Chapter 469 - 21: Culture (Part 2)
Impart more knowledge.
Not only knowledge about farming and animal husbandry, but also some poetry and allusions from traditional Chinese culture.
...
It had been too long since his school days, and Chen Zhou couldn't clearly remember some of the literary masterpieces he had studied.
But the works he recited in his youth, like the "Three Character Classic," "Hundred Family Surnames," "Thousand Character Essay," and "Rules for Disciples," he could still recall.
Besides these, he also remembered many poems by great poets such as Li Bai, Du Fu, Du Mu, Xin Qiji, and Su Shi.
He dug these works out from the depths of his memory, wrote them down one by one on paper, and thoughtfully annotated some obscure parts, then bound them into small booklets.
Each booklet had only a dozen pages, the content was not much, but to the natives with limited literacy, it was like a celestial book; let alone understanding it, it was impossible for them to read it from start to finish.
However, Chen Zhou didn't plan to have the natives immediately memorize these booklets.
This kind of cultural "assimilation" only began gradually after their living habits and customs were similar and even integrated.
Before that, all the "booklets" were placed uniformly in the small wooden house of Saturday and Sunday, for them, or rather Saturday, to study first.
On one hand, it was to prevent Saturday from frequently coming to the cave to ask questions, allowing him to study the booklets on his own.
On the other hand, because Sunday was not fond of studying and preferred to solve problems with violence.
Chen Zhou hoped that when Sunday lived and ate with Saturday, Saturday could teach Sunday some knowledge as well while he was learning.
Living with a top student, even if you don't become one, your academic performance wouldn't be too bad.
...
Besides traditional culture, Chen Zhou also mastered much more practical knowledge that was worth mastering for the natives.
For example, various weaving techniques from the rattan weaving book.
Before, he specially drew some techniques to teach the natives, and they successfully learned and applied them in various fields of work.
But that weaving technique was just the tip of the iceberg of the whole book, more inclined towards basic weaving.
Now that most natives have made significant progress, Chen Zhou selected some practical and aesthetically pleasing vessel weaving methods, drew them into small booklets, and gave them to Saturday to teach on his behalf.
He then organized two books based on his experience.
One was a guide for beginner carpenters, listing various precautions, carving, and sawing techniques, and several simple methods of making mortise-and-tenon joints.
The other was a guide to beginner forging, writing down the forging experience Chen Zhou accumulated over several months, as well as some knowledge about basic minerals, metals' properties, and how to sharpen and maintain knives.
...
While writing appeared easy, actually doing it was mentally exhausting.
Especially considering these manuals were meant for the natives; Chen Zhou couldn't use too many technical terms and had to describe everything in simpler, more understandable ways.
If there were complex parts that couldn't be explained in words, he also drew pictures on paper to eliminate the natives' reading barriers.
As the saying goes, diving into books is like diving into the deep sea.
All day long, huddled in the cave, listening to the rain outside the window, writing technical manuals, Chen Zhou only felt time passing by quickly.
Unconsciously, it was already early April.
...
April 1st was the 85th time for the mysterious reward to arrive at the island.
After a rough calculation, Chen Zhou suddenly realized that he had been on the island for nearly 1300 days.
In this challenge that spanned over ten thousand days, he had already gone through exactly one-tenth.
Recalling the beginning of the challenge, the days felt especially long, with all sorts of difficulties following one after another, often keeping him so busy he could hardly cope.
Now, whether it's farming or animal husbandry, or even building wooden and stone walls or cooking, he doesn't need to worry about.
Aside from researching various machines, improving the island's productivity, and writing books to teach the natives more knowledge, the only thing he must do is to collect the rewards.
...
Many things Chen Zhou could let go of, except this one thing, he only trusted himself.
The upper limit of the mysterious rewards was too high; if an automatic rifle or grenades and landmines were delivered, he didn't dare imagine what the natives would do if they got them first.
Even if the natives didn't know how to use them, didn't dare to use them, seeing the shape of the weapons and figuring out how to use them might also be troublesome.
Especially since there was a zebra on the island, the one with the soft bones.
If he were to discover this secret and later have conflicts with the Spaniards, once captured, this guy would likely divulge the secret to the Spaniards, leading to unthinkable consequences.
In the past, Chen Zhou had quite a favorable impression of the zebra, but after learning about his deceitful behavior, his impression of him dropped drastically.
If the island had enough people, and he wasn't the only native with mature carpentry skills, he would definitely find an excuse to get rid of the zebra.
But now, the zebra has only committed a minor mistake after all.
Moreover, "easily betraying others" is just Chen Zhou's suspicion; the zebra hasn't really acted on it, and it's hard for Chen Zhou to take someone's life for a crime that hasn't been committed.
Whether it convinces others or not is another matter; Chen Zhou feels the root cause is that it would go against his conscience.
If the zebra truly was someone untrustworthy, and betrayed, then killing him would be justifiable.
Before he committed a crime, punishing or even killing him just on the suspicion that he might commit a crime would be considered a reckless disregard for life.
...
Before heading to the beach to collect the rewards, Chen Zhou specially organized the rewards received in the past few months.
Perhaps because his grand construction projects had come to a halt due to the rainy season, and neither the Spaniards nor the Great Tribe of natives had sent anyone to the island again, the tense atmosphere gradually dissipated.
Since mid-November, after receiving those modern shovels and steel picks, mysterious rewards had returned along the path of household supplies.
For instance, that advanced fishing rod delivered on November 29th was evidence.
By December 14th, the rewards delivered included a large batch of seasonings: two large barrels of sunflower oil, two large barrels of soy sauce, a box of white vinegar, a box of table salt, and a box of white sugar, as well as two small bags of MSG and a barrel of traditional Northeast sauce.
This batch of seasonings made up for Chen Zhou's lack of condiments, becoming his private supply.
While other natives were eating coarse salt dried by the seaside, chewing red sugar blocks made from sugarcane juice, he was enjoying the just-right saltiness of refined salt and the added umami of MSG to the dishes.
...
Among these seasonings, what Chen Zhou valued most was that barrel of traditional sauce.
Within the sauce were relatively clean fermenting bacteria, which could be used as a starter for sauce making.
When the dry season came, after being busy with the factory construction, he could steam a few more pots of buns and try to make some traditional sauce using the old methods of the previous generation.
When there was no sauce, Chen Zhou thought he had to rely on the naturally occurring bacteria for fermentation.
However, that would result in too many miscellaneous bacteria, leading to poorly flavored sauce and potential spoilage.
Now having this barrel of traditional sauce, another piece of his worries was removed.
The batch of fluorine rubber delivered on December 29th was stored at the factory construction site. Their utilization value was very high, but anyone not understanding their properties wouldn't think of their best use.
Chen Zhou believed that in the 17th century, there were probably few who could research rubber properties, and even fewer who could apply rubber to weapon manufacturing and mechanical engineering; perhaps none in the entire world.
Since those few people weren't on the island, he felt at ease leaving the fluorine rubber in the factory's rain shelter.
The mysterious reward from January 13th had already been placed in the cave bedroom—a luxurious clock.
The reward from January 28th was partially dismantled by Chen Zhou.
Examining the components, he carefully drew structural diagrams in preparation for future steam engine manufacturing.
The brass steam engine model and the accompanying boiler model were particularly attractive toys for Chen Zhou.
He couldn't resist sharing his "new toy" excitement, sneaking Saturday and Sunday into the Forging Room to start the steam engine once.
He still remembered after the steam engine was filled with water and the charcoal lit.
As the water inside the steam engine boiled, the steam expanded, propelling the piston. Saturday and Sunday looked astounded as they watched the drive shaft spin the small gears he had made.
Compared to the waterwheel, this contraption seemed far too advanced; their small minds couldn't comprehend it and developed the notion that "this was crafted by divine hands."