I built a manor in the Middle Ages

Chapter 143 Irrigation System (Part )

First, the oak stakes were prepared. The water inlet was four feet wide, so the stakes were divided into two groups. After separating the water inlet, they began to be nailed into the riverbed.

Luc bent down and grabbed a handful of silt. The river bank was not as hard as the land, and ordinary deep burial could not consolidate the wooden piles at all, but he had prepared a solution.

"Ryan, take your men and put up all the wooden stakes first."

After building the wooden fort, Ryan can at least handle ordinary construction on his own.

The organization of the farming team was still there, so Luke transferred the first group to drive in wooden stakes, and the second group, led by old Eike, began to pile clay and gravel around the wooden stakes.

Just like the initial construction of the fireplace, these stones formed a "city wall" to block the water flow outside the wooden stakes as much as possible. In addition, the wooden stakes had been coated with pine grease long ago, so they would not be eroded by the water in a short time.

The Agate River was rippling with green water. People in the valley rolled up their trouser legs and waded in the water. Some ignorant little fishes bumped into their calves.

"Hey, Old John hasn't fished in just a few days, and there are so many fish in the Agate River again?"

"You blind fellow, can't you see that they are just small fish? It will probably take until next year for them to grow into big fish~"

".Alas, it seems that we won't be able to eat meat in winter."

From a military perspective, miners are the best type of soldier because they understand coordination and cooperation, which is the only way to avoid danger and extract abundant resources. However, thanks to Luc's relatively systematic farming plan, the emergence of necessary agricultural tools such as wooden carts and curved plows, coupled with the large-scale construction projects, these disaster victims have learned a basic sense of cooperation, and they still manage to chat and joke while digging mud and erecting timber.

However, when Luc heard this, he had another consideration.

The Agate River is very wide, and the people in the valley have eaten fish for several months without causing serious damage. However, if they continue to fish so hard, the Agate River will eventually dry up.

"Shut up, everyone! Hans, go get the ladder and the pulley, I'm going to put it up!"

Ryan glared and cursed. He didn't eat meat every day when he and his master were clearing the land. How could this group of newly arrived disaster victims worry about not having meat to eat in the future after only having enough food for a few days?

I secretly hid my worries in my heart and saw Hans bring the wooden ladder, climb up the wooden piles flexibly, and start connecting the beams.

Ryan has mastered the mortise and tenon structure to perfection. The mortise and tenon he left specially for the structure are linked together, and in a short while he has built the most basic framework.

Luc looked at Ryan's nimble hands and feet and nodded in appreciation. He then held the wooden gate made by little Maiman. The two-inch-thick gate was aligned with the water inlet. "Little Maiman's skills are quite good. It seems that we can move him to the lumberyard to live in the future."

Looking at the current manors, the one who lives the best is Robert's family, who hold the most positions. First of all, Robert is the leader of the farming team, Mary is responsible for grazing, and occasionally helps the castle cook pick food, Miller is the head of the watchtower, and also works part-time as a pottery maker, and little Julie, Du Si decided to officially take her in as a maid some time ago. The six-year-old girl is no longer as skinny as she was two years ago. On the contrary, because Luc has been feeding her, she has grown plump and is very smart.

The second is Paul's family. Although Paul's family are all farmers, he can work in the salt factory, so his life in the future will definitely not be bad.

After that, it was the carpenter Maiman.

Of course, the above are just civilians.

Semi-armed personnel like Jill and maids like Lisa were not included. The construction of the water inlet wasn't complicated, but it was time-consuming. We worked until noon, had a quick lunch, and then the afternoon began the tamping phase.

The basic framework has been built, but there is still a problem, which is the silt problem.

You have to know that this is an irrigation waterway. If the silt increases until it becomes blocked, the purpose of irrigation will be completely unattainable.

In order to solve the problem, the fishing net that I specially asked Robert to make a few days ago came in handy.

Layers of wicker fishing nets and clay were laid inside the wooden piles. The fishing nets were laid first, then all the gaps were filled with clay, and then squeezed and tamped. In order to make it stronger, Hans stepped back and forth on it. Every time he built a pile, he would observe whether there was any water seeping in. This was repeated until the pile was about ten inches thick.

The remaining men continued to reinforce the outer stone wall under the command of Old Eike.

The sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Smoke curls up from the manor deep in the mountains. The evening breeze blows from the left bank, and several bonfires sway in the wind. People gathered in front of the bonfires each set up pottery to boil stream water and add bread and wild vegetables.

In the peaceful and lively atmosphere, everyone took the last step - installing the wooden gate in the center with a hole in it for the rope to pass through. They took the spare pulley in the manor and tied it to a wooden stake nailed into the thick soil not far from the river bank. The stake was deliberately thicker at the top and thinner at the bottom to prevent it from falling off. The bottom of the gate was compacted with clay to prevent water leakage. When everything was done, the water inlet was basically completed.

At some point, Luc also joined in the construction. At this time, he stepped into the river barefoot and Ryan untied the pulley.
"How is it? Does it sink?"

"Unsinkable, sir!" Ryan responded loudly and happily. As he exerted force, the gate opened little by little because he was close to the water pump cart. The river water that was blocked outside instantly gushed out under the accumulation and the push of the water pump cart. After the gate closed, all the river water was blocked outside the gate.

"Huh~ It's finally done. I just need to spend some time checking and reinforcing it over the next few days."

Luke wiped his sweat and suddenly felt that he was a little too optimistic. If things continued like this, it would probably take two months to completely complete the channel.

"We'll take it one step at a time. At least we'll build on flat arable land first."

It took several days to build a gate, which seemed meaningless, but Luc knew that the gate of a good irrigation ditch was no less important than the foundation of a house.

Bringing everyone back to the manor, thanks to the flax planting, almost everyone has a piece of linen cloth. At a glance, it no longer looks like a refugee camp, but has the outline of a village.

There was no extra meal this time. There was no need to give any more rewards after the banquet. Excessive rewards are not necessarily a good thing.

Ryan obviously understood this. When he told Luc about his worries during the day, he heard him say nonchalantly, "Don't worry, Ryan. This isn't a bad thing. After the land is divided next year, they will cultivate their own land. By then, they may not have meat for a long time."

"My lord, what do you mean?"

Luc drummed his fingers on the table. It was only a matter of time before the Knights' Castle would move from a unified distribution of food to a situation where each household was self-sufficient and then taxed. The advantage of doing so was of course that he would truly become the owner of the manor, which was also the most common economic method in the current era. The disadvantage was also obvious. He would no longer be able to hire people for free to build large-scale projects. In other words, by then, he would often need to pay wages or reduce taxes to hire them to work. Of course, this only applied to public areas, and they were still obliged to participate in the work of the lord's own affairs.

"Perhaps I could change the law, but the safest solution would be to replace part of the wages with meat."

Luc smiled cunningly: "Once you're used to eating meat, it's not that easy to quit."

(End of this chapter)