"Wu Yue Spring and Autumn", written by Zhao Ye of the Eastern Han Dynasty, is a historical work that mainly records the historical events of Wu and Yue during the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period.
In "Wu Yue Chunqiu", such a story was recorded, saying: When the general was ordered to forge a sword, he mined high-quality iron and stone from the five mountains, chose a zodiac auspicious day, opened the furnace and forged, and worshiped the gods and the heavens. However, after the furnace had been calcined for a long time, this gold and iron stone could not be dissolved, and if the gold and iron could not be melted, it would be impossible to make it into a sword.
After that, gan will think left and right, and do not know what is going on. At this time, his wife Mo Xie said, "Your sword-refining skills are so famous that even the kings come to you to forge swords, and now you can't even melt the iron stone." Seeing that the three-month sword refining period is coming, in such a situation, what do you want to give to the king? ”
The general replied, "I don't know, I don't understand why this golden iron stone can't be dissolved." Mo Xie said, "This is a deified object, and it needs to be refined by people." At that time, our master also encountered this kind of problem, the gold and iron stone could not melt, and finally, the couple jumped into the furnace together, and then forged the sword, don't you remember? ”
Therefore, Mo Xie first cut off his hair and nails, threw them into the furnace, and asked three hundred boys and girls to constantly stir up the wind and add fire, and when the charcoal fire was at its most fierce, Mo Xie jumped from the furnace and set himself on fire. In an instant, the fire burned fiercely, the gold iron melted, and the molten iron that turned into liquid was cast into two swords. The first cast is yang, named "gan will", and the later cast is yin, named "Mo Evil".
After that, General Gan hid the Yang Sword in it, and only presented the Yin Sword "Mo Evil" to King Wu.
King Wu obtained the sword, tried it on the stone with his hand, and opened it with his hand, which is now located in tiger hill. Therefore, King Wu was very happy and rewarded Gan with a hundred gold.
During that time, King Wu was very obsessed with casting weapons. After he possessed the sword of "Mo Evil", he recruited capable people to forge golden hooks for him, and those who could make golden hooks were rewarded heavily. As soon as this order came out, all levels of the Wu kingdom began to make golden hooks and came to pay tribute. Among them, there is a master who casts hooks, bent on creating a pair of good hooks, and when he opens the furnace to forge, he also encounters the problem of refining swords, that is, the good iron he carefully selected, no matter how calcined, cannot be melted, and in the end, there is no way to cast gold hooks.
So, what should be done?
He thought about it and decided to kill his two sons and throw them into the fire. In this way, the blood of his two sons merged with the gold and iron, and then the flames burned the gold and iron melted, and a pair of golden hooks were cast to be dedicated to King Wu. After a few days, the master of the gold hook came to the palace, asked King Wu for a reward for making a golden hook, and offered the highest price for the entire Wu kingdom's golden hook: one hundred gold, the same price as the general.
However, Wu Wang yanlu asked: "There are so many people who make golden hooks, why do you come here to reward money, and you want so much money?" What's the difference between the golden hooks you make? The hook master said, "This pair of golden hooks was only refined after I killed two sons to sacrifice the furnace, of course, it is not the same as the price of others." However, King Wu did not believe what he said, so he asked his men to take the pair of golden hooks and look at them.
The servant went, and after a while returned with two empty hands, "There are too many golden hooks, and the pair of golden hooks he made has been mixed with the others, and it is impossible to tell which one is which." So, Lu Lu asked people to lift all the hooks and let the people who made the gold hooks see for themselves. This person looks really similar at first glance, there is not much difference, and it is difficult for him to find the pair of golden hooks he made for a while, and he is anxious to stomp his feet.
Therefore, he shouted the names of his two sons to the hooks: "Wu Hong, Hu Ji, your father is here, don't you hurry up and show up?" Before the words could be heard, two golden hooks suddenly flew out and stuck to the hook master's chest. King Wu was shocked to see this scene, and immediately rewarded the hook master with a hundred gold in thanks. Since then, King Wu has worn the "Mo Evil" sword and this pair of golden hooks on his body every day.
Although this story was written into the history books, in fact, from an objective point of view, according to the production technology of the time, it was impossible to create a "remote control flying hook".
Moreover, the ancients made too many foolish attempts in order to create divine and quite spiritual flying swords and flying hooks.
After all, no matter how spirited human blood is, it is impossible to let the items fly over the wall and turn out. If it is true, it can only be said that the double hooks of Wu Hong and Hu Ji are iron, and only when iron encounters magnetism, it will be sucked out, while bronze cast weapons will not. Therefore, from this point of view, it can be analyzed that the ancients why they used living people to forge swords, because the material they used was actually iron.
Because, in ancient times, people smelted metal with charcoal, rather than coke with higher combustion temperatures. Moreover, the new technology of ironmaking is not very mature, and the temperature of charcoal is not up to the needs of iron smelting. Therefore, it is necessary to put in some things with high fat and high combustion value, and form carbon after burning, so that the temperature of the fire can be increased, so as to forge iron.
In fact, anyone who has studied chemistry should know that the melting point of copper is relatively low, so ordinary charcoal can melt it, and it can be completed without the need for operations such as the flesh and blood sacrifice furnace. However, iron is not OK, its melting point is relatively high, if you do not put some "fierce material" is difficult to melt. Therefore, the "iron" at that time was also called "evil gold".
In addition, in the fire, pigs, cattle and sheep and other livestock, the combustion effect is the same, all are fat, can provide furnace temperature. But the reason why people choose to use people to forge swords is mainly because the ancients believed that ordinary animals have no spirituality, and only the flesh and blood of their loved ones are the most spiritual.
Therefore, the ancients will have such a cruel operation.
Resources:
["Wu Yue Chunqiu", "History, Volume 31, Wu Taibo Family No. 1", "Warring States Policy, Qi Ce V"]