Zhang Lisheng's utilitarian question of not asking about the process and only looking at the result made Aruba, who was initially eloquent, choke on his words.
After lowering his head and calculating for a long time, the chief craftsman of the tribe finally gave his answer. "Great Conqueror, the key to making an iron ship is to rebuild the dock. I've calculated that the first iron ship should be launched after the sun rises and sets forty times.
However, with experience, the speed of shipbuilding will become faster and faster. During the coldest winter, you'll be able to get at least 40 iron ships that can transport 5,000 Hellfire people across the sea.
It should be enough for an expedition. "
"Can it be that fast?" Zhang Lisheng, who thought it would take at least two to three years to calculate based on the shipyard's shipbuilding speed during the steam era on Earth, asked in astonishment.
"Conqueror, there are 97 ironware workshops like this in the Red Mountain Furnace." A proud expression suddenly flashed across Aruba's face as he pointed at the wooden frame several dozens of meters beside him and said with determination, "Thousands of craftsmen with partners and 100,000 Wizard Li tribesmen are working day and night in the furnace and dock. We'll definitely be able to build enough iron ships for you in winter."
"Aruba, I believe you can do what you say." Zhang Lisheng nodded with a look of admiration on his face. After pondering for a while, he suddenly said, "Oh yeah, I have something interesting to show you. It should be able to motivate you to build ships faster."
As the young man spoke, he walked to the stone mold piled up like a mountain and picked up a piece of dirty cloth that was used to wipe the mold from the ground. He pulled out more than ten tough silk threads from the rough corner of the cloth and kneaded them into a ball, turning the dirty cloth into a wrinkled and irregular parachute shape.
Then, the young man came to the edge of the sea of fire. His palms turned into sharp claws, and he scooped up a handful of hot magma from the rolling lava with his bare hands and wrapped it around the ball of thread.
The magma attached to the high-temperature silk thread and continued to burn the air. Not long after, the entire piece of dirty cloth began to swell up. At this time, Zhang Lisheng gently let go of the cloth and it slowly flew into the air.
What the young man did was only the simplest hot air balloon experiment, but in the eyes of the Wizard Li craftsmen, in particular, when Aruba saw this scene, his eyes widened right away. It was as though he had forgotten that the tribal overlord was by his side. Staring at the flying mottled dirty cloth, he muttered, "D-It's flying …
It flew, it flew … "
"That's right, it's flying now." Zhang Lisheng shrugged and walked back to Tumulu. "After you're done imitating the iron ship, you can study how to make this flying cloth thousands of times bigger so that it can fly with living people and goods."
"Great Conqueror, it's very simple. Just install a wooden cabin under the cloth and use the steam propeller on the iron ship to drive it. With that, it will be able to run, no, fly very fast …" Aruba raised his head and looked at the dirty cloth that was slowly falling off after the lava burned away. He was able to see through the crux of the matter with just a glance.
"Looks like I don't need to give you any more hints, Aruba. This kind of cloth that can fly is called an airship. Try making it next time."
"An airship, an airship …" Aruba mumbled, "This is a magical item.
Great Conqueror, thank you for opening a new curtain for me. "Then, the Wizard Li chief craftsman bowed deeply towards the Conqueror.
"I've only lifted a piece of cloth in front of you. You still have to discover the real wonderful world by yourself." Zhang Lisheng chuckled. "Alright, I won't disturb your work anymore. Go ahead and continue with your wonderful ideas, Aruba."
After saying so, the Wizard Li overlord turned around and was about to leave. Without warning, he heard the hesitant voice of the tribal chief craftsman resonating from behind, "Great Conqueror, I-I have something to ask of you …"
"Just say it, Tumulu." Zhang Lisheng stopped and turned to look at the Wizard Li chief craftsman who wanted to say something but hesitated.
"It's like this, Great Conqueror. After being enlightened by your wisdom, I realized that sometimes, the mind of a good craftsman can be better than the hard work of 100 strong Hellfire slaves day and night. Even though there are many craftsmen in Wizard Li now, it's still not enough compared to the needs …"
"You want to choose some craftsmen from your tribesmen? That's not a problem," Zhang Lisheng interrupted with a smile.
"But ordinary Hellfire tribesmen don't know how to read at all. More than 80% of them still use bark ropes to record things, so they can't become craftsmen at all."
"In that case, all of you craftsmen will have to work harder and choose some clever tribesmen to teach them how to read first …" Zhang Lisheng casually said and suddenly noticed a strange bright gleam flashing across Tumulu's eyes. His heart jolted, "Aruba, y-you want to teach all Wizard Li tribesmen how to read?"
"Yes, Great Conqueror!" Tumulu knelt on the ground, ignoring the heat of the ground. Crouching, he said, "The tribal craftsmen don't have time, but many of the chief warriors know how to read. I hope that you can order them to teach the tribesmen how to read at night after a day of work."
Writing was the carrier of civilization, and the development of civilization came from a deep accumulation.
Take the Earth civilization as an example. For thousands of years before and after the Christian calendar, humans had been living the same life of fighting for land with swords and spears and using livestock to farm and graze for food. There was no essential change.
However, when the depth of civilization had accumulated to a certain extent, a group of pioneering great scientific masters would suddenly emerge in the world one day. For this reason, in just a few decades, the height of civilization would be pushed to an unprecedented peak.
The reason why the Wizard Li tribe, this native tribe that was still in the primitive civilization stage, could miraculously carry out industrial mechanical production was because of the most basic and the most essential scientific knowledge that Zhang Lisheng had stolen from the Earth civilization. With Tumulu, a genius that was hard to come by among the natives in 10,000 years, colliding with the craftsmanship experience passed down from generation to generation by the Hellfire native craftsmen, a bright spark burst forth.
In fact, the fact that such an unexpected perfect result had actually exceeded Zhang Lisheng's expectations. He faintly understood that this kind of forceful enhancement of production capacity by relying on a lucky coincidence that was similar to winning a lottery ticket was actually like a castle built on a pile of sand. Perhaps, it would suddenly collapse overnight.
In order to avoid such a bad result, the only way to strengthen the castle was to consolidate the foundation. The best way to consolidate the foundation was to turn the barren beach of civilization into a flat land full of knowledge.
Zhang Lisheng was inadvertently enlightened by Aruba's words. With a pensive look, he said, "Aruba, your idea is very good, but it's not a good idea to let the warriors spread civilization. It's more suitable to let the craftsmen do this … Well, how about this?
Allocate all the craftsmen above the age of 55. It doesn't matter even if it delays the imitation of the iron ship. Let them be led by your father and teach the Wizard Li tribesmen, other than the warriors, to read and spread knowledge after working at night.
In the last ten days at the end of each year, allow ordinary tribesmen to recommend themselves to the craftsmen and show their craftsmanship and brains to become craftsmen apprentices. The number of apprentices will be limited to 0.5% of the tribal population.
50% of these apprentices will be eliminated after a year and another 40% will be eliminated in the second year. The rest will be bestowed with 'partners' to become official craftsmen. In the future, this will be a permanent rule in the Wizard Li tribe. "
"Great Conqueror, your wisdom makes me not dare to mention the word 'wisdom' anymore." Aruba's entire body was covered in a sour stench of sweat. His voice trembled with excitement as he said, "Don't worry, I'll definitely not delay the forging of the iron ship even if I have to risk my life. I'll definitely let your wisdom spread to the other islands by the early spring of next year."
"There's no need to risk your life, Aruba. In my opinion, your value is far above one or two small islands.
Get up. Remember to drink more water when you're working in such a hot volcano. I'll be leaving now. "After saying so, Zhang Lisheng left with light footsteps.
Looking at his disappearing silhouette in the distorted firelight, the chief craftsman of the Wizard Li tribe had a fanatical worship that was completely opposite to his wisdom in his eyes. Standing up shakily, he ignored the burn wounds on his chest and legs and shouted in a hoarse voice, "Tuhahan, Doluki … Everyone has heard the Conqueror's words.
From now on, the importance of the chief craftsman in the Wizard Li tribe will no longer be lower than the chief warrior.
Hurry! Hurry! Let this big machine move! We must build the iron ship as fast as possible and let the Conqueror know how wise his decision is … "
"Yes, Chief!" The dozens of craftsmen beside the lava replied in high spirits. After drinking a few mouthfuls of hot water, they commanded the Lohlos to start working hard again. At this time, Zhang Lisheng, on the other hand, had already walked out of the volcano and began to breathe in the cool air of the island.
In the next few days, the Wizard Li's overlord would enjoy the sea breeze by the beach, cultivating the secret method, replenishing the wizard gus in his body, and hunting beasts to kill time. Unknowingly, the day of his departure had arrived.
Early in the morning, the sky above was covered with dark clouds. It looked like a thunderstorm was about to fall. Zhang Lisheng walked out of the treehouse where the tribal tribal book of history was enshrined. Looking at the totem pole that was close at hand, he suppressed the urge to harvest the power of faith of the Hellfire tribesmen.
As he muttered to himself, "It's only been less than ten days since the last harvest. It's better for me to wait a little longer, lest I'm disappointed again …" Green scales grew on his body, and clouds gathered under his feet. Just when he was about to soar into the air, he suddenly saw a dispatch warrior commanding the giant millispiders under his crotch to rush over and kneel on the ground. "Great Conqueror, the powerful beast that you want has appeared!"
"Powerful beast?" Zhang Lisheng curled his lips. "It's not a carnivorous animal like the Sabretooth Bear or the Forest Leopard, right?"
A wizard beast that could produce a beast's soul and be absorbed by a wizard was even rarer than a wizard gu. In just a few days, the young man had already experienced several disappointments, so he did not have much hope in his tone.
"Conqueror, there's a ten-man hunting team that did not return last night. This morning, only one heavily injured warrior managed to escape back to the tribe. They encountered an Armored Dragon!"
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