We ride at moderate speed because the horse cart can"t move faster besides the road we pa.s.sed also not in good condition. So we must make the cart driver ride carefully to make the cart always in good shape. The horse riders are using a cloth to cover their nose and mouth and wear hunting caps to protect the head from the sun. It"s good that I proposed to wear face cover because the dust left by the rider in front can disturb respiration of the rider behind him.We pa.s.sing couple villages during our trip and I"m not missing this chance to inspect each village condition. The field that spread near the village mostly planted with wheat and grains. Only small parts were planted with different crops like vegetables and fruits. I secretly sighed, I"m not blaming them for only planting wheat and grains because that product can be saved for a longer time than vegetables and fruit, but that will limit the kind of food that can produce in this area. I wonder if they satisfied by only eating wheat and meat only. We don"t stop for rest and eat because the frikadel that given to us for provision can be eaten while riding the horse.
Finally, we leaving settlement area and entering the forest area. Before us entering the forest, my uncle reminds the party to stay alert. We sent five horse riders to walk ahead and clear the road because sometimes the road will be blocked with falling tree. Fortunately, our scout didn"t found anything that can slow down our journey. But still, we move forward with precautions because bandit or wild beast can show any time at any places.
After ride nonstop for six hours finally, we arrive at the sh.o.r.e, and just like description, it is a cliff beach with the only small part that can be used for a small ship to disembark. Seabirds like the seagull flying freely here because people rarely going here. A small old wooden pier in the beach also seems not been used for a long time. There"s a small tattered hut near that pier. I sighed, no wonder our castle trade can"t develop. The sea route never used at all to do trade and only relied on ground transport.
"Alright folks, let"s prepare our campsite immediately"
My uncle gives the command to our party to prepare the tents and start a job division between our member, like horse caretaker, night watch, firewood collector, etc. Uncle Jason men proved reliable, they not slacking in their work and within a quarter hour, ten tents already erected for our temporary lodging.
After the lodging matter has been handled, next thing is preparing open stove near the beach. They start collecting stone around the beach and forest to make temporary kitchen there, and when temporary kitchen already builds, they unloaded things that I ask from my father, super big iron pot that can fill with 100 liters liquid and there are two of them. Yes, I"m intended to use those iron pot to cook the seawater and evaporated the water so I can get the salt. In the modern era, this is an expensive thing because using sun evaporation is cheaper and gain more yield. But time is not I have much.
After the super big iron pot already placed over the open stove, next thing to do is collecting firewood and fill the pot with sea water. We put large fabric over the top of the pot to filter the sand and trash that carried within seawater. The Lumberjacks also start their job to cut the trees in the nearby forest to get enough firewood stock for seawater cooking. We don"t need to cook anything for dinner since our provision still enough until tomorrow.
When the dusk comes, we stop our activities except water cooking. Torches were lite up to give illuminate to the nearby camp. The crews that have not duty a.s.signment can take rest in their respected tent since we all tired from the long journey. The one that has a duty to watch the fire, add the firewood whenever the firewood in the stove almost all burned.
I watch the seawater that burped within the pot I don"t know how long it takes to evaporated 100 liter water using this firewood stove, but from what I"ve learned in my previous life, for 1 liter average seawater contain 3.5% salt that means from 1 liter seawater I will get 35 grams salt, from 100 liters, I will get 3,5 kilos of salt. If both iron pot can evaporate all seawater within one day, which means in one day I will get 7 kilos of salt. If I stay here for 3 days, I will return carrying 21 kilos of salt, if a human being a daily need for salt consumption is 5 gram of salt, this amount enough to supply the salt need for a human being for 4200 days. If I"m calculated the number of Harvard castle people which around 150 people, what I"m bringing back enough for one-month usage. I can bring back more salts if evaporation process is faster than I thought. This calculation makes me grin from ear to ear.