From Robinson Crusoe

Chapter 87 Earthen Rice Huller (long), Water-powered Rice Huller (dui) and Millstone
Lambs that are more than five months old are actually not suitable for eating. Their bodies are not strong enough and the amount of meat can be increased.

If it weren't for Gadan's mistake, Chen Zhou would definitely spare its life and wait until it grew to about 100 kilograms before taking action.

However, since there was no way to stop the bleeding and the sheep would surely die if it was not killed, he could only let go of the burden and enjoy the mutton.

With his skillful technique, he quickly divided the entire sheep.

The sheepskin is peeled and stretched out for tanning.

The sheep's internal organs were extremely tender and fresh, with no visible signs of disease. After being stewed, they were given as rewards to Lai Fu and Tu Zi, whose performance was getting better and better.

A pot of soup was stewed with the mutton, and the remaining mutton was fried into jerky and stored for some time to be eaten slowly.

Even the product of the "failed operation" - the two testicles - were not wasted. They were cut, washed, put on wooden sticks and grilled.

……

On May 5, when Chen Zhou opened the lid of the bucket to take out the noodles as usual, he found that this was the last half bucket of noodles.

Since arriving on the island, he had learned from books in advance that there were abundant resources here, including large flocks of goats, wild pigeons, fish and fruits. So he became very relaxed and ate almost without restraint.

The food taken down from the ship is indeed a huge fortune for a person, but if you live beyond your means, it will eventually be used up.

The white bread, which tasted the best, was sold out first.

The hard bread could not have lasted that long, but fortunately they caught two seals, which provided a large amount of meat, allowing them to survive until now.

At this time, in the kitchen, apart from the remaining bread in the barrel, there were only some dried seal meat, leftover mutton, rabbit meatballs, a few large pieces of dried kelp, a small pile of lemons, two and a half boxes of flour, and two bags of black bread sticks that even dogs wouldn't eat.

Considering that meat is relatively abundant at present and can replace more than half of the carbohydrates, Chen Zhou feels that at the current rate, his food reserves will be enough for him to consume for another two months.

Two months is enough time for the first batch of crops in the fields to mature.

But the total amount of crops in this batch is too small. Excluding the part reserved for seeds, even if the remaining rice, barley and wheat are added together and eaten sparingly, they will not last until the second season's grain is ripe.

Fortunately, after the first batch of seeds mature, as long as he can hold on for another two months, he will be able to harvest the second batch of food.

This is because when he planted the various mysterious herbs in the ship doctor's jar in the nursery in front of the cave on March 3, he also picked up the remaining rice and wheat seeds and put them in the jar to grow seedlings.

The second batch of seeds was not as good as the first batch.

The only advantage is the large quantity, which makes up for the shortcoming of germination rate.

After more than a month of germination and growth, it is strong enough to be transplanted into the fields on a large scale.

Chen Zhouyuan did not pay as much attention to the second batch of crop seedlings as he did the first time he planted the land.

I just roughly counted them and remembered that there were about 280 rice seedlings and 340 barley and wheat plants.

After the wild rabbits were severely hit, the safety factor of the fields was significantly improved. There was almost no need to worry about the tender seedlings being eaten by rabbits. Otherwise, he would never dare to transplant the seedlings into the fields.

As for the harassment from birds, it is actually not as serious as what Robinson encountered in the book.

Chen Zhou guessed that this might be because of the different locations of farming, just like Robinson Crusoe did not have his crops destroyed on a large scale by rabbits.

The mountains and hills are the activity areas of the two animals, and the problems they arise are naturally different.

……

When checking the condition of crops in the fields in the morning, Chen Zhou felt that the rice could be harvested in three to five days.

If we calculate the time, rice, barley and wheat were all planted on January 1, and it has been four months now.

The rice varieties of the 17th century were not of high quality, matured late, and had low yields.

He felt it was not easy to water, weed and take care of the crops for such a long time and finally make it to the harvest day.

Wheat grows slower than rice, and has been affected by the rainy season, so it has not yet bloomed. Chen Zhou estimates that it may have to wait until June or later before the wheat can be harvested.

……

Plan ahead.

As the harvest was approaching, Chen Zhou planned to put aside matters such as building the exterior wall, transporting supplies, and killing rabbits, and first build the rice husker and rice pounding machine.

As the saying goes, those who know how to do it will not find it difficult, and those who know how to do it will not find it difficult.

Having studied the structure of modern rice hullers, although not having much contact with rice, Chen Zhou knew how to design and manufacture a primitive rice huller.

There was a record about rice milling in "The Exploitation of the Works of Nature". The principle was to use gravity to cause the upper and lower rice milling teeth to rub against each other, thus peeling off the husk of the rice.

The overall design of the earthen rice hull is relatively advanced. It looks like a multi-layer millstone connected up and down, with long grooves engraved on the millstone that match the size of rice grains.

After pouring rice into the top feed port, the millstone is rotated by human, animal, wind or water power to allow the rice grains to enter the middle of the groove. Under the continuous friction of the rice husk teeth, the rice grains are finally "slimmed down" and slide out of the millstone along the groove and fall into the discharge port.

The husks are removed by wind after husking, and the remaining rice grains are the rice grains.

However, when it comes to the rice grains, the processing of the rice is not yet complete, because there is still a layer of rice skin on the surface of the rice grains, which needs to be pounded in a mortar with water before it can be eaten.

Among the several processing machines, the most complicated one is the rice mill.

The outer layer needs to use a cylinder to hold the rice, and the inner layer has three layers of grinding discs, wooden baffles, a structure for rotating the grinding discs, and a large disc that holds the discharge port...

All in all, the materials are nothing special, mostly wood, clay, stone and the like, but the carpentry skills required of the maker are relatively high.

In recent times, apart from carving a semi-finished arched load-bearing beam out of wood, Chen Zhou has basically not done any carpentry work.

He was a little unsure about taking on such a "big project" all of a sudden.

Moreover, after making the earthen rice husk and sifting out the rice husks, the third step of making the water-based rice husk is also a troublesome task.

As a relatively advanced device for processing grain using water power, levers, and concave gear principles, the water pestle requires a large number of round parts.

Chen Zhou hasn't even figured out how to hand-carve wheels yet, so it's a big challenge for him to make a water mill with higher precision and more parts.

However, challenges aside, Chen Zhou felt that with his knowledge, it would not be difficult to design a usable rice shelling and pounding machine by referring to earthen rice hullers and water pestles. The key to the entire project actually lies in his hands-on ability.

Besides, these are the equipment that will have to be prepared sooner or later. If he is asked to peel the shells manually and cook the raw rice, his stomach, which is used to modern rice, probably can't stand it. He will have stomachache after just a few meals.

Besides, after the rice is ripe and harvested, there will be barley and wheat waiting for him.

Fortunately, the process of processing wheat into flour is not as complicated as processing paddy into rice, and only requires a grinding wheel.

If there is no millstone, you can also make a pestle and mortar by hand like Robinson did. However, the flour made will not be as fine as that ground by a millstone, and the taste will be greatly reduced.

……

Throughout the day on May 5, Chen Zhou hardly left the cave except for going to the wooden house to look after the crops.

Under the shadow of the rock wall, he sat at the door of the bedroom, with a small table beside him, a homemade pen in his hand, a notebook on his legs, and carefully drawing the blueprint, thinking over the steps in his mind.

After hundreds of years of development, as well as the iteration of steam industry, electrification industry, information industry and even intelligent industry, the equipment from the Ming and Qing dynasties has completely deviated from the modern processing machinery. Even the processing principles that are least likely to change have undergone earth-shaking changes.

Compared with the complex and precise structures of metal, rubber or plastic required by modern machinery, such as interference fit parts, friction wheel transmission, drive shaft, clutch, bearing, base, lubrication system and spring, the earthen rice huller made of only wood, clay and stone, ancient glue and some iron products looks like an indigenous person from primitive society.

Most of what Chen Zhou learned in class could not be applied to the design of earthen rice hulls, water-powered pestles and millstones.

Many times, he was unable to calculate how much pressure the wooden structure could withstand, and how resistant it was to wear and corrosion, and could only estimate based on his own experience.

There were so many restrictions that his design process was very painful.

Sometimes when his thoughts hit a dead end, he would miss various processing equipment and processed metal blocks such as lathes, milling machines, drilling machines, planers, grinders, boring machines, etc.

If he had these things and sufficient power reserves, in 28 years, he could make this island the most technologically advanced region on earth in the 17th century.

They could even develop several gun production lines and lead the indigenous people of South America to blow the clarion call against aggression and colonization centuries in advance.

Unfortunately, there is no "if" in this world. Now he only has a unique "super-time and space cutting machine", which can only cut straight lines and can only be used once every 15 days.

……

The breeze blows gently, and the island, which has entered the dry season, is filled with the hotness that only occurs in the summer in the north during the day.

Chen Zhou habitually put his fingers on his head, occasionally picking up a handful of hair and rubbing it, using the pain to help himself concentrate.

There were already several design drawings with slightly different structures drawn on the notebook, and another page was densely filled with records of his sudden inspirations and details that had been overlooked before.

This kind of work that consumes a lot of brainpower can make people unconsciously become anxious.

So every two hours of work, Chen Zhou would stand up, temporarily put down his notebook, walk around the door, touch Lai Fu's furry head, or rub Xiao Huihui's plump belly.

Sometimes, when Lai Fu was too lazy to pay attention to him and Xiao Huihui hid away because he hated his restless big hands, he would squat beside the nursery outside the wall and study the herbs grown from unknown seeds in the ship's doctor's jar.

Nearly fifty days had passed, and those seeds with different appearances had all sprouted and grown, with tall stems and leaves, each becoming distinctive.

Not to mention, there are actually a few types among these that Chen Zhou recognizes.

Among them were nettles, fennel and mint that he had seen in science videos.

There is also a plant similar to the common false fangfeng in the north, which is said to be a medicinal herb that can treat abdominal pain and bloating.

But Chen Zhou knew that his knowledge of botany was very limited. He was not sure that the similar plants he saw were the plants he knew, and he did not dare to taste them.

As for nettles, fennel and mint, he was almost certain of it.

This is because all three plants have distinctive characteristics, such as the unique smell of mint and fennel, and the red spots and painful itching caused by nettle stings, which are characteristics that are difficult for other plants to imitate.

Of the three plants, fennel is the most valuable to Chen Zhou.

Fennel leaves can be used as dumpling fillings with meat or eggs. The taste is excellent and it can also eliminate the fishy smell of meat during cooking, making it a good partner for lamb.

Mint is widely used in Western cuisine, but is rarely seen in Chinese cuisine, or in the food in Chen Zhou’s hometown.

If you go shopping in a supermarket, you can often see mint toothpaste and breath-freshening mints on the toothpaste or candy shelves.

Chen Zhou had heard that mint and tea leaves could be made into mint tea, and with white wine could be made into mint wine, and could also be used for cold dishes or porridge, but he had never experienced these foods.

However, when people are on an isolated island and life is boring, they always have to find something new. As long as it does not harm their health, he is quite brave to try it.

When the mint grows and the rice is processed, he might cook a pot of mint rice porridge when he has free time.

……

When studying or working, time always seems to go so slowly.

Not knowing how many hairs he twisted out, Chen Zhou finally waited until the sun set. He finished drawing the design and worked out the specific work steps.

In order to make up for his wounded heart and damaged brain cells, he opened a can of yellow peaches and grilled a few skewers of lamb in the evening and rewarded himself with a big meal.

……

On the night of May 5, Chen Zhou had an exceptionally long and heavy dream.

The dream was filled with neat geometric shapes: squares, circles, and angles, forming a prison that trapped him.

The sky and the earth are empty, with no clear boundaries. In this empty world, only puzzle-like design drawings and various simple tools and materials are left.

He looked at the familiar tools such as chisel, hammer, hand saw, axe and materials such as wood, water, and white clay, feeling extremely desperate.

……

On the morning of May 5, the exhausted Chen Zhou lifted the seal skin quilt, pushed away the fat cat Xiao Huihui who was pressing on his chest, and like a prisoner released after serving his sentence, he let out a long breath, climbed out of bed neatly, and began to wash.

Even when he lit a fire and sat beside the stove, staring at the steam rising from the iron kettle in a trance, he still felt that he was holding a chisel in one hand and a hammer in the other, knocking on the wood.

After finishing his breakfast in a daze, Chen Zhou saw Lai Fu coming to him with his tail wagging, jumping and hopping, half stretching, as if he wanted to invite him to go out and play.

Thinking that he was going to make a small earthen rice huller model today and test whether there were any problems with the process and structure first, and that time was limited, he pushed Lai Fu's head away to express his refusal.

However, Lai Fu was not as obedient as usual today. After being pushed away three times, he still stuck to her relentlessly, like a dog-skin plaster.

Just as he was wondering about Lai Fu's performance, Chen Zhou suddenly remembered that it was the day to claim the 15th mysterious reward.

Since landing on the island, the past half month has been the fastest half month for him. There is no pressure and no need to engage in heavy physical labor.

Sometimes I go fishing and before I know it, the whole afternoon is gone.

Or just draw a picture and spend the whole day in a daze.

A simple calculation shows that 225 days have passed since the challenge began, and in just over four months, it will be the first anniversary.

"You kid, you remember it more clearly than I do. I think you are going to become a spirit!"

Patting Lai Fu's solid back, Chen Zhou picked up his hatchet and bag and prepared to go down the mountain to see if he had any harvest from the rabbit trap.

Since he started to get rid of rabbits seriously and paid attention to observation and thinking during the hunting process, his success rate in setting traps has been getting higher and higher.

As long as you find the rabbit trail and the rabbit that made it is still alive, you will almost never fail.

Although there is enough rabbit meat in the cave, Lai Fu and Xiao Huihui have been big consumers of food for more than ten years.

Now the food reserves in the cave are running low, and Lai Fu's routine "two cakes a day" have been replaced by rabbit sausages.

Chen Zhou would not ignore any place where he could save food. He had already begun to learn how to be frugal.

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(End of this chapter)