AWDC Chapter 42
by VolareKrim and the others seemed busy getting married and setting up their new life. We went to celebrate with them, partly to tease them, but all we got was a heavy dose of their lovey-dovey atmosphere. Needless to say, we made a hasty retreat.
“I didn’t know Salomé had a child,” someone said.
“She must have gone through a lot in the capital,” another replied.
Such conversations were happening around us. Salomé’s parents were also there, and the village welcomed the new family with a mix of curious glances and genuine warmth.
Salomé’s parents seemed satisfied. Krim’s gentle nature had won them over, and above all, they were happy that their new grandson had immediately taken to them.
Around this time, the lord and his wife seemed to be meeting their grandchild frequently. They didn’t formally acknowledge him as their grandchild, but they told Krim and Salomé that they would consider appropriate treatment when he reached adulthood.
Also, Samuel was removed from the position of heir, and 13-year-old Ricardo was made the heir instead.
Nearly a year passed like that.
The desert greening project was finally at the stage of flowing water into the canals, and the lord decided to conduct an inspection.
He would ride a rail carriage pulled by horses, traverse the desert, and confirm the water source.
A rail carriage is a vehicle placed on rails and pulled by horses. I had proposed the rail carriage to Ladapole during the planning phase of this project.
Running a normal horse-drawn carriage on rough roads would result in low speed, significant horse fatigue, and limited cargo. Rails and the axle I devised would allow it to run smoothly with less force.
Well, the rails were nothing compared to those of Japanese railways. The cross-section of a railway rail is shaped like an “I,” but the rails we could make were flat bars. With the processing technology here, it was difficult to stretch iron out long, let alone make it into an “I” shape. Therefore, it could only withstand the weight of a horse-drawn carriage and lacked durability. Still, compared to a normal road, there were no bumps, the friction with the wheels was reduced, and it became a vehicle without vibrations or shaking.
The burden on the horses was greatly reduced, and the carriage ran at a pleasant speed on the rails. Even with time to rest or replace the horses, it could now traverse the desert in less than 10 hours, a journey that normally took more than three days.
Considering that it took us nearly two weeks when we first went to survey the desert, you can see the efficiency of the rail carriage.
The group consisted of the lord, Roy, the construction manager, me, the project designer and tunnel construction manager, John, the canal construction manager, Jim, the reservoir construction manager, and Ladapole, the construction manager for the water source intake and tunnel entrance. George, who came to the village to guard Salomé’s family, and Ricardo, the lord’s heir, were also included.
“This is a wonderful ride,” George said cheerfully. He had been working in the capital as a liaison with the Midland family, and this was his first time returning to the village in a while and riding the rail carriage.
“Indeed. It was quite a challenge to build this,” Ladapole immediately began to boast. He was overjoyed that the carriage passengers were praising the ride’s comfort. Well, it was true that he had racked his brains quite a bit on how to process the rails.
“How about it? The view of the desert from the carriage is different, isn’t it?” “Yes, I didn’t think we would advance this quickly.”
The lord proudly spoke to his son.
I had thought that Samuel was the lord’s heir, but at this point, I didn’t know the real reason for changing the heir. I would have to ask the reason eventually, but I decided to remain silent.
The carriage stopped at stations set up every 25 kilometers for the horses to rest or be replaced, and for carriages to pass each other. At the stations, the rail points were switched so that carriages could travel back and forth on a single track without colliding. This was something I had incorporated from my previous life’s knowledge of railways, a system for allowing multiple carriages to travel back and forth on a single track without colliding.
In the early days of operation, collisions occurred because the drivers and point switchers were not used to it. We thoroughly established rules for point operation, and now such things no longer happen.
“What are those white and red flags being raised and lowered?” Ricardo asked curiously.
“If the point switching is complete and there are no problems with the carriage’s progress, the white flag is raised. If the white flag isn’t raised, it means there’s a problem, and the carriage shouldn’t proceed. If the red flag is raised, it means an emergency has occurred, and it’s a signal to stop.”
“Ah, I see. It’s well thought out.”
This flag operation was also modeled after the railway system, but no matter how good the system is, accidents will happen if the workers don’t understand it well. It’s operating smoothly now, but in the beginning, some workers complained about why they had to do such things, and it was difficult to teach them. Finally, the rail carriage was operating properly.
In any case, this rail carriage, using rails and new axles, has contributed immeasurably to the transportation of construction workers and materials.
Every time we stopped at a station, our group inspected the canals.
“The construction of these two sections is almost complete, and from now on, the construction of branch canals will be the main focus. Also, we must start planting trees along the canals,” John, the person in charge, explained carefully.
To be precise, the canals were just dug into the ground, and no bank protection work had been done yet. Ideally, the banks of the canals should be reinforced with stone or concrete.
However, in order to speed up the construction, excavation was prioritized, and reinforcement was postponed. We wanted to build up the walls of the canals with stones or bricks, but we had no choice but to postpone it due to lack of materials and funds.
“The weirs are complete, and there will be no problems whenever water enters,” Weirs were built at equal intervals in the canals. This was because the height difference from the beginning of the canal to the end of the Toriholi Village canal was 50 meters, and if water continued to flow, the bottom of the canal would eventually be eroded, becoming dozens of meters deep, making it difficult to draw water. Therefore, weirs were built at key points to prevent the bottom of the canal from being eroded too much. This would slow down the flow of water at the weirs, and gravel would accumulate, preventing the bottom of the canal from becoming too deep. These weirs also served as the intakes for the branch canals.
“From next year, we will begin to build a settlement in earnest around this station and make it the starting point for village development,” Roy said with conviction.
“I want to see this desert become farmland and wheat bear fruit,” the lord nodded.
We arrived at the reservoir, our final destination for today, after 4 p.m. Normally, we would have arrived earlier because we left before dawn, but it took this long because we checked the canals and facilities in detail at each station.
“How is it, brother? Amazing, isn’t it?” Jim said proudly to George.
We had come to the point that would become the bottom of the reservoir. The dam embankment that we looked up at from there was enormous. The embankment, 40 meters high and 100 meters wide, was the largest structure in this construction project.
“It may not be visible now because it’s covered in earth, but the foundation of this embankment is made by arranging large stones,” Jim continued to explain, puffing out his chest, to George, who was looking up with wide eyes.
As Jim said, the foundation of the embankment was made by arranging large stones, each 1 meter cubic, and solidifying the gaps with concrete.
The reservoir utilized the dry riverbed created by the spring we found when we first arrived at Lean Ridge. Normally, the dry riverbed has no water, but when it rains in the desert, a large amount of water gushes out from around the spring and becomes a large river. We utilized the deeply eroded desert terrain like a valley.
When we first came to Lean Ridge, the spring was overflowing with water. But now, perhaps because of the dry season, the spring had dried up, and there was no sign of a stream anywhere. The dry riverbed stretched from east to west and eventually fell from a cliff into the Mulan River. At the beginning of the plan, it seemed like there was no place more suitable for a reservoir. At first, we thought that simply blocking this with earth and sand would easily create a reservoir.
However, just to be sure, when I asked the village elders about the desert rain, I learned that 30 years ago, heavy rain had fallen in this area, water had gushed out into the desert, and the Mulan River had flooded. If the embankment were to collapse and the water in the reservoir were to enter the Mulan River when the river swelled due to heavy rain, it would cause tremendous damage to the surrounding area. I turned pale upon hearing the elders’ story and quickly reworked the plan.
We found a rock field suitable for quarrying on a nearby bald mountain and connected the quarry to the reservoir with rails. Here, too, the rail carriage demonstrated its power. With ordinary carrying poles or carts, it would take dozens of laborers or many horses to pull them. But with the rail carriage, even one horse could easily carry it.
We arranged and stacked those stones in several rows in the dry riverbed, and the thickness of the bottom part exceeded 40 meters. It is now a giant earthen wall, but inside, it is a giant structure of stone and concrete.
“This is amazing. There isn’t a building in the capital that is this big,” George said in amazement.
Even though the bottom is completely visible now, it will eventually fill with water. Imagining that, the inspection party was satisfied.
“Why is a reservoir necessary?” Ricardo asked, looking around and asking a basic question. Certainly, if you’re just drawing water from the source to the desert, you might wonder if it’s necessary to build such a thing.
“During the dry season, when there’s little water like now, releasing a lot of water from this reservoir will prevent the canal from running out of water. Conversely, during heavy rains, storing water here will prevent excess water from flowing into the canal.
Furthermore, even though the water in the Mulan River looks clear, it actually carries a lot of sand and soil. If we store water here, the sand and soil will naturally settle, and excess gravel will not enter the canal.
This will also prevent the canal from being buried with gravel.”
Ricardo was convinced by my explanation.