I built a manor in the Middle Ages

Chapter 92: Real Paint (Update )

During the twenty-plus days of building the shield, it wasn't really just about building the shield.

In addition to building two more serf houses, Luc also built a pigsty.

As the location for the pigsty, Luc chose the semi-basement house he had built when he first arrived.
Robert and his family have moved into the new house. Their room is the largest one in the house, after all, it is a family of four.

So half of the cellar was left empty.

Standing in front of the house and staring at the empty house, Luc was filled with mixed emotions. A year had passed so quickly, and he had not expected that the house would be demolished so soon.

As it was his first building, Luc still had some emotions about it, but emotions were feelings alone, and when it came to action, he was absolutely determined.

Since the right half of Luc's house was expanded later, he did not plan to demolish the left half, which had a wooden house and a crypt and was a ready-made livestock fodder storage site. He only needed to demolish the part where Ryan once lived, add a wall in the middle, and build a pigpen next to it.

Pig pens are much more sophisticated than chicken coops and sheep pens. In addition to taller and stronger walls, they also require a shed that can shelter from wind and rain.

Luc called a few men over, walked around the pigpen, and then officially started work.

A few people first dismantled half of the house and piled the dismantled parts aside so that they could continue to use them when building the pig house.

Then the gap was blocked. Because the semi-cellar house was sunken into the ground, the wall on the ground was not high, so it didn't take long to build it and raise it up one level. This side naturally became a natural fence in the southern part of the pigpen.

Luc decided to use stones to build the pigpen. A large number of stones were transported from the mountains in carts, and this process alone took a lot of time.

Luc rarely used stone to build the house, at most using rubble to build the fireplace, and most of the time he used wood and brick structures. This was the first time that stone guardrails were used.

There was no way. Although Luc was confident that he could tame the piglets, if an adult wild boar had a brain cramp and hit the fence one day, an ordinary wooden fence might not be able to stop it.

Not only will it hurt people, it may also run into the fields and damage crops.

The stones in the mountains were mainly sandstone. Luke led his men to smash them with hoes and chisels, and it took more than a week to get enough stones to build a pigpen.

After carrying all the stones back to the cabin, Luc looked at the debris on the stones and slapped his head suddenly - isn't this a ready-made paint raw material?!

Luke took a deep breath, suppressed the excitement in his heart, and did not rush to start working. He built the pig house first.

Luc shoveled in some sand, used small stones to surround a groove, mixed sand, water and clay into it, and slowly stirred it to form mortar. He called Hans and others to stack the small pieces of sandstone layer by layer, smearing mortar in the middle, and did not stop until it reached the chest.

The size of the pig house extends from the semi-cellar to the front of the east fence, which is large enough for five pigs to move back and forth. Accordingly, the workload has also increased significantly.

It took a week to transport the stones and another week to build the wall.

Once the walls are completed, it's time to build the shack.

Using wooden stakes as pillars, the shack gradually extended from north to south, eventually forming a gap with the rock wall on the south side that was just enough for a human to stick their head out. A wooden door was left in the center of the south, and a solid wooden door was made of thicker wood. Only then was the pig house considered complete.

The five piglets that had been raised in the shed were put in. They squeaked and walked around, and finally huddled together in the corner and lay down.

Looking at the piglets who quickly adapted to the environment where food was served, Luc shook his head helplessly. No wonder pigs are often used to describe laziness. The adaptation process is much faster than that of goats.

He built a pig trough and put it in, then poured in acorns. After shouting twice, the five piglets immediately rushed over, grunting and snatching the pig food.

In order to ensure that the large number of acorns picked would not be infested with insects, Luc had them scalded with hot water and dried in the sun. After cracking the shells, they were sent to the mill to be ground into rubber powder. This kind of pig feed can be stored for a long time.

The rubber powder was stored in the cellar in front of the pigsty. Yes, there was the first cellar that Luc had dug. It was surrounded by bricks and was just right for storing it separately from human food.

After finishing everything, Luc turned around and looked around. This courtyard had completely become a livestock area.
The sheepfold is in the southeast, with the chicken coop directly opposite. The mixed stables for war horses, black donkeys, and mules are in the northeast corner, and the piggery is directly north.

Of course, there are a few buildings in the middle, such as firewood sheds and storage sheds, but overall, the western breeding area of ​​the wooden house planned by Luc has taken shape.

Along with it came a gradually foul animal odor.
"In the future, we will need to send someone to clean this place regularly."

Clapping his hands in satisfaction, he returned to the cabin just as Robert and his wife were rushing back from the fields.

After greeting Luc, the couple hurried back to their new house to have lunch.

The reclamation of fields has never stopped. In addition to fertilizing, Luc understands that leaving land fallow is also a magic weapon to increase grain production.

When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Luc did not intend to abandon the three-field system and planned to let Robert and others continue to open up wasteland in their spare time so that they could use it for rotation farming in the future.

However, Luc guessed that next year at best he could only achieve a two-field system. After all, three fields consist of three plots of land for spring plowing, autumn plowing and fallow, while his own spring and autumn plowing land now shares one piece.

Back at the cabin, I took a nap, a privilege I had all to myself. Just like breakfast, the rest of us didn't have a concept of a siesta. Waking up in the afternoon, I washed my face and refreshed myself. Luke, with his chisel and hammer, headed for a piece of sandstone I'd left behind when I built the pigsty—I was going to start experimenting with making paint!

While excavating the sandstone, Luc discovered a layer of pale yellow stone in the cracks of the sandstone. Luc immediately recognized that it was not part of the sandstone, but rather, it was an appendage of the sandstone - ochre!
Ochre is the real raw material that Luc uses to extract paint!
This year it was Ryan's turn to lead the team to pick mountain fruits. Jill was chopping wood and making charcoal every day. Luc waved Hans over and ordered him to use a chisel to carve out all the ochre on the sandstone.

Hans held the chisel hammer, squatted in front of the sandstone, and chiseled hard. Because he used too much force, sparks even flew.

After a while, they chiseled out about a bowl of broken ochre. Luc held these light yellow stones and asked Hans to grind them into powder.

Using a small hammer to smash all the ochre into pieces, Luc turned out the remaining tiny fragments and asked Hans to continue hammering them.

The finer the stone is, the better the quality of the subsequent paint mixing will be.

The flying powder choked Hans in the face. Amidst his violent coughing, Luc picked up the powder in a ceramic bowl, walked to the well, added well water, stirred it evenly with a wooden stick, and then took out the universal filtering artifact - paper mold to filter it several times until a bowl of muddy soup appeared.

"Hans, take this basin of water out into the sun and tell everyone not to touch or spill it, or you'll be punished by the willow branches!"

Hans carefully took the basin of water and placed it in a sunny place. Then he was instructed to continue building the house.

The sun was still very strong in October. After a few days, when Luc looked again, the mud and water had all dried up, forming a shape like cracked land during drought.

Picking up a piece of mud leaf and crushing it with his fingers, Luc smiled knowingly. Then the moment of seeing the paint was born!
Ryan came over curiously. He already knew that every time the master smiled like this, something new would appear.

Sure enough, when Luc put the ochre that had been ground into powder again into the oven, filled it with charcoal and started heating it, after a few hours, Ryan miraculously discovered that the earthy ochre powder had gradually turned into brown-red!

Then comes black and dark blue.

Two days later, when Luc and Ryan came back, they discovered that the ochre powder had turned purple.
"What's going on, sir?"

Ryan looked at the ochre powder in disbelief as its color kept changing. Luke didn't know how to explain it to Ryan, so he could only pat Ryan's shoulder meaningfully.

"Take it out. Keep this basin of powder for now. We'll make another basin of yellow ochre powder."

A few days later, light yellow ochre powder was placed in front of Luc's desk. He took the resin juice prepared in advance, poured it in for bonding, picked up a small brush made of rabbit hair, dipped it in yellow paint, and simply wiped it on the table. In an instant, a slightly dull yellow paint appeared in front of the two of them!
"looks good."

Luc smiled sincerely, took out the kite-shaped shield and the stag emblem, and was about to draw the stag pattern on the shield.

Luc always thought it was a coincidence that Henry's coat of arms was a red deer. The first large animal he hunted was also a red deer. At this time, there was a pair of deer antlers hanging in the wooden house.

But after a while, Luc found that he couldn't draw at all.
"Sir, can you let me try it?"

A faint voice sounded beside his ear. Luc looked up and saw that it was the horse thief George.

"Oh? You can draw?"

Luc looked at George in surprise. A horse thief had such artistic talent?

"I know a little bit, but it's not as good as my horse-stealing skills." George smiled sheepishly.

"Hiss is fine, come and try it."

Luc handed the rabbit hair brush and paint to George. George observed the coat of arms for a moment, and then, under Luc's gaze, he painted a pale yellow stag with its head held high and hooves prancing on the kite-shaped shield in just a few strokes, which was lifelike and visible to the naked eye!

George raised his twisted features and smiled, "Sir, the painting is done!"

"Talent"

Luc looked at George's ugly face and took a deep breath. George really has many skills.

"Master, you saved me twice. This is what I should do."

"what."

Luc could not deny it, but decided to plan an eighth serf house and let George move in in the future.

The next morning, Luc took the stag kite-shaped shield and long sword, and mounted his warhorse for training again.

This time I finally cut down the thatch pile.

(End of this chapter)