn't eat here in the evening, and they wouldn't make soup alone for Yang Qing, so they gave him two cold steamed buns that were left over from noon.

Sitting on the edge of the kang, he stuffed two steamed buns into his stomach, he was so tired that he had no appetite, and he had to force himself to eat in order to survive.

"Treat me as a human or a dog, is my life so worthless?"

There is still a harvest today, he watched the process of Wang Erli striking iron, and understood a few simple steps, first of all, put the iron into the iron furnace and burn it red with charcoal, beat it into long strips, put it in water to cool down, and then divide the long strip into many parts, select a suitable one, and then burn it red, forge it repeatedly, and finally put it in water to cool down the iron, and sometimes sprinkle it with white powder called 'borax' by Wang Erli when forging.

Lying on the cold quilt, his whole body was sore and he had no strength to turn over, his eyelids were heavy, and he soon fell asleep deeply.

As the days passed, I had to get up at dawn, chop the wood consumed for the day, pick the water for cooking, prepare coke, well water, and iron raw materials for ironmaking... When striking iron, pull the bellows, and after adding coke, clean the iron shop and pour carbon ash. During the day, you can only take a break when you eat.

The hammer has not been touched a few times, Wang Erli has never taught any bit of iron-striking skills, and after a month, except for knowing the simple steps that will be remembered after a few glances, the iron-striking skills are not even introductory knowledge.

The hammer weighs more than ten pounds, and Wang Erli doesn't have to work hard at all, which is not surprising, but forging weapons, sometimes Wang Erli has to hammer the hammer for a whole afternoon, which makes him shake Wang Erli's strength.

In the past month, Yang Qing was pulling the bellows when striking iron, and he could just see Wang Erli's movements when he was striking iron, and he found that Wang Erli was not the same as his apprentice, but only relied on his arms to drive the hammer.

At the same time, I felt strange that there was a difference in the craftsmanship of the apprentice and the master, but how could there be so many differences in the way of striking iron.

Yang Qing often imitated Wang Erli's movements, and imitated them for a long time, but still didn't have the slightest clue.

Wang Erli would only say a few words to Yang Qing when he told him to work, and he usually glanced at him lazily. Wang Youcai would bully him a few times every time he saw him, and Yang Qing held back his temper when he saw that he was a child.

Yang Qing, who was sore all over, was homesick every night, unwilling to stay in this place where he didn't feel a trace of warmth, and gritted his teeth every time to get through, he planned to have the opportunity to go to other places to find a suitable livelihood.

All he could feel here was humiliation.

......

"In the afternoon, a few of you will practice well in the blacksmith with the iron materials on the ground, and you will have a good experience," Wang Erli smiled and said to Zhang Bin and the other three apprentices, "I will go out later."

Wang Erli went out in the morning, and when he came back, he was very happy, there was always a smile on his rough face, and they were not as strict with Zhang Bin as before.

"Don't worry, master," Zhang Bin said respectfully, claiming to be the eldest brother among the three, although there is no such thing as seniority.

After Wang Erli walked out of the blacksmith shop, Zhang Bin's three apprentices instantly relaxed a lot, and they were talking and laughing together.

Yang Qing squatted next to the bellows, his upper body was naked, his face was covered with sweat, and his long-term strength made his body a lot stronger, and the muscles in his whole body were obviously much stronger. It's not lunch time now, and I don't know if Zhang Bin and they still need an iron stove, so they just stay at the bellows and don't move.

"Why do you say that the master is so happy today?" Lin Bo saw Wang Erli walk out, and the words became more.

"In the morning, I saw that the master went out to get a letter, and when I finished reading it, I hurried to find our beautiful teacher," Zhang Bin squinted his tadpole eyes and said with a grin.

"Yang Qing, you kid is lazy, hurry up and clean up" Zhang Bin saw Yang Qing squatting on the ground and was very dissatisfied, his eyes stood up.

After saying this, he pulled Lin Bo and Sun Tao to sit together, without any intention of practicing again. Yang Qing stuffed his head and cleaned up, after this period of contact, he would no longer use his hot face to stick to other people's cold butts.

"I'm happy to read a letter, no, what's a good thing?"

"Yes, let us practice iron-striking by ourselves, he is not afraid that we will scrap this iron, so generous?"

"You two know the, I came before you two, and there are some things you don't know. Brother is in a good mood today, let you have a long insight, hehe, let me tell you..."

According to Zhang Bin, there is a person who has been in correspondence with Wang Erli, and this person is none other than Wang Erli's brother Wang Dali. This Wang Dali is not an ordinary person, he is an outer disciple of the Imperial Wind Sect.

The Imperial Wind Sect is located in the mountains southeast of Fengju City, where wild beasts are rampant, and there are many poisonous snakes and poisonous insects, and mortals cannot survive there.

"There are all immortal-like characters in the Imperial Wind Sect, even tens of thousands of outer disciples are also great figures, and Wang Dali is one of the outer disciples. Zhang Bin said with his eyebrows fluttering, it seemed that he was also an outer disciple of the Imperial Wind Sect.

"With a stroke of the finger, the sword flies" Zhang Bin's fingers swiped from the bottom to the top, almost hitting Lin Bo's nose, "You can still fly with the sword, much faster than a horse"

"The disciples of the Imperial Wind Sect are as powerful as the gods, and the women are like fairies descending to earth, just like portraits. ”

Sun Tao and Lin Bo were stunned for a moment, they didn't know what Zhang Bin said, thinking that the gods existed in those mythical stories.

Zhang Bin described what he had heard and imagined, and when he saw the expressions of the two people, a sense of pride rose and glowed, and he spoke harder.

Yang Qing listened with his ears pricked up, his hands were not idle, he had to do the cleaning work every day, and he was very quick to do it at the moment.

Wang Erli's achievements today depend on his eldest brother Wang Dali, and the skills of that body are all taught by Wang Dali, otherwise it is impossible to reach the eighth forging in his thirties just with Wang Erli's qualifications and efforts. It is this shop and this yard that Wang Dali gave money to buy, including the matter of Wang Erli marrying a daughter-in-law.

Wang Dali rarely comes to this eight-wrought iron shop, and everything is contacted through letters, and Zhang Bin only knew about it by coincidence, how could Wang Erli tell his apprentice about such things.

The topic of several people was getting farther and farther away, and finally they all said that the beautiful master was on the body, and when they looked out to see that no one was in the courtyard, the three of them were closer, and their voices were smaller, obviously not wanting Yang Qing to hear it.

Yang Qing vaguely heard the words 'butt' and 'thin waist', he knew that if he listened to it again, he might get into trouble, so he picked up the packed charcoal ash and trotted out of the blacksmith shop.