Chapter 26: Are You a Devil?

Liu Zheng walked very quickly, his face full of joy.

Zheng Yueru was also surging with excitement; recently, this "Shen Gong Workshop" had become the most mysterious place in the eyes of the people of Yinzhou, and the Four Great Noble Families had all sent many people to scout for information, but because the security here was strict, those Scouts all returned empty-handed.

Who would have thought that Liu Zheng would take the initiative to invite her to observe it? How could she not be excited?

Along the way, there were twists and turns, and the workshop floors were clearly demarcated. When passing by the Brewery, Zheng Yueru wanted to take a deeper look, but seeing that Liu Zheng did not stop again, she could only follow him toward the backyard.

"Fine Iron Workshop"!

This was a new workshop Liu Zheng had established; the ordinary cast iron of this era could no longer keep up with his needs. It was, of course, still unrealistic to achieve true steelmaking.

But Fine Iron could!

The iron smelting methods of the Longyan Dynasty were still relatively primitive, using high temperatures of 1000 to 1200 degrees to melt iron ore, which then flowed out to become Pig Iron. Pig Iron was hard in texture but very brittle, and practically useless for actual use. Therefore, to obtain Fine Iron, people of this era could only use one method: forging!

Craftsmen would heat Pig Iron until it was nearly melted, then repeatedly forge it to remove impurities like carbon, sulfur, and phosphorus. If the time was long enough, one would obtain a piece of steel; further repeated forging would yield a piece of low-carbon steel. This steel with very few impurities was called Hundred-Refined Steel by the ancients, which was Fine Iron, considered the best of iron. If forged further, one would obtain Wrought Iron, which the ancients called Soft Iron.

This method of steelmaking was extremely time-consuming.

During the Three Kingdoms period, Caocao wanted to forge five Hundred-Refined Steel blades, and it took him a full three years.

But even this Soft Iron did not meet the requirements Liu Zheng wanted!

Plate Armor had truly high requirements for steel.

And so.

Liu Zheng, a science student, naturally carried out modifications to the craftsmanship of the Fine Iron Workshop. On one hand, he taught these craftsmen to use blast furnaces for steelmaking!

On the other hand, it was Block-Smelted Carburized Steel!

The principle was actually very simple: during the process of heating and forging block-smelted iron multiple times, it came into contact with charcoal, and carbon continuously permeated into the iron, increasing the hardness of the iron block to form so-called Block-Smelted Carburized Steel. Using carburized steel to forge weapons and tools resulted in performance comparable to bronze, possessing practical value.

Throughout the entire Huaxia civilization, some people had accidentally smelted this kind of steel, but because they did not know the principle behind it, they did not promote it.

Yet these principles, Liu Zheng understood!

It was nothing more than the carbon content affecting hardness and flexibility.

The combination of these two methods not only greatly accelerated the speed of steelmaking but also directly improved the quality of the steel significantly! Of course, Liu Zheng was not a steelmaker in his past life, so he could only fumble his way through; he had been staring at it here for half a month, and at this moment, he had finally succeeded!

"This..."

"What kind of place is this? Is this iron smelting?"

Zheng Yueru was already frightened by this Fine Iron Workshop at this moment and exclaimed in surprise.

Blast furnace steelmaking—where had she ever seen such a thing?

Sparks were flying everywhere, the high temperature was oppressive, the busy craftsmen, the flowing molten iron moving from one blast furnace to another, all kinds of processes perfectly connected—where was the scene of the old small workshops where one person held a hammer, knocking back and forth until one's eardrums ached?

"Quick, bring the Plate Armor for me to see!"

Liu Zheng laughed heartily.

Lv Dachui had already brought over this set of Plate Armor, and Liu Zheng's eyes shone with excitement as he looked at it.

Zheng Yueru looked over curiously: "Brother Liu, what is this again?"

She only felt that this guy, who was known as the number one playboy of Liangzhou, was becoming more and more unfathomable.

"Let's go!"

As soon as Liu Zheng touched this set of Plate Armor, he felt that there was potential, so he took a few people and walked toward the courtyard. Zheng Yueru felt so stifled, she could only follow along submissively.

In the courtyard, some Garrison were already standing there.

Liu Zheng looked at their fierce gazes, nodded with satisfaction, and casually threw the Plate Armor to one of them, ordering him to put it on.

"Armor?"

Zheng Yueru said in disbelief.

How could these pieces of things be used as armor? What could this possibly protect?

At this moment, Liu Zheng had already taken a steel blade from the side and asked Zheng Yueru with a chuckle: "Miss Zheng, how is this blade?"

Zheng Yueru liked the masculine style and naturally practiced martial arts in her daily life; once the blade was in her hand, her eyes immediately lit up: "A good blade, it could cut a hair blown against it!"

Liu Zheng thought to himself, this is a blade forged from my Hundred-Refined Fine Iron, how bad could it be?

He chuckled and pointed at the Garrison who had already put on the Plate Armor: "Miss Zheng, strike him!"

"What?"

Zheng Yueru was startled; wouldn't a strike like this kill the man?

"Brother Liu..."

Liu Zheng laughed: "It's fine, I'm afraid that even if you were on horseback, you wouldn't be able to hurt him."

Zheng Yueru felt slighted by Liu Zheng, snorted coldly, mounted a nearby War Horse, gave a sharp cry, and charged toward the Garrison wearing the Plate Armor.

The Garrison was actually scared to death and hurriedly closed his eyes.

Clang!

Zheng Yueru struck down with the blade, not aiming for the man's vital parts—after all, this wasn't a real battle—but aiming for the man's shoulder and back. She was full of confidence in herself and did not want to have a wrongful death on her hands. Who would have thought that as the Hundred-Refined Steel blade struck, she actually felt a huge resistance.

By this time, the horse had already galloped past.

Zheng Yueru looked back in horror.

She saw that the man's back, underarms, and even his shoulders, where the steel blade had just swept across, had not changed in the slightest.

"This..."

Zheng Yueru was stunned.

At first, she was somewhat disbelieving and rode the horse back and forth to charge several more times, but the result remained the same.

At this moment, the soldier became unhappy.

Am I just here to be slaughtered by you? He turned around, mounted his horse, and began to fight Zheng Yueru on the spot.

No matter how high Zheng Yueru's martial arts were, she was actually being forced into retreat by this small soldier.

"Stop!"

Liu Zheng shouted with great joy.

Zheng Yueru was, at this moment, plunged into deep shock.

"Good!"

"Finally, it's a success!"

"It wasn't easy!"

A group of craftsmen from the Fine Iron Workshop celebrated together.

Liu Zheng also smiled slightly: "From today on, the plate armor can be mass-produced. Remember, in three days, I want one thousand sets of plate armor! On the day of the mansion opening, I will record your top merits!"

"Yes, Young Master!"

The morale of the crowd was greatly boosted, and their shouts reached the heavens.

Zheng Yueru did not even know how she walked out of this Shen Gong Workshop today.

As the saying goes, one can judge the whole by seeing a part. What Liu Zheng let her see today was merely a corner of this Shen Gong Workshop. But this was already enough to shock her to the core.

This Liu Zheng, what kind of devil is he exactly?

That armor, it looked like just a bunch of pieces, so why was it so terrifying when connected together?

No wonder he said he didn't need the Zheng Family's help; it turned out he already had a strategy to deal with the enemy.

One thousand sets... one thousand elite soldiers wearing that kind of armor, resisting the Chen Family's two thousand private soldiers—it was not impossible to win!

Suddenly, Zheng Yueru felt chilled from head to toe; she immediately kicked her horse's belly, shouted "Giddy-up!", and galloped wildly toward the Zheng Family.

"What are you saying?"

At this time, in the Chen Family, Chen Kui received the rumors reported by his subordinates and was so angry he stood up: "A mere child of the Liu Family dares to speak such wild words; does he really not take my Chen Family seriously?"

"The County Marquis Mansion is bullying people too much!"

With a bang, he smashed the table to pieces with one punch.

Sure enough, just as Zheng Yueru had worried, the words Liu Zheng said at the Shen Gong Workshop had already spread throughout the city by this time.

In an instant, the entire Four Great Noble Families were in an uproar.

Since when had the County Marquis Mansion become so tough?

They were used to being arrogant in Yinzhou; how could they endure this kind of insult?

"Master, this County Marquis Mansion cannot be indulged!"

"That's right, we must give them a taste of our power!"

"Do they really think my Chen Family's soldiers are pushovers?"

The group of people were all furious.

Saying that it would be fine if the Chen Family didn't come, but if they did, they would make the Chen Family vanish into thin air! It was simply too arrogant!

Chen Kui gritted his teeth in anger; the rumors had already spread throughout Yinzhou, and this left Chen Kui with nowhere to put his face, so he couldn't help but shout: "Fine, fine, fine! The Liu Family child bullies me too much; go and train the troops for me immediately!"

"When the day of his mansion opening arrives, that will be the day he gives me an explanation!"

"Yes!"

At the same time.

The other Powerful Clans, upon hearing Liu Zheng's such domineering words, all had different reactions.

The Wang Family, which like the Chen Family had not gained any benefits from the County Marquis Mansion, was also in a tense atmosphere at this moment.

"Master, this Liu Family child is spouting wild words, openly provoking our Four Great Noble Families!"

"That's right, if we don't give him a taste of our power, I'm afraid the whole of Yinzhou won't be able to contain him anymore!"

"The Chen Family was humiliated today, and it could be my Wang Family another day!"

A group of people incited Wang Zengming.

Wang Zengming, however, was calm and composed, laughing: "What are you all rushing for?"

The crowd once again expressed the view that when the nest is overturned, no egg remains intact, arguing that the Four Great Noble Families were originally a single interest group and should not let the County Marquis Mansion gain the upper hand, and so on.

"On the day of the mansion opening, we must be prepared, but let the Chen Family test the waters first, understand?"

The crowd was overjoyed and praised the Clan Head for his wisdom.

As for the Cao Family, the movement was not significant.

There was no other reason.

Although the Cao Family only learned about the three higher-grade wines—Immortal Brew, White Jade Capital, and Drunken Eight Immortals—after winning the rights to Drunken Yinzhou at a high price, the Drunken Yinzhou alone was already enough for them to earn a lot.

They lacked the motivation to overthrow the County Marquis Mansion.

Therefore, even when the Chen Family sent people to incite the Cao Family to join them in taking over the Shen Gong Workshop so that the two families could split the four types of wine, the Cao Family expressed little interest and made no promises.

Stable profits always make people unwilling to take too many risks.

On the Zheng Family's side.

Zheng Yueru hurried back, and the people of the Zheng Family were already arguing in a mess.

Sure enough.

News always travels faster than people, Zheng Yueru gave a bitter smile.

The people of the Zheng Family had already split into two factions by this time. One faction also felt that Liu Zheng's statement was disrespectful to their Four Great Noble Families, and this trend must not be allowed to grow! They suggested joining the ranks of those seizing the Shen Gong Workshop, just like the Chen Family.

The other faction felt that since the Zheng Family possessed the Sales Right for the three fine wines of the County Marquis Mansion, they should consolidate their relationship with the County Marquis Mansion.

These two factions were arguing incessantly.

But when Zheng Yueru arrived in the hall, everyone fell silent and looked at her.

"Yue Ru, how did that Liu Family young master express himself?"

Everyone looked at her one after another.

Especially the old man sitting in the very center of the hall at this moment, who was none other than the Clan Head of the Zheng Family, Zheng Sheng.

Zheng Yueru gave a self-deprecating smile, looked around at the people in the family who were arguing until their faces were red, and sighed: "Grandfather, the Viscount of the Liu Family is a talent of heaven-sent ability; even the combined strength of the four families cannot defeat him, let alone the Chen Family?"

"What?"

The whole family was shocked.