Chapter 027: Tempered Steel Blade (Part One)

A miserable day, but fortunately I showed my draft to someone two days ago, so at least I managed to salvage something...

Asking for recommendations, asking for favorites, rolling around in misery.

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The term "Taiji" first appeared in the Commentary on the Book of Changes. As a work profoundly influential on Chinese traditional culture, its content encompasses almost all schools of thought.

"Taiji?"

Zhang Wanying nodded repeatedly. "From Wuji to Taiji, it does seem to fit well with your martial arts. But where did you learn this technique?"

"Well..." Cao Peng hesitated for a moment, then braced himself to explain, "This was taught to me years ago by a traveling Taoist. My family used to live in Zhongyang Town, and that Taoist once stopped there... Oh, Tigerhead also knows about this."

The same lie could fool Wang Mai and Wang Meng, but Cao Peng wasn't sure it would deceive Zhang Wanying.

"Such a remarkable person?"

"Yes, Tigerhead still regrets not apprenticing himself to learn from him."

Zhang Wanying didn't seem suspicious, but her face showed a yearning expression.

In these times, Taoists were often synonymous with "immortals." If that Taoist was truly gifted and taught Cao Peng such skills, it would not be surprising.

"Come, let's go back and install the bellows."

"Young Master Cao..."

"Oh, just call me A-Fu, no need for 'young master'—what kind of young master am I really?"

Zhang Wanying's smile bloomed, revealing her charming little tiger teeth.

"Alright, I'll call you A-Fu. And you don't need to call me 'miss.' Just call me Yueying."

"Yueying?"

"Yes, Yueying is my childhood name. When I was young, I was quite yellow-skinned, so my father used to call me Ugly-Fu. But as I grew, he thought the name was unpleasant, so he started calling me Yueying. Wanying is my given name, but it's rarely used, so Yueying will do."

In the late Han dynasty, single-character names were considered prestigious.

Besides their name, there was also a courtesy name, and often childhood names, pet names, and nicknames.

For example, Cao Cao's courtesy name was Mengde, his childhood name was Jili, and he was also called A-Man.

Curious, Cao Peng asked, "So what is your given name?"

"I have a single 'Shuo' character as my name, but it's not often used."

Zhang Shuo?

It was rather a masculine name.

Cao Peng thought Yueying sounded familiar. Zhang Yueying... quite a common name, in later generations it would be seen everywhere.

So he didn't dwell on it, and continued chatting and laughing with Zhang Wanying as they returned home.

The bellows Zhang Wanying had made stood outside the wooden shed. It was very ingenious, the craftsmanship excellent. Cao Ji and Wang Meng were squatting nearby, examining it curiously. When they saw Cao Peng and Zhang Wanying return, Cao Ji immediately stood up and asked, "Peng, how do you use this?"

"Just like the furnace bellows. Remove the furnace bellows and replace it with the new one."

"So that's how it works."

Cao Ji realized, and quickly called Wang Meng to help. The furnace bellows had not been fixed in place, making it easy to remove. The two of them swiftly took it down and, with some fumbling, installed the bellows. Then, standing beside the iron-melting furnace, Cao Ji turned to Cao Peng, "Peng, it's ready... Is it used the same way as the bellows? Should we try it first?"

"Of course, we have to test it."

Cao Peng nodded and went over to help Cao Ji open the furnace door.

Zhang Wanying stood outside the shed, her face showing excitement.

As the iron furnace gradually heated up, Cao Ji signaled Wang Meng to pull the bellows lever. Wang Meng bent over, tested the lever's resistance, and muttered to himself, "This thing's not light..."

With that, he exerted his strength, pulling the lever out and then pushing it in forcefully.

The bellows generated a rush of air, which blasted through the valve into the furnace. The charcoal fire flared up instantly, blue flames dancing.

"Good fire!" Cao Ji couldn't help but shout.

He couldn't judge water, but his skill at recognizing fire was excellent.

He knew exactly what kind of flame produced which temperature, and what was best for forging which items. Just from the rising flames, he knew the bellows were working. He immediately picked up a discarded blade blank with tongs and threw it into the furnace.

Originally, after the iron-melting furnace was opened, Cao Ji planned to make some farm tools.

But when he mentioned this, Wang Meng strongly objected, "Old Cao, have some ambition! Since A-Fu helped you solve the quenching problem, why stick to farm tools? A-Fu's method is from the immortals; if you forge farm tools, you'll be punished by Heaven. Better to forge swords and knives to refine your craft. Or do you want to remain a third-rate blacksmith all your life?"

To Wang Meng, Cao Peng's knowledge surely came from that Taoist.

Dual-liquid quenching—unheard of!

It must be a secret immortal method, otherwise how could Cao Peng know?

Cao Ji thought Wang Meng made sense and agreed.

Coincidentally, the county armory was being reorganized at the end of the year, with many weapons needing to be sorted and repaired. Deng Ji worked at the yamen and got the job. Connections made it easy—replacing weapons wouldn't be given to Cao Ji, but repairs were right up his alley. Kuai Zheng didn't care, repair work was repair work, whoever did it was the same.

So in the end, the business of repairing armory weapons fell to Deng Ji.

Deng Ji, though honest, was no fool. He immediately handed the work to Cao Ji, keeping it in the family...

In recent days, Cao Ji had repaired quite a few swords and knives, and his old skills were gradually returning.

Clang—clang—clang!

Tongs took the glowing blade blank from the furnace and placed it on the anvil for repeated forging. With each strike, Cao Ji used all his strength; sparks flew, the blade blank gradually took shape, and its temperature slowly dropped. When it was dark red, Cao Ji stopped forging, gripped the blank, and plunged it into the trough of horse urine. The pungent stench made Zhang Wanying wrinkle her brow and step back several paces.

"What exactly is in that trough? Why does it smell so sharp?"

Cao Peng smiled, but did not answer.

Zhang Wanying didn't press further, instead quietly watching from the side.

Estimating the temperature, Cao Ji took the blade blank from the trough, glanced at it, nodded, and put it into the trough of grease.

Compared to the commonly used single-liquid quenching, the dual-liquid method could guarantee the blade's hardness while preventing cracks and deformation, giving it some toughness. Truthfully, it wasn't much of an invention, but for this era, it was of immense significance.

In fact, invention is simply a matter of whether you think of it.

To think what others dare not is progress...

Though these two liquids are simple, the craftsman's skill and experience are crucial. Without temperature measurement and control devices, everything depended on instinct. If an inexperienced person tried, even with the dual-liquid method, it would be useless.

Cao Ji had never forged swords in his youth, but years of repairing farm tools gave him enough experience.

So, Cao Peng merely opened a crack for him, and he quickly pushed the door open and walked into the hall. The subtleties of this, even Zhang Wanying with her intelligence could not fully grasp. She only felt there was a great secret hidden in those two troughs. But since this was a trade secret, Cao Peng let her observe but would never reveal the truth. Of course, Zhang Wanying could try to figure it out herself, but she would not ask rashly. She knew what was appropriate, what could be asked and what could not.

Once the blade repair was complete, it still needed further grinding and polishing.

As noon approached, Zhang Wanying took her leave.

However, she and Cao Peng agreed that every morning, she would take a small boat across the river and learn Taiji boxing from him.

Cao Peng, naturally, did not refuse...

After seeing Zhang Wanying off, Cao Peng returned to the yard.

"Father, how does the bellows perform?"

Cao Ji was washing the blade and, hearing Cao Peng's question, looked up.

"Father, why aren't you happy?"

Cao Ji sighed and forced a bitter smile. "The furnace temperature issue is solved... This bellows of yours is almost equal to two paired bellows."

One paired bellows held about ten furnace bellows.

In other words, this single bellows could produce the effect of twenty furnace bellows. Calculated this way, the bellows should be very effective. Yet Cao Ji looked worried, which made Cao Peng uneasy. "Father, isn't this good?"

"It's good, but just this morning we used up a basket of charcoal. Usually, one basket lasts a whole day. If we use your bellows, two baskets a day won't be enough... A-Fu, we're repairing weapons, but at this rate, the costs are too high. What you've made is suitable for a workshop, but for our small family, it's not really worthwhile."

With greater airflow, the charcoal burned faster, and consumption naturally increased.

Cao Peng had not considered this...

The double-action piston bellows appeared in the Ming dynasty. The social structure then was quite different from the era of the Three Kingdoms. The scale of handicraft workshops could not compare to today's society.

Perhaps, he was too far ahead?