The ancients believed that when a sword was forged, blood must be sacrificed to become a sword, and the blood of the person you like the most should be sacrificed!
Someone was greedy for the king's heavy reward, so he killed his two sons and paid for the gold with their blood. Then he made two hooks and offered them to Helu, and went to the palace gate to ask for reward. The king said: "There are many people who are hooking, but the son only seeks reward. Why is it different from the hooks of all the masters?" The hook maker said: "I am making hooks. I am greedy and kill two sons, provoking two hooks." The king then raised all the hooks. In order to show: "Who is it?" There are many king hooks with similar shapes, and I don't know where they are. Then the master Gou called out the names of his two sons to Gou: "Wu Hong, Hu Ji, I am here. The king doesn't know your spirit." The sound left his mouth, and both hooks flew to the father's chest. The king of Wu was shocked and said, "What a shame! I have failed you sincerely." He rewarded him with a hundred gold coins. Then he obeyed without leaving his body.
Historical allusion - Yefu forged swords
Ou Yezi, a man from the Spring and Autumn Period, was good at forging swords. The bronze swords he forged were extremely sharp and unparalleled, and were honored as sword-making by later generations. His father is "Ye father", so there is a famous saying that "it is better to get ten good swords than to get one Ouye" ("Lu Shi Chun Qiu. Bi Neng").
According to historical records, during the Spring and Autumn Period, princes fought for hegemony and wars continued. In order to enhance their combat effectiveness, all warring parties selected domestic skilled craftsmen to develop weapons to defeat the enemy. As the main weapon used in hand-to-hand combat, the sword was known as the "master of a hundred weapons" at the time, and swordsmiths were increasingly favored by kings of various countries.
In 496 BC, King Yue often invited the swordsmith Ou Yezi to make a sword for him. Ou Yezi took his wife Zhu and his daughter Moye up the river and searched for the "sacred iron" (iron mother) and "holy water" (cold spring water) needed to make swords in the deep mountains and forests. One day, Ou Yezi saw in his dream that the top of the mountain cracked to reveal the "magic iron", and that a copper mine was seen after the mountain stream dried up. It was windy and rainy in the sky, Thunder God was beating drums in the sky to cheer up, and several dragons circled around the bottom of the furnace to hold up the stove. The Emperor of Heaven was helping him add charcoal to the furnace. After Ou Yezi woke up, he sighed: "The gods in heaven and earth are helping me!" So, he followed the guidance of the dream to find "divine iron" and "holy water", and "open the earth" Set up a furnace" and begin to forge swords. Three years later, five "bronze composite swords" were cast, "the light penetrates the sky, the sun and the moon compete for glory, the stars hide their colors, and the ghosts and gods howl". Ou Yezi presented it to the King of Yue, who named the five swords "Zhanlu, Chungou, Shengxie, Yuchang, and Juque." From then on, Ou Yezi and the swords he forged became famous all over the world.
Wu Guoren Ganjiang was Ou Yezi's younger brother. He had learned sword-making techniques with Ou Yezi and was also a famous swordsmith at that time. He and Ou Yezi forged swords together in the Kingdom of Wu, and their reputations grew. After the King of Chu heard about it, he assigned his minister Feng Huzi to hire Ou Yezi and Ganjiang to make swords for him. After painstaking exploration, the two finally found the "magic iron" suitable for making swords. They "cut open Cishan Mountain" and "released the stream water" to obtain "thousand-year cold iron" and cast "Longyuan and Tai" for the King of Chu. Ah, Gongbu" three swords.
According to legend, Ou Yezi’s daughter Moye married a general. When Ganjiang and Moye were ordered to forge swords for King Helu of Wu, they “made three hundred girls and boys make drums to make charcoal.” He also piously cut off his hair and nails and threw them into the furnace to "gather gold". Another craftsman from the state of Wu even "killed his two sons and offered blood for gold" to make a sword. When Ganjiang's master forged a famous sword, "the husband and wife both entered the furnace and then finished it" (see Volume 2 of "Wu Yue Chun Qiu"). "Yue Jueshu" records that Jin and Zheng launched an army to besiege the Chu State, and they did not solve the problem for three years. The King of Chu personally went to the city and commanded the battle with the swords made by Ou Yezi and Gan Jiang. The morale was greatly boosted. The combined forces of Jin and Zheng were beaten to the point where "the three armies were defeated and bloodshed thousands of miles away." When the King of Chu was happy, he asked his minister Feng Huzi: "Is it true that a sword can have spirit?" Feng Huzi answered in the affirmative, believing that there is indeed a "god of swords", and that it is related to the "king" (referring to Chu). King) God" are connected. At that time, people did believe that there was some mysterious transcendent factor in the sword, and the "divine power of the sword" was deeply rooted in people's hearts.
Later, when Chu State annexed Wu and Yue, although the famous swordsmiths Ou Yezi, Gan Jiang, Mo Xie and others had passed away, the metallurgy and weapon casting technology in the Wu and Yue area was still famous for its excellent sword making. . It is said that the "Zhanlu Sword" cast by Ou Yezi changed its owners many times, and was acquired by the famous general Zhou Chu in the Jin Dynasty. Later, his descendants gave it to Yue Fei, the anti-gold hero. After Yue Fei Feng Boting was killed, "Zhan Lu Sword" was lost. The ancients were ignorant and superstitious. In fact, this is a process to improve the hardness of metal. After the human body is burned, carbon is generated, and the carbon element can improve the hardness of the metal. It doesn't matter whether it is a close relative or not. Throwing cattle, sheep, etc. into the furnace will have the same effect.