From Robinson Crusoe

On June 20, 1663, after a long period of preparation and construction of about 100 days, Chen Zhou's factory was finally completed.

……

This unpainted and unplastered gray-white building sits at the foot of the mountain, on flat land below the mountainside, and covers an area of ​​about 600 square meters.

The factory is rectangular in shape, with two single-story buildings extending from the front and sides. The interior has a small basement. The exterior resembles an unfinished building in the suburbs of a modern city, with no extra decorations and looks very simple.

Due to a shortage of welding rods, the factory only used metal for the front and rear gates and the left and right side doors; all the interior doors were made of wood.

The door frames and panels that Chen Zhou salvaged from the ship were simply not enough, so he specially led the locals to manufacture a batch of solid wood doors.

During the construction of the gate, Zebra, the neglected fellow, once again demonstrated his amazing carpentry skills. His efficiency and pass rate in making the wooden gate were no less than Chen Zhou's, and far ahead of the natives.

Therefore, although Chen Zhou disliked Zebra, he still gave Zebra some rewards based on the principle of clear rewards and punishments.

As Chen Zhou had predicted, the zebra, having received its reward, began generously distributing the candy and food to win people over.

If Chen Zhou hadn't known what kind of person this guy was in private, he probably would have been kept in the dark and thought he was a naturally kind person.

……

To enhance the defenses of the factory's first floor, Chen Zhou deliberately designed the windows to be smaller and positioned higher up, to prevent enemies from entering through the windows if they couldn't breach the main gate.

When the windows were to be installed, he also welded security grilles onto the outside of the windows using steel.

The factory's security grilles are different from those in modern residential areas. They are not made of thin steel bars, but of steel plates as wide as a hand. Not even a small bag of gunpowder could break them, let alone a crossbow or a wooden spear.

……

Because the windows on the first floor are small, there are some problems with indoor lighting. Even during the day, the room is still somewhat dim, but it is still much brighter than the "original cave dwelling" where Chen Zhou used to live.

Upon reaching the second floor of the factory, the interior was immediately brightly lit.

The large glass windows had wooden frames, the walls were still unpainted, but the floor was covered with solid wood flooring.

The windows on both sides, neatly arranged, allow sunlight to flood into the room, making it feel like a completely different world from the first floor.

……

Because of the limited quantity of cement and metal building materials, and because Chen Zhou also wanted to use some of the materials to manufacture other buildings, he did not design the factory to be too large.

After all, there are only ten people on the island at the moment, and the natives are "workers" who only enter the factory when they are working and return to the wooden house to rest after get off work. This 600-square-meter, two-and-a-half-story building is enough for them to keep busy.

The factory's first floor is divided into five independent workshops, each with a different pre-designed function and a different area.

The smallest room is only 50 square meters, while the largest is nearly 120 square meters.

In addition to the factory buildings, the first floor of the factory also has several functional areas, such as public toilets, shower rooms, kitchens, restaurants, rest rooms, storage rooms, and steam rooms.

These functional areas have only been roughly defined and pipes have been reserved. The interiors are not yet decorated and are still in a bare-bones state.

On the second floor, the space was primarily designed to meet the personal needs of Chen Zhou and his confidants.

One of the stairwells leads directly to the factory roof, which connects to the storage area for photovoltaic panels and energy storage batteries.

There is Chen Zhou's personal bedroom, office, toilet and bathroom, as well as a study and a storage room specifically for storing the mysterious reward.

There are also small rooms for two people on Sundays and Saturdays, a gym, and a separate kitchen and dining area.

However, these functional areas cannot occupy all the area on the second floor; one-third of the second floor remains empty.

Chen Zhou plans to convert that part into auxiliary areas such as factory buildings, warehouses, offices, quality inspection areas, or maintenance areas when needed in the future.

……

These storage rooms alone are not enough to turn the factory into an impregnable fortress.

To enable the factory to withstand the siege for longer, Chen Zhou also designed a rainwater harvesting system to utilize the rainfall from the long rainy season for emergency use.

There are water storage tanks under the roof of the factory, which are located on the first floor and the "half of the third floor". Whenever there is rainfall, the tanks will slowly fill up.

Normally, this water can be used for domestic purposes after passing through a pipe with a charcoal and gravel mesh filter. It's perfectly fine for washing clothes and brushing shoes.

In times of war, should the situation deteriorate to the worst possible outcome, these two pools of water could become the fortress's last reserve, boiled and used for drinking by everyone to sustain life.

However, that's only the worst-case scenario.

At least when designing the factory, Chen Zhou never imagined that any kind of attack would lead him to that situation.

He was in the middle of the ocean. If he were to attract the attention of the maritime superpowers of this era, who were willing to expend a great deal of manpower, resources, and wealth, and sacrifice hundreds or thousands of lives to besiege him, he simply couldn't imagine what outrageous things he might do.

Even if all the important members of the Spanish royal family were kidnapped to the island, it probably wouldn't cause such a big commotion.

Moreover, even if he were to completely break ties with the Spanish, it remains to be seen whether the military capabilities and scientific technology of the 17th century could actually drive him into a corner.

It should be noted that, theoretically, his war potential is limitless.

If they dare to give away the mystery reward, it's not impossible that they might pull out a Type 99A tank, let alone an improved rifle.

……

After a grand celebration, the indigenous people, like a group of industrious little ants, began to move the supplies from the cave dwellings to the factory little by little.

The cave dwelling where Chen Zhou had lived for three years soon became empty and desolate, with carts coming and going.

The factory, a more sturdy and larger dwelling located in a sunny spot, was gradually decorated.

The gray-white patchwork rug, a mysterious reward, added a touch of new color to Chen Zhou's room.

In this modern building, the ancient 17th-century furnishings always seem out of place. Stepping into Chen Zhou's room can even give you a sense of time distortion.

……

Moving is a tedious and lengthy process.

The items that can be moved around are fine, but the problem is that Chen Zhou is also keeping some living creatures.

Little Grey, Grape, Tiger Head, Dangdang, Little Totoro, and Grey Ball—these cats consumed a lot of everyone's energy.

Little Grey and Grey Ball, who stay at home all year round, and the little Totoro who lives in a "luxury villa" are easy to handle. Chen Zhou just grabbed them by the scruff of their necks and picked them up.

Although Guangdang liked to roam in the fields outside the courtyard, it was still quite attached to home. Chen Zhou caught it successfully after only one day.

Tiger Head and Grape are different, especially Tiger Head.

This creature can obtain food on its own without needing to be fed by humans. In addition, it has been well-nourished since childhood, has good genes, and is strong and healthy. It is already in a semi-wild, semi-domesticated state and does not rely on Chen Zhou much.

Chen Zhou had watched Tiger Head grow up, and he had developed a deep affection for it. Although Tiger Head was the tyrant of the forest in this area, Chen Zhou was worried about it living alone here. Anything could happen in the wild. Not to mention a small cat, even a tiger, a creature at the top of the food chain, could die from injury or starvation.

In order to get Tiger Head to live with him at the factory, Chen Zhou deliberately waited in the woods outside the farmland for several days, trying to lure Tiger Head into the cage with its favorite dried fish and dried mutton.

But nowadays, Tiger Head's attitude towards humans is no longer as friendly as it used to be.

While Chen Zhou led the natives to build the factory, Hu Tou lived alone here. The long separation and the free life in the wild gradually blurred his memory of Chen Zhou, his "master".

Every time it smells the aroma of food and is about to step into the cage, it will cautiously stop.

At this point, even if Chen Zhou suddenly tried to grab it, it would be too late.

Tiger Head learned climbing skills from its birth mother. With just one leap, it can climb to the top of the canopy and disappear from sight in a few seconds.

After dozens of attempts, each ended in failure, and trying other methods to catch the tiger's head risked endangering its life.

In the end, Chen Zhou gave up on moving with Hu Tou.

He hand-drew a picture of a tiger's head and had the natives look at it one by one to make sure they remembered it. He also told the natives that they must not kill the cat, and if they found the cat injured, they should treat it and bring it to him, and there would be a reward for them.

Thus, as long as Tiger Head has humans as his backers, he can always live a carefree life here.

Its distinctive appearance and robust build set it apart from other wildcats, making it easily recognizable to the locals, eliminating any worries about confusion.

Chen Zhou thought that when Tiger Head gets old and can no longer work hard, it will always miss the days when it lived with humans. It would be good to let it return to the factory to enjoy its old age.

……

Besides the animals, Chen Zhou also needs to relocate some plants.

For example, the mint, nettles, and fennel he planted under his windowsill, and the apricot and cocoa trees he planted on the hillside.

Mint and fennel, used as seasonings, have long been mass-produced, but these two plants taste different when eaten fresh and when dried. Chen Zhou hopes there can be a small vegetable garden near the factory to provide him with fresh vegetables at any time.

As for the autumn white apricot and cocoa trees, they are currently still seedlings, and it is not difficult to relocate them without damaging their root systems.

Chen Zhou selected several exceptionally robust saplings and successfully transplanted them to the vicinity of the factory—there were pre-reserved tree pits there.

Ten years from now, these saplings will grow into large fruit trees, bearing abundant fruit for people to eat.

……

Whether or not he could eat the freshest fruit wasn't that important to Chen Zhou; all he wanted was the feeling of home.

Whether it's reinforced concrete buildings or the autumn white apricots, they are all products of modern times. Seeing them occasionally makes Chen Zhou forget that he is in the 17th century.

In any case, he is a person who does not belong to this era.

No matter how close his soul was to the natives, it couldn't change the fact that no one in the world could truly understand him.

Those internet slang terms, industry-specific jargon, and ancient Chinese poems that only he was familiar with were like gibberish to the natives.

Sometimes Chen Zhou would blurt out something without thinking, only to be met with blank stares from the natives, which always made him feel awkward.

After this awkward moment, all Chen Zhou could feel was endless loneliness.

For the first two years of his challenge, he struggled to survive on his own and had a vague understanding of loneliness.

Because he had no time to worry about these things; just surviving required all his strength.

The feeling of loneliness only intensified when someone helped him with his work, or when he no longer needed to lift a finger, allowing him time to think.

Sometimes, Chen Zhou would think of a classic island survival movie—Cast Away.

He thought he might never become mentally unstable like the protagonist in that movie due to prolonged life on a deserted island.

But the torment of loneliness, the spiritual loneliness, may continue indefinitely.

Moreover, the more leisurely one is, the clearer and deeper this feeling of loneliness becomes.

Chen Zhou could only seek out meaningful things to help him forget where he was or to realize spiritual values ​​to soothe his soul.

……

After transferring all the supplies and storing them in the warehouses throughout the factory, Chen Zhou did not immediately attempt to manufacture a steam engine or produce bullets using two lathes.

The Spanish have remained silent for almost a year now.

Chen Zhou estimated that they were unlikely to come looking for him.

Therefore, the production and upgrading of weapons are no longer the first issues to be addressed.

The most pressing problem in Chen Zhou's plan is the lack of manpower.

The indigenous people captured last year have been largely domesticated. Most of them have mastered the Chinese language and can communicate fluently with others. They have also learned how to write in Chinese characters, and some of the best can even write diaries in Chinese.

In addition, the natives have adapted to the customs of their new life on the island, especially in terms of diet, which is very different from the cannibalistic aborigines of the past.

Some natives learned to recite ancient poems, some became obsessed with carpentry, and some loved painting—sadly, he didn't have the talent for Saturday.

Amid their busy work schedules, everyone has found their own hobbies. Even the herding natives who don't speak fluent Mandarin are fond of cooking and passionate about making more fragrant dairy products.

With their bellies full, everyone's cheeks became plump, and smiles often graced their faces.

Despite having no income, the island's resources are more than enough to support ten people, and the natives can eat their fill every meal without having to suffer from hunger.

This Eden-like life immersed every native in it, as if drinking honey.

Through nearly a year of observation and analysis, Chen Zhou has been able to determine the psychological state of the indigenous people.

Like domesticated wild goats, they naturally developed support and loyalty to this "paradise on earth," and took it for granted that the knowledge and habits they had learned were correct.

If you were to throw them into a remote mountainous area in modern times, apart from their lack of common sense, their unusual appearance, and the fact that they all seem to have never received compulsory education, they would be almost no different from ordinary people.

Chen Zhou believes that since they were able to successfully tame nine indigenous people, including Saturday and Sunday.

With this foundation, he could certainly try to increase the island's population, either through trade or plunder, to improve the island's productivity.

In the past, the reason he was always worried about the Spanish invasion was that the island's population was too small and its fighting strength insufficient, making it difficult to resist the numerous sailors' arquebuses and cannons with its superior weaponry.

This problem will disappear on its own as the island's population increases.

No need for much; just two hundred elite warriors armed with Chen's rifles on the island will be enough to make those arrogant sailors lower their heads and calmly discuss anything with him at the dinner table. (End of Chapter)