Chapter 4: Wootz Steel, Getting a Wife?

He gently flicked the blade with his finger, and instantly heard a crisp echo.

Clang, clang, clang~

Li Xiao smiled with satisfaction; he liked this saber very much.

This was precisely the cavalry saber commonly used by cavalry units in later generations.

The blade was thick, narrow, and long, with a relatively large curvature and a sharp point suitable for applying force with the wrist. There was a deep groove half an inch from the spine of the blade.

In his previous life, Li Xiao had collected one such cavalry saber and found it very handy to use.

In this era, the armor rate among nomadic peoples was extremely low; they basically wore leather armor or even no armor at all.

The sharpness of the cavalry saber was enough to cut off an enemy’s head.

As for facing heavy cavalry?

What genius would use a saber to hack at an enemy’s iron armor?

Even the sharpest industrialized blades of later generations couldn’t cleave through iron armor.

Naturally, there were other weapons for dealing with armored enemies.

This cavalry saber was enough to deal with those poor nomadic cavalrymen.

However, for cavalry, a saber was ultimately just a sidearm.

Combat between cavalry was mostly based on ranged shooting. When charging, there were also lances and spears. The cavalry saber was mainly used for chasing down enemies and in close combat.

“It’s a pity that horse lance was taken away by my cheap dad. I can only practice charging with a spear,” Li Xiao said to himself.

The ancestor of the Li family was, after all, a military leader in the Western Liao army. Being able to bring his private troops to establish Hexi Fortress in Jin Prefecture proved that the Li family ancestor had considerable wealth.

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

It’s just that this horse lance hadn’t been passed down to Li Xiao yet!

“The material for forging this saber is Wootz steel, right?”

Just as Li Xiao was waving the cavalry saber, he suddenly heard the Old Master’s indifferent voice.

Li Xiao nodded gently and immediately praised, “Grandpa, you truly live up to being the best blacksmith master in our Northern Border. You actually recognized Wootz steel at a glance.”

“Impressive, impressive~”

Seeing Li Xiao giving a thumbs up and acting cheeky, the Old Master snorted lightly, not buying it at all.

The structure of the cavalry saber was slightly different from other curved sabers; the blade was narrower and thinner.

When hacking against an enemy, the stress point of a cavalry saber was different from other blades, and it would endure greater pressure.

If ordinary steel were used to forge a cavalry saber, the result would only be a useless blade that would snap after a few uses.

So, the cavalry saber in Li Xiao’s hand used Wootz steel.

Its strength and toughness were several times that of ordinary steel.

“I can tell if it’s Wootz steel or not. I spent quite a bit of effort to forge this cavalry saber.”

The Old Master said in an indifferent voice with his hands behind his back.

But inwardly, he was not as calm as he appeared on the surface.

About ten days ago, Li Xiao got a pile of hematite ore from the river, ran to the backyard to start the furnace, and took his two younger brothers, preparing to smelt the pile of hematite.

Knowing this, the Old Master didn’t pay much attention or stop them, thinking the three brats were just fooling around to vent their excess energy.

But what the Old Master never expected was that Li Xiao actually extracted pure iron.

And after the Old Master forged it, he discovered that this was not ordinary pure iron.

It was the legendary Wootz steel.

The finest of steels.

One can imagine the shock in the Old Master’s heart at that time.

You have to know that because of the rarity of Wootz steel, it was completely priceless and extremely rare in the Northern Border.

Every time a Wootz steel ingot appeared, it was immediately bought at a high price by the powerful figures of the Royal Court to be forged into divine weapons passed down to future generations.

The Old Master couldn’t understand how such precious Wootz steel was smelted by his grandson.

And it was smelted right under his nose. It was absolutely impossible that he bought it; the Li family couldn’t afford Wootz steel.

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

“It wasn’t that hard, I just didn’t expect you to have found the method for forging Wootz steel,” the Old Master said.

Finding the method to smelt Wootz steel was every blacksmith’s dream.

The Old Master’s heart was also unable to remain calm, but to maintain his usual steady persona, he forced himself not to show any expression.

“I’ve watched Grandpa smelt iron many times since I was little, and it looked very hard and troublesome.”

“A few days ago, I accidentally thought about whether iron could be smelted by heating crucibles.”

“With the mentality of giving it a try, I didn’t expect it to actually work.” Li Xiao also timely showed a surprised and unexpected expression.

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

Geography magazines, historical records, and also many compilations of black technology.

These things were remembered in Li Xiao’s mind. Perhaps due to the transmigration, his memory had become even more profound.

The method of making Wootz steel was something Li Xiao saw in a book.

The most important and mysterious step was to use a crucible fired from clay and graphite as the container for smelting iron.

After adding coke and some plant leaves, seal the crucible and heat it to 1200 degrees. After a day, start cooling it, maintain the temperature at around 800 degrees, and continue to use iron filings to replace the carbon elements in the molten iron.

The steps were simple, but the requirements for details were high. Once a requirement wasn’t met, the whole pot of steel would be ruined.

Li Xiao took his two younger brothers and experimented many times before finally successfully smelting this piece of Wootz steel.

Although its hardness and toughness couldn’t compare to steel from the industrial age, it was far stronger than the steel of today.

And the reason Li Xiao made Wootz steel wasn’t just to forge a cavalry saber.

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

“Grandpa, let’s smelt Wootz steel with the crucible again tomorrow.”

“Last time we didn’t have much experience and were groping around, wasting a lot of iron ore.”

“This time with Grandpa watching from the side, we will definitely succeed on the first try.”

Li Xiao said to the Old Master with a smile.

He didn’t cherish the method of smelting Wootz steel for himself alone.

After all, he wasn’t a professional blacksmith. Hiding this technology was useless. Only by putting it into the hands of professionals could it play its biggest role.

Of course, Li Xiao would only tell the method of smelting Wootz steel to the Old Master and a few trustworthy blacksmiths.

They would personally complete the smelting of Wootz steel.

In the future, this would be the Li family’s secret passed down within the family.

“En, okay. It’s late today, I’m afraid it’s going to rain. We’ll smelt it tomorrow.”

The Old Master nodded gently and said in an indifferent voice.

Then, looking relaxed, he walked into the house, sat in the main seat, and waited for the meal to start.

Li Xiao sat down on his stool, glancing at the Old Master with the corners of his mouth slightly raised.

“Tsundere little old man.”

Clearly, he desperately wanted to know the method for smelting Wootz steel, but this old man was used to being proud and simply couldn’t lower himself to ask his grandson for advice.

His heart must be scratching like a cat.

And Li Xiao also understood that the Old Master loved saving face, so he didn’t make things difficult for him. He took the initiative to mention smelting Wootz steel together tomorrow.

Indirectly teaching the Old Master the method of smelting Wootz steel.

Otherwise, if Li Xiao continued to keep him in the dark, the Old Master would definitely be too embarrassed to ask proactively and would definitely lose sleep tonight.

“Time to eat~”

Not long after Li Xiao and the Old Master sat down, a shout rang out from the kitchen.

Immediately afterward, a middle-aged woman walked out carrying a large basin, followed by a little girl carrying a stack of bowls and chopsticks.

“Mom, you’re back?” Li Xiao said in surprise.

This woman looked to be in her thirties, with a tall and thin figure, a yellowish complexion, and some crow’s feet around her eyes.

She wore a headscarf on her head and an apron around her waist. Whether speaking or doing things, she gave people a feeling of being neat, efficient, and vigorous.

This was Li Xiao’s mother, Qin Da Ni!

Early this morning, Qin Da Ni went to visit her parents’ home thirty li away. Li Xiao had thought she would stay there tonight!

Qin Da Ni put the wooden basin on the table with a clatter, poked Li Xiao’s forehead with her finger, and said as if angry, “Smelly brat, you didn’t want me to come back?”

“This is my home. I come back when I want, do I need your permission?”

Seeing Qin Da Ni’s appearance, Erhu and Sanbao, who had just sat down to eat, instinctively shrank their heads.

Li Xiao also smiled bitterly, guessing in his heart that his mother might have had a disagreement with his aunt at his grandfather’s house.

She was so angry she didn’t even want to stay overnight at her parents’ home.

So, Li Xiao exchanged glances with his two younger brothers, took the bowl filled with noodles from his little sister, and the three of them tacitly lowered their heads to eat, not daring to say another word.

As for Qin Da Ni, she was so angry she couldn’t even eat. She continued to complain to the old lady, talking about how things were at her parents’ home and how her sister-in-law gave her grief.

“I sent some things to my parents, how did that hinder her?”

“Afraid the villagers would gossip about her? Then she should take good care of my parents herself!”

“If she doesn’t like the look of me, I don’t like the look of her either!”

While Qin Da Ni was complaining, it was mainly the little sister, San Feng, acting as the supportive listener in front of Qin Da Ni, totally being a caring little cotton-padded jacket. The old lady also chimed in occasionally.

Meanwhile, the three Li brothers and the Old Master all silently lowered their heads and ate, not saying a word.

“But it wasn’t just because of her that I came back. Your grandma saw it was going to rain soon and wanted me to stay overnight!”

“But I don’t know why, I’ve felt a bit flustered all day today, terrified something might happen, so I hurried back.”

After speaking to her little cotton-padded jacket, Qin Da Ni looked solemnly at the three Li brothers.

“Luckily you three little bastards didn’t cause me any trouble, otherwise I’d skin you alive.”

Hearing this, Erhu and Sanbao shook their heads one after another.

Li Xiao smiled helplessly: “Mom, rest assured. With me watching them, they won’t cause trouble.”

“It’s precisely because of you that I’m not at ease! In the past, didn’t you lead these two idiots to do all those messy things?”

Li Xiao smiled bitterly: “Mom, you said it yourself, that was in the past. Now I’ve grown up, I know how to handle things.”

Li Xiao’s voice fell, but he didn’t receive the lecture he imagined. Qin Da Ni actually didn’t speak.

Instead, she sat opposite Li Xiao, looking him up and down with interest.

Then suddenly a smile appeared on her face. She turned to look at the old lady and said, “Mother, Da Long is fifteen this year. He really has grown up; it’s time to arrange a wife for him.”

Hearing Qin Da Ni’s words, Li Xiao almost spat out his rice, nearly unable to hold it together.

Oh boy!

So this was what she had been waiting for!