From Robinson Crusoe

Chapter 235 Steel Bone

The steel-hulled behemoth was originally scheduled for completion at the end of December 1665, six years after Chen Zhou landed on the island.

The finishing work on the hull went very smoothly and proceeded almost entirely according to plan.

With most of the crucial internal structures assembled, and everyone overjoyed, pondering what to name this special warship, a mysterious reward arrived—a truly grand gesture.

Piles of modern thin steel plates covered half the beach, waterproof coatings for ship hulls, and various rivets, welding machines, and adhesives.

The appearance of these things completely disrupted Chen Zhou's planned scheme, and thus created a happy problem—

Should these materials be used in the construction of the ship, or should we continue with the hull construction and save them for the next ship?
……

On the morning of December 28, 1665, just as dawn was breaking, Chen Zhou arrived at the shipyard.

Gazing at the massive and majestic ship, he stood there for a long time before finally deciding to continue working as planned, leaving all the precious materials for the next ship.

Since returning from another small island on Sunday with a large number of native captives, the island has not launched any native-capturing operations for six months.

The long period of recuperation was in order to fully absorb the newly added population to the island.

As the natives were tamed and integrated into this big family day by day, Chen Zhou's appetite also grew.

He was tired of the repeated, arduous journeys to the archipelago to capture slaves, and tired of making empty promises to himself, telling him that he would soon obtain the treasure buried by the Spanish.

This time, he wanted to conquer the archipelago directly, eliminate the leader of the large tribe, take complete control of the entire island, and then openly excavate on the island to search for the treasure hidden by the Spanish raiders.

To successfully complete this project, he not only painstakingly designed the large ship and personally welded it, but also selected a group of sailors from the island's young and intelligent inhabitants.

These selected individuals, along with the Sunday Guard, were removed from labor and received professional physical training and nautical courses.

The training included steering drills, anchoring drills, mooring and cable-laying drills, and knot-tying exercises.

The knotting course also owes a lot to that rattan weaving manual. Without it, it would have been impossible for Chen Zhou to compile a textbook to teach the islanders how to tie a professional figure-eight knot.

In fact, Chen Zhou knew virtually nothing about navigation.

Fortunately, he built several models during the design of this large ship, which gave him a certain understanding of the ship's length, width, draft, and other data; otherwise, the sailors would have had to rely on experience to find their way out to sea.

Chen Zhou compiled all his knowledge about ship maintenance, applying waterproof paint, cleaning and polishing, as well as dealing with fires, plugging leaks, and rescuing people who have fallen into the water into a manual. Every sailor was required to master the skills described in the manual.

As for specialized skills related to steamships, such as checking boiler water levels and steam pressure to prevent dry burning or overpressure.

The management of charcoal, the maintenance of condensers, the estimation of voyage distance by counting fuel quantities, the use of steam valves, and the inspection of ventilation systems are all essential skills for sailors.

It can be said that Chen Zhou would do his best to impart all the theoretical and mechanical knowledge he could to the sailors.

As for teamwork, mental fortitude, coping with naval battles, and difficulties in daily life after going to sea, Chen Zhou couldn't offer much help.

He grew up inland and had never been on a ship at sea. It was already quite remarkable that he could summarize these experiences. It was unrealistic to expect him to provide more nautical knowledge. What kind of sailor he could become was up to the first group of brave sailors to figure out on their own.

In any case, judging from the panel, this steel-hulled behemoth has both a well-developed system and impressive stats.

On the high seas of the 17th century, as long as the sailors could make good use of the ship's advantages, it was invincible.

Even if surrounded and attacked by three or five ships, this ship can easily shake off its opponents and escape back to the port dock, provided that its power system is not damaged.

With an extremely high tolerance for error, after several trials, a group of elite sailors can always be cultivated.

Once the first batch of experienced sailors is established, they can mentor newcomers, and this will gradually increase the number of maritime talents on the island.

Like the carpenters, bricklayers, and welders on the island, they were all ordinary people, or even illiterate natives, before becoming professional technicians.

As long as you are willing to work hard and learn, you can always make progress. After all, we are all evolved humans, not monkeys.

……

Despite keeping the plan unchanged, Chen Zhou still made the best use of the supplies sent as a reward to optimize the strength of the ship's hull.

Although this caused some delay, the cannons were not yet finished and the sailors' training was not yet complete, so a slight delay in the completion of the ship was not a big deal.

……

At the end of 1665, a grand New Year's Eve banquet ignited the enthusiasm of both new and old islanders.

The execution square was brightly lit, with piles of bonfires and torches on both sides illuminating the entire area as if it were daytime.

The aroma of food wafted through the crowd, and the oil on the grilled fish sizzled and glistened in the firelight.

The islanders were either focused on preparing their food, chatting with friends, or strolling through the lively festival grounds with their wives and children, all with smiles on their faces.

The sailors and guards who rarely participate in training were all given a day off. Dressed in their regular uniforms, they stood tall and attracted the attention of the opposite sex.

When the islanders who knew them saw them, they gathered around, either out of envy or curiosity, to ask about the details of their training.

Thus, the sounds of cracking firewood, sizzling grease, friends talking, children playing, and even arguing while playing chess and cards all blended together, creating a lively scene around the execution square.

Behind the towering gallows stood only two dimly lit torches.

The flickering light of the torches was swallowed by the darkness, illuminating only a meter or two around them.

People had been hanged on the gallows before, and out of fear of the instruments of torture, almost none of the islanders below the platform paid any attention to it.

At this moment, Chen Zhou's tall figure was hidden in the shadows where no one paid attention, quietly watching the bustling festival scene below.

Saturday and Sunday followed behind him, while Chen Fu, Chen Lu, and Chen Shou maintained order below, ensuring a perfect end to New Year's Eve.

Those in the light could not see Chen Zhou in the darkness; they were unaware that their leader had arrived at the festival.

As the island's population grew, Chen Zhou appeared less and less frequently. Many islanders who joined the island later never even saw Chen Zhou in person, only learning about the leader's appearance from the words of the older generation.

……

Having developed to this point, the island is no longer as desolate as it once was; instead, it resembles a modern village.

Looking down from a high vantage point, Chen Zhou saw many familiar faces among the throng of people.

Zebra, this exceptionally tall fellow, was dressed in a neat sailor uniform, and as usual, he was surrounded by a group of people, all of whom were his friends.

From initially being disliked by Chen Zhou, to gradually gaining trust through his excellent skills and sensible demeanor, to experiencing a brawl, being reduced to a multi-person cabin, and then returning to a detached house.

Zebra has now entered the middle echelons of the island, able to chat with high-ranking members like Saturday and Sunday, a life he's quite content with. During the recent bicycle craze, Zebra, one of the island's top carpenters, made a fortune.

Chen Zhou heard on Saturday that as Zebra got older, he became much more mature and composed. Recently, he even started thinking about starting a family and had taken a liking to a young female islander who had recently joined the island.

He even specially gifted Saturday a fine bicycle, just so that Saturday would speak well of him to the female islander.

However, Chen Zhou has always advocated for islanders to freely choose their partners and has further improved the laws regarding marriage. Even if Zebra is interested in someone, if that person is not interested in him, then the relationship cannot work out.

Of course, just as there are men pursuing women, there are also women pursuing men.

Zebra, a carpenter of considerable status, has no chance of finding a partner, while Lu Si'er, a single mother with a child, begins the second relationship in her life.

Right now, Lu Si'er is strolling around the rows of barbecue grills with his eldest son and his spouse. The family of three is enjoying themselves, and Chen Zhou feels happy for him.

In addition to the long-time islanders who have lived together for so long, the newly formed families of the islanders are also making encouraging progress.

According to Chen Fu, some of the female islanders are already pregnant after getting married, but it is too early to show their pregnancy yet.

It is predicted that in 1666, the island will welcome a new batch of people who were born here, which will surely create another wave of excitement.

……

After New Year's Eve, a memorial service should be held as is customary.

More than a hundred people gathered in front of Wang Lingguan's temple, and the modified cave inevitably appeared small in front of the growing number of islanders.

Many new islanders have even lost the right to enter the temple to worship, and can only kneel and kowtow with their companions in the open space outside the temple to complete the ritual.

Chen Zhou could skip New Year's Eve, but he couldn't refuse such an important event as the first sacrificial ceremony of the new year.

The new islanders were overjoyed upon hearing the news, thinking they would finally see their leader in person and what the "Son of God" the veterans had been talking about really looked like.

Unfortunately, Chen Zhou was still wearing that black iron pagoda outfit when he presided over the sacrificial ceremony, completely wrapped up.

The only things the new islanders could see were Chen Zhou's mouth and his unusually tall and muscular body, but those two things alone were enough to inspire awe in them.

After all, the island's most respected and influential people all followed Chen Zhou with utmost respect. With these people as a foil, not only was Chen Zhou exceptionally outstanding, but even if he were ordinary, the islanders would still look at him with more respect.

……

Taking advantage of the fact that all the islanders had gathered during the sacrificial ceremony, Chen Zhou formally announced the name of the steel-boned behemoth—

Steel Bone Number.

Thus, the island's first ship with excellent offensive capabilities finally had a name, and the islanders no longer needed to call it a "big ship" when they mentioned it.

After the sacrificial ceremony concluded and he removed the heavy and suffocating Iron Pagoda armor, Chen Zhou summoned Zebra alone and assigned him a daunting task—

To build a new temple.

This task differed from previous projects; Chen Zhou did not provide design drawings, and the entire construction plan for the new temple was left to Zebra to decide.

After the finishing touches on the Steelbone are completed, Zebra can select workers he thinks are skilled enough to form a 30-person construction team to build a new temple near the cave, which is more solemn, more complex in structure and more spacious.

For the zebra, this task was certainly difficult, but it symbolized the leader's recognition of his abilities.

He vaguely felt that the quality of the temple mission was closely related to his future. If he could satisfy the leader, he might be able to take another step forward and enter the core management like Fu Lu Shou.

Therefore, although he was unsure of himself after receiving the task, Zebra still reassured the leader that he could entrust the matter to him.

Whether for his own future or for the leader's trust, he had to do everything in his power to accomplish this task.

Chen Zhou knew Zebra quite well. He knew that although Zebra had some flaws in his character, his ability and attitude towards work were never a problem. Therefore, when selecting project managers, he immediately chose Zebra.

He believed that Zebra would not let him down.

As for himself, he would devote himself to the forging workshop, adding "sharp teeth" to the Steelbone, turning this sturdy ship into a "man-eating shark" that roams the seas.

……

The structure of naval guns is not complicated; the main limitations on their performance are materials and manufacturing processes.

If casting is used, the ideal material, apart from the alloys provided as rewards for melting, should be bronze.

The island has a good reserve of brass, but no tin for making bronze.

Whenever Chen Zhou encountered difficulties related to materials, he would lament the scarcity of resources on the island.

Copper ore, iron ore, coal, graphite, nickel-chromium, lead ore, tin ore, and even fluxing raw materials such as quartz and calcite, as well as stibnite used to manufacture wear-resistant alloys, are all absent here.

He used to dream that he could use his own strength and the rewards from the Time and Space Administration to build the island into a huge military factory, thereby expanding his power and unifying North and South America within twenty years.

Looking back now, it seems like a complete fantasy.

Not to mention that the island's resources are simply insufficient to support the establishment of a complete production line.

Even if industrial materials were transported from outside, in the 17th century, an era when maritime transport was not well-developed, his grand plan would have been impossible to achieve without the strong support of several major maritime powers.

After all, sail-powered ships at that time had limited carrying capacity and slow speed.

The materials travel from their place of origin, over mountains and rivers, and take at least six months to reach the island. After successful delivery, the crude raw materials still need to undergo further purification and processing.

All in all, it takes at least a year and a half for the ore to be transformed into industrial products.

This alarming level of productivity might barely sustain the development of a small island, let alone change the world.

Of course, if Chen Zhou could break free from the island's limitations and go directly to the mainland, or even cross the ocean to the Qing Dynasty to overthrow its rule, he might actually be able to accomplish something great.

However, going to sea is risky. If a storm is encountered, not to mention the Steelbone, even a larger ship could be sunk in the ocean. Once in the open sea, Chen Zhou would have to risk his life.

On the other hand, Chen Zhou really didn't know if the rules of the challenge restricted him from leaving the island.

He had already decided that when the Steelbone set sail for the first time, he would definitely go aboard and try it out.

If he truly cannot leave the island too far, then he might as well give up his ambition to change the world and stay on the island to live a peaceful life, since staying on the island won't prevent him from making money.

(End of this chapter)