Chapter 181 Shipyard
By the Feiyu River, Jingjie was building a new boat with a few soldiers.
They still used the old method of covering one side of the huge log with wet mud and then burning the part that was not covered with wet mud.
They burned the logs once and then shoveled them again with a stone adze, and the cabin was cleared out bit by bit. The efficiency was quite low, and the size of the ship depended on the size of the logs themselves, which had great limitations.
When Jiang Xuan walked over, he saw them all working hard to make a fire.
"Are you building a new ship?"
"Hello, Chief!"
Hearing Jiang Xuan's voice, the soldiers also stood up and greeted him.
Jing Jie also raised his head and said to Jiang Xuan: "Chief, now that our tribe has grown larger, we often need to transport things across the river. The old boats are not enough, so I want to build a few new boats."
Jiang Xuan nodded and said, "That's a problem. You guys continue to be busy and don't worry about me. I'll just take a look."
"yes!"
Seeing that the wood was almost burned, the soldiers lifted it aside, turned it over, and used small stone axes to continue chiseling the charcoal.
Jiang Xuan watched for a while and thought: Building a ship this way is too slow, and the fire doesn't burn evenly. The ship will be thick in some places and thin in others. It's not strong enough, and not big enough.
The Teng tribe has now refined bronze and figured out the effect of the copper-tin ratio on the hardness and toughness of bronze, allowing them to produce tools with better performance.
Things like saws, chisels, planes, and even bronze nails could be made.
If this is the case, why can't we use more advanced shipbuilding methods to build better and larger ships?
Jiang Xuan stood on the river bank, watching the fishing team members busy at work while thinking about these questions.
After standing for a while, he made a decision.
"Chief Jingjie, come with me for a moment. I have something to tell you."
Hearing Jiang Xuan's words, Jing Jie hurriedly stood up and followed Jiang Xuan to the deserted riverbank in front.
"leader……"
Jing Jie was very nervous. He didn't know what Jiang Xuan wanted to talk to him about. He thought he had done something wrong and made Jiang Xuan angry.
Jiang Xuan turned his head and glanced at Jing Jie. Seeing his cautious look, he felt a little funny, but also had an indescribable sense of awkwardness.
The tribe grew larger, its population grew, and its strength grew stronger, but the warmth that the tribesmen had felt towards him before faded.
Everyone was in awe of him, even Jing Jie and others, and they were no longer as casual in front of him as before.
Sometimes he couldn't figure out whether this was a good thing or a bad thing.
Jiang Xuan shook his head and put these thoughts aside for the time being.
"Don't be nervous. I came here to discuss something with you and to hear your opinion."
"Chief, please give me your orders if you have anything to say."
Jiang Xuan sat on a large cobblestone and said to Jing Jie, "I plan to build a shipyard in the tribe."
"Shipbuilding...factory?"
Jing Jie felt a little confused. He knew about shipbuilding, but what did this "factory" mean? "Sit down."
Jiang Xuan patted a large pebble next to him. Jing Jie hesitated for a while, then sat on it.
"A shipyard is a place that specializes in making ships. Not the small boats we use now, but big ships. Very big ships!"
"Chief, it's a very big ship. How...how big is it?"
Jiang Xuan thought for a moment and said, "It should be more than ten times, or even dozens or hundreds of times larger than the ships we are currently building!"
Jing Jie listened to Jiang Xuan's words, but he had no idea what these ships looked like or how big they were.
"Chief, how big a tree would it take to build such a big ship?"
In Jingjie's mind, the size of a ship still depends on the size of the tree.
Jiang Xuan smiled and said, "You don't need very big trees. You can still build a big ship by splicing ordinary trees together!"
"For example, our bamboo raft is made by connecting bamboos together to become larger, right?"
Jing Jie tried to imagine for a moment, then said to Jiang Xuan, "Chief, do you mean that we should also use rattan to tie the big trees together one by one to make a big boat?"
Jiang Xuan shook his head and said, "When you tie the trees together, it's called a raft, which is the same as a bamboo raft. It's not a boat. The big boat we want to build is watertight."
"Well, I'll draw it for you."
Jiang Xuan picked up a branch and slowly drew the shape of a large sailboat on the sand on the river beach.
"Look, this is the big ship we are going to build. It looks like this. The sails on top can help with the wind. The cabin below is very large and can hold a lot of cargo. There are also anchors in front and back to fix the ship in one place..."
Jiang Xuan pointed to the picture on the sand and explained to Jing Jie the structure of the sailing ship.
Jingjie still couldn't imagine what a real sailing ship looked like, but at least he had a vague impression in his mind.
"Of course, our Teng tribe cannot manufacture such a large ship at present, but it doesn't matter. We can start with a small sailboat and accumulate experience little by little."
"As long as we have the first batch of real boats, whether you are fishing along the river or transporting people and things across the river, it will be much more convenient than before."
After listening to Jiang Xuan's words, Jing Jie hesitated for a while and asked, "Leader, then, how can we build such a big ship?"
Jiang Xuan smiled and said, "For such a large ship, it is definitely not possible to rely on fire to burn wood and a few stone axes. We need new tools, tools that are better and more convenient than stone axes!"
"Then where do we find new tools?" Jingjie felt that his brain was not enough.
"Don't worry, our tribe will soon produce a batch of new tools, which can be used in the shipyard first. It will definitely open your eyes."
"However, these new tools are the secrets of the tribe and must not be known to too many people."
"So, you need to select a few fighters with the most shipbuilding experience and the most strict mouths from your fishing team. I will then select some people from other places to be responsible for shipbuilding."
Jingjie nodded hurriedly and said, "Okay, Chief, I'll go pick someone right away."
Jiang Xuan hurriedly pulled him back and said, "Don't worry, the new tools haven't been made yet, take your time to choose."
Jing Jie then sat down again and listened to Jiang Xuan continue talking about the shipyard and the fleet that might be formed in the future.
Jiang Xuan told him that this world not only has small rivers like Feiyu River, but also surging big rivers and even vast and boundless oceans.
If the Teng tribe could form a large fleet, they could travel to far, far places along these waters, obtain a large amount of resources, and help the tribe develop...
As Jing Jie listened to the scenes described by Jiang Xuan, he felt his heart surge, and a seed of sailing on a long journey was quietly planted in his heart.
…
Jiang Xuan went into the smelting workshop again and began to make various shipbuilding tools.
He first used the lost wax method to make a large number of ceramic molds, hammers of various sizes, saws of various lengths, chisels of various types, planers for planing wood boards, bronze nails, and even small anchors...
Finally, he also made several ceramic molds for scissors and kitchen knives for himself and Chishao to use.
If the Teng tribe becomes strong enough in the future and is not afraid of the bronze artifacts being exposed, he hopes that everyone in the Teng tribe can use convenient and fast daily tools such as bronze scissors and kitchen knives.
Then he began to think about the copper-tin ratio of various tools.
In order to make the bronze dagger, he had done a lot of experiments before, and he had recorded what kind of copper-tin ratio would produce what kind of effect.
Therefore, when he made the tools this time, he was not as blind as before. At least, no matter how good or not the tools he made were, they would definitely be useful.
For example, a saw is specially used for sawing wood. It does not need very good toughness, but only needs to be hard enough and sharp enough.
Therefore, the copper-tin ratio used by Jiang Xuan on the saw is five parts copper to one part tin.
While making tools, Jiang Xuan also ordered the digging of an artificial lake in the second residence, away from the crowd by the river, the construction of houses, and even the construction of a wall to surround the area.
With the artificial lake, after the ships are built, they can be directly launched into the water for testing. If the ship is relatively large, it can also pass through the artificial lake and go directly into the river.
More than half a month later, various shipbuilding tools were manufactured one after another, the artificial lake was excavated, and river water was introduced.
A long wall encloses the artificial lake and a wide riverside beach.
A part of the soldiers from the second guard team were assigned to stand guard at this place, and no unauthorized persons were allowed to approach.
Jiang Xuan gathered three apprentices who were talented in carpentry from the stone workshop, plus three warriors from the fishing team who were good at shipbuilding, a total of six people, who became the first batch of personnel in the shipyard.
On the fifth day of June, the Tengbuluo Shipyard officially started construction.
On the first day of work, only Jiang Xuan, Red Peony Root, Uncaria Rhynchophylla, Stone Eel, Arisaema Conglucifolia, Schizonepeta Tenuifolia, and six selected people were present.
Next to the artificial lake, there is a large open space with several tall mud brick houses built on both sides of the open space.
Jiang Xuan stood in the open space, with Chi Shao and others behind him, and the six shipyard employees in front of him.
Jiang Xuan began to speak.
"Today is the day when our Teng tribe shipyard starts construction. It should be lively, but for the sake of confidentiality, no one else can come."
"Can anyone tell me what the purpose of building a ship is?"
One soldier thought for a moment and said, "To catch fish and to cross the river."
Jiang Xuan smiled and said, "Yes, you are right. Do you know how big the biggest fish is and how wide the widest river is?"
The soldiers looked at each other and shook their heads.
Jiang Xuan pointed at the Feiyu River and said, "The river in our Teng tribe is a small river. The small river flows down to the lower place and merges with other small rivers to become a big river. The big river continues to gather other water flows and will become bigger and bigger, so big that you can't imagine."
"Let me put it this way. If you row a small boat from one side of the river to the other, you may not be able to row across in half a day. You may even be swept away by the waves and overturned."
"Are the big rivers the largest bodies of water? No, many, many big rivers flow into the sea. The sea is countless times larger than our entire Southern Wilderness, and there live really big fish in it."
"How big is that fish? It's as big as a mountain. If it swims to our place, the Flying Fish River won't be able to hold it."
Jiang Xuan's description left the six soldiers stunned. Their knowledge limited their imagination, making it impossible for them to imagine what the rivers and seas looked like.
How much food does a fish as big as a mountain eat every day? Even Chi Shao and others behind Jiang Xuan were so shocked that they were speechless.
They had no doubt about Jiang Xuan's words, because Jiang Xuan had created so many things they had never seen or heard of before.
They lived in a remote corner of the southern wilderness. What they thought about most in the past was how to survive, and the most far-reaching thought was to build a larger tribe.
But now, Jiang Xuan's words opened their eyes and let them know that there was a wider world outside the mountain, and many things they could not imagine.
"So, the purpose of building a boat is not only to fish and cross the river, but also to explore a wider and more wonderful world!"
"Of course, it's a bit early to say this now."
"Our shipyard has just started, and the goal at this stage is to build the first real boat out of planks, rather than a canoe made by fire."
"In order to build small boats, I and the warriors in the smelting workshop specially made a batch of tools. These tools will be used first by the entire tribe and the shipyard, so they must be kept secret."
Jiang Xuan's eyes became sharper: "If someone leaks the information about the tools, not only will the person who leaked the information die, but the relatives around him will also be implicated."
Jiang Xuan's words made the six warriors feel a chill in their hearts, and even Gou Teng and others felt the pressure.
"Of course, you work for the tribe, and the tribe will never treat you unfairly."
"As long as you can build a new ship, everyone will receive a very generous reward."
…
"Okay, I've said everything that needs to be said. I declare that the shipyard officially starts construction!" After Jiang Xuan finished speaking, he took everyone into the newly built house and showed them the brand new bronze tools and how to use them.
"This is called a saw. It can easily cut wood into pieces, and it can also saw wood into planks. Look at it!"
Jiang Xuan picked up a bronze hand saw, walked to a piece of wood, put the saw on it, and pulled it at a constant speed.
“When sawing wood, you need to keep your hands steady and the saw should not tilt, otherwise it will easily get stuck.”
As Jiang Xuan continued to saw down, the bronze hand saw quickly sank into the wood, sending sawdust flying.
“Boom!”
Before long, the wood was sawn into two pieces and rolled several times on the ground.
Everyone around Jiang Xuan's eyes lit up as they watched. This tool was so useful.
You know, in the past, if they wanted to break wood, they could only chop it bit by bit with a stone axe, and larger wood had to be burned with fire.
Now, with a saw, we can easily saw wood, and the speed has increased many times.
"This is an axe. You should be familiar with it. However, this bronze axe is much sharper than a stone axe."
Jiang Xuan picked up a bronze axe again and chopped it on the wood, with the axe blade sinking deeply into the wood.
Afterwards, Jiang Xuan continued to swing the axe, and soon he had carved out a flat surface on the wood.
The warriors became even more excited. It would take at least half a day to chop the stone axe into this shape.
Jiang Xuan picked up a bronze plane and said, "This tool can make the wood smoother. Look at it."
Jiang Xuan placed the wood flat on the ground, then held both ends of the bronze plane with both hands. He pushed it lightly, and a thin strip of shavings appeared.
As he continued to push, the surface of the wood quickly became smooth, without any burrs to be seen...
"It's called a chisel..."
Jiang Xuan showed them these bronze tools one by one and explained their uses in detail.
Everyone present, looking at these golden tools, felt as if they were dreaming and felt dizzy.
(End of this chapter)
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