By the Feiyu River, Jing Jie was leading a few soldiers to build a new ship.
They still used the ancient method of covering one side of the huge log with wet mud, and then used fire to burn the areas that were not covered with wet mud.
Burning it once, and shoveling it again, just to get the cabin out bit by bit, the efficiency is quite low, and the size of the boat depends on the size of the log itself, which is relatively restrictive.
When Jiang Xuan came over, he happened to watch them all working hard to light the fire.
"Are you building a new ship again?"
"Hello, chief!"
Hearing Jiang Xuan's voice, the soldiers also stood up to say hello.
Nepeta also raised his head and said to Jiang Xuan: "Chief, now that our tribe has grown bigger, we often have 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: "This is a problem. You continue to work and don't worry about me. I will just take a look."
"yes!"
The soldiers saw that the wood was almost burned, so they lifted it aside, turned it over, and used small stone adzes to continuously chip away at the charcoal.
Jiang Xuan looked at it for a while and thought to himself: Building a ship like this is too slow, and the fire is uneven. The ship is thick in some places and thin in others, not strong enough, and not big enough.
The Vine Tribe has now refined bronze, and has figured out the effect of the copper-tin ratio on the hardness and toughness of bronze, allowing them to create tools with relatively good performance.
Things like saws, chisels, planes, and even bronze nails can be made.
That being the case, why can't we use more advanced shipbuilding methods to build better and bigger ships?
Jiang Xuan stood on the bank of the river, thinking about these issues while watching the soldiers of the fishing team busy.
After standing for a while, he made a decision.
"Leader Jie Jie, come here with me. I have something to tell you."
Hearing Jiang Xuan's words, Jingjie stood up quickly and followed Jiang Xuan to the deserted river beach in front of her.
"leader……"
Jingjie was very uneasy. He didn't know why Jiang Xuan was looking for him. He thought he had done something wrong and made Jiang Xuan angry.
Jiang Xuan turned his head and glanced at Jingjie. Seeing his cautious look, he felt a little funny and felt an indescribable awkwardness.
The tribe is getting bigger, more populous, and more powerful, but the kindness that the tribesmen used to treat him has faded.
Everyone was in awe of him, even Jingjie and others, who 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 want to hear your opinion."
"If you have anything to do, chief, just ask."
Jiang Xuan sat on the big cobblestone and said to Nepeta: "I plan to build a shipyard in the tribe."
"Shipbuilding...factory?"
Jingjie felt a little confused. He knew about shipbuilding. What did this "factory" mean?
"Sit down."
Jiang Xuan patted a big pebble next to him. Jing Jie hesitated for a while and then sat on it.
"A shipyard is a place that specializes in building ships. It is not the small boats we use now, but big ships, very big ships!"
"Chief, it's a very big ship. How big...is it?"
Jiang Xuan thought for a while and said: "It is more than ten times, even dozens or hundreds of times larger than the ship we are building now!"
Jingjie listened to Jiang Xuan's words, but she couldn't imagine what these ships looked like or how big they were.
"Chief, how big of a tree would it take to build such a big ship?"
In Nepeta's mind, the size of something like a boat still depends on the size of the tree.
Jiang Xuan smiled and said: "You don't need a big tree. Ordinary trees can still be spliced together to make a big ship!"
"For example, our bamboo raft is made bigger by connecting bamboos together, right?"
Jing Jie tried her best to imagine, and then said to Jiang Xuan: "What does the leader mean, is that we also use canes to tie the big trees together one by one to make a big ship?"
Jiang Xuan shook his head and said: "If you tie the big trees together, it is called a raft, which is the same as a bamboo raft. It is not called a boat. The big boat we want to build is watertight."
"Okay, I'll draw it for you."
Jiang Xuan picked up a branch and slowly drew the shape of a large sailboat on the sand of the river beach.
"Look, this is the big ship we are going to build. It looks like this. The upper part is called a sail, which can use the power of the wind. The lower cabin is very large and can hold a lot of cargo. There are anchors in the front and rear, which can hold The boat is fixed in one place..."
Jiang Xuan pointed to the picture on the sand and explained to Jingjie about the structure of the large sailing ship.
Nepeta still couldn't imagine what a real sailing ship looked like, but he had a vague impression in his mind.
"Of course, our Vine Tribe can't build such a big ship yet, but it doesn't matter. We can start with small sailboats and accumulate experience bit by bit."
"As long as we have the first batch of real boats, whether you are fishing along the river, transporting people, or transporting things across the river, it will be much more convenient than before."
After Jingjie listened to Jiang Xuan's words, he struggled for a while and asked: "Chief, how can we build such a big ship?"
Jiang Xuan smiled and said: "For such a big ship, it is definitely not possible to rely on fire to burn wood and those few stone adzes. We need new tools, tools that are better and more convenient than stone adzes!"
"Then where are we going to find new tools?" Jingjie felt that her 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 have to select a few warriors with the most experience in shipbuilding and the toughest words in your fishing team, and I will select some people from other places to be responsible for shipbuilding."
Jingjie nodded hurriedly and said, "Okay, leader, I'll pick someone up right now."
Jiang Xuan hurriedly grabbed him and said: "Don't rush, don't rush, the new tools haven't been made yet, you choose slowly."
Jingjie then sat down again and listened to Jiang Xuan continue to talk about the shipyard and the fleet that might be formed in the future.
Jiang Xuan told him that this world is not only filled with small rivers like Feiyu River, but also raging rivers, large rivers, and even the vast ocean.
If the Vine Tribe can build a huge fleet, it can travel to far, far away places along these waters, obtain a large amount of resources, and help the tribe develop...
Jingjie felt his heart surge as he listened to the scenes described by Jiang Xuan, and a seed of sailing on a long voyage was quietly planted in his heart.
…
Jiang Xuan entered the smelting workshop again and began to make various shipbuilding tools.
He first used the lost wax method to make a large number of pottery models, hammers of various sizes, saws of various lengths, chisels of various types, planers for planing boards, bronze nails, and even small anchors...
Finally, he also made several pottery models of scissors and kitchen knives, which were used by himself and Chi Shao.
If the Vine Tribe becomes strong enough in the future and is not afraid of the exposure of bronze weapons, he hopes that everyone in the Vine Tribe will be able to use convenient and fast daily tools such as bronze scissors and kitchen knives.
Later, he began to think about the copper-tin ratio of various tools.
In order to make a bronze dagger, he had done a lot of experiments before. He had recorded what kind of copper-tin ratio and what kind of effect it could produce.
Therefore, when making tools this time, he was not as blind as before. At least the tools he made were definitely useful regardless of whether they were good or not.
For example, a saw is specially used to cut wood. It does not need to be very tough, it only needs to be hard enough to ensure that it is sharp enough.
Therefore, the ratio of copper and tin used by Jiang Xuan on the saw is five parts copper and one part tin.
While making tools, Jiang Xuan also ordered the digging of an artificial lake and the construction of houses by the river in his second residence, far away from the crowd, and even surrounded that area with a wall.
With the artificial lake, after the boat is built, it can be directly launched into the water for testing. If the boat is relatively large, it can also be driven directly into the river through the artificial lake.
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 surrounds the artificial lake and a wide riverside beach.
A part of the soldiers from the second guard team were specially assigned to guard this place, and no unrelated personnel were allowed to approach.
Jiang Xuan summoned three apprentices from the stone tool workshop who were talented at carpentry, plus three warriors from the fishing team who were good at shipbuilding. A total of six people became the first batch of personnel in the shipyard.
On the fifth day of June, the Tengzu Shipyard officially started construction.
On the day when the construction started, only Jiang Xuan, Chi Shao, Uncaria, Stone Loach, Nan Xing, Schizonepeta and six selected people attended.
Next to the artificial lake, there is a large open space. Several tall houses, all made of mud bricks, have been 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 Vine Tribe Shipyard starts construction. It should be lively, but in order to keep it secret, no other people can be allowed to come over."
"Can anyone tell me what the ship is for?"
One soldier thought for a moment and said, "For fishing, for crossing the river."
Jiang Xuan smiled and said: "Yes, you are right, but do you know how big the largest fish is and how wide is the widest river?"
The warriors looked at each other and then shook their heads.
Jiang Xuan pointed at the Feiyu River and said: "This river in our Teng tribe is a small river. The small river flows downwards and gathers with other small rivers to become a big river. If the big river continues to gather other water flows, it will become a big river. It’s getting bigger and bigger, so big that you can’t even imagine it.”
"Let's put it this way, if you try to rock the boat from one side of the river to the other, you may not be able to do it in half a day. You may even be swept away by the big waves and capsize the boat."
"Is the big river the largest body of water? No, there are many, many big rivers that flow into the sea. The sea is countless times larger than our entire Southern Wilderness, and there are really big fish living in it."
"How big is the big fish? It's as big as a mountain. If it swam to us, Feiyu River wouldn't even be able to hold it."
Jiang Xuan's description stunned the six warriors. Their knowledge limited their imagination, making it impossible for them to imagine what the river and the sea were like.
How much does a fish as big as a mountain have to eat every day?
Even Chi Shao and the others behind Jiang Xuan were shocked and speechless.
They have no doubt about Jiang Xuan's words, because Jiang Xuan has created so many things that they have never seen or heard of.
They were in a remote corner of the Southern Wilderness. What they thought about the most before was how to survive, and what they thought about most was to establish a larger tribe.
But now, Jiang Xuan's words have opened their eyes and let them know that there is a wider world outside the mountains, and there are many things that they could not imagine.
"So, the purpose of building our boats is not only to fish and cross rivers, but also to explore a wider and more exciting world!"
"Of course, it's a little early to say that now."
"Our shipyard has just started construction. The goal at this stage is to make the first real boat out of wooden boards instead of a canoe made by fire."
"In order to make the boat, the soldiers in the smelting workshop and I specially made a batch of tools. These tools are the first to be used by the entire tribe and the shipyard, so they must be kept secret."
Jiang Xuan's eyes became sharp: "If someone leaks the information about the tools, not only will the leaker 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 Goudo and the others felt the pressure.
"Of course, if you work for the tribe, the tribe will never treat you badly."
"As long as a new ship can be built, everyone will receive a very generous reward."
…
"Okay, I've said all that needs to be said. I announce that the shipyard has officially started!" After Jiang Xuan finished speaking, he led everyone into the newly built house and showed them brand new bronze tools and these tools. usage.
"This is called a saw. It can cut wood easily, and it can also saw wood into planks. Just watch!"
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, your hand must be steady and the saw must not be biased, otherwise it will get caught easily.”
As Jiang Xuan continued to cut down, the bronze hand saw quickly sank into the wood, and wood chips flew into the air.
"Boom!"
Before long, the wood was sawed into two pieces and rolled several times on the ground.
Everyone around Jiang Xuan's eyes lit up, this tool was so useful.
You know, in the past, if they wanted to break wood, they could only use stone axes to chop it bit by bit, and larger wood had to be burned by fire.
Now, with the saw, the wood can be cut easily, and the speed has increased countless times.
"This is an axe. You should be familiar with it. However, this bronze ax is much sharper than a stone axe."
Jiang Xuan picked up a bronze ax again and struck the wood with the axe. The ax blade sank deeply into the wood.
Afterwards, Jiang Xuan kept swinging the ax, and soon he cut a flat surface on the wood.
Those soldiers became even more excited. If the stone ax was to be cut like this, it would take at least a long time to cut it.
Jiang Xuan picked up another bronze plane and said, "This tool can make the wood smoother. Just watch."
Jiang Xuan laid the wood flat on the ground, then held both ends of the bronze planer with both hands. He pushed it gently, and a thin shaving appeared.
As he continued to push, the surface of the wood quickly became smooth, with no burrs visible...
"This is called a chisel..."
Jiang Xuanyang showed them these bronze tools one by one and explained their usage in detail.
Everyone present looked at these golden tools and felt as if they were in a dream, feeling dizzy.
