Unknown Knight

The surface of the reed stems had the same luster as bamboo, and it was obvious at a glance that the water-condensing effect was good. Aix immediately asked someone to bring some reeds and asked the craftsmen to cut them into thin slices more than two meters long to be used for weaving water collection nets.

At this time, a craftsman seemed to understand Aix's intention, and took the initiative to ask for the job, and assured Aix that he could complete the job alone.

It turned out that this craftsman named Banbo used to be a bamboo craftsman, and was particularly good at weaving mats with bamboo and small reeds. Although the large reeds used as bamboo poles were not as elastic as bamboo and could not be used to weave mats, it was still easy for him to split them into thin slices.

Aix asked Bamp to cut the reeds into shapes of the same size as much as possible, and the thinner the better.

When Bambo had cut a certain amount of thin slices, Axe asked him to string the slices together with the hemp thread removed from the burlap, and asked him to make the smooth side face to one side, making them into a mat-like shape, each two meters wide and three meters long.

In order to test the effect, Aix asked Bambo to make two such water-collecting mats, one with 70% of the surface made of thin sheets and 30% covered with hemp rope, and the other with 30% of the surface made of thin sheets and 70% covered with hemp rope. As for the specific effect, we can only wait until tomorrow to see.

In order to speed up the progress of digging the cave, Aix asked half of the people to go to the opposite side of the mound and dig in the opposite direction of the already dug side. He also asked the craftsmen to use the earth dug by the coolies and the stones picked up from the nearby Gobi Desert to build the wall when the sun was not strong in the morning and evening.

Specifically, a layer of stones is first piled up on the outside, and then the middle part is filled with excavated earth, and then compacted with a wooden hammer. In this way, materials are collected nearby, which not only solves the problem of having nowhere to pile up a large amount of excavated earth, but also increases the defense of the entire cave.

Aix's initial plan was to pile all the excavated earth outside the mound, then combine stones and earth with rammed earth to form a wall, and build an earthen wall around the mound, just like what had been done in Schulers.

According to his initial estimate, the entire mound is an irregular trapezoidal cylinder with approximately 70,000 cubic meters of soil. Based on his plan to dig out one-tenth of its volume, a total of more than 7,000 cubic meters of soil will need to be processed.

Since one side of the mound is a cliff facing the sea, the earth is enough to build a wall surrounding the mound on three sides. According to the volume of three meters at the top, four meters at the bottom, five meters high and a total length of 3 meters, a total of (4+5)*2/17.5=300*5250= cubic meters of earth is needed, and the excavated earth is enough.

Of course, the workload is still huge. They currently have limited manpower and can only pile the earth outside the mound. Aix decided to first build a wall around the entrance of the cave to provide protection at all times.

Although they had just arrived here, they were in the wilderness and without the protection of the walls of Zion. No one knew when the danger would come, so it was better to prepare early.

After experiencing so many life and death situations, the crisis awareness of Axe's team has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Every night when they rest, Axe does not need to worry about it. Niza, Bestul and others will arrange the guard posts clearly. Niza, James and Veron all suggested that he give priority to the construction of such safety facilities.

The main dangers they are facing now are two forces. One is the big families in Zion City. They are waiting to reap them with an open conspiracy. Once they find that they cannot succeed, they will definitely not give up. It is inevitable that they will resort to extreme measures.

Another force is Hassan, a famous bandit in this area. It is said that each of his hundreds of bandits rides camels and horses, coming and going like the wind in the desert. They have been wreaking havoc in this area for many years. Once they know there is such a "fat sheep" here, it is impossible for them not to come to rob.

Another thing is that the people here are tough. Every Bedouin is a natural warrior. They all carry scimitars and are good at riding camels and horses. If they can organize themselves and connect with each other, it is not impossible for them to take action at any time.

Axe asked Old Mike to bring five or six craftsmen to build a wall outside the cave. It didn't need to be too big, just a dozen meters to protect the cave entrance first, and the rest could be left to be built slowly later.

After a day of construction, the cave has been dug nearly twenty meters on both sides according to yesterday's height, length and width. This is almost twice the workload of yesterday. Aix estimates that both sides will be dug through tomorrow.

Not only that, at four o'clock in the afternoon, Aix asked everyone to stop digging and build a wall at the entrance of the cave. By the time it was completely dark, the more than ten-meter-long wall had been built to a height of nearly one person, and it had initially achieved the function of defending against enemy raids.

The amount of work completed today is more than twice that of yesterday. The reason why we completed more than twice the amount of work of yesterday is mainly because everyone's work enthusiasm is very high. In addition, everyone was working in the cave today. Yesterday at noon it was too hot, so we rested for a total of four hours from 11 o'clock to 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Today at noon we only rested for one hour, and that was only after Aix's repeated requests.

Everyone was so motivated not only because of the three-fold high salary, but mainly because of the kindness of their employer, Mr. Aix, who not only did not let them work under the scorching sun, but also allowed them to rest during the hottest hours.

Although they prepared their own meals, they were also paid for by their employer. During the meal, Aix also cooked a pot of broth for them, and everyone enjoyed a bowl of hot soup with dry goods. The precious fresh water was boiled and cooled, and placed next to the construction site for them to drink at will.

This series of preferential treatments was something they had never experienced before. In the past, when they worked for local masters, they were often beaten and had their wages deducted if they were slow, and they had to bring their own food and water. Not only that, when they needed to rush the work, they had to work even if their skin peeled off under the scorching sun. Their treatment was not much better than that of slaves.

Under this strong contrast, the craftsmen and laborers all had a scale in their hearts, fearing that this kind of work could not last long. Everyone worked hard and everyone showed positive performance, which led to such a rapid construction progress.

During dinner, Aix ordered everyone to be served a glass of beer, which made these poor people feel grateful again.

The next morning, Aix excitedly led Niza and others, as well as the bamboo craftsman named Bambo, to the improved water collection network.

At first glance, Aix was overjoyed. Although the two nets were only three meters long, two meters shorter than the previous ones, they collected much more water. The net with 70% of the surface made of hemp rope collected about six liters of water, and the net with 70% of the surface made of reed sheets collected more than ten liters of water.

It seems that for this kind of collection of gaseous water in the air, the water absorption effect is not that important, but the water condensation effect is more important.

Aix immediately asked Bembo to stop doing other work, raised his daily wages to fifty copper coins, and sent two people to assist him, specifically responsible for making this water collection net, with a ratio of 70% reeds and 30% hemp rope.