Chapter 412 - 179: Defensive Fortifications (Second Update)
After the disappearance of the greatest instability, the Spaniards, the lives of the natives slowly returned to normal.
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Until receiving definitive news that the Spaniards would not land on the island, Chen Zhou could not let down his guard.
He divided the seven natives into two groups.
One group of five, led by him with the zebra assisting, was responsible for cutting down trees, preparing construction materials, and building defensive structures.
The other group, led by Sunday with only two people, was responsible for watching over the fields and tending to the sheep.
Saturday had the freest and busiest job—he was responsible for preparing daily meals, passing messages, and handling other chores overlooked by Sunday.
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The natives, when captured, were filled with terror, thinking they were bound to suffer inhuman treatment and torture.
After living on the island for a while, they were surprised to find.
"Hey! It’s actually more comfortable than when I was in the tribe."
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Knowing that the natives had little intention to escape, or perhaps were deterred by the threat of execution, Chen Zhou slightly relaxed the surveillance to accommodate Saturday and Sunday, who managed the natives in shifts, giving the natives more private space.
The natives who still slept on planks outdoors could now separate their piece of wood and choose a piece of land they liked to rest within the designated "rest area."
Each of them received a small clay box from Chen Zhou for storing utensils or rewards.
Every morning, at the crack of dawn, the natives would be awakened by the zebra to start preparing breakfast on their own.
Initially, their diet only consisted of simple barley porridge.
Later, Chen Zhou added some dried fish and the occasional rabbit caught in traps—
On the woodland edge, rabbits had now become rare animals.
Finally, finding it troublesome, Chen Zhou simply instructed Saturday to tell the natives—they could catch fish on their own, clean them, and add them to the barley porridge.
Of course, fishing was only allowed after completing their daily tasks and had to be accompanied by Saturday, Sunday, or the zebra. Fishing alone was not permitted.
After eating a warm breakfast, cleaning the dishes, and washing their faces, the two groups of natives followed their respective leaders and set out.
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In comparison, the group working with Chen Zhou was more exhausted.
They weren’t just cutting trees, stripping bark, sawing trunks, or digging ditches; they were also carrying stones with shoulder poles, pushing carts, and expending tremendous physical energy.
In contrast, the two people following Sunday had much easier work.
They were responsible for cultivating newly developed fields, fetching water for the goats, and milking them; these tasks took a lot of time but were not as tiring compared to the larger group.
However, everything has its pros and cons.
Although the natives in the bigger group were exhausted, their food standards were higher.
Whatever Chen Zhou ate at night, they would always get a taste—the flavors of scallions, ginger, and garlic were theirs to enjoy first.
Rice, noodles, boiled seafood, fried squid, even dumplings, hot cocoa, cold milk tea, iced fruit juice...
These new and wonderful flavors deeply shocked the taste buds of the natives, even if it was just a bite or a small piece.
In their original tribe, the only cooking method was roasting.
Seasoning? They didn’t even have any!
The monotonous flavors dominated their entire lives, but for people who considered filling their stomachs a luxury, the concept of gourmet food was a false proposition.
When hungry, stewed spinach leaves with wilted cabbage and leftover rice with crushed tofu could be called "Pearl, Jade, White Jade Soup," and when starving to the point of chest meeting the back, everything tasted good.
Coming here, they realized their taste buds had capabilities they had never fully utilized.
What is bitterness, spiciness, sourness, sweetness, what is fragrant, what is foul, what is salty—without these dishes made by Chen Zhou, they might have lived in ignorance in the tribe their whole lives without understanding.
Besides better food, staying by Chen Zhou’s side allowed the natives to learn some Mandarin and other knowledge.
For other natives, it was just picking up a few useful phrases here and there.
But for the zebra, a native eager to become a "little leader," the opportunity to learn was invaluable, and he wished to stay by Chen Zhou’s side 24 hours a day listening to instructions.
Unfortunately, Chen Zhou was not particularly interested in communicating with these language-challenged natives.
The natives were physically exhausted from labor, while he, as the commander, was mentally drained.
Many times, the natives could not correctly understand his orders.
Sometimes he could correct the natives’ mistakes through demonstration, other times he had to call Saturday, the translator, to resolve the issue.
Not having to do physical labor was certainly delightful, but having subordinates who "can’t understand human speech" led to a day filled with high blood pressure.
If it weren’t for Chen Zhou’s relatively mild and stable temperament, the natives wouldn’t know how many lashes they’d have received in a day.
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The two natives in the small group had a light workload, but their days were nowhere near as enjoyable as those in the bigger group.
After ending their day’s work, returning to their gathering place to cook, they would always hear the bigger group bragging about the delicious food they tried or the new knowledge they learned that day.
And the zebra, somehow having a house, often sat alone in the corner, muttering to himself.
If you listen carefully, the words he mumbles are eight to nine tenths similar to what Saturday and Sunday usually say—
This fellow is secretly reviewing the knowledge he learned.
If the indigenous people of the Great Tribe finish sharing today’s experiences and curiously ask the small group of indigenous people if they have anything new, the small group will be embarrassed.
Actually, following Sunday, apart from limited knowledge about farming and sheep herding, what they got the most was scolding.
Towards these "hostile warriors" from the Great Tribe, Sunday never had patience or tolerance.
After being educated by Chen Zhou, the only improvement he managed was using the whip less frequently, but he was never stingy with verbal reprimands.
Being with Sunday, the indigenous people only felt pressure.
The indigenous people of the small group dreamed of switching to the Great Tribe, even if it meant not eating those bizarre yet delicious foods; as long as they could escape this nemesis Sunday, it would be a huge blessing for them.
Unfortunately, Chen Zhou had not yet implemented a rotation system for the indigenous people, so these "tough days" went by day after day.
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To Chen Zhou, salvaging cannons seemed too elusive, and it was evidently too difficult for the indigenous people as well.
What he completed first was the excavation near the coastal woods, creating complex terrain, and constructing spiked barricades, digging traps and trenches, all solid defense structures.
Many hands make light work.
Holding various metal tools, after becoming familiar with their usage and how to apply force, the indigenous people’s speed in constructing works was much faster than Chen Zhou anticipated.
The beach was swiftly dug into a "lunar surface," with pits of all sizes everywhere.
Some pits were deep enough to fit a 1.7m tall adult, with spikes placed at the bottom.
To prevent his own people from being unfamiliar with the trap locations, these pits were not camouflaged for now, and were directly exposed to the sun.
Nearing the forest, there were even more spiked barricades, heavily arranged like gears.
After passing the barricades, the enemy would face three interconnected trenches with drainage ditches.
In front of each trench was a low wall of soil, designed to resist attacks from matchlock guns.
Inside the trenches, every 5 meters there was a recessed "ear chamber," this design effectively reducing the damage cannonballs could inflict on the living forces.
Although Chen Zhou didn’t know if the Spaniard’s cannons could reach this position, being prepared is always better than not, especially since he wasn’t the one expending the effort.
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The large amount of new construction rapidly increased the island’s demand for building materials to an unprecedented level.
To address this, Chen Zhou deliberately raised the height of the wood and stone walls, allowing for more materials to be cut at once.
However, when the wooden and stone walls exceeded 3m in height, it created a new problem—Chen Zhou could no longer simply lift his leg over the walls to see his rewards.
He had to direct the indigenous people to move all the building materials away in order to claim his rewards as desired.
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The tense preparation seemed to accelerate time.
On July 17th, the last mysterious reward of July was claimed, and the construction of defensive fortifications entered mid-stage.
The indigenous people were already capable of completing trench excavation designs and barricade construction independently without Chen Zhou.
As for the layout of TNT and the use of improved flintlock guns, Chen Zhou had no intention of letting the indigenous people know.
Once excavations on this side of the trench were completed, he would pull Sunday and Saturday separately to a place far from the crowd to teach them this knowledge beyond their era.
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The closer it got to August, the stronger Chen Zhou’s sense of urgency became.
In front of the trenches, slightly crude wooden observation towers were erected.
On the west side of the hill, beacon towers built from mixed crushed stones and white clay were constructed.
Wet fuel was piled beside the beacon towers, and if any situation arose on this side, black smoke would swiftly rise to the sky.
After completing this phase of fortifications, the "engineering team" composed of indigenous people would relocate their work site to the sandy lands on the northeast corner of the hill.
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In Chen Zhou’s mind, late July to early August was the most likely time for the Spaniards to land on the island.
Therefore, he did not hesitate to temporarily suspend construction of the northeast corner’s fortifications, and on July 24th, he specifically made a day available to summon Saturday and Sunday and teach them how to use the improved flintlock guns.
Afterwards, once they mastered using the flintlock guns, he went alone to the southwest and northeast corners and set up enough TNT to blow hundreds of people into the sky together.
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The power of the king of explosives is the enemy’s nightmare and Chen Zhou’s source of security.
Once the TNT was set up, he felt more at ease.
Just like that, time pushed forward day by day, and soon it was the last day of July, entering August.
There were only half a month left until the arrival of the new rain season.
If the Spaniards couldn’t land on the island within this half-month, after enduring a rainy season lasting a month and a half, Chen Zhou, hiding in a kiln cave focused on forging, was sure to have more advanced "Chen Family Rifles" and more Mini Bullets.
At that time, trying to conquer here would become exponentially more difficult.