From Robinson Crusoe

Zhao Shu's prison sentence did not last long.

Before the fourth anniversary gift package arrived, Zebra had already repaired the gallows, and Zhao Shu became the second person to hang himself on the gallows.

……

It was drizzling on the day of the execution, and all the indigenous people, including the herding natives, were ordered to be present to watch the execution.

Hanging is a bloodless execution. Zhao Shu, who had been imprisoned for many days, was pale and looked as if his soul had been taken away. He was like a walking corpse before he died.

The gloomy sky affected everyone's mood.

More than half a month after loudly announcing Zhao Shu's crimes on Sunday and warning other natives not to repeat the same mistake, Chen Zhou's first draft of the "Island Code" was officially promulgated.

The older students, who had attended school, returned to the classroom to receive legal education from their Saturday teachers.

……

The entire island was Chen Zhou's personal fiefdom. As the sole "king," he held both divine and imperial power, and he reserved countless privileges for himself when drafting the legal code.

He has the power to amend the legal code at will, the power of life and death, and the final right to interpret everything and every activity on the island.

In other words, if he is not satisfied, even if the islanders are doing the right thing, it is wrong.

Just like that classic couplet in traditional crosstalk—

"If I say you can do it, you can, even if you can't."

If I say no, then no; even if I say yes, it's no.

The code stipulates that the entire island and the surrounding waters belong to the chief.

The same applies to the islanders' houses, land, family wealth, crops they grow, and even their descendants.

It can be said that after the code came into effect, even if Chen Zhou did not treat the natives as harshly as slave owners treated slaves, in reality, the natives were Chen Zhou's slaves.

Of course, this was because Chen Zhou lacked understanding of the law, and the island had almost no communication with the outside world and a small population, which led him to come up with this "tyrannical treaty".

The law needs to be improved gradually.

Let alone the 17th century, even in modern times, large countries with hundreds of millions of people and countless talents amend their legal provisions every year.

Chen Zhou felt that the most urgent task was to come up with a general framework first.

If there are any issues, we can gradually modify or delete them within this framework later.

……

Living in modern society with an information explosion, even though Chen Zhou didn't study law specifically, he still had some general understanding of the law.

Modeled after modern law, the code he drafted was divided into three main categories.

One category is criminal law, another is civil law, and the third is economic law.

The Criminal Law provides basic provisions for crimes such as intentional injury, joint crimes, attempted crimes, and murder, and incorporates mechanisms for recidivism, surrender, probation, and sentence reduction. It also provides relatively clear explanations of the penalties for offenders.

However, the punishments on the island are much harsher and bloodier than in modern society.

From whipping, detention, and forced labor to beheading, hanging, waist-cutting, slow slicing, and shooting, everything was included.

In order to deter the natives, Chen Zhou specially drew pictures of various punishments being carried out in the section on punishments in the criminal code, and provided explanations.

This makes it easier for the natives to understand words that are unfamiliar to them, especially the cruel description of slow slicing, which is terrifying just to look at.

The civil law provides specific details on minor disputes that may arise among the indigenous people, including petty theft.

The penalties under this part of the law are relatively lenient. Minor offenses only require compensation and an apology, while serious offenses may result in forced labor or caning at most.

Most of the provisions in the economic law are designed to serve Chen Zhou.

Stealing from the chief's property is a different crime than stealing from the islanders. Even embezzling just one lobster from Chen Zhou could result in having a hand chopped off.

Judging from the "black box lie detector" incident, although the natives dared to steal tomatoes and scallions from the fields, they did not have the courage to take the supplies that the chief was entitled to.

The island currently does not have its own currency, so its economic laws are essentially useless.

Economic law can only be put to use after the island issues its own currency, its population increases, and it engages in frequent exchanges with the outside world.

Of course, that will be a long time from now.

The path for a power to grow and mature is very long. Chen Zhou estimated that by the time he completed the challenge, the legal provisions on the island might not be fair or detailed enough.

Unless he can establish a complex legal system that constantly self-corrects and improves.

But that would obviously create new drawbacks. Large size often means bloatedness, and bloatedness represents inefficiency.

Human nature is inherently complex. Corruption, nepotism, and the decision to appoint or dismiss people based on personal likes and dislikes are problems that modern people cannot solve. They are incapable of establishing an ideal state or utopia.

……

In fact, the challenges that Chen Zhou faced, from being alone to managing a large group of subordinates, far exceeded his initial expectations.

Initially, he only intended to spend these twenty-eight years alone and never considered harming the natives.

After all, the natives were numerous and were barbarians who frequently fought and even ate human flesh. He had only ever done things like killing chickens and sheep in modern times, so he was no match for the natives.

If it weren't for the mysterious rewards that repeatedly fueled his enthusiasm and confidence, making up for his shortcomings...

Otherwise, even if he had the "wicked intention," he would not have risked his life to carry it out.

Now the island's population is growing rapidly, expanding to more than twenty people in just two years, and Chen Zhou's ambition is also expanding along with it.

Power is a more addictive wine than drugs, and when combined with real wealth, it becomes even more alluring.

They used to only dare to target Spanish raiding ships.

Now, Chen Zhou is already figuring out how to get his hands on the gold and silver treasures that the brown-haired guy and his gang have hidden on the islands.

……

When you live alone, you don't have to worry about anyone else if you're fed. Even if you're not well-off, you can endure the hunger and hardship.

With more people on the island, Chen Zhou no longer had to work in the fields, but his workload did not decrease at all.

From the grand plans for the island's future, including the construction of defenses, bridges and roads, farming and aquaculture, fishing and gathering, to even the prisons for criminals, the markets for trading with seafarers, the places for taming new natives, and the detailed procedures...

From educating the three gods of fortune, prosperity, and longevity, to correcting the shortcomings of Saturday's teaching work, to cultivating Sunday's abilities or developing new dishes, to spending time with the cats and dogs at home.

His days were exceptionally fulfilling.

……

Complementing this fulfilling life are the mysterious rewards that have been delivered in recent months.

The reward at the end of August was a set of high school science practice problems, titled "Five Years of College Entrance Examination and Three Years of Simulation," a book familiar to Chen Zhou.

In the past, this set of exercises would have been utterly useless, except perhaps for doing some problems when bored and torturing oneself, or maybe just for starting a fire. But on the island today, this set of exercises can play an unusual role.

It's impossible to expect natives to learn modern knowledge using this method.

Chen Zhou would be grateful if they could even understand a quadratic equation in a sixth-grade elementary school class; high school level knowledge was far beyond the syllabus for the natives.

However, for Chen Zhou, this set of exercises is a unique "knowledge base," especially the physical and chemical knowledge in it, which can help him better study the composition of explosives and recall the correct and safe experimental procedures.

The reward that arrived in early September was a desk lamp. It had low wattage and adjustable light, which solved the problem of indoor lighting.

Chen Zhou had had enough of the oil lamp.

He hadn't paid much attention to it when he lived in a cave dwelling, but since moving into this reinforced concrete factory and using electric equipment, he has found oil lamps increasingly inconvenient.

Besides emitting smoke, the oil lamp also emitted a smell of burning grease. In a clean and bright office, the sudden appearance of such a strange smell was truly unpleasant.

By the end of September, it was the day to distribute the fourth anniversary gift packages for the island's arrival.

Having received the third-anniversary gift package before, Chen Zhou specifically instructed the natives not to build wooden and stone walls again before distributing the fourth-anniversary gift package.

His decision proved to be remarkably prescient.

While this anniversary gift pack doesn't take up as much space as the third anniversary gift pack, it's still larger than the usual small items.

……

Compared to the third anniversary gift package, the fourth anniversary gift package did not contribute much to the development of the island's industry; its main purpose was to improve Chen Zhou's quality of life.

The package includes eight larger photovoltaic panels, four brand-new energy storage batteries, a batch of wires, and room-mounted sockets, power strips, lights, plastic pipes, and other equipment that can be installed in the factory.

Other items include indoor furniture such as PVC windows, wallpaper, wall paint, waterproof paint, ceramic-coated desks, bookshelves, office chairs, and even ashtrays.

Finally, there were some new seeds and a batch of fitness equipment.

There are only three kinds of seeds: corn, ginger, and potatoes.

The corn seeds are modern hybrid corn.

This type of corn seed is very popular among modern farmers because it has strong disease resistance, high yield, and obvious hybrid vigor.

But for Chen Zhou, this type of corn seed was the worst choice.

Because the advantages of hybrid corn, such as high yield, are most prominent in the first generation, they become significantly weaker after the second generation, and the hybrid advantages completely disappear in the third and fourth generations.

In other words, after planting two crops of corn, he could no longer grow high-yield corn unless he researched hybridization himself.

Even if Chen Zhou knew a little about agronomy, he would still be busy with other things on the island and would not be able to personally go to the fields to watch over the corn plants.

Moreover, the reduced corn production won't have a significant impact. The island has barley, wheat, and rice as staple foods, and now potatoes, a high-yield crop, have been added. The reduced corn production can be used as a whole grain to improve the taste or as livestock feed.

As for Jiang's addition, it was something Chen Zhou had been thinking about for a long time.

I already have scallions, garlic, and chili peppers, but when I cook, I'm only missing ginger. No matter what dish I'm cooking, it just doesn't feel quite right.

Now that ginger and potatoes are together, not only does it increase the variety of ingredients in the dish, but it also reminds Chen Zhou of a new recipe—

Stir-fried potato shreds with ginger.

Stir-fry ginger and potato shreds cut to the same thickness together. When they come out of the pan, they are all the same pale yellow color. When you pick them up with chopsticks, you can't tell whether it's ginger or potato. This kind of dish, which can be played as a game of spot the difference while eating, will probably be very popular with the islanders.

……

In the fourth anniversary gift package, the fitness equipment occupied the largest space, even far exceeding furniture and photovoltaic panels.

Chen Zhou had no interest in fitness in modern times and was unfamiliar with fitness equipment.

He couldn't even recognize all the equipment that came with the award; some of the oddly shaped devices were completely unfamiliar to him, let alone how to use them.

A few pieces of equipment that he could name, including treadmills, rowing machines, exercise bikes, dumbbells, and barbells, had unusual uses in the eyes of Chen Zhou, a mechanical engineering major.

Transportation to the island has always been a difficult problem to solve.

Wheels and axles made of spruce or forged wood are generally not very strong and need to be repaired every now and then.

In the past, Chen Zhou always took the initiative to solve the problem of cart malfunctions for the indigenous people.

Since training Sunday, Fortune, and Longevity, his workload has eased somewhat, and he can even entrust the four of them to forge some simple parts on their own.

But that's ultimately just treating the symptoms, not the root cause.

Now that he had these fitness equipment, and thinking about the exquisite and durable metal parts inside, Chen Zhou couldn't help but have a thought that could be described as a "waste of resources"—

Tear them apart!
……

As the saying goes, if you have a hammer in your hand, everyone looks like a nail.

After moving all the fitness equipment to the second floor of the factory, Chen Zhou felt an urge to "tear them down" every time he passed by those brand-new machines.

Even with Chen Zhou's strong will, he couldn't resist the urge to do this.

Moreover, he frequently walked around the second floor of the factory every day, and each time he saw the equipment, an idea would inspire him.

Finally, in early October, on a sunny day, Chen Zhou pushed over his auto repair tools, picked up a wrench and screwdriver, and fulfilled his "splurging" idea.

……

The fitness equipment all came from the same brand. Although Chen Zhou didn't know their prices, he could tell from the workmanship of the disassembled parts that the equipment must be quite expensive.

Things worth tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of yuan were turned into a pile of scrap metal under their own hands.

As Chen Zhou tightened the screws, his heart ached slightly.

However, when he finished disassembling the parts and saw them neatly stacked, he still felt it was all worthwhile.

The components included in various fitness equipment are various Torx screws, hex bolts, and lock nuts, which could have aided in the manufacture of steam engines.

There are also some high-quality springs and dampers that can be used to help Chen Zhou make his own weapons or modify other equipment, such as those two machine tools.

Pulleys and steel cables can be used to create lifting devices or build traction systems. If there had been pulley systems when Chen Zhou was building the factory's upper beams, he would have saved a lot of effort.

Bearings and rollers are essential parts for making more durable trolleys and can also be used to make conveyor belts.

In addition to these general structural components, Chen Zhou also disassembled a batch of hydraulic and pneumatic resistance devices, conductive copper strips and interfaces, battery packs, battery management modules, heart rate monitoring modules, speed gradient adjustment components, steel frames and connectors, rubber gaskets and other parts.

Don't be fooled by the fact that the fitness equipment appears to have disappeared on the second floor of the factory.

In reality, they are a case of "one whale falls, and all things come to life".

Instead of building muscle for one or two people, let them become the backbone of the island's industry and do something more valuable.

Chen Zhou believes that if the fitness equipment "have spirits in heaven," they would be proud to see their "bodies" contributing to the island's development. (End of Chapter)