Chapter 538 - 52: Steel Bone (Part 2)
The islanders familiar with them, either out of envy or curiosity, surrounded them to inquire about the details of their training.
Thus, the crackling of firewood, the sizzling of grease, the chatter of friends, the laughter of children, even the arguments over chess, and the sounds of card games all combined to create a bustling scene in the area around the Execution Square.
Behind the towering gallows, there were only two dimly lit torches standing.
The flickering torchlight was swallowed by the night, only illuminating a range of a meter or two around them.
The gallows once had hanged people, and due to the fear of the instruments of execution, almost none of the islanders paid attention to this place below the platform.
At this moment, Chen Zhou’s towering figure was hidden in this unnoticed shadow, quietly observing the festive scene of the people below.
Saturday and Sunday followed behind him, while Chen Fu, Chen Lu, and Chen Shou maintained order below, ensuring the perfect end to New Year’s Eve.
People in the bright areas couldn’t observe Chen Zhou in the darkness; they didn’t even know the leader was present at the festival site—
Since the island’s population grew, Chen Zhou appeared less frequently. Many of the newest island members had never seen Chen Zhou in person, only knowing his appearance from the descriptions of those with seniority.
...
As it developed to its current extent, the island no longer remained as desolate as before; it was somewhat akin to a modern small village.
Standing from a high vantage point looking down, Chen Zhou saw many familiar faces amidst the crowd.
Zebraman, his exceptionally tall figure dressed in a neat sailor uniform, was surrounded as usual by a group of people, his friends.
From initially not being liked by Chen Zhou, to slowly earning trust through solid skills and sensible demeanor, to experiences of gang fights, falling into multiple-person housing, and then returning to single-family housing.
Now Zebraman has also entered the middle echelon of the island, capable of speaking with high-level members like Saturday and Sunday, a life that already satisfies him greatly.
Recently during the bicycle craze, Zebraman, as one of the top skilled carpenters on the island, made a hefty profit.
Chen Zhou heard from Saturday that as Zebraman aged, he became more stable-minded than before, and recently he was even thinking about starting a family and had taken a liking to a young female islander who recently joined.
For this, he specially gifted Saturday a delicate bicycle, just to have Saturday say good things about him in front of that female islander.
However, Chen Zhou has always advocated for free love among the islanders and further improved the laws regarding marriage. Even if Zebraman took a liking to someone, if she doesn’t fancy him, then it still wouldn’t work out.
Of course, just as there are men pursuing women, there are women pursuing men.
The highly positioned carpenter Zebraman hadn’t even started his romance, while Ruth, single with a son, had begun his second romance in life.
Now, Ruth was wandering beside rows of barbecues with his eldest son and his partner, the family of three full of happiness, to the point where even Chen Zhou felt happy for him.
Apart from the old islanders who once spent days and nights together, the newly formed families among new islanders also showed delightful progress.
According to Chen Fu’s report, some female islanders had already become pregnant after marriage, although it was still too early for it to show.
It’s expected that in 1666, the island would welcome a batch of truly new members born here, undoubtedly stirring up a unique wave.
...
As the New Year’s Eve concluded, a ritual naturally followed.
Over a hundred people gathered in front of Wang Lingguan’s Temple, and the transformed cave seemed small in front of the increasing number of islanders.
Many new islanders even lost the qualification to enter the temple to kneel and pray. They could only kneel and kowtow on the open ground outside with their companions to complete the ritual.
Chen Zhou could skip showing up on New Year’s Eve, but for the first sacrificial ritual of the year, he couldn’t shirk it.
The new islanders received the news, overjoyed, thinking they finally could see the true appearance of the leader, to see what the "Son of the Celestial God," spoken of by the seniors, really looked like.
Unfortunately, when presiding over the ritual, Chen Zhou remained in the black Iron Massacre, his entire body wrapped airtight.
The new islanders could only see Chen Zhou’s mouth and his unusually towering and sturdy form, but these two aspects alone were enough to instill awe in them.
After all, the few most recognized people on the island, in status and position, were all respectfully following behind Chen Zhou; with these people around, regardless of Chen Zhou’s uniqueness, the islanders had to look up to him.
...
Taking advantage of the full congregation during the ritual, Chen Zhou officially announced the name of the Steel Giant Ship —
Steel Bone.
At this point, the island’s first ship with excellent offensive capabilities finally had a name, so islanders no longer needed to call it simply a big ship.
After the ritual concluded, removing the heavy and suffocating Iron Massacre, Chen Zhou called Zebraman alone to assign him a daunting task —
Building a new Temple.
This task was different from previous projects; Chen Zhou did not provide design blueprints, leaving the entire construction concept of the new Temple to Zebraman’s own decisions.
After concluding the finishing work on the Steel Bone, Zebraman could choose the craftsmen he deemed skilled, forming a 30-person construction team, to plan, design, and build a more solemn, structurally complex, and spacious new Temple near the cave.
For Zebraman, though challenging, this task symbolized the leader’s acknowledgment of his abilities.
He vaguely felt that the Temple task’s excellence was closely tied to his future; if he could satisfy the leader, he might advance further, stepping into the core management with the likes of Fu, Lu, and Shou.
Thus, despite uncertainty after receiving the task, Zebraman resolutely assured the leader to rest assured in leaving the matter to him.
Whether for his career or for the leader’s trust, he had to do his utmost to accomplish this.
Chen Zhou knew Zebraman quite well, aware that though his character had some flaws, his capability and work ethic were never in question, hence choosing Zebraman first when selecting a project manager.
He was confident Zebraman would not disappoint him.
As for himself, he was to invest in the Forging Room, to enhance the Steel Bone with "Sharp Teeth," transforming this sturdy ship into a sea-conquering "Man-eating Shark."
...
The structure of the ship’s cannon was not complicated, the main constraint on its performance being the material and craft.
Using a casting mold, apart from alloy gifts received, the ideal material should be bronze.
The island had a plentiful brass reserve but lacked tin to make bronze.
Whenever encountering challenges concerning materials, Chen Zhou would lament the island’s poor resources.
There were no copper mines, iron mines, coal, graphite, nickel-chromium, lead mines, tin mines, and even smelting aid raw materials like quartz, calcite, and the antimony ores used to manufacture wear-resistant alloys here.
He often fantasized before, whether he could, by his own efforts and with rewards from the Space-Time Administration Bureau, build the island into a massive military industrial complex, thus expanding his power, unifying both North and South America within over twenty years.
Looking back now, it was simply a pipe dream.
Not to mention the island’s natural products were far from enough to support setting up a complete production line.
Even if industrial materials were transported from outside, in the 17th century, an era when maritime transport wasn’t developed, unless receiving the cordial support of major maritime powers, he simply couldn’t achieve his grand vision.
After all, the sailing ships of this era had limited carrying capacity and slow navigation speeds.
Materials starting from their origin, after cross-mountain and cross-water transit to the island, would take at least half a year under good conditions, and once arrived, those raw materials needed further refinement processing.
Putting all the processes together, it would take at least a year and a half for ores to turn into industrial products.
Such frustrating production efficiency might barely sustain a small island’s development but was challenging to change the world.
Of course, if Chen Zhou could break free from the island’s constraints, and directly head to the mainland, or even cross the ocean to the Great Qing, overturn the Qing Dynasty’s ruling, perhaps he could accomplish a great work.
But on one hand, seafaring is risky; in case of encountering a storm, not only the Steel Bone but even larger ships could capsize in the ocean; entering the sea means putting his life on the line.
On the other hand, Chen Zhou wasn’t clear if the challenge’s rules restricted him from leaving the island.
He had already planned that when the Steel Bone first set sail, he would definitely follow the ship to try it out.
If indeed he couldn’t travel too far from the island, he might as well let go of his world-changing ambitions, staying safely on the island and living a peaceful life; after all, staying on the island wouldn’t impede his fortune-making.