The stronghold that Loriste was planning to build for the mercenaries was actually two Japanese turrets. The turrets had four floors and were around 12 to 13 meters tall. The two turrets were five meters apart, and in the middle was the city gate. The five-meter-tall city wall encircled the mound, and inside the city wall were stables, warehouses, barracks, and other living facilities. If the city wall was breached, the mercenaries could retreat to the two turrets and hold out until reinforcements arrived.
The construction of the stronghold went very quickly. First, they cut down large logs to build the wooden city wall and turrets. Then, they dug three trenches around the mound and connected them to the stream and filled them with water. The excavated earth was turned into bricks by Loriste's special labourers according to the methods of Monolith Castle. Then, they built another earthen wall around the wooden perimeter and turrets. Finally, they used a thick layer of green cement to form a stone wall. Even though the city wall was only five meters tall, Laurist had his men move the mounds along the outer edge of the city wall into a forty-five-degree slope, making the height of the city wall and the mounds nine meters, increasing the difficulty of attacking the city.
Time flew by in the blink of an eye. In the blink of an eye, a month had passed. The stronghold was starting to take shape. There were three trenches around the perimeter, followed by two layers of wooden barricades and a rampart wall. Finally, there was a drawbridge, city wall, and turrets. Loriste had also ordered people to transport four ballistae from Monolith Castle and set them up on top of the two turrets.
Back at Monolith Castle, Loriste had gone to visit the father and son who had made the ballistae. According to the ballista master called Falin, Loriste had learned that the dozens of ballistae were actually simplified versions and not official ballistae. The official ballistae usually had a range of 150 to 200 meters, but the simplified versions they had made could only reach 80 to 100 meters. There was a difference of almost half of that, and there was a large deviation in accuracy. It was already amazing if three out of ten arrows could hit the target.
Master Falin had said that it would take a long time to make a proper ballista. For example, choosing the materials for the crossbow, shaping it, and finalizing it would take two years. The simpler versions of the ballistae he was currently making would easily break apart after firing a dozen or so bolts and would need to be replaced. Fortunately, the wood used to make these ballistae was plentiful in the Northern Reaches, so each ballista was equipped with three additional ballistae.
In addition, these ballistae were equipped with bowstrings. These simple ballistae's bowstrings were made from cow tendons and horse's tails and would loosen after seven or eight bolts. Although they had various shortcomings, the advantages of these simplified versions were that they were quick to make, easy to use, and inexpensive to make. Furthermore, the force of the crossbow was ferocious. Even if the shooting range was halved, the crossbow bolts could still pose a threat to Gold Rankers.
This was already very good for Laurist. He had only given Master Falin an idea to add a wheel to the back of the simplified version of the ballistae. This way, it would not take much effort to load the ballistae, and it would reduce the number of people operating the ballistae from four to two. This made Master Falin exclaim that this was a really good idea.
In fact, in Laurist's heart, the best ballistae to defend a city were the ballistae in the American movie "Rise of the Werewolves" that he had watched in his previous life. One crossbow had three bolts, a pulley set and a sighting device. It was simple to load, had a long shooting range, was flexible, had great strength, and had high accuracy. Those calf-sized werewolves would be nailed to the ground with one arrow, and it was very convenient for one person to operate it.
He remembered that after watching the movie, Laurist had wanted to make a replica of this kind of ballista and sell it to Europe and the United States to earn some foreign exchange. In the end, he had organized a team and finally made one, but the street police station had come to confiscate the replica ballista and fined him five thousand dollars. Laurist still remembered Director Zhou's warning. In a situation where there were no foreign orders or crossbow production permits, it was illegal to make these kinds of ballistae. If he had not always been law-abiding, this time it would not have been as simple as a fine.
Although Laurist's plan to make a fortune was foiled, he still deeply remembered the steps and the size of each part of the ballista. But the biggest problem now was that he did not have the materials. Laurist did not know where to find suitable steel, so he could only slowly look for a replacement material when he settled down.
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What made Laurist feel strange was that during this one month of building the military stronghold, the valley between the two mountains was exceptionally calm. There were no attacks from the Mountain Barbarians as he had expected. The mercenaries pulled the cordon farther and farther away, and finally caught a pair of Mountain Barbarian grandfather and grandson who were picking herbs in the depths of the valley. Although the old one was old and the young one was young, they were still living Mountain Barbarians. Laurist paid the mercenaries two gold coins of the Empire's old man for this pair of Mountain Barbarian grandfather and grandson.
He gave the Mountain Barbarian child that refused to quiet down a moment a piece of maple candy, finally stopping the brat from moving around. This also made the Mountain Barbarian elder's face warm up. This Mountain Barbarian elder used the rusty common language to tell Laurist that this year was the Kupperwisen Festival. All the Mountain Barbarian tribe leaders had brought all the Wullers to Mount Smolmegen to participate in the Holy Sacrifice and the Bevis Festival.
So that was how it was. Laurist could not help but feel glad that he had chosen a good time to build the military stronghold here. Kupperwisen Festival. Laurist knew that this was the commemoration of the birth of the Mountain God Kupperwisen, whom the Mountain Barbarians worshipped the most. The Mountain Barbarians would celebrate for an entire year. Every month, they would perform a blood sacrifice, slaughtering a large number of livestock as a sacrifice to the Mountain God. There was a Kupperwisen Festival every twelve years.
Wullers and a few other words were a special form of address that the Mountain Barbarians had created using the common language. It was equivalent to a warrior. Mount Smolmegen was the sacred mountain of the Mountain Barbarians. Legend had it that the Mountain God Kupperwisen was born. The Holy Sacrifice was a blood sacrifice. On the altar at the top of the sacred mountain, livestock would be slaughtered as a sacrifice to the Mountain God Kupperwisen. The Bevis Festival was the largest gathering of the various Mountain Barbarian tribes. At this festival, the chiefs of the various tribes would elect the Mountain Barbarian Tribe's nominal leader, Temeson. Then, the elected Temeson would confirm the actual territories controlled by the various Mountain Barbarian tribes, avoid and mediate the disputes between the various large Mountain Barbarian tribes, as well as the goals and direction of the Mountain Barbarians for the next twelve years. For example, which human territory to attack, which kingdom to capture, and the obligations and offerings that the various Mountain Barbarian tribes had to fulfill to Temeson, and so on.
The most famous book that recorded the customs of the Mountain Barbarians was called "Knight's Adventure". This was written a hundred years ago when a knight went to the Demon Dragon Mountains and accidentally entered the Mountain Barbarian's territory. He was detained by the Mountain Barbarians and lived there for nearly thirty years. After experiencing two Kupperwisens Festivals, he finally escaped the Demon Dragon Mountains with his wife and three children and returned to his hometown. Later on, this knight wrote a few books about his life in the Mountain Barbarian Tribe. It caused quite a stir, and he became a famous Mountain Barbarian researcher.
When Laurist was at Dawn College, he had read a few books written by this knight. He even kept a copy of "Knight's Adventure" in his collection. The book described the customs of the Mountain Barbarians in great detail. During the Bevis Festival, the various Mountain Barbarian tribes would trade and exchange what they needed. In addition, they would hold competitions, gladiatorial fights, hunts, and other activities.
From the map of the entire Galimbia Continent, it could be seen that the Demon Dragon Mountains was located in the center of the continent. It stretched for nearly a hundred thousand miles and was extremely vast. It was the source of three major rivers and two major rivers on the continent. It was the cradle of life on the Galimbia Continent. Legend had it that during the era of the ancient elves, this mountain region was the territory of the dragons.
Now, there were no more dragons, but the Mountain Barbarians. It wasn't the Mountain Barbarians in the Norton Family's territory that were the scourge. Instead, the Mountain Barbarians were the scourge of the various countries and territories near the Demon Dragon Mountains.
The Mountain Barbarian elder told Laurist that the Mountain Barbarian tribe that ruled over the Demon Dragon Mountains near the Norton Family's territory was called Habibaba. In the past, most of the invasions on the Norton Family's territory had been done by this Habibaba tribe. This tribe was very powerful. It had more than a thousand Wullers, and it completely suppressed the other seven Mountain Barbarian tribes in the area.
The Mountain Barbarian elder's tribe was very small, with a total of only four hundred people. The Mountain Barbarian elder said that when the leader of the Habibaba tribe returned at the end of the year, it was very likely that he would become the ruler of this area. Qiangbasen was the leader of this area. All the Mountain Barbarian tribes in this area would become the vassal tribes of the Habibaba tribe. The small Mountain Barbarian tribe that Elder Mammoth belonged to might even be forcefully annexed.
Whether or not the Habibaba tribe annexed the elder's tribe was none of Laurist's business, and Laurist wasn't prepared to interfere. To Laurist, it didn't matter if the Mountain Barbarian tribe wanted to harm other territories or other kingdoms. As long as it didn't interfere with the development of his family's territory, it was fine. If they attacked his family's territory, then they couldn't blame him for being impolite. He would chop off their hands and feet.
The forest valley between the two mountains was the main passage through which the Mountain Barbarians had invaded the Norton Family's territory for the past two hundred years. Setting up a military stronghold here was to provide sufficient warning and reaction time when the Mountain Barbarians invaded. Small-scale Mountain Barbarian invasions would be handled by the mercenaries, which was also the source of their bounty. If it was a large-scale Mountain Barbarian invasion, the mercenaries would retreat to the stronghold to defend and light a smoke signal to report. Meanwhile, Laurist would gather the family's armed forces and give the Mountain Barbarians a head-on blow.
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The construction of the stronghold went smoothly, except for a small problem when digging a water well on the mound. Even though the mound was only eighty meters away from the stream, they had to dig fourteen to fifteen meters before they reached the water vein. The water pressure was so great that it even gushed out of the well. In the end, they had to dig an outlet under the city wall to drain the water into the ditch under the mound. Only then did the inside of the city wall not turn into a swamp.
Laurist was currently discussing the matter of the secret tunnel with Husky, Jim, and Steward Cordan. Loriste planned to dig a secret tunnel under the two turrets to connect the two turrets. Although the four levels of the two turrets were connected by a wooden bridge, Laurist was worried that if they were surrounded by the Mountain Barbarians, this wooden bridge would be destroyed by fire arrows. If the city walls were to fall, the connection between the two turrets would be lost. This would be extremely disadvantageous to the mercenaries guarding the two cannon towers. Thus, by arranging a secret tunnel underground, they did not have to worry about the two cannon towers being unable to support each other.
Even though the two mercenary leaders, Husky and Jim, felt that digging a secret tunnel was troublesome, they were very grateful for Laurist's consideration. On the other hand, Steward Cordan felt that this was a necessary measure. After hearing the old Mountain Barbarian's confession, Steward Cordan felt that if the stronghold was attacked by the Mountain Barbarians, it would not be a few hundred. It was very likely that there would be thousands of Mountain Barbarians. Didn't the old Mountain Barbarian say that the Habibaba tribe had thousands of Wulers? At that time, the seventy to eighty mercenaries would be under a lot of pressure. What Laurist said was not impossible.
Laurist felt that other than this secret tunnel, they also needed to dig a tunnel to the well. That way, they would not have to worry about the city wall being breached and the mercenaries being trapped in the cannon towers not having a water source. In addition, it would be best to dig a secret passage from the secret passage to the stream at the side as an escape route in case of a desperate situation. However, this tunnel had to be dug secretly by the mercenaries to prevent others from finding out.
This was because this stronghold only had one gate. Once the gate was locked, the mercenaries would be trapped in the stronghold. Even though Husky and Jim had repeatedly said that the mercenaries would persevere to the last man, Laurist had said that he would not use anyone he suspected, and that he would not suspect anyone he used. He did not arrange for these mercenaries to be sent to their deaths. If they could warn the family and delay the Mountain Barbarians from attacking the family's territory, it was more than enough for them to be worthy of the reward they had paid. If they really could not hold on any longer, they could abandon this military camp and escape. Laurist would not mind.
As the discussion was bustling, a mercenary guard at the gate came in to report that Captain Merlin of Northern Field Town was here to see the Lord.
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