Iron Ban

In the thirty-fourth year of Jiajing's reign, Yuanzhou, Jiangxi Province, was under iron confinement like a prison. The smoke from the government-run ironworks lingers all year round, and the craftsmen have been working for generations. They are not allowed to change careers, leave their hometowns, teach skills privately, and are not allowed to let half of the ironware go out of the country. Chen Tieshan maintains his ancestral skills and is able to cast the thinnest and toughest iron pot in the world that will not crack or leak when cooked. In the Ming Dynasty, this skill only resulted in burns, a half-pot of wild vegetable soup, and disasters that could come at any time. Until late one night, a visitor from out of town asked him quietly: "You can exchange your skills for gold, but are you willing to burn firewood in front of the stove for the rest of your life?" On one side is the cold iron law and stability and poverty, on the other side is the thousands of miles of sea journey and the seemingly easy-to-get wealth. Where should he go? . .