Chapter 428 - 2: The Early Anniversary Mega Gift?
The learning process is novel, yet painful.
Not everyone is as clever as Saturday and Sunday.
For some of the grown indigenous people, merely comprehending what Saturday taught required their utmost effort; returning to the cabin afterward to complete the assigned work was an entirely different form of torment.
If it weren’t for Zebra, who was enthusiastic about the new language, motivating and assisting the group with their studies and questions, many indigenous people might have long given up and resigned themselves to a lifetime of illiteracy and hard labor.
...
While the indigenous people were busy enriching their souls, Chen Zhou did not delay his own work.
Windmills, waterwheels, hydraulic forges, sugar cane pressing machines—these items were originally scheduled at the forefront but were delayed by the Spaniards, now picked up again.
Like manufacturing the stone mill, Chen Zhou first assembled a model to verify its feasibility, and then enlarged the components to manufacture parts for the complete machine.
Currently, the island’s population has increased to 10, and as the farmland area expands, so will the grain yield multiply several times over.
The stone mill and foot-pedaled mortar, previously prepared for Chen Zhou’s solo use, barely managed to handle the food yield for three people; it was strained for processing crops for ten.
Even if more time were spent completing the processing, the wear and tear on the machinery is an issue that cannot be ignored.
Placing the entire burden of food production on wooden machinery, they couldn’t handle it at all.
Thus, more efficient food processing equipment has become an essential requirement rather than a soft need to liberate labor.
...
It’s been some time since the forge was completed; Chen Zhou considers himself somewhat adept at forging, at least crafting a usable iron shovel head is no longer a challenge.
But faced with the enormous complexity of windmills and waterwheels, he was indeed perplexed.
As for the waterwheel, it’s manageable, needing only some metal components, and can vary in size but only require using water power to drive machinery.
Windmills, as large machines that operate through wind power, must be built on windy slopes, also requiring as large an area for the wind blades as possible.
However, the larger the wind blades, the heavier they become; when the weight of four wind blades combined reaches a certain level, wooden components cannot withstand the wear.
According to Chen Zhou, modern Dutch windmills have wind blades up to 20m in length, with internal structures mainly welded galvanized steel and plenty of bolts and metal fastenings are used.
His envisioned windmill can certainly not compare with modern ones, but for practicality, at least a blade length of 4m is necessary.
This length of wind blades causes minimal stress on the windmill’s internal transmission mechanism, allowing the skeletal structure to swap from metal to wooden.
As for bolts and fastenings needed for assembly and fixation, they can’t be skimped, and must use metal materials.
...
Before designing the waterwheel and windmill, Chen Zhou was ambitious, feeling confident.
Drawing the design for the windmill, tallying all the necessary components, suddenly drained his spirit.
Actually, it’s not that the work couldn’t be done.
With enough time invested, not only a 4m blade windmill but even a 14m blade one could be built.
The problem was the time and effort needed to construct the windmill was enormous, and in terms of cost-effectiveness, windmills were less advantageous compared to waterwheels, leading to Chen Zhou’s waning interest ultimately.
Additionally, the lack of professional blacksmith tools prevents large metal melting and casting metal components, a problem Chen Zhou remains to solve.
An adept cook cannot excel without rice; let alone a novice blacksmith—even a master with decades of forging experience would struggle to create quality components without suitable tools.
...
While contemplating ironwork daily in the forging room, when at a loss, Chen Zhou received help from an unexpected source—
Mystery reward.
The two cows and the heap of garments sent on August 1st were already surprisingly delightful.
By August 16th, the reward delivered to the island was a large bundle of wire rope, fully extended to at least 1000 meters, an extremely valuable prize.
By the last day of August, as Chen Zhou, with thoughts consumed with the construction of windmills and waterwheels, braved the rain to reach the beach, jointly with the indigenous loaded the massive reward onto a cart, hauling it back to the kiln; he never dreamed—in a 1.8m high, more than 2m wide metal box—lay a reward so precious—
...
Struggling to transport the metal box up the mountain, fearing it contained delicate instruments, Chen Zhou spent several hours with the indigenous people’s help setting up a rain shelter.
He wore a leather raincoat, while the indigenous folks had no rain gear and were all drenched like soaked chickens.
Luckily, Chen Zhou planned ahead, asking Sunday and Saturday to light a fire in the indigenous small kitchen, enabling them to dry clothes and bodies promptly post work.
But to the indigenous, this seemed unnecessary.
During their tribal life, living bare-bodied through rainy seasons was normal; those who couldn’t adapt wouldn’t survive as long.
If one fell ill from the rain, apart from the old Priest feigning rituals by giving the robust warriors some herbs and offering prayers, few ever worried whether they lived or died.
During the direst food scarcity, whoever succumbed first would turn into food for others—a brutal rule longstanding in the tribe.
Since arriving on the island, having a shelter from wind and rain before the rainy season and having enough food daily were already satisfying for the indigenous.
On this day, facing the concern of the new Leader, the indigenous were exceptionally surprised, experiencing from Chen Zhou—beyond awe and strength—another quality: warmth.
This unique feeling, which was rarely accessed since their births.
Even the indigenous parents seldom showed such care and attention.
Once they matured enough to contribute to the tribe, such warmth and care became even scarcer.
...
The inspiring speeches and the enticing promises can only temporarily ignite their passion.
Chen Zhou understood this deeply, which is why he built houses for the indigenous people before the rainy season.
However, what he had not realized was that what truly impressed the indigenous people, including Saturday and Sunday, was not these surface-level efforts, but a modern idea —
equality for all.
...
Even if Chen Zhou tried his best to disguise himself as a ruthless ruler, taking lives without hesitation, he could not change the essence shaped by his modern education and the long history of Hua Xia.
This essence could be the pursuit of Unity of Heaven and Man in viewing nature and all living things;
or the moral principles centered on benevolence;
or the societal view that values harmony and shared governance;
from the ancient philosophies of the Hundred Schools of Thought — the notion of valuing the people over the ruler, universal love over aggression, the ideal of a world of great harmony, the virtues of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and faith, to Wang Yangming’s unity of knowledge and action.
These elements, subtly ingrained in Chen Zhou’s very being, unconsciously distinguished him from the sailors at sea.
The indigenous people noticed these distinctions and remembered them.
Thus, they gradually understood why Saturday and Sunday, who came from the same tribe, were so loyal to the leader, and how they themselves were sincerely devoted to the new leader, becoming utterly loyal.
...
Vision, strength, knowledge, and even bravery are all excellent qualities.
If, on top of these qualities, one adds care and consideration for subordinates, it becomes a formidable personal charisma.
...
Of course, Chen Zhou did not have a Mind Reading Technique and was unaware that the indigenous people by the fire in the wooden house were moved by such trivial matters.
At this moment, he was gripping a dagger, carefully slicing open the black waterproof fabric on the giant metal box, preparing to unveil the mystery and see what was inside.
...
When the waterproof fabric was completely removed, he opened the door of the fully enclosed thin metal box.
Upon seeing the rewards inside the box, Chen Zhou finally lost his nearly perfect expression management, exclaiming with a standard "Whoa!" in astonishment.
The interior walls of the metal box, comparable to the size of a small room, were lined with various shapes of shelves and hooks from top to bottom.
Looking inward from the end Chen Zhou had opened, there was a cold-glowing alloy forging anvil, with replaceable modular anvil heads beside it to suit different forging needs.
There were various types of hammers, alloy pliers of different sizes, and multifunctional pliers with multiple types of jaws.
There were anvil pads, files, chisels, and saws.
There was also a small electric furnace, an infrared thermometer, a small hydraulic press, and electric welding machine, an electric blower, and an angle grinder.
The small hydraulic press, electric welding machine, and angle grinder all came with replaceable wear-and-tear parts, as well as welding rods, grinding discs, and other consumables, in very generous quantities.
In addition, protective gear needed for forging, high-temperature resistant clothing and gloves, eye protection masks for welding, all hung on the walls of the metal box, complete in five sets.
There were tungsten steel-bladed metal shears and metal planes for cutting metal, with over a dozen models on the shelves inside the box.
Chen Zhou even found an entire row of graphite crucibles of various sizes on the innermost side of the metal box, the largest of which could directly cast a massive metal gear.
...
The further he went inside, the more Chen Zhou began to doubt whether he was still dreaming, not yet awake.
It’s no exaggeration to say that this entire box of equipment, if taken to a place with electricity, could meet ninety percent of a blacksmith’s needs.
Even if the electric modern tools couldn’t be used for now, these exquisite modern blacksmith tools alone could greatly increase his work efficiency and forging skill ceiling.
"Heaven and Earth!
Who on earth is sending out these rewards each time?
I love you to bits!"
The unexpected happiness overwhelmed Chen Zhou.
From the moment he opened the box, the smile on his face never faded, and by the time he reached the end of the box, his facial muscles were almost stiff from smiling so much.
...
As he caressed the cold and hard metal tools, a thought occurred to Chen Zhou amid his excitement —
"Could it be that my annual gift package for this year was sent out early?
Two cows, a pile of clothes, steel cables, and now this blacksmith tool kit. It just doesn’t add up..."
The more he thought about it, the more reasonable this speculation seemed, yet Chen Zhou did not feel disappointed.
Having the annual gift package sent out early was clearly a good thing, allowing him to complete his work earlier and with more ease.
If given a choice, he wished he could receive all future annual gifts for the next twenty-five years at once and start enjoying his life immediately.
As for what needed to be done now, aside from smiling foolishly, the most important thing was clearly to quickly move all the tools from the metal box into the Forging Room.
He even felt that the metal box itself could be of great use.
For this, he was even willing to tear down the outer wall of the cave courtyard to make way for the metal box.