Sword of Light: Humanoid Self-Propelled Artillery

Chapter 108 A sudden return of gratitude

Wang Gensheng rode his horse directly to Liujia Town and found the blacksmith who had made him a big sword before. At that time, the boss was hammering a hoe in the blacksmith shop.

Upon seeing this, Wang Gensheng quickly asked:
"Boss, can you play horseshoes here?"

The blacksmith said without even raising his head:
"Yes, I can. Why would I open a blacksmith shop if I couldn't even make horse hooves? I even provide installation! But the price is a little high, one silver dollar per horse!"

Wang Gensheng was stunned when he heard the price. You know, the Eighth Route Army soldiers only earned one silver dollar a month!

The cavalry regiment now has 800 horses! If you want to keep these horses in top condition, you'd better replace their horseshoes every three months.

So Wang Gensheng thought it would be better for him to learn the skills of shoeing and installing horseshoes, so that he could replace horseshoes by himself in the future.

Of course, Wang Gensheng did not say at the beginning that he wanted to learn the blacksmithing skills from the old blacksmith in the blacksmith shop.

You have to know that technology is very precious in this era, especially blacksmithing, which is considered a high-end technology.

Apart from family traditions, they rarely take the initiative to teach outsiders. Even if they accept apprentices, they only accept apprentices to do odd jobs and do not teach real skills.

Therefore, Wang Gensheng did not dare to ask rashly to learn how to play horseshoes.

Of course, not to mention this era, even decades later, high-end science and technology, as well as the talents who master this technology, will be treasured by all nations.

This is even true in education. For example, the ideas and methods for solving problems are not taught at all. These key problem-solving skills are only taught in cram schools. This naturally leads to a gap in grades between students and those who have not attended cram schools.

Of course, this is not only the case in China, but also outside China. For example, Miguo’s happy education has successfully blocked the ladder of progress for most poor people. If you have no money but still want to learn knowledge, you are dreaming!
Therefore, Wang Gensheng understood before he traveled through time that knowledge has always been valuable. There is no such thing as cheap knowledge. The only cheap knowledge is useless knowledge, while useful knowledge is always valuable.

For three consecutive days, Wang Gensheng would ride a horse with badly worn horseshoes to replace them.

Then they would watch and learn very carefully when the old blacksmith was making and replacing horseshoes.

But on the fourth day, when Wang Gensheng was still leading a horse over to change horseshoes as usual, the old blacksmith suddenly said:
"Hey young man, you want to learn blacksmithing, right?"

The old blacksmith's sudden words startled Wang Gensheng. He wondered if the old blacksmith was going to teach him the blacksmithing skills. But before Wang Gensheng could speak, the old blacksmith continued:

"As long as you're willing to learn, I'll teach you everything I know. Anyway, if you don't teach me now, you'll be buried alive. My son and unborn grandson were killed by the puppet army. Besides, teaching this blacksmithing technique to the person who avenged my son, grandson, and daughter-in-law is just a way of repaying my debt of gratitude!"

Wang Gensheng was immediately stunned by the old blacksmith's words, and then he said in a bewildered manner:

"Master, I don't quite understand what you're saying. How did I become the benefactor of your son and daughter-in-law?"

In response to Wang Gensheng's question, the old blacksmith also explained how Wang Gensheng became the benefactor who avenged his son and daughter-in-law. It turned out that the old blacksmith in Liujia Town had made a good living in Liujia Town by relying on his ancestral blacksmithing skills. Although not rich, he had enough food and clothing. In particular, his son not only inherited his blacksmithing skills, but also married a beautiful wife.

But it was this beautiful daughter-in-law who caused trouble. As the saying goes, beauty is a disaster. In this chaotic world, how could one protect such a beautiful woman without strength? This happened after the puppet army occupied Liujia Town.

The replacement and maintenance of the horseshoes of the cavalry company in the puppet army camp in Liujia Town naturally fell on the only blacksmith shop in Liujia Village.

Of course, they wouldn't give any money. The puppet army cavalry company commander said that making horseshoes for the cavalry company was like paying security fees to ensure that nothing would happen to him in Liujia Town.

The old blacksmith was naturally angry but dared not say anything, and could only work hard in vain. Unfortunately, one time, when his son was making horseshoes, his daughter-in-law came out to bring them tea.

But this gift ruined the matter. The puppet army cavalry company commander was naturally attracted by such a beautiful young wife. As for whether this young wife was married or not, the puppet army cavalry company commander didn't care.

After all, as a puppet soldier, you naturally have to bully men and women. Otherwise, your service as a puppet soldier would be in vain, and the infamy you bear would be in vain!

So... But when the old blacksmith's son saw his wife being humiliated by the puppet army cavalry company commander, he could no longer tolerate it. He immediately raised the blacksmith's hammer and wanted to hit the cavalry company commander directly.

However, cold weapons are no match for hot weapons, and it's not like Wang Gensheng using flying knives to launch a sneak attack, so the old blacksmith's son was beaten to death.

The daughter-in-law was dragged away by the cavalry captain and thrown back to the old blacksmith's doorstep the next day, but what was thrown back was a cold corpse.

In fact, the old blacksmith also wanted to take revenge, but he was old and weak, and he didn't even have a gun. What could he use to take revenge? So the old blacksmith could only endure the revenge for his son's death. However, just when the old blacksmith had worked hard to get some explosives and was ready to rush into the puppet army barracks and die with the puppet army, Wang Gensheng attacked Liujia Town at night and massacred the puppet army barracks.

The puppet army cavalry company commander who killed his son, daughter-in-law and unborn baby was blown to death by Wang Gensheng.

Of course, Wang Gensheng did not hold a public trial that night. After all, Liujia Town was relatively close to the county town, and because of the dogs, the attack was directly transformed from a night raid to a forced assault.

Wang Gensheng used his grenade throwing skills to deliver a grenade to each dormitory, killing most of the puppet soldiers in Liujia Town.

Those who were not dead were also killed. Naturally, the puppet army cavalry company commander did not escape and was also killed by Wang Gensheng.

As for how the old blacksmith knew that the puppet army company commander was killed by Wang Gensheng, it was naturally because the old blacksmith recognized the horseshoes he made!

Unlike the industrial products produced in factories decades later, this era was all about handcraftsmen, so even if the horseshoes hammered out by the old blacksmith with one hammer were worn out, the old blacksmith could still recognize them at a glance as the horseshoes he made himself.

Since the old blacksmith recognized it, Wang Gensheng stopped being pretentious and said directly:
"Then I'll trouble you, Master, to teach me. Don't worry, I won't let your craft die out. I will definitely carry it forward and pass it down to future generations!"

Wang Gensheng did not lie to the old blacksmith. After all, there were about 800 horses, and Wang Gensheng was the commander of the cavalry regiment, so the maintenance of the horseshoes naturally required a special maintenance team to carry out the maintenance and care of the horseshoes!
(End of this chapter)