Looking at the huge and neat complex structure in front of them, the maze-like architectural pattern, no one felt tired at all. Instead, they became more and more excited day by day. A group of foreign helpers also felt a sense of happiness that was comparable to that of glory.
Because this huge artificial structure was built in their hands using the simplest stones, mud, and wood.
Call it mysterious, but not mysterious.
Building materials are commonplace things that are simply processed to change their shape.
But this seemingly simple creation is actually something they cannot imagine at all.
Especially the crane made of wood can easily lift heavy mud bricks to a high position with only two people working together.
When this incredible tool was first produced, it shocked all primitive people to the point of bewilderment.
But it seems that this kind of creation and invention is always so simple for Xu Chen.
Faced with any difficulties encountered during construction, he was always able to easily come up with solutions.
And these complex and brain-burning creations, for Xu Chen, seem to be more enjoyable than training wolves and beating a group of monkeys.
He always looks so calm and calm, which is incompatible with his age.
He must have received divine guidance.
Although the great witch rejected his identity as a witch at the witchcraft conference, in the minds of a group of foreign employees, this idea became more and more clear, and the awe in their hearts gradually penetrated into their bones and reached an indelible level.
December is already the coldest winter.
The temperature during the day was already below freezing, and it snowed twice during the period.
I don't feel this kind of temperature even when I'm busy working all day, but sleeping in a cold cave nest makes me feel it very clearly.
Fortunately, this year the Ba people have enough animal skins. They have thick animal skins in their nests and sleeping covers. Men and women can also wear warm and thick animal skin clothes. Under Xu Chen's guidance
Later, women not only learned to make animal skin socks, but also learned to make animal skin hats.
Wrapped in fully armored animal skins, the Ba people spent this year absolutely the warmest winter in history.
And when this hot and cold winter was coming to an end, they also ushered in the most lively moment since the birth of the tribe.
Installing beams is the most important step in building a house.
Completing this step marks that the new house has entered the final stage of completion.
A total of twenty-four main beams of the house, which were more than four meters long, were carried to the construction site from the woods at the foot of the mountain by a group of hired workers.
In order to celebrate this great moment, Xu Chen asked Muba to take out her inheritance staff, put brand new feathers in her hair, hang various inheritance necklaces of animal teeth and shells, and led all the tribesmen to hold a ceremony around the new house.
There was a grand celebration and interaction, bonfires were lit, food was offered, and solemn and lively prayers were made to the unknown gods to bless the smooth completion of the mansion.
Although he was once an atheist with formal scientific education.
But after time travel, he was not sure.
In addition, in order to increase one's reputation and prestige, it is logical to borrow the power of some gods to create some gimmicks.
For this group of primitive people, they were barbaric and simple. They only had the simplest desires for survival such as eating, drinking, sleeping, and passing on the family line. However, as their wisdom continued to increase, their reverence for the nature of heaven and earth became increasingly serious.
Because Xu Chen had so many unexplainable phenomena and behaviors that could all be attributed to the guidance of the gods, expressing his gratitude for the guidance in building a house in the name of the gods was also a direct and simple way for Xu Chen to transfer conflicts.
When everything is in doubt, ask the gods. There is nothing that a prayer meeting cannot solve.
Xu Chen wanted to use such an activity to hide that all his innovations and inventions did not come out of thin air.
This explanation is easiest for primitive humans to accept and never doubts.
After a lively and grand sacrificial prayer, a large group of Ba men who re-applied brand-new paint hoisted the thick beams one by one with ropes and placed them steadily according to Xu Chen's instructions.
After the main beams of all houses are installed in place, the remaining side beams will also begin to be hoisted.
Because working at heights is more dangerous, the process did not progress quickly, but fortunately there were enough manpower. After three days, all the beams were hoisted.
The next step is to tie up the purlins. This job is relatively easy and safe. Dozens of men work together, using the felled canes to densely bundle long and short wooden sticks about the thickness of an arm at a distance of about twenty centimeters.
On the beams, a herringbone grid is formed that is wide in front and narrow in back.
It took another three days to tie up the purlins.
After completing this step, there was no rush to cover the thatch immediately. Instead, all men and women mobilized to clean up the debris inside and outside the entire house, clean the drainage ditches, level the site, apply lime and mud to the internal and external walls, and pave the inside of the house with clay lime.
Use a wooden pestle to tamp the stone slabs flat, and at the same time step up the production and installation of doors and windows.
This is a completely enclosed courtyard. Apart from the main door, not all rooms have doors. However, in order to block the cold wind, a simple door curtain is still made of animal skins or straw curtains.
The same is true for windows. There are no windows on the outside of the entire courtyard. All windows face the inside of the courtyard, and the windows are not big. They are two feet wide and two feet high. They are just holes left by a few empty adobe bricks.
This is not only for the safety of the house, but also because of the limited conditions.
The mud bricks are heavy and not strong, and their bearing capacity is not strong. In addition, the beams are made of wood that has not dried thoroughly. They will inevitably deform over time, so the space cannot be too large. In order to support the lintels firmly, the windows and
On both sides of the door frame, there are also specially built side walls with stones and ceramic bricks.
In the window, don't put a few pieces of wood as thick as an egg to make a window lattice. When the time comes, weave some straw curtains and hang them to block the wind, and that's it.
Although there are many doors and windows, it is very simple to deal with them. Basically, there is not much that needs to be done, except that there is not even a straw curtain, so we can only wait until the roof is built.
Therefore, the so-called installation of doors and windows is actually just like a kiln factory, using wooden sticks and rattan to build a door.
After doing this, we started to use stones and mud bricks to build beds and simple tables and chairs in all the dormitories.
Since there are no readily available metal tools to make wooden furniture, for the time being we can only use the same method as the kiln factory.
After all, living life in the house still needs some sitting and sleeping furniture to make it more convenient.
The largest interior decoration is the fire pit and kitchen for gathering and cooking.
This is a row of huge rooms ten meters wide and three meters deep. It is a semi-open shanty structure, facing the opposite gate and atrium. The outer wall is completely closed, and the inner wall is about two meters high. The beams are supported by several intermittent connections.
The brick walls are connected together, and the roof is more than one meter higher than other surrounding houses for safety. The purpose is to prevent the flames from the fire pit from igniting the thatch on the roof.
Of course, just raising the height cannot completely avoid the risk of fire. Therefore, wooden sticks must be densely packed on the beams above the fire pit and stove, and a layer of mud must be applied to prevent overheated fireworks from rising.
, the suspended ceiling is also smoked first. The wood is isolated by the mud, and the chance of being ignited is much less than that of dry thatch.
In addition, the stove has also been specially improved. It is very different from the simple and low stove on the top of the mountain. It is made of mud bricks and built into a large fire stove common in rural areas, with a row of eight stove holes, large and small, and also
The chimney was built with clay bricks and extended all the way to the roof.
Fire and water are merciless. No matter in any era, fire is an irresistible danger to human beings. Therefore, under limited conditions, Xu Chen strives to be the safest.
In addition, the Ba people have limited manpower and will have to live in this large house for at least several decades. Naturally, the more reliable the infrastructure, the better, and the more careful the safety measures, the better.
Amid the bustle and bustle, the end of December arrived in a blink of an eye. After all the work was slowly finished, the entire mansion had a completely new look. The inside and outside were clean and flat, the ditches were smooth, and the bedrooms, fire pits, and pergola were basically complete.
The layout of the entire compound is a standard rectangle, with the main entrance facing the mouth of the valley and the main gate in the middle.
There are four houses on each side of the gate.
There are six houses in each of the east and west rows.
In the innermost row of houses at the foot of the mountain, there is a firepit and kitchen connected together in the middle, with three houses on each side.
Except for the firepit and kitchen for gatherings, the other rooms are almost identical in size and specification. In addition, a lane is reserved in the middle of the east and west rows of houses to build toilets and pergolas, which will also facilitate the expansion of side yards on both sides in the future.
After all the interior decoration work was completed, a large number of poisonous broad leaves and bundles of thatch prepared in advance were moved to the roof in bundles, and covered with rattan and wooden sticks densely packed layer by layer.