Engineers Cracking Idea
2130 Words
After dinner that evening, the citizens gathered around as usual for the nightly conference. I addressed the citizens and brought important notices to make them aware as well as other matter that might be of concern to them.
Next, I allow the Secretary to follow up and summed up our meeting earlier that was seconded by both Jack and Ben.
Everyone listened intently as the progress for their contributions were read out and everyone was happy with their progress. The more quality output they make for the village, the more prosper it will be.
They knew about the sales proceeding of the products that they made but they never complained about the food they received and the comfortable homes they were in right now.
Unlike other towns where coins governed over most matters, here in this village regulates everything under one rule — simplicity.
No hassles, no intimidation, no bullying and most importantly, their highly appraised and humble Prince, who walks among the commoners and thinks before he acts.
In fact, the situation right now that they are experiencing is not between citizens but ONE BIG HAPPY FAMILY.
After they had listened to our confusion, they knew that the major developments that require utmost priority had been performed. The engineers who were in charge of the blueprints came forward to present the designs of the domain for both Heather and I, the stables with 6 paddocks and also the designs for the handcart to transport the logs.
They mentioned that once I am happy with the designs, they would start to dismantle my house as well as those houses that had been vacated by the pioneers.
I looked at the pioneers and the faces of eager citizens, a spark of an idea came into my mind. These pioneers had been with me since early times and I wanted them to be close to me as they are the pioneers and main citizens of Darlington before.
There were the 5 families including me and also the Secretary. There is a need to build an infirmary c*m dispensary in the case to treat the sick and also to dispense medicine."
"A large stable with 6 stalls would be built too as the forest behind us would be chopped down to make way for the domain and I was thinking why should I need a domain if there are only 2 people living inside?" I thought to myself as I stood up, places the blueprints on the 'throne', picked a small stick and squatted down on the clear ground and began to gather the engineers.
"Another change of plan, sorry for letting you waste the papyrus but I think you might be able to erase the blueprint for the domain and make use of this one instead."
I began to scrawl on the ground with a stick as I began to make shapes of rectangular and told them there would be 4 bedrooms here. Then a large main hall after the bedrooms, followed by a large semi-circle raised platform before the domain acting as a porch.
Two staircases would lead to the second level here and there would be 4 rooms as well. 1 main bedroom, 1 spare bedroom, 1 study and 1 treasury. 2 towers would be built at the sides that gave a vantage point and access could be from outside as well inside from both levels. There would be an open-aired balcony on the second floor.
From the sides and front, it would look like a box as the most important factor would be practicality. The ground level would also be openly aired except for the bedrooms.
From that sketch alone, there's already a lot of discussion and debate for the design on just the first level because of the staircase and the main hall. The chaotic scene of the squatting engineers on the ground, complete with wild gesturing and negotiations, it seems they were like chickens who were busily pecking feed thrown on the ground.
It was truly a sight and Eagle smiled and said, "Two heads are better than one. When they put their second profession together, this is what we got. Hahaha"
The citizens were curious about the group of engineers who were squatting on the ground, some kneeling as they went about to discuss the issues with the domain. At last, they decided to make a clay model once I had finalised with the scrawlings on the ground.
They stepped away and finally saw that what I had originally drawn had been cleared, as was replaced with more detailed scrawlings, complete with the top-down view on every level, side view to indicate how it would look like when it's ready and lastly front and back view and the clearance of the area.
"Please forgive us for our insolence and impudence before your presence, Sir. We were all caught up with the discussions and had made a final conclusion on the designs. Do you mind us explaining these if you still have doubts?" a young engineer by the callsign of Turkey spoke up.
"Sir, I hope you don't mind them a bit. This is the way these 4 would work if they conjure up their ideas and suggestions and even forget their surroundings. It's like watching 2 scorpions and betting on which would win in their deathly duel. Hahaha."
"No, it's alright. It's good to brainstorm." I replied as I sauntered over and from its intricate design there is nothing for me to comment and everything looked just the way it is. Its simply can be described in one word: P-E-R-F-E-C-T
"I wish to commend on your impromptu designs and understanding. So I believe you would be transferring them on papyrus then?"
"Yes Sir, complete with their dimensions so it would be scaled down accordingly. The footprint of this domain would be 85 feet by 170 feet excluding the platform here which would be 30 feet taken from the centre and drawn in a semi-circle."
"The domain would be 15,000 square feet excluding the platform and we don't think it would be any problem to clear the forest behind and use it for lumber."
"About the materials, we would use minimal clay bricks as possible and mainly use it for the main pillars of the domain. Since this is an open-aired concept, the only coverings would be on the exterior of this and this while bamboo would replace the balusters on both the top and bottom levels."
"The second level would be fully platformed and only these 4 rooms would be covered. The rest would be open aired." concluded one of the young engineers as he took some papyrus from his mates as he began to sit down cross-legged and drew on the ground, like a kid drawing and colouring a sketchbook.
"Alright, proceed for the designs, we are happy with it and to end this conference, Minister Ben, please provide some merriment for our citizens and Minister Frank... Please roll out a barrel of wine from the wine cellars of Darlington...!"
Hearing wine was to be served, everyone was truly happy as Frank got some volunteers and brought a handcart and wheeled a 50-pint barrel of wine from the shed and presented it to the excited citizens. 50 pints of wine for a night of merriment shared with 36 citizens excluding the young as they would be satisfied with several bamboo cups of milk instead.
The drum skins had been taut enough to be drummed and were brought out. The residents arranged a bench for the musicians as they take up their positions and began to slowly and rhythmically beat the drums, followed by the lutes, flutes as well as some new weird musical instruments.
It was referred to as an idiophone, a musical instrument that was made of yellow bamboo of various lengths, shaken and a nice melody emits through them by vibrations.
Ben designed the new musical instruments since Kayla had used bamboo to alert citizens of mealtime and that gave Ben an idea after he experimented with a few yellow bamboos instead.
The whole ensemble even though it looked a bit disorganised at first, soon produce a very melodic composition based on a play by ear as they strummed on the lutes, blew their flutes, and shook the idiophone and drummed the beats.
A tiny pair of hands tugged at the sides of my runic and I looked and saw the Chadwell boy. I rubbed his head and smiled at him as he pointed to Sir Blackie, "Woof... Woof?" I squatted down next to Sir Blackie who was sniffing and licking the boy's face and he giggled. I said, "This is a dog, his name is Sir Blackie."
"Sir Black key...he rolled the words in his mouth to form the right words and it sounded perfect for himself. Sir Blackie upon hearing his name being called by the boy, barked once and sat in its haunches while handing out its right paw for the boy to shake. "Ah haha..." the boy giggled again and took the dog's paw and shook it as if it was the first time a boy acknowledges a dog as it, friend, through a proper introduction.
Jack helped Frank to prise open the barrel and took a ladle and began to fill the cups of the wine and place them in the table. A cup was first offered to me and Heather as I made a toast when everyone had a bamboo cup in the hands.
"For the prosperity of GraceHaven and its citizens and future citizens... I propose a toast to greatness for everyone!" I toasted and lowered the cup to my lips and sipped a bit.
It was red wine and it was pretty well made. The thick fumes of the fermented wine wafted to my nostrils and as I slowly sipped it went smooth down my throat with a thick taste of sweetness and heaviness of wine. It was port wine, and not those normally served as a cabernet on a dining table.
It was thick and fairly sweet and it would turn to be intoxicating after a few cups. I told Jack to inform everyone to drink slowly as this is not the typical wine they could find on the usual dining table and only those nobles would have them as it would normally be drunk by ladies.
The kick would soon be the effect after downing too fast. It would be great having meat along with it and meat we do have aplenty...!
Kayla came over and asked me, "You really wanted us to be staying in the domain? Then would it be somewhat like the Royal Manor then?"
"Yes, Kayla something like that. Besides, in the near future, once the population goes beyond a hundred, we might need more helpers to prepare our 3 meals per day."
"Oh, in that case, there would be no token to be issued and ration is controlled?" Kayla queried with raised eyebrows.
"That's right Kayla, it's easier to maintain and make sure everyone gets enough. The ladies would help to cook while some men would help to clear traps and snare game. We eat as a big family rather as an individual."
"In this way, our rations would be controlled so I would be able to observe and order the consumables accordingly. A least there's a control and with control, everything would be orderly and fair. Don't you think so?"
Kayla thought for a moment and she agrees with my notion because if every family takes their ration, even though it may be controlled at first but in the case of 60 families, it would be like a total of 300 pounds of grains and flour a week and 1200 pounds a month on a minimal range, or so I thought.
Kayla finds the courtyard to be a mass of preparation, cooking and dining with all the citizens is a good idea but to me, I would be able to see everyone and everyone could see me as well.
After dining would be nightly conferences as usual and at least the citizens would somehow remain united in one location.
That's one of the main reason.
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