After handling some general affairs in the wooden castle in the valley, Art sent someone to call back Ron, who was learning riding with Lusignan, and took him out of the wooden castle to the edge of the northern dense forest. He wanted to personally inspect the construction of the military fort at the edge of the dense forest.
At noon, Art took Ron on horseback to the construction site of the legion's military fort located on the northern edge of the dense forest in the valley. Lawrence, the construction manager who had just returned from his injury and had recently taken up his post, was carrying out the basic construction of the military fort with more than twenty farmers and prisoners of war. The wide, flat, gently sloping open space was full of people who were busy building scaffolding and lifting trees and sawing wood.
The wall foundation of the military fort has been dug. A deep trench six feet deep and six feet wide was dug on all sides along the previously defined range. Two rows of thirty-five-foot-high rough timber were buried on both sides of the deep trench. The distance between the two rows of rough timber was about five feet, and there were two rows of wooden walls. It was filled with clay mixed with gravel and wheat straw, and vines and vines with good toughness were inserted vertically into the clay as a skeleton, and then tamped down with wooden piles and heavy hammers...
??The construction of the four fortress walls started at the same time, and a wall half as high as a person has been built.
Art walked to the front wall where the outline of the fort gate had begun to appear, turned around and jumped into the baffle made of two rows of tall wood. He took the stake hammer from the hand of the deputy construction manager Geer and slammed it on the clay. The clay mixed with small wheat straw gravel was compacted little by little under the hammer. In order to prevent the clay from becoming brittle after drying, in addition to adding wheat straw, willow branches and tough miscellaneous branches and leaves were inserted irregularly into the clay. These branches will act like muscles and bones to solidify the clay into an iron plate. A four- to five-foot-thick wood and stone structure can withstand the impact of most siege equipment.
These four thick fortress walls are only the first layer of defense. Four arrow towers will be built at the four corners of the fortress wall, and there will also be crenels and fighting positions at the top of the walls. After the outer walls are repaired, some houses, stables, wells, warehouses, blacksmith shops, and high stone houses as inner fortresses will be built in the military fort. Of course, such a military fort is only the simplest. As a new knight, Art's identity and financial resources can only build such a military fort as a castle for his own garrison for the time being.
"Lawrence, if you are just traumatized, don't go to work personally. Just manage the labor of the craftsmen at the construction site, and leave the heavy work to your subordinates." Art said to Lawrence, the construction manager who had just put down his work to accompany Art.
Lawrence gently pressed the scab wound and said, "My lord, my wound has healed and is no longer a problem. Now most of the craftsmen and laborers have been deployed to the wooden castle to build the lord's mansion day and night. The progress on the military castle side is slow. I think one more person can always make it faster."
"I'm very happy that you think so, but you are in charge now. You don't need to do many things yourself. What you have to do is to let the people under you know what they should do, how to do it, and how well they do it. Your biggest role is to be the head, not the hands and feet. , how to make the people under your command play their best role, how to complete the task at hand as best and fastest as possible is something that a manager dares to consider. For example, you are short of manpower to build this military fort, and building the clay fort wall needs to be completed in the shortest possible time. The entire wall must be compacted, otherwise over time, the clay will easily form faults after drying, and cracks will easily collapse in the future. This task requires many people to work at the same time. If you don’t have enough manpower, you shouldn’t spread them out. Instead, you should concentrate your manpower on the construction first. The clay, wheat straw, gravel, rattan and other materials needed for the wall are mixed and ready. After the clay is made, the manpower is poured into the baffles at the same time, and the boards are pounded and compacted as quickly as possible to make the clay form a single piece. Only in this way can the fort wall be the strongest..."
Lawrence listened carefully and took note of Art's instructions.
??There is no shortage of talents in any era, but many talented people are unable to encounter suitable opportunities. Just like Scott and Lawrence, if they had not suffered from the war or met Art, they might have been able to deal with the cattle land all their lives, and they would have been honest farmers and untouchables all their lives. Now they are all managers of the territory, with dozens of people under their command, and their momentum and abilities are increasing step by step.
This is what is called times making heroes.
"The construction task of the military fort is not very urgent. I plan to complete the construction of the outer walls of the military fort and the crenels and arrow towers in five to eight months. It will take a year and a half to complete the inner fort, houses, wells, stables, and arsenal. And after my mansion is completed, I will concentrate all my efforts here, so you don't have to worry. You must build a solid foundation for the military fort. From now on, here will be It is an important gateway to and from the Knights of the Valley. If anyone wants to attack the valley, this will be the first place to be hit. I don’t need to say more about the importance of this military castle, right?"
Lawrence nodded repeatedly, wiped the sweat from his forehead with his clay-stained cuffs, and said, "I understand, sir, I will never let my men cut corners."
"Okay, tell the craftsmen and laborers involved in building the fort that if they do a good job, I will definitely reward them according to their merits after the military fort is completed, so that they can work hard. In addition, you must also be careful in the food supply, so that everyone can be fed. Only when the stomach is full can you be energetic..."
??After explaining a few words, Art picked up a handle. With a heavy hammer, he personally went to the root of the dry-formed outer wall and pounded it ten times to test whether the outer wall of the civil structure was strong. After more than ten hammers, only a few white marks appeared on the dried earth wall. Art nodded with satisfaction. The rammed fort wall built by this method of construction may not be as good as a stone fort built with strips of stone, but it is still much stronger than a simple wooden fort.
"Yes, this is good. Lawrence, today you leave the affairs here to Bud and Geer, and follow me back to the wooden castle in the afternoon. I will discuss naming various places in the territory in the wooden castle tonight. Now that our territory is large, it is quite inconvenient to manage it without a name."
「大人，您说得对，我会将建设军堡的事情安排妥当然后返回木堡......」
............
傍晚，山谷木堡中，一众军官和民事官都聚在亚特的军帐中。
At the top, Art was sitting at the top, listening to everyone's suggestions for naming various places in the Knights' Territory. Felix of Sapp attended the naming meeting as a literate guest of the valley.
"The names you have proposed are all good, but I think the names throughout the territory should be concise and easy to remember. Forget about the complicated names, keep everything simple."
At picked up the birch bark with still ink on it from the small table, and said to everyone: "I have written down the names that you just discussed. Combining my previous ideas, I propose the following naming suggestions: Valley Wood Castle It is called Mu Castle. It is the location of my knight’s residence and the military and political core of the entire knight territory. From now on, the official offices of the civil administration officials will be set up around the lord’s residence of Mu Castle.”
"The military fort under construction on the edge of the dense forest in the northern part of the valley is called Beiguanbao, which means the northern pass, and will serve as the main garrison of the army in the future."
"The huge pile of rocks in the northern wilderness is called Boulder Town. It is currently a newly built patrol post and garrison. It is mainly responsible for sentry security, early warning and guarding against thieves. In the future, I will turn it into a resting place on the north-south trade route, so it is called "Boulder Town". "
"As for the outposts of the southern border fiefs and the surrounding territories, they are currently called border outposts."
Ate put down the birch bark, looked around at the people in the tent, and said: "Everyone, the above is my opinion on the naming of various parts of the territory. Do you have any objections?"
After listening, everyone in the tent whispered to each other.
Felix, the only son of Baron Galvin, who has been a guest of the Knights of the Valley for a short time, is not yet accustomed to Art's rules of discussing everything with his subordinates. In the Baron of Sapp, his father, Baron Galvin, occasionally convenes the knights and squires of the territory to discuss important matters in the territory. However, most of the time, Baron Galvin makes the final decision on important matters in the territory, and the so-called discussions are only symbolic consultations.
But during the time he came to the Valley Knights, Lord Art often held similar meetings, and he really listened to the opinions and suggestions of the councilors. Privately, Felix also quietly warned his future brother-in-law that Felix, who was born in a minor aristocracy, was gifted with the understanding of power. He believed that Atfan's habit of discussing with his subordinates would be detrimental to Atfan's rule over the territory.
Att understands what "brother-in-law" Felix means, but he is not trying to cultivate a group of loyal servants. In the future, he will need a group of thoughtful and capable "assistants" to manage an increasingly large army and territorial citizens for him, so Art will discuss everything with everyone and let everyone participate more in thinking and decision-making.
Felix, who was sitting on the low stool at the end, thought for a while, stood up and said, "Lord Art, the names of the various places in your territory are simple and easy to remember, but are these names too simple? Forget the others, the castle where your lord's residence is located is called "Wooden Castle"? You have to have a more gorgeous name. The simplest thing is to name it after your family "Wellsburg"~"
Matt looked at Felix and smiled, motioned for him to sit down, and then said slowly: "The name is indeed a bit simple, but I don't want to choose some eye-catching names. What I am most worried about right now is that people outside are eyeing this valley. Sooner or later, the valley will be known to outsiders. If we choose some loud and eye-catching names, I am afraid that more people will come here. It is better to be low-key. Low-key Adjust it better. "
"As for the name "Wellsburg", it's pretty good, but I still want to keep this name for future use..."
Although everyone also thinks that Art's naming is too simple, but now that Art has decided on the name, everyone no longer raises objections. It's just a name anyway, and they will get used to it after being called too many.
"Okay, since everyone has no objections, Cooper will copy the names of various places into a book and convey them to all the soldiers and fortress residents. From now on, everyone will call each place this way."
Everyone agreed.
Yate briefly arranged the army training and civil affairs in the territory, and everyone left the military tent to go about their business.
"Ron, go and call Farnaz to my military tent in a moment. I have something important to discuss with her..."
...