In the Chongzheng Palace, Zhao Zhen stood at the bottom of the steps, looking at the swords in front of him, all of them were cold and cold. Pick up a knife casually, flick it with your hand, and there is a loud sound. I folded it lightly with my hand, but I didn't move at all, where could I fold it.

Frowning, Zhao Zhen said to Song Zhen, the privy envoy beside him: "You say it's a good knife, why can't you bend it?" As the saying goes, if it is strong, it is easy to break, and if it is so hard, isn't it easy to break? ”

Song Zhen praised the wat and said: "Your Majesty, this is the best steel on the Baiting Prison, and it is the hardest. Beaten into a knife, Wechen has already tried it, and it is not easy to break. Compared with the swords used in the army today, there is no comparison. If it is sharpened, it can be said to blow hair and break hair. ”

Weapons are not very sharp, and the blade is generally not sharpened, unless it is mainly a light knife and light sword. This kind of broadsword still pays attention to the heavy blade without a blade, mainly chopping, and pays more attention to the shape and strength of the instrument.

Zhao Zhen nodded, picked up another steel sword, and with a slight flick, it was like a dragon groaning, and the tip of the sword trembled slightly. Looking at the blade of the sword, it is sharpened extremely sharply, which makes people dazzled for a while. He took a piece of paper, placed it lightly on the blade of the sword, and split it in two and gently floated down.

Nodding, Zhao Zhen said, "It is indeed a good sword." Baiting Supervisor, are they all such good steel? ”

Chen Xun, the deputy envoy of salt and iron on one side, praised the wat and said: "Back to Your Majesty, there are not many of these excellent steels produced by Baiting, and they have other uses there." Only a small amount can enter the imperial court and make some swords and swords. The armament is made of other steel, and everything is produced there. ”

Zhao Zhen put down the sword and paced in front of the sword on the other side. Those handfuls were made of high-carbon tool steel and presented to the emperor. What is really used in the army is made of good steel picked out by the iron supervisor on this side.

picked up a knife, Zhao Zhen looked at it carefully, and always felt that it was no worse than the one just now. Sensoryly, I even feel better.

Turning to the guard on the side, he said, "You use this sword, compare it with the saber and see how it goes." ”

There are so many weapons in the hall, even if Song Zhen and Chen Xun are civil officials they trust, there are still more than a dozen guards standing next to them. Zhao Zhen also wore armor according to the habit of performing martial arts in the palace, and of course the body of the Son of Heaven was cautious, otherwise others would not let him see these things.

The guard forked his hand and agreed, took the knife with both hands, and took a few steps back. He drew his own sword and came out, and with force on both arms, the two knives were compared. I only heard a crisp sound, and sparks popped out from the intersection of the two knives, and the buzzing sound was endless.

Looking at the blade of the knife, one blade collapsed a small dot, and the other was cut out of a small white dot, which was about the same.

Zhao Zhen took the two knives in his hand, looked at them carefully, and nodded: "The knife supervised by Bai Ting is slightly softer, but it is extremely tough. The sword worn by the guards is hard, but it is easy to break. ”

The knife used by the guards is a Hundred Refining Treasure Knife, and the edge of the blade has a high carbon content. It's just that the steel is impure and easy to break.

After speaking, he asked the guard to try the treasure knife in front of him. This time, it was obvious that whether it was the steel saber of the iron prison or the guard sword, it was cut out, but the treasure knife was not damaged at all.

This result surprised Zhao Zhen, and he checked the knife again, but he couldn't say why.

After looking at all the weapons, Zhao Zhen said to Chen Xun: "Judging from these weapons, the steel imported by the Baiting Prison is better than the previous one if it is used to make weapons. As for the treasure sword, since there is not much steel, it can only be used as a reward. ”

Chen Xun praised the wat: "Your Majesty, the steel produced by the Baiting Prison is tough and sharp, and the greater benefit is that it is easy to use to make weapons." Unlike the steel imported from other places, it must be refined, and the steel of the Baiting Prison only needs to be made into a knife with steel bars, quenched and sharpened. This benefit alone saves countless labor, and it is made quickly. ”

Zhao Zhen said: "Why is this? Could it be that the steel of the Baiting Prison has been smelted and entered? ”

Chen Xun said: "The minister asked, but it's not the case. That's how the steel they smelted out was directly pressed into steel bars and paid tribute to the imperial court. If it is a number of refining, it is mixed with miscellaneous iron, which is not as easy to use. ”

How could the monarchs and ministers in the palace understand this truth for a while, just rely on their own understanding and give a reason. In fact, the steel of other iron supervisors is not uniform, and there are too many impurities in it, although it is not like a piece of iron that needs to be tempered thousands of times, it still needs to be folded and forged many times before it can be made. The steel from Baiting is directly refined, and the material is uniform, and repeated tempering will cause damage.

If you don't understand it, you don't want to, as long as you know that the place produces good steel.

Asked the guards to take away all the weapons in the palace, Zhao Zhen returned to his seat and asked Chen Xun: "It seems that this kind of good steel that can fight swords, how much can Baiting Supervisor produce in a year?" If it is not enough for the case, the inner treasury can allocate some more money to let them refine more. ”

The manufacture of ordnance was attributed to the case of the Third Division, and it was subordinate to the deputy envoy of salt and iron. And the Iron Supervisor is also the deputy envoy of Salt and Iron, and Chen Xun is the most familiar with the situation of the Baiting Supervisor. Because of the manufacture of weapons, today the privy envoy Song Zhen came together, in fact, he is not familiar with the Baiting Supervisor.

In the middle of the year, Xia Zhu was impeached, and Zaiguo was in poor health, so he was sent to Xijing to stay, and Song Zhen took over as a privy envoy.

After listening to Zhao Zhen's question, Chen Xun praised the wat and said: "Back to Your Majesty, a few days ago, the third division went to Wen to ask the Baiting Supervisor, according to the Jingxi Road Transport Judge Du Zhongxiao said, the next year, the Baiting Supervisor can be this kind of good steel 5 million catties, enough to make all the swords. The three divisions thought about it, and there was too much good steel in, and the spearheads and arrows made in the future also used this steel. There is no precedent for this, so hesitate. ”

Hearing this, Zhao Zhen was stunned for a while. The swords used by the guards are all tempered, and any one will cost more than a hundred. The steel that can be compared with that kind of treasure knife can enter five million catties a year, and it will not be used up to make weapons. This sounds unreliable at all, how can there be such a thing in the world? For this alone, how much is the steel produced by Baiting worth?

Seeing that Zhao Zhen was silent, Chen Xun secretly wiped his sweat and said: "Weichen got Du Zhongxiao's reply, and he also felt that it was impossible, so he posted again and confirmed it, it is indeed the case." Because he produces too much steel there, there is no need for the rest of the prisons next year to enter Beijing. ”

Song Zhen on the side said: "There is one more thing. The steel that the Baiting Supervisor paid tribute to the imperial court was carefully selected. They are a little worse than that, and there are tens of millions of pounds. It couldn't be sold for a while, and it was piled up in the iron prison. Du Zhongxiao played and asked the court to allow him to pave the road with iron and use it as a track. ”

Zhao Zhen listened, looked at Song Zhen with open eyes, and said after a while: "Pave the road with iron?" Does the Bai Tingjian treat steel as dirt? ”

Song Zhen said: "He produces so much steel there, he can't sell it, isn't it just soil?" Listening to Du Zhongxiao's words, if the road is paved with iron, it can be driven like a car and a ship, and it is convenient to transport, and the steel will be easy to sell in the future. ”

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