In fact, the idea that serfs work for their lord without pay is true.

Ethan Clark, however, taught the serfs ways to make a living and promised to help them start businesses.

Therefore, even though the old Clark family permanently takes a ten percent share of the profits, and the serfs have to provide their own labor and handle logistics, they are still full of gratitude.

Another month and a half passed. When the restless Ethan Clark was about to lose his patience, the house elder Scott informed him that it was time to do something for the serfs.

What do nobles do for their subordinates in these times?

They can assign serfs at will, but are also supposed to lead them toward a prosperous life—this is a rough summary.

When Ethan Clark learned that he should gather the warriors and lead them to hunt the surrounding animals, clearing out the beasts within the territory, he immediately became interested.

And in fact, this is the lord’s responsibility.

"Finally, I can get moving!" Ethan Clark sprang from laziness into excitement and asked, "Where are my armor and weapons?"

House elder Scott was already prepared, but when he brought back the armor and weapons, Ethan Clark frowned deeply.

It was obvious that the leather armor and weapons were "heirlooms" passed down in the old Clark family.

That is, left behind by the father of Ethan Clark's "previous self."

The leather armor was old and even seemed a bit too big for Ethan Clark.

He drew the bronze sword from its wooden scabbard and found the blade was full of nicks—one more hit and it could be used as a saw!

There was a smelting workshop at home, and there were iron ingots—so why not forge iron weapons?

Just because you can forge iron doesn’t mean you can make usable iron weapons!

Currently, bronze technology hasn’t reached its peak, and iron technology is only in its early stages.

That is to say, with current techniques, it’s not impossible to make an iron sword.

But, believe it or not, if an iron sword and a bronze sword clash, it’s the iron sword that will break, not the bronze one.

Ethan Clark’s gaze seemed to rest on the bronze sword, but his pupils were unfocused. He was thinking: "If I raise the temperature, I can smelt purer iron; as for forging techniques, I remember some; but I need to recall carefully—what should I add, what formula, to make the iron good enough for weapons?"

Chapter 12: Lordly Activities

In China, iron tools had already been developed by the Spring and Autumn period, but even by the time of George Washington of the Western Han, the quality of iron tools was not actually superior to those of other countries.

George Washington sent Lewis Clark as an envoy to the Yuezhi, aiming to form an alliance with them to attack the Xiongnu together.

Lewis Clark went through countless hardships and finally found the Yuezhi, but they had already established a new kingdom called Kushan. They thought the Indians were easy to bully and were unwilling to return east to fight the fierce Xiongnu.

Perhaps to make the war between the Han Empire and the Xiongnu even bloodier? Although the Yuezhi refused to ally with the Han, they did share their own metallurgy and forging techniques.

Obtaining the Kushan smelting process was a treasure for George Washington, and Western Han metallurgy entered a new stage of development.

Now is the Spring and Autumn period, so iron has already been invented.

If we divide it into stages, the metallurgy of iron in the Spring and Autumn period was still at a very early phase.

That is, they could smelt iron from ore, but their craftsmanship in making objects from it was inferior to their use of bronze.

Ethan Clark personally witnessed craftsmen working with iron and found that even after repeated forging, iron pots still turned out loose and porous.

This was probably due to insufficient temperature and not enough hammering, resulting in a lot of gangue slag remaining in the iron.

This kind of iron is called sponge iron in modern times.

"Forget about modern quality..." Several plans flashed through Ethan Clark's mind as he thought, "I remember some of the carburizing techniques from the Western Han, and I know some forging methods. With repeated experiments, I should be able to verify them; as for Damascus sword-making, I remember that very clearly—some techniques could be used, but the iron ore in the Central Plains might not be suitable."

So, since it was just a hunt, Ethan Clark switched into "inventor" mode.

This couldn’t be rushed.

Naturally, Ethan Clark wouldn’t really use a sword full of nicks. He took a bow and a quiver of arrows instead.

But here arose another problem.

The bow itself was fine—the bow looked quite new, and the bowstring made of cow tendon was very elastic.

The problem was with the arrows.

"Is this even an arrow?" Ethan Clark held a shaft that wasn’t straight at all, feeling the wood and thinking, "Is this a poplar-willow arrow shaft? Lacking mature craftsmanship, they can’t make the shafts straight. The arrowhead and fletching are fine, though..."

If the arrow isn’t straight, it won’t fly true.

No matter how skilled the archer, if the arrow shaft isn’t straight, it’s all just guesswork—true accuracy is impossible.

Using poplar or willow for the shaft makes it a wooden arrow, called a "矢."

Using bamboo or reed for the shaft makes it an "arrow."

The former, being heavier, has a longer range.

The latter, being lighter, has a shorter range.

At the same time, lethality isn’t just about the arrowhead—it’s also related to the shaft.