Chapter 263: The Struggle of a Group of Robinson

After receiving the telegram from Li Ji and other imperial kings, the Senate convened an emergency meeting, in order not to cause public speculation and public turmoil, it was just the only sub-fleet of the Eastern Pacific Command, which had just been established for less than a year (only a three-level fleet of more than 30 small and medium-sized warships with an average of about 1,000 tons, the imperial military system, the navy is divided into four levels: the Ocean Command, the Maritime District Fleet Group, and the second-class fleet and the third-class fleet, and the Ocean Command has six levels: the Eastern and Western Pacific, the Indian Ocean, the South and North Atlantic, and the Southern Ocean. All of them are under the jurisdiction of the Naval Committee of the Ministry of Defense, and since the Eastern Pacific Command was the latest to be formed, there is only one sub-fleet, and the other commands have at least three sub-fleets. Rushed from the anchor port to the Dragon Lizard Islands for rescue. The only large military transport aircraft for experimental use was also secretly relocated to a base under construction in the Pearl Islands (Tonga Islands in the South Pacific) to be used to airdrop much-needed supplies.

Knowing nothing, the traversers began to live a do-it-yourself life as a well-fed savage under the shroud of volcanic ash. All the metal products were collected and registered, all the meals were hollowed out of coconut shell bowls, Sun Chang regarded a full set of knives as heirlooms and always carried them with him, and more than 40 beloved knives were also contributed to the production of self-help tools. The only weapon, the captain's command knife, was also smashed into three pieces and replaced with a fish cleaver.

With no extra clothes to change in, all the men became shirtless fishermen, and their clothes were changed to gauze and nets. In order to save more than a dozen wounded with severe burns, Wu Qi also urgently prepared a semi-permeable membrane of fish skin to wrap the wound to prevent infection. The foliage fashions worn by more than 20 women became a beautiful sight. Gao Jing's hand was also cut a few times by the sharp edge of the leaf.

The main source of food is the ocean, and most of the food comes from the hard work of more than 100 fishermen. Thanks to the mixture of cold and warm currents caused by the convergence of abundant ocean currents in this area, a large number of seabirds, fish, shrimps, crabs and shellfish are nourished by the minerals and nutrients on the seabed that are stirred up by the abundant mixed currents in this area. It's a fisherman's paradise. Every time he goes out to sea in a very unprofessional lifeboat and raft, the non-professional fisherman can return with a full load. In addition to being a foodie, Li Ji is also a master at making separate coconut oil and fish oil. In addition to grilled fish, the crowd was served a variety of other dishes, which also benefited from the creativity of the crowd. Stone slices made into slate-roasted, fruit salad mixed with coconut oil, oyster soup boiled in large shells, fish head hot pot, kelp soup, fried penguin eggs, sea iguana feast, boiled lobster, fried fish steak in coconut oil.

The fly in the ointment is the lack of table salt, which is very bitter and has to be filtered and recrystallized many times before it can barely be used as a condiment, so the extremely low yield of salt has become the most important material in scarcity.

There aren't many animals on this rainforest-covered volcanic island. In addition to the migratory seabirds and dragon lizard archipelago penguins, the only ones are tortoises and sea iguanas. The archipelago is far from the mainland, there are no insects such as mosquitoes and flies, and most of the plants are wind and pollen-dependent plants. None of the insect-borne plants can be seen. There are basically only a few higher plants and animals, and the most terrifying thing in the archipelago without terrestrial predators is probably sharks, so it is very safe and peaceful.

While struggling to survive, the unclothed people also found time to build a lookout, beacon tower, lighthouse, and 3-in-1 high platform on the beach, attracting fish through torches on the sea at night, and the harvest of small fishing boats is often more than that of daytime fishing boats. With this platform, you won't get lost. You can sail a little farther and return safely.

It was a great improvement from the simplest pergola to a wooden house that sheltered from the rain and wind, but there was only one axe, and the number of building materials was limited, so only the sick could rest in this sheltered house, and the others still lived in pergolas and small conical sheds.

It took ten days for the volcano to completely stop erupting and the ash cloud to completely dissipate due to a few rains. The stucco on the ground either washed into the sea or melted into the soil of the ground, and the beach slowly regained its white color. The waves near the beach are slowly returning to their clearness. It's no longer the murky black water with disgusting foam lapping against the rocks and sand.

The upwind camp also gradually added a few primitive fishing nets made of coconut fiber and fish intestines to dry, and the division of labor between the people due to the increasing amount of food appeared. The caretaker of the rainwater and spring water, and the producer of fish and coconut oil, Li Kei, was completely idle, and spent his days surveying the unique environment of the archipelago and collecting data, and most of the nightlife was spent by the detached travelers who were not in production, telling stories and attending classes with the seafarers' bodyguards around the campfire.

A simple division of mental and physical labor was thus established. The wealthy crossers give each seafarer and bodyguard a high reward and promise, after returning to China, everyone can enter the university for free, and at night they can also join the bonfire party inside the family, the opportunity to learn thinking and knowledge beyond the times is not something that can be bought with money, although the seafarers and bodyguards do not know that the crosser is the founder of the empire, is the top nobles of the empire, but they know that these dozen people and their families are not ordinary people, and their conversation and habits are different from ordinary people, Being able to learn from a big man who is obviously an aristocrat is simply a great creation of the ancestral tomb.

The 'beach university', which is divided into more than a dozen campfires every night, is always full, and although there are people who are close to Li Ji and others during the day, they are constantly asking questions and discussing with them, but they are all pushed to solve problems in the evening, and those who leave the camp in teams to fish and hunt are also consciously matched with people with different campfires, and they can also exchange with each other what they have learned at night when working. Although Wu Qi only brought 3 family members, the scene when rescuing the sick and wounded gave a deep impression to the seafarers and bodyguards, the operation was smooth, the speed of suturing the wound was so fast that it was impossible to see clearly, and the effect of the invention of the fish skin semi-permeable membrane to prevent infection was even more amazing. Sun Chang's cooking skills are extremely high-end, and all kinds of unheard of dishes rely on this simple seafood and raw materials. It's almost the same as those top restaurant chefs who have to be positioned a year in advance and can't get in, and they can learn a few things casually and enjoy them as heirloom secrets for generations.

is not very conspicuous, Liu Xin and Chen Guanxian, who is engaged in finance, have come up with an all-encompassing distribution system, which is also sought after by fans, and eating a big pot of rice is obviously not the style of crossing the public. Then, according to demand and supply, it became a miracle to use the currency of the impossible material of manufacture, such as the cowhide belt, which was made of special markings, to be marketed and traded. People who have just been introduced to the free market and have not been in their youth will naturally find it difficult to understand this kind of credit creation.

These banknotes and coins that they had carried with them were all invalidated, and they couldn't buy anything, because there wasn't much in the first place, and the money and accounting on board sank to the bottom of the sea, and how much cash was there for personal belongings? With such a small amount of money, you may not be able to buy a harpoon. When you have fled to your new environment, you naturally have to proceed from reality and live a few days of collective life and equal distribution. Once there was a surplus of products, Liu Xin and Chen Guanxian, who were accustomed to the market economy, started to use their brains.

Liu Xin, who first took control of the warehouse, announced that the tools of production had been privatized, and he bought the ownership of the harpoons and fishing boats from others at a price of 300 dried fish. That is, each camp member had two more dried fish recorded in the account, and then announced that they would be rented at a low price to a few efficient seafarers who were professional fishers. Then, the square 'leather coins' made of those unused belts were used as standard currency to make money, and a stall was opened at the door of the warehouse to buy various products and exchange them for various stocks. At night, the stall is unusually lively. People who have been busy all day come here with all kinds of harvest to exchange for leather coins. Then he used leather coins to exchange for food or other goods on the stall to Sun Chang, the canteen director.

Originally, the stock of dried fish and other sundries that belonged to all the camp members were also exchanged by Liu Xin for leather coins and went down according to human hair, as long as they could be exchanged for their own dried fish and the sundries in the stock, everyone did not lose, so naturally no one objected. Liu Xin, Chen Guanxian, and Sun Chang, who had the power to set commodity prices, joined forces to monopolize prices, buying products from the primary industry, such as fish and seafood, at relatively low prices, and selling secondary industry products such as fishing nets, chopsticks, and wood for repairing boats produced by the people themselves, as well as tertiary industry services such as fresh food and feasts, bonfires, and lectures, at relatively high prices. Soon, the Travelers became wealthy people with a large number of leather coins. Lend the coins in their hands at a lower interest rate to the 'poor' who need to buy goods. Once traversed, the coins were stored instead of being lent to the 'poor' to spend. The number of pitons in the market will decrease rapidly, and soon there will be deflation, things will become less and less expensive, the 'poor' will have less and less 'money', and the 'rich' will have more and more purchasing power of the pirates. In order to get money to maintain production and life, the 'poor' had to agree to borrow money at higher interest rates, and as soon as the cost of borrowing funds was high, the number of rich people willing to lend money out, and the number of 'leather coins' circulating in the market suddenly increased, and all of a sudden prices skyrocketed, and inflation came again.

During the two months of waiting for rescue, the Crossing gave all the camp members about 40 standard lessons (each class lasted 45 minutes), allowing everyone to experience deflation and inflation three times, amassing at least 7,000 dried fish surplus wealth and 5,000 dragon worth of stock. The rest of the camp gained nothing but knowledge and skills that are difficult to measure in monetary terms, and almost all of them were 'out of the house' naked when they boarded the rescue boat.

When the red-faced crossers and their families boarded the rescue boat with large bags and small bags, the 'poor' waiting on the beach were full of hope and enthusiasm discussing the future with each other. One of the bodyguards wrote in his memoirs later in life: 'At that time, all of us looked up to the teachers in front of us to board the boat with reverence for our ancestors and prayers to the gods, and when they waved to us and the disciples on the beach, it was as if a golden light appeared on our bodies. I used a trick taught by Mr. Chen, just one trick - bankrupt to buy and hold blue chips for a long time, and I have accumulated half of my millions of net worth today. As for what the other teachers taught, I don't know, but before I left the rescue boat, I only exchanged the teaching content with three 'classmates' with Mr. Liu and Mr. Wang. I don't know exactly what the other teachers taught, and I don't think I'm any worse than a stupid person like me who can learn the skills to make a fortune......

In fact, when the rescue planes dropped the first first batch of emergency supplies, the second inflation was over. In the more than a month that has been waiting for rescue after the eruption, this camp has experienced three inflations and deflations, and in fact each time the cause of price fluctuations is different.

The first deflation was through the crowd to earn 'pirates' before they had time to spend them, and after they spent a lot of pirates on food, the camp lasted only two days before it transitioned to inflation.

The first inflation was wiped out in only three days by the 'poor' who had borrowed money to buy large quantities of fishing nets and tools, producing more goods. The 'poor' who got rich deposited their coins in the bank opened by Chen Guanxian and paid off the arrears, and there was no cash in the market.

The second deflation was offset by cash benefits from the camp councils formed by the Crossing Crowd, and the ensuing holidays and revelries consumed a lot of food and stocks, and the second inflation naturally came.

The third deflation was that the camp council passed the deposit reserve system, allowing Chen Guanxian and Liu Xin's 'bank' to reserve part of the deposits and no longer lend them, but the result was a rapid contraction of liquidity, with the arrival of more than 20 tons of materials obtained by the airdrop, the materials increased greatly and suddenly, and the result of the third deflation was very serious, and the purchasing power of the picoin increased fourfold. The Travelers still charged the same tuition fees for the beach campfire university and all kinds of high-end services, and the leather coins they amassed were quickly spent before the poor could react, buying up almost everything the 'poor' except for the overnight food. Naturally, prices skyrocketed again.

When the third inflation hits, there is no deflation to end. Thanks to the definite news, in three days, the rescue fleet will arrive, and everyone will begin to spend money and leisure lazily, the stock of grain has been piled up, and the leather coins have also reached the hands of the traversers who control the warehouse. After the people spent all the food that the leather coins had stored for three or four days, the production stopped, and all the leather coins returned to the hands of the traversers. The warehouse managed by Liu Xin and others has countless more materials than at the beginning.

As a result of not being able to focus on production, the daily production of food begins to decline, and the savings of dried fish and coconut begin to slowly decrease. Li Ji, who found out about this, didn't care much, people who were full of food and drink were easy to be lazy, and announced that the amount of food would be reduced by one-third, anyway, it would be relieved after three days, and it was not bad to lose weight on a diet.

Although this extremely efficient accumulation did not increase the wealth of the traversers in the slightest (the island's inventory was loaded onto the rescue ship and sent to the galley of the naval detachment to improve food), the extreme efficiency caused by the small and enclosed environment shocked everyone. In particular, Liu Xin and Chen Guanxian, who frequently revise the price of warehouse materials entering and exiting the market every day, felt the impact even more intensely. This art of social and market manipulation also taught all camp members a practical lesson that no amount of money could buy.

This phenomenon is completely different from the traditional feudal social power core of the force and the order supported by the two legs of the land, which has greatly changed the values and worldview of all the people in the camp.

It is only natural that the families of these people in the future will join the Travelers and their partners, and together they will become the tip of the pyramid of the Empire. (To be continued......)