I built a manor in the Middle Ages

Chapter 137: War Horses at Sunset

"That's probably it. When the weather gets cooler, dig trenches on both sides and create a clearing."

Yesterday evening the sky was filled with sunset glow, but today it unexpectedly began to drizzle. Luc stood behind the Knight's Castle wearing a straw raincoat, pointing at the forest and giving instructions to old Eike beside him.

Old Eike looked solemnly at the surrounding forest, nodding his head from time to time.

In front of the two men, in a casually erected small shed, a clay pot was bubbling non-stop, and the boiling water scraped out layers of white foam, which was the boiling salt water.

A day and a night have passed since we boiled the salt stone yesterday. It is almost time to put the pot away. There is probably still some brine left at the bottom of the pot. This brine will not be boiled any further. After pouring it out, the remaining crystals will be the coarse salt that Luc has been longing for.

"Sir, if you want to build a salt factory here, I think we can also move the oil press here and combine it into one area."

Old Eike thought for a while and suddenly offered his suggestion.

Luc thought about it and agreed.

Since salt has been mined, it is natural to build a professional salt-boiling factory. If possible, Luc would like to form a complete chain from mining to refining, which can ensure the self-sufficiency of the manor's salt.

But the first problem facing Luc is that there is not enough space in the Knight's Castle!

That's right, the buildings that sprang up one after another almost filled up the flat land that Luc had specially selected two years ago. Although he never stopped cutting down trees, it was far from enough to meet the increasing demand for furnishings.

For example, the sheep pen and pig house had to be expanded after two sheep were added and the piglets grew up. The livestock area, which was already not spacious, became even more crowded.

Speaking of sheep, Luc couldn't help but think of the sheep wool he had just shed not long ago.

As expected, the sheep, which had only been raised for more than three months, produced as much as six pounds of wool, which made Luc very happy. You know, the four goats before could barely weave a complete piece of clothing, but six pounds of wool combined with the linen woven by the spinning wheel day and night could easily weave more than a dozen pieces of warm clothing.

Recovering his thoughts, Luc focused on the road that led directly from the orchard and the east side of Oliver's residence to the Salt Mountain.

The salt mine is located at a corner with the logging camp, and the salt boiling plant that has been selected is at another starting point. The three together form a triangle that includes the forest to the north of the Knight's Castle.

Going further north is the Telf Bridge. The winding road to the southeast will pass through the deserted village of Ward to Cooper Castle. To the south is the Agate River, which Luc patrolled upstream. Like the sewage river at the Telf Bridge, it will eventually flow into the Seine.

As for the lower western reaches, Luc has not yet conducted an in-depth survey. He has simply expanded the grassland where he originally caught the goats. However, there are still hills behind the hills, and it is basically used as a grazing area.

After selecting a site where construction would not begin in the short term, and seeing that the water was almost boiling, Luc ordered, "Paul, go pour out the muddy water. I want to see how much salt we can produce!"

Robert is still in charge of the more than 30 acres of land. Most of the other men work in the lumberyard. Paul was brought to Luke's side because of his injured leg. If the salt factory is really built in the future, Paul will be the first choice.

Paul limped and poured out the salt water carefully, and finally took out a bowl of salt grains. Luc looked at the dark-colored coarse salt and couldn't help but look at the old Eike beside him.

One pound!
About five pounds of salt rock will eventually produce one pound of coarse salt!

"Sir, is this output high or low?" asked Old Ek, who had no experience in salt mining, after staring for a moment.

Luc kept the matter of the salt mountain very secret and only recently revealed the news to Old Eike and others. As expected, after knowing that they could refine salt, the most core people in the manor were ecstatic. Even Du Si would often ask about the progress of the salt mountain at night.

Luc shook his head: "I don't know, but it is indeed higher than what I refined before."

Initially, the ratio of raw salt rock to raw rock was about ten to one, but now it's five to one, doubling the yield. This wasn't due to any significant refinement in the extraction process, but rather to the increasing concentration of rock salt as one went deeper. Over the course of a few months, Luc had a good idea of ​​the salt consumption rate. Even with the addition of wood ash salt, the forty-plus people would still consume over ten pounds of salt a month. Now, excluding Eugene's earlier exploratory excavations, once the right location was found, with one person mining and one person boiling the salt, they could produce about ten pounds of salt rock a week. In other words, with just two or three more people at the mine, daily mining to meet the entire estate's salt supply wouldn't be a problem.

Of course, this is an ideal situation, as salt rock will only become more and more difficult to mine as time goes by.

After handing the salt to Old Eike and asking him to record it in the account book, Luc suddenly turned to Ryan and asked, "How is Waldeger doing recently?"

Perhaps it was an inexplicable balance. While other groups in the livestock area continued to grow, in the stable, an old warhorse was spending its last days.

Hearing Luc's words, Ryan, who was originally excited about the coarse salt, looked a little lonely: "It's not very good. I fed it this morning and it only ate two mouthfuls. Recently, its breathing has become heavier. I guess it may die in the next few days."

"Yeah."

Luc took a deep breath and said nothing more.

Time flies. The grass on Henry's grave is already three feet high. The old horse, who was eighteen years old at the time, is now nearly twenty years old.

As the owner of the warhorse, no one pays more attention to the horse's condition than Luke.

Ever since he attacked and killed the deserter with his lance, Luc clearly felt that the horse under his crotch had lost a lot of strength and endurance. He used to be able to practice lance training every morning, but now he could only barely stride and could no longer gallop.

Luc knew that it was on the decline.

"Whoo~"

Luke stretched out his palm and felt the raindrops. It would be a lie to say that he had no feelings for the warhorse he had been with day and night for two years, but he was not to the point of feeling sad. What he was most worried about was actually losing his means of transportation and a significant reduction in his combat power.

War horses have never been easy to buy.

"Maybe I can ask George to steal one for me?"

Luke threw this unreliable idea out of his mind and could only take one step at a time.

"Feed it some good food during this period. How much it can eat depends on God's will."

"Also, inform Eugene that he will be allowed half a day off every Sunday from now on, so that this fellow from Upper Lorraine can relax."

Of course, Luc did not miss Eugene's background.

The past of a deserter who escaped from the battlefield was very worthy of Luc's exploration. Eugene was also very sensible. He told everything he had on the first day he was locked in the wooden cage before he was tortured.

At that moment, Luc realized that the other person was actually his "fellow villager".

The fact that a group of deserters from Upper Lorraine could escape to Burgundy only shows that the situation outside was extremely treacherous.

The drizzle continued until the afternoon. Some textile factories that had been leaking started working again. The creaking sound of carts could be heard slowly in the serf area. Robert and his nine companions were working in the fields and orchards. Lumberjacks drove mule carts through the forest, their wheels constantly crushing the muddy soil. On that rainy night, Ryan knocked on Luc's door.
"Master, Waldeger is dead."

(End of this chapter)