Chapter 670 Youfu wants to hunt whales (please vote and subscribe)
At the banquet in Weishan County, dozens of eight-immortal tables were set up, and all the people who came back with Youfu were seated at the table. This was a reward for them.
At the top table, Luo Chong sat in the main seat, Yun Zhi and Youfu were on both sides, and below were the four captains of the pioneer group and the business elder Niuwei of the Xin tribe.
"Come, everyone, try the new white wine from our Han tribe. It is brewed with sorghum rice and wine yeast, and then blended after distillation and purification. It tastes more mellow than the previous rice wine, but the alcohol is also more powerful. It's best to take a sip first, otherwise it will spray out in front of the leader, it's not good, hahahaha."
Yun Zhi picked up the glass bottle with a smile and poured a glass for everyone present. Yun Zhi was very proud of white wine, who made it a specialty in his jurisdiction, other counties don't have this stuff.
A captain sitting next to Yun Zhi was very discerning. After seeing Yun Zhi finish pouring wine for the leader and You Fu, he quickly snatched the bottle away and then poured wine for others one by one. Meeting such a sensible guy, Yun Zhi squinted his eyes and smiled, and nodded to the captain beside him.
You Fu, Niu Wei and others were looking at the wine bottles and glasses in front of them in amazement. It was the first time they had seen crystal clear glass wine utensils. You Fu saw a signal from it. The leader was willing to use glass to make these containers, which meant that the Han tribe had mastered the technology of mass-producing cheap glass, which was at least much cheaper than the glass made of crystal before.
And this wine. Although the Han tribe didn't produce much wine, Youfu drank a lot. When he went out, the chief would let him bring some on the boat. But at that time, they drank rice wine, which was brewed from rice. The wine was as turbid as rice soup, and the alcohol content was only about three or four degrees. It was the first time he saw such transparent wine that was like water. But he would not treat it as water, because the unique taste of alcohol was too strong.
"Come on, everyone, raise your glasses to congratulate the pioneer group on their triumphant return, and also wish the friendship between the Han and Xin tribes to last forever." After seeing that everyone's glasses were filled with wine, Luo Chong took the lead in raising his glass and making a toast.
"Thank you, chief, for the wine." At Luo Chong's call, everyone took a sip, and then a hissing sound came the next second. Some people's faces turned red instantly, some were still sucking in the cold air, and some opened their mouths and kept shouting that it was spicy. Luo Chong looked at them with a calm and relaxed smile.
Luo Chong didn't know the exact alcohol content of the wine, but judging by the taste, it was at least around 40 degrees, which was considered a relatively common medium-alcohol wine. He didn't feel anything when he drank it. A half-pound of liquor like this was nothing to him now, but other people who were drinking this kind of "high-alcohol wine" for the first time all felt that they couldn't stand it.
Everyone at Luo Chong's table had almost the same expression, holding their breath, feeling that their noses were spitting fire. The mellow liquor flowed through their throats and into their stomachs, which immediately made them feel like they were on fire in their stomachs.
You Fu took a few breaths, suppressed the alcohol, and was the first to comment.
"Chief, this wine tastes mellow and the liquor is as clear as water, but the alcohol inside is extremely strong. It feels like fire when it enters the stomach, and it has some warming effect. It will be more delicious if you drink it in winter."
"Yes, this kind of strong liquor is most suitable for warming the body in winter. It is better to drink less at ordinary times. Drinking too much will easily make you drunk and delay your work." Luo Chong nodded in agreement, and then warned everyone.
Alcohol can speed up blood circulation, and from a scientific point of view it can warm the body, which is true, but drunkenness and excessive drinking are not good things, not only will it damage the liver, but it will also delay work, so they need to be warned in advance.
After everyone drank a few more sips with the food, You Fu immediately brought up his suggestions about sailing.
"Chief, if we want to develop sea transportation in the future, we must research new ships. The ship that our pioneering group took this time is not very suitable. It is too dangerous to sail in the wind and waves.
The first time we went out to sea, we encountered a violent storm on the way. Because the sidewalls were too low, the huge waves in the sea hit the deck one after another, and almost capsized our ship.
Moreover, our ship has a shallow draft, and it is severely bumpy in the wind and waves. The design of the cabin is not suitable for wave protection. That day, a big wave came and directly poured seawater into our cabin. All the charcoal was soaked. In the following days until we arrived at Takeshima, we didn't eat hot food for two or three days. We just ate dry food and drank cold water. Now that I think about it, it was really too dangerous at that time." You Fu recounted his sailing experience with some emotion, and at the same time provided Luo Chong with an idea for improvement, telling Luo Chong where it was not suitable for sailing in the sea.
However, Luo Chong had actually thought about these problems mentioned by You Fu a long time ago, and it would be easy to improve
them, but he didn't have time now. Anyway, the current transaction volume with the Xin tribe is still small, so it is enough to use those large ships to replace them for the time being. It will not be too late to develop special sailing ships in two years, so he listened to Luo Chong saying. "There is no time to improve the sea vessels for the time being. Next time you go, use a three-masted large ship instead. Anyway, you won't need many ships. As for the need for a large number of sea fishing boats you mentioned in your previous letter, I have already designed a new ship type. It is a 20-meter small boat with two models, double-masted and single-masted. It has a deeper draft, a round head and a round stern, and a hollow design at both ends. It is easy to lift its head in big waves and has good wave-breaking performance. The cabin is also designed as a flap-type watertight compartment, which can store the catch separately.
However, if you want to transport the fish from the seaside to us, currently only There are three feasible methods. The first is to pickle and dry the fish, the second is to process it into canned seafood, and the third is to transport it by ice and refrigeration. This is a bit more troublesome, so we can only wait until next year or the year after next. "
Hearing Luo Chong say this, You Fu felt disappointed at first. He thought the leader would continue to develop a bigger ship, but he didn't expect to get a 20-meter boat. He was planning to kill the sea beast next time, but now it seems that there is no hope. However, when he heard Luo Chong say that the fish caught by the sea could be transported back, he was instantly attracted by this topic.
"Chief, I understand pickling dried fish, but what are canned and refrigerated? Can you tell us about it?" You Fu asked curiously.
"Canned means using a jar to seal the cooked fish with meat and soup. Because it is isolated from the air, it can be stored for a longer time. It should not be a problem to keep it for a few months. As for refrigeration, you should be very familiar with it.
In winter, even if you put fresh meat directly outside, because the environment is very cold, the meat will be directly frozen and will not rot throughout the winter. The same is true for refrigeration.
We can break the ice in the lake in winter, cut it into ice bricks and store it in the underground ice cellar. We can take the ice bricks out of the cellar in the next summer, pour ice cubes into the cabin, and throw the fish directly into the ice pile after catching them, which can also prevent the fish from spoiling.
The advantage of doing this is that you can eat fresh seafood, but there are also troubles. For example, we are too far from the seaside, and the ice will definitely melt in two or three months. If we want refrigerated transportation, we can only set up several ice cellars along the way so that the ships can replenish the consumed ice cubes nearby on the road. "
Everyone understood what Luo Chong meant as soon as they heard it, and they agreed with his analysis. Ice-cold seafood is of course the best, but it is also the most troublesome of the three methods. Just setting up ice supply points along the way is a considerable expense.
However, Youfu, who had eaten enough seafood, was obviously not very interested in those little things. He also did not agree with the return of sea fish, so he listened to him.
"Chief, I don't think it is necessary to can sea fish and refrigerate them. The journey is too far, and it is not cost-effective to transport them back. The cost will increase a lot. With the money for transportation, the people of our tribe can fish in the freshwater lakes nearby or in the rivers if they want to eat fish. It is cheaper than eating sea fish anyway. If
you really want to eat it, getting some dried fish is enough. The development of sea fishing by boat should mainly follow the principle of proximity. We should first support the people in the coastal counties, and then develop special marine fisheries, such as specializing in catching rare fish or sea beasts of special value.
Chief, when we went out to sea for the first time, we encountered a very large sea monster. The monster was twice as long as our schooner, and its mouth was as wide as the boat. It specialized in eating large and small schools of fish, and could swallow several thousand kilograms of sea fish in one bite. If we could catch this thing, it might really have some special use. It's a pity that our boat is too small. Even the largest boat in our tribe is only about the same size as the sea monster. I think it's still a bit difficult to subdue or capture that kind of sea monster with such a boat. "
"Hehe." Luo Chong laughed unexpectedly, "You still dare to compete with such a big sea monster. Aren't you afraid that the boat will capsize and everyone will be buried in the belly of the fish?"
"Afraid, of course I'm afraid. Chief, you haven't seen how scary that thing is with your own eyes. When we saw it for the first time, everyone was trembling while holding the railings of the boat. We didn't even dare to speak, for fear that the thing would overturn our boat and then eat us. "You Fu seemed to have drunk a little too much, and he spoke more freely. He dared to reveal any embarrassing things, which made everyone present laugh.
You Fu didn't mind. He took a sip of wine and continued, "It's not shameful for me to be afraid of that thing. You have never seen it. When you see it, you will definitely be more scared than me. Besides, I am afraid of that thing because our boat is small. If I have a big boat that will not be overturned no matter how it is hit, I dare to lead people to find trouble with that big guy, and maybe I can really catch it."
"Yes, if we have such a big boat, we dare to try. Even if we can't catch it, we will definitely cut a few pounds of meat from it. "When several captains under Youfu heard the boss talking about hunting sea beasts, they immediately started to make a fuss.
Niuwei, who was standing by, listened to their bragging with a dizzy head. It was his first time drinking, and he had never even drunk rice wine before. His alcohol tolerance was a little poor. He was nodding back and forth while leaning on the table, and he might fall asleep at any time.
Yunzhi and Youfu were discussing the sea beasts in a low voice. It was mainly Yunzhi who was listening and Youfu who was talking. There was nothing he could do. They were too curious. Not to mention that he had never seen such a big animal, Yunzhi had never even heard of it. If it weren't for the fact that the leader believed in him, he would definitely have said that he was a fool. Wei Youfu was just bragging.
Luo Chong just smiled at them and didn't comment. Instead, he quickly thought about the uses of whales in his mind. If the benefits were really huge, he wouldn't mind building a whaling ship for fun.
It didn't matter to Luo Chong whether the meat of whales tasted good or not, because there were plenty of other sea fish. If it was just for the meat, why did he have to eat whales? This reason couldn't convince him.
As for the remaining benefits, whalebone is a bit useful. It can be used to make the keel of clothes. Unfortunately, the Hanfu of the Han tribe does not require a corset, let alone an exaggerated crinoline. Whalebone can also be used to make combs. Unfortunately, the Han tribe already had wooden combs and sheep horn combs, so there was no appeal in this regard; whale baleen could also be used to make umbrella ribs, but the Han tribe had cheaper bamboo and wood, so using whale baleen to make umbrellas was just a waste of time.
Whale oil was also a good thing, mainly used to make candles or oil lamps, which were much brighter than ordinary oil lamps, and even became a common fuel for lighthouses. It was rumored that whale oil was often used to make eternal lamps in some ancient tombs of emperors, but now this situation is really a bit useless for the Han tribe.
If the Han tribe didn't have carbide lamps, Luo Chong would really consider it. The problem of whale oil, but now with carbide lamps, whale oil is useless. Well, that's not the case, can't it be used to make soap?
After all this calculation, Luo Chong became a little autistic. He couldn't find a reason to convince himself to hunt whales. Since whales are so useless to the Han tribe, why should they hunt them?
Thinking of this, Luo Chong shook his head at You Fu, "If you want to catch the sea monster, next time I will give you four three-masted ships and let you hunt one. But I guess that thing is useless. It's not easy to hunt such a big thing. You might as well catch more other fish with that time." "Well
, don't worry, chief. Next time I go, I will try my best to capture a sea monster and bring it back. "You Fu drank too much and seemed a little excited. Although Luo Chong did not agree to build him a bigger ship, it was not impossible for four 40-meter-long three-masted sailing ships to hunt giant whales. Anyway, he was full of confidence in this.
However, Luo Chong had already put this behind him. There were so many species of marine fish. Why did he have to focus on whales? Wouldn't tuna, which was two meters long, weighed hundreds of kilograms, and was heavier than a pig, be more attractive?
The knife fish of the "moonlight tribe" and the yellow croaker of the "rock school" were all easy to catch. Why did he have to make things difficult for whales? He could have studied the rhythm of "knocking gongs to lure" or the whole "fish-attracting lamp" and shined it into the sea at night to attract fish into the net. Wouldn't the harvest be much more substantial than whaling?
(End of this chapter)
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