|
Chargul looked around him at the surrounding terrain. He then looked at Eyvind and spoke "That depends, sir, on how much we care about the forest. Personally, I wouldn't advocate burning a path through it as a wildfire is more than we can handle. Furthermore, we might be able to use the lumber we acquire to help in our future constructions." Retiring back into his thoughts, Chargul attempted his best to give an estimate.
To himself, he began to calculate the estimates "We'll be digging a foot deep, for the foundations of the road, six feet wide. We'll need supplies brought in from Taralon to build the foundations and we'll make use of any stones or suitable gravel we find in the field. The road will have to be as straight as possible to give us fast travel and as flat as possible to give us a steady route. Hills and valleys shouldn't be too much of a problem in this area and any severe examples of such we'll have to circumvent, tunnel through or build bridges over, though bridges may present a strategic point too valuable and costly to have standing..."
With that said, he knew better what estimates to give. "...For every man at work here, twelve hours a day naturally with a full complement of food and water, we'll get about eighteen feet closer. As the men get some experience with a shovel, I think we can expect that value to increase, but that'll be offset by any natural variations in the landscape, not including trees." Taking up the plans that Eyvind had given him, Chargul quickly calculated the distance to Everdark Keep. That was the first destination from Taralon and from there, they'd have to start chopping down quite a few trees.
"I'm assuming I'll have a hundred men working with me, so that's a sixth of a Aelyrian mile every day. There's some twenty miles or so to Everdark Keep, though I'll have to get that confirmed, so it should take roughly forty days with a hundred men on the job." Chargul finished "They'll need food and water too, though I doubt we'll require much protection this far back. Their own weapons should be more than enough."
"Oh yes. I meant to ask. We'll be slowed down heavily by the forest, so perhaps we could ask the gagdeteers of Taralon if they had any nice solutions? Some good machinery could come in handy. I'd be willing to pay about a thousand crowns for every working design that could chop down trees faster than a group of soldiers."
|