Chapter Six: Forging

  "How come this hammer is so big?" Yang Heng looked at the iron hammer in front of him and started to feel dizzy, as if he had never used such a large iron hammer before.

  "What are you doing, go get your hammer, remember to bring both of them!" Old dad was holding a small hammer, a pair of iron pliers and some iron blocks, shouting at Yang Heng.

  Oh, so the big iron hammer wasn't mine after all. Luckily, I turned around an obstacle and found my own iron hammer. These two hammers are identical, with a black iron head and a wooden handle about one meter long embedded on top.

  "Hey," Yang Heng bent down to pick up the iron hammer, "Ah." Yang Heng secretly let out a cry of surprise, he had actually used too little strength, and the iron hammer looked similar to those large 20-jin hammers from later generations, just a bit darker in color. As a result, he couldn't lift it up.

  However, a story about the origin of these two iron hammers immediately appeared in his mind. It is said that these iron hammers were made by his ancestors with great difficulty and hardship using meteorites from heaven in some unknown era. After the iron hammers were made, they couldn't find suitable wooden handles for them. After waiting for many years, they finally found a small tree on a certain island, which was used to make two hammer handles. And since then, there have been no more trees like this. What a wonderful story, just like a myth! However, these iron hammers are indeed real. The large iron hammer he saw earlier was made by his father himself. These two iron hammers were also something that Yang Heng could only use one of after he turned eight years old, and it wasn't until he turned ten that he could use both with one hand each. As for his parents' strength, they were slightly inferior to Yang Heng's, and they could only lift the two iron hammers.

  "Hey." Yang Heng bent down, grasped the two iron hammers firmly in his hands, but such heavy hammers could only be swung over a thousand times by Yang Heng with each hand.

  "Hey kiddo, what took you so long to come in? Your old man has been waiting for a good while now. Look, you haven't even put on your protective gear properly, hurry up." It was then that Yang Heng noticed that both his parents were wearing aprons made of some unknown animal skin, covered in holes that had been scorched into them. Even their faces were wrapped in pieces of skin with two holes cut out for the eyes to see through, while the other holes were just scorch marks. His mother had already lit up the furnace and was using a large bellows to fan the flames, which were burning brightly blue. The iron block inside had started to turn red. His father stood in front of a massive anvil, holding a pair of tongs in one hand and a small hammer in the other, ready to start work. Next to him was a large vat filled with water.

  Yang Heng quickly put on a protective leather skirt from the side, and his face also wore a leather mask.

  "Alright, let's get started." "Here you go," Old Man took out a piece of iron and said, "You hold this, first hammer out the shape of that knife."

  "Hmm." "You're holding back, you've forgotten the power." As Yang Heng's iron hammer struck down, it directly split the iron into two halves. He still hadn't used his full strength, and in his memories, there were many ways to exert force, with sparks flying everywhere. Judging from the size of the sparks and the degree of force, fortunately, he had protection, or else who knows how deep the sparks would have penetrated into his flesh? No wonder he had such high defense, yet still managed to scorch some scars onto his face and body.

  "Alright, old man, it's been a while since I've done this, and I didn't quite get the hang of it at first. Let me try again." "Okay, let's continue, don't do it like that again." The old man tossed the damaged iron block back into the furnace and pulled out another one. "This time, hold on tight, you should be able to gauge the force needed." "Mm, got it, I'll start with 20% of my strength."

  "Clang, clang, clang, clang!" As the old man flipped the iron tongs, a long piece of iron slowly unfolded. "Okay, now be careful, I'm going to cut this iron sheet out." With that said, the old man picked up a knife-shaped iron sheet from the side and clamped it onto the newly forged iron sheet with another pair of pliers.

  Yang Heng followed his father's gesture and struck the hammer down. Soon, a rough shape of a knife appeared. "Now use a bit of force to refine it, keep up with me." His father held the knife blank in one hand and a small hammer in the other, guiding Yang Heng as he began to strike.

  This time's forging is different from last time, this time it's sparkling all over the place, and the range is even wider. The front was flying out flat, so it could only splash on the body. Now, because we need to hit some beveled surfaces, the iron hammer and anvil are not flat either. This way, some sparks will splash unevenly. Yang Heng only now understands why everyone's face is all bruised. Forging with angles, flipping over and continuing to forge, blade edge, blade back, blade tip, handle.

  Needless to say, Old Man's craftsmanship is really unmatched, and Yang Heng also controlled the force well, every hammer hit was in the right place, a steel knife slowly appeared before his eyes, very flat, with some patterns on it.

  "Alright," the old man shouted, and then threw the knife into the furnace. This time he threw it in a different place than when burning iron blocks. After this burn, it needs to be quenched in fire, that is, to make the steel adhere to the iron block.

  The old man took the newly forged steel knife and began to temper it, while Yang Heng had time to observe the situation in the furnace. This was a furnace that used charcoal as fuel, and although Yang Heng didn't understand how good or bad the charcoal was, he could tell from the blue flame that the temperature of the fire was very high. He guessed that this had something to do with the design of the furnace, otherwise it would be really difficult to smelt steel using charcoal. He suspected that this was also a technique passed down from his ancestors. As it turned out, Yang Heng's guess was correct - this was indeed a technique passed down from his ancestors, but it was actually something that had been brought back by the blacksmith who had accompanied his ancestor on their travels.

  "Hmm, not bad. How did you come up with this knife design, kid? Did you learn it from the scholar or something? You've got talent. Alright, next one, kid. Still got energy?" "Yes, let's start."

  Four knives were finished, and Yang Heng began to breathe slightly, to know that he had been hammering for more than 300 times, his body was just fine, it was impossible to fully recover.

  "How's that, young one? Can you continue?" The old man's work was easy, but he had to have good eyesight to find the uneven places on this red iron block and let Yang Heng hammer them flat. "How's that, young one? Can you still continue?"

  "Alright, what's next?" "Axes, the rest will be easier." Then he made two more axes weighing over 10 kilograms each. Old dad did this according to individual strength and what could be found, if it was too big, it would be hard to use, but letting others use it would be a bit heavy, and there wasn't much iron left either, next there were still many things to make.

  These iron blocks were actually repeatedly forged by Yang Heng and his old father, now they can be used directly. The axe, knife, and hoe need to be made of good steel, but the shovel doesn't need to be that good, just using the iron from last time when Yang Heng was tempered would do, and the iron scoop needs to be half steel and half iron.

  In this way, what others can do in a few days, Yang Heng and his family of three can now accomplish in just half an evening. And Yang Heng couldn't help but admire his father's learning ability, from being an ordinary Han Chinese, he was able to learn the ancestral craftsmanship passed down by his mother with great precision over more than ten years, even innovating on it, yet Yang Heng had never heard of such a technique in his later life.

  However, after careful consideration, Father has not created anything important like a weapon. Perhaps without Yang Heng's crossing, it is still uncertain whether Father and Mother can pass this difficult situation. After all, in this era, losing one or two people is really nothing.