I built a manor in the Middle Ages

Chapter 202 Yellow Robe with Black Deer
After seeing Hoffman off, they took the mountain horse and, along with Ben Fenny, paid Berry five pounds for bridge repairs, bringing a hefty sum of ten pounds.

Then they returned to the bridge and looked at the ten laborers of varying heights. Because of the sight of Luke and his men carrying swords and wearing armor, they were huddled together like quails in fear.

Watching the crowd gradually regain their color after two months of good food, Luc thought for a moment. He first used a feigned retreat to get them to leave, saying that there were too few people and no need to build the tavern anymore. Then, after the crowd looked at each other in bewilderment and George's feigned pleas, he allowed them to continue building and, for God's sake, permitted them to join his territory after the tavern was completed, so that they could live a stable and well-fed life as they did now.

Amid the gratitude of the ten disaster victims, Luke mounted his mountain horse and rode back to Knightsburg alongside Ryan, who was riding a mule.

“Sir, are you really going to repair that abandoned church of David? If you ask me, just put on a show. Why waste time and manpower repairing it? There’s no benefit to it.”

Hearing that David had prisoners, and recalling Hugo's previous reply, Luc decided to take the opportunity to build the church. Hearing Ryan's words, he shook his head and said:

“Berry isn’t stupid. He will definitely send someone to check. If we don’t fix it, he will definitely take the opportunity to find an excuse, such as disrespecting the church, to extort money from us.”

"Besides, who says there aren't any benefits?"

"Don't forget, being a contractor for churches is a lucrative business!"

Those who become church contractors are not devout donors; on the contrary, they are a group of shrewd, capable businessmen with connections and status.

Otherwise, only a fool would be foolish enough to work for a church for free. There's plenty of money to be made in the process.

This is why Hoffmann envied Lück—he was simply not qualified to be a contractor.

Hugo agreed to Luc's request because he valued Luc's construction capabilities.

"Take stone for example. By slightly inflating the price, you can make a net profit of several hundred pfennigs, which is much faster than slowly selling charcoal."

"There are also labor costs and project payments. If you're unscrupulous, you can at least make a pound. Don't you think that's profitable?"

"We could even use the guise of protecting stone transport to form a legitimate armed transport team!"

Thinking of this, Luc suddenly remembered the location of a quarry. Before leaving, Hoffmann had asked if he had seen Viscount Moore, and the reply was that although he had not seen him, he had seen Baron Auvergne named Berg.

Baron Berg!
Luc narrowed his eyes. His old lord.

"Will Brother Hugo agree to let us make money?" Ryan asked worriedly, concerned about Hugo's upright character.

"Honesty doesn't mean being pedantic. A contractor makes money no matter who he pays for. As long as my prices are fairer than other contractors, he'll be satisfied."

"And we don't just want to make money."

Luke pointed behind him and said, "We were hoping to recruit some skilled refugees, but that seems unrealistic now. So let's take this opportunity to see if we can recruit a stonemason!"

Stonemasons are precisely the kind of skilled workers that Knightsburg currently lacks and needs.

For example, the millstone of the mill. To be honest, it was really lucky to be able to grind it well now. We found two natural stones that were just right and we could use them after a little polishing. But it is not so easy to build another mill.

This is another reason why Luc was slow to build a new mill, except that the existing mill was sufficient for the time being.

As evening fell, the three returned to the valley and handed the mountain horse to Ryan. This mount, slightly shorter than the Andalusian warhorse but still quite robust, was given to Ryan by Luke. Although it wasn't a reward, Ryan was overjoyed.

With the addition of his new warhorse, Luc suddenly became a true knight—a knight is one who has mounted squires.

Instead of immediately buying prisoners, Luke instructed George to go to David's steward to stabilize the situation, as he needed to clear the land and harvest the crops first!

The church should be built after autumn.

Fifteen serfs and twenty-two free peasants, along with all of Ryan and old Ek’s slaves, were present.

This wasn't the first time they'd cleared land by burning mountains; under the guidance of experienced farmers, they continued to cultivate the land to the north.

Luc explored and calculated that this valley, located in the no-man's-land in the central part of Burgundy, Auvergne and Champagne, could be cultivated to the extreme and even if enough forest and buildings were retained, it could still be 800 acres. This is a vast expanse of land.

Unlike previous land reclamation efforts, this time Luke went all out, not only by increasing manpower but also because there was enough grain. So, in the few dozen days before the autumn harvest, he ordered that as much land as possible be reclaimed!

For this reason, Peter and Oliver were specially invited to participate.

The land reclamation was a flurry of activity.

The entire valley was once again engulfed in a sea of ​​noise.

Luc inspected the blueberries. Strictly speaking, these blueberries should be called cranberries, and they were growing very well after being irrigated with maple leaf juice.

"Ha, it seems I've successfully tamed another new crop!"

Luc's face beamed with an undisguised smile.

Each new crop was like a child to Luc, something he carefully nurtured.

Looking at the blueberries, Luc suddenly remembered the two long-faded purple dresses he once wore.

Purple is a noble color nowadays, and Luc dared to wear it back then because he was unrestrained in the valley. But Baron Berry's eldest son probably used it to show his undisguised ambition.

After all, he had a father who desperately wanted to become an earl.
But should I think about getting a couple more dyed clothes?
Putting everything else aside, with a new warhorse, surely a cloak should be made, right? Luc gazed at the stag emblem on the city gate.

Because there's only one of these items, I often have to take it with me when I need to carry it, so I need a replacement.

"Blueberries are too precious and fade quickly. We need to find a way that is both inexpensive and slows down the fading."

Henry's stag emblem was a white background with a yellow stag.

But the new emblem does not intend to do so.

By observing Henry's coat of arms, it's easy to see that his family was indeed wealthy. A pure white coat of arms is not easy to obtain; it requires a lot of time and resources. For example, the white linen on Luc's clothes is actually off-white.

Secondly, once the white fades, it will just turn back to beige, and the stag emblem fluttering in the air is now almost impossible to see the outline of the stag.

"Perhaps the Yellow Earth Black Deer is a good choice?"

Blueberries were planted on the edge of the forest. Luke unconsciously took two steps forward and suddenly saw the nettle field from before.

"Wait a minute, isn't this just readily available, inexpensive material?"

Luc's eyes lit up. He looked around the crowd, beckoned Eugene, who was alright, and instructed him, "Use your left hand to cut about ten pounds of nettles!"

Seeing Eugene's troubled expression, Luc found some pigskin gloves and handed them to him. In the end, Eugene gritted his teeth and carefully cut a bunch of nettles.

Extracting the yellow color from nettles is not difficult; simply pick the tender leaves, chop them, boil them, and then soak the fabric in the solution. The challenge lies in slowing down the fading.

Luke walked around in place for a while.

plant ash!
Yes, use wood ash.

After instructing Eugene to deal with the nettles, Luc went to the estate to supervise the clearing of the land, and then went to Little Maiman to fetch some oak wood, burned it to ash, and added a small amount of water.

Meanwhile, Eugene had already started boiling the nettles, and an hour later, a pale yellow solution was indeed filtered out.

Luc took a piece of linen, soaked it in the ash, and then boiled the wood ash. After an hour, he mixed the two together and continued to simmer them over low heat for another half hour, while Eugene kept stirring.

When the linen was finally pulled out, it had turned completely yellowish-brown.

"Take it and let it air dry!"

The yellow background is complete.

But what about black?

Luke rubbed his chin. "How do you practice with black?"
Just as he was thinking, Peter approached him from somewhere.

"Sir, are you dyeing? If so, I think I can help you."

“I once saw a similar record at the translation institute in Aleppo: if you want bright yellow, you can soak it in urine; if you want black, you can use rust water and acorns; if you want indigo, you can mix salt water with madder.”

"Also, sir, if you want a pattern, you can use beeswax as a resist."

Peter, being a man of the world, shared all his valuable knowledge with Luc in just a few words.

Before Luc could speak, the pilgrim made the sign of the cross and muttered to himself, "These are miracles bestowed by God, stolen by heretics. I am simply returning them to their rightful owner."

After saying that, he turned around and continued clearing the land.

Clearing land is a major event in the Bible. It should not be neglected.

"..." Luke clicked his tongue slightly, then shook his head, both amused and exasperated.

Anyway, black has emerged.

Rust water; if I remember correctly, there were a few old hoes that happened to be rusty.

I personally went to Knightsburg to retrieve the old hoe, then added some apple cider vinegar. This soaking process was quite lengthy, taking at least three days.

With everything settled, Luc was about to go check on the estate again when a clear voice called out to him.

"Honey, wait a minute!"

"What's wrong, Duss?" Luke turned around and looked at his wife with a puzzled expression.

At the top of the stairs, Duss was being gently supported by Lisa. In front of her, little Julie stretched out her arms, looking very nervous, as if afraid that Duss might encounter some danger.

Under Luc's questioning gaze, Duss, her face flushed, uttered words that nearly made him jump.
Honey, I think I'm pregnant.

(End of this chapter)