Contractors in the Song Dynasty Made a Fortune

In the first year of Jingkang, Jin soldiers surrounded Bianliang. You were the low-level blacksmith at the gate of Bianliang City who couldn't even get enough money for your sister's medicine. Officials deducted wages, so you could only use the leftover scraps from official materials to hide in the underground secret room to grind those "unregulated" armor-piercing awls and improved bed crossbows - you didn't want to save the Song Dynasty at first, you just wanted to earn a living porridge for your frail and consumptive sister. But the weapons at the top of the city collapsed faster than the molten iron in the blacksmith's furnace, and the official workshops could not pile up enough guys to defend the city. You gritted your teeth and sent those "weird" private goods up. Who would have known that your armor-piercing awl could penetrate the golden armor, and your ground-sinking nails could delay the Jurchen cavalry. Your little inconspicuous improvement actually made the emperor who just ascended the throne pay attention to you. You went from being a contractor covered in mud to the Golden Palace, but as soon as you took over the task of supervising ordnance, the impeachment papers of civilian officials were piled on half the table, the eunuchs reached out for benefits, the emperor stared at the weapons workshop in your hand with suspicion, and Wanyan Zongwang's 100,000-horse horse outside the city was about to hit the city gate. You are a craftsman with no family background and no power. How can you break out a way out with this hammer in your hand?