From Robinson Crusoe

If a workman wants to be good, he must first sharpen his weapon.

After acquiring a complete set of modern forging tools, Chen Zhou discovered that forging some specially shaped metal instruments was surprisingly simple.

……

The fire in the forging room never went out, and the heat seemed to penetrate the rain and steam the muddy water.

The charcoal reserves were dwindling at an alarming rate, and by the end of the work, even the precious anthracite had been taken out.

Large nails, wire, metal brackets, metal bushings, and metal water control plates.

The tools needed for carpentry include a long saw, plane, chisel, and hand axe.

More standardized and ergonomic designs for shovel heads, sickles, machetes, hoes, picks, rakes, pitchforks...

The scrap metal parts removed from the ship were reborn in the flames, shaped on the anvil, and transformed into brand-new tools on the shelves of the forge.

……

Subsequently, using the new carpentry tools, Chen Zhou devoted himself to the work of making wooden parts for waterwheels.

Traditional waterwheels use fewer nails, with most of the structure fixed using mortise and tenon joints. For Chen Zhou, whose woodworking skills are becoming increasingly proficient, this is not a difficult task.

Moreover, he is no longer alone. He has two helpers on Saturdays and Sundays, and the indigenous people help him collect and transport materials. His work efficiency is completely different from when he first started the challenge.

……

Amidst the constant clanging of metal in the forging room, the natives had unknowingly adapted to their new life on the island.

Four top students in the farming class are dedicated to tending the fields.

To feed the seven new mouths, Chen Zhou cleared out a plot of land of about 6 acres not far from his original farmland, specifically for growing rice and wheat.

This time, due to the rainy season, the land reclamation was not carried out using the primitive and simple "slash-and-burn" method, but rather by properly loosening the soil with shovels.

During the process of loosening the soil, the natives would pick out small stones buried in the soil, cut tree roots lying across the soil, and cut down trees that were too close to the farmland.

Then, they would mix the composted fertilizer from the toilets on the mountain into the soil—

Of course, the fertilizer accumulated on the mountain is not enough to supply the entire field. Chen Zhou did not have time or collect the dead fish and shrimp stranded in the rocky beach below the mountain for composting. The missing part still has to rely on the mountain of bird droppings piled up in the pigeon cave.

Fortunately, there is enough bird droppings, and with some time and effort, the natives can obtain enough fertilizer.

After the soil becomes fertile, the indigenous people follow Chen Zhou's example and use fine-toothed rakes and hoes to further refine the soil before piling it into ridges.

Only after these tasks are completed will they plant the precious rice seedlings and wheat in the fields.

……

The instructors were attentive on Saturday, and the indigenous people worked hard and diligently.

Using advanced and convenient metal tools, and enjoying better conditions than when Chen Zhou was pioneering the land, the natives easily surpassed their predecessors.

The farmland they had prepared looked much neater and prettier than the field Chen Zhou had originally cultivated.

With ample rainfall during the rainy season, the rice, which thrives in water, grows vigorously, transforming into a lush green landscape by mid-September.

……

Unfortunately, he couldn't go out to paint during the rainy season, and the newly cultivated fields were too far from the cabin.

Although I love painting, I admire the fruits of my companions' labor on Saturday, but I can't bring my clean paper to the field to sketch.

He could only go to the fields when the rain was light, and he would pace on high ground, memorizing the shape of the crops while simulating the painting process in his mind.

After noting down enough details, he returned to the cabin, took out the white clay slab and charcoal stick that he had used countless times, and sketched out a draft.

Heaven rewards those who persevere.

Relying on this special "memory" method and careful observation, he drew dozens of drafts, and on Saturday he actually completed his first completely original painting since he started learning to paint.

Limited by the amount of ink, the entire painting uses only three colors: white, black, and pinkish-purple.

But the painting on Saturday was extremely evocative.

In his writing, the mountains and rivers become a pure white background, on which neat rice seedlings and undulating ridges bloom.

The dark clouds, lightly painted with charcoal sticks, are softened by rubbing with fingers, creating a somber, fluffy effect that doesn't feel oppressive. Instead, it allows the viewer to feel the damp coolness of rain in the painting.

Between the stark contrast of the sky and the hillside, fine drizzle slants diagonally across the landscape. In the distance, the outlines of the cave dwelling courtyard walls and the towering watchtowers are faintly visible.

Tanaka Masayuki was standing there, dressed as a native, holding a shovel.

Long-term sketching practice has given Saturday a keen ability to capture details; even the wrinkles in the clothes of the indigenous people he draws are incredibly lifelike.

Having already developed a certain appreciation for painting, and being quite talented himself, Saturday knew that he had created an excellent work.

He originally intended to bring the painting directly to the cave dwelling so that his teacher, Chen Zhou, could evaluate its strengths and weaknesses. However, he abandoned the idea because Chen Zhou had been busy lately, and decided to seek guidance when he had more free time.

However, because of the importance he placed on the painting, he didn't rest on Saturday.

He used his evening rest time to make a small frame, put the painting in it, and hung it on the wall of the wooden house.

……

Some are good at learning agricultural knowledge, while others are exceptionally talented in animal husbandry.

On Sunday, he led the locals to herd cattle and sheep, milk the lambs, and care for the lambs. He selected the most meticulous and efficient one of the three locals and recommended him to Chen Zhou.

After receiving Chen Zhou's permission, the native became the exclusive caretaker of the cattle and sheep.

After that, he will gradually take over all livestock work from Sunday, in order to free up Sunday, a valuable source of labor.

As a solitary shepherd, this native had to get up before dawn every day and set off in the rain to the hillside.

To take care of his health, Chen Zhou specially asked him to make some flatbread on Saturday, and also gave him a lot of dried meat and chocolate so that he could replenish his energy in time.

In addition, Chen Zhou also gave the native a straw hat he had woven to help shield him from some of the wind and rain.

……

The indigenous people responsible for animal husbandry were naturally grateful to Chen Zhou for such preferential treatment.

What he didn't know was that, in Chen Zhou's mind, the treatment he would receive in the future would be much better than this.

This preferential treatment stemmed partly from Chen Zhou's concern for his health, but more so from Chen Zhou's emphasis on cattle and sheep.

For the next two decades or so, most of the meat, leather and dairy products on the island will come from these cattle and sheep. If they are not taken good care of, the variety of their diet will be greatly reduced.

……

In order to develop animal husbandry, Chen Zhou has already planned to build sheds for cattle and sheep to shelter them from the wind and rain after the dry season, so as to reduce the probability of them getting sick from rain.

As for the indigenous people who specialize in looking after cattle and sheep, they can also benefit from the cattle and sheep by obtaining a small wooden and stone "villa" located not far from the shed.

His small villa, in addition to beds and stoves, also has windows and various furniture, and even a storage room for cow's milk and goat's milk, enough to make other natives green with envy.

Of course, living far from the core residential area, along with a comfortable living environment, inevitably comes loneliness and more tasks.

Chen Zhou planned to teach the native the technique of castrating sheep and let him practice boldly until he was completely proficient.

Once the natives have learned how to handle the cattle and sheep, he will be able to take full control of the matter. Chen Zhou will only need to send someone to deliver some grain, vegetables, and seasonings to him periodically, and bring back the stored cow and sheep milk.

Considering security needs, Chen Zhou also hoped that this indigenous person could take on the responsibility of observing the beaches in the northern corner of Shandong.

After all, the total number of cattle and sheep is relatively small now, so the work of herders is not actually very heavy.

In his daily life, he has a lot of free time to look out over the northeastern beaches.

……

Metal tools were produced at an alarming rate, allowing the natives to leap from the Stone Age to the Iron Age in just two months after arriving on the island.

However, as Chen Zhou forged more and more metal tools, he discovered a problem—

His stockpile of scrap metal parts is dwindling.

……

When he was unloading supplies from the ship, he never imagined that he would start forging so quickly.

Therefore, many large and heavy metal parts were left on the ship because they were difficult to disassemble or transport.

Today, most of those small metal parts have been transformed into new tools.

The slightly larger ones were also cut apart by time travel and then reused. After months of forging, very few usable metal parts remained.

If you want to forge some more metal tools, you can only melt down the iron blades and small axes on the ship, or take out the Damascus steel billets, as well as the other metals given as rewards.

Immature forging furnaces and heat treatment technologies are undoubtedly a form of destruction rather than utilization for finished steel products.

Faced with the problem of scarce metal resources, Chen Zhou's first thought was to salvage the shipwreck wreckage at sea, especially the six cannons—

If we can retrieve them, it will alleviate our immediate crisis.

As for a long-term, sustainable way to obtain metal resources, it is estimated that the only options are to rely on sea transport or to mine them ourselves.

This large island is quite large, and in addition to volcanoes, it has several undulating mountain ranges, which may contain open-pit copper and iron mines.

However, it's more likely that the entire island exploration will yield nothing.

Although iron ore is a common resource on the mainland, finding a high-quality iron ore mine on an island in the vast ocean is like finding a needle in a haystack.

Chen Zhou only felt that it might be possible, but he never pinned his hopes on finding metal resources on the spot.

……

After the idea of ​​salvaging shipwrecks and cannons at sea came to Chen Zhou, the thought took root in his mind.

On September 15th, after receiving his seventy-second mystery reward—a large box of portable compasses—and with the rainy season drawing to a close and the rainfall intensity on the island significantly decreasing, Chen Zhou's idea of ​​going out to sea became increasingly active.

But it was still September.

The ocean is unpredictable; one hour it may be calm and peaceful, while the next it may unleash towering waves that swallow everything on the surface.

Whether viewed from the perspective of a challenger or from the position of a leader of a small island faction, taking such a risk to go to sea is not a wise move.

Even if the sea contained only a pile of scrap metal, or even if it were filled with treasures worth hundreds of millions, it wouldn't be worth risking your life for.

To temporarily dispel this dangerous thought, Chen Zhou secluded himself in the cave and spent several days reading the original Robinson Crusoe. Through Robinson's experiences, he reminded himself that everything he would encounter after setting sail would be unknown.

Even an experienced sailor like Robinson Crusoe almost got swept away by ocean currents and drifted into the deep sea, let alone an ordinary person like him with no sailing experience.

If taking a short trip to the coast during the dry season on a nice day is a form of leisure and relaxation...

Going out to sea during the rainy season is like searching for excrement in a toilet with a lantern.

……

I barely managed to restrain my restless heart with reason.

With both the available metal materials for forging and the fuel for consumption running out, Chen Zhou's life inevitably became more leisurely.

Although the waterwheel parts have been manufactured, they cannot be taken out for assembly for the time being due to the weather.

Chen Zhou planned to build a wooden and stone mill spanning both banks of the river for the waterwheel, which would facilitate grain processing and also benefit the maintenance of the waterwheel.

……

The clanging sounds were no longer heard in the forging room.

He rested in the cave for two days, but he was so bored that he couldn't stand it anymore and found himself some new work to do.

For example, continue drawing teaching materials, or draw up design drawings for a sailboat that can go out to sea.

Another example is communicating more with the indigenous people. Even if you don't master their language, you can at least get more information from them.

As the saying goes, there is a sequence to learning, and each profession has its own expertise.

Despite Chen Zhou's vast and profound knowledge far surpassing that of the natives, he simply couldn't do what they did: make fire by rubbing sticks together, hunt with wooden bows and arrows, fish by diving, or throw wooden spears.

Partly out of curiosity, and partly out of a need to kill time.

Every day when the natives finished their work and returned to their cabins to rest, Chen Zhou would bring Saturday and Sunday to join them and chat with them.

Over time, he actually learned quite a few words in the indigenous language and gained some understanding of the skills possessed by the indigenous people.

Especially in terms of making fire by friction and making wooden bows and arrows, after several attempts, he was able to start a campfire in the most primitive way, albeit not very skillfully.

……

While drawing knowledge from the natives, Chen Zhou was also thinking about what skills he possessed that he could pass on to them.

You know what, when you think about it carefully, there are actually quite a few.

Among the most basic culinary skills are various cooking techniques such as frying, stir-frying, boiling, and deep-frying, as well as the use of chili peppers, garlic, green onions, and mint.

Coincidentally, among the finished products Chen Zhou forged were several kitchen knives and two iron pots that were not quite round.

While teaching the natives how to cook, he also brought these kitchen utensils into their small kitchens, allowing them to observe and try them out.

As the natives gradually learned the tricks of cooking, Chen Zhou taught them another skill—rattan weaving and straw weaving.

However, Chen Zhou himself hadn't mastered rattan and straw weaving, so when he taught the natives, he could only teach them the most basic skills.

As for the complex and advanced woven products, he couldn't demonstrate or explain them clearly, so he simply copied the weaving book and drew the more basic weaving techniques on a white clay tablet and handed it to the natives.

As long as they study diligently, they can gradually master rattan weaving skills and weave practical items such as rattan chairs, rattan cabinets, straw hats, and straw mats on their own.

This way, Chen Zhou wouldn't have to spend time and energy worrying about them, and he might even benefit from the local people's influence, allowing him to enjoy the unique aspects of intangible cultural heritage sooner.

Besides his culinary skills and rattan weaving, Chen Zhou's other contribution to the indigenous people is also closely related to their lives.

……

He had always wondered why the natives had the ability to build canoes, go out to sea, and still have trouble finding food.

Even though food resources on the island are severely scarce, the ocean is exceptionally rich in fish, shrimp, and crabs.

Even if they only go beachcombing every day, catching shrimp, crabs, and shellfish that come ashore, and picking up seaweed and dead fish, they wouldn't have to resort to cannibalism to survive.

He only discovered after talking with the natives that they had no idea that shrimp and crabs were edible, nor did they recognize any edible shellfish.

Moreover, their only cooking method is roasting, or rather, grilling.

Undercooking the seafood will not kill the parasites inside, nor will it destroy the toxic substances inside the seafood.

Under these circumstances, many "brave pioneers" died within days of consuming exotic sea creatures.

Their deaths led the elders of the tribe to believe that shrimp, crabs, and all shellfish were poisonous, and they even dared not eat many kinds of sea fish.

Information about poisonous creatures has been passed down orally, which has led the indigenous people to avoid eating most marine life to this day, and they only dare to catch a few types of fish that they are familiar with.

Even at the grand feast on August 1st, few dared to try the cooked shrimp, crabs, and scallops that still retained their marine animal forms, fearing they might be poisoned.

……

"You can't eat this, you dare not eat that, it's really amazing that you've lived to this age!"

After learning about the hardships the indigenous people endured in their tribes, Chen Zhou generously taught them all the edible marine life and plant fruits he had verified.

The drawing manuals that he had previously focused on drawing came in handy at this time.

To indicate which animal is non-toxic, simply show the natives a picture book and let them remember the main characteristics of the creature.

After all, poisonous marine life is relatively rare, and they all have very distinctive appearances.

……

Teaching the natives how to identify marine life was originally an unintentional act, but Chen Zhou never expected that the natives would bring him an unexpected surprise after looking at the illustrated manual.

Since arriving on the island, the locals have only occasionally encountered giant lobsters while beachcombing, and there is also a giant crab that they have only seen once before.

According to indigenous people who frequently dive and fish in the nearshore waters, these two creatures are abundant in the sea.

However, they were hideous and ugly, and did not look like they could be eaten, so they had never caught them, let alone eaten them.

Chen Zhou had been craving lobsters and crabs for a long time, and upon hearing this, his interest in going to sea rekindled.

……

After the natives finished describing the characteristics of lobsters and crabs, he drew pictures of several other precious marine creatures from memory and gave them to the natives to identify.

For example, sea cucumber, hawksbill turtle, giant scallop, tridacna, oyster, and abalone.

Because he did not grow up in a coastal area and had rarely eaten seafood, his knowledge of these marine creatures was limited to various food videos, so the images he drew were not accurate.

Nevertheless, the natives still recognized the most distinctive sea cucumbers and scallops, and even provided Chen Zhou with a clue about hawksbill turtles.

According to them, most of these marine creatures can be found in coastal waters.

The only difference is the hawksbill turtle, which usually appears before or after sacrificial rites, and once they appear, there are dozens or even hundreds of them.

In earlier years, the natives on the island often caught hawksbill turtles, killed them to eat, and roasted the turtle eggs to eat. These were rare delicacies in their hard life.

Unfortunately, within a few years, fewer and fewer hawksbill turtles landed on the island.

……

The old priest explained that hawksbill turtles were a gift from the gods.

Because they were not brave enough in battle and did not work hard enough, the gods withdrew their rewards. They said that as long as they fought bravely, the rewards would come back.

The indigenous people once firmly believed in this explanation.

Since arriving on the island and receiving education from Chen Zhou and Saturday, these not-so-stupid people have gradually come to understand many principles and figured out the truth about how they were deceived.

The fundamental principles governing the operation of all things in the world are there for all to see, and they are not afraid of being verified.

Compared to the priest's lies, Professor Chen Zhou's knowledge is clearly more reliable.

Moreover, given his status and position, his words carried far more weight than those of the native priests, and he was more likely to gain the trust of the natives.

……

As the distance drew closer, Chen Zhou finally couldn't resist expressing his desire to go to sea.

He did not hide the existence of the two canoes and told the natives the purpose of his voyage.

Search for the wreckage of the shipwreck, look for the cannons that have sunk into the water, and if you can catch a few dozen lobsters, a few dozen crabs, dig up a few dozen large shellfish, and get a few dozen sea cucumbers that are thicker than your forearm, that would be even better.

……

The natives all seemed very troubled by the chief's demands.

They weren't one for tricks; after a moment's hesitation, Zebra took the lead and spoke their minds—

Going out to sea is not difficult under normal circumstances.

But going out to sea during this season, no one is sure they'll come back alive.

The indigenous people can build canoes and paddle from small islands to larger ones, not because of luck or sheer daring.

As islanders who have lived on the island for generations and are inseparable from the sea, they know the terror of the ocean and have a deep understanding of the power of storms.

Once the rainy season begins, all canoes must be towed ashore and are strictly prohibited from going out to sea.

This rule is not a lie fabricated by the old priest to restrict their behavior, but an ironclad law that has been tested by facts.

Even if Chen Zhou is their new leader, possesses knowledge they cannot comprehend, and is deeply respected by them, they cannot deceive Chen Zhou against their conscience.

Compared to the mysterious and unpredictable nature of firearms, the power demonstrated by the raging waves of the sea is obviously more direct.

A musket can take a person's life in an instant, but a storm can flatten an entire tribe and uproot trees.

The natives did not believe that their new leader could truly contend with the power of nature.

……

After hearing the opinions of "industry insiders," Chen Zhou's idea of ​​going out to sea on a slightly sunny day during the rainy season was finally completely extinguished.

It's already the end of September.

With only a few days left until the third anniversary gift package, and the rainy season nearing its end, he didn't want to risk his life for a moment's pleasure and some scrap metal. (End of Chapter)