Chapter 21 Fossils to Mud
Building a town from scratch is not an easy task in any era.

This was especially difficult in the Middle Ages when technology was scarce and life was basically entirely dependent on manpower.

According to the normal progress, a pioneering knight group of a thousand people is continuously supplied with materials from the fortress.

It takes one to two months to open up wasteland and build a village.

It will take at least three years to form a relatively complete urban construction.

Due to the harsh environment and barbarian threats in the north, the construction idea of ​​the pioneering knights was to abandon farmland reclamation and build small-scale defensive fortresses around the castle.

This will reduce the construction time of towns and allow defense facilities to be quickly completed.

In order to reduce the initial pressure on the pioneering knights, the king also specifically emphasized in the pioneering order that taxes could be exempted for three years after the territory was built.

Rhodes was very satisfied with this policy. After all, in his plan, his territory would not be just an isolated castle.

As he determined the position, the soldiers and villagers of the team climbed up the flat-topped mountain and set up camp on the spot.

The massive spring cleaning began.

Before formal construction, they had to clear away obstacles such as trees and raised rocks near the top of the mountain.

At the same time, the ground was constantly leveled to make the bumpy and bad ground of Pingdingshan truly flat.

With the help of the crows' bird's-eye view, Rhodes took out a map and drew a bird's-eye view of the flat-topped mountain.

And plan the area above according to the appropriate location and conceive the next construction ideas.

The center of Pingdingshan will be the castle area, with an area temporarily set at 20 acres, or more than 13,000 square meters.

Behind the castle, about four hundred acres of land will be the magic field area for growing food in the future.

High-quality barley is planted three times a year, with an annual yield of 1500 kilograms (3333 pounds) per acre.

Adult men only need one pound of high-quality barley per day to meet their food needs, and women and children need even less.

After the construction of these 4000 acres of magic fields, the grain production on Pingdingshan is enough to feed more than people and achieve self-sufficiency.

Pingdingshan is steep on three sides and inaccessible, so all you have to do is erect a tall wall in the middle of the gentle slope.

Considering the worst situation, even if the town at the foot of the mountain is captured by the barbarian army in the future.

As long as the castle can hold the natural barrier of Pingdingshan, it will be able to hold out for a long time and will not be trapped to death.

The remaining 300 acres of land will be used as a residential area.

Build residential houses and various production buildings around the castle to provide vitality.

After a preliminary sketch was drawn up, Rhodes asked the soldiers and villagers to focus on cleaning up the environment in the residential area.

Prepare to build the house where everyone will live in next.

The castle area will be left for last. According to Rhodes' plan, the final construction workload will not be small, and building this thing in the early stages is a sheer waste of time.

"Noah, Holmes, the two of you will lead the knights and forty soldiers to clear the wild beasts from the flat-top mountain and the surrounding areas."

Rhodes summoned the two men and arranged their tasks.

The North is rich in game, but that also means there are a lot of predators.

Not far away, a pack of more than twenty winter wolves was hiding in the jungle on the top of the mountain, led by an Ice Blade Wolf.

Disturbed by this group of foreign humans, they crawled and lurked in the distance.

The crows in the sky could see their location clearly.

“Follow the direction of the ravens, they will lead you to the location of your prey.”

Rhodes held out his arm, and the original raven landed on it.

The raven gave a loud cry to the soldiers, then spread its wings and acted as a signpost in mid-air.

"Yes, sir." The two men led the soldiers into action.

After setting off, Holmes and the other soldiers looked at Raven with obvious confusion in their eyes.

But Rhodes's previous prestige was enough for them to choose to trust him, and no one questioned him. After the soldiers left, Rhodes looked at the surrounding villagers busy cleaning up.

Some of the young and strong men in the militia were cutting down trees with axes, while others were digging up large stones and putting them on carts to be towed away by bristle horses.

The women cleared the nearby brush and debris while preparing to make a fire for cooking.

It looks like it's working, but the real challenge is the subsequent construction of the house.

"It takes a lot of time and effort to transport bricks and stones from the fortress to here. At the current speed, it would be good enough if we can clear a piece of land in a month and let 400 people live in small wooden houses."

Rhodes estimated the progress. As for the castle and the city walls, it seemed like a luxury at the moment.

Fortunately, Rhodes' professional field as a wizard is to solve these problems.

He came to the area planned for the Demon Field, which was currently a barren sandy land with an uneven surface filled with various stones.

It looks like even weeds can hardly survive.

Under Rod's command, a large number of trees, shrubs, etc. cut down by the villagers were continuously transported and piled here.

"First, there's the problem with the demon field."

Rhodes recalled the knowledge about the Demonic Field.
From a shaman's perspective, souls are not unique to humans and animals.

Flowers, trees, mountains, rivers, and seas, all things have spirituality.

He looked at the plants on the sandy land. As their roots were cut off and they lost the constraints of the earth, tiny bits of spiritual light invisible to ordinary people were emanating from them.

Slowly drifting towards an unknown higher place.

He chose to light it, and the flames rose from the tinder, spreading to the small branches, bushes, and finally the trees.

With deliberate indulgence, the fire grew bigger and bigger, and the raging fire was stirred up by the cold wind.

A large number of spiritual lights burst out with crackling sounds.

Standing in front of the raging fire, Rhodes opened his arms, and subtle magic power emerged from his body, transforming into thin threads that were invisible to the naked eye.

They were intertwined with each other like a fishing net, covering the burning fire.

The magic power was too weak to interfere with reality, but with delicate manipulation it was able to restrain all the natural aura emanating from the trees.

As Rhodes pressed down with his right hand, the natural spiritual light was slowly pressed into the earth.

The earth veins become spiritual!

This is large-scale environmental witchcraft. Under the guidance of the wizard, natural spiritual light is used to activate the dead earth veins.

Make it a magic field that can quickly digest nutrients and nurture the growth of magic plants.

Although Rhodes' own power is weak, it is enough to pry open the hidden power of the earth.

Under his guidance, the surface of the sandy land covering an area of ​​about one acre began to vibrate.

The gravel above kept jumping, as if there was a dragon tumbling below.

But after a brief period of intensity, under the continuous nourishment of natural spiritual light, the movement became smaller and smaller, and gradually began to lose its momentum.

The soil in Pingdingshan is too bad, with a lot of sand and gravel mixed in it.

It constantly hinders the spiritualization of the earth veins, trying to drag it back into its dead sleep.

Rhodes initiated another preparation, his left hand beginning to rise.

The sandy land in the process of spiritualization suddenly cracked into gaps, like a big open mouth.

The large amount of wood ash generated during the burning process and the magical power accumulated in the tree's body are swallowed up together.

Alchemy witchcraft: fossils into mud!

The sandy land began to churn once again, and the earth veins that had been initially activated greedily devoured the wood ash and tree magic.

This crushes the rocks and gravel in the body and digests them into fertile soil.

(End of this chapter)