Nangong Huiyu asked a question that had been buried in her heart for a long time: "Husband, aren't you a hereditary hunter? How do you also know about military strategy?"
Song Yuxi explained, "My husband naturally has his own extraordinary encounters, and he is also intelligent and insightful about the ways of the world; this is his natural talent!"
"My lord will surely achieve great things. Perhaps I, Xuanpin, will even end up assisting the future emperor by some twist of fate."
"Xiaoyu, don't talk nonsense!"
Nangong Huiyu was used to being a saintess in the White Lotus Sect and dared to say anything on a daily basis. However, she understood that the current situation was different. If outsiders heard these words, they would be capital offenses, and she did not want to cause trouble for everyone.
She then stuck out her tongue sheepishly and said, "I'm sorry, husband, I misspoke."
"It's alright, let me offer you some incense as punishment."
"My dear husband, you're so naughty."
Lu Tu didn't linger too long in the arms of a woman. His injuries had mostly healed. It was just a skin injury, not a bone injury, and he could walk freely, though he couldn't engage in strenuous activity.
He stepped out of his house and came to the bustling blast furnace, where he could feel a wave of heat coming from afar.
Hu Delu was directing everyone to add coal to the blast furnace. This coal came from Luzhuang Village and had been dug out by Liu Hong and others before they had a chance to hand it over to Wuchuan Prefecture.
It was directly requisitioned by Lü Tu. Anyway, no one has come to inquire about it for so long. It seems that, just as Lü Tu guessed, Yun Tian has tacitly given this dangerous coal mine to Lü Tu.
Hu Delu had visibly aged considerably during this period, with even his temples turning white. At this moment, he was carefully observing various parts of the blast furnace, completely unaware that Lü Tu had approached.
"Old Hu, how many batches is this?"
Hu Delu turned around and saw that it was Lü Tu, but his head drooped: "Reporting to the lord, this is the third batch in many days. The first two batches were ruined."
Lu Tu patted him on the shoulder and encouraged him, "Go for it, don't be afraid of failure. Although we don't have much iron ore, we don't need to be timid. Follow your ideas."
Hu Delu's confidence was rekindled by a simple sentence. He cupped his hands and said, "My lord, I have checked it. To refine better iron, the temperature inside the furnace needs to be extremely high. I am confident that I can succeed this time!"
"Very good! Show this spirit! Iron forging is like going into battle; you have to be confident. If you succeed, everyone will be rewarded with 10 taels of silver!"
Everyone present was overjoyed upon hearing this: "Thank you, Your Excellency!"
Lu Tu didn't get involved. He found a rock, sat down, and watched. He always held the belief that professional matters should be left to professionals, and he would never say a word out of turn, even if it failed.
The only way to cultivate talent is to not give them any room for error. How can they grow under your guidance?
At this time, the blast furnace was already filled with coal. Seven or eight strong villagers took turns pulling the bellows from the three air inlets to inject a large amount of air into the furnace.
Lu Tu nodded after looking at it. The steps were correct; a large amount of oxygen needed to be injected to separate the iron ore.
Hu Delu, on the other hand, was constantly jumping around, climbing the ladder every now and then to observe the smoke coming out of the stove. Clearly, after two failures, he already knew which places were prone to problems.
Encouraged by Lü Tu, everyone worked together with one heart and one mind, pulling the bellows with all their might, and finally, the top of the blast furnace no longer emitted black smoke released by burning coal.
Instead, it gradually turned into white smoke. Seeing this, Lü Tu clenched his fists and shouted to the crowd, "Brothers, give it your all! It's going to be a success!"
Hu Delu was so excited that he jumped down the ladder and lay down at the bottom of the blast furnace to check the composition of the discharged waste.
After the large amount of ore was fully burned, the separated slag flowed out from the bottom, and the surrounding snow was instantly melted. The scene was filled with billowing smoke, like a fairyland.
Lu Tu was also moved by the crowd's emotions. He got up and went to the blast furnace. He said to Hu Delu, "The method is correct. At this time, the iron in the middle of the blast furnace is the purest. There is no need to feel sorry for the slag at the bottom."
Hu Delu understood that what Lü Tu wanted was refined iron. As for the molten iron fused in the slag, he could extract it in a furnace later. Although it couldn't be used to forge weapons, it would be more than enough to forge farm tools.
About an hour later, when the coal inside the blast furnace had completely burned out, it was time to open the furnace for inspection.
At this moment, Hu Delu's hands were trembling with nervousness. Although there were many coal mines in the village, he had already used half of the dozen or so truckloads of iron ore.
He knew that the village was in dire need of rebuilding and that there were far too many things that needed to be used. Even though Lu Tu told him to go for it, he dared not fail again.
Leaving aside whether iron ore is easy to buy, the key issue is that ordinary people are not qualified to buy it. It is entirely under the control of the government. Even if they wanted to forge some ironware in the past, they had to go to the government-run special place to buy pig iron with many impurities.
Especially since Lu Tu was standing by and witnessed the whole process, Hu Delu was even more afraid of failure as he stood by the stove, and the other villagers felt the same way.
Seeing everyone's worry, Lu Tu said loudly, "Open the furnace! If this batch fails, it means I'm not good for him."
Hearing Lu Tu's joking words, everyone grinned and laughed, which eased the tension.
Following Lü Tu's order, Hu Delu stopped the villagers who were about to start. He decided to open the furnace himself to check the quality. With Lü Tu's support, he wasn't afraid even if the furnace failed!
As Hu Delu pried open the gate at the waist of the furnace with iron pliers, a large amount of molten iron with high purity slowly flowed out.
Hu Delu looked down and observed carefully for a moment, then burst out with a roar that had been suppressed for a long time: "It's done! My lord, we've done it!"
Everyone cheered wildly, throwing their handkerchiefs used to wipe away sweat into the air: "We finally succeeded!"
"Hahaha..."
Lu Tu nodded in satisfaction. He had not misjudged him. Old Hu was able to produce iron of extremely high purity under such rudimentary conditions, relying solely on the theoretical knowledge and blueprints he had provided. He truly possessed some talent.
Hu Delu rushed to Lü Tu's side with joy, clasped his hands and knelt down: "My lord, Hu Delu has not let you down, the refined iron has finally been forged!"
Lu Tu helped him up and praised him, "Good old Hu, I've known you'd be successful since you were a kid!"
Hu Delu muttered, "Sir, although we've known each other for many years, you seem to be ten years younger than me."
"Yes, I've thought you were going to be successful ever since I was a kid."
Hu Delu grinned, his wrinkles looking rather endearing now, a testament to his tireless efforts that had turned his hair white.
Lu Tu also felt a little sorry for him and said, "Process this batch of refined iron, melt it into blanks and store it first. I'll give you a few days off to rest properly."
Hu Delu said with a stern expression, "No way! The Wuhuan dogs could attack at any time. I see that many of our brothers don't even have weapons. Although I, Old Hu, can't fight on the front lines, I'm not a coward. I will not slack off at this time!"
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