Chapter 94: Grueling
We had underestimated the tropical sun.
It was sunny the entire Friday. And that same sweltering heat that had made me collapse just the other day had done its wonder. When they checked the soil on Saturday, the flattened rice fields were already dry enough—at least most of them.
Still, only two days were left before the advance training was supposed to commence. The moment I was notified of the soil condition, I rode hard toward the town proper to summon Capitan Sadiwa’s men and to order the local storehouse manager to have the needed resources delivered without delay.
The number of workers from the nearby barrio had been doubled, and along with the soldiers, the labor force now numbered about two hundred men—which Don delos Santos was pleased to inform me was large enough to build just about anything within two days.
Of course, he did not fail to remind me that to fully take advantage of the large number of workers, we needed three things: a clear plan for what I wanted done, a clear division of work, and close supervision. I was willing to provide all three.
Before all the laborers could gather, I had Don delos Santos and his assistants help me mark and lay out where the stations should be. I took my time visualizing everything. The layout couldn’t be done willy-nilly—I had to take into consideration that some stations needed to be in specific spots to be effective, and that the distance and order would affect the rhythm of the training cycle.
In the end, a bit overwhelmed, I decided not to overthink it. I could simply make necessary adjustments after a few rounds of training.
We marked and framed the zones with bamboo stakes and twine.
With the layout done, we returned to the road where a large crowd of workers awaited, and proceeded with the partitioning of the work.