If you look down from the sky above Wall Village, the ravine where the village is located is like a claw mark scratched by a giant dragon. The entire Wall Village is located in the green claw mark, and the tidal flat downstream of the river bend is like a claw mark scratched by a giant dragon.
A pool of green blood flowed out of it.
In just three days, great changes have taken place upstream of Wall Village, and the prototype of the first reservoir has been revealed in this area.
A semi-circular stone field covering an area of nearly one acre has been sorted out at the uppermost part of the ravine. Since there is no soil cover here, it is usually deserted and without any vegetation. Nearly two hundred craftsmen and laborers work on this construction site every day.
Busy on the road.
Seeing the bustling work scene in front of him, the old village chief was filled with emotion when he stood on the stone slope. He thought that when he was young, he also thought about changing the situation of the village, and tried to transport the fertile river mud from the tidal flats downstream of the river bend.
Come upstream and build fields on this barren stone floor.
However, when the rainy season came to the few acres of fields he had worked so hard to cultivate, all the soil on the stone slabs was washed away by the rivers and streams under the wash of heavy rains, and returned to the tidal flats and turned into mud.
For this reason, the old village chief became seriously ill, and now the young knight Surdak also wants to do these things, and his ideas are far more bold than his original ideas.
In Suldak's plan, the entire reservoir is divided into five levels. Its overall shape looks like a terrace. Each step is an independent reservoir, surrounded by five reservoirs.
Interdependently, after the first reservoir is filled with water, the spring water enters the second reservoir through the overflow port of the reservoir, and so on, until the fifth reservoir is completely completed, the water in the reservoir will
In theory, water storage can allow the villagers of Wall Village to survive the dry periods in spring and summer.
According to the requirements of the old village chief, the bottom of the entire reservoir must be flat, and because limestone has strong permeability, the bottom of the water reservoir needs to be paved with a two-inch-thick layer of volcanic ash cement as a waterproof layer.
It’s not that the price of raw paint in Helensa City is too expensive, Surdak even wanted to paint a layer of raw paint on the bottom of the reservoir.
The foundation for the arc-shaped reservoir wall has begun to be poured. The only thing that gives the old village chief a headache is that there are only four horse-drawn carriages in the village. Even if they make three trips a day to continuously transport the volcanic ash back, there is still too little volcanic ash.
, every time after the volcanic ash is transported back and mixed with lime powder according to the proportion, the craftsmen on site swarm up and snatch up all the volcanic ash cement in an instant.
The reservoir project came to a semi-standstill on the third day. After more than a hundred workers leveled the stone slabs of the reservoir, except for the necessary twenty workers who were grinding lime powder on the construction site, the rest of the workers were all
They all carried linen bags and carried volcanic ash back from the depths of Paglos Mountain by manpower.
They heard that you could make money by carrying volcanic ash. That afternoon, the women in Wall Village went to the old village chief one after another and asked him to distribute this kind of good thing to the villagers in advance.
The women in the village believe that their strength is not much worse than the laborers in other villages, and they can also carry volcanic ash back from the mountain.
After all, you can earn 50 copper coins a day. For the women in the village, this money is not easy to come by.
There is nothing in the barren village of Wall, but the people living here have a lot of strength.
Even if there is less volcanic ash to carry back, and the worst possible outcome is to get less wages, it is still better than staying in the village all day long, where you can't earn the tinkling copper coins.
The old village chiefs arranged for a few women with weak legs to take care of children and the elderly in the village. The other women followed the workers on the construction site and entered the Paglos Mountains to carry volcanic ash.
When Suldak rode back to Wall Village, he just walked out of the mountain pass lined with wooden crosses. He saw a black line on the mountain road between the mountains and fields. This intermittent black line extended from Wall Village to the mountains.
At the end of the road, Suldak thought something had happened to Vol Village, so he quickly galloped back to Vol Village, only to find that the mountain road was full of villagers carrying heavy bags.
The villagers from other villages seemed to be migrant workers who had come to work in the village. Each of them looked shabby, with the sweat on their faces drying up and then dripping down. The heavy bags on their shoulders were bulging, and they looked very heavy. A pair of shoes on their feet
The soles of the straw sandals seemed to have been trampled to pieces, leaving only the back half connected to the straw ropes on the feet. The thick soles were on the ground, and the toes were widely spread. One glance showed that they were all used to going barefoot.
.
When these villagers from other villages saw Surdak, they wanted to step aside and let Surdak pass by on horseback.
Surdak did not stop here, because he found that there were some women from the village behind the team, also carrying heavy linen bags, struggling to follow at the end.
He ran over on horseback, jumped off the horse, and wanted to help the women in the village carry the heavy linen bags, but the women in the village refused to do so. They insisted on carrying the linen bags and followed the team one step at a time.
Walking towards the village with footprints.
"Suldak, do your work, we can do it just by carrying a bag of sand!" The woman in the village put the linen bag on the other shoulder and said with a smile to Suldak, her eyes
She forced a smile, fearing that Suldak would snatch her linen bag.
"Why are you all carrying this?" Suldak asked with a sullen face as he saw these village women were all so tired that they couldn't straighten their backs.
We often see them chirping and chatting while washing clothes by the river, and we can also see them waving sickles in the wheat fields. The strong laborers in the village have gone to dig sulfur mines in Puyubao Mountain, and it is these women who remove the wheat from the river.
After being carried to the threshing floor, and now seeing them carrying heavy volcanic ash towards the village like the hard workers in other villages, Surdak felt as if his heart was as heavy as a stone.
Seeing Suldak's serious face, these village women, who usually looked shrewd, were naturally not afraid. They put down their linen bags and spoke to Suldak in the accent unique to Wall Village.
: "Isn't it just to carry some dust from the mountains! The old village chief gave all these jobs to people from other villages. A bag of dust costs fifty copper coins. It doesn't matter who does this job, so why not do it first?
But it’s not like we can’t handle it for our own people, so we finally asked the old village chief for this job..."
Suldak was immediately weakened by their remarks, and could only say: "You can memorize less. I will talk to the village chief about the wages and let you get the same remuneration as the craftsmen."
Hearing that Surdak was actually on their side, the village women immediately became excited and said repeatedly: "Oh, this is not okay. Whatever rules are set, then follow them. The village chief is the best."
What I hate are people who break the rules, as long as they are willing to give us some reward, that will be great."
There was even an older village woman who took Suldak's hand and said with great sincerity: "Dak, I heard from the village chief that you paid for the construction of the reservoir this time out of your own pocket. What does this reservoir have?"
We all understand the point in our hearts. Normally we shouldn’t get paid for carrying dust, but now we have the nerve to carry less than others and still get the same pay as others..."
Surdak thought to himself, after all, the family background of the children and villagers was too thin. Even if the men were paid a lot of money for mining, they still wanted to make a little more money within their ability.
Fortunately, Rita and Natasha were not seen among this group of village women.
Thinking of this, he didn't say anything. He wanted to ride a horse to discuss with the old village chief. Since the sulfur mine brought a lot of wealth to the village, how could he further improve the living conditions of the villagers? In short,
Unable to eat stew and white bread every day, the whole village is struggling to survive...
As soon as he arrived at the entrance of the village, Suldak saw old Sheila sitting under a tree, and a group of children playing lattice in the open space. Little Peter also participated. He was somewhat immersed in the game and did not notice Suldak's arrival.
Some sharp-eyed children nearby reminded little Peter, who accidentally made a mistake in his jump and was defeated, and then happily threw himself into Suldak's arms.
Surdak held him in his arms and led the horse to Old Sheila. Old Sheila looked at Surdak with a peaceful face and asked him: "Have you not had dinner yet?"
Standing in front of old Sheila, Suldak always felt an inexplicable pressure. After all, no matter what the purpose, he could be regarded as taking over the knight status of his son, and now he slept with Natasha.
On the bed... He said with a smile: "I ate some on the way, so I'm not hungry yet!"
"Has everything in the city been done?" Old Sheila asked again, her wrinkled face remained calm, and she raised her head slightly.
Suldak scratched his head and said: "It's done. This time I signed up at the Helensa Knight Academy. I will go to the academy to take classes in a few days. I will be an official knight after graduation."
Old Sheila nodded slightly and glanced at little Peter tenderly.
Of course she could understand the implication of Surdak's words. If there were no accidents, this formal knighthood would fall on little Peter in the future.
Seeing Suldak carrying him on the horse, little Peter leaned in Suldak's arms and screamed with excitement, and old Sheila's eyes lit up with a faint light of hope...
…
On the construction site of the reservoir, the bricklayers were sitting on the outermost stone slabs of the reservoir to rest. In just three days, the place had begun to take shape. The bottom of the reservoir was almost flat.
The gentle slope here was suddenly artificially flattened to a large extent, and the excavated limestone was piled into high stone piles on the outermost edge of the reservoir.
A total of thirty-seven cement piers are planned for the foundation of this half-moon arc-shaped embankment. So far, only twelve have been poured. There are also ground beams nearly one meter deep above the cement piers. According to Suldak's design,
Eight steel bars will protrude from each foundation cement pier. These steel bars are tightly tied to the ground beam steel cage, and then the pozzolanic cement can be poured. Only when the foundation is firmly laid can a three-meter-high reservoir dam be built.
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The coolies hired from other villages had already carried bags of volcanic ash back from the mountain. Selina was counting the amount of volcanic ash. From a distance, she saw Surdak riding back on horseback, her fair face
Showing an unabashed smile, she wore a long gray linen skirt, a beige sweater, and a scarf to wrap her long hair. Her tall figure stood out among the coolies.
Signa did not get under Selena's skirt this time, but sat on a stone next to her, counting something with her fingers.
On the mountain road leading outside the village, people carrying volcanic ash were coming back one after another, and Selina was unable to escape for a while.
At this time, Suldak also saw the busy figures of Rita and Natasha. The two of them were carrying a large wicker basket filled with hot baked wheat cakes and were making their way to the craftsmen who had gathered to rest.
They distributed wheat cakes, and several village women behind them carried steaming large wooden buckets filled with vegetable soup. These people had dinner on the construction site.
It seemed that this group of people did not plan to rest immediately after dinner, and the construction site of the reservoir would not be completed until later.
When little Peter saw Natasha in the crowd, he struggled to get off the horse and ran towards Natasha and Rita while running and jumping.
Surdak led the horse to the stream and let it drink enough water before walking up to the old village chief.
At this time, the old village chief was standing next to a large stone. The stone was covered with the parchment drawings drawn by Surdak himself, and he was explaining something to the bricklayers next to him.
I heard him say: "The remaining foundation stone piers must be poured out tomorrow. These buried parts still need to be maintained with water for a period of time. The ground for paving the reservoir can be moved to the back. Now it seems that the volcanic ash
It is enough, I will increase the manpower for grinding lime powder overnight to ensure that there will be enough cement when the union starts tomorrow!"
Then he felt that the bricklayers around him were a little distracted, and they looked out one after another. Just as he was about to curse, he saw Suldak walking in, and his expression softened and he said: "...Oh, Surdak, you are back.
, Okay, okay, let’s go eat first, and then tidy up the place before it gets completely dark!”
The old village chief waved his hand to drive away the bricklayers. Then he picked up the cup and took a sip of water. He took a long breath and said, "How is it? Did your trip to Helensa go well?"
Surdak nodded and said: "It's going pretty well. All the needed supplies have been bought. A large amount of supplies should be delivered tomorrow! I've only been away for three days, and it's already like this. You
I’m not afraid that these craftsmen will be exhausted and run away!”
Speaking of this, the old village chief said with some pride: "You don't know how many people come to me every day to intercede and beg me to hire them to repair the reservoir. If you can find such a job outside the mountain pass, why not be satisfied?"
?”
Then the old village chief pulled Suldak and whispered: "It's not that I'm too harsh, these accounts don't count... You don't know what you spend every day. After work was done the night before yesterday, I asked Selina to count it.
After looking at the accounts, I realized... Good guy, as long as we start work, we will throw at least one golden coin into the reservoir every day. Before, I didn't even dare to think about it..."
"As long as I think that if I finish the job one day ahead of schedule, I can save a gold coin, how can I dare to be tired..."