The sun peeked out from the east and reflected half of the sky. The dew wet Du Zhongxiao's hair, and even his face was wet.

Opening his eyes and looking at the stove that was still red not far away, there was no one around, Du Zhongxiao asked Chai Xin who was standing next to him: "Have you made all the steel you need over there?" If the refining is good, the craftsman will be passed on. ”

Chai Xin bowed and said: "It has been refined, and when the sky is bright, there will be a blacksmith to make the steel knife." When the officials are tired, they should go back and rest first. ”

Du Zhongxiao stood up, rubbed his eyes, and was stunned for a while before he said, "No need, you go and serve a bowl of porridge, I'll eat it." ”

Chai Zuo promised, turned and left. Du Zhongxiao stretched his waist and went to see the steel that had been refined.

In the second half of the night last night, Du Zhongxiao couldn't stay up, and fell asleep on the side, and he didn't know when these people would practice.

When I got to the stove, I saw that Tao Seventeen was also lying on the ground, sleeping soundly by the warmth of the fire. Not far from him, a slip away was a steel bar that had been refined. What comes out of the crucible is molten steel, which can be poured directly. In order to facilitate the follow-up construction, Du Zhongxiao asked them to set aside the margin and pour it into steel bars one by one. Now most of the steel bars are no longer red, but the residual temperature is still hot.

stepped forward to check the shape of the steel bar, and Du Zhongxiao nodded in satisfaction. Steel still needs to be forged when it is refined, and it cannot reach the level of directly grinding and sharpening the edge, which is no way. The advantage is that you don't have to refine it all the time, you can just forge it directly into the shape you need.

Chai Xin took a big bowl of millet porridge, and Du Zhongxiao drank it next to him, waiting for the sun to rise. This time, I prepared more than 30 steel knives of steel, hoping to exchange for the money I needed. If you do business in the future, you must have sufficient capital and never do this kind of thing again. When the yamen does business, there will be an embarrassment that the goods will arrive and the money will not be paid, and it is really embarrassing to say it.

Tao Qiqi was the first to wake up and ran to Du Zhongxiao to salute: "Official, last night we refined all the steel we needed, and we put it there!" If you don't need to refine it, it's easy to build. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "Of course, it is easier than refining thousands of times, but after all, it will take some effort." ”

The sun was rising, and Wang Absi brought five blacksmiths over, saying that these people were the best crafts in the county, and introduced them one by one.

Du Zhongxiao took a few craftsmen to the place where the steel bars were placed, and said to them: "It's all good steel here, you don't need to be tempered a lot, you just need to make steel knives according to the style over there." You make it first, don't quench it, and wait until I see it. ”

Several craftsmen agreed together.

After the order, Du Zhongxiao asked Tao Seventeen to watch here, and left the construction site by himself. The rest of the forging is a hard work, and these craftsmen are all familiar with it, and they don't need Du Zhongxiao's guidance. Only the final quenching, Du Zhongxiao still remembers the order of high-carbon steel heat treatment, and wants to come over for guidance. After all, in this era, blacksmith heat treatment depends on experience, and it is not as good as Du Zhongxiao's theory in his previous life.

After returning to the back office to rest, it was almost noon, and Du Zhongxiao arrived at the front office.

As soon as Dong Zhushu heard that Du Zhongxiao had arrived at the official hall, he hurried over. Xu Li sat down and arched his hand: "Zhixian, the lower official has discussed with the two guests, and you can wait a few days to pay for the goods." The iron sellers are nothing, but the cattle sellers are a little reluctant. He sold live animals, and when the cattle were sick, he sold them for nothing. ”

Du Zhongxiao said: "There is no way, now the yamen has no money, so I have to let them wait for the time being." ”

Dong Zhushu said: "The guest who sells iron is very talkative, I discussed with him about selling knives, and he promised to buy them at a large price if they were good knives. This guest sells knives and rich people, as long as the knife is good, he is not stingy with money. It's just that I don't know how the knife is made in Zhixian County? ”

"Dozens of knives, it will take a few days, so let the guests wait with peace of mind."

After sending away the Dong master book, Du Zhongxiao dealt with some official documents, and he felt physically and mentally exhausted. At first, I only thought that I could repay the money in this way, but I didn't expect that the time was too tight, and my body couldn't stay up after staying all night. The recent period of development has been too fast, and I can't stand it myself, let alone others? The most important thing is that until now, there has been no big progress, and it has been spending money.

Standing up and pacing for a while, Du Zhongxiao finally came to his senses. The next few months are going to be a little bit of a relief. At the very least, it is necessary to wait until the harvest begins to be harvested and the business begins to make money, so that there is no spare energy for the next step of development. There will be no more days when you will eat food like this.

In the afternoon, Du Zhongxiao arrived at the construction site and instructed the craftsmen to quench the beaten knives. The forged tool steel is annealed first, quenched after final treatment, and then tempered at low temperatures. Roughly Yi Du Zhongxiao remembered, but the specific temperature must have been forgotten, so he could only let the craftsman try a few times according to his vague memory and choose a better process. Du Zhongxiao hasn't made a thermometer yet, where can he measure the temperature. However, a skilled craftsman can roughly estimate the temperature based on the color of the steel being burned red, and other small characteristics. Several craftsmen are veterans, and after listening to Du Zhongxiao's description of the process, they also groped for eight or nine.

Ask the sharpener to open the blade of a knife, and hold it in his hand with a cold glow.

Du Zhongxiao tried it, handed it to Chai Xin, who was eager to try, and said: "Don't you always think that cutting steel coins is very powerful, this knife is good, you can cut a few copper coins if you try." Start with three, and see how strong you are. ”

Chai Xinying Yinuo, took the steel knife in his hand, danced a knife flower, and looked at it again and again with the knife. took out three copper coins from his arms, put them on the wooden stake on the side, turned to Du Zhongxiao and said, "Official, I can cut it!" ”

Du Zhongxiao nodded: "Just cut it down." Remember to be fast, steady, and the strength cannot be used. ”

Chai Xin said yes, holding a knife in his hand, looking at the three copper coins stacked on the wooden stake, holding his breath and concentrating. calmed his mind, and suddenly shouted loudly: "Bah! "It's too late, it's too fast, and a knife is slashed at three copper coins.

Seeing the cold light flashing, the steel knife cut off three copper coins and slashed them on the stake, buzzing.

Chai Xin looked at it in a daze for a while, suddenly came back to his senses, clapped his hands and shouted: "Ah, it's really a treasure knife, it's really enough to cut copper coins!" ”

Du Zhongxiao shook his head, and stepped forward with the craftsman to look at the knife on the stake. Pulling it out of the wood, no, the steel knife was intact, and Du Zhongxiao breathed a sigh of relief. After quenching, the hardness of high-carbon steel is too high, and it is most afraid of chipping, so it is necessary to carry out a low-temperature tempering to slightly reduce the hardness. If you cut it on the copper coin, it is not that the hardness is not enough, but the hardness of the tool steel after quenching has completely reached the level of sharpening iron like mud. The reason why it is called tool steel is because it can be used to make tools for machine tools and is used to process steel. The cause of the chipping is the uneven material and the shape of the blade.

After taking the knife and looking at it, the cloth was wiped as bright as a mirror, and inserted it into the scabbard, Du Zhongxiao handed it to Dong Zhubo: "Show it to the guests who sell iron, how much can a handful cost." You can make twenty or thirty good knives here, and you don't have to sell them all, as long as you can get the money you need. ”

Dong Zhushu didn't expect to really make such a good knife, and he was overjoyed. took the knife, held it carefully, and left in a hurry.

As the sun sets in the west, the boats on the Bianhe River are lit up, and it is the most lively time of the day.