Chapter 6: Fish and Salt

On this day, Li Hongshen led a group of about a dozen people, dragging two newly crafted wooden boats along the creek toward the sea.

At the southern beach’s estuary, several wooden stakes had been driven into the water, and simple planks had been laid atop them—an improvised dock built earlier under Li Hongshen’s instructions to the tribe.

Standing on the dock and gazing into the distance, the boundless sea shimmered under the sunlight. Li Hongshen knew that countless schools of fish frolicked beneath those waves.

Drawing on his knowledge and experience as a fisherman, he judged from the bright, windless, partly cloudy skies that today was a perfect day to go out to sea.

He and five tribesmen boarded a wooden boat, which was loaded with hastily made fishing nets, stone spears, wood, and a long pole. They paddled in the direction of the fish schools.

These five had been carefully selected by Li Hongshen beforehand. Thanks to skill books and his personal guidance, they had become excellent fishermen. This time, they simply accompanied Li Hongshen on the fishing expedition.

The rest of the group remained to continue building the dock and awaited their return with a bountiful catch.

As they rowed, they used the long pole to gauge the water’s depth. The beach sloped gently for about a hundred meters, the depth gradually increasing but not exceeding three meters.

Beyond the hundred-meter mark, there was a pronounced underwater cliff. Measurements and dives by the fishermen revealed that at about eight meters, coral and other sea life flourished below.

Gradually, they rowed nearly a kilometer out, drawing close to the fish schools. The water was now too deep to measure with their pole, but from the sunlight penetrating the waves, Li Hongshen estimated it was at least fifteen meters deep.

Normally, fishing in the ocean would be done with lines and hooks, while net fishing was more suitable for shallower waters.

But with limited tackle and the risk of a large fish capsizing the boat or dragging it out to the open ocean, Li Hongshen had no choice but to use nets.

As the fishing boat slid near the fish, the water teemed with swimming creatures, their silvery scales flashing in the sunlight.

Li Hongshen glanced at them, then opened his attributes panel to inspect their details.

“Name: Tilapia
Type: Fish
Properties: Fast-growing, high yield, omnivorous, disease-resistant, highly reproductive. Flesh is tender, has few bones, and is rich in protein.”

This came as no surprise. He had already scouted this stretch of sea and planned for the fishermen to trawl here precisely because of the abundant tilapia.

Li Hongshen led the fishermen in casting their nets. The nets were woven from sisal fibers, coated with rubber tree sap, then soaked in chicken blood and dried under the sun.

Six stones tied around the net served as weights. The two boats, thirty meters apart, cast their nets, then pulled them in, transferring the catch to the boat’s hold, which had space set aside for fish.

After several hauls, the hold was full. Working together, they paddled back, aiming to reach shore by midday—otherwise, they wouldn’t make it back to camp by sunset.

Once ashore, they used ropes to pull the boats upstream along the river, heading toward the camp.

“We’re back!”

Their timing was perfect—the setting sun stained the sky orange, and the women who had remained behind had already lit the campfire.

Their shouts on returning set the entire camp abuzz. People emerged from their dwellings to help haul the boats into camp.

For fishermen, venturing to sea relied on both weather and luck. The island’s subtropical climate brought frequent wind and rain, so being able to fish more than three times a week was considered fortunate.

Some days, even if the weather permitted, the nets would come up empty. Thus, the fishermen would only shout with excitement upon returning when the catch was plentiful, as it was today.

Their shouts were both a boast and a summons for the tribe to help process the day’s haul.

At sunset, idle hands gathered around the boats, using stone, bone, and iron blades to process the catch. They needed to finish before evening lessons.

Aside from the fish set aside for that night’s meal, the rest—meat, skin, and bones—needed to be separated.

The fish skins were stretched onto boards for making leather garments. The bones would become broth, and the meat would be salted and smoked in a cave before being stored in the grain cellar.

Meanwhile, the young crocodiles gathered nearby, for they would be fed the unwanted fish entrails, fighting amongst themselves for the scraps.

Li Hongshen didn’t join in the fish processing. Only in the early days, when training the fishermen, had he often led these expeditions. Now that they were skilled, he seldom went to sea himself.

It did seem that luck favored him; whenever he was present, the catch was particularly good. But as the lord, he had many other matters to attend to. Today, he had simply wanted to measure the depth of the sea once more.

After the processing was done, a few people carried baskets brimming with fish meat to the mountainside within the camp, where a salt refinery stood.

Inside the refinery were five large iron pots forged by the blacksmith, in which sea salt was being boiled. Every day, partially crystallized sea salt gathered from the salt fields by the shore was brought here for further refining.

Salt was vital for the tribe. Living near the sea, they never lacked for it, unlike some lords undergoing trials who had to drink blood to replenish their salt.

Relying on the knowledge and experience taught by teachers from the main world, Li Hongshen had led his people to construct three large salt fields on the southern beach using the salt pan method.

The total area was about ten acres. The fields, built in terraces like those of Fengqi Valley but with gentler slopes, were paved with flat stones and pebbles. There were four high tides each month.

Seawater was drawn into the highest pan at the peak of each tide and stored there for half a month to a month, allowing it to become brine. Li Hongshen used a simple homemade tool to measure the brine’s concentration. Once it reached the desired level, it was channeled to the lower fields for evaporation.

The salt yield depended on the weather. After overcoming the difficulties of the first month, except on rainy days when evaporation was impossible, each acre produced two to three hundred pounds of coarse salt crystals daily.

This salt was then transported to the refinery for further boiling and filtration to remove sand and grit, then ground to produce fine salt of better quality.

With these salt fields, Li Hongshen’s tribe never faced a shortage. Beyond daily use and what was stored, Li Hongshen also taught his people to preserve chicken and fish with salt.