The military fortress that
Construction progressed quickly. First, tall logs were felled and fashioned into wooden palisades and watchtowers. Then three trenches were dug around the perimeter of the hill and connected to the nearby stream to fill with water. The excavated earth was ordered by Lorist to be fashioned into adobe bricks using the same method as at
Days flew by amid the bustle, and in the blink of an eye a month or so had passed. The fortress was taking shape — three concentric trenches on the outside, followed by two rows of wooden chevaux-de-frise, a glacis wall, and finally the drawbridge, ramparts, and watchtowers. All that remained were finishing touches. Lorist also had four city-defense siege crossbows shipped over from Rock Fortress and positioned one atop each watchtower's highest level.
While at Rock Fortress, Lorist had visited the father-and-son master craftsmen who built the siege crossbows. According to the crossbow master named Farin, Lorist learned that those dozens of siege crossbows were actually simplified models — not true city-defense siege crossbows. A proper siege crossbow could reach a range of one hundred and fifty to two hundred meters, whereas these simplified versions could only manage eighty to one hundred meters, nearly half the difference. Their accuracy was also far inferior; getting three out of ten bolts to hit the intended target was considered remarkably precise.
Master Farin explained that building a single proper siege crossbow required a great deal of time — the selection, shaping, and setting of the bow arms alone took two years. The simplified bow arms he was currently producing could generally withstand only about ten shots before warping or cracking and needing replacement. Fortunately, the wood used for these bow arms was plentiful in the Northland, so he had prepared three extra sets of bow arms for each crossbow.
Additional replacements were also stocked for the bowstrings. These simplified crossbows used bowstrings braided from ox sinew and horsehair, which went slack after seven or eight shots. Despite their various shortcomings, the simplified siege crossbows had clear advantages: they were quick to build, used readily available materials, and cost very little. Moreover, their power was fearsome — even at half the range, the bolts they fired could still pose a threat to Gold-tier experts.
For Lorist, this was more than satisfactory. He had merely suggested an idea to Master Farin — adding a winch mechanism to the back of these simplified crossbows so that drawing the string each time required far less effort, and the crew of four needed to operate each crossbow could be cut down to two. Master Farin had praised it as an excellent idea.
In truth, the ideal city-defense crossbow in Lorist's mind was the steel model he had seen in the American movie Rise of the Lycans from his previous life, mounted atop the vampire castle. It fired three bolts at once, equipped with a pulley system and a sight, easy to cock, with tremendous range, flexible swiveling, devastating power, and high accuracy. Werewolves the size of young calves were pinned to the ground with a single bolt, and the whole thing could be operated by one person — incredibly convenient.
He remembered that after watching that movie, Lorist had actually wanted to knock off a replica of that steel crossbow and export it back to Europe and America to earn some foreign currency. After organizing a research team and painstakingly managing to produce one prototype, the local police station showed up and confiscated the knockoff crossbow, slapping him with a five-thousand-yuan fine. Lorist still remembered Officer Zhou's admonition: without foreign orders and without a crossbow manufacturing license, building such a crossbow was illegal. If it hadn't been for his otherwise law-abiding record, the penalty would have been far more than a simple fine.
Although Lorist's grand get-rich scheme had died before birth, the steps for crafting the steel crossbow and the dimensions of every part were deeply etched in his mind. The biggest problem was the lack of materials — Lorist had no idea where to obtain suitable steel, and would have to slowly search for substitute materials once he had settled down in the future.
…
What puzzled Lorist was that during this month of constructing the military outpost, the valley at the junction of the two mountains remained remarkably peaceful, free from the mountain barbarian raids he had expected. The mercenaries pushed their patrol perimeter ever further out, and eventually captured a grandfather-and-grandson pair of mountain barbarians gathering herbs deep in the valley. Although one was old and the other young, these were still living mountain barbarians, and Lorist paid the mercenaries a bounty of two imperial gold coins with the old man's head on them for the pair.
He gave the barbarian child — who could not sit still for even a moment — a piece of maple candy, which finally got the little rascal to stop squirming and also warmed the old barbarian's expression. Speaking in halting Common Tongue, the old barbarian told Lorist that this year was the Kupavisen Festival, and that all the patriarchs of every mountain barbarian tribe had taken all their warriors to Smormergen Mountain to attend the sacred sacrifice and the Bavis Assembly.
So that was it. Lorist felt fortunate that he had chosen a good time to build the outpost here. He knew of the Kupavisen Festival — it was the commemoration of the birth of Kupavisen, the mountain god most revered by the barbarians. The barbarians would celebrate for a full year, conducting a blood sacrifice once a month, slaughtering great numbers of livestock as offerings to the mountain god. The Kupavisen Festival came only once every twelve years.
The sacrifice meant blood offerings — livestock slaughtered on the altar at the summit of the holy mountain as offerings to the mountain god Kupavisen. The Bavis Assembly was the grandest gathering of all the mountain barbarian tribes. At this assembly, the patriarchs of each tribe would elect a nominal Temsen of the mountain barbarians — that is, a leader. This elected Temsen would then confirm the actual controlled territories of each mountain barbarian tribe, prevent and mediate disputes between the larger tribes, and set the goals and direction of the barbarians for the next twelve years. For example, which direction of human territory to attack, which kingdom to plunder, and the obligations and tributes that each tribe owed the Temsen.
The most famous book recording mountain barbarian customs was called *Knight's Adventures*, written by a knight who, a century ago, had ventured into the Dragon Maw Mountains, strayed into barbarian territory, and been held captive among them for nearly thirty years. He experienced two Kupavisen Festivals before finally escaping the Dragon Maw Mountains with a barbarian wife and three children, returning to his homeland. The knight later wrote several books about his thirty years living among the mountain barbarians, which caused a sensation and established him as a renowned scholar of barbarian studies.
Lorist had read several of this knight's books during his time at
Looking at a map of the entire Gallianbia Continent, one could see that the Dragon Maw Mountains lay at the heart of the continent, stretching nearly a hundred thousand li and covering an enormous expanse. They were the source of the continent's three great rivers and two major waterways — the cradle that nurtured all life on Gallianbia. Legend held that in the ancient age of the elves, this mountain range had been the territory of the dragon race.
Now the dragons were gone, but the mountain barbarians had taken their place. It was not the barbarians within the
The old mountain barbarian told Lorist that the tribe ruling the Dragon Maw Mountains near the Norton Family's domain was called the Habibaba. Most of the previous raids on Norton Family territory had been carried out by this very tribe. The Habibaba were a formidable force, possessing over a thousand wule, and they kept the seven other mountain barbarian tribes in the region firmly under their thumb.
The old man's own tribe was tiny, with a total population of just over four hundred. The elder said that once the Habibaba tribe's patriarch returned by year's end, he would very likely become the Qiangbasen of this region — a regional overlord, as it were. Every mountain barbarian tribe in the area would become a vassal of the Habibaba, and a small tribe like the old man's might even be forcibly absorbed.
Whether or not the Habibaba absorbed the old man's tribe was none of Lorist's concern, and he had no intention of interfering. As far as Lorist was concerned, the mountain barbarians could wreak havoc on other territories or other kingdoms all they wanted — as long as they didn't hinder his own family's domain from developing, there was no issue. But if they so much as laid a hand on Norton Family territory, they would have no one to blame for what followed. Reach out a hand, lose the hand. Stick out a foot, lose the foot.
The forested valley at the junction of these two mountain ranges had been the mountain barbarians' main avenue of assault on Norton Family territory for two hundred years. Establishing a garrison fort here would provide ample early warning and reaction time should the barbarians launch a major invasion. Small-scale barbarian raids could be handled by the mercenaries themselves — that was where their bounty money came from. If a large-scale invasion came, the mercenaries would retreat to the garrison fort, hold their ground, and light the beacon fires to send word. Lorist would then rally the family's armed forces to deliver a crushing blow to the barbarians.
…
The construction of the garrison fort proceeded smoothly, with only a minor hitch when digging the well on the mound. Although the mound was only eighty meters from the creek, they had to dig down fourteen or fifteen meters before striking the underground water table. The water pressure was immense, even spraying out of the wellhead. In the end, they had no choice but to carve a drainage outlet beneath the wall to channel the water into the moat below the mound, preventing the inside of the fortress from turning into a swamp.
Lorist was consulting with Hosky,
The two mercenary leaders, Hosky and Jim, though they found the idea of digging a tunnel rather tedious, were deeply grateful for Lorist's foresight. Steward Codan, for his part, considered it an entirely necessary measure. After hearing the old barbarian's testimony, Codan was convinced that if this garrison were attacked, it would not be by a mere few dozen or a hundred savages — it would very likely be a thousand or more. Hadn't the old barbarian said the Habibaba tribe possessed over a thousand wule? The pressure on the seventy or eighty mercenaries stationed here would be immense, and the scenario Lorist described was entirely plausible.
Lorist further proposed that in addition to this main tunnel, a branch should be dug from the passage to the well, so that even if the wall was breached and the mercenaries were forced to barricade themselves in the watchtowers, they would not lack a water source. Ideally, another tunnel should also branch off toward the nearby creek to serve as an escape route in a dire situation. This particular tunnel, however, would need to be dug secretly by the mercenaries themselves, to prevent word from getting out.
When employing people, one must trust them. He had not stationed these mercenaries here to send them to their deaths. Providing early warning to the family and buying time against a large barbarian force attacking the family's domain — that alone would more than justify the wages he paid them. If things truly became untenable, they could abandon the garrison and flee, and Lorist would not hold it against them.
Just as the discussion was in full swing, a mercenary standing guard at the entrance came in to report that Garrison Captain Mollin of Northwild Town had arrived and was requesting an audience with the lord.
...