Chapter 671: The Beast Fang Preaching (Seeking votes and subscriptions)
Of course, large ships still need to be built, but there is no need to rush. The Han tribe can build them slowly.
Now that Youfu has opened up the sea route to Zhudao, whether it is to build a new seaport base or to rent fishing boats to the Xin tribe, the Han tribe needs to build a large number of small ships, especially two-masted sailing ships. However, it is impossible for all these ships to be produced by the shipyards in Liuyang County, which will seriously slow down the progress of the Han tribe in building large ships.
Therefore, Luo Chong's plan is to gradually delegate the production orders for small boats, first build a shipyard at the coastal base, and then assign some workers to go there. The shipyards here in Liuyang County will begin to concentrate on building large ships and developing new ship types.
Of course, the new ship type is still mainly fishing boats, and it must be large enough to ensure the harvest every time it goes out to sea. In order to increase the carrying capacity as much as possible, Luo Chong set the initial goal at a large ship that is 80 meters long and 16 meters wide, with at least six masts, a depth of more than four meters, and a full load displacement of more than 2,000 tons.
Such a ship is twice as big as the largest ship of the Han tribe at present, but it is still only a little brother to modern ocean-going fishing boats. However, Luo Chong is not in a hurry. After all, you have to eat one bite at a time. If you set a goal too high at once, various problems will be exposed at that time. It is better not to build it. If something goes wrong after it is built, you can only cry. Such a large ship carries hundreds of people. If something goes wrong, it is equivalent to the direct loss of a county town by the Han tribe. Such a loss is really unbearable for the Han tribe.
Moreover, when transitioning from a small ship to a large ship, the process of many connecting parts needs to be changed. At least a large number of steel components must be added to ensure the firmness of the hull. At least a large wave cannot break the ship apart. Fortunately, the coking plant and steel mill are now on the right track. The Han tribe headquarters is not short of steel. Therefore, considering the problem of raw materials, the construction of large ships can only be placed on the Han tribe headquarters.
An 80-meter ship requires about 4,000 tall oak or fir trees. If it were placed in other tribes, it would be a huge project just to cut, transport and process these woods. Only a super tribe of the size of the Han tribe, with sufficient livestock transportation and automatic sawmills, could complete such a great project.
Luo Chong was not very worried about the wood, because the natural environment of this era was extremely underdeveloped, and there were dense virgin forests everywhere. The Han tribe had built more than 200 ships of all sizes so far, but the surrounding mountains and forests still did not seem to decrease. Moreover, the forest was something that could recover by itself. As long as the roots of the trees were not dug up, they could grow back quickly.
Just as Luo Chong was racking his brains in his hometown to plan how to arrange the shipbuilding industry of the Han tribe, Shouya led the remaining half of the delegation members and a large number of craftsmen left by the Youfu fleet to start the manufacturing industry in Zhudao.
When Shouya first arrived at the Xin Tribe, he promised to give the manufacturing technology of pens, inkstones, paper and inkstones as a gift to the Xin Tribe. This was also Luo Chong's instruction. Now that the mission has its own station, it has begun to formally teach the technology.
The Xin Tribe attaches great importance to this technology teaching, and directly got five elders to come and learn in person. Elder Qi, as the leader of the Xin Tribe's scientific research team, is the main person responsible for receiving the technology this time. He also specially brought a group of Xin Tribe's own craftsmen to learn the technology while helping the mission, which basically solved the problem of insufficient manpower in the mission.
Elder Jin, who is responsible for the smelting and casting of copperware, does not have any specific affairs, but was sent by the Xin Commander to learn. He does not need to learn any special technology. He just chats with the craftsmen of the mission all day long. In fact, he is peeking at the various tools used by the craftsmen and how to use the tools. After watching it every day, he goes back to record it. When he has recorded everything, he takes it back and tries to imitate a batch of tools with copper alloy, especially various woodworking tools.
Elder Zhu, as the only pro-Han member in the Xin tribe elders, took the initiative to ask to stay, and his reasons were very powerful. He told Commander Xin that the Han tribe's delegation was building a large-scale project, and he took the initiative to bring people to help. By the way, he could also learn the construction technology of the Han tribe, so that he could build a big house for the commander in the future.
Commander Xin had always coveted the various technologies of the Han tribe, and of course he readily agreed to what Elder Zhu said.
In addition, Elder Mi and Elder Dou came with them. They did not come to study writing, ink, paper and inkstone, but to learn planting. When Luo Chong sent Beast Fang over, he asked him to bring some seeds, mainly wheat and peanuts, and a lot of ramie seeds. He planned to use these low-yield food and non-food crops to occupy a large area of farmland in the Xin tribe, causing them to have a food crisis. Now these things have finally begun to be planted under Luo Chong's plan.
Ramie grows very fast. The weather in August and September is very hot. It sprouts in two days after being sprinkled on the ground. The growth rate is different every day. However, the Xin tribe cannot start producing linen cloth now. First, the ramie has not grown well, and second, the yield of the first planting is too low to provide a large amount of raw materials.
However, this is not difficult for the Xin tribe, who are eager to learn textile technology, nor for the delegation, who are eager to consume the labor force of Takeshima. The two sides hit it off and each came up with a way to solve the raw materials in order to quickly complete the delivery of textile technology.
"Han envoy, since the ramie you are talking about will take some time to grow, and the planting will be slowly expanded, why don't we practice spinning and weaving with other materials first." The elder Qi, who is responsible for this technical docking, asked happily.
Beast Fang was a little curious. Could it be that the Xin tribe also has other fiber raw materials, and the quantity is very large?
It's no wonder that Beast Fang made such a judgment, because as far as he knows, the Xin tribe currently has no crops that can provide a large amount of fiber. Now that the elder of the other party took the initiative to mention it, how could he not be curious.
"Besides the ramie you just planted, do you have other crops that can provide a large amount of raw materials for textiles?"
"Yes." Elder Dou smiled proudly, "Did the Han envoy forget that our Xin tribe got the Han tribe's woolen cloth on the grassland, hehehehe..." "
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Shou Ya slapped his head speechlessly. He had been studying what crops to replace ramie all day recently, and he really forgot about the woolen cloth. But since he was going to teach textiles, it would be okay to add another woolen cloth. He could do something during this window period of hemp growth and processing.
"Well, okay, then let's do this. You are responsible for organizing the collection of raw materials, and our delegation will provide looms and craftsmen. We will soon learn the technology here. In fact, weaving is a very simple thing." Shou Ya explained to Elder Dou.
"Hey, wait a minute, I heard that the Han envoy has been trying to find a substitute for ramie. I wonder if the Han envoy has found one. If so, please don't keep it to yourself." The two elders, Mi and Dou, saw that Shouya wanted to leave immediately, so they stopped him and asked about the solution from the Han tribe.
Shouya did not hide it from them, and said to them leisurely, "My solution is to find other hemp grass. Ramie is just one of many hemp grasses, and hemp grass is a very common plant. Even if there is no wild ramie on Zhudao Island, there should be one or two other hemps."
"What? You said that our Xin tribe has its own hemp grass?"
"What kind of hemp grass is it? Has the Han envoy found it? Where is it?"
Hearing Shouya's reply, the two elders Mi and Dou screamed. They were so surprised. It turned out that there was more than one kind of hemp grass that could be used to weave cloth and make clothes, and this thing was growing right under their noses. This, this is really a case of being in a treasure mountain without knowing the treasure.
After being amazed, the two people's selfish virtues were instantly revealed. They hurriedly asked about the origin of the hemp grass. If they could bring these precious resources under their sphere of influence, wouldn't it be like picking up an inexhaustible treasure for nothing?
Beast Fang didn't think as much as they did, and said casually, "There are some around here, flax and hemp, which I often see, but I didn't know that they were also a kind of hemp grass. It wasn't until a few days ago that our leader sent me information about several other kinds of hemp grass, and I knew that they were also hemp grass."
"You said hemp grass is around here?" Elder Mi asked with a strange expression, which was a little different from what he thought.
"Yes, but hemp grass is not a rare thing. I think it should be everywhere in Takeshima. The delegation is not familiar with the geography of Takeshima, and there are not enough people. So, regarding the collection of wool and hemp grass, I will trouble the two elders to take care of it." Beast Fang arranged for the two again.
Elder Mi suddenly felt sick as if he had eaten a bug. Beast Fang's words were like a critical hit, accurately poking at his vitals. If hemp grass is everywhere, how can they do their unique business and make money?
However, Elder Dou's eyes suddenly lit up, and he quickly agreed to Beast Fang's arrangement, and then took Elder Mi away.
"Old Bean, why are you pulling me?"
"Hey, didn't you hear what that guy said? He wants the two of us to go to various places on Zhudao to collect wool and hemp. Do you understand?"
"Oh - hehehehe, let's go together."
The two of them left muttering, and Shouya also quickly explained the work tasks to the craftsmen in each group.
The papermaking master took a group of apprentices arranged by the Xin tribe to find materials. If you want to turn bamboo into paper, you must first find suitable materials. You must choose the kind of bamboo that is already mature but not too old. Generally, young bamboo of about two years old is good. Then cut down the bamboo, trim the branches, break it into bamboo strips, tie it up, hang it on stones, and soak it in the stream. This process will last about three or four months, until the tough bamboo is soaked white, the tissue is completely decomposed, and it is as soft as noodles. Only then can it be fished out for the next step of beating and other processing steps.
The papermaking master arranged this task for the apprentices and left it alone. Then he led them to find suitable bamboo as materials, taught them how to steam bamboo strips, and then used the processed bamboo strips to weave fine mats, which were the special tools used in the papermaking process. Then there was the treadle for the pulping process, the pulp pool for papermaking, and the fire wall for baking paper. Although the raw materials were not ready, the preparations were carried out in an orderly manner.
Another group of people followed the local indigenous guide to find lime. Lime is a very common thing. There is also lime on Zhudao Island. It may not have been useful to them before, but it is indispensable now. For example, in the step of washing wool and degreasing wool, the best degreasing agent is of course soap, but the Xin tribe does not have it, so lime can only be used instead. After all, it is an alkaline substance, so it is no problem to use it to remove oil. Not only that, lime is also used in the pulping process of papermaking. First, it can be used as a catalyst to accelerate the decomposition of materials. Second, it is used for bleaching, which can also make the paper smoother.
The ink-making master also took the native apprentices to dig pine smoke kilns, and some went to look for pine trees, cutting down some oily pine branches as raw materials, and collecting pine resin as an adhesive for kneading ink.
The writing brush is relatively simple. A master from the Han tribe plus a few apprentices, a total of no more than ten people, is a simple handicraft, and does not require any large equipment, so the Xin tribe also arranged very few people.
The inkstone is not a thing with much technological content. It is directly explained to the local potters of the Xin tribe and let them tinker with it themselves.
The embassy where the beast tooth is located is responsible for the technical teaching of textiles. The desktop manual shuttle loom is still being made, but the simple waist loom has been made. In terms of spinning machines, the technology provided by the Han tribe is a single-wheel single-spindle pedal spinning machine, pedal-driven, which can only spin one thread at a time, but it is also relatively advanced in the world.
When the degreased wool was combed into yarn strips on the nail board by hand, and then sent into the spinning machine to be twisted into wool yarn, the onlookers of the Xin tribe were stunned, and several elders were amazed, exclaiming that the technology of the Han tribe was advanced.
A few days later, the textile group, which had accumulated enough wool yarn, officially began to try weaving cloth. This time, more people came to watch. After all, if it succeeded this time, they might see the birth of the first piece of cloth of the Xin tribe with their own eyes. Of course, everyone was very enthusiastic.
The traditional waist loom requires sitting flat on the ground, stretching your legs forward and using your feet to pedal the yarn shaft, but the waist loom made by the delegation is slightly different. They fixed the traditional waist loom on a bench with the yarn shaft at one end of the bench, so there is no need to pedal with your feet. People can sit directly at the other end of the bench, tie the cloth shaft to their waists, and start weaving.
This loom is the most primitive loom. Due to the structure of the loom, it can only weave narrow cloth, half a meter wide at most, and can only be used to make a sack. To make clothes and quilts, it requires a lot of splicing. There is no pedal lifter on it, and the warp needs to be split by hand by turning a wooden board. But even with such backward technology, watching the cloth in the hands of the master of the Han tribe grow longer and longer, the people of the Xin tribe still feel that it is very advanced.
(End of this chapter)
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