Chapter 51: Between the planks

Chapter 51: Between the planksHowever, even with these three walls totaling just 1,100 meters, it was still a massive project for the Green Sparrow Tribe.

Han Cheng made a simple calculation.

The simple clay bricks made in the tribe were 10 centimeters thick, 20 centimeters wide, and 40 centimeters long. Assuming the wall was constructed to be 2.5 meters high and 40 centimeters thick, it would require 137,500 simple clay bricks.

Yesterday, they tried making simple clay bricks all day, including digging soil, mixing mud, and moving the finished clay bricks to the side. Twenty-five people in the tribe participated in the labor, almost all of the main workforce in the tribe. After a day of work, they only produced 800 simple clay bricks.

Even if all the future techniques became proficient, calculating a thousand simple clay bricks per day, just making the simple clay bricks would take over four months, almost five months. This calculation doesn't even include the time to dry and transport the simple clay bricks to the needed location.

Considering rainy and stormy weather, making and transporting the simple clay bricks would take six to seven months.

This assumed that the people in the tribe didn't engage in other activities like picking fruits, burning trees to plant rapeseed, or gathering grass for deer and rabbits.

Getting the simple clay bricks ready and in place would take around ten months.

Then, they would need to dig some foundations, mix mud, and use simple clay bricks to build walls, which would also require significant time and effort.

After calculating all this and subtracting the two to three months of winter when outdoor work was impossible, Han Cheng realized that the desired wall might not even be completed by the second autumn.

This was damn hard. Trying to make something was truly difficult.

Han Cheng couldn't help but want to curse loudly.

Following this method wouldn't work; the required effort was too much.

For several days, Han Cheng pondered over this issue that gave him a headache.

But eventually, he seemed to have an idea. Instead of using simple clay bricks, he could use a "board building" method to construct the wall.

Until the Qin and Han dynasties, and even later, many city walls were built using the "board building" method.

This was also why, in ancient times, during wars, if one side diverted water to flood the city, some parts of the city wall would collapse after a few days. Compared to making simple clay bricks and then using mud to stack them into a wall, the " board building " method was much more time- and labor-efficient.

It only required supporting both sides and ends with planks in the intended location of the wall. Then, they could directly pour well-mixed mud into the enclosed space formed by the planks and compact the mud.

Walls constructed using this method were solid. In the absence of steel bars, cement, lime, or bricks in the present era, walls built this way would be much sturdier than those made by stacking simple clay bricks.

Han Cheng slapped his forehead when he considered the "board building" method. His thinking was once again restricted.

Walls were most commonly constructed with steel bars, cement, and bricks. Even lime is rarely used in modern days.

The "board building" method was rarely seen, and if it was, it was used for laying foundations or making circular beams with a thin layer.

Therefore, when Han Cheng was ready to start building the wall, the first method that came to his mind was to use bricks. He would use simple clay bricks as a substitute if there were no bricks. Without cement, he would use live and watery mud instead.

Until he realized that this method was too labor-intensive, time-consuming, and not very sturdy. After much contemplation, Han Cheng suddenly remembered the "board building" method, an ancient technique for wall construction.

What prompted Han Cheng to recall this skill was his self-motivation. Faced with the difficulties of building the wall, he started boosting his morale to prevent losing confidence.

It wasn't until he mentioned Mencius's words about being born in adversity and dying in comfort that his mind suddenly became clear as if struck by lightning.

The original text goes like this: "Shun plowed in the fields, Fu Shuo worked between the channels, Jiaoge worked on the roads, Guanyiwu worked among the scholars, Sun Shu'ao worked by the sea, and Bailixi worked in the market. Therefore, Heaven is about to bestow great responsibilities upon these people. Before doing so, it will first make their hearts suffer, exhaust their muscles and bones, starve their skin and flesh, and let them undergo deprivation."

This inspirational passage benefited Han Cheng greatly, not because of the later part about heaven bestowing great responsibilities, but because of the beginning: "Shun plowed in the fields, Fu Shuo worked between the channels."

Indeed, it's beneficial to read more books and have a few sips of spiritual chicken soup. Surprises come while sipping on it.

Upon recalling the "board building" method, Han Cheng immediately halted the action of his Elder Senior brother and the others in making simple clay bricks.

However, building a wall using the "board building" method also presented some difficulties that needed to be overcome, with the most important being the wall's foundation.

It would undoubtedly be unstable if they didn't lay a foundation and directly used the "board building" method on the ground. But laying a foundation, given the current tools and means, was equally challenging.

Besides these challenges, there was also the issue of clearing the forest in this area.

The simplest method, of course, was to kill the trees first and then burn them. In the tribe's western area, over 300 square meters of trees had already withered, thanks to the efforts of Han Cheng and his team.

However, if they did that, the wall construction would need to be postponed. Skinning these trees, waiting for them to die and dry up, would take a long time.

This was unbearable for Han Cheng, who was eager to build the wall.

But there was no other way. Given the current production conditions, he could only endure it for now.

Han Cheng led a large group of people to take action in this forest.

The first to suffer were those trees growing along the line Han Cheng marked for the planned wall.

The early summer weather was extremely hot, especially now with no wind. The whole world felt like a steamer, making it difficult for people to breathe.

After peeling off the last bit of bark from the roots of a large tree that couldn't be hugged, even the strongest Elder Senior brother had to stop. He wiped off the sweat from his head, picked up the water bottle by his side, tilted his neck, and downed a slightly salty gulp of cold boiled water. Only then did he breathe a long sigh of relief and feel more relaxed.

Elder Senior Brother was quite curious. They would have had little strength left with this kind of weather in the past, but now it was different. Despite enduring this heat, he still felt more energetic than before.

He attributed this to the abundant food brought by the divine child since his arrival, allowing everyone to eat well every day.

Looking at the divine child not far away, who still looked like a child, gazing at the sky, Elder Senior Brother's eyes were full of respect. It was precisely because of the guidance of the divine child that the people of the Green Sparrow Tribe could enjoy the good days they were living.

At this moment, seeing the divine child looking at the sky with such seriousness, everyone, including him, instinctively held their breath, afraid to disturb the communication between the divine child and the gods.