It is estimated that the old blacksmith's workshop has not been watched by such a sergeant, let alone by the general himself, so these blacksmiths were excited, one by one threw off their arms ** upper body, the muscles of the iron were all over the body with beads of sweat gurgling down, shouting loudly in the mouth, the hammer in his hand danced wildly, and the sparks splashed everywhere, and the blood of everyone present was boiling, and the prince next to him stared at the real red iron bar with each hammer smashed down is a burst of sparks. His eyes were round, his cheeks were bulging, and he had the momentum of wanting to lift his sleeves and smash them a few times. Xia Hongsheng saw the blacksmith smashing the iron bars, so he turned his head to look left and right, and then said to Qu Tutong: "General, please find a horse, fix the horse's legs, don't let the horse kick people, and you also need to use a knife to smooth out the worn places under the horse's hooves, so that you can nail the horse's shoes up." ”

Qu Tutong nodded, turned his head sharply and shouted to the person behind him: "Do it!" Bring a horse! ”

Immediately, a sergeant responded, and saw a sergeant leading a war horse forward, and another group of soldiers came over, and held down the horses to use the rough sound in the workshop to fix the four hooves of the war horse.

"Uncle, please measure the curvature of the horse's hooves, and the iron bars must fit the horse's hooves, otherwise it is easy to break the horse's legs. It's like we're wearing shoes, and this size doesn't fit well! After Xia Hongsheng saw that the horse was fixed, he went over and said to the old blacksmith.

"My lord, isn't it just an iron hoop for the horse's hooves, wrapped around the little one, don't worry!" The old blacksmith looked like a madman, and slapped his chest with all his might.

Whether it is to create a horseshoe or nail a horseshoe, in fact, it is not a difficult task, more complex and delicate things can also be made by these blacksmiths with excellent craftsmanship, so they looked at the drawings drawn by Xia Hongsheng a few times, and they knew what to do, and even without Xia Hongsheng to explain again, they also knew what kind of nail should be used to not let this iron hoop fall off after being put on it. But it's such a simple thing, as soon as it is said, the blacksmith will know how to fight, but if Xia Hongsheng doesn't say it, I'm afraid it will take more than ten years or even decades of hard work before the horseshoe will appear in the Tang Army and be used on a large scale and on a large scale. Datang has never lacked smart people, what they lack is just an advanced concept, an idea, a kind of thinking, or in other words, a direction. As long as Xia Hongsheng gives a direction and gives a start, then there will be many smart people who will follow this beginning to complete it and go longer and farther.

Laugh at...... With the sound of boiling and tumbling on the surface of the water, a thick burst of water vapor rose violently, and the pliers came out of the water tank, and a perfect arc-shaped horseshoe appeared in front of Xia Hongsheng's eyes.

The old blacksmith pinched the shoe, and gestured on the horse's hooves in the past, and then went back with a clang, and then gestured again, and then nodded with satisfaction. Xia Hongsheng was also very satisfied, this old blacksmith's ironwork was very good.

"I also bother the military masters to take care of the horse's hooves, don't let the horse's legs kick around." The old man waved to a few sergeants, and then walked up to the war horse, which was fixed by several sergeants, with three legs on the ground and one hind hoof raised high. The old iron man took a horse's shoe in one hand and a small hammer in the other, and with a few nails with curved hooks in his mouth, he went up and first wiped a handful under the horse's hooves, which the soldiers had already leveled off.

It didn't take much effort for the old blacksmith to nail the horseshoe to the horse's hooves. The next few horseshoes were also made, and with a stick of incense, the old blacksmith nailed all four horseshoes.

The sergeants let go of the rope and let go of the war horse again, only to hear the sound of four hooves stepping on the ground, and only Qu Tutong shouted to the soldiers: "Swords and soldiers on the ground!" ”

As soon as he gave the order, I saw that those soldiers threw their weapons to the ground one after another, and then pulled out the horizontal knife or chain hammer or other weapons from their waists and threw them to the ground, paving a way. Then the lieutenant turned over and got on the horse, pulled the reins, and rode to the road paved by the handle of the sword, trampled back and forth several times, and rushed to the distance with a clamp between his legs, and then the horsewhip was drawn, and the horse trampled over and rushed back and forth a few times, before he stopped, turned over and dismounted the horse and looked at the horse's hooves, and there was no trace of scars and wear on it.

"Go run on the rocky beach!" Qu Tutong stared at the bottom of the horse's hooves, and then ordered the lieutenant general.

"The last general commands!" The lieutenant immediately turned on his horse again, and as soon as the reins were crossed, he galloped out.

Everyone watched the person and the rider disappear from sight, and the prince quickly moved a stool from the side, put it behind Qu Tutong, and then helped Qu Tutong and said, "Uncle Qu Tutong, please sit down and wait." ”

Qu Tutong retracted his gaze, finally had a little smile on his face, and was about to open his mouth to speak, but there was a violent cough coming out, and it took a long time to suppress it, and said: "Alas, since this year, the old man's health has been getting worse and worse, and if you think about it, you may not live long." The old man has fought on the battlefield all his life, and several times he has been lame and almost died in Huangquan, but the old man's luck has always been very good, compared to those comrades who died under the chaotic army horses, the old man has always lived until now. This horseshoe ......"

Qu Tutong shook his head and said no more.

"Uncle, why do you sigh like this, according to the little nephew, you can fight for another few decades!" The prince bowed and said.

Qu Tutong didn't say a word, just looked fixedly at the direction in which the lieutenant general left the horse.

This Qu Tutong, I'm afraid he really won't live long. Xia Hongsheng saw that his face was withered, his beard was gray, and he was already very old, and in the history of later generations, there was no mention of this name in the history after Zhenguan, so it can be seen that he must have died in the early days of Zhenguan. Looking at the way he coughed just now, if he can't keep it, there is something wrong with his lungs, at such an old age, it is estimated that it is likely to be lung cancer, and it is basically a terminal illness in later generations, not to mention the Tang Dynasty. No, the oil is out and the lamp is dry, no matter how much you heal it, I'm afraid you won't be able to return to the sky.

"By the way, I haven't asked you by name yet." Qu Tutong turned his head and looked at Xia Hongsheng.

Xia Hongsheng gave a respectful salute and said: "It is in the next forget jì introduction, in the next surname Xia Hongsheng, the word Jingshi, Luoyang City Luanzhou people, studying in Luanzhou Academy." ”

"Huh? Seeing that you are young and uncrowned, how come you already have a table? Qu Tutong looked at Xia Hongsheng: "Luanzhou Academy...... Isn't it the academy founded by Lord Yan? ”

"General Hui, he is a disciple of Master Yan. As for the table word, my father and brother all died in the war, and this word was taken by my father before he was enlisted, but he was afraid that he would not be able to come back. Xia Hongsheng replied to Qu Tutong very respectfully and politely.

Qu Tutong's age should be older than Yan Shigu, and Xia Hongsheng estimated that he should be in his seventies, but one is a literati and the other is a soldier, not a system.

While everyone was talking, half an hour had passed, that is, an hour's effort, when they saw a figure gradually appearing from there, Qu Tutong stood up at once, staring at the figure with burning eyes. The figure is getting closer and closer, and he can already see clearly, the lieutenant just now tightened the reins, stopped in front of the workshop, ran in himself, knelt on the ground on one knee, and said loudly: "General Qiyu, the last general will go back and forth on the rocky beach outside the city, and run in a place full of gravel and gravel, but the horse's hooves are not worn, and I have come to pay the order!" ”

Qu Tutong was overjoyed, and immediately strode to the war horse, and several sergeants went over to grab the horse's hooves with great eyes, Qu Tutong stepped up, and suddenly looked surprised.

"Hahahaha...... Good! All right! That's great! Qu Tutong looked up to the sky and laughed, and suddenly turned around and walked to Xia Hongsheng: "Young Master Xia, please accept the salute of Qu Tutong, the governor of the old Fuluo Prefecture!" ”

As he spoke, Qu Tutong bent down deeply in front of Xia Hongsheng and gave a salute, and the murderous soldiers behind him also knelt on one knee and saluted Xia Hongsheng. "General...... This, this is absolutely unacceptable! Xia Hongsheng was startled, quickly dodged Qu Tutong's salute, and helped the old general from the side.

"Hehe, don't call me a general, why not call me uncle?" Qu Tutong was full of red light at this time, and said to Xia Hongsheng with a smile.

"That'...... Uncle Qu Tu, the little nephew is bold! Xia Hongsheng gave Qu Tutong a standard nephew gift.

Qu Tutong looked at Xia Hongsheng's expression was not as strict as just now, raised his hand and patted Xia Hongsheng's shoulder, sighed, and said: "Since ancient times, no matter which dynasty, the use of troops abroad, especially for those Hu people, the biggest loss is not people, it is the war horse, every battle, the casualties are less than one percent, and the loss rate of the war horse is as high as thirty percent, sometimes even as high as sixty percent, a considerable part of the reason is because the horse's hooves are too easy to be greatly worn out in the charge to battle, Causing many additional casualties to come. Our army is dominated by cavalry, and if something goes wrong with the cavalry's horse, it will be a fatal wound for a brave cavalryman, and the cavalry without the horse will have its combat power greatly reduced. But for a long time, there has never been a way to solve this problem, we can only lose countless war horses every time we fight, and then re-cultivate, and then send them to the battlefield for loss. Now, I don't want to be solved by a young student like you! Hehe, the old man can already imagine what the news of the horseshoe will be like if it is transmitted back to Chang'an, His Majesty, and the old horsemen in the gang of soldiers! Today's old man is happy! Let's go, go back to the house, and the old man should hold a banquet to congratulate him! ”

Qu Tutong took Xia Hongsheng and a few people away, walked out of a distance, Xia Hongsheng stretched out the window and looked back, but saw that the workshop had been blocked by the water around the sergeant's door just now, it seemed that someone was still helping the old blacksmith move?