Chương 237: 234. A Good Spot

Duvas continued, "Apart from that, like you had told me yesterday, I have already ordered half a dozen workers to continue making paper at a small rate every day. We have no shortage of sawdust or ashes - which are the main raw materials for making paper - so we don't need to worry about that. Also, it will only take a small time for the wood press machine to compress the finalized pulp into paper, so it wouldn't really slow down the production of sawdust briquettes.

The felt is reusable, so that won't be a problem either in producing more paper." Kivamus nodded, while glancing at the shelf which kept the rolls of parchments near the long dining table.

"Yeah, we already used all the paper from yesterday to create the keepsakes, so I do need more of it to continue sketching my blueprints."

"Indeed," the majordomo agreed.

"Yesterday we used a dozen workers to get four sheets of paper. From today I am using half that many workers, which should still provide us with two new sheets of paper everyday." He added, "Apart from that, one of the workers who was supervising clearing the mine shafts of water had met with me today, and he told me that five of the mine shafts are now clear of all standing water and are ready to start mining."

"Good," Kivamus nodded.

"Let's wait another week to get some more forest area cleared, and then we will start putting some men to begin coal mining once again." He looked at Hudan.

"Tomorrow morning, let's go towards the hills to take a look at how the digging of fire clay is going. I think by now we should have just enough clay to start building the dam, which means we will have to start shifting workers from the south for that as well. We will also visit the stream to find a good location for the dam."

"Of course," the guard captain nodded.

"I will talk with Feroy to manage the defense of the village while I'm out and I'll be ready with a few guards to leave with you in the morning."

"Perfect," Kivamus smiled.

"I sketched a lot of details of the seed drill today - and this is already my third attempt at it to improve the design to make it easier to build at scale - and I think I finally have the design I want, but all that thinking has made me hungry. So, let's ask for Madam Helga to bring us some food, shall we?" Gorsazo was the first one to stand up.

"I'll ask her for it," he said before hurrying around to the inner door which went towards the kitchen. Hudan grinned looking at the teacher's back, before he looked at Kivamus.

"I'll call up Feroy too. His stomach must be growling already from us talking about food here!" Kivamus and Duvas chuckled at that, before he waved off the guard captain to bring the ex-mercenary. It was time to eat!

The next morning Kivamus was ready with the other guards to visit the eastern hills after mounting a horse, while waiting for the wagon which went along with the labourers everyday to be loaded up fully. It carried a couple of wheelbarrows, a cart, along with some long wooden branches and a few tree stumps. Once everything was loaded up, he gave a nod to the guard captain, who hollered, "Come on, let's go!"

Their horses along with the wagon moved north through the snow covered dirt path, and soon passed in front of the longhouse blocks. Both of the blocks were as busy as always at this time, with a stream of workers coming out from their gates going for their workplace all around the village. The kids were following their parents as well, with small baskets in their hands so they could gather sawdust and wood shavings to take to the wood press machine in the south.

The elderly villagers were staying inside the blocks to keep an eye on the children who were too young to be left unsupervised. There was a plume of smoke coming out from both of the blocks from their kitchens, where the afternoon meal must already be in preparation. As they moved further ahead, he also saw the smokehouse in the distance near the village walls, where a servant was busy taking out the already smoked meat on a wheelbarrow, while he had a stack of fresh meat waiting in a cart.

A guard was also posted there to prevent any theft of the smoked meat by the villagers. While their accumulation of smoked meat had slowed down significantly after taking in the newest arrivals from Kirnos, especially with the help of smoked fish which Feroy had brought from there, but for now their hunting parties were still bringing in more meat than they were using, which meant there was a steady growth in the stack of smoked meat in the storage room of the manor.

At this rate, they might very well be able to complete the sowing without needing to buy too much wheat. If you encounter this tale on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. Soon, they reached the northern gate at which two guards were posted, who saluted the guard captain and him, before opening the gates quickly.

Coming outside of the walls, it was easy to see that there was a lot more snow gathered out here, since there was nobody to trample over it all day, like it was happening inside the village walls. Their small caravan soon turned on a bend in the road to go towards the east and before long they had reached the hills where seatearth - or fire clay - was being dug.

As they had planned in the beginning, a series of tree stumps were left to burn overnight in a strategic way to prevent the ground from freezing again in the nights. That meant the workers wouldn't have to waste a few hours to thaw the ground in the mornings before they could start digging again. More importantly, it was easy to see the noticeable piles of clay gathered on one side.

It would take a lot more of it to complete the dam, but they still had enough of it stocked by now that they could finally start the construction. As the labourers tied the horses to a pole they had fixed in the ground and began removing the long branches from the wagon so they could start digging again, Kivamus looked at the guard captain.

"Let's go to the eastern stream now to find a good place for the dam. We already have enough clay to start the construction." He added, "Bring the foreman of this group with us, so he can also see the location." Hudan gave a nod and before long, the foreman was sitting behind a guard on another horse, before they started travelling further to the east. The narrow path between the hills was covered in a deep layer of snow, and it was slow going for the horses to travel through it.

That meant it wouldn't be easy for the wagons to travel on this path in the winter if they started coal mining before the snow melted, but it still seemed doable, if a little difficult. That was a good enough reason as to why the previous baron used to stop coal mining every winter. Soon they passed the area of the coal mines, where he saw a small group of workers entering a mine shaft to continue dewatering the insides.

While Kivamus was already planning to start coal mining in a week, he realised that it wouldn't be easy at all for the heavily laden wagons to bring coal from here to the village while travelling on the narrow snow-covered paths. They still had the option to postpone the coal mining until the snow had melted completely, but that might not be feasible this year at the rate they were using coal, even after the reduction in its consumption by using sawdust briquettes. He would have to think more about this.

Soon, they heard the bubbling of water before they turned their horses around a turn in the path and saw the eastern stream. While there was a good amount of snow formed on both its sides, water was still flowing freely in the stream. Good. Once they reached closer to the stream, he beckoned the guard captain closer.

"The hills look like they are getting further and further apart on our right so there is no point in travelling downstream from here to find a good spot for the dam. Let's travel upstream from here and see if we can find a good spot." Hudan nodded, and took his position ahead of him once again along with another mounted guard, while two more guards followed behind him as well on their horses. However, they didn't have to move too long before Kivamus took a good look around them and called out for everyone to stop.

He gazed around the place from atop his horse, and saw that there was a fairly large hill on the left of the valley, while two medium sized hills were located on the right. The stream was still flowing steadily here, but it was easy to see that there was no other path for the water to go if they made an obstacle here in the form of a dam. That meant the flowing water should form a good reservoir behind the dam, which would be vital in running a water wheel here.

Thankfully, the shore on the left side of the stream - which was the side towards their village - was also wide enough that they should be able to build a trip hammer, as well as a grain mill here in the future once they had the waterwheel installed successfully right ahead of the dam. The slope of the ground was also fairly gentle here, which meant the speed of the water in the stream wouldn't be too fast to wash away the dam in due time.

That would normally be a serious concern because this dam would primarily be made of clay even if it would have to be reinforced by rocks and timber, instead of being built from concrete - like in most dams on earth.

"Let's take a look further upstream for a short distance," he announced, "so we can be sure that the surrounding hills will act as a decent embankment on the sides to allow a good quantity of water to stay in the reservoir."