After handling some miscellaneous affairs in Valley Wood Fort, Art sent someone to call Ron, who was learning horsemanship with Lusignan. He took Ron out of the Wood Fort and headed towards the northern edge of the dense forest, as he wanted to personally inspect the construction of the military fort on the edge of the dense forest.
At noon, Art and Ron rode their horses to the military fort construction site, the legion's garrison, located on the northern edge of the Valley Land's dense forest. Lawrence, the construction steward who had recently recovered from his injuries and taken up his post, was leading over twenty idle fort residents and prisoner laborers in the basic construction of the military camp. The wide, flat, gentle slope was bustling with people busy erecting scaffolding, lifting trees, and sawing wood.
The foundation of the military fort's walls had already been dug. Along the previously designated perimeter, a deep trench, six feet deep and six feet wide, had been dug on each of the four sides. Two rows of thirty-five-foot-high thick logs were buried on either side of the trench, with a gap of about five feet between the two rows of thick logs. The space between the two rows of wooden walls was filled with clay mixed with crushed stone and wheat straw. Tough vines and tree creepers were vertically inserted into the clay as a framework, and then it was compacted with heavy wooden mallets...
The four-sided fort walls were being constructed simultaneously, and the walls had already reached half a person's height.
Art walked to the main wall, where the outline of the fort gate was already visible. He jumped into the two rows of high wooden planks, took the heavy wooden mallet from the Vice Steward Gerr's hand, and pounded it hard onto the clay. The clay, mixed with wheat straw and small crushed stones, was gradually compacted under the pounding of the heavy mallet. To prevent the clay from cracking after drying, in addition to adding wheat straw, willow branches and tough branches and leaves from various trees were irregularly inserted into the clay. These branches would solidify the clay like sinews and bones, making it as hard as an iron plate. A fort wall four to five feet thick with a wood and stone structure could withstand the impact of most siege weapons.
These four thick fort walls were only the first layer of defense. Four arrow towers would also be built at the four corners of the fort walls, and there would be battlements and battle positions on the wall tops. After the outer walls were completed, the military fort would also gradually build some houses, stables, wells, warehouses, blacksmith shops, and a stone-built high house as an inner fort. Of course, such a military fort was only the most rudimentary. As a newly appointed Knight, Art's status and financial resources could only temporarily allow him to build such a military fort as his army's castle.
"Lawrence, you just recovered from your injury, so don't participate in the labor yourself. You just need to manage the craftsmen and laborers at the construction site. Leave the heavy and tiring work to your subordinates," Art said to Lawrence, the construction steward, who had just put down his work to accompany Art.
Lawrence gently pressed his scabbed wound and said, "My wound has healed, Sir, it's nothing. Most of the craftsmen and laborers are currently being transferred to the Wood Fort to build the Lord's Mansion day and night. The progress here at the military fort is slow, so I thought having one more person would help finish it faster."
"I am very pleased that you think that way, but you are now the steward. Many things do not require your personal involvement. What you need to do is to let your subordinates know what they should do, how to do it, and how well they are doing it. Your greatest role is to be the brain, not the hands and feet. How to maximize the effectiveness of your subordinates and how to complete the tasks at hand in the best and fastest way is what a steward should consider. For example, in the construction of this military fort, you are currently short of manpower, and the construction of the rammed earth walls requires the completion of an entire wall's compaction in the shortest possible time. Otherwise, if it takes too long, the clay will dry and easily form layers, which will lead to cracks and collapse in the future. This task requires many people to work simultaneously. Since you are short of manpower, you should not spread them out. Instead, you should concentrate your manpower to first mix and prepare all the materials needed for wall construction, such as clay, wheat straw, crushed stone, and vines. Once the clay is ready, then concentrate your manpower to simultaneously pour the clay materials into the formwork and compact it as quickly as possible to make the clay form a single solid block. Only then will the constructed fort wall be the strongest..."
Lawrence listened carefully, noting down Art's instructions.
No era lacks talent; it's just that many talented individuals do not encounter suitable opportunities. Just like Scott and Lawrence, if they had not suffered from war or had not met Art, they might have spent their entire lives dealing with oxen and land, remaining honest farmers and commoners. But now they are both administrators of the territory, each with dozens of subordinates, and their demeanor and capabilities are growing step by step.
This is the so-called 'times make heroes'.
"The construction of the military fort is not very urgent. I plan to complete the outer walls, battlements, and arrow towers of the military fort within five to eight months, and the inner fort, houses, wells, stables, and armory within a year and a half. Moreover, once my Mansion is built, I will concentrate all my forces here, so you don't need to rush. You must build the foundation of the military fort firmly for me. In the future, this will be an important gateway for entering and exiting Valley Knight Territory. If anyone intends to target the Valley Land, this will be the first place to be impacted. I don't need to say how important this military fort's role is, do I?"
Lawrence nodded repeatedly, wiping the sweat from his forehead with his clay-stained sleeve, and said, "I understand, Sir. I will make sure my subordinates don't cut corners."
"Good. Tell the craftsmen and laborers involved in building the fort that if they do well, I will reward them according to their merits after the military fort is completed. Tell them to work diligently. Also, you must be diligent in the food supply; make sure everyone is full. Only with full stomachs will they have strength..."
After giving a few instructions, Art picked up a heavy mallet and personally went to the base of the outer wall, which had already dried and taken shape. He struck it more than ten times to test the solidity of the earth-wood structured outer wall. After more than a dozen strikes, the dried earth wall only showed a few white marks. Art nodded with satisfaction. This rammed earth method of building fort walls might not be comparable to stone forts built with dressed stones, but it was certainly much stronger than simple wooden forts.
"Not bad, this is very good. Lawrence, today you hand over the matters here to Bard and Gerr. This afternoon, come back to the Wood Fort with me. Tonight, I want to discuss naming various places in the territory in the Wood Fort. Now that our territory is larger, it's quite inconvenient to manage without proper names."
"Sir, you are right. I will arrange the military fort construction properly and then return to the Wood Fort."
In the evening, in Valley Wood Fort, all the military officers and civil officials gathered in Art's military tent.
Art sat at the head, listening to everyone's proposals for naming various places in the Knight Territory. Felix of Sap, as an educated guest of the Valley Land, attended this naming meeting.
"The names you all proposed are good, but I believe the names of various places in the territory should be concise and easy to remember. Those long names can be disregarded; everything should be kept simple."
Art picked up a birch bark with still wet ink from the small table and said to everyone, "I have noted down the names you just discussed. Combining them with my previous thoughts, I propose the following naming suggestions: Valley Wood Fort shall be called Wood Fort. It will be the location of my Knight's Mansion and also the military and political core of the entire Knight Territory. In the future, the public offices of all the Civil Affairs stewards will be set up around the Lord's Mansion in the Wood Fort."
"The village on the gentle slope at the southern Valley Mouth shall be called Valley Bottom Village, including the hundreds of acres of land already cultivated along both banks of the river at the Valley Mouth and the farmers cultivating that land, all of which will be included in Valley Bottom Village."
"The military fort currently under construction on the northern edge of the dense forest in the Valley Land shall be called North Pass Fort, symbolizing a northern pass, and will serve as the main garrison for the legion in the future."
"The Giant Stone Pile in the northern wilderness shall be called Jushi Town. Currently, it is the newly established Patrol Team outpost and garrison, primarily responsible for sentinel security and early warning against theft. In the future, I will transform it into a resting place along the north-south trade route, hence the name 'Jushi Town'."
"As for the outpost and surrounding territory of the southern border fiefdom, for now, it will simply be called Border Outpost."
Art put down the birch bark, looked around at everyone in the tent, and said, "Gentlemen, these are my suggestions for naming various places in the territory. Do any of you have any objections?"
The people in the tent whispered among themselves after hearing this.
Felix, the only son of Baron Galvin, who had not been a guest in Valley Knight Territory for long, was not yet accustomed to Art's practice of discussing everything with his subordinates. In Sapps, his father, Baron Galvin, would occasionally convene the territory's knights and gentry to discuss important territorial matters, but most of the time, major territorial decisions were made by Baron Galvin himself, and the so-called discussions were merely symbolic consultations.
However, during his time in Valley Knight Territory, Lord Art frequently held similar council meetings, and he genuinely listened to the opinions and suggestions of the participants. Privately, Felix had also quietly warned his future brother-in-law. Felix, coming from a minor noble background, had a talent for understanding power. He believed that Art's habit of discussing everything with his subordinates would be detrimental to Art's rule over the territory.
Art understood his "brother-in-law" Felix's meaning, but he was not trying to cultivate a group of loyal servants. In the future, he would need a group of "assistants" with ideas and capabilities to help him manage the increasingly large army and the territory's people. That is why Art discussed everything with everyone, allowing them to participate more in thinking and decision-making.
Felix, sitting on a low stool at the end, thought for a while, then stood up and said, "Lord Art, the names you've chosen for various places in your territory are simple and easy to remember, but aren't these names a bit too simple? Other places are fine, but the castle where your Lord's Mansion is located is just called 'Wood Fort'? It should at least have a more magnificent name, or at the very least, be named after your family, 'Wellsburg'~"
Art looked at Felix and smiled, motioning for him to sit down, then slowly said, "The names are indeed a bit simple, but I don't want to choose names that attract too much attention. Currently, my biggest concern is that outsiders are eyeing this Valley Land. Sooner or later, the Valley Land will become known to outsiders. If we choose some grand and attention-grabbing names, I fear more people will come because of the name. It's better to be low-key, better to be low-key."
"As for the name 'Wellsburg,' it's quite good, but I'm saving that name for future use."
Although everyone also felt that Art's naming was too simple, since Art had already decided on the names, no one raised any further objections. After all, it was just a name, and they would get used to it after calling it enough times.
"Good, since everyone has no objections, Cooper will transcribe the names of the various places into a book and convey them to all the Soldiers and fort residents. From now on, everyone will refer to these places by these names."
Everyone assented.
Art then briefly arranged army training and various Civil Affairs matters in the territory, and everyone left the military tent to attend to their respective duties.
"Ron, go call Farnaz to my military tent in a moment. I have important matters to discuss with her."
