Chapter 45 Good Knife
Jian Mo invited the young family to go home and drink honey water, and the young people of the tribe also came to join in the fun.
There was nothing to do in winter, so everyone gathered together to drink tea and chat.
Their house was lively for most of the day, until the evening, when Wu Jiong came back and everyone dispersed.
Jian Mo was puzzled and asked Wu Jiong: "Why are they so afraid of you?"
In Jian Mo's opinion, Wu Jiong has a good personality. Although he doesn't talk much, he never loses his temper and there is nothing to be afraid of.
Wu Jiong: "Maybe because I'm the clan leader."
Jian Mo looked at him and
said, "That's a bit of a loss." Wu Jiong came over to help, but Jian Mo pushed him away: "Take a rest, aren't you tired?"
"Not bad." Wu Jiong sat by the fire, his legs so long that they seemed to have nowhere to rest, "I didn't do much."
Jian Mo looked at him, took out the insects from his pocket and washed them: "We'll have fried insects tonight, I saved them for you."
Wu Jiong seemed to have a smile in his eyes: "Secretly saved them?"
Jian Mo shook his head and corrected him: "Not secretly, I asked the guys what they thought, and I saved them openly."
Wu Jiong smiled.
Jian Mo took the insects out, put them in the basket, shook them vigorously, and then put them aside to drain the water.
He found the stone pot at home - you have to use a stone pot to fry things. A ceramic pot will easily crack and the animal oil inside will leak out, which is a waste. It is much safer to use a stone pot.
Jian Mo cooked and Wu Jiong lit the fire. The two chatted from time to time.
Snow began to fall outside and the house was warm.
After the meal was ready, the two moved to the dining table and prepared to eat.
Jian Mo pushed the fried insects towards Wu Jiong: "I think it should be delicious, you try it."
The fried insects were only sprinkled with a thin layer of salt, but they exuded an amazing aroma.
Wu Jiong: "You eat it too."
Jian Mo picked up one and took a light bite.
The insects have a fragrance similar to pine and cypress, and the taste of bee pupae, and they taste particularly crispy and fragrant.
After Jian Mo swallowed the insect, he couldn't help but say, "It's really delicious when fried. It's a bit of a waste to roast it during the day."
Wu Jiong: "This is a traditional item in our tribe. Every child has eaten roasted insects."
A little nostalgic look appeared on his face. Jian Mo moved his finger: "A limited item for the little guys?"
Wu Jiong: "Yes, most people don't compete with them. I haven't eaten this kind of insect for a long time."
Jian Mo picked up a chopstick for him: "Then you have to eat more."
Eating it dry was a bit unsatisfying, Jian Mo stood up and went to the shelf to look for the previous fruit wine.
He didn't take the fruit wine brewed with snow fruit, which was too sweet.
When eating fried insects, you have to pair them with more stimulating wines.
He specially took out a small pot of wine with a higher alcohol content and asked Wu Jiong, "Would you like a drink?"
Wu Jiong's answer was to put the pottery pot of warm wine on the fire pit.
The two of them had a lot to talk about, and they couldn't help but talk more after drinking the hot wine.
Jian Mo told Wu Jiong about his childhood and the days when he ran all over the mountains.
Wu Jiong also talked about what his two fathers looked like when they were still alive - his two fathers gave birth to him at an extremely old age, and now they have passed away.
When Wu Jiong talked about it, Jian Mo always had an image of a chubby little white wolf running outside, just like the chubby wolf boat island that he lived in when he had gastroenteritis some time ago, and a smile appeared on his face.
The two drank until quite late, and because he drank too much, Jian Mo slept particularly deeply.
When he was woken up the next day, Jian Mo was lying in the quilt, looking at the ceiling, somewhat confused as to what day it was.
Zhou Fu pushed his shoulder and shouted again: "Jian Mo, did you hear what I said?"
"Hmm." Jian Mo's eyes turned and his gaze fell on Zhou Fu's face. His head hurt a little, "Are you talking about the glass burning?"
Zhou Fu took his hands and pulled him up: "Yes! The glass burned yesterday all failed. A kiln of black sand has now been burned into a mess of glass blocks!"
Jian Mo rubbed his forehead: "The black sand we brought back from the Jintuo tribe? Did you burn glass yesterday?"
"Yes, don't you know?" Zhou Fu emphasized, "It came out in clumps and can't be formed at all. It looks weird."
Jian Mo really didn't notice it: "I forgot, I'll go and have a look."
Zhou Fu grabbed the animal skin robe piled in a corner of the bedding and gave it to him: "Put on your coat first."
Jian Mo got up, rubbed his head and went downstairs with Zhou Fu.
The fire pit on the first floor has been lit, but probably because Wu Jiong is not here, the fire has been covered by ashes, leaving only a little charcoal with an orange-red glow. The
earthenware pot used to boil water has been moved to one side, with some steam coming out of it - it looks like the water has been boiled.
Jian Mo took a quick look: "Did Wu Jiong go to see it?"
Zhou Fu: "Yes! The tribe leader went out after getting the news."
Jian Mo: "Then let's go too."
It was a bit cold outside, so Jian Mo wrapped himself tightly in his fur robe and walked quickly to the river.
Before he reached the kiln, he saw a large group of people gathered there from a distance.
Everyone was talking about something, and the voices were noisy. He couldn't hear the specific content clearly from such a long distance, but he could feel that everyone's emotions were very complicated.
Someone saw Jian Mo out of the corner of his eye and shouted, "Jian Mo is here!"
Everyone tacitly made way for him and waited for him to come.
Jian Mo did not refuse and walked through the crowd and stood in front of Wu Jiong and Qing Kuang: "What happened?"
Qing Kuang showed him an open pottery box: "We used black sand to burn glass, the steps were the same as before, but the glass that came out was not formed, it was in clumps."
When Qing Kuang spoke, Jian Mo had already looked at the pottery box.
Originally, there should be a flat piece of glass at the bottom of the pottery box, but now there are several clumps of things - some unformed glass and some messy lumps.
He picked them up one by one and examined them, and found that the objects at the bottom of the ceramic box were mainly of two types, one was a slightly green glass bead, and the other was a honeycomb-shaped black and red object.
There was nothing much to say about the glass beads. There must have been impurities in them when they were burned, so the glass clumps together and cannot form a flat piece of glass.
As for the reddish-brown object, Jian Mo gently took it in his hand, and the cool touch reminded him that it was a kind of metal.
He tapped the surface of the object lightly, and the sound of nails hitting the metal was very obvious.
Jian Mo subconsciously looked up at Wu Jiong.
Wu Jiong: "It seems that metal nuggets were burned out."
Jian Mo took a deep breath and came to a conclusion: "The sand we brought back may be ore."
Qingkuang: "Ore?"
Jian Mo: "Yes. Didn't the people of the Jintuo tribe say that when they mine, they need to go into the mine to find those complete metal nuggets? I guess in addition to good quality metal nuggets, they also produce ore."
Everyone looked at me, and most people didn't understand.
Jian Mo looked at Wu Jiong.
Wu Jiong said tacitly: "I know, the others go back first, Qingkuang, Dejiang, you guys stay."
This means that the small group will stay for a meeting.
The other people in the tribe didn't ask any more questions and immediately turned around and left.
Most people have a bit of a careless personality, but they have a tacit understanding in protecting the tribe.
After the others left, the patrolling orcs were still checking and guarding nearby. Jian Mo looked at the remaining core members of the tribe and explained seriously: "Ore sand is sand containing metal, and it is also a mine."
After that, Jian Mo paused and waited for others to react.
After they pondered for a while, Jian Mo continued: "When we burn glass, we add alkali to the ore sand. Alkali should lower the melting point of other substances except metals, so other substances melt first and condense together, and then the metal melts."
This is a bit difficult to understand, but the orcs and sub-orcs present are the smartest ones in the tribe, and they slowly reacted.
Qing Kuo: "In other words, we brought back copper from the Jintuo tribe?"
Jian Mo: "I estimate that it is not just copper. Natural ore usually contains various metals and is impure. Among these metals that can be refined, in addition to copper, there should also be iron and the like - iron is another metal."
Jian Mo's words actually contained a lot of information. After he finished speaking, he stopped and continued to wait for everyone to understand.
After a few breaths, everyone finally understood. There was surprise in their eyes, and a little bit of uncontrollable nervousness.
Wu Jiong said in a deep voice: "In any case, it is a good thing that the tribe has obtained metal. Everyone remember to keep it secret."
As he spoke, he looked at the others.
Qing Kuang immediately said, "We need to tell everyone to let them know the seriousness of this matter."
De Jiang: "We need to hold a meeting."
They arranged things in a few words.
The Riverside Tribe does not produce metal, and suddenly they got metal. If the news spreads, it will definitely cause all kinds of speculation.
The way they got the metal was also unusual. No one knew that ore could be smelted into metal. If they knew, there would probably be disputes.
In serious cases, it may even cause wars between tribes.
Jian Mo was not familiar with these things in the tribe, so he stood by and did not interrupt.
After they finished discussing, Jian Mo asked, "How much ore is left?"
Qing Kuang immediately said, "Twenty-one and a half baskets!"
Jian Mo asked, "Do you want to melt it?"
This is metal. After smelting it, the tools made into it will be much better than the wooden tools, bone tools, and stone tools they currently use.
With metal tools, it is a direct improvement in productivity.
Wu Jiong: "Refine!"
Qing Kuang: "We have brought it back. If we don't melt it, will it be wasted to pile it in the cave?"
De Jiang said: "We will have to go into the mountains to cut trees in the next period of time. Fortunately, we have copper axes now."
Jian Mo: "There will be more useful metal axes and hatchets in the future."
Speaking of smelting metal, everyone began to arrange the next matters.
Jian Mo listened from the side and saw that they had made perfect arrangements, so he had nothing to say.
The people in the tribe were very efficient when they really took action.
In just five days, the first batch of metal in the tribe was smelted.
They made some improvements to the pottery box this time and left holes on the edge.
When the ore was put into the pottery box, the materials that melted first flowed out of the holes, and the remaining alloy remained in the pottery box, condensing into a purer and larger metal block.
Jian Mo took the black-red metal block that was still warm and looked at it repeatedly.
Although it was called black-red, it was actually close to black, and the red could only be seen at a specific angle under the sun.
He guessed that the iron and copper content should be relatively high.
As for the composition of other metals-he didn't know either. Anyway, there were no tools and related technologies here, so there was no way to measure it.
The only thing that was certain was that this metal block could be used.
Jian Mo looked at this piece of metal for a long time, with very complicated emotions in his eyes.
He never knew what was going on in this world, nor did he know whether this planet was in the same universe as the earth.
Now it seems that maybe it is.
The universe that the earth belongs to has such a high proportion of iron. If we are in the same universe, then it is very normal to get iron ore now.
Because it is unknown how much time and space are separated from the earth, now that there is such a faint guess, Jian Mo's heart is also filled with an indescribable sense of intimacy.
It seems that the distance between here and the earth has suddenly shortened.
Jian Mo's mood has been a little strange these two days, but no one in the tribe is particularly calm.
Even Qingkuo, who looks particularly calm, has huge dark circles under his eyes.
Although Wu Jiong does not have dark circles, the expression on his face is particularly serious.
The metal was smelted out very quickly. Twenty-one and a half baskets of ore were only smelted into half a basket of metal nuggets.
Despite this, everyone was still very excited.
On this day, the core members of the tribe gathered at Wu Jiong's house to discuss the use of these metal blocks.
As one of the core members, Jian Mo sat in the middle of them.
At first, Jian Mo just listened quietly and did not interrupt.
When their intentions gradually leaned towards storing the metal blocks as strategic materials, Jian Mo could not help it.
Jian Mo said, "I don't think it's necessary to put it away. The alloy is very hard, and even with daily use, not much will be consumed. You can make it into tools first, and then when you want to use it to make other things, you can collect it and melt it down."
Wu Jiong: "It's true that it doesn't consume much. The copper axe I replaced before has only a few nicks after using it for so long. It will be just as useful after grinding it."
Dejiang glanced at Wu Jiong and agreed with him, "Metal tools are true that they don't consume much, you can give it a try."
Talking about this topic, everyone became increasingly excited and discussed what to do.
Jian Mo said again: "I think we can make a batch of daily tools first, such as axes, kitchen knives, hoes and the like."
Qing Kuo: "I agree, kitchen knives can be made first. It's something that we use every day. It will be much more convenient if we make a good one."
Di Ya: "Maybe we don't need to make kitchen knives, just knives, one for each family, and they can be used for whatever they want."
This statement was unanimously agreed by everyone.
Qing Kuo was eager to try: "Then we may have to find people from the Jintuo tribe to exchange for some ore."
Jian Mo: "Use up this batch of metal blocks first, and then we'll see how the situation is before exchanging."
As he was talking, De Jiang asked: "Jian Mo, do you know how to make these metal blocks into tools?"
There are no minerals in the territory of the Riverside Tribe, and everyone has not dealt with metal much.
Although they had used metal tools, they had exchanged them with people from other tribes. If they were asked to make these tools themselves, they really didn't know how to start.
As soon as this was said, everyone looked at Jian Mo with sharp eyes, waiting for him to say that he knew.
Jian Mo really knew: "We may need a furnace, and then forge these metal blocks into tools."
In fact, it would be better if they could cast them.
But relying on their productivity here, it is too difficult to directly melt the metal blocks into water and cast them into the tools they want. It is better to give up that idea as it is not easy to find a way to forge the metal blocks.
Qing Kuang immediately asked, "What is a furnace and how do we make it?"
Jian Mo: "You can think of a furnace as a small kiln. We put the metal blocks in it to soften them, then take them out and use tools to forge them into the shape we want."
Jian Mo explained and gestured until he was dry-mouthed, and everyone finally understood.
Wu Jiong silently handed him a glass of water and said, "Jian Mo's method is feasible. Let's make the furnace first."
To make a furnace, you have to burn bricks first.
They have kilns, clay, charcoal, and related technologies. This is not a problem for them.
Qing Kuang and De Jiang both said that they would select sub-beasts and orcs respectively and seize the time to collect the materials they need.
Jian Mo said that he would draw the blueprints and make the bellows in the next few days.
To make a furnace, there must be a bellows, otherwise the temperature in the furnace will not reach the temperature that can melt metal.
He knew a little about the principle of the bellows, which is to use the pressure difference between the inside and the outside to achieve the purpose of blowing.
There are many tools in the tribe, and animal skin is a good material for making them.
He still has to study and experiment on how to make a better bellows.
Everyone divided the work and cooperated, and each was busy.
Within two days, Qingkuan and his team had burned the earth bricks first.
Jian Mo went over to help them build and adjust the furnace. It
was the first time for everyone to build a furnace, and no one knew how to do it. Even Jian Mo, who roughly knew the principle, didn't quite know how to do it specifically?
They could only make adjustments while they were working, imitating the kiln, and trying to concentrate the heat of the furnace in the middle.
Fortunately, they had already burned out the lime, and the construction process was much simpler. If it didn't work the first time, they could just dismantle the materials and try again.
After several busy days, the furnace was built, and the bellows were also built.
They officially put the metal blocks into the furnace, and then put the best charcoal in it, pulled the bellows, and sent air into it, waiting for the metal in the furnace to melt.
The tribe kept the whole process of making tools this time confidential, and only the core orcs and beastmen who were carefully selected were allowed to come to the back mountain.
At this time, the elites in the tribe surrounded the furnace, feeling the temperature inside.
Qing Kuang said, "The temperature inside the furnace is much higher than that inside the fire pit."
Jian Mo stared at the furnace without blinking, "That's right, how else can the metal block be melted? The metal block inside seems to be starting to burn red?"
Everyone stopped talking for a moment and stared at the metal block inside.
They specially modified the stone pliers and wrapped rattan and animal skin at the end of the pliers to prevent burns.
As soon as he saw the metal block inside turn red, Dejiang immediately clamped it out.
Wu Jiong took a look and said, "It seems not to work. It's not burned through yet."
Dejiang agreed, "It's not burned through yet. We need to burn it again."
Di Ya pulled the bellows and sent the whirring wind into the furnace. The charcoal inside burned golden red and even flew out sparks, "It's so hot."
The flames burned everyone, making their faces red and reflecting their fatigue.
Everyone's eyes were bright and their faces were full of hope.
After burning for a while, the surface of the metal block seemed to crack.
Jian Mo, holding his breath, said, "It should be OK."
Dejiang immediately took out the metal block and put it on the big stone beside the furnace. Ada and Yongan, who had been waiting beside them, hit it with their hammers without hesitation, intending to thin the metal block.
They hammered again and again, and the metal block stretched and gradually turned from red to black.
When it cooled and turned black, and it didn't stretch much when they hammered again, Dejiang put the metal block back into the furnace, and Di Ya pulled the bellows hard again, his arm muscles bulging, his movements swift and even.
Ada and Yongan, who had just struck, checked the hammer. A piece of Yongan's hammer broke, so he immediately replaced it with a spare hammer prepared beside him.
Everyone repeated this process, slowly thinning the metal block and knocking it into the shape of a knife.
After hammering, the young orcs Ahu and Ban Ming, who were responsible for sharpening the blade, took it to the side and sharpened it with a whetstone.
As it was sharpened, the metal blade gradually became bright and sharp, and became a familiar look to Jian Mo.
Wu Jiong personally brought over the prepared hardwood handle, poked the long end of the metal knife into the handle, then bent the tail to fix it, and then drove a wooden wedge into the handle, and a metal knife was ready.
After it was done, Wu Jiong handed the knife to Jian Mo under everyone's attention.
The people around looked at Jian Mo with encouraging eyes, motioning him to take it.
Jian Mo gently took the knife under everyone's expectation.
This knife is very similar to the fruit knife he is familiar with, but heavier than a fruit knife and more like a dagger.
The black blade, the wooden handle, and the bright blade are flashing with cold light.
In order to save materials, their knives are made smaller, but the craftsmanship and technology are no worse than any other knife.
When holding it in your hand, you can feel the chilling weight of this knife that has been tempered with thousands of hammers. It is not only a knife, but also a yearning for a better life.
Jian Mo gently pointed the blade upwards, pulled a hair from his head, and let go of the blade.
The hair floated onto the blade and was gently cut into two pieces by the blade.
Jian Mo said, "Good knife!"
Everyone's held breath suddenly relaxed.
Ban Ming took the lead and grabbed Ah Hu's shoulders. Ah Hu immediately responded by grabbing Jiu Yin's shoulders.
The rest of the people reached out their hands at the same time, regardless of whether they were orcs or sub-orcs, they all grabbed each other's shoulders tightly and cheered loudly.
On Jian Mo's side was Wu Jiong, and on the other side was Qing Kuang.
Two pairs of steady and powerful hands firmly grasped his shoulders. He looked down at the knife in his hand, with an expression of deep emotion on his face, which eventually turned into a smile.
That's great.
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