Chapter 34: Wei Clan’s Forge

Peng!

Everything happened in the blink of an eye, w.a.n.g Chong didn’t have much time to think. With a step of the left foot, he danced along with the constellations and executed a technique he just learned from the Dragon Bone Art, ‘Dragon Diving into the Abyss’. Sou! In an instant, he dashed forward.

w.a.n.g Chong would not have been able to maneuver such a movement in the past, but after reaching Origin Energy Tier 4, w.a.n.g Chong’s reaction speed and agility had increased significantly.

Hu! The fearsome force pa.s.sed by w.a.n.g Chong’s body with just the slightest bit of gap. In fact, w.a.n.g Chong could even feel his face creasing from the heavy wind generated by the shock wave of her blow.

That shock wave felt like daggers to the skin, causing excruciating pain to one’s face.

“Little sister, what are you trying to do?”

Distressed by her sudden actions, w.a.n.g Chong felt infuriated. He wasn’t Yao Feng, nor was he the veteran guards of the Yao Residence. If this fist were to strike him, he would have to lie in bed for at least half a month.

However, w.a.n.g Chong’s words were completely neglected.

“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 w.a.n.g Family’s little sister’s face was tilted in confusion. She hadn’t moved at all ever since released the fist. Not hearing w.a.n.g Chong’s words at all, she mumbled to herself.
A zhang -> 3.33meters

“Brother, when did you reaction speed get so fast?”

The w.a.n.g Family’s little sister lifted her head and asked w.a.n.g Chong. She knew of w.a.n.g Chong’s cultivation realm and at that instant, w.a.n.g Chong’s reaction speed and agility were clearly much faster than before.

“This la.s.s…”

w.a.n.g 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 w.a.n.g Family’s little sister waved her hands. She soon lost all curiosity she had of w.a.n.g Chong.

“You la.s.s, weren’t you grounded by mother? How were you able to come over here?”

w.a.n.g 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 pa.s.sed, why would I still be grounded?”

w.a.n.g 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?”

w.a.n.g 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 w.a.n.g Chong went to the Eight G.o.ds Pavilion, had pa.s.sed, and Wei Hao, using the connections of his family, had managed to find for w.a.n.g 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. w.a.n.g Chong, take a look. How is it? Not bad, huh?”

Wei Hao brought w.a.n.g 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!”

w.a.n.g 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 w.a.n.g 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!”

w.a.n.g 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. w.a.n.g Chong’s heart beat furiously in antic.i.p.ation and nervousness.

There was a great amount of money to be earnt from the Wootz steel weapons. No one knew this fact greater than w.a.n.g 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 w.a.n.g Chong’s hands.

w.a.n.g 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!”

w.a.n.g Chong commanded.

Even though he looked immature, being just fifteen-year-old, w.a.n.g 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 w.a.n.g 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, w.a.n.g 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 w.a.n.g 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 w.a.n.g 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!”

w.a.n.g 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 w.a.n.g 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 ma.s.sive 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 Plains 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 gus.h.i.+ng out. Seeing that the heat had gone down significantly, w.a.n.g Chong nodded his head in satisfaction.

w.a.n.g 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. w.a.n.g 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 compet.i.tor 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, w.a.n.g 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

w.a.n.g 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 w.a.n.g 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 w.a.n.g 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 w.a.n.g 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 ma.s.sive 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 w.a.n.g 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.
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