Chapter Eighteen: The Decapitating Blade

  At that time, it was impossible to get rid of cold weapons. Despite the existence of thunderbolt shells, cold weapons still accounted for a large proportion. A suitable war knife was crucial for the Song Dynasty.

  Its importance is no less than that of a thunderbolt, and it even surpasses it.

  Having a good battle knife on the battlefield will have an obvious advantage, which has been proven by the military history of ancient and modern China and foreign countries. The Han Dynasty studied hard to defeat the Huns and finally designed the ring-headed knife, replacing the Han sword.

  The Tang Dynasty improved on the basis of Huan Shou Dao and designed the famous horizontal knife.

  The ring-shaped knife forged a strong and heroic spirit, while the cross-shaped knife created a prosperous Tang Dynasty atmosphere, making later generations admire!

  If this war knife is useful, sharp and suitable for the battlefield, then the Song army will be standing at a new and higher starting point, with a good advantage.

  If it is really so, what regret is there in this life?

  "Alright!" Qiao Daxuan and his two companions responded in unison: "Mount the knife handle! Open the blade!"

  The three of them also wanted to know if the knife was good or not. If this knife is useful, it's their handmade work, that's the greatest honor, a great story. As blacksmiths, they can achieve this, and their lives are not in vain!

  Three people were particularly excited, and they quickly assembled the knife handle. The handle had been prepared long ago, and now it only needed to be installed. As an old blacksmith, he didn't know how many times he had done this kind of thing before, and he was extremely familiar with it, so he quickly finished assembling the knife handle.

  The hilt was installed, and Wu Ji hurriedly took it in his hand, gripping it tightly, a sense of comfort surged over him, its comfort surpassing that of the Cross Sword. The Cross Sword is one of the pinnacles of ancient Chinese war knives, comfortable and suitable for battle, this being its greatest advantage.

  Wu Ji made some improvements to the hilt based on modern aesthetics and military principles, although not to a large extent. It was precisely this small improvement that made the hilt more convenient to hold and easier to chop with.

  With a flick of his wrist, he played with several knife flowers, chopping and hacking for a while, feeling pretty good, Wu Ji's heart finally calmed down.

  A good battle knife is not just about being sharp, but also about conforming to military principles, being easy to use and having a certain level of comfort. This knife meets these requirements. As for its sharpness, it's actually the least of Wu Ji's concerns - if a modern technological battle knife can't even be sharp, that's just laughable.

  Huang Pu's hands moved swiftly, and with a flick of his wrist, a beautiful knife flower appeared. He couldn't help but exclaim loudly: "Good! Good! Very comfortable! Very comfortable!"

  "Ah!"

  With a mighty slash, the wind suddenly rose, and it was quite frightening. If the blade had been unsheathed, it would have certainly been a gleaming flash of steel.

  Chopping for a while, Huangfu Song smiled and said: "This is the best battle knife I've ever used. As for its sharpness, it shouldn't be a problem. The question is, how sharp can it get?"

  As for this question, Wu Ji also wants to know, but can only find out after sharpening.

  Qiao Dajun hastily took over and prepared to launch a counterattack.

  For the blacksmith, it was a routine task, and the three of them were so familiar with each other that they could do it with their eyes closed. The three of them worked together and soon completed the task of opening the edge.

  Next is sharpening the knife. Sharpening the knife, for them, is not a problem either. The knives they have forged in their lifetime are countless, and the number of times they have sharpened their knives is more than the number of roads ordinary people have walked.

  "Ho ho!"

  A whirring sound of sharpening knives rose up, crisp and pleasant, yet rich in rhythm.

  As the sharpening progressed, the blade became increasingly brighter, like a night sky full of stars, emitting dazzling rays.

  "Good sword! Good sword!"

  Qiao Dayuan and three others, as well as Huang Fu, watched with delight in their eyes and joy in their hearts, and they hurriedly began to offer their praise.

  "It should be fine!" Wu Jie was completely relieved.

  Sharpening a knife is a skillful job, and although the three were old blacksmiths who had sharpened many knives in their lifetime, they didn't dare to be careless at this moment, and were being extremely cautious. Despite it being the depths of winter, beads of sweat still seeped out from the bridge of their noses, tense.

  This is a war knife, it's very important. Whether they can sharpen it well or not affects the future of the war knife, and they must be nervous about it.

  Wu Ji had only sharpened a vegetable knife before and was an outsider in this field. Only now did he personally experience the skill of sharpening a knife, which turned out to have many subtleties.

  It took a long time, and the three of them finally let out a sigh: "Alright! Master, take a look, is it good?"

  Qiao Dayuan handed the knife to Wu Ji, and nervously sized him up. Wu Ji took it in his hand, and in an instant, the feeling was as if he wasn't holding a battle knife, but a dazzling star, with the knife's light flashing and giving off a piercing sensation.

  Without saying anything else, just looking at it is a pleasure. Wu Ji's heart was filled with a sense of accomplishment and great joy. He took a close look and laughed, "Hmm, very good! Very good!"

  "Wu, take command and test the sharpness! Sharpness must be tested!" Huang Fu was impatient and rubbed his hands, saying: "On the battlefield, sharpness is too important. If the enemy's weapon is not as sharp as yours, they can only be slaughtered by you!"

  This is absolutely a talk of experience, and to some extent, sharpness has an overwhelming advantage on the battlefield.

  Huang Fu Suang didn't care about the three sevens or twenty-one, pulled out the hemp-wrapped knife from his waist, held it flat in front of his chest with the blade facing up, and said with a hopeful face: "Commander Wu, chop! Chop quickly! Hurry!"

  A string of urging voices rose, and he was more anxious than anyone else.

  "Come on, boss, hurry up!" Jo Dae-won and the other two also urged him on.

  A good battle knife, sharpness occupies a very important proportion. This battle knife is fine in all other aspects, but just lacks sharpness. If it were very sharp, it would necessarily become an invaluable instrument, who can remain calm?

  "Good!" Wu Jie grasped his sword with both hands and shouted: "Look at the sword!"

  The sword in his hand was raised high and chopped down fiercely. A streak of knife light flashed, like the stars on a night sky, dazzling and eye-catching, Wu Ji's eyes narrowed involuntarily.

  "Whoa!"

  A crisp metallic collision sounded, and Wu Ji only felt his knife pause slightly in his hand, then chopped down, directly chopping into the ground, half a foot deep.

  They all stared with their mouths agape, unable to utter a word for half the day, with only their wide-open eyes fixed on him.

  A hemp-wrapped knife actually cut it off, its sharpness far exceeded Wu Ji's imagination.

  The Mazha knife is a standard equipment of the Song army, although due to management problems, the quality is uneven and good and bad are mixed. However, Huangfu's waist knife was selected and was one of the best among the Mazha knives, but such a knife was easily cut into two pieces without any effort.

  This is not all, Wu Jie's hand did not stop, the entire knife entered the ground half a foot. To know that this ground was very hard, after being flattened, how astonishingly sharp it was.

  "Good!"

  A thunderous applause erupted, though the number of people was small, it was filled with endless joy.

  "Haha!" Wu Ji reacted and let out a joyful laugh, using force to pull out the sword, only to find that he couldn't pull it out with his strength.

  "Wu Zhihui, let me!" Huang Fu stepped forward one step, his right hand resting on the hilt of the knife, and with a slight effort, he pulled it out.

  Looking at his effortless appearance, Wu Ji couldn't help but sigh, his physical strength was too poor. Although he had the help of Huangfu Song, it was still far from enough, and he needed to seize the time to train.

  Huang Fu's eyes gleamed, he grasped the knife and examined it carefully, then burst out laughing: "Not a single scratch! Excellent! Excellent! If the Song army were all equipped with such battle knives, fighting against the Liao dogs would be wonderful! Wu Zhihui, tell me, when the time comes and the Liao dogs find their curved blades are useless, effortlessly chopped off, what kind of expression will they have? Haha!"

  The more he spoke, the happier he became, and he couldn't help but throw his head back and burst out laughing. Looking at him with such a joyful expression, it was as if he had already clashed with the Liao army, cutting off countless curved blades and killing countless Liao soldiers.

  "That Liao dog will definitely die a miserable death!" Qiao Dajun laughed and said: "The more Liao dogs that die, the better!"

  "Master, don't just be delighted, quickly give it a name! Such a good sword, if it doesn't have a name, wouldn't that be a pity?" Zhang Daniu stroked his forehead, chuckled and came up with an idea.

  "Really! Really!" Huang Fu immediately echoed: "If it didn't have a name, it would be an injustice to such a good sword!"

  "The Khitan is a barbarian, also called Hu Lu, let's just call it the Beheading Barbarian Sword!" Wu Ji thought for a moment and took the name of the sword.