Rebirth of the Legend of the Red Age

Chapter 195, Ding
After their son Wang Jianguo’s 100-day celebration, the Wang family returned to normal life.

That day, Wang Li was drinking tea at the gate of the garden, enjoying the cool air and waiting for someone to come and sell waste.

At this time, a carriage came to the door, which surprised Wang Li.

Because generally people who come here to sell scraps ride tricycles, after all, tricycles are more convenient to go around the streets and lanes, and they can carry a lot of goods. This is the first time I have seen people selling scraps in a horse-drawn carriage.

I saw two farmers getting off the car. The reason I say this is that the two men were wearing rather shabby clothes, and their shoes were covered with mud. Their hands were covered with calluses and their skin was very dark. It was obvious that they were people who often worked in the fields.

One of the middle-aged farmers came over and asked Wang Li: "Young man, are you from the purchasing station?"

Wang Li nodded and said: This is Kyoto's recycling station. Are you here to sell scrap?
The farmer immediately smiled happily and said, "Oh my God! I finally found the purchasing station. After we came in through the bell and drum tower gate, we started looking for the purchasing station. It took us a long time to find yours."

We are from Lijia Village in the north of Kyoto. Today we were farming in the village. A kid from the village went to the river to catch fish but he tripped and fell. When he got up he found it was a metal object, so he went to find the villagers around him.

Finally, we dug the thing out after a lot of effort. Someone knowledgeable in the village said that it must be copper and could be sold for a lot of money. So I and the villagers loaded it onto a horse-drawn carriage and transported it to Kyoto to sell it. Can you tell me how much this thing can be sold for?
After hearing what he said, Wang Li walked to the carriage, took a look inside, and thought: These farmers are not stupid, they even know how to cover themselves up so that others won't see them.

He said: Fellow countryman, please drive into the yard first and I will show you.

When the three of them came into the yard, Wang Li took down the covering. He was shocked when he saw this thing for the first time.

Because in front of him was a tripod.

The body of the tripod is covered with verdigris, obviously having been buried in the soil for many years. It is no longer possible to tell whether there are any inscriptions or patterns on the body of the tripod.

Wang Li walked over and gently patted the body of the bronze tripod with his hand.

I immediately felt that this tripod was unusual.

Perhaps because it had been underground for too long, the entire tripod was covered in thick verdigris and soil.

Apparently, these farmers did not clean it carefully after digging it out and hurriedly brought it here to sell.

Wang Li touched the bronze tripod with his hand and felt a special magnetic field inside the tripod, which was blocked by the verdigris and dirt on the outside. This was also the reason why Wang Li did not discover the abnormality of the tripod at the first time.

Wang Li said to his fellow villager: This is an ancient bronze tripod. It has become so rusty that it probably has to be melted down and remade. However, the copper content of the bronze tripod is very low and it cannot be priced as pure copper. I don’t have a scale big enough to weigh this tripod.

Fellow villagers, do you think this is okay? We recycle pure copper at 1 cents per pound. Since your copper tripod is severely oxidized and has so much dirt, I will give you an estimate. How about 700 pounds?
The two old farmers discussed together: This stuff weighs about 750 kilograms, and excluding the dirty things outside, it is almost kilograms. We won’t suffer a loss, so just sell it.

When Wang Li heard their agreement, he was very happy. He told them to wait a moment and went back to the house to get the money.

After coming back, he counted out 14 big black tens, handed them to the leading farmer, and said: Please count them.

After the two old farmers pointed several times, they nodded and said: "Young man, you are a real man. If we dig up such a big item again in the future, we will come to you to sell it." After that, the three of them pushed the bronze tripod off the carriage.

Of course, this was the result of Wang Li hiding his strength, otherwise he could have taken down the bronze tripod with one hand.

But that would be too horrifying, and he didn't want to expose his strength.

After Wang Li sent the two farmers away, he immediately closed the garden gate and put up a closed sign at the door.

He picked up the bronze tripod and walked towards the underground garage in the garden.

What he had to do was very simple, which was to clean off the attachments on the surface of the bronze tripod. He was afraid that he would attract other people's attention during the cleaning process, so he walked underground with the tripod in his arms.

After coming underground, Wang Li did not go to get water or rags or anything like that because there was no need.

Wang Li could feel that this tripod was unusual, so he planned to use his powerful strength to peel off the attachments, rust, mud and sand on the surface of the bronze tripod.

He slowly raised his right hand, mobilized the strength in his body, and slowly slapped the belly of the bronze tripod.

There was only a muffled humming sound, the bronze tripod shook for a moment, and then there was no movement.

Wang Li showed a happy expression on his face. Dear readers, don't think that Wang Li failed. In fact, Wang Li used his strength to hit the body of the bronze tripod, causing it to vibrate. He used the vibration to shake the debris on the outer layer of the bronze tripod away from the body of the bronze tripod.

Sure enough, as Wang Li expected, when he gently touched the body of the tripod, he heard a rustling sound, and a mixture of verdigris and mud fell off the body of the tripod like paint falling off a wall.

The original appearance of the bronze tripod was revealed.

This is a dark green bronze round tripod with complex inscriptions on it.

The whole tripod looks simple and elegant, giving people a natural feeling.

Wang Li did not stay long. He followed the underground exit, holding the bronze tripod and walked towards the underground treasure house in the third courtyard. He could not leave this treasure in the underground garage, as it would be troublesome if it was seen by others.

After all, bronze ware with inscriptions is very precious. Although he didn't know what kind of tripod this was, Wang Li knew that it must be a treasure, and one that was no less valuable than the Sui Hou Pearl.

The heaviest bronze artifact unearthed so far, the Simuwu Ding, weighs 832.84 kg, nearly 1 ton.

Considering the time when the Nine Cauldrons were made, which may be earlier than the Simuwu Cauldron, the casting technology must have been worse, so the weight of the bronze cauldron was set at around 7 kilograms.

(End of this chapter)