I built a manor in the Middle Ages

Chapter 218 Bridge Piers
"Sir, move it a little more to the left! No, no, no, that's too far, move it to the right!"

Several snowflakes fell in the early winter valley, and the rushing Agate River froze even more solidly.

Luc walked to the spot where they first broke the ice to fetch water, stepped on it, and found it slippery. So he shoveled some loose soil and spread it on, then turned to the people behind him and instructed, "Make the soil thicker; if it's too thin, it'll be even more slippery!"

"Yes!"

Once everyone was in position, Luke raised his voice and shouted, "How's it going? Are we all here now?!"

"Done!"

Seeing Ryan waving his arms on the other side, Luke ordered his men to remove the stones next to the taut rope along the ice and then pile them up where the two men were standing on opposite banks.

"Sir, we need a lot of timber this time, and the logging camp says we'll have to wait a few more days."

Old Ek, dressed in a wool sweater and sporting his goatee, looked just like the legendary, immortal shepherd.

"In addition, with the mill shut down, it will probably take at least ten days to fell thirty oak logs."

Bridge construction is definitely a huge project. In order to measure exactly how many timbers were needed, Luke spent several days preparing for the preliminary work.

The first step is to find the location at both ends of the bridge. The terrain must be flat and not prone to landslides.

After choosing a general location and to prevent the bridge from being built crookedly, they took out the goat hair rope. Ryan was on the other side, and the two groups pulled each other almost inch by inch, setting up gravel markers every few steps, before they could barely pull out a straight line.

"It's alright, we can wait. The river depth hasn't been measured yet. I'll tell you the exact length we need this afternoon."

Call Ryan back. Luke raised his hand to shield his eyes from the sun, squinted at the tree, and said, "However, there are four oak logs, each about twenty-six feet long, that we can instruct Little Maiman to saw out in advance."

"no problem."

With the river frozen over, the sawmills stopped running, and manual sawing had to be resumed.

"Sir, what about the width?"

"It's about the width of an isosceles arm." Luke succinctly stated.

After old Eck turned and left, Luke also led Ryan and a dozen or so serfs away from the ice. They cut off some thin branches along the woods, tied them together with bark, and eventually wrapped them into a length of thirteen or fourteen feet.

"Let's go measure the Agate River!"

Lu Ke has been sketching a rough plan for the overall design of the wooden bridge.

In addition to the two bridgeheads, he planned to build a pier every fifty feet to support the bridge deck, which would increase the load-bearing capacity of the wooden bridge.

"Miller, go boil some warm water!"

Luc had a rough idea of ​​how deep the Agate River was, but he didn't have a precise measurement and dared not be too arbitrary.

Now that the river is frozen over, I need to break the ice myself.

While patiently waiting for the water to warm up, Charlie led a pack of dogs to start circling around Luc, the scent of dogs filling Luc's nostrils.
"Hahaha, old friend, you really have a house full of children and grandchildren now."

Luc affectionately patted Charlie's head, while the plump black hound licked his palm repeatedly with its tongue lolling out, its tail wagging rapidly.

Why did Luc say that? Because little Charlie was at the center, surrounded by two large dogs and a full eight small dogs.
Duss's belly grew bigger and bigger, while the two female dogs who had gotten pregnant earlier had already given birth to a litter of puppies. Charlie, who was both the male dog and the alpha male, was incredibly enthusiastic towards Luc, and even the puppies he had hardly ever seen before wagged their tails at him.

"With so many puppies, it looks like we'll need to build you a bigger doghouse."

Little Charlie couldn't understand what Luc was saying; he just kept rubbing himself between his legs.

"By the way, how's the brewery construction going?"

Speaking of architecture, besides the wooden bridge, Knightsburg currently needs a brewery the most.

Barley wine is selling very well, and this late winter, Luc plans to collect maple wine completely, which naturally requires a dedicated brewery.

"A brewery."

Ryan stroked his chin, his beard having grown considerably. "Knight's Castle has plenty of open space. The brewery east of the well should be finished soon, right? Anyway, it's not anything special. Just a small hut with a few pots and barrels will do. But as for the brewer, sir, do you have anyone in mind?" Brewing, especially brewing with hops, is a secret, not too big, not too small, and requires a reliable person to take the job.

"Let's observe further and see which of these people are honest."

Needless to say, the old inhabitants were well-integrated with Luke during the church's construction, and with the influence of the Common Way Society, their respect for Holy Knight Luke was no less than that of the old inhabitants who had accumulated power over many years.
"Sir, here's your warm water."

"Oh? Perfect! Miller, you and two others can wait here with warm water. I'll splash it when I say so!"

"Ok!"

"Go away!" Luke stood up and waved the dogs away. He was about to start chiseling the ice, and the puppies running around might fall in and drown.

Luc had experience in ice breaking, but this was his first time breaking through a riverbed several meters deep.

It is worth mentioning that Luke's earliest unit of length was based on the length of a short sword.

He ordered his men to carefully and slowly chisel a hole about shoulder-width in the ice, while instructing Miller to continuously pour warm water around the hole.

Interestingly, the warm water wasn't poured on to speed up the melting process, but rather to solidify the ice swirling around the opening and prevent it from cracking.

Then, taking the stick, he slowly probed downwards until the wet river water submerged most of the stick. He marked the spot, pulled it out, and compared it to the rope: "Twenty feet."

"Go tell little Mayman, I need twenty-four twenty-foot oak logs!"

The sawing of dozens of logs was not something that could be done overnight. Luc was not idle either, and he led the serfs to dig the foundation for the bridgehead on both sides of the river.

The free farmers of Ward village have the option to help Luke with 30 days of labor without pay, but Luke doesn't plan to use it now, since serfs don't cost money to hire.

Now Luke has more than sixty serfs, all of whom have participated in large-scale projects, making digging foundations a piece of cake for them.

Shorty Kohler gripped the shovel and dug furiously for a while, clods of dirt flying up and hitting the people around him. He couldn't help but curse, "Damn it, hey! Shorty, why are you digging so fast! Is your wife buried somewhere?"

"Pah! You stinking bastard with a mouth like a cesspool, what do you know?"

Kohler glared at the other person and said, "And who knows, I might actually be able to dig up a wife."

Ignoring the surrounding laughter, Kohler sniffled, his nose stinging from the cold. No matter how authoritative Luke was, he couldn't stop the serfs from being lazy. After all, in their eyes, this was just building a bridge for the lord's personal use, and had nothing to do with them.

Only Kohler slowly withdrew his gaze from the direction of Ward village.

"What a bunch of short-sighted fools! Just wait until Mr. Ryan notices my hard work and I become a brewer, then we'll see who laughs at whom!"

Miller, leaning on his short spear, quelled the commotion in the crowd. Digging foundations was a trivial matter that was already commonplace in Knightsburg, and there was no need for Luke to supervise it personally.

Two groups of people took turns working and resting.

The foundation was completed at the same time that the logging camp had cut all the timber.

"Bring some limestone!"

Luc stepped through the freshly fallen snow, determined to build the bridgehead into a wooden and stone structure!
First, bring all the pulleys back, especially those modified with bear sinew, which are more sturdy and durable.

Waving their work chants, they drove the two thickest oak logs vertically into the foundation, and then used pulleys to pile heavy stones at the bottom of the already treated logs.

They brought over the edible blue mule, used it to pull a section of the pulley, and Miller whipped the mule until it groaned and cried out. It took several days to complete the entire limestone embankment, and then they filled the gaps in the rocks with gravel and mud.

"Lian, Lian, bring two more shorter pieces of wood!"

With the basic base in place, for added stability, Luc planned to build triangular pillars forward from the wooden blocks, until the foundation was leveled.

Luke took a few steps back, then suddenly charged forward and delivered a very inelegant flying kick to the wooden block. Seeing that it didn't budge, he smiled with satisfaction.

"Great! Here's a barrel of ale for everyone. We'll build bridge piers on the ice in a while!"

(End of this chapter)