Black Pine Territory (III)
Orlando asked curiously, "Regimental Commander Santos, now that you know, you must have a solution."
"This tactic is actually quite effective. Even we can only wait for them to come to us, since the Black Forest is their home ground. If only your Intelligence Department could find the location of the forest trails they control."
Orlando frowned. "Regimental Commander Santos, don't be unreasonable. The intelligence on these forest trails has been firmly blocked by the Black Pine Territory army. The Intelligence Department has done its best."
Santos turned around and tried to pat Orlando on the shoulder, but Orlando dodged it.
Santos scratched his head awkwardly. "I'm sorry, Minister Orlando, I didn't mean to blame the Intelligence Department."
"Please rest assured, I made preparations before coming. I obtained some good items from Bob, which I estimate will come in handy here. However, the Black Pine Territory army will suffer considerable losses, and I hope Viscount Black Pine will not blame us."
After saying that, Santos pointed to a dock where cargo was being unloaded.
Orlando followed Santos's finger and saw some small cars covered with thick cloth.
He raised an eyebrow. "Bed Crossbow? No, the terrain of the Black Forest isn't suitable for Bed Crossbow."
"It's not Bed Crossbow, you'll see when the time comes. Let me keep you in suspense for now."
Orlando didn't say anything and simply turned and left.
Santos didn't care. He knew that Orlando was like this now, and this was probably the price of becoming a lone vassal. After all, in addition to gathering intelligence on the outside world, the Intelligence Department also had the responsibility of monitoring the territory.
Santos also left his spot and went to the vicinity of the cars. A middle-aged man in overalls saw him and greeted him, "Regimental Commander Santos, are you here to see these girls too?"
"Girl?" Santos looked at him with a puzzled expression.
"Of course, it's these good girls." The middle-aged man patted the small cart covered by a thick cloth.
"Oh, you mean them?" Santos had heard that some captains would treat their ships as their romantic partners, but he didn't expect that this master craftsman had a similar fetish.
"Master Makarov, we'll have to trouble you and your masterpiece again this time. Actually, you didn't need to come to the battlefield with us at all; you could have sent your apprentice instead."
"How can that be the same? I want to witness my good girls' performance with my own eyes. Only in this way can I get first-hand information. I will summarize the experience to make them even more perfect."
Makarov, hands on his hips, panting heavily through his hooked nose, expressed his dissatisfaction to Santos.
Santos didn't care about this. Having worked under Victor for a long time, he, like Victor, had great respect for these skilled craftsmen.
After all, the armor he and his soldiers wore, and the weapons they carried, were the work of these craftsmen.
After exchanging information about the secret weapon with Master Makarov for a while, Santos left the dock; he needed to check on the camp's construction progress.
Because they could rely on waterways to transport troops and supplies, the engineering detachment sent three companies, along with a lot of construction equipment and materials.
As per Victor's orders, aside from this mission to suppress the rebellion in Black Pine Territory, the army in Two Rivers Territory will not leave and plans to station troops there.
After all, Black Pine Territory is an important raw material supplier for the Two Rivers Territory, and the garrison is also to prevent unforeseen circumstances from causing supply shortages or disruptions in the future.
Santos plans to build a large outpost near the dock, designed to accommodate 500 permanent personnel, with the capacity to house and defend 1,000 if necessary.
The outpost was located right next to the dock, less than 200 meters from the Black Forest. When Santos arrived, half of the open space was filled with building materials, busy construction teams and laborers, while the other side was where the army was setting up temporary tents.
A bearded man was directing the workers to place building materials and did not notice Santos's arrival. Santos walked up to the bearded man and said, "Detachment Commander Sagras, how is the construction plan for the outpost coming along? I see that construction has already begun."
"Oh, it's Lord Santos. Hello, what did you say? I didn't hear you clearly," the bearded man shouted when he saw Santos.
Santos was startled by his loud voice. He rubbed his ears and shouted back, "Detachment Commander Sagras, I'm asking you, how's the construction plan for the outpost coming along?"
The bearded man was startled by Santos's loud voice and complained to him, "Hey, Lord Santos, why are you speaking so loudly? You scared me. I can hear you."
Santos's scar twitched, then he calmly said to him, "Then please answer my question."
The bearded man pulled Santos away from their previous spot and found a relatively quiet place. He took out a papyrus scroll from his pocket, on which was a design drawing. The ink on the drawing was still wet, and it looked like it had just been completed.
The bearded man first took the towel off his neck, wiped his face to remove the sweat, then rubbed his hands on the towel in turn, before putting the towel back around his neck.
Santos looked at the dirty towel with one side turned upside down, said nothing, but simply took a step away to keep his distance from the bearded man.
After wiping his face, his beard made him look much cleaner, and his face under the thick beard made him look only in his twenties.
This is Sagras, the engineering detachment commander appointed by Victor before his departure. This time, he is leading three temporarily conscripted engineering companies, along with 600 civilian laborers accompanying the army, to oversee the construction of the supply depot.
He also came from the Golden Sunflower Territory and was one of the first to learn drafting and drawing from Victor. During the process of teaching him, Victor discovered that he had a great talent for civil engineering. When drawing buildings, he mastered the floor plan without a teacher. Later, he learned a lot about architecture from Victor, and all the outposts built in the territory were designed and completed by him alone.
Sagras laid the blueprints flat on the ground and pointed to them, saying to Santos, "Regimental Commander Santos, look, the outpost I designed is divided into two phases, covering a total area of about 3 hectares."
This place is about 100 meters away from the Great Fish River. It is the highest point in the vicinity, with a drop of more than 8 meters from the Great Fish River surface. Even if the river floods in spring or if there is a dam upstream, it will not flood this place.
For the first phase of the project, I plan to build a wooden city wall. I will harvest some oak trees directly from the Black Forest. The entire wall will be 6 meters high and 4 meters wide. The inside will be filled with rammed earth, and the outside will be covered with river mud. This will make it fireproof, and in winter, water can be poured on the exterior to freeze and make it easy to repair.
Then build another water channel on the outer perimeter, about 3 meters wide and 1 meter deep, connecting both ends directly to the Great Fish River, and build a sluice gate to directly draw water from the Great Fish River. It can be widened and deepened in the future.
The buildings inside the wall were initially constructed largely of wood, while the warehouses were built with bricks and cement. As you know, the temperature is getting lower and lower, and the time available to use cement is becoming increasingly limited, so we had to prioritize the important parts first.
The second phase of the project is quite simple. The territory's bastion construction is already quite mature. Once the weather warms up next year, we can simply build the bastions on the foundation of the first phase.