Wen | Martial Arts
Craftsmen, that is, those who strive for excellence in labor, no matter how noisy the world is, their hearts are still as quiet as ever, looking for skills in the hustle and bustle, and having a unique ingenuity in loneliness.
For example, some ancient weapon makers spent their entire lives only to create a unique weapon, and even used their lives to "sacrifice swords".
So why were the ancients keen to "sacrifice swords" with living people or blood? Is this a superstition, or is there a scientific basis for this?
Blood is the spirit of all things
In ancient times, people believed that the spirit of all things was revered as a human being, and the spirit of man was in the blood, so the ancients were very superstitious about blood, and many customs were also passed down.
For example, if the ancients had some important rituals, they often used the blood of the blood as an alliance, and this method was originally the use of the blood of livestock, but later people used human blood in order to be more solemn.
There are also ancients in the casting of bells, but also use the blood of livestock to smear, so that the gap inside and outside the bell will be filled, so the ancients called this "quarrel", which can not only make the bell more solid, but also make the bell more spiritual.
Of course, when marching and fighting, it is indispensable to "sacrifice the flag", if you can catch a more important figure on the other side to "sacrifice the flag", if you can't catch it, you will cut off the head of the rooster and then drain the wine to sacrifice it.
For example, there are many similar customs, such as blood recognition, warding off evil spirits, breaking the law, and so on, of course, there is what we call "sacrificing swords" today.
Sacrifice the sword
Most of the ancient worldly weapons came through the "sacrificial sword", such as the legendary Sword of Mo Evil.
As we all know, charcoal was used in ancient smelting weapons, but the temperature that charcoal can achieve is limited, only about 1200 degrees, and casting bronze swords at this temperature is no problem, but it is very difficult to refine pig iron with a melting point of more than 1500 degrees.
According to the record of "Wu Yue Chunqiu", the husband and wife of the gan general invested metal in the weapon casting furnace that year, but it was refined for a long time, which shows that the metal in it may be pig iron, according to the technology at that time, if special means were not used, the two of them could not be forged successfully.
Therefore, at the last moment, Mo Xie jumped into the casting furnace, and the metal in the furnace instantly melted into water, and the dry general hurriedly manufactured it, and finally created two peerless divine soldiers.
Scientific basis
In fact, the ancients used blood or body to "sacrifice the sword", which can be explained by science, and not all of them are superstitions.
This is because the ancient iron smelting technology is limited, the temperature of charcoal combustion does not reach the melting point of iron, and the animal or human body is rich in a large amount of fat, carbohydrates, proteins and various trace elements, etc., which can achieve the following points of help:
1, the phosphorus in the hair, is a good metal co-solvent.
2. After the oil in the body is dissolved, it can be used as fuel, and the temperature can be maximized in a short period of time.
3, the carbon in the body can increase the hardness of the metal.
4, under the joint action of all substances, iron will be made of almost steel.
Therefore, this is why the ancients liked the "sacrificial sword", and because of this, people at that time called the metal of iron "evil gold".
brief summary
However, in the eyes of experts, it is also possible to achieve this effect by investing large animals such as cattle and sheep into the furnace, but the ancients had some superstitions, believing that people and human blood have spirituality, so the forged weapons also have a good deterrent effect, so some obsessive craftsmen will be obsessed with this.
References: History of Cold Weapons, Wu Yue Chunqiu