Chapter 1045 Shipworm
These statues had been in the sea for so long that whatever wood they were made of had already decayed to the point of decay. This was why Xiao Peng had asked them to salvage them carefully. They simply couldn't withstand Xiao Peng's heavy hammer. One blow and they were reduced to slag.
As a result, when the hammer was knocked down, the imagined scene of gold, silver and jewelry scattered all over the ground did not appear. Instead, a disgusting scene appeared: some white, slender objects appeared in the wood of the Buddha statue that was knocked open by Xiao Peng. They looked like earthworms, but their color was snow-white, and they looked more like... big fat maggots!
These maggots are incredibly long! Each one is over ten centimeters long. They're so densely packed inside the wood, it's enough to give anyone with trypophobia a tingle.
"Ugh!" Chen Zetao retched after seeing it. "Brother Xiao, what is this? It's disgusting! It looks like a big fat maggot."
Xiao Peng laughed after hearing this. "Brother Chen, you're absolutely right. This thing is called 'shipworm,' also known as 'shipworm.' When I was in Marseille, many wooden fishing boats had to be regularly coated with chemicals to prevent this."
At this moment, a comment from Zhao Shanhe floated across the livestream. Xiao Peng couldn't help but laugh after taking a look. The question Zhao Shanhe had posted was, "Is this edible?"
Xiao Peng looked at the comments and smiled, "Shanhe, the audience in the live broadcast room must thank you. You are definitely a true Daxia person. The first thing you care about when you see something unfamiliar is whether it tastes good! Well, I can tell you, I don't know if other shipworms are edible, but this kind of shipworm is definitely edible, and it tastes quite good. You see they look like worms, but they are actually close relatives of clams and oysters. In Southeast Asia, they are a very popular delicacy and they are not cheap. Some coastal areas in China also have the habit of eating shipworms! I ate it once in Marseille. It didn't taste as good as this, but it was definitely not bad!"
"Why do I say this is edible? There are actually several species of these shipworms. Some giant shipworms can grow to nearly two meters long, as thick as a child's arm. However, their eating habits are different from those of ordinary shipworms. Ordinary shipworms rely on bacteria in their bodies to break down wood into food, so they live inside wood, while the giant shipworms feed on harmful gases produced in the soil. They also use bacteria to obtain nutrients, taking substances like hydrogen sulfide from the soil and then using bacteria to convert them into organic matter and nutrients. This is similar to the creatures living near underwater 'hot springs'. Some shipworms even gnaw on rocks directly. Anyway, there are all kinds of strange things in the world. Where's Old Zhu?"
The Old Zhu he was referring to was Zhu Youdao, the chef on the Calypso. In reality, he didn't need to call him; Old Liu had already come running out with a few small dishes, beaming, "Boss, we've got some extra food today! This is delicious!"
After saying that, he ran to the wood chips to pick up shipworms.
Xiao Peng said to the camera, "Look, we've added a special dish to dinner! Even though we think of shipworms as a delicacy now, sailors used to hate them the most. They reproduce so remarkably! One maggot can lay over 100 million eggs! They can mature and reproduce in a month. If we don't take precautions in areas where shipworms are a serious threat, a ship will be riddled with holes and nearly scrapped in three months! It's only because of the changes in ship hull materials that these things would still be sailors' most hated thing... Oh, and they have made a great contribution to mankind!"
Chen Zetao, who was standing nearby, asked in confusion, "How has this thing contributed so much to humanity? Is it because it tastes good?"
Xiao Peng's face was filled with gloom. "Brother Chen, we can't just think about eating! Let's not talk about other countries for now. Our country really needs to thank shipworms. Otherwise, how could we become the 'infrastructure maniac'?"
Chen Zetao was confused: "What's the connection between 'shipworm' and 'infrastructure maniac'?"
Xiao Peng explained: "What machine is most critical for tunnel digging now?"
Without thinking, Chen Zetao answered directly, "Shield machines and hard rock tunnel boring machines!" He then muttered, "The Germans hate us so much."
How was tunneling traditionally done? First, blasting, then manual excavation, a dangerous and slow process. In the popular TV series "Blood Romance," the character named Yuan Jun did just that in the army, and was injured while inspecting two unexploded blastholes. That was a true reflection of tunneling back then.
How did the West dig tunnels back then? They used hard rock tunnel boring machines to dig through solid rock, and shield machines for soft soil. The shield machines were shaped like earthworms, long and round, and bored directly into the mountain.
In 1798, the British encountered difficulties while digging a tunnel through the Thames, forcing the project to be suspended. French engineer Brunel, inspired by the shipworm, invented the shield tunneling principle and patented it. By 1818, Brunel had perfected the mechanical system of the shield machine, and in 1823, the world's first shield machine was completed!
Of course, this technology was not perfect, and there were casualties that year, but Brunauer continued to improve the shield machine, and the Thames Underwater Tunnel built in 1843 became the first tunnel in human history excavated using shield technology.
Back then, tunnel boring machines were still manual. In 1876, the British engineer Brunton invented a machine that used compressed air to replace manual excavation. In 1964, he invented the closed-chest tunnel boring machine. Now, based on the closed-chest tunnel boring machine, highly intelligent and diversified tunnel boring machines have been developed, greatly increasing the speed of tunnel excavation.
And all this happened because of a tiny shipworm.
What about China? Before 1997, they were still using traditional blasting and tunneling methods...
Why did Chen Zetao say that the Germans hated us to death? It was also because of the shield machine.
In 1997, to build the Xikang Railway and connect the Qinling Tunnel, China imported two tunnel boring machines from Germany, each costing a staggering $100 million. At the time, despite improved living standards, the country's foreign exchange reserves were only $139.89 billion! Furthermore, the Germans only sold the machines, not the technology, and prohibited outsiders from being present during maintenance.
This made the country very angry, so starting in 2002, Daxia started to develop tunnel boring machines. Now, tunnel boring machines that cost 30 million yuan each occupy 70% of the world's market - in RMB!
This completely ended the era of huge profits for tunnel boring machines.
As a major seller of traditional tunnel boring machines, how could the Germans not hate us?
After Zhu Youdao finished cleaning up the shipworms, he gave Xiao Peng a thumbs-up and said, "Boss, another basin, please!"
Xiao Peng laughed heartily and swung his hammer: "Eighty, eighty, hiss..."
The last "hiss" was the sound of everyone at the scene gasping for air.
Even though Chen Zetao was knowledgeable and experienced, he could only gasp in shock now.
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