Chapter 27: Hundred-Forged Steel Knife (Part One)

  What a miserable day, fortunately I had someone review my manuscript two days ago, so at least that's saved...

  Seeking recommendations, seeking collections, sadly rolling around.

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  The term Taiji first appeared in the Book of Changes - Appended Statements.

  As a work with profound influence on traditional Chinese culture, its content almost covers all schools of thought.

  "Tai Chi?"

  Zhang Wan Zhen nodded repeatedly, "From the ultimate to the supreme, it's actually quite compatible with your fist technique. However, where did you learn this fist technique from?"

  "This... um..." Cao Peng hesitated for a moment, then explained stiffly: "This is a boxing technique that was taught to me by a wandering Taoist priest in my early years. In those days, my family lived in Zhongyang Town, and the Taoist priest had once stopped over in Zhongyang Town... Oh, Tiger Head also knows about this."

  The same lie can deceive Wang Mai and Wang Meng, but it's unknown whether it can fool Zhang Wanjin.

  "Is there really such an eccentric person?"

  "Yes, Brother Tiger Head now regrets not apprenticing himself back then."

  Zhang Wan Zhen did not suspect anything, but her face revealed a look of longing.

  In this day and age, Fang Shi is sometimes also a synonym for "immortal". If that Fang Shi was a great master, teaching Cao Peng these skills wouldn't be surprising at all.

  "Let's go, we're going back to load the windbox."

  "Lord Cao's son..."

  "Oh, just call me Ah Fu, no need for 'young master' this and that. What kind of young master am I, anyway?"

  Zhang Wanzhen smiled brightly, revealing her cute little tiger teeth.

  "All right, I'll call you Ah Fu, and you don't have to keep calling me Miss, just call me Yue Ying."

  "Yue Ying?"

  "Ah, Yueying is my nickname. When I was young, I had jaundice, so my father also called me ā Chǒu. But later when I grew up, my father thought ā Chǒu didn't sound good, so he started calling me Yueying. Wǎnzhēn is also my name, but it's not commonly used, so just call me Yueying."

  In the late Eastern Han dynasty, single-character names were considered noble.

  Apart from names, there are words. In addition, there are many nicknames, milk names, and pet names...

  For example, Cao Cao, courtesy name Mengde, also known as Jili or Adman.

  "What's your name?" Cao Peng asked curiously.

  "My surname is just one character 'Huo', but it's also not very commonly used."

  Zhang Shuo?

  It's quite a boyish name.

  Cao Peng felt that the name Yue Ying seemed somewhat familiar. Zhang Yueying... was actually a pretty ordinary name, but it was very common in later generations.

  So Cao Peng didn't think too much about it and chatted and laughed with Zhang Wan all the way back home.

  Zhang Wanzhen's bellows were placed outside the wooden shed. Very delicate, and the workmanship was also very good. Cao Jing and Wang Meng were squatting beside it, curiously sizing it up. Seeing Cao Peng and others return, Cao Jing immediately stood up and asked: "Peng'er, how do you use this thing?"

  "Like the blast furnace, just take down the tuyere and replace it with a bellows."

  "So it was."

  Cao Quan suddenly enlightened, hastily beckoned Wang Meng to come and help. The furnace tuyere was not fixed during installation, so that it would be convenient to disassemble. So the two people quickly dismantled the furnace tuyere and installed the bellows in its place. Then standing beside the iron-melting furnace, Cao Quan turned his head to look at Cao Peng, "Peng'er, is it installed? Is the method of use the same as before? Shall we try it first?"

  "Of course I want to try it."

  Cao Peng nodded and walked over to help Cao Jing open the furnace door.

  Zhang Wan-zhen stood outside the wooden shed, a look of excitement on her face.

  The blast furnace gradually warmed up, and Cao Qu asked Wang Meng to pull the bellows handle. Wang Meng bent down, tried the force of the handle, and muttered: "This thing's force is not light."

  As he spoke, he suddenly exerted force, pulled out the pull rod, and immediately pushed it in with force.

  The air flow generated by the bellows rushes into the furnace through the tuyere, and the charcoal fire bursts up in an instant, with blue flames dancing.

  "It's on fire!"

  Cao Quan couldn't help but let out a loud cry.

  He can't tell water apart, but he's good at recognizing fire.

  What kind of spark, produces what kind of temperature, most suitable for forging what kind of object, he is clear. Just looking at the spark rising, Cao Ju knew that the bellows had taken effect. Immediately picked up a scrapped knife blank from beside the smelting furnace and threw it into the iron furnace.

  Originally, after the iron furnace was opened, Cao Ju planned to make some farm tools.

  Who would have thought that as soon as he mentioned this idea, Wang Meng strongly opposed it: "Old Cao, can't you be a bit more sensible? Since Ah Fu has helped you solve the problem of quenching fire, why are you still stuck on farm tools? Ah Fu's methods are those of an immortal, and if you continue to make farm tools, you'll suffer heavenly punishment. Why not switch to making swords instead? It can help hone your craftsmanship. Do you really want to be a third-rate blacksmith for the rest of your life?"

  In Wang Meng's view, Cao Peng knew so much that he must have been taught by that Daoist priest.

  Quenching in two liquids, unheard of!

  That must be a divine method, otherwise how would Cao Peng know?

  Cao Qu thought what Wang Meng said also made sense, so he nodded in agreement.

  It just so happens that at the end of the year, Jiangyang County is clearing out the armory, and many weapons need to be replaced or repaired. Deng Ji was handling affairs in the government office, so he took on this task. As they say, "having someone in the imperial court makes it easy to get things done", but replacing weapons would definitely not be entrusted to Cao Jing. However, repairing them is exactly what Cao Jing is best at. Qiao Zheng didn't care about this either, after all, it's just repairs, who does the repairs doesn't matter, right?

  So in the end, the business of repairing the arsenal's weapons was left to Deng Ji to handle.

  Deng Jie may look simple-minded, but he's no fool. He immediately handed the matter over to Cao Jing, which is called "the fat water doesn't flow into another person's field..."

  These days, Cao Qu also repaired a lot of swords and knives. The craftsmanship he had abandoned in the past gradually became familiar again.

  Dong-dong-dong!

  The tongs took out the fiery red knife blank and placed it on the anvil, where Cao Jin hammered away at it repeatedly. With each strike, Cao Jin used all his strength, sending sparks flying everywhere as the knife blank gradually took shape, its temperature slowly dropping. When the knife blank had turned a dark red color, Cao Jin stopped hammering, picked up the tongs and plunged the knife blank into the quenching trough. The pungent smell that rose up made Zhang Wanjin wrinkle her nose in distaste and take several steps back.

  "What's in the sink? What's with this smell, it's so pungent?"

  Cao Peng smiled and didn't answer.

  Zhang Wan Zhen did not ask again, but quietly observed from the side.

  Caressing the temperature, Cao Qu took out the knife from the water tank, swept a glance, nodded and put it back into the oil groove.

  Compared to the most popular single-liquid quenching, double-liquid quenching can guarantee the hardness of the knife blank while preventing cracking and deformation, giving it a certain degree of toughness. To say that this is not a major invention. But for this era, it undoubtedly has great significance.

  Actually, what we call invention is just a matter of whether you have thought of it or not.

  To think what others dare not think is progress...

  Don't look at the simple two, and also need to consider the craftsmanship and experience of the craftsman. Without temperature measurement and control equipment, it is completely operated by feeling. If a person without experience comes to do it, even if there is a double liquid quenching method, it will not work.

  Cao Quan indeed did not fight with swords in his early years, but the long-term repair of farm tools also allowed him to accumulate enough experience.

  So, Cao Peng only opened a crack for him, but he could quickly push open the door and step into the hall. The subtlety of this was something that even Zhang Wanzhen couldn't fully grasp, no matter how clever she was. She just felt that there was a big secret hidden in those two water tanks. But since it involved trade secrets, Cao Peng could let her observe from the side but wouldn't be able to tell her the truth. Of course, Zhang Wanzhen could ponder on her own, but she wouldn't dare ask recklessly. She knew what was important and what wasn't, and she understood what questions were okay to ask and which ones weren't.

  The knife has been repaired and polished, but further grinding is still needed.

  It was almost noon, so Zhang Wanjin bid farewell and left.

  However, she and Cao Peng agreed that every morning, she would take a small boat across the river to study Tai Chi with Cao Peng.

  Cao Peng, of course, would not refuse...

  After seeing Zhang Wan off, Cao Peng returned to the courtyard.

  "Dad, how's the bellows working?"

  Cao Qu was washing his sword, when Cao Peng asked him a question, he lifted up his head.

  "Dad, why aren't you happy?"

  Cao Qu sighed and said with a bitter smile: "The temperature of the iron furnace has been solved... This one wind box is equivalent to two rows of bellows."

  A row of stoves, almost enough for ten households.

  That is to say, this one wind box can produce the effect of twenty furnaces. Calculated in this way, the role of the wind box should be very good. However, Cao Ju's worried and unhappy expression made Cao Peng feel uneasy in his heart, "Dad, isn't it good like this?"

  "It's good, but this noon, a whole basket of charcoal was used. Normally, one basket of charcoal is enough for a day. If we use your bellows, I'm afraid two baskets won't be enough... Ah Fu, we're armorers, and at this rate, the cost will be too high. Your contraption might be suitable for a workshop, but for our small household, it's not quite worth it."

  The wind is stronger, and the burning of charcoal will also accelerate, consuming more naturally.

  Cao Peng didn't really consider this aspect... The appearance of piston-style bidirectional continuous bellows was in the Ming Dynasty. At that time, the social form was quite different from that of the Three Kingdoms period. The scale of handicraft workshops is also not comparable to today's society. It seems to be ahead of its time?