Chapter 81

Convincing Bo Fu was equivalent to getting unanimous approval for Hong Tao's proposal, and the decision to move was thus settled. Actually, not every Danjia person was as stubborn as Bo Fu, nor did everyone want to live on a boat for their entire life. No one was foolish; who wouldn't want to live in a dry, stable house? It's just that in the past, the conditions weren't there. The locals wouldn't sell them land, nor allow them to farm on shore, so they had no choice but to live on boats. Now, Hong Tao had found them a piece of land, and it was said that half of it belonged to a cooperative. Why wouldn't they move? Even if there was no fresh water, it didn't matter; there was no fresh water on the boats either. There was a small river on the opposite side of the island, and they could use boats to fetch water every day.

Compared to ordinary people moving, the efficiency of the Danjia people's move could not be described as high. They were like snails with shells, and the row of boats was everything. They just needed to lift the stone anchors at the bow and stern, sew up the torn cloth on the boat canopy, find a few thin bamboo poles to thread through, and hang them on the mast as sails. They didn't consider any holes or cracks. The women steered the large boats, while the men all went on small wooden boats, raising small sails and rowing, pulling the large boats along the coast for several kilometers. They traveled during the day and rested at night, going wherever they could.

To Hong Tao, the sea was their home, and moving was just like moving from one room to another in their house, except the corridor between the rooms was a bit long.

Of course, Hong Tao wouldn't just watch them move slowly like turtles in the sea. He used his sailboat to pull the row of boats, trying to make it as fast as possible. According to Bo Fu, his legs and fingers had been sore for several days, and a storm was probably coming. Terms like typhoon, hurricane, and tropical storm were not well understood by the people of the Song Dynasty. They only knew about storms and had no way to measure their intensity. Flying sand, falling stones, and collapsing houses were the words they used to describe tropical storms, and it was hard to tell how severe they were. Regardless of whether a tropical storm was really coming, Hong Tao wanted them to be in place as soon as possible, then quickly finish rendering the whale fat. Once Luo Youde had inquired about the prices and prepared the shops, they could start selling the goods. Each shop needed to stock at least a thousand pounds of inventory, or it wouldn't be worth the trip.

In mid-October, smoke rose from Xima Island outside Zhenzhou Port. More than ten row boats were lined up, anchored in deep water at the southwest corner of the island. The young men of the Wen family were driving stakes into the ground with logs of camphor wood, building a small dock. This way, larger boats wouldn't have to anchor far away and rely on small boats for boarding; they could dock directly, making it easier to load and unload goods. The Wen family's shipyard was also located here, and a forest by the shore would be cut down, with some of the wood used for building houses and the rest for scaffolding for new ships.

The site for the glass kiln was a bit further north, on a hillside. The small mountain on the island blocked the view from the mainland, so people from the mainland couldn't see the situation here. At most, they might notice the smoke on a clear day. The whale oil rendering workshop was on the west side of the island, where the constant southeast wind could blow the smell out to sea, preventing it from spreading on the island. The smell of whale oil made Hong Tao lose his appetite and sleep poorly.

The residential area on the island was concentrated in the north, where the terrain was flat and protected from the wind by a small mountain to the south. At this time, Huang Hai was leading several families to cut down trees, which would be taken to the Wen family's shipyard to be sawed, then brought back to be nailed into wooden houses with floors about a meter off the ground. This was Hong Tao's idea; he didn't want to sleep in bamboo houses anymore, which were not very solid and leaked in the wind, and even swayed in strong winds.

The island could be described as lush and verdant, even this small island of less than two square kilometers was covered in forests. They could cut down trees freely, as the forest on the island was unowned. Once Luo Youde's friend completed the procedures and paid the fees in Jiyang, the island would become private property, and anyone who came could be driven away. Of course, no one came to this desolate island, not even the Danjia people, as there was no fresh water.

The men were doing heavy physical labor, while the women were rendering whale oil in pottery jars. This task was simple: just render the whale oil, filter it through several layers of gauze, and then seal it in small-mouthed pottery jars, with each jar holding exactly thirty pounds. Bo Zhu led two women to clean the whale baleen with sand, then cut slots at one end with a machete, fit them together, and tie them tightly with hemp rope, creating a lightweight and flexible sail support. This could replace the bamboo sail supports on the sails, making them both lighter and more durable.

Now, Hong Tao had six sailboards. If the Wen family wasn't busy building the dock, they could have made more, enough for each member of Hong Tao's whaling team to have one. With the current shipbuilding technology and speed, chasing whales with sailboats was still dangerous, so Hong Tao decided to continue using sailboards to hunt whales. As long as there were enough people, it wouldn't be too tiring. Of course, necessary sailboard training was still required, and anyone not familiar with the sailboard's performance was not allowed to go out to sea with the whaling boat. For the Danjia people, mastering sailboards was not difficult.

While everyone else was working, what was Hong Tao doing? He was teaching. Although everyone eventually agreed to move as he suggested, no one could be convinced to let him teach except for Bo Zhu. Everyone agreed that, besides being a whaling captain, the only job he could do was to teach the children to read and write. They didn't want him to do any other work, but if he could guide others in tasks they didn't know, that was fine.

Now, Hong Tao was idle. He couldn't teach the children all day, as that would make them lose interest in learning and bore him as well. So, he secretly started teaching the children to carve handicrafts, using whale baleen as the material. There was a lot of baleen, and it was useless just sitting there. Hong Tao thought it would be better to use it to make small items, which might earn some copper coins and also help the children develop their manual skills.

What to carve? Abacuses! Hong Tao had learned abacus arithmetic as a child, though he couldn't perform the advanced techniques, he knew how to use an abacus correctly. In this era, calculators were out of the question, and the only fast counting method was the ancient Chinese abacus. Unfortunately, the Song Dynasty didn't have abacuses; they used a method called "suan chou," which was the ancestor of the abacus. However, it was far inferior to the abacus, especially compared to the advanced techniques developed over the following centuries, which could perform addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and even higher-order calculations, almost like a computer.

As long as Hong Tao was teaching the children, everyone supported him, regardless of what he was teaching. They didn't need to know what the children were learning by moving the beads and muttering to themselves. Every evening, the children would proudly show their parents what they had learned that day, without being asked. This helped Hong Tao, as it not only reinforced his reputation but also helped the children review their lessons.

While the children were learning abacus, Hong Tao secretly did some private work. He carved a bunch of curved objects, drilling holes and polishing them. The students didn't know what he was doing and didn't dare to ask or look too closely, as he would throw a small stone at them if he noticed.

In early November, Luo Youde finally returned. The first thing he did upon seeing Hong Tao was to ask for the goods. The shops in Qiongzhou and Guangzhou were ready, and the managers and assistants were in place, waiting to put the whale oil on the shelves and start selling. The price of whale oil, according to Luo Youde, was set at 500 coins per pound, which was half the price of the best rapeseed oil.

"It's not expensive. The smoky and irritating sesame oil costs more than 300 coins per pound. This high-quality oil should not be sold cheaply. Don't worry, Hong brother. I've already invited several friends to banquets in Guangzhou, and they all praised our oil. Scholars prefer elegance, and if the oil is too cheap, they won't buy it," Luo Youde explained, showing that he had already done the marketing and market research to set this price, and had a theory to back it up.

"Luo brother is truly talented! I'll follow your advice. I'll just focus on producing the oil and won't interfere with the rest," Hong Tao sincerely admired Luo Youde's business acumen. If he didn't become rich, it would be a waste. Since he had such high business talent, Hong Tao wouldn't meddle.

In business, Hong Tao was not as meticulous as Luo Youde. For example, the name of the whale oil. Hong Tao hadn't thought to change it, but Luo Youde suggested calling it "fragrant oil" to avoid revealing the source of the product. This not only fit the characteristics of the oil but also cleverly concealed its raw material, showing his attention to detail.

"I've also had the fish skin processed. Most of it has been sold to merchants in Guangzhou, and the rest I've brought back. Do you have any use for it, Hong brother?" Luo Youde had gone on a long trip not only to negotiate business and conduct market research but also to handle some private matters for Hong Tao. One of these was the processing and sale of whale skin. The skin was of high quality, soft, and thick, making it very valuable. However, Hong Tao had asked Luo Youde to bring back several rolls of the softest skin, which puzzled Luo Youde.

PS: Click, collect, and recommend! Throw them all to Hong Tao...

[AD begins on the previous page]

[AD ends on the previous page]