Chapter 63: A God-like Young Master!

Without a fair companion by his side,
Without romantic strolls beneath the moon,
And without any silver coins to spend,
Chen Xiaofu's days that followed were remarkably fulfilling!

He still woke up early every morning, exercised, bathed afterward, and then had breakfast together with Alai.
Once breakfast was finished, the two of them would head toward Wani Mountain.
They would spend almost the entire day in Wani Mountain, only returning at dusk.

Zhang Daniu had recruited one hundred and twenty able-bodied young men from the village.
These young men built a simple workstation at the foot of Wani Mountain and also hired two women from the village specifically to cook for them.

Originally, the young master was not in a hurry.
However, when the young master came again a few days ago, he had grown somewhat anxious.
The young master said... he was not sure when he might have to go to the imperial capital.
Therefore, he hoped that before leaving Lin'an, he could impart everything he knew to Zhang Daniu—
This remark almost strained Zhang Daniu's sturdy, robust back and waist!

The young master was a scholar!
A renowned scholar celebrated throughout the city of Lin'an!
Naturally, the things he mastered must be poetry and literary essays!
That sort of stuff... even if you tore it to pieces, mashed it up, and forced it down Zhang Daniu's stomach, it still wouldn't do any good!

Until a few days ago, when he saw the young master swinging a hammer to forge iron.
Until he saw the blueprint drawn by the young master on paper—the design for the Pear Blossom Needle of Raining Storm.
At that very moment, Old Master Zhang was utterly dumbfounded!
Zhang Daniu dropped to his knees on the spot!

The device was as thin as a writing brush and no more than three inches long.
Yet such a tiny object possessed a degree of intricacy far beyond the imagination of the grandfather and grandson—
It had an internal spring.
It was controlled by precision mechanisms.
It even featured a double safety!
It had a needle storage cylinder and a firing barrel.
The needles were as fine as ox hair, and the firing barrel was almost as thin as ox hair!

When the three of them worked together for a full three days to forge this item, the young master personally tested its power.
It stored thirty hidden needles!
It could only be fired once!
It was completely incapable of long-range shooting, but within the distance of a single step, its lethality was extremely powerful!
The young master was very satisfied with this creation and named it... the Pear Blossom Needle of Raining Storm.

The young master kept nothing about this contraption hidden, so both grandfather and grandson now knew how to make it.

Through this incident, Old Master Zhang and Zhang Daniu admired the young master to the utmost, prostrating themselves in total awe.
After they looked at the design blueprints for the blacksmith workshop and the blast furnace drawn by the young master... the grandfather and grandson did not sleep a wink that entire night!

"I used to think our Old Zhang family was the number one blacksmithing family in the world, but now I realize the young master's knowledge and understanding of blacksmithing far surpass ours!"
"Daniu, remember this. No matter what happens in the future, you must follow the young master's lead!"
"Our Old Zhang family... for generations upon generations, are the domestic bondservants of the young master. Never harbor disloyalty, and never deceive the young master in any way!"

Of course, Chen Xiaofu was not omnipotent.
He merely happened to have read some books on these subjects because of his past hobbies.
His actual hands-on operational ability was almost zero.
However, Old Master Zhang's practical skills were exceptionally strong, and his comprehension ability was also top-notch.
Zhang Daniu could only handle menial tasks and heavy labor, and he still needed to learn under Old Master Zhang for a long time.

Chen Xiaofu did not understand pottery kiln firing; he only knew the construction and principles of a blast furnace.
However, there were skilled kiln workers in the village who understood.
He did not know how to make charcoal either, but Old Master Zhang understood.
In short, these tenant farmers—whom the old lady of the Huaxi Courtyard had somehow managed to gather—seemed to possess all sorts of other special skills besides farming.

For example, Old Master Wang knew how to read Feng Shui.
Old Master Ding could observe celestial phenomena to predict the weather for the next few days.
Old Master Fang actually had unique insights into mining; he even drove a steel crowbar into the ground, pointed with his hand, and said that digging right from there would yield the finest iron ore!
Many people were skeptical, and Chen Xiaofu had his doubts as well, but as a result... after dozens of young men dug down with hoes, what they found really was the highest-quality iron ore!

What kind of people were these?
Although working people all possessed wisdom, to have them concentrated together like this... Chen Xiaofu found it hard to believe it was merely a coincidence.

After An Xiaowei and Liang Jingru left, he no longer had any concerns about Liang Jingru discovering things.
He and Alai walked here and looked around there, occasionally offering some of their own opinions.
These opinions initially puzzled the old fellows, but once fully understood, everyone admired them without exception.

For instance, he suggested using the rushing current of that stream to drive a waterwheel, which in turn would operate a bellows to supply air to the blast furnace.
For instance, he proposed a number of improvements for the blast furnace—
The shape of this blast furnace could not be like the traditional ones; the blast furnace blueprint drawn by the young master looked like a large drum, narrow at both ends and thick in the middle.
The young master said this shape was better suited for iron smelting.
The interior of the furnace was lined with heat-resistant bricks... the young master said iron was different from copper, and the temperature required for smelting iron was much higher.
The position of the furnace opening had to facilitate slag removal.
The air inlets on both sides of the furnace needed to match the bellows driven by the waterwheel.
And so on.

At this moment, the young master did not look like a great scholar at all. In the eyes of these people, he was simply an omniscient and omnipotent... god!
Even the look in Amu's eyes as he gazed at Chen Xiaofu was filled with adoration!

Chen Xiaofu enjoyed this immensely, and he also felt extremely fortunate—
In the world today, bronze remained the mainstream, and the smelting and application of iron were still in their infancy stage.
His superficial knowledge sounded like heavenly scripts to these people, turning into something miraculous.

These simple tenant farmers chose to trust him without hesitation, and they meticulously constructed the first "blast furnace" according to Chen Xiaofu's blueprints.
In truth, this was not a blast furnace at all.
It could only be considered an earthen furnace, standing merely one zhang high.
Even Chen Xiaofu himself could not be certain whether this thing could successfully smelt pig iron.

Improvements ultimately had to be made through practice, and technology needed to be refined step by step.
To fire the first batch, they still had to wait for some time; they needed to build the waterwheel, construct the bellows, mine limestone, and prepare coke, among other things.
The manpower was too small while there were too many tasks to handle, so this would probably take two to three months.

On this day, Chen Xiaofu made another round of inspections, gave detailed instructions on every matter, and returned to Huaxi Courtyard with Alai at dusk.

Old Huang the doorman was still lying on that reclining chair, seemingly uncurious about the young master running off to Wani Mountain every day—
In fact, he had gone over to check during the night.
He had also heard what Old Master Zhang had to say.
By now, Old Huang was increasingly convinced that the young master had been touched on the crown of his head by an immortal, who had truly imparted immortal arts to him!

Chen Xiaofu walked toward Old Huang and plopped down onto the stool beside him.
Old Huang casually handed over his leather wineskin. Chen Xiaofu took it, pulled out the stopper, and took a sip...
At most twenty degrees of alcohol!
It was somewhat bitter.
This wine did not taste good!
Yet he simply had no spare time to brew his own wine at present.

"Old Huang, if I want to select about a hundred people from the village to form a guard unit, who would be suitable to serve as the instructor?"

Old Huang was slightly stunned:
"What do you want to set up a guard unit for?"

Chen Xiaofu grinned broadly:
"Just consider it... playing around."

Old Huang pondered for three breaths:
"Then this old servant will go and invite an instructor for the young master."

"Good!"
Chen Xiaofu stood up:
"Then I'll leave this matter in your hands. Once you've invited the instructor, bring him to see me, and I'll tell him how to train these hundred soldiers!"

Old Huang was startled once more, thinking to himself that the white-bearded old grandpa had actually taught you how to train troops as well?
"...Very well. The old lady has returned. Would the young master care to go to the eastern courtyard and pay his respects to her?"

Chen Xiaofu was instantly delighted:
"Grandma is back?"
"I'll go take a bath and then head over to have dinner with Grandma."

He led Alai across the threshold of the southern courtyard.
He was in a rush to see his grandmother because that nameless martial arts manual, which Old Huang had traded his life for from the State of Qi, was still tucked inside his robe.
He was thoroughly looking forward to practicing it!