Chapter 72

It is said that after Hu Hao upgraded the armory to a general store, Factory Manager Wang was never satisfied and decided to teach Hu Hao how to forge iron, determined to pass on his iron-forging skills to Hu Hao. This made the surrounding blacksmiths look at Hu Hao with envious eyes. However, Hu Hao was very dismissive, thinking there was nothing worth learning about forging iron. But those blacksmiths all gathered around Hu Hao and Factory Manager Wang.

"Go away, it's none of your business! Get back to work, Er Lengzi, follow me," he said, walking into a small room. Hu Hao had no choice but to follow.

Factory Manager Wang threw a piece of iron, about half a catty in weight, into the furnace and said to Hu Hao, "Go, start the bellows, the faster the better!" He pointed to the bellows.

"Fine, I'll do it for you!" Hu Hao sat on the stool in front of the bellows and started pulling it, the speed was incredibly fast. The furnace, which initially had only a few sparks, and the newly added coal that hadn't burned much, started to catch fire as Hu Hao pulled the bellows. Gradually, the flames began to rise.

"Hmm, not bad, you have the potential to be a blacksmith, you're so good at the bellows! Keep pulling, I'll go get the tools for you!" Factory Manager Wang was very satisfied with Hu Hao's performance and left the small room.

Hu Hao didn't care and continued pulling quickly. Soon, the coal was fully burning, and the iron started to turn red. Hu Hao didn't pay attention; he just kept pulling, showing what it means to be a professional bellows puller!

After about 10 minutes, when Factory Manager Wang came back, he felt the temperature in the small room was off. He quickly ran to the furnace. The coal was burning rapidly, and the iron block was almost melting. At this rate, the furnace would crack in less than 5 minutes.

"Stop! Stop! Er Lengzi, did you hear me?" Factory Manager Wang shouted, but Hu Hao ignored him, continuing to pull the bellows with his eyes closed, humming an unknown song.

"Crack!" The sound made Factory Manager Wang's heart break. He quickly pushed Hu Hao away.

"Hey, you're back, when did you come back?" Hu Hao, who had been pushed, opened his eyes, ready to hit someone, but stopped when he saw it was Factory Manager Wang.

"You @#$%, this furnace I've used for 30 years has never had a problem, but you broke it in less than 10 minutes! You're in for it!" Factory Manager Wang turned around to look for something.

"Hey, what are you going to do, fight me? You should know, with your build, you can't even take one hit from me! Besides, didn't you say I was doing a good job pulling the bellows? At this speed, right? Now the furnace is broken, and you blame me!" Hu Hao said as he saw Factory Manager Wang approaching with a hammer.

Factory Manager Wang was extremely angry but knew he wasn't a match for Hu Hao in a fight. Hearing Hu Hao's words, he shouted, "Nonsense, I didn't tell you to break the furnace! Are you @#$% stupid? With such high temperatures, you should have stopped! Don't you know that the furnace will crack if the temperature gets too high?" Factory Manager Wang pointed at Hu Hao and yelled.

Hu Hao, hearing this, got angry and pointed at Factory Manager Wang, "You're blaming me? I said I didn't want to learn blacksmithing, but you insisted on teaching me. You even threatened me with my brother. Fine, I'll learn. You told me to pull the bellows, and I did, right? You said I was doing well and told me to continue, so I did! Now the furnace is broken, and you blame me? Did you tell me how long to pull? Did you tell me when to stop based on the temperature? Did you tell me that the furnace would crack if the temperature got too high? Now you blame me for the problem?"

"Well, I, well, you @#$% broke my furnace, that's not right!" Factory Manager Wang didn't know how to respond to Hu Hao's questions.

"That's not my fault, it's because you didn't teach me properly! You're supposed to be the best blacksmith in the armory, but all you do is brag!" Hu Hao said, thinking the broken furnace had nothing to do with him and was entirely Factory Manager Wang's fault.

"I didn't teach you properly, I haven't even started teaching you yet! Fine, I won't argue with you this time, but I'll teach you blacksmithing after I replace the furnace! You wait, I'll definitely teach you!" Factory Manager Wang stormed out with the hammer.

"Pfft, trying to compete with me, you'll just get angry, teaching me blacksmithing!" Hu Hao said disdainfully as he watched Factory Manager Wang leave.

About half an hour later, the furnace was replaced, but Factory Manager Wang was busy as someone was coming to collect ammunition. He had to go out and told Hu Hao, "Er Lengzi, behave in the armory. Don't go to the powder room or the grenade room, or you'll drag us down with you if you die!"

Seeing Factory Manager Wang leave, Hu Hao was even happier and went to find Colonel Zhang, who was in charge of the bullet reloading workshop.

When Hu Hao arrived at the bullet reloading workshop, Colonel Zhang was watching the workers reload bullets.

"Bro, what are you doing?" Hu Hao called out.

"What are you doing here? Didn't you go to learn blacksmithing from Factory Manager Wang? Are you slacking off again? Go back and learn, it'll keep you from starving. If you don't go, I'll beat you!" Colonel Zhang said.

"Learn what? Factory Manager Wang is busy with something else. I have nothing to do, so I came to see you, bro. Do you need any help?" Hu Hao said.

"You won't help, just don't cause trouble!" Colonel Zhang said. Hearing that Factory Manager Wang was busy, he didn't pursue Hu Hao's unauthorized visit.

"Pfft, this is easy. I can even make bullets, let alone reload them! Reloading bullets is nothing!" Hu Hao said.

"Bragging," an engineer nearby couldn't stand it and said.

"Who are you calling a bragger? Speak clearly, no one dares to call me a bragger, even if I am bragging, no one dares to say it, except my brother!" Hu Hao said.

"What are you talking about? Are you just being idle? If you're idle, go watch other blacksmiths. Do you think bullets are easy to make? If they were, the many engineers and intellectuals here would have made them, not you, Er Lengzi!" Colonel Zhang said, not wanting Hu Hao to get into a conflict. It wasn't that he was afraid Hu Hao would lose, but that he was afraid of the trouble after Hu Hao hit someone. This wasn't the army, where he could handle things. Here, he was just a deputy and a new arrival, so he wasn't very useful.

"Bro, I'm not lying, really!" Hu Hao said.

"Hmm? Really not lying?" Colonel Zhang asked.