Volume 1: Looking to the Northwest, Shooting the Sirius Chapter 62: Solving the Sword
The old blacksmith glanced at Chaitino, bent down, took out several round white porcelain bottles from the wooden box, and carefully placed them on the table.
"Uncle, this wooden box of yours is simply a treasure bag, it has everything."
"That's to say, to be a bit arrogant, all the blacksmiths in the entire northwest province cannot assemble a second set of the items in my wooden box."
"What treasures are there? Can you let me have a look?"
Chaitino became interested, and the old blacksmith grinned at him:
"Hahaha, I want to see it, but I won't let you see it!"
"......Hahaha."
Chai Tiannuo grinned, "The uncle has such a bad temper. I have never met such a person in my life."
After putting Minghong in the sink to cool down, and wiping away the water stains with cotton cloth, the old blacksmith opened a bottle of green vitriol oil and carefully poured it on the Minghong blade.
"Tsk~" The sudden rise of white smoke startled Chai Tiannuo, and the old blacksmith's eyes lit up:
"It works. As long as there is smoke rising, it means that green vitriol oil can be quenched and smelted!"
Chaitino sniffed his nose vigorously. The smoke had a strong sour smell, and he immediately had a guess in his mind. Isn't this so-called green vitriol oil a strong acid?
The smoke slowly dissipated, and the old blacksmith wiped the blade with clean water. Chai Tiannuo looked at it and couldn't help but beat his palms excitedly:
"It's really effective. It's you, sir. You deserve to be the number one blacksmith in the northwest!"
The pitted blade of Minghong has a shallow pit the size of a thumb. This green vitriol oil is really effective!
"That is, in the entire northwest, you can't find another blacksmith who can temper star silver."
The old blacksmith first boasted proudly, and then frowned:
"Boy, are you rich?"
Very rich, Chai Tiannuo scratched his face, he had thousands of dollars in his hand. In this barren area of the northwest frontier, he should be considered rich.
"It should be quite valuable, sir, but green vitriol oil is very expensive?"
"It's not cheap. The price I poured out just now costs about two or three guan."
Chai Tiannuo looked at Minghong's huge blade, and then at the mark that had just melted out. Sweat flowed down, and he thought to himself, how much silver is needed for this?!
The old blacksmith didn't talk nonsense. He used a wooden ruler and an ink pen to mark the blade of Minghong Blade. After a while, the prototype of a blade blank appeared.
"Extending from the intact part, your sword should be in this form. It doesn't use so much material at all."
"I guess the blade is intact, but for some reason it is wrapped in a large amount of unknown metal."
Chai Tiannuo followed the old blacksmith's fingers and looked carefully. The more he looked, the more it made sense. He never thought that the Minghong was not a big sword, but a narrow sword that was as long as it was long.
"I did some rough calculations. To carve the blade with light, the green vitriol oil required will cost several thousand taels of silver. After that, it will be even more troublesome to exit the blade, which requires a little bit of fine carving."
While talking, the old blacksmith was doing calculations on the straw paper. Chai Tiannuo was amazed when he saw this. He never thought that the old man could be so good at calculations. Even among Wu Xiucai, there were not many people who could compare with him.
"Fine carvings are very wasteful, and the green vitriol used is so much that it might even cost you ten thousand taels of silver!"
Speaking of this, a layer of dense sweat broke out on the old blacksmith's head. He could not earn a hundred taels or ten thousand taels of silver a year, which was a small mountain!
"Boy, it's really not worthwhile to spend a huge amount of money to remove the sword. You give me three hundred taels, and I will risk my life with you to make a good Heavenly Ladder of Hundred Refinements. Wouldn't it be better to use it than this big iron piece?"
Chaitino thought for a while and finally shook his head firmly:
"This Minghong means a lot to me. Please help me solve it. It's just that I don't have so much silver now. I can solve it as much as I can!"
"...This is the first time I have seen such a prodigal son like you!"
The old blacksmith shook his head, took out a bottle of white glue and smeared it along the marked line, then put a whole bottle of green vitriol oil on it, and with a hiss, thick white smoke rose up.
"Uncle, what exactly is this green vitriol oil?"
Following the old blacksmith's example of covering his mouth and nose with a white cloth, Chaitino asked in a dull voice.
"I can't tell you what it is, it's all a by-product produced by Taoist priests in alchemy, but it's so powerful that it can break bones, eat flesh, melt gold, and dissolve stones with ease."
The more Chaitino listened, the more he felt that this thing was a strong acid. It seemed that the Taoist priests in the great world were the earliest chemists just like those in previous lives.
When the smoke dissipated, the old blacksmith made a brief inspection, poured another full bottle, and then said to Chaitino:
"Your big boy is not enough."
"Just wait, I'll get it from here!"
In the family area, Chai Maner handed all the banknotes in his hand to Chai Tiannuo and said with a sad face:
"Master, now we only have Da Zi'er and Tie Pian in the family. I have to say that you are a waste of money!"
"..."
Qu Zhi and the little girl had a brain breakdown, Chai Tiannuo turned around and left. A prodigal will be a prodigal. No matter how much money you spend, it will be worth it if you can free Ming Hong.
"Uncle, please use it freely. I want to see what two thousand taels of silver can be converted into!"
Smoke kept rising from the blacksmith shop, and the old blacksmith did all the work, concentrating on cutting the knife. Most of the day passed, and after using five bottles of green vitriol oil, he finally saw the effect.
"It's weird, it's really weird, this is the first time I've seen such a magical metal!"
Looking at the blade of a clear spring, the old blacksmith couldn't help but be speechless, but Chai Tiannuo was overjoyed.
The green vitriol oil dissolved into a palm-sized area, revealing Minghong's real blade. The material was very similar to star silver, and there was a hint of light blue in the silver.
The most amazing thing is that even green vitriol oil cannot damage it at all, which is beyond the old blacksmith's expectation.
"Since then, the cost has been reduced by more than half."
"Oh, two thousand taels is enough?"
Chaitino was refreshed, and the old blacksmith curled his lips:
"Dream, no matter how little it is, it still costs four to five thousand taels."
Chai Tiannuo grimaced for a moment. With a few thousand taels of silver, how many heads would he have to behead?
"The green vitriol oil is gone, so I'll charge you five hundred taels today. I'll have to ask Niubi to collect the green vitriol oil in the evening."
The old blacksmith started to pack up his things and prepare to close up. The alchemy place was not close to him. If he didn't hurry up, he wouldn't be able to come back after dark.
"Uncle, blacksmithing is very profitable, right?"
Looking at the five porcelain bottles on the table, Chai Tiannuo asked curiously, if he could take out five hundred taels worth of green vitriol oil at once, his net worth would not be small.
"You're wrong, that's what Niubi people asked a certain generation to sell. I'm just making hard money, but they've made a fortune."
The old blacksmith shook his head, then patted Chaitino on the shoulder with his rough palm:
"Work hard to make money. I also want to see how elegant this Minghong will be."
In the evening, Chai Tiannuo patted Ming Hong, who was lying next to him, and made up his mind to cut off people's heads starting tomorrow. For the killers, it was the fastest way to make money.
“Where are the most Tatars?”
Zhao Jiujin Xilihulu took a big mouthful of noodle soup, stretched out his hand towards the northwest side and made a swipe:
"Of course it's Shibali Fort. Although it's hilly, the water source is abundant and the output is amazing. The grassland Tatars and our northwest frontier troops fight there all day long, and one or two hundred people are killed or injured every day."