He stood up, and Hilude immediately put down the porcelain bowl, grabbed the sword, and left the room together, heading swiftly towards the castle.
Heisen Castle is no longer as cramped as it used to be. After Mudalin arrived at Hesse Territory with a thousand dwarf troops, one of the main tasks was to help Su Li construct the castle and fortresses.
After a series of developments and expansions, the castle now had the foundational shape of a base, and the upper fortress had four encirclements, formed by adjacent defense facilities of varying heights.
For instance, on the outermost boundary, there is a stretch of city wall over nine miles long, with vast training grounds and undeveloped lands in between, and close to the castle is a deep trench, isolating it behind a twenty-meter deep moat, connected by a stone bridge to the thick walls and towers of yet another inner city.
However, passing through the city gate after the stone bridge into the upper part of the castle is still not the main building of Heisen Castle. One must walk a long way through this defensive stone corridor to reach an exit. To the west is another encircled defense structure, with the Directly Affiliated Attendants training ground in the middle, surrounded by various buildings including the armory, granary, blacksmith shop, shoe-repairing house, military equipment warehouse, attendants' quarters, etc.
Turning right at the stone corridor leads to the spacious courtyard in front of the main castle building, which overlooks the enclosed inner and outer fort areas from a higher base.
It can be said that the castle planned by the dwarves is able to withstand a giant dragon's assault. Even if the green dragon comes personally, humans hiding behind the thick stone walls can safely counter the dragon for a long time by continuously shooting arrows from the towers, stone corridors, and enclosures.
Defense structures are always an important means for humans to confront formidable enemies. Even a powerful giant dragon would find demolishing such a tall, grand, and heavily fortified castle not an easy task.
Of course, that is assuming the castle is completed smoothly.
This castle is still only a prototype. The arrival of the dwarves gave Su Li a Baron Experience Card, during which the construction projects in all directions of the territory progressed rapidly!
However, after killing Skaven Blood Fury, the dwarf army left the territory, ending Su Li's accelerated construction experience card, and the construction speed in the territory slowed down.
So looking at the buildings under construction in Heisen Castle, Su Li said to Hilude, "Even though the dwarves have left, we must not despair. Ultimately, the territory's construction relies on our own self-reliance. The acceleration of the castle's construction is one of the key guarantees against the green dragon. If the construction period cannot be completed in time, stop the functional facilities in the castle and manor first and ensure that military buildings are completed as a priority."
"If we can hold this battle, even if we have to tear down the castle and rebuild those functional facilities, it will be easy and effortless, with no pressure."
This castle is a fusion of dwarven engineering, and many designs amaze Su Li.
For instance, the castle is built on a mountainside, with a height difference of over 200 meters below the main river. So how, without using any modern mechanical equipment, can water overcome gravity, be drawn from an underground river a kilometer below, and be brought upwards to form showers, fountains, steam saunas, underfloor heating facilities in the castle and palace?
At least Su Li and most ignorant serfs thought it was simply impossible.
But the dwarven technology is astonishing. They fully utilized engineering principles to accomplish all this. They first reversed the flow upstream, on a hill twenty miles away that's much higher than the palace, built a dam to redirect and channel part of the river to the newly excavated westward canal.
This canal extended forward along the rugged terrain with a very shallow slope, reaching the perimeter of the palace.
Then they excavated a large reservoir higher than the palace, with water from the canal flowing 60 meters below through pipes to under the reservoir.
Above the reservoir, they installed a water mill, driven by animal power, to draw water from 60 meters below the reservoir to the surface and fill a 2,000 cubic meter water storage tank.
This tank, located above the castle and manor, provides water pressure needed for all facilities inside the palace, such as fountains, baths, and a water-powered clock.
Water flows out of the storage tank, passes through two filtration pools, and enters the palace and manor, then branches into different channels to supply water to pools and fountains around the palace.
Below the baths, water also passes through a copper boiler to be heated, with the heated water flowing to shower facilities, sauna rooms, and in winter, providing underfloor heating through copper pipes below the bedrooms.
It is no exaggeration to say that the castle and manor designed by the united efforts of so many dwarves for Su Li is of an engineering and technical level surpassing at least 80% of the nobles within the Empire. It can even rival the palaces of many Counts and Dukes.
The reason for this opulence, apart from the sophistication of dwarven technology and Su Li's abundant resources, is mainly because everyone sees great potential in the territory's future.
The territory has a giant iron ore for minerals, abundant gold and grain for wealth. As long as stable development and management can be maintained, erecting such a complete and luxurious castle is undoubtedly achievable.
However, the existence of the green dragon has clearly disrupted everyone's perfect expectations for the future.
Therefore, the priority now is to ensure the completion of the castle's military facilities as a top priority.
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