Chapter 16

Originally, Hong Tao also wanted to follow Chen Ming'en into the city to see what the Song Dynasty looked like in this era. However, when Chen Ming'en mentioned the rules for entering the city, Hong Tao immediately said he had a lot of work to do by the seaside and would go later. Bow your head, don't walk in the middle of the road! This is the rule for the Tanka people when they go ashore, into the city, or into the village! Hong Tao felt he couldn't tolerate this rule; if anyone dared to bully him, he would beat them up! Why the hell should he bow his head and walk along the side? Just walking was already discriminatory, and the treatment after entering the city was unimaginable. It was unrealistic to think he could wander around like a tourist. To avoid causing trouble in the city, he decided not to go.

Actually, whether or not he saw the life of the Song people didn't matter much to Hong Tao. He had no intention of integrating into this era; living his own life was just fine. Once he had a new boat, not just the Song people, but the whole world would look up to him. Why the hell should he bow his head and walk along the side? Grandmother!

Huang Hai and the sons of the three families were not idle either. They had to get bamboo, the longer, straighter, and thicker the better. These bamboos were the main raw materials for making traps, rolling hooks, and crab cages, and they were also used by Hong Tao to make the supports for the triangular sails.

As for Hong Tao himself, he was now a "Model Worker," leading a group of women and children to sit on the beach and mend fishing nets and make traps. There were six fishing nets in total, and they had to make two traps over ten meters long, which was quite a bit of work. Actually, Hong Tao was the most relaxed. He couldn't weave bamboo or mend fishing nets, but his busy mouth served as a propaganda team. He would tell stories about gods that no one had heard before, and then sing songs that he claimed were from his hometown, making the group of young women and children laugh and cry, forgetting their fatigue. Not only did it not hinder their work, but it also improved their efficiency.

The Tanka people were like the sea, good at singing and dancing, and never shy. Whenever they were in the mood, they would sing and dance. With Hong Tao, the beach quickly turned into a bonfire party. One person would sing, and another would take the stage, and if they sang beautifully, they would dance around the bonfire. Hong Tao didn't need to avoid anything; Tanka girls didn't have so many taboos and were not afraid of physical contact with men. So, with the accompaniment of the bamboo tubes beaten by Ah Zhu's sisters-in-law, he led Ah Zhu in a dance on the beach. Although Tanka girls were bold, Ah Zhu was stiff and blushed when Hong Tao held her and spun her around. But she was brave; as long as she liked it, she didn't care about anything out of the ordinary and persisted. Huang Hai's young daughter, Huang Sha, was much more timid. Even Hong Tao didn't dare to tease her; she was Chen Qihong's fiancée. Tanka people were straightforward, and conflicts often led to physical fights, sometimes even with knives.

Of course, he couldn't just tease the girls. After all, they were in ancient times, and he couldn't be too excessive. In the remaining free time, Hong Tao started a literacy class on the beach. Not only did Ah Zhu, Huang Sha, Bo Yu, Bo Xia, and Bo Jiao have to learn, but the sisters-in-law also had to. Hong Tao didn't expect them to be able to write or calculate, but recognizing their names and knowing basic addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division was necessary. This way, in the future, he wouldn't have to remind them individually when doing more complex work.

A simple life had many joys, and time passed quickly. When Huang Hai and the others returned to the beach, each carrying a thick bamboo pole, half a day had already passed. Hong Tao finally shed his title of "Women's Committee Head" and began working on designing and making the supports for the triangular sail.

The OP boat is the most basic sailboat, generally used for training teenagers and beginners, similar to a go-kart in sailing. It is usually about two meters long and over a meter wide, with a triangular sail about two meters high and over a meter wide. The so-called triangular sail is actually a rectangle, with a very simple structure. The top and bottom edges of the sail are supported by two horizontal masts. At the tip of the upper horizontal mast, a diagonal rod is installed, and when the sail is raised, the other end of this diagonal rod is fixed to the main mast. This way, the sail is held up like a kite, and as long as it catches the wind, the sail won't deform or leak. At this point, only the ropes connected to the lower horizontal mast need to be operated to control the direction of the sail, which will propel the boat.

Now, what Hong Tao needed to do was to make the upper and lower horizontal masts and the diagonal rod. The lower horizontal mast could be thicker, but the upper horizontal mast and the diagonal rod couldn't be too thick or heavy. With the experience of making traps, Hong Tao thought that bamboo braids made from bamboo strips were the most suitable, being both strong and light. Additionally, these bamboo braids could have other uses, such as being woven into rings and sewn onto the edges of the sail, like curtain rings, to be slipped over the main mast for fixation. Using bamboo braids to fix the sail to the main mast reduced friction compared to hemp rope and didn't cost money, as there was plenty of bamboo on the mountain.

However, freshly cut bamboo couldn't be used because it contained too much water and would quickly crack and deform due to the different drying rates of the surface and interior. How to process the bamboo? There were many methods, but unfortunately, Hong Tao knew none of them. He grew up in the north and had little experience with bamboo processing.

It didn't matter that Hong Tao didn't know; the Tanka people did! Huang Hai led everyone to cut the bamboo into 3-4 meter sections, then used a spear-like tool to drill small holes through all the bamboo nodes, leaving only the bottom node intact. These bamboo sections were then transported to the connected boats and filled with seawater, which was poured into the bamboo until it was full, and then the filled bamboo sections were placed on the beach to dry.

"The seawater is mixed with sea salt. If you're not in a hurry, you can just fill it with seawater and let it dry for over a month. If you need it urgently, add more sea salt, and it will be ready in ten days," Huang Hai explained the process of treating the bamboo while watching the children work. When Hong Tao heard about the saltwater, he roughly understood the principle. This method used the density of the liquid to force the water out of the bamboo cell walls, accelerating the drying process. It was very scientific! Although the working people couldn't explain the specific scientific principles, they had followed these principles through generations of experience.

Most of the bamboo was still not ready, but this didn't stop Hong Tao from starting his experiments. The connected boats of the Tanka people had a few treated bamboo poles, which were enough for Hong Tao to experiment with. Since it was an experimental item, Hong Tao wanted to wait for Chen Ming'en to return and use the Chen family's boat for the test. As Chen Ming'en's godson, he was now part of the Chen family. It was more reasonable to test things with his own family's resources when he wasn't sure about the outcome. Reform would inevitably have failures and successes, but you couldn't let others bear all the failures while you enjoyed the successes. That wouldn't be reform; that would be bullying.