Chapter 10 Tang Sword
An unqualified blacksmith shop can only sell axe for chopping wood at most. If the management is not strict, it can also sell daggers. Even if it is discovered, it can still use the excuse that it is a fruit knife that is just a little longer.
In his previous life, he also learned swordsmanship and collected quite a few swords, but his favorite was the Tang Dao. If the Miao Dao was shorter, it would also be good.
If you want to forge swords, the two iron ingots you bought last time will come in handy. They can be used as the forging base. The furnace is built on the edge of the front yard, and this will be the place where you forge iron in the future.
When his younger brother and sister came back from outside, they saw Liang Zifeng in the yard, shirtless, pounding the things non-stop.
"Erguo, what is it?" the little girl ran over and asked curiously.
"Stay away from here, or you might get hit." Liang Zifeng pushed the little girl out, and then continued, "Brother is making a Tang sword. Have you seen the excitement at the brick kiln?"
"Yeah, that's it." The little girl kept staring at the base of the iron ingot curiously, without even looking up at Liang Zifeng, and nodded in response.
"Third brother, go pull the bellows. I'll make you one when the time comes." Liang Zifeng put the unformed iron block into the furnace and said to the third brother.
"Really?" The third brother asked in surprise, and hurried over to push and pull the bellows with all his might.
"Second brother, what about me? I want one too." Seeing this, the fourth brother immediately asked anxiously.
"Erguo, I want one too. I want one too." The little girl joined in the fun, jumping and shouting beside him.
"You're indispensable." Liang Zifeng said to the fourth brother with a smile, then stretched out his hand and pinched the little girl's cheek, "You're responsible for everything, little clever ghost."
The little girl has now returned to normal, and there are even signs of baby fat on her face, which makes Liang Zifeng unable to help but knead her from time to time, and then the little girl protests and acts coquettishly.
After another 5 days, the Tang sword was finally completed. The blade of the sword was about 1 meter long and the handle was about 25 to 30 centimeters. After more than times of repeated folding and forging, the whole sword was almost the same as the ordinary swords in the weapon shop.
The inside of the handle is wrapped with wolf skin scraps, and then tightly wrapped with hemp rope. Even when it is finished, it feels about 3 pounds in the hand.
Under the envious gazes of his younger brothers and sisters, Liang Zifeng practiced a set of sword techniques in the yard. These were the sword techniques he learned in his previous life, which were created by combining basic sword techniques with ornamental adaptations. It was an ornamental sword technique, but could also be used as a basic sword technique to practice.
"Wow, Erguo is great." The little girl clapped her hands happily and kept praising Liang Zifeng.
"Second brother, your sword skills are really beautiful, can you teach us?" The third brother asked with shining eyes. He really liked the sword skills that Liang Zifeng demonstrated.
"Yeah, it's really beautiful. I want to learn it." The fourth child also nodded, his eyes wide open with envy.
"Don't worry, I will definitely teach you."
Liang Zifeng stopped practicing his sword skills, and then found that there was no scabbard, so he handed the Tang sword to the third brother for safekeeping, while he went to select the wood to make the scabbard.
Because the blade had not been sharpened yet, he was not worried about hurting his younger brothers and sisters. The Tang sword was played with by the third and fourth brothers for a while, and then the little girl took it into her arms. It was too heavy for her, so she had to hold it in her arms. Moreover, the blade was taller than her, so it was very difficult for her to walk. The scene was a bit funny.
Liang Zifeng needed to rest for a few days after making a Tang sword. In a few days, the brick kiln would produce bricks, and this first batch of bricks would belong to their Liang family.
In order to prevent these little guys from playing around with the Tang swords every day, Liang Zifeng carved a wooden Tang sword for each of them. The wooden Tang sword in the little girl's hand was almost the same as a dagger.
The two younger brothers who got the wooden Tang swords often practiced the sword techniques taught by Liang Zifeng in the yard, and the little girl also practiced them in the same way. Liang Zifeng couldn't help but go over and hugged her and kissed her little face. Then the little girl chased Liang Zifeng in the yard with the wooden sword.
June 5th is the day to open the kiln and take bricks. The kiln is turned off on the night of June th, and the kiln is left to cool for days. This is a conservative estimate to ensure that the first batch of bricks can be fired successfully. The firing and cooling times will be adjusted as we gain more experience.
After the kiln was opened, it was found through statistics that only a few bricks were broken, but most of them were intact. It can be said that this batch of bricks was fired very successfully. In the end, many bricks were piled up in the Liang family's old yard.
Although the first barbecue was given to the Liang family for free, Liang Zifeng still went to the mountains to hunt two goats and a wild boar. At night, he lit a bonfire in the largest open space in the village, roasted the two goats and the wild boar, and added his own special sauce, and invited all the villagers to have a barbecue together.
After the bonfire barbecue, the villagers' attitude towards Liang Zifeng changed again. Although the gap still existed, they were not as afraid of him anymore and dared to say hello to Liang Zifeng when they met him.
Because no other villagers wanted to build houses, Liang Zifeng planned to use a brick kiln to burn the most primitive cement, which he had learned about in his previous life.
At that time, he heard that in a very remote mountain village, there was a centenarian who was a Taoist master. It was said that the old man had profound attainments in inner alchemy. So he lived in that village for more than a year until the old man suddenly passed away.
The mountain village also changed a lot because of Liang Zifeng's arrival. With Liang Zifeng's help, a brick kiln was built in the village.
Later, Liang Zifeng heard that after he left, more brick houses were built in the village and cement roads were paved. Of course, that was just hearsay.
Therefore, Liang Zifeng also has experience in earthen brick kilns and how to burn raw cement, and he has a deep memory of it.
The main raw materials of the original cement include lime, clay and water. Lime is the main component of cement, and clay is used to increase viscosity and plasticity.
The cement firing process is much more complicated than brick firing. Clay powder and lime powder are mixed in proportion, then calcined and ground into fine powder together with gypsum.
Liang Zifeng wrote the recipe and production method on a piece of paper, then handed it to the villagers and paid for the materials and labor. The villagers did not say anything about Liang Zifeng's strange request, but knowing that Liang Zifeng was a warrior and not short of money, they took on the task.
The production of cement does not require so many people, so Liang Zifeng asked people from the village to help him build a new house, and of course they were paid for their work.
……
On the first day of July, the Liang family's original thatched house had been demolished and cleared away, and the site preparation had begun. According to Liang Zifeng's design, the new house covers an area of more than 300 square meters.