Traveling to another world and becoming a local owner

Seeing that the furnace was ready, Zhang Ling happily ran to watch Cao Shuan make the bellows.

These days, all the villagers have gone to the kiln to make bricks, and no one has gone into the mountains to hunt. There were already many pheasants and rabbits in the back mountain, and now they are boldly running towards the village.

Zhang Ling had long wanted to try hunting a few himself, but he was too weak to hunt or even run.

Perhaps it was because he was excited about the sight of prey, or maybe it was because of his childishness, but now he was only focused on making the compound crossbow.

When Daniu, Fusheng and others came back, Cao Shuan's bellows had been mostly completed.

After directing several people to unload all the purchased things into the cowshed, Zhang Ling called everyone to help clean up.

Although Fusheng is not very old, he is considered an experienced blacksmith. Seeing the finely made calcining furnace, he couldn't help but be overjoyed.

A few people found some hay and slowly smoked the stove inside and out several times.

As it was getting dark, Cao Shuan and Zhao Fengnian excitedly brought the finished bellows over.

"Master, what is this?" Fusheng asked with a puzzled look on his face when he saw this.

"This is a bellows, you'll know what it is soon. Liu Lang, go to the kitchen to find Aunt Wang and ask her to bring you some more charcoal." Zhang Ling replied after hearing this, then turned around and gave instructions.

Li Liulang left quickly and came back quickly, holding a large basin full of charcoal in his hand.

Zhang Ling instructed several people to set up the bellows, while Fusheng added all the necessary items for the calcination furnace.

When everything was ready, Li Liulang poured all the charcoal into the stove.

"Light a fire!" With Zhang Ling's order, a blazing flame slowly rose in the furnace.

When the charcoal turned red, Fusheng picked out a piece of suitable size from the pig iron he bought, clamped it with tongs, and placed it directly on the charcoal fire to burn.

When the iron block turned red, Fusheng was about to take it out for forging, but was stopped by Zhang Ling.

"Wait a minute, the temperature is not high enough now, let's burn it for a while longer." After Zhang Ling said that, he picked up the handle of the bellows and started pushing and pulling it hard.

Every time the bellows are pushed forward, the temperature inside the furnace becomes hotter.

"Young Master, let me do it!" Seeing that he was struggling, Zhao Fengnian quickly volunteered.

Seeing this, Zhang Ling nodded slightly and then stood up.

"It turns out that this bellows has such an effect. Why didn't I think of it?" Fusheng was overjoyed when he saw this, and he slapped his head in surprise.

As the temperature in the furnace gradually increased, the red-hot pig iron slowly became soft. When it could no longer change, Zhang Ling shouted, "Quick, take it out and forge it."

Fusheng understood what he meant and did it immediately.

He has been forging iron for nearly 20 years, so he knows that the more intensely the iron is burned, the better it is, so that impurities can be removed more easily. Pure forging can only change the shape of the iron, and then continue to burn the parts that have not been burned through.

As the sound of "ding ding dang dang" was heard, Zhang Ling asked Li Liulang and Daniu to go to the kitchen and bring over the large oil tank at home.

Although the two didn't know what he was going to do, they didn't ask any more questions.

Fusheng forged the iron block until it cooled, and then placed it back into the furnace to continue firing.

He repeated this process many times until he felt it was almost done, and then he began to hammer and shape it.

This process lasted for a long time, and even when Xin'er came to call everyone to eat, no one showed any intention of stopping.

Xin'er had no choice but to ask Wang Ma to send a few women to bring the food to the cowshed.

After a quick dinner, everyone continued to watch Fusheng forging iron. As time went by, a long and flat crossbow piece gradually took shape.

"After the crossbow blade is made, burn it until it's red, then put it in water to cool it down, and then immediately take it out and put it in an oil tank to cool it down." Zhang Ling reminded as he saw that the crossbow blade was almost ready.

Everyone was shocked when they heard this, even Fusheng looked at him in disbelief.

"Just listen to me and don't be afraid of wasting oil." Zhang Ling knew what everyone was thinking, so he said with a smile.

Fusheng nodded slightly, and then started to follow what Zhang Ling said.

What Zhang Ling was talking about was the double-liquid quenching method, which was later widely used in steel manufacturing.

This method can better improve the toughness of metals. After sintering, metals need to be quenched. If water quenching is used, the cooling speed suddenly becomes faster, which is easy to crack; if oil quenching is used, the cooling speed is too slow and often the quenching is not hard enough. However, the double liquid quenching of water quenching and oil cooling can achieve an effect close to the ideal cooling condition.

These things are very complicated and Zhang Ling doesn't want to explain them for the time being.

Fortunately, Fusheng had superb skills, and although the conditions were simple, they generally met Zhang Ling's expectations.

Although the forged crossbow blades do not meet the standards of alloy spring steel, they can barely be considered as extremely ideal high-carbon steel.

In this way, Dakang’s first high-carbon steel product was born in the cowshed of this remote mountain village!

Everyone looked at the happy expression on Zhang Ling's face and laughed too. Fusheng was even more surprised.

He had been working as a blacksmith for half his life, but he had never imagined that one day he would be able to create an iron tool that was so hard and resilient.

According to his memory, perhaps only those legendary magic weapons could have such an effect. Fusheng was immediately so excited that he couldn't say anything. The muscular man of 1.8 meters tall actually shed tears in front of everyone.

"Master, I have no way to repay you for teaching me the art. I will devote my life to you in this lifetime to repay you." Fusheng was grateful and immediately knelt on the ground.

Seeing this scene, everyone was shocked and admired Zhang Ling more than ever. At the same time, they also agreed with Fusheng's approach. If they were in his place, they would probably do the same.

Zhang Ling's move is tantamount to a new life. As the saying goes, it is better to teach someone a skill than to give him a thousand gold.

"Fusheng, what are you doing? Get up quickly! If you want to repay me, then you should help this young master well. I will definitely not treat you unfairly in the future. Get up quickly." Seeing this, Zhang Ling hurriedly stepped forward to help him up and comforted him.

"Okay, young master, Fusheng will do his best in the future to repay you for your kindness." Fusheng's eyes were red. He had never been like this before, even when he was framed and demoted to a slave. But now he was moved beyond words.

"Okay, except for Fusheng and Cao Shuan, everyone else should be busy or rest. It's getting late, so let's all go." Zhang Ling waved his hand and signaled to everyone.

After everyone left, Zhang Ling left the two of them to continue studying the crossbow, and focused on explaining the functions of some of the various components so that the two could avoid mistakes as much as possible when making it.

The lights in the cowshed flickered, and Zhang Ling ignored the two's discussion. Sitting alone, stroking the finished crossbow, he couldn't help but feel a little excited, and bold ideas gradually emerged in his mind...

The two discussed for a long time, and Zhang Ling waited until late at night before going back.