The Golden Family, rising from the Western Regions

Chapter 4 Wootz Steel, Getting Married?
I flicked the blade lightly with my finger and instantly heard a crisp echo.

"Deng Deng Deng~"

Li Xiao smiled with satisfaction and liked the knife very much.

This is exactly the cavalry sword commonly used by cavalry units in later generations.

The blade is thick, narrow and long, with a large curvature and a sharp tip, which is suitable for wrist force; there is a deep groove half an inch on the back of the blade for dripping blood downwards.

In his previous life, Li Xiao had collected a cavalry sword of this kind, which he used very smoothly.

In this era, the armor-wearing rate of nomadic peoples was extremely low, basically they wore leather armor or even no armor.

The cavalry sword was sharp enough to cut off the enemy's head.

As for facing heavy cavalry?

Who is so smart as to use a knife to cut the enemy's armor?
Even the sharpest industrial knives of later generations could not cut through iron armor.

There are naturally other weapons to deal with armored enemies.

This cavalry sword is enough to deal with that group of poor nomadic cavalry.

But for cavalry, the sword is ultimately just a secondary weapon.

Battles between cavalrymen were mainly based on long-range shooting, with lances and spears also used during sprints. Cavalry swords were mainly used to chase and kill enemies and in close combat.

"It's a pity that the lance was taken away by my cheap father, so I can only practice sprinting with the spear." Li Xiao said secretly.

After all, the ancestor of the Li family was a military leader in the Western Liao army. The fact that he was able to establish Hexi Fort in Jinzhou with his troops also proved that the ancestor of the Li family was quite valuable.

Later, after spending a lot of effort and money, he finally got a horse lance as a family heirloom of the Li family.

But this horse lance has not yet been passed to Li Xiao!

"The material used to forge this knife is Wootz steel, right?"

Just as Li Xiao was waving the cavalry sword, he suddenly heard the old man's faint voice.

Li Xiao nodded gently and immediately praised: "Grandpa, you are worthy of being the best blacksmith in our Northern Frontier. You can recognize Wootz steel at a glance."

"Great, great~"

Seeing Li Xiao giving a thumbs-up and joking, the old man snorted and didn't buy it at all.

The cavalry sword has a slightly different structure from other scimitars, with a narrower and thinner blade.

When fighting with the enemy, the force point of the cavalry sword is different from that of other blades, and the cavalry sword will be under greater pressure.

If you use ordinary steel to make a cavalry sword, it will only be a useless sword that will break after a few uses.

So the cavalry sword in Li Xiao's hand is made of Wootz steel.

The strength and toughness are several times that of ordinary steel.

"I can tell if it's Wootz steel. I put a lot of effort into forging this cavalry sword."

The old man said in a calm voice with his hands behind his back.

But I am not as calm as I appear to be.

About ten days ago, Li Xiao got a pile of hematite ore from the river, ran to the backyard to light a fire, and took his two younger brothers with him to prepare to refine the hematite ore.

When the old man found out, he didn't care, nor did he stop them. He just thought that these three guys were fooling around and venting their energy that had nowhere to go.

But what the old man never expected was that Li Xiao actually managed to extract pure iron.

And after forging it, the old man discovered that this was not ordinary pure iron.

It is the legendary Wootz steel.

The finest steel.

One can imagine the shock the old man felt at that time.

You should know that due to the rarity of Wootz steel, it is completely out of market in northern Xinjiang and is extremely rare.

After each piece of Wootz steel ingot appeared, it was immediately bought at a high price by the dignitaries of the royal court and forged into a magical weapon to be passed down to future generations.

The old man couldn't understand how his grandson could refine such rare Wootz steel?

Moreover, this was refined right under his nose, it was definitely impossible to buy it, and the Li family couldn't afford Wootz steel.

"This Wootz steel is indeed difficult to forge. Thank you for your hard work, Grandpa." Li Xiao said gratefully.

"It's not that hard, but I didn't expect you to find a way to forge Wootz steel." said the old man.

Finding a way to smelt wootz steel is every blacksmith's dream.

The old man couldn't remain calm either, but in order to maintain his usual calm demeanor, he forced himself not to show any expression.

"I've watched you, Grandpa, smelting iron many times since I was a kid. It seemed very hard and troublesome."

"A few days ago, I accidentally thought about whether it would be possible to use a crucible to heat molten iron to make iron."

"I just wanted to give it a try, but I didn't expect it to actually work." Li Xiao also showed a surprised and unexpected expression at the right time.

But in fact, in his previous life, Li Xiao always liked to read some books, including many miscellaneous books.

Geographical magazines, historical records, and many black technology encyclopedias.

Li Xiao remembered all these things in his mind. Perhaps because of the time travel, the memory became even more profound.

Li Xiao learned the production method of Wootz steel from a book.

One of the most important and mysterious steps is to use a crucible made of clay and graphite as a container for iron smelting.

After adding coke and some plant leaves, the crucible is sealed and heated to 1,200 degrees Celsius. After one day, it begins to cool down, maintaining a temperature of around 800 degrees Celsius, and continues to use iron filings to replace the carbon element in the molten iron.

The steps are simple, but the details are very demanding. If any requirement is not met, the entire pot of steel will be scrapped.

Li Xiao and his two younger brothers experimented many times before they finally succeeded in refining this piece of Wootz steel.

Although its hardness and toughness are not as good as the steel of the industrial age, it is much stronger than today's steel. And the reason why Li Xiao created Wootz steel was not just to forge a cavalry sword.

The real purpose was to prepare for the casting of cannons in the future.

"Grandpa, let's use the crucible to refine Wootz steel again tomorrow."

"Last time, I didn't have much experience, so I fumbled around for a long time and wasted a lot of iron ore."

"This time, Grandpa, with you watching from the side, I'm sure you'll succeed in one go."

Li Xiao said to the old man with a smile.

He did not keep secrets about the method of refining wootz steel.

After all, he is not a professional blacksmith, so there is no point in hiding this technique. Only by teaching it to professionals can it play the greatest role.

Of course, Li Xiao would only tell the old man and a few trustworthy blacksmiths the method of refining Wootz steel.

They personally completed the refining of Wootz steel.

From now on, this will be the Li family’s secret.

"Yes, sure. It's late today and I'm afraid it's going to rain. I'll refine it tomorrow."

The old man nodded gently and said in a calm voice.

Then he walked into the house with a relaxed look, sat down in the main seat, and waited for dinner to start.

Li Xiao sat down on his stool and glanced at the old man with a slightly raised corner of his mouth.

"A proud little old man."

He was clearly eager to know how to refine Wootz steel, but the old man was too arrogant to bring himself to ask his grandson for advice.

My heart must have felt like it was being scratched by a cat.

Li Xiao also understood that the old man was concerned about his reputation, so he did not make things difficult for him. He took the initiative to suggest that they work together to refine Wootz steel tomorrow.

In a disguised way, he taught the old man the method of refining Wootz steel.

Otherwise, if Li Xiao continued to suppress him, the old man would definitely be too embarrassed to speak up and would definitely not be able to sleep tonight.

"It's time to eat~"

Shortly after Li Xiao and the old man sat down, a shout was heard from the kitchen.

Immediately afterwards, a middle-aged woman came out carrying a large basin, followed by a little girl carrying a pile of bowls and chopsticks.

"Mom, you're back?" Li Xiao said in surprise.

The woman looked to be in her thirties, tall and thin, with a yellowish complexion and a few crow's feet between her eyebrows.

With a turban on his head and an apron around his waist, he gives people a feeling of being clean, neat and decisive whether he speaks or does things.

This is Li Xiao’s mother, Qin Dani!

Early this morning, Qin Dani went to visit her parents' home thirty miles away. Li Xiao thought she would stay there tonight!
Qin Dani put the wooden basin on the table with a bang, poked Li Xiao's forehead with her finger, and said angrily, "Stinky boy, don't you want me to come back?"

"This is my home. I can come back whenever I want. It's none of your business!"

Seeing Qin Dani's expression, Erhu and Sanbao, who had just sat down to eat, subconsciously shrank their heads.

Li Xiao also smiled bitterly, guessing that his mother might have had a quarrel with his aunt at his grandfather's house.

I was so angry that I didn’t even want to spend the night at my parents’ house.

So, Li Xiao looked at his two younger brothers, took the bowl full of noodles from his younger sister, and the three of them lowered their heads and ate in tacit understanding, not daring to say a word.

As for Qin Dani, she was so angry that she couldn't even eat. She continued to complain to the old lady about how things were at her parents' home and how her sister-in-law made her angry.

"I'm sending something to my parents. How does that bother them?"

"If she's worried about the villagers gossiping about her, then she should take good care of her parents herself!"

"She doesn't like me, and I don't like her either!"

When Qin Dani was complaining, it was mainly her younger sister Sanfeng who acted as the supporting role in front of Qin Dani. She was completely a caring little cotton-padded jacket, and the old lady would also say a few words from time to time.

The three Li Xiao brothers and the old man all lowered their heads and ate silently without saying a word.

"But I didn't come back because of her. Your grandma saw that it was about to rain and wanted to let me stay at home overnight!"

"But I don't know why, I've been feeling a bit nervous all day, afraid something might happen, so I hurried back."

After Qin Dani finished speaking to Xiaomianao, she looked at the three Li Xiao brothers with a serious face.

"Luckily you three brats didn't cause me any trouble, otherwise I would have skinned you alive."

Hearing this, Erhu and Sanbao shook their heads.

Li Xiao smiled helplessly: "Mom, don't worry, I'll watch over them and they won't cause any trouble."

"It's because of you that I'm worried! Weren't all those bad things you did with those two idiots before?"

Li Xiao smiled bitterly: "Mom, you also said that, that was in the past. Now I am grown up and can handle things in a reasonable way."

After Li Xiao finished speaking, Qin Dani did not say anything because she did not get the lesson she had imagined.

Instead, he sat opposite Li Xiao, looking him up and down with a curious look on his face.

Then suddenly a smile appeared on his face. He turned to look at the old lady and said, "Mom, Dalong is already fifteen this year. He has indeed grown up. It's time to find him a wife."

Hearing what Qin Dani said, Li Xiao almost spit out his food and was a little unable to hold it in anymore.

Ok!

Waiting for him here!

(End of this chapter)