“That shouldn’t be! Given that little bit of strength you possess, you shouldn’t be able to dodge my fist though?”
Several zhang away, the Wang Family’s little sister’s face was tilted in confusion. She hadn’t moved at all ever since released the fist. Not hearing Wang Chong’s words at all, she mumbled to herself.
A zhang -> 3.33meters
“Brother, when did you reaction speed get so fast?”
The Wang Family’s little sister lifted her head and asked Wang Chong. She knew of Wang Chong’s cultivation realm and at that instant, Wang Chong’s reaction speed and agility were clearly much faster than before.
“This lass…”
Wang Chong felt angry and amused at the same time. Somehow, he couldn’t bring himself to vent his anger on her:
“Did you think that you were the only one who would improve? King Song had given me a Body Tempering Pill. Naturally, my abilities would rise as well!”
“Oh, is that so? Boring!”
The Wang Family’s little sister waved her hands. She soon lost all curiosity she had of Wang Chong.
“You lass, weren’t you grounded by mother? How were you able to come over here?”
Wang Chong said impatiently. Reaching Origin Energy Tier 4 didn’t just boost his strength, his reaction speed and agility were boosted as well.
“Three days have already passed, why would I still be grounded?”
Wang Xiao Yao glared at her brother in dissatisfaction and pouted. Turning around, right when she was about to leave, she said:
“Also, that fatty, Youngster Wei, has come to our house. If it wasn’t for him looking for you, I wouldn’t have come over!”
“What? Wei Hao is here?”
Wang Chong was delighted. Without any hesitation at all, he immediately rushed over.
…………
Indeed, Wei Hao came with good news.
Three days, four days if considering the day when Wang Chong went to the Eight Gods Pavilion, had passed, and Wei Hao, using the connections of his family, had managed to find for Wang Chong the required manpower for refining and forging the Hyderabad ores.
“…Father never allowed me to interfere in the family business easily. It took me great effort to get the few of them behind father’s back. Although these blacksmiths were not the best of the lot, they were more than sufficient to accomplish your task. Wang Chong, take a look. How is it? Not bad, huh?”
Wei Hao brought Wang Chong and his sister to the western suburbs of the city, into a hidden cavern mine. He pointed to the twelve bulky and men with bared top with a gleeful expression.
Taking a glance, the twelve men were as though steel towers, possessing great strength beneath their bodies. There were also thick calluses on their fingers. From that, it could be seen from that that they were smithing experts.
It was clear that Wei Hao had taken the task he had delegated to him seriously.
“Not bad, acceptable!”
Wang Chong nodded his head seriously.
“Hehe, I’ve told you, we’re brothers. You don’t need to worry about my ability to get things done!”
Wei Hao smiled gleefully. Pointing to Wang Chong, he said loudly:
“Call Young Master Chong!”
“Young Master Chong!”
The twelve bronze-skinned men bowed and called with a respectful expression. To be able to be a brother of their young master, the little brother beside him must be of esteemed standing as well.
“Wei Hao, I will skip the pleasantries. Thank you!”
Wang Chong patted Wei Hao’s shoulders in delight. ‘Hyderabad ore’ was an extremely important part of his plan. With the twelve craftsmen from the Wei Residence, he was finally about to embark on his plan. Wang Chong’s heart beat furiously in anticipation and nervousness.
There was a great amount of money to be earnt from the Wootz steel weapons. No one knew this fact greater than Wang Chong himself.
Right now, the Hyderabad ores had just surfaced and as long as he were to take down this deal, wealth would come rolling in like a flood.
Wei Hao left everything in the Wang Chong’s hands.
Wang Chong didn’t stand on ceremonies and flinging his robe back, he stepped forward. Hualala, several black Hyderabad ores rolled down from his sleeves onto the floor.
“From now on, you will be split into four teams. I only have one request, that is, for twenty-four hours a day, the fire in the furnace must be lit! ——Now, let’s begin!”
Wang Chong commanded.
Even though he looked immature, being just fifteen-year-old, Wang Chong was still a person who had led the Great Tang’s armies in the past. The majesty still lingered upon him and authority exuded from his words.
“Yes, Young Master Chong!”
The blacksmiths immediately replied.
Boom, pulling the iron chain, the gates were opened. A crimson fiery heat wave gushed down the valve from the top and dense smoke filled the entire cavern. The twelve blacksmiths got into position. Just like that, the forge of the Wei Residence started to get into action.
Even though Wang Chong had seen and experienced much, this was his first time seeing a forge in his current life. A unique feeling arose in his heart.
“How hot is the heat wave?”
Looking at the crimson heat wave from the top of the valve, Wang Chong walked over and asked.
“2300 degrees!”
By the valve, a forty-year-old bronze-skinned craftsman said proudly. The Wei Clan had specially looked for a Feng Shui Master to look for an underground lava flow for it.
This temperature achievable by such an underground lava flow was much greater than the other methods. In the entire capital, there weren’t more than five underground lava flow like the Wei Clan’s.
If not for their young master’s request, under normal conditions, this facility would never be opened to outsiders.
“The temperature is too high, lower it to 1500 degrees!”
He didn’t expect that Wang Chong would frown and give such an order instead.
“Ah!”
The head craftsman was taken aback. He wasn’t able to comprehend the meaning of Wang Chong’s actions and hurriedly argued:
“But Young Master Chong, this kind of lava flow is hard to come by. There are many distinguished families who would love to get their hands on it. Furthermore, on refining ores, the higher the temperature, the better it is! ——”
“Just do as I say!”
Wang Chong said authoritatively.
“This…”
The head craftsman was taken aback. Usually, swords and blades were forged under high temperature, and the higher the temperature, the easier it would be to rid the ore of its impurities, allowing the sword forged to be of better quality.
This was one of the basic logic behind forging.
This kid who was known as Young Master Chong clearly knew nothing of the matter! Anyone else would be overjoyed to see the underground lava flow, but that kid found the temperature too high. He already didn’t know what else he should say.
“Stop complaining, just do as Young Master Chong says!”
Wei Hao said. Even though he wasn’t adept in forging, he knew that Wang Chong wouldn’t do something without reason.
“Sigh!”
Upon hearing those words, the middle-aged head craftsman sighed within. He lamented that these ores were going to be wasted. Even if a weapon could be forged out of it, it was unlikely to be of good quality.
It wasn’t his ore and it wasn’t his place to worry about it, but even so, he still felt that it was a pity.
“Release the river sand!”
The head craftsman bellowed toward another craftsman. Boom! From the top of the cavern, iron chains moved, causing large metal buckets to tilt and a massive amount of sand grains fell into the valve.
The furnace’s temperature could not be lowered by using water, and only sand was effective. This was something the Central Pla
ins craftsmen had figured out through trials and errors, and on this aspect, their techniques were superior to that of the Western Regions forges.
The moment the sand was poured in, dense smoke came gushing out. Seeing that the heat had gone down significantly, Wang Chong nodded his head in satisfaction.
Wang Chong didn’t know forging, but he knew of the properties of the Hyderabad ores!
This type of ore was completely different from the others. Other ores did better under higher temperatures, but the refinement temperature for Hyderabad ores must not exceed 1500 degrees.
Excessive heat would cause the carbon within the Wootz steel to be lost, and the crystallized structure would be ruined. If so, the Wootz steel would be no different from any normal iron.
Due to too many people being unaware of this, along with the Abbasid Caliphate’s intentional guarding of the secret, many failed and incomplete products of the Wootz steel appeared in the other countries.
Forging Wootz steel in such a manner caused its quality to be lowered greatly. It was a waste of a precious commodity.
As such, in his previous life, other than the Abbasid Caliphate and Characene, there weren’t any countries which were able to create the true Wootz steel weapons.
Right now, the Hyderabad ores had just surfaced. Wang Chong was certain that more than half of the Hyderabad ores being sold out now would go to waste.
As long as he guarded this secret, he would possess an immense advantage over others for a very long time. At the very least, for a couple of years, he would have an advantage over the Abbasid Caliphate.
And the latter happened to be his greatest competitor for the Hyderabad ores!
There were many secrets to forging the Wootz steel from the Hyderabad ores. It wasn’t possible to create Wootz steel just by laying one’s hands on the ores.
Unless required, Wang Chong would never say these secrets out!
Boom!
The temperature in the valve was lowered to 1500 degrees. The refinement of the Hyderabad ores had finally officially started. These ores which came from the faraway Sindhu mines were thrown into the several zhang tall furnace. After which, the flames gushed up from the bottom of the valve and the crackling of which echoed loudly in the cavern.
A zhang -> 3.33meters
…
Wang Chong didn’t know that while he was secretly refining the Hyderabad ores in the cavern, in another location, Yao Guang Yi was dressed in a metal chainmail and equipped with his sword. He was about to embark on the final move of his plan.
“Whether I would be able to distance the Song Clan from the Wang Clan would depend on this!”
Yao Guang Yi’s eyes lit up. Sitting on the back of the horse, an ambitious glint radiated in his eyes.
There were no justified wars in the Spring and Autumn period. Similarly, there was no kindness in the royal court. Even though his plan in the Vast Crane Pavilion had been wrecked by the Wang Family’s siblings, Yao Guang Yi still had a follow-up plan.
As long as the plan by the border went as he planned, the Song and Wang Clan would definitely break away from one another.
As long as King Song fell, King Qi would be able to reign supreme in the court. He would have no more rivals on the court and Yao Clan, who was on this massive tree, would soar to the heavens along with it.
Even if the Old Master died, the Yao Clan would still be able to retain its wealth and glory for a very long time.
For the sake of the future of their descendants, the Old Master and he had gone through much efforts to plan this out to deal with the Wang Clan!
Jya!
Yao Guang Yi squeezed the abdomen of the horse and the duo galloped away into the distant.
…
Probably degree celcius. Usual furnace can only reach 1000+
There were no justified wars in the Spring and Autumn period.
Spring and Autumn period: 771 – 476 BC
This was a saying by Meng Zi. The Spring and Autumn period was a time where the Central Plains were strife with conflicts, hegemons, and wars.
You could read more on Wikipedia.
Chapter 35: Pioneering Cold Forging
Days passed one after another. Everyday, there would be progress in the refinement of the Hyderabad ores.
Wang Chong did not understand forging, but he believed in the craftsmen Wei Hao brought him. Given their abilities, they should be able to fully satisfy his demands.
Five days later.
“It’s done! We’re about to forge metal ingots!”
The air in the cavern was burning. The perspiring head craftsman suddenly shouted, and his words caught the attention of everyone in the cavern.
Weng!
The moment the furnace opened, four bulky craftsmen almost simultaneously stretched out their tongs into the hot furnace to take out four successfully refined Hyderabad ores, or rather, Wootz steel, and placed it on the metal platform.
“It’s truly incredible!”
“How heavy! To think that a single ore could form such a huge metal ingot, the metallic content of the ore must be incredible!”
“There is a hint of blue in the flames! I have processed ores from decades and came into contact with countless ores, but this is my first time encountering such an ore!”
“Look, just the ingot itself already had the shine of a metal, something which should have taken hundreds of refinement and hammering to achieve. It is truly a miracle!”
…
The crowd gathered around the four Wootz steel ingots around the metal platform. Their eyes were widened to the brim and words of amazement spouted from their mouths. When Wang Chong took out the four black metal ores and passed it to them, he didn’t say much about it.
However, given their experience in processing ores, no matter how slow-witted they could be, it was apparent that the ore Wang Chong had given them to process didn’t come from the Central Plains.
It was impossible for the Central Plains to have an ore that could cause the flames of the furnace to glow blue. It was even more impossible for it to have the shine of a metal just after the primary refinement.
They had never seen such a sight in the past several decades of their life.
“No wonder he had me lower the temperature to below 1500 degrees!”
The forty-year-old head craftsman came to a realization.
“Great! It’s indeed Wootz steel!”
At this moment, Wang Chong was extremely agitated.
Even though he had seen Wootz steel weapon in the past, he had never seen the rough cast of Wootz steel after its primary refinement. This was the first time Wootz steel was showing its shine on the Central Plains.
This was a significant improvement from his previous life.
“We can start forging weapons now!”
Wang Chong clenched his fist tightly. Now that the primary refinement was done, the next step was to use the ingot to forge the final weapon. This step was even more important than refining the ore. The craftsmen had to be additionally careful to prevent any errors from occurring.
“Shut the furnace! Use pine branches to fuel the flames. Align the bellows. Make sure that the temperature does not exceed 300 degrees!”
Wang Chong commanded.
His words attracted everyone’s attention. The twelve craftsmen looked over with bizarre expressions. Wang Chong’s command was inconceivable to them.
“Young Master Chong, isn’t the temperature a little too low?”
“Indeed! There isn’t a single person in the entire Great Tang that uses such low temperature to forge weapons. The results of doing so will be extremely poor and even a week wouldn’t be sufficient to create a single weapon.”
Several craftsmen mustered their courage to say. It was one thing to lower the temperature from over 2000 degrees to 1500 degrees earlier; after all, 1500 degree was still a high temperature.
But, what Wang Chong was demanding now was for them to forge weapons at 300 degrees. This
was something completely unheard of, as though a request from an ignorant oaf.
Even if Wang Chong was of higher standing than them, they couldn’t help but refute him. This wasn’t the proper way to forge weapons.
“This is called cold forging, just do as I say!”
Wang Chong said impassively. His gaze remained resolute even when it met the eyes of the twelve experts craftsmen. Cold forging was a unique weapon forging method, it could greatly strengthen the resilience and toughness of a weapon.
However, in this era, cold forging had yet to appear. Most of the weapons were still created under high temperature. That was because high temperature softened metal, making it easier to mold them into shape. Furthermore, it reduced the time required to forge it.
However, not a lot of people knew that even though cold forging took a significantly longer time, the weapons forged through so were much stronger and tougher than the weapons forged under high temperature.
If Wang Chong wanted to forge a top class Wootz steel weapon, he had to cold forge it.
Of course, cold forging did not mean forging in a cold environment. Rather, it was comparative to the mainstream high temperatures required for forging. The ideal temperature to forge Wootz steel was around 300 or so.
If one failed to comprehend this, the weapon forged out of Wootz steel would still be far from its full potential. Even though the Abbasid Calipahte was closer to Sindhu and they were able to get their hands on the Hyderabad ores earlier than Wang Chong, they would need at least five to six years before they could forge Wootz steel weapon of comparable quality to Wang Chong’s.
“Cold forging…”
Wang Chong’s words sounded ridiculous to the craftsmen, they truly had no idea what Wang Chong was talking about.
“Enough! Why do you need to think so much over the matter? Just do as you are told!”
Wei Hao wasn’t as patient as Wang Chong. He immediately started to reprimand them all. Why do you need to care so much? Just forge as you are told, it’s not like it’s your weapon, why argue so much over it?
Wang Chong chuckled. He knew that Wei Hao wasn’t really discontent with them. Rather, it was just his personality. However, after being reprimanded by Wei Hao, these craftsmen stopped all complaints and got to work once more.
The Human Emperor c1-2382 Page 36
