Chapter 480 - 26: Completion
On June 20, 1663, after a total of approximately 100 days of long preparation and construction, Chen Zhou’s factory was finally completed.
...
The unpainted and unplastered gray-white building is located above the foot of the mountain, on flat land below the hillside, covering an area of about 600 square meters.
The factory is rectangular in shape, with two single-story buildings protruding from the front and sides, featuring a small basement inside. Its appearance is akin to the unfinished buildings found in modern suburban areas, without any excess decoration, looking quite simple.
Due to a shortage of welding rods, only the large front and rear doors, and the side doors of the factory use metal; all the internal doors are made of wood.
The door frames and panels dismantled from the ship were not sufficient, so Chen Zhou led the indigenous people to manufacture a batch of solid wooden doors specially.
During the manufacture of the doors, Zebra, the guy who had been neglected, once again demonstrated amazing carpentry skills. The efficiency and qualification rate of making wooden doors were on par with Chen Zhou, far ahead of the other indigenous people.
Therefore, despite Chen Zhou’s dislike for Zebra, based on the principle of fair reward and punishment, he still gave Zebra some rewards.
Zebra, as Chen Zhou expected, began generously distributing those candies and food as rewards, to win people’s hearts.
If Chen Zhou were not aware of this guy’s true nature in private, he might have been fooled into thinking he was naturally a good-natured person.
...
To strengthen the defense capabilities of the factory’s first floor, Chen Zhou specifically designed the windows on the first floor to be small and positioned high up, to prevent enemies from entering through the windows if the door couldn’t be breached.
When installing the windows, he also used steel to weld anti-theft nets outside the windows.
The anti-theft nets of the factory are different from those in modern residential areas, using not thin steel rods but steel plates as wide as a palm. Not to mention bows, crossbows, and wooden spears, even small packages of gunpowder could not blow them open.
...
Due to the small size of the first-floor windows, the interior lighting is somewhat problematic; even during the daytime, the interior still appears somewhat dim. However, compared to the "first-version cave dwelling" Chen Zhou had lived in, it’s much brighter.
Upon reaching the second floor of the factory, the interior becomes significantly brighter.
Large glass windows with wooden frames are used, and although there is still no wall paint, the floor is covered with solid wood flooring.
The windows on both sides are neatly aligned, allowing sunlight to pour into the room, creating a stark contrast with the first floor, as if two different worlds.
...
Due to the limited amount of cement and metal construction materials, and because Chen Zhou wanted to save some materials for building other structures, the factory was not designed to be too large.
After all, there are only ten people on the island counting everybody, and the indigenous people are considered "workers" who enter the factory interior only during work hours and return to the wooden houses to rest afterward. This 600-square-meter, two-and-a-half-story building is enough for them to manage.
The factory’s first floor is divided into five independent workshops, each varying in size due to their pre-designed functions.
The smallest workshop measures only 50 square meters, while the largest one is close to 120 square meters.
Besides workshops, the first floor also features various functional areas such as public toilets, shower rooms, kitchens, dining rooms, rest areas, storage rooms, and steam engine rooms.
These functional areas currently only have rough outlines, with reserved pipelines but no interior decoration, remaining in a raw state.
On the second floor, the use of space caters primarily to the personal needs of Chen Zhou and his confidants.
There is a small stairwell leading directly to the factory roof, accessing the area where photovoltaic panels and energy storage batteries are stored.
There are Chen Zhou’s personal bedroom, office, toilet, and bathroom, a study, and a storage room specifically used for retaining mysterious rewards.
There are also small rooms for Sunday and Saturday, a gym, and an independent kitchen and dining room.
However, these functional areas cannot occupy all the space on the second floor, with one-third of the area still empty.
Chen Zhou plans to convert that portion into workshops, storage areas, office areas, quality inspection areas, or repair areas based on future demands.
...
Merely having these storage rooms is not enough to make the factory become an indestructible fortress.
To ensure the factory can endure longer during a siege, Chen Zhou also designed a rainwater collection system, utilizing the long rainy seasons for emergency use.
There are reservoirs under the roof of the factory’s "half third floor" and on the first floor; as long as there is rainfall, the reservoirs slowly fill up.
Ordinarily, after being filtered through pipes layered with charcoal sand screens, this water can be used for daily purposes, such as washing clothes and cleaning shoes.
In wartime, if the situation develops to the most unfavorable state, these two large pools of water can become the last reserve of the fortress, boiled for everyone to drink, sustaining life.
But that would be the worst-case scenario.
At least when designing the factory, Chen Zhou did not envision any form of attack that would force him into such a predicament.
He is, after all, in the middle of the ocean; if he provokes the maritime overlord of this era to exhaust vast amounts of manpower and resources, sacrificing hundreds or thousands of lives to siege him, he cannot imagine what over-the-top actions he must take.
Even if he kidnapped all important members of the Spanish Royal Family to the island, it might not cause such a huge sensation.
Moreover, even if he completely breaks ties with the Spaniards, whether the military level and scientific technology of the 17th century can actually force him into a dead end remains unknown.
It’s important to know that, theoretically, his war potential is limitless.