From Robinson Crusoe

If Chen Zhou could remain calm when he heard the natives playing with their fishing rods,

When he learned that there was someone suspected to be from the civilized world among the people who landed on the island, he could no longer remain calm.

For someone who also possesses guns and has certain knowledge beyond the natives' understanding, it may be easier for him to fool the natives than for him.

After all, these people are born robbers and swindlers.

If no outsider broke this "window paper", he would always be able to stand above the natives and look down on them from a superior attitude.

But these sailors from the industrially developed regions of the 17th century were very likely to shake his rule.

Of course, as the backbone of the two natives and the nominal "controller" of the island, despite the ups and downs in his heart, Chen Zhou's expression remained unchanged, and even the tone of his questioning seemed calmer than before.

God will not panic over such trivial matters.

Once your lofty image in the minds of the natives is destroyed due to poor performance, it will be difficult to manage them in the future.

……

Chen Zhou's disguise was perfect. Zhou Ri did not notice his emotional changes. He just stood in front of him and narrated everything he observed in a clear and slow manner.

Since Sunday did not discover the arrival of these natives on the island immediately, he did not know their exact number.

Based on the number of people that could be seen and the size of the canoe, it was estimated that there were at least 14 and at most 18 indigenous people who landed on the island.

These people are all men, and except for the one who is wearing clothes, the rest are naked.

Their weapons are mainly wooden spears, but there are exceptions.

Sunday said he observed two natives holding what appeared to be metal knives, very similar to the iron knives that Chen Zhou had given them for cutting grass.

……

The threat posed by cold weapons to him was minimal, so Chen Zhou didn't care.

After listening to Sunday's talk, he asked two more questions that he was most concerned about:

Are there any other boats on the sea besides this canoe? A large boat with a unique shape.

Does the man in clothes have blond hair, red hair, or black hair? Is he holding any weapon like a gun?

……

After hearing the question, Sunday closed his mouth, thought seriously for a while, and gave his answer.

He didn't pay much attention to whether there were other ships on the sea. He was only concerned with counting the number of people and checking their weapons. However, one thing was certain, there were definitely no large ships near the shore.

As for the color of the man's hair, he could not observe it because he was wearing a hat.

No definite answer could be given on Sunday as to whether there were weapons.

He could only say in a vague tone: "It seems not, I didn't see it."

……

The original version of Robinson Crusoe never mentioned that sailors suspected to be from the civilized world landed on the island in the third year after Robinson was stranded on the island.

When this happened, Chen Zhou's ability to predict the future that he had always relied on became useless.

He had to consider whether his actions of rescuing the captives and disrupting the tribal sacrifices had caused changes, leading to the current situation.

Of course, since Sunday said that this group of natives were slightly different from the people in the larger tribe, there could be other reasons.

But no matter what, when a "guest" knocks on the door, it is time for the host to go out and take a look.

Whether it is an enemy or a friend, whether to kill or keep, there must be an explanation.

……

Tell Sunday to call Saturday back so that they can go down the mountain together later.

Chen Zhou estimated that the natives who landed on the island might not know that someone had discovered their whereabouts, so he planned to focus on observation first.

After fully understanding the distribution of the indigenous people and seeing through the background of that "civilized man", we can decide what attitude to take and when to take action.

He knew that he would not launch an attack at the first opportunity, nor would he risk getting close to the natives and arouse their vigilance.

Chen Zhou did not wear heavy rattan armor. He only carried a mountaineering bag, a hand axe, and the first mate's telescope, as well as his newly made rifle that had not yet been used in actual combat, and more than 30 Minié bullets that had just been loaded.

While waiting to return on Saturday and Sunday, he also put his revolver in his waist for safety.

In this way, as long as he does not make any mistakes and runs within 200 meters of the "civilized person" and maintains a distance of 400 to 500 meters, he will be invincible.

In fact, the distance of 200 meters seems too conservative.

Although the theoretical effective range of the 17th century matchlock gun could reach 100 meters, its actual effective range was at most 60 meters.

To be more precise, if the distance is over 50 meters, whether the bullet of the musket can hit the target depends on luck.

Not to mention that he had opened up a distance of 400 meters.

Even if you really stand within 200 meters, it is impossible to be killed by a single shot from a musket.

If he was really beaten to death, and had the luck to be struck by lightning even on a sunny day, he would probably have died in an accident long ago.

……

Not long after, Saturday and Sunday returned to the cave together, panting.

Calling Lai Fu who was sleeping under the wall, the three of them and the dog set off directly down the mountain.

In order to take care of the two teenagers who had just undergone intense exercise, Chen Zhou deliberately slowed down his pace to give them enough time to recover.

As he walked along, Chen Zhou felt quite uneasy.

Ever since he first saw the natives land on the island, he had always been accustomed to thinking that the natives would only land from the northeast corner. Subsequent experiences further confirmed this, causing him to deploy most of the defense facilities and camouflage projects in the northeast corner.

The place where he landed on the island, which was the side where he received the mysterious reward, had almost no defensive facilities such as watchtowers or traps.

Not only that, due to the long-term transportation of building materials or materials sent as rewards from the stockpile on the beach to the mountain, an obvious path has actually been formed from the bottom of the mountain to the top.

Any native who had sight, had he continued up the path from the camp, would have quickly guessed that the island was inhabited.

In other words, during the time when we returned to the cave to report on Sunday, the clever natives were very likely to have already come up along the trail.

This potential threat is what he worries about most.

……

Fortunately, Chen Zhou was very familiar with the terrain of the forest. After realizing that there was a possibility of an encounter with the natives, he immediately led Saturday and Sunday away from the flat road and instead walked through the dense forest.

The rifle in his hand was loaded early.

Every time he walked a certain distance and approached a high point in the forest, Chen Zhou would raise his telescope and look down in the hope of spotting the enemy in advance.

But the natives seemed to be still playing with his fishing rod and were not very interested in what was happening on the mountain.

After cautiously moving forward for a distance and observing for a while, Chen Zhou did not see any trace of the natives until he was close to the camp at the foot of the mountain, let alone the "civilized man" wearing a hat.

I don't know whether I should be glad that the natives were not curious enough, or feel sorry that there was no one blind enough to test the power of this gun.

We stopped about 500 meters above the woodland and chose a high point with a wide view.

Holding up the telescope, Chen Zhou began to observe the natives around the big wooden house mentioned on Sunday.

……

My sight followed the monocular of the telescope, passed over the thick branches of the trees, and floated to the side of the wooden house.

As Sunday said, there were several natives standing outside the wooden house, some holding fishing rods, some holding fish baskets, and some holding the stainless steel poles of parasols, looking like they had just had enough fun. Although the crowd did not play with fishing rods and other items, they knew that these were rare items.

They all held it tightly in their hands and were very cautious when communicating with their companions, as if they were afraid that someone else would snatch away their precious baby.

Chen Zhou shifted his gaze away from the objects in the native's hand and moved the telescope slightly. He focused his gaze and saw the clothed man that Zhou Ri had mentioned.

His status was obviously higher than that of many natives. At this moment, he was standing at the door of the wooden house, with his head raised and his hands on his hips, looking around the entire wooden house.

Maybe because the hat was too stuffy, he took it off, revealing his brown curly hair.
It was too far away to see the man's specific appearance. I could only see that he was wearing a gray coat with 17th century characteristics, a pair of black leather boots, and there seemed to be a rapier or long knife hanging around his waist.

Although he couldn't observe his expression from a distance, Chen Zhou could guess his thoughts -

“He must have been wondering why there was an artificial structure on the island.

What puzzled him was probably more than just this wooden house. The things found in the wooden house would probably surprise more than just the natives.

Even a educated 'civilized man' like him probably couldn't figure out what materials those things were made of, or what they were used for."

"But it's easy to guess what this guy is thinking now. I'm really stumped as to why he brought the natives to the island...

I can't understand the language these people speak, so even if I catch him alive, I'm afraid it will be difficult to figure out his purpose."

……

Taking advantage of the good vision, Chen Zhou scanned the brown-haired man from top to bottom several times.

In the end he confirmed that the man did not have a gun and his only weapon was the cold weapon at his waist.

This discovery made Chen Zhou feel relieved——

With a gun in hand, cold weapons, especially this kind of melee weapon, cannot cause any harm to him.

Even if he was lying on the mountain with a broken leg, he could still kill the brown-haired man before he rushed to him.

……

"Oh, so you didn't bring a gun, that's easy!

I like to pick on weaklings like you the most."

Knowing that his opponent did not have the ability to cause harm to him, Chen Zhou immediately gained confidence and took the two natives further down the mountain.

He stopped several times along the way and carefully counted the number of all the natives.

The number of natives who landed on the island this time was not large. Including the special brown-haired man, there were only 15 people in total.

Moreover, these 15 people took the initiative to disperse. 10 of them gathered on the beach, and only 5 stayed by the wooden house, which gave him the opportunity to defeat them one by one.

……

The two indigenous teenagers have been trained to be trustworthy subordinates, and there is a shortage of labor on the island.

When Chen Zhou saw this group of indigenous warriors, he felt as if he had seen a group of moving animals. He wanted to capture them all and make them work for him.

However, the total number of natives was still too large. If they were all captured, he might not be able to keep the situation under control on Saturday and Sunday without him showing up.

Therefore, it is best to do some screening in advance, retaining some natives who are not in very good physical condition, have kind faces, and look easy to manage, and the rest can be killed directly.

Chen Zhou believes that on Saturdays and Sundays each person can manage up to three people, and he can also help tame one or two more.

In this way, you need to select eight suitable targets among the natives, and then eliminate the rest.

……

Already having a plan in mind, Chen Zhou did not hide it. He took the two natives to a secluded place and told them his plan in detail.

He did not choose to whitewash his purpose and add a high-sounding reason for his actions of killing and enslaving.

Using very straightforward words, Chen Zhou first emphasized that the island was his territory.

This group of uninvited natives and the brown-haired man with ulterior motives are undoubtedly shameful invaders.

The invaders should all have been killed.

But he is kind-hearted, and the "God" they believe in will also show leniency.

Therefore, among this group of people, eight lucky ones will be left behind, and like the two of them, they will atone their sins through labor. If they behave well, they will also be able to live a happy life like them.

Of course, if these "lucky ones" are ignorant of their own lives and think about escaping or resisting all day long, it won't take much effort to deprive them of their lives.

……

Saturday and Sunday always obeyed orders and had no objection to Chen Zhou's plan.

They even felt inexplicably excited and expectant at the thought that they would be able to teach the knowledge passed down by God to equally ignorant people in the future.

Chen Zhou noticed the change in their mood, and worriedly reminded them not to let their guard down.

Now these two are completely different from the natives.

In addition, they had been away from bloody conflicts for a long time and lived a relatively comfortable pastoral life. Chen Zhou was very worried that they would be harmed or even killed directly because of their over-trust in the natives under their command.

It took a lot of effort to train these two talents, and they have developed feelings for each other after spending so much time together. He would rather not have these captives than see Saturday and Sunday die due to negligence.

The two of them readily agreed and stated that they would not be too lenient with their subordinates.

However, Chen Zhou felt that what these two immature natives said was easy, but whether they could actually do it was probably another matter.

At that time, he would probably have to set an example for the two natives and show them what punishment means.

……

Observing the natives through a telescope across a dense forest, Chen Zhou pointed out the few people who were left behind for Saturday and Sunday one by one, and asked them to choose in advance the people they wanted to manage.

Afterwards, he ordered the two men to return to the cave to get weapons and ropes to tie up the captives, while he himself continued to stay near the shore, watching the group of people for any unusual behavior.

……

Before returning on Saturday and Sunday, Chen Zhou moved his observation position again out of concern and took a closer look at the sea.

What worried him most was the brown-haired man.

He was afraid that the man was serving as an advance team, with a huge merchant ship or a raiding ship following behind him, equipped with guns, cannons, and fully armed sailors.

If he acted rashly at that time, the gunshots would alarm the boats behind the man, and three or five sampans with dozens of guns would land together. Even if he had more advanced firearms, he could not guarantee that he would escape unscathed.

……

To Chen Zhou's relief, after observation, he did not find any extra ships on the sea.

The sea is calm and cloudless, and you can see through the sea level from a high place.

As long as there is a large ship anchored near the coast, it is basically impossible to turn a blind eye.

Looking around, in the vast expanse of sea water reflecting the blue sky, there was only a small canoe dragged ashore by the natives and thrown by the water.

Even if we assume the worst case scenario -

The large ship did not stop near the island, but was waiting for the advance team to return out of sight, and could not pose a threat to him.

The gunshots could not be heard because they were too far away. If there really was a large ship to pick them up, by the time the people on the ship realized that something was wrong, all the people who had landed on the island would have been killed by him.

At that time, we would destroy the paths in the forest, set up traps in advance, and fight guerrilla warfare with rifles that have a longer range and are more accurate.

Even if there were a hundred people landing on the island at one time, they would still be exhausted and pay a heavy price.

What's more, these are a group of natives who can't even afford clothes, and are only equipped with a few broken knives and a few rotten spears. It is still unknown whether they have support. (End of this chapter)