Xiao Zongshui's face was so gloomy that he was about to drip. Not far in front of him, a middle-aged man was kneeling on the ground with a face full of panic.
"My lord, we tried our best!"
Xiao Zongshui waved his hand and motioned for him to go out.
The middle-aged man kowtowed and ran out in a panic, looking like he was surviving a disaster.
Xiao Zongshui didn't pay attention to the middle-aged man's reaction. He frowned and stared at the piece of paper in front of him.
That piece of paper turned out to be the secret recipe for the Tiger Ben knife that Zhou Shu gave him.
After getting the secret recipe, Xiao Zongshui did not disclose the secret recipe in Workshop No. 97 as Zhou Shu wanted.
Instead, we found some skilled weapon-making apprentices.
Three thousand Huben knives are not too much work for a workshop. After all, a workshop has hundreds of weapon forgers, and they can cast tens of thousands of standard long knives every month.
In Xiao Zongshui's view, even if the Tiger Ben knife is a little more troublesome to cast, it can be completed in three months with more than ten or twenty forging apprentices.
As a result, he found several weapon-making apprentices in succession, but they were unable to successfully cast the Huben sword.
"Is there something wrong with the secret casting recipe?"
Xiao Zongshui said to himself, "Does Zhou Shu have the courage?"
He paced back and forth, and after a long while, Xiao Zongshui put the secret casting recipe in his arms, then pushed the door open and walked out.
Not long after, Xiao Zongshui came to the door of a luxurious house and stuffed a piece of silver into the concierge's hand with a smile on his face.
"Please inform me that Xiao Zongshui, the director of Workshop No. 97, would like to see Master Zhu."
If any of the weapon-casting apprentices in Workshop No. 97 saw this scene now, they would definitely not believe that this man with a flattering smile was Xiao Zongshui!
Mr. Xiao, who dominates the world in Workshop No. 97, does he ever ask for help in such a low voice?
The porter's nostrils were turned upward with a look of pride on his face. He glanced sideways at Xiao Zongshui, weighed the weight of the ingot of silver in his sleeve, and then nodded slightly.
"Wait."
He turned around and walked into the door.
After a full quarter of an hour, the other party came back again, with his hands behind his back, looking at the sky at a 45-degree angle, and said, "Go in, the master is waiting for you in the study. Remember, you only have one stick of incense."
."
"Thank you!"
Xiao Zongshui said with cupped hands, crossed the threshold, and walked quickly towards the direction of the study. One stick of incense does not take much time.
After a while, Xiao Zongshui had followed the concierge's instructions and came to the study.
In the study, a man who looked to be in his forties or fifties was flipping through a book. When he heard Xiao Zongshui come in, the man said without raising his head, "Master Xiao is here, do you have any advice?"
"Don't dare!"
Xiao Zongshui's posture was very low and he said quickly, "I came to disturb Master Zhu because I want Master to help me see the secret recipe of Zhang's casting."
"Master, please help me. Is there anything wrong with this secret casting recipe?"
Master Zhu raised his head, looked at Xiao Zongshui, and frowned slightly.
"That's it?"
"Xiao knows that the master is busy, but the matter is urgent. Xiao really doesn't have time to find another weapon maker." Xiao Zongshui smiled bitterly and said, "Don't worry, master, I understand the rules."
While talking, Xiao Zongshui handed over a large banknote with both hands.
Asking experts to do things is "expert fees".
Master Zhu glanced at the banknote Xiao Zongshui put on the table, and did not reach out to take it, but his expression softened slightly.
"Where's the secret recipe? Bring it."
Xiao Zongshui quickly took out the secret recipe for the Huben knife and handed it over.
Master Zhu just glanced at it and said unhappily.
"Master Xiao, although there is some friendship between you and me, are you going to slap me in the face with a secret recipe for making inferior weapons?"
"Master has misunderstood."
Xiao Zongshui quickly explained.
Master Zhu is not an ordinary weapon maker. He is one of the only great craftsmen in Daxia, and his status is extremely respected.
Not to mention the secret recipe for forging low-grade weapons, even if they are ordinary high-grade weapons, Master Zhu will probably look down upon them.
A great craftsman, on earth, would probably be an academician-level figure.
"General Cheng Wanli was ordered to form the Imperial Guard, and it was designated Huben. This is the Huben knife we specially developed for the Huben army."
Xiao Zongshui explained, "Master, you also know that General Cheng Wanli's formation of the Imperial Guard is a matter of great concern to His Majesty, and there is no room for any mistakes."
"So, we would like to ask Master Zhu to give you a palm eye for this Tiger Blade."
After Master Zhu listened to Xiao Zongshui's explanation, his expression softened slightly, and he nodded and said, "Even so, for these standard weapons, just find a weapon maker to look at them."
Even so, Master Zhu still picked up the secret casting recipe and looked at it carefully.
"This idea is quite interesting." Master Zhu nodded slightly and said, "Sacrifice part of the sturdiness to make the knife almost as sharp as a standard weapon. Master Xiao has talents under his command."
"Is there any problem with this secret casting recipe?"
Xiao Zongshui asked.
"It's not a big problem." Master Zhu said, "According to the secret recipe, it is indeed possible to cast an extremely sharp standard long knife, but..."
"But what?"
Xiao Zongshui asked.
"But I'm afraid there aren't many apprentices who can make a knife according to this secret forging recipe."
Master Zhu said to the point, "The casting techniques used here can only be used easily by weapon casters. It is a bit more difficult for weapon casters apprentices."
"The knife is a good knife, but it is difficult to mass-produce."
"Master Zhu, what you are saying is that there is no problem with the secret casting recipe, but it is just too difficult to cast?"
"It can be understood that way." Master Zhu nodded and said, "If you can ask the weapon caster to cast this Tiger Blade, it will not be difficult."
Please ask the Weapon Master to take action?
Xiao Zongshui smiled bitterly and said, which weapon maker would be bored enough to cast standard weapons?
Any high-quality weapon they forge can be worth hundreds of standard weapons.
Even if Xiao Zongshui has that kind of face, it’s not worth it. How much money does a Tiger Blade cost?
How much money does it cost to hire a weaponsmith?
This is not cost-effective no matter how you calculate it!
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"But Master Zhu, I do have a weapon-making apprentice who can forge the Tiger Blade -"
Xiao Zongshui refuses to give up.
"I said that the casting of this Tiger Blade is very difficult for the weapon-forging apprentices, but I didn't say that the weapon-forging apprentices can't do it."
Master Zhu said, "A better-skilled weapon-casting apprentice can still forge a weapon after three to five years of training."
"Okay, if you don't have any other questions, let's leave it at that. I have important things to do later."
Master Zhu waved to see the guests off.
Xiao Zongshui left Master Zhu's mansion in a state of despair.
He was so interested in supplying weapons to Cheng Wanli, not just to make a profit on the price difference.
As the head of the Forging Division's workshop, although Xiao Zongshui's official position is not high, he has a lot of money in his hands. Even those with much higher official positions than him may not be as rich as him.
He fawned over Cheng Wanli because Cheng Wanli was a popular figure in front of the current Holy Emperor. The most important thing was that the Huben Army he was responsible for forming was responsible for protecting the Holy Emperor.
They will appear before the Holy One in the future.
If their weapons fall into the eyes of the Holy One, the benefits to Xiao Zongshui will be self-evident.
But now, if three thousand Huben knives cannot be cast in three months, Cheng Wanli will definitely be angry. If he switches to another workshop to supply weapons, he will be in vain.
"It doesn't make sense."
Xiao Zongshui murmured to himself, "Zhou Shu is not outstanding in Workshop No. 97. Why can he cast it while others can't?"
"There is no problem with the secret casting recipe. Could it be that Zhou Shu has other techniques?"
Master Zhu is a master forging weapons. Since he said there is no problem with the secret recipe, then there must be no problem.
Xiao Zongshui has no doubts about this, but now he suspects that Zhou Shu may have mastered special casting skills.
Otherwise, how could a mediocre weapon-making apprentice suddenly be able to forge the Tiger Blade?
Even Master Zhu said that the Tiger Ben knife is a bit difficult to cast for apprentices!
"Hmph, so what if it's difficult. I, Xiao Zongshui, have solved countless difficulties in my life. Since the secret recipe is fine, I don't believe it. I can still handle three thousand Tiger Ben knives!" Xiao Zongshui hurriedly rushed back to Workshop No. 97.
As soon as he returned to the workshop, he immediately summoned the top apprentices in workshop No. 97 in weapon casting skills.
Zhou Shu was also among those summoned.
When Zhou Shu rushed to the square, there were already thirty or forty people gathered there, in groups of three or five, all gathering together and whispering.
Zhou Shu had no friends in the workshop, so he could only stand in the corner alone and quietly listen to everyone's discussions.
Just when everyone was discussing what the chief had called everyone for, Xiao Zongshui had already arrived at the venue.
He coughed slightly, and the place immediately fell silent.
"I called you here today because you are all the most skilled weapon-casting apprentices in our No. 97 Workshop."
Xiao Zongshui scanned the audience and said, "Now there is a glorious task to be entrusted to you."
"This task is very important to our Workshop No. 97, so no mistakes can be made no matter what."
"You are all elite soldiers and generals under my chief. I hope you can complete this task for me."
"Of course, I won't let your efforts go in vain." Xiao Zongshui scanned the audience like a hawk, "I put my words here. If you can complete the task this time, I will be rewarded heavily!"
"From now on, no matter who you are, as long as you can forge weapons according to my secret recipe for forging weapons, I will reward you with one tael of silver for every weapon you forge!"
There was an uproar in the audience. One tael of silver. Most of the apprentices who made weapons did not receive even one tael of monthly salary!
However, there were a few people who lowered their heads and said nothing. They were the people who had been summoned by Xiao Zongshui to forge soldiers.
So they know very well that this money is not that easy to make.
Those weapon-making apprentices who didn't understand the situation became excited. They were rewarded with one tael of silver for each weapon they made, which was equivalent to a month's wages. Two or three weapons were made in a day...
"My lord, even if we risk our lives, we will definitely complete the mission!"
A soldier-casting apprentice shouted.
"Very good." Xiao Zongshui nodded with satisfaction, "I have other things to be busy with. Zhou Shu, I will leave this matter to you. All the apprentices present will be temporarily under your command. Within three months, I will
I need to see three thousand tiger knives, otherwise - hum!"
***The author has something to say***
It has been changed to the contract status. Before it is put on the shelves, there will be two daily updates, one at noon and one in the evening. If the data is good, we will update it at any time.