From Robinson Crusoe

The rewards for the third anniversary are ridiculously generous.

After unpacking the last few rewards, Chen Zhou led the natives to count the quantity of all the supplies.

Besides building materials such as H-beams, I-beams, square and round steel bars, reinforcing bars, bolts, rivets, sand screens, and various types of cement, the prize also includes two medium and large-sized machine tools.

One of them was a Soviet-made bullet-pressing, turning, and drilling machine tool modeled after the Swiss model.

The other machine was a rudimentary broaching machine made from railway rail steel, used for machining rifle rifling.

These items were the main attraction of the rewards, but the truly life-saving item was a few small boxes of medicine—

The medications were stored in a plastic box, most of which were emergency and highly effective drugs.

For example, there are controlled-release nitroglycerin buccal tablets for treating acute angina, Yunnan Baiyao aerosol for quickly reducing swelling, Yunnan Baiyao powder for emergency hemostasis, and two small bottles of quick-acting heart-saving pills.

Secondly, there are medications for skin and external injuries, such as erythromycin ointment, miconazole nitrate, trauma pills, and blood-activating ointment.

Finally, there are cold medicines specifically used to treat bacterial infections, fight influenza viruses, and reduce inflammation, including berberine, oseltamivir, and ibuprofen.

The quantity of medicine is far less than that of building materials. There are only three boxes of each type of medicine. If the condition recurs, there is only enough for two courses of treatment, and there is also a shelf life limit.

But for Chen Zhou, each of these drugs, which are commonplace in modern times, is extremely precious.

The advanced products of modern medicine, when brought to the backward 17th century, could be described as miraculous medicines comparable to elixirs of immortality.

Antibiotics, in particular, have shown immediate effectiveness against most diseases of our time.

……

As for the other rewards, although they are not bad, they are nothing compared to building materials, machine tools, and medicines.

Stained glass, tomato and carrot seeds, watches—these are all icing on the cake.

Chen Zhou felt that carrot seeds, in particular, would be better replaced with ginger or potatoes. He couldn't quite accept the unique sweetness of carrots.

However, considering that carrots contain a large amount of vitamin A, which can treat night blindness, he still plans to cultivate another piece of land and plant them on a large scale.

……

Receiving an unprecedentedly large reward is undoubtedly something to celebrate.

But before the revelry, Chen Zhou had to work with the locals to move the items that were susceptible to moisture to a dry and safe place as quickly as possible.

He had originally planned to lead the natives in a solemn sacrificial ceremony at noon on the 30th, and then put on some shows and organize a grand banquet in the evening.

Upon seeing this mountain of rewards, needless to say, all plans fell through.

He could only give the natives a few gifts after finishing his work for the day; as for sacrifices and banquets, they all had to make way for transporting supplies.

……

Before the official commencement of construction, Chen Zhou re-delineated an area based on the scope of this award.

He didn't know whether the expansion of the reward scope was a one-time change or a permanent change. Thinking that it would be best to continue cutting building materials after moving the supplies, he spent more time leaving new lines on the beach.

After the supplies were moved, he would have the natives build two wooden and stone walls on the inner and outer sides respectively.

When the next reward arrives, a batch of wooden planks and stone bricks can be produced regardless of whether the cut is made along the outer or inner ring.

After all, he had worked incredibly hard to obtain the license, and he would never waste any opportunity to utilize the time-space cutting technique, as long as conditions allowed.

……

Of all the supplies, medicines and machine tools are clearly the most important.

However, the machine tool was too large to fit into the forging room, and even moving it was difficult. Chen Zhou had no choice but to build a large rain shelter on the spot to properly store the machine tool.

Among building materials, square and round steel bars and reinforcing bars without paint on their surface also need to be placed in a dry place.

Although the cement is packaged in a thick plastic bag, so there's no need to worry about water getting in for a short time, you can't trust the plastic packaging too much; it will have to be moved sooner or later.

Even painted I-beams and H-beams had to be moved to other places within half a month.

Otherwise, if the cutting area returns to its original state when the next mystery reward is distributed, and perfectly good finished building materials are cut open, Chen Zhou will regret it to the core.

……

Since arriving on the island and starting a new life, the indigenous people have received education from Chen Zhou on Saturdays and Sundays, which has always revolved around themes of science and practicality.

For example, the growth patterns of plants, the details that need attention during livestock reproduction, and some basic knowledge of natural meteorology.

When the old priests of the original tribe encountered something they couldn't understand, they would always invoke the gods and fabricate a reasonable explanation.

But the courses here almost never mention anything about "God".

I only occasionally tell them some novel myths when I'm in a good mood and still have the desire to express myself after finishing my classes on Saturdays.

These myths were told by Chen Zhou to people on Saturdays and Sundays.

The gods in the story are very different from the gods in the tribe.

Those gods had distinct personalities; they would shoot down the sun in the sky to protect their people, and after drowning in the sea, they would turn into birds carrying stones to fill the sea. They would also knock down the pillars supporting the sky in their anger...

Unlike the primitive gods worshipped by tribes, these gods are more like flesh-and-blood beings with great power.

They would not punish their followers out of momentary anger or sorrow, nor would they alter the food supply to leave fishermen empty-handed.

In fact, they do not need believers, nor do they need offerings, nor do they even need a priest to relay messages for them.

The gods here are, in a way, closely connected to mortals, yet also separated from them, as if living in another world.

Every indigenous person can deeply feel the myths told on Saturday.

Although they are all called gods, the gods here are fundamentally different from their gods.

Moreover, the gods here do not interfere with the lives of mortals.

God's sorrow, God's anger, and God's joy all happened a very, very long time ago and have little to do with them.

They only need to listen to the stories of God as if they were just stories, without even needing to think about whether those gods actually existed.

Even the gods worshipped in sacrificial rituals seem to be shrouded in a mysterious mist, never intersecting with their lives.

……

It can be said that the "new education" on the island was basically an atheistic education based on materialism.

The worship is more like a festival ritual than an activity stemming from faith and reverence.

There are exceptions to everything.

In this "atheistic" atmosphere, there are many things that the indigenous people cannot understand.

For example, weapons that can take lives with a single loud bang; mysterious objects emitting sunlight-like rays in interrogation rooms; and those neatly arranged, uniquely shaped metal artifacts...

Of course, what shocked and even frightened the natives the most were the cut areas on the beach and the mysterious rewards that suddenly appeared every 15 days.

The textbook compiled by Chen Zhou can explain many issues.

But he could neither explain nor intended to explain how the trans-dimensional cutting and the mysterious reward were delivered to the beach.

……

So the natives would see the timber and stones neatly cut every 15 days—

No matter how hard the rock or metal, it will be cut into two exceptionally smooth pieces. And there are items that appear out of nowhere on the beach—

The giant beasts locked in the iron cage were only recognized by the "leader";

A massive, unusually flat, giant metal box;

And the various strange objects that appeared out of nowhere on the beach today, destroying the wooden and stone walls;
They even heard that the black armor worn by the chief during the sacrifice also "fell from the sky," appearing on the beach without warning.

If there is no God, or if God dwells high in the heavens and is unwilling to communicate with humans.

So where did these things come from?

Why are they focusing on this island?
Any native would inevitably ponder this question.

……

Compared to the vague and ethereal stories of the gods, witnessing miracles firsthand is obviously more awe-inspiring and provides stronger proof of the existence of gods.

The fact that this miracle occurs every 15 days can only mean one thing—

Even if the leader is not a god, he is still a son of a god.

……

Fearing punishment for speaking out of turn, the indigenous people never dared to discuss this issue openly.

They would only secretly discuss this matter when it was late at night and they were still awake.

In fact, it wasn't hard for them to guess the leader's origins and identity, since many clues were already out in the open.

For example, the leader was kind and gentle, with an extraordinary appearance and a tall stature unlike ordinary people. He possessed a very complex and complete language and its corresponding script, and knew a lot of knowledge that they had never heard of before.

The chief appeared to have been living alone on the island before being rescued on Saturday and Sunday.

Since his arrival, the legendary monster on the island that could spew black smoke and devour everything has disappeared.

Moreover, gifts from "gods" to the chief would appear on the beach periodically.

In conclusion, the truth is self-evident.

The leader must be a "god" from the heavens, or a legendary being who is half-human and half-god.

Given their "higher" background, the leader naturally possesses a physique and vision unlike that of ordinary people, and can continuously receive gifts from the heavens.

They even had a bolder idea—

"The god that the leader led them to worship may be the leader's father."

Otherwise, how can we explain that among so many gods in mythology, the leader worshipped only this one?

……

Of course, these speculations were merely a private consensus among the natives; they dared not voice them openly.

Therefore, when they saw the building materials covering half of the beach, these seemingly honest and simple guys only dared to mutter a few words to themselves, such as "Our leader has received support from the heavens again."

In reality, everyone should just do what they're supposed to do, obediently follow orders, and move supplies.

"Miracles" are nothing new once you've seen them enough.

After all, the leader is suspected to be a god himself, so all of this makes perfect sense.

……

To protect the "aging" machine tool, Chen Zhou went to great lengths, bringing with him the long nails he had painstakingly forged over the past few days, and personally built a simple wooden and stone structure rain shelter.

Fortunately, it was late September, and the rainy season was almost over, so rainfall was no longer so frequent.

Taking advantage of the rare cloudy weather on the 30th, free from rain, Chen Zhou, who hadn't slept all night, and the equally unrested locals mustered their energy and worked from morning till night for the entire day.

……

To speed up transportation, all the handcarts, including wheelless, broken door panels dragged by ropes, were pulled to the beach for everyone to use.

The barren coastal woodland had been partially filled in, and the ditches that had hindered transportation had been filled in to make way for the transport of building materials.

……

During his work, looking at the large amount of steel piled on the ground, reflecting the sunlight, Chen Zhou couldn't help but think about how to make better use of them.

First, moving all the building materials up the mountain to continue building his cave dwelling would definitely be the worst option.

The reason for choosing that shady spot was to avoid being discovered by the natives and causing unnecessary conflict.

Now that we've broken ties with the indigenous tribes and even the Spanish, how can we keep hiding like a turtle?

Chen Zhou believed that the best use for these building materials was obviously in constructing industrial buildings, such as blast furnaces and chemical refineries.

Many of the devices used in the simplified production method of explosives need to be made of concrete.

Chen Zhou originally wanted to use white clay and bricks to build the structure, but that would inevitably reduce the quality of the gunpowder produced. Now that there is enough cement, production equipment should be the priority.

Moreover, large processing plants are themselves excellent defensive fortifications.

The factory's reinforced concrete walls provided sufficient protection against 17th-century cannons.

……

What troubled Chen Zhou was that he had all the materials but no corresponding technology.

He studied mechanical engineering in college, not architecture. His understanding of engineering was limited to what civil engineering guys on Baidu Tieba talked about, such as "mortar pouring" and "running away with buckets," as well as his brief observations and experiences at the construction sites where his parents worked during junior high school.

However, this knowledge was insufficient to support him in building a factory.

Reinforced concrete buildings differ from brick-and-mortar self-built houses in the countryside; they require the involvement of engineers from the earliest design stage.

Even if the building he constructs is relatively short and doesn't have strict requirements for geological conditions, he still needs to prepare qualified aggregates, namely crushed stone and medium-coarse sand.

When construction officially begins, the process involves excavating the foundation pit, tying reinforcing bars, connecting sleeves, installing formwork, pouring concrete for the columns, subsequent curing, and dismantling the formwork...

These procedures are easy to explain, but when it comes to actually doing them, he has no idea how to do them.

And if even a modern person like him from the 21st century couldn't understand it, the natives would understand it even less.

If we recklessly mess things up, we'll not only waste materials, but we might also end up with a shoddy construction project.

……

"You've given me so many building materials, why didn't you include a few essential guides for woodworking enthusiasts?!"

Scratching his head, Chen Zhou let out a long sigh.

If there is really no guidance, he can only use the old methods, verify his ideas through experiments one by one, and then summarize his experience and lessons learned and put them into practice.

Anyway, he doesn't plan to build high-rise buildings.

There is certainly no problem using this cement to build one- or two-story reinforced concrete buildings or even brick-concrete buildings.

At worst, we can dig the foundation a little deeper, slow down the work progress a little, and do the work more meticulously.

Even if it can't be built like a modern building, the quality of the cement is there; it shouldn't actually become a dangerous building that suddenly collapses. (End of Chapter)