Chapter 161: Boat Building

Baifeng and several Artisans cheered loudly for the success of the boat, but the other tribespeople did not know how much importance this held; wasn't it just replacing bamboo with wood? It didn't seem like anything difficult.

Only a few people knew how large a boat Baifeng wanted to make; this small boat was merely an experiment. The river would not be as calm as a lake, and although the current was slow, it still carried the small boat downstream.

Baifeng hurriedly told them to use the oars, two people, one in front and one behind; because they hadn't mastered the speed and rhythm, the boat not only failed to move forward but instead began to spin in place.

This was not something Baifeng could command; he believed that since they had used rafts for so long, they should be able to master the technique very quickly.

After spinning several times and the two of them cursing and blaming each other, they finally managed to get the boat moving, wobbling as they headed upstream.

Baifeng was very satisfied with this; the first attempt had already succeeded, and next, he would have to build larger boats, but he still had to train some good boatmen first so they could row the boats well, otherwise, they wouldn't be able to handle the large ships once they were launched.

This boat was left for the Fishing Team to practice with, while Baifeng and the others set off without stopping to build larger boats; only by possessing large ships could this waterway be used by Baifeng and his people, otherwise, this river would just be a river.

Almost all the tribes were on the banks of the Dahe, and this Dahe was the link connecting all the tribes; as long as the Baifeng Tribe made their ships large enough and numerous enough, they could achieve their goal by relying on the waterway, which was to seize population.

Baifeng estimated that there were still two months until the Full Moon Gathering; he didn't know what the situation was like last year, and this year no wandering savages had come to their tribe to convey news.

Baifeng had never heard of the Qiexin Tribe in history, though it was also possible that his knowledge base was simply limited; in any case, what he did know was that the Qiexin Tribe had not emerged victorious in the struggle for hegemony, and they didn't even have many battle records.

Baifeng had some thoughts about this year's gathering because it seemed as if the Baifeng Tribe had suddenly become isolated from the world; he had no idea what the outside world was like at all. Last year there was still some news, but this year there wasn't even a shadow of a person.

In order to build larger boats, he brought in more people to help, not caring whether they knew carpentry or not, as long as they had great strength.

Since the old tools were insufficient and not good enough, he had the blacksmith shop rush to make more; larger and longer saws, various Chisels, and drills—Ironware was treated like consumables, used as much as possible, and if it broke, it was sent back to the furnace to be remade.

There were plenty of giant pine trees in the forest, the kind that several people could barely wrap their arms around, but for some reason, whenever Baifeng wanted to cut them down, he always felt it was a pity; they had grown so large with such difficulty, so he wanted to find some reason to persuade himself not to cut these trees.

Later, he thought that the boats they were building couldn't use such large trees anyway, so it was better to leave them and just cut down trees of a suitable size; furthermore, those large pine trees could produce who knew how many pine nuts a year, even though they had never picked a single one.

However, Baifeng's worry was useless because when they had to build even larger ships in the future, they would still have to cut them down; he would only feel that it was just right for the tree to have grown so large and wouldn't feel it was a pity. Moreover, even if Baifeng didn't cut them, they would be cut down completely in the coming millennium; he was merely cutting a few trees ahead of time.

The trees that were cut down were quite far from the tribe, but it was easy to handle on the mountain; he would cut all the branches off completely, and if there were other trees blocking the way, he would lay wooden sticks under the timber to act as tracks. These were used alternately, so there was no need to lay wooden sticks for the entire path; one only needed to lay them longer than the timber, and the sticks that had been passed over would continue to be placed in front of the timber.

Once they reached an open area where there was nothing blocking the way, they would place the timber horizontally and have several people kick it at the same time to let it roll down the slope.

The boat Baifeng planned to build this time was initially planned to be over ten meters long, so several such timbers were needed; after returning, they would remove the bark and saw them into thick wooden planks.

The connection between these planks did not use iron nails but wooden pegs; they would drill holes in the sides of the planks and then hammer in slightly thicker wooden sticks. The other plank would also have holes drilled, and this wooden stick was used to connect them.

This process was more complex because it required the use of a ruler and an ink line to ensure that the holes were on the same line and that the fit between the two planks was sufficiently firm and tight.

To make the middle gap waterproof, when hammering them together, they would pad it with rotten hemp rope soaked in boiled peach gum; only in this way could they prevent the joints from leaking.

For stability, the junction of two horizontal planks was not joined together flatly, but connected in an L and inverted-L manner; only this way could it be firmer and more resistant to wind and waves.

The bottom of the boat was nailed together like this, and then a keel was added on top of the boat's bottom; the keel was made of mulberry wood, which had better toughness and could resist compression and deformation. However, at this point, wooden pegs were not used, but large iron nails, which were nailed into the keel from the bottom in the opposite direction.

Once the keel was installed, the two sides of the hull were added; originally, Baifeng wanted to make it one-piece, but for such a long boat, there was no way to bend the timber to a sufficient degree, so he had to piece it together bit by bit.

After the general hull was assembled, the details had to be polished, and a wave-deflecting board had to be added to the front to prevent a wave from sending water into the cabin.

Ribs were added inside the hull to make the boat even firmer; it took over a month, and the Baifeng Tribe's large ship, over ten meters long and nearly three meters at its widest point, was finished.

The power came from oars, a Platoon of oars; it should be able to resist the current, Baifeng estimated, and it would be no problem at all to seat thirty people, though if they wanted to have space for movement and rest areas, the number of people would have to be reduced.

Baifeng's plan to make a boat canopy and sail would have to wait; once the boat was launched, if it didn't sink, it wouldn't be too late to add those things.

If it did sink, the Baifeng Tribe would just have to obediently make smaller boats and practice the craft well first.

This launch of the large ship was truly the focus of everyone's attention; everyone had already noticed the differences while it was being built, and if this large ship failed to float, it would be a great pity.

Transporting the large ship from the tribe to the Dahe was quite strenuous; even though wooden sticks were laid under the boat in many places to reduce friction, dragging this big guy to the edge of the Dahe left everyone panting heavily.

The ones boarding the boat this time were the dozen or so tribespeople who had already practiced on the small boat, equipped with long-handled oars.

As the dozen or so of them stood on the boat, the tribespeople below used all their strength to push the boat into the water; with a splash, the boat and the Dahe were completely integrated.