Chapter 433 - 4: Rescue
Time quietly passed in the agonizing wait.
With the rainy season nearing its end, the clouds in the sky gradually decreased, and the long-lost sunshine often poured over the earth.
His heart yearned for the three-year reward, worried about the lobsters, giant crabs, and rare marine life in the sea, while also wanting to salvage the shipwrecks from the water.
In the last few days of September, Chen Zhou felt like each day passed like a year.
...
In order to set out to sea as soon as possible and to pass the long time, Chen Zhou chose a good weather day and, with the help of the indigenous people, brought out a relatively intact canoe.
After some twists and turns, the canoe was successfully moved to the camp at the southwestern corner of the mountain.
Chen Zhou specially prepared a spacious rain shelter for this canoe.
There, alongside a few indigenous people experienced in making canoes, he carried out simple restoration work on the canoe.
The indigenous people, lacking metal tools, relied on timber and fire to make canoes, using only a few stone tools like the stone axe and stone adze throughout the entire process.
Typically, they placed the selected wood on the ground, peeled off the bark, then smeared wet mud around the parts needing to be hollowed out to protect the trunk, and finally slowly scorched the trunk with fire before excavating the charred wood.
Once the center of the trunk was hollowed out, the indigenous people would also use stone tools to slowly carve the canoe’s shape.
According to an indigenous person helping with the restoration, the canoes they used to land on the island were actually not that large.
These "little fellows" could at most carry twenty or so people.
In the tribe, the largest canoe ever built could carry eighty warriors and was fearless even in the face of small sea storms.
However, with the towering trees being cut down, coupled with the increasing conflicts in the tribe, there were no longer enough people to build such large canoes anymore.
This indigenous person was once an excellent "Canoe Master" in the original tribe and had seen with his own eyes the canoe left to decay and rot on the beach.
In discussions with Chen Zhou, he often marveled at the hardness and efficiency of metal tools, frankly stating that if such tools were available in the tribe, not only could they build a canoe capable of carrying eighty warriors, but also one capable of carrying a hundred.
This sentiment was a bit like emperors plowing with golden hoes, leaving Chen Zhou both amused and at a loss, unsure whether to commend this indigenous person for his ambition or criticize him for lacking sense.
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However, although the indigenous "Master Shipbuilders" were not as good as Chen Zhou, a layman, in designing boat hulls, they did have some unique methods for maintaining the canoes.
For instance, using a natural resin secreted by a type of tree to enhance the canoe’s waterproofing.
If it weren’t for the indigenous people telling Chen Zhou, he wouldn’t have known that the waterproof material he had been searching for was actually rooted in the forest adjacent to the fields.
Under the guidance of the indigenous people, he successfully collected a large barrel of resin, applying a "protective coat" to the more severely damaged canoe.
Afterwards, valuing the waterproof material highly, Chen Zhou deliberately listed all trees capable of secreting resin on a protection list and drew a "portrait" for it.
All indigenous people were prohibited from cutting down such trees unless granted permission by Chen Zhou.
Furthermore, they even had to spread the seeds of these trees to farther away places, allowing them to proliferate in specific areas for a stable resin output.
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This wasn’t Chen Zhou making a fuss.
In the 17th century without synthetic resin, the application areas for natural resins were quite extensive and possessed a certain irreplaceability.
The basic waterproof coating was one thing, but resin could also serve as an insulating soldering material, for instance, resin could replace modern tin solder on electronic boards.
Additionally, adhesives, fragrances, and even soap making and papermaking could utilize resin.
Chen Zhou had no understanding of these fields before, only learning about the significance of resin in the chemical industry from a recently read manual on making simple explosive devices, which is why he became so sensitive to trees that produced resin.
Moreover, Chen Zhou had been instilling the indigenous people with ideas on "afforestation" on the island and sustainable development concepts.
This included selecting good-quality wood species, plants with edible fruits, and some plants for weaving, to plant in batches.
Also, the knowledge on crop rotation, fallow periods, and maintaining soil fertility was clearly written in the teaching materials.
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To speak strictly, Chen Zhou could have entirely opted not to teach this knowledge.
After all, he was to stay on the island for only 28 years, and during this time, he could have wantonly destroyed the entire island without needing to consider future impacts—
"After my death, let the floodwaters come."
Afforestation, teaching the indigenous people to approach farming scientifically, breeding herds of cattle and sheep...
These intangible shackles, viewed from a long-term perspective, are extremely beneficial, but in the short term, these measures might not yield profits and could even divert part of the labor force.
Chen Zhou was well aware of this, yet he still did it.
Solely because he could sense that these indigenous people were real, living humans, not just NPCs in a game.
They had flesh and blood, their own thoughts, emotions, and placed unwavering trust in him as their Leader, even relying on him unconditionally.
Whether for his own peace of mind or to be worthy of this trust.