Lord: Starting with Summoning the Regular Army of Earth

"Why hasn't that land been cultivated?" Matthew asked, pointing into the distance with a puzzled look.

Old Sam's face showed bitterness and helplessness: "That piece of land? It is indeed good land. But every rainy season, when the snowmelt from the mountains melts, coupled with heavy rains, the Weeping Blood River swells, and this entire plain is submerged, turning into a vast ocean. Whatever you plant is flooded, and there is no harvest. Many years ago, some people didn't believe in this, and ended up losing even their seeds. After that, no one bothered with it anymore."

Rainy season floods?

Matthew's heart sank.

The case of the Dujiangyan Irrigation System flashed through his mind instantly; that great project was a model of taming floods.

However, given the current manpower and resources of Jinshi Territory, constructing even a simplified version of the water conservancy project is nothing short of a pipe dream.

Moreover, although he knew about the Dujiangyan case, he was not very clear about the specific governance methods. It seems that he can only hope to receive support from professionals sent by the state.

If there were a way to control the floods, it would allow their territory to suddenly gain a large area of ​​fertile farmland, and they would no longer have to worry about farmland in the future.

Thinking of this, Matthew felt a renewed sense of hope and anticipation.

Old Sam left first to gather people in town and convey the lord's order that everyone must boil water before drinking.

Meanwhile, Matthew, accompanied by Conrad and Will, continued to inspect the original fields and fortifications of the territory.

As Will had previously reported, the town's already limited fields were abandoned, with hardly any weeds left, indicating that there was indeed a problem with the soil, but this was beyond his capabilities.

As for the defensive fortifications, they were completely ineffective. The so-called "walls" on the edge of the town were actually low walls of varying heights, roughly built with dark red ash stones, and many places had collapsed, forming huge gaps.

When Matthew and his men finished inspecting the town's "walls," Old Sam also gathered all the able-bodied men in the town.

There were nineteen people in total, which was almost all the able-bodied men in the entire town.

This is why Conrad was determined to persuade old Sam no matter what.

Here, Old Sam's words carry more weight than theirs.

However, not all of these young men were strong; most of them looked thin and weak, and some even looked sickly, perhaps due to water pollution.

They gathered around old Sam, their eyes filled with natural admiration. But when their gaze swept over Matthew, who was neatly dressed and had fair, delicate skin, that admiration quickly turned into undisguised suspicion, alienation, and even a hint of barely perceptible contempt.

Matthew could clearly feel these gazes.

He saw a tall, thin young man with fresh claw marks on his face, scrutinizing his slightly thin frame with a critical eye;

Another burly, taciturn man crossed his arms and smirked, as if to say, "Ignorant, good-for-nothing aristocrat."

There was also a younger, more lively-looking young man who was more curious, but his curiosity lacked basic respect.

Matthew ignored the "disrespectful" looks. Instead of directly commanding the men, he communicated with Old Sam, assigned tasks, and had some men follow Old Sam to dig the sedimentation basin, while others went off to find clean gravel and coarse sand.

And so, Old Sam and his men began digging sedimentation basins on the banks of Teardrop Creek where the current was slower.

Even the troublemakers couldn't help but mutter, "Uncle Sam, can this cursed water really be cleaned up?"

The speaker was a tall, thin young man with claw marks on his face. His name was Karl, and he was one of the town's most skilled hunters.

"Yeah, old Sam. You'd be better off going to the River of Blood to fetch water instead of messing around with this stuff," a burly man chimed in.

His name was Eric, and he used to be a skilled blacksmith in town.

"Exactly, what do those city folks know? They're just wasting their time."

"Yeah..." the others chimed in with their complaints.

In fact, most of the people present did not believe that the new lord could really purify the cursed water source. If it weren't for Old Sam's words, they would not have wasted their time here.

"You young and strong people can go to the Bloodstained River to fetch water, but what about the old people and children in the town? Are you willing to fetch water for them for free every day?" Old Sam said sternly.

The young men immediately fell silent and continued working.

Soon after, the sedimentation basin was basically excavated, and another group of people brought in enough gravel and coarse sand.

Matthew and Conrad followed old Sam as they moved a small amount of charcoal from his cellar, which was originally intended for winter heating, and also found a few unused, seemingly intact large wooden barrels.

Matthew then instructed Carl to chisel several small holes in the bottom of the barrel, and then use relatively flat stone slabs to slightly raise the bottom, leaving gaps.

Then he had his men lay out the materials layer by layer: the bottom layer was clean gravel the size of a fist, the middle layer was coarse sand the size of a soybean, and the top layer was carefully laid charcoal broken into pieces.

"Remember the order: gravel, coarse sand, charcoal. Each layer must be thick enough and spread evenly," Matthew said as he adjusted the layers.

His movements were not skilled, even somewhat clumsy, clearly indicating that he was not used to manual labor. However, his focus and clear purpose made Old Sam, who was watching from the side, slightly move his eyes.

Carl and Eric initially approached the task half-heartedly, but seeing Matthew doing it himself and getting his hands covered in mud, they couldn't help but take it a little more seriously.

At least, this lord wasn't just all talk.

After about two standard hours of work, a simple sedimentation tank and three "multi-layer filter barrels" were finally completed.

Matthew had someone scoop up the relatively clearer water from the top of the sedimentation tank and slowly pour it into the filter bucket.

Everyone watched with bated breath, including Matthew himself.

He wasn't sure if the filtering would actually be successful, after all, this was the first time he had applied theory to reality.

So at this moment, he, like everyone else around him, was waiting for a miracle to happen.

Soon, water flowed out from the small hole at the bottom of the filter bucket and fell into a clean container.

All eyes were drawn to the water, which, under the sunlight, had become crystal clear. The nauseating yellow color and suspended matter had disappeared, and the fishy smell was almost gone.

"It seems to be working!" Bob, the bright-eyed young man, couldn't help but exclaim in a low voice.

Carl and Eric stared wide-eyed, looking closely, their faces also filled with disbelief.

Can dirty water be cleaned with stones, sand, and charcoal?

This completely overturned their understanding; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call it magic.

Seeing the filtered water, Matthew was relieved. It seemed that Mr. Yu was right; as long as the theory was solid, the problem could be solved.

Will and Conrad exchanged a glance, their eyes filled with joy.

"Set up a pot and boil water!" Matthew ordered someone to set up a large pot and pour the filtered water into it.

"The final step, and the most important one," he said solemnly, pointing to the flames beginning to rise from the bottom of the pot, "boil. It must boil, simmer for at least a hundred heartbeats to completely kill the...dirty stuff in the water."

After a long while, the water gradually boiled, and steam rose in abundance.

After the water in the pot had been boiling violently for a long time, Matthew took a wooden bowl, scooped out half a bowl himself, smelled it, and found that there was no strange smell at all, and the water was very clear.

Old Sam also curiously leaned closer to take a look, smelled it, and couldn't help but nod: "It does look clean."

"This is a bowl of clean water now." Matthew blew on it and waited for the water to cool down before taking a sip.

"Your Highness!" Will exclaimed, his plump face filled with worry, "Let...let me go first!"

Conrad instinctively reached out to stop him, saying in a deep voice, "Your Highness, you can't..."

Matthew waved his hand, his gaze sweeping over the people around him who were staring intently at him, especially the suspicious eyes of Carl and Eric.

He knew that any verbal assurance at this moment would be meaningless.

He needs to prove himself with concrete actions.

"I am your lord!" Matthew's voice wasn't loud, but it carried an undeniable resolve. "If I don't even dare to try the methods I've proposed, how can I expect you to believe me?"

After saying this, under the tense gazes of Matthew, Conrad, and all the citizens, Matthew took a big gulp and finished the half-bowl of water.

"Hmm, it tastes very good." Matthew put down the empty bowl, his eyes firm and a smile on his face.

After a brief silence, suppressed gasps and whispers erupted from the crowd.

"I really drank it!"

"Looks like everything's fine!"

"Is this water... really drinkable?"

Old Sam looked intently at Matthew, his cloudy eyes gleaming. He silently stepped forward, took a bowl, scooped up the still-boiling water from the pot, blew on it, and drank it all in one gulp.

After finishing his drink, he wiped the water droplets from his beard, nodded heavily, and then looked at the young men behind him, saying, "After working for so long, aren't you thirsty?"

Carl and Eric exchanged a glance. They were naturally very thirsty, and if they weren't afraid of getting sick from drinking the cursed water, they would have drunk it long ago.

But now that they saw that Old Sam had spoken, and even the seemingly frail lord had drunk some, they naturally had nothing to worry about.

So he went forward to scoop up some water to drink.

Then it was Bob's turn, followed by all the other young adults, even the few who had fallen ill from drinking the water of Teardrop Creek, after some hesitation, joined the others in drinking the boiled water from the pot.

As they drank the water that had undergone this "magical" treatment, experiencing a taste completely different from before, the doubt and wariness on their faces were finally replaced by surprise.

The purified water tastes even better than when the water source was not cursed.

"It feels even cleaner than before!"

"Yes, it tastes really good."

"It seems the purification was truly successful."

"This is amazing! Is this magic?" A group of young men discussed, their eyes filled with surprise.

"Quiet down, everyone!" Matthew interrupted the murmur, scooped up another half-bowl of water, held it up to his face, and announced loudly, "Congratulations on successfully defeating the curse and bringing clean water to our Ashstone Ridge! Let's raise a toast to this victory!"

"Homage to our Lord!" Will and Conrad shouted.

"Cheers!" Old Sam raised his bowl, and everyone immediately echoed, raising their bowls with smiles on their faces.

Having personally participated in this "battle" to purify the water source, everyone was naturally filled with a sense of accomplishment and pride, and they also felt a bit more favorably toward this new lord.

……