Chapter 93: The Road of Development (Part 3)

(bxzw. com) Chapter 100 The Road of Development (3)

At noon, more than half of the wooden houses were already built, and a huge pile of timber lay on the open ground. bxzw. com

"Lord, the timber is already enough for building houses; only a few dozen houses still need to be erected, and we can't employ so many people. Next, should we send these people to clear fields?" Yan Qiu said to Li Bucai.

A wide road was cut through the forest north of the settlement, connecting with the clearing that had been trampled by the Lulu Beast.

Li Bucai said: "It's okay to start plowing a few days later; this afternoon, first finish the road leading to the riverbank, and after the pier is built, then go plow." No other place offers a route for the Tan family brothers to attack; the threat comes entirely from the north, Shalanjiang. If we plow now, the riverbank has no defenses, and once the Tan family brothers arrive, they could easily destroy it, so the fields must wait until the river defenses are in place before being cultivated.

Li Bucai asked again: "If we build a road wide enough for a carriage to pass from here to the riverbank, roughly how long will it take?"

Yan Qiu replied: "We now have over 700 idle people, but the tools are crude, only some rough copper shovels and picks. If we divide the workers into several groups and have them work from multiple directions simultaneously, we can take sand from the riverbank and use it to pave the road; it should be finished by tomorrow."

"Tomorrow…" The Tan family brothers boasted that they would attack today and could appear on the river at any moment. Li Bucai said: "Then have everyone collect the broken timber that lies on the road, and assign construction worker Peier and a hundred villagers to me; I have an urgent need. bxzw. com"

"Since it's urgent, why not take from here first; we'll replenish later, it won't delay the building process. Before sunset, we can finish all the houses."

"Very well."

Li Bucai immediately took some timber from the pile, led a hundred villagers together with Yin Ji and Jing Ji's troops toward the riverbank.

Yin Ji and others patrolled the riverbank to protect the villagers, leading the civilians up Dragon Fin Mountain, selecting a high ground that could overlook the Three Rivers, where they built a watchtower and prepared two barracks beneath it, shielding the barracks with wooden walls, forming a garrison.

The summit of Dragon Fin Mountain is a sheer cliff; the terrain juts slightly eastward. If one can climb to the cliff top, one can spot the great stronghold at White Horse Ferry.

While the others were building, Li Bucai led Jing Ji to look for a path to the cliff top. Walking left a short distance from the foot of the mountain, they found a zigzag stone-step trail on the cliff wall leading upward. The steps were rough, bearing signs of manual repair; the edges had been nearly worn smooth by rain, suggesting it was a relic left many years ago.

Following this trail to the cliff top revealed a sizable platform, encircled by several fossilized beast bones arranged in a ring. In the center, beneath dust, many ashes of plants were buried, giving the impression of an ancient sacrificial platform.

It's a fine observation platform, but the barracks cannot be moved here: first, the mountain path is too dangerous and labor‑intensive; second, this is a dead end—if enemies seize it, there is no retreat. However, it would make a good beacon tower. bxzw. com

Jing Ji's troops were a mixed force of swords, spears, knives and bows. Leaving them here, they erected two crude huts on the platform: one to shelter sentries from wind and rain, the other neatly set up a burning rack, its floor covered with dry grass. If enemies invaded at night, they would light the rack, and the flames could be seen from White Horse Ferry; if it was daytime, they would toss some wolf dung onto the fire, and the resulting smoke signals would prompt cavalry to rush in as reinforcement.

At the foot of the cliff there is a three‑tiered platform resembling terraced fields, spacious enough to build a barracks for sixty people and a fort wall, extending the wall to the entrance leading to the cliff top and enclosing it. One hundred people worked together, with ample logs and planks; before nightfall they had erected a preliminary defensive garrison. After gathering many stones and placing them on the wall, it could repel an assault of two to three hundred men, though the time was short and the barracks were crude, to be improved later.

Li Bucai positioned Jing Ji's troops here; the beacon tower kept at least two guards on duty at all times, rotating every two hours, sufficient for deployment. He left her five hundred units of food and some drinking water, and before dark led the villagers away from the riverbank.

The road to the riverbank was started in the afternoon; six hundred people were divided into ten squads, each assigned a stretch of the road. This division greatly increased efficiency; of the twenty‑li road, nearly half was completed in half a day.

……

Li Bucai and the archers he led from Yin Ji, together with a hundred villagers, were the last group to return to White Horse Ferry. By then night had fallen, and torches were lit around the fort wall, illuminating the entire stronghold. The original small fort had transformed into a new fort—a large fort encircling the small one—so the old fort was now completely enclosed by the new wall.

The new fort's wall stood seven or eight meters high; centered on the north wall was a ten‑meter‑wide double gate. This was merely a barbican; once inside, two paths led to a second wall, which bore two slightly smaller doors positioned on the left and right of the inner small fort. From these doors, a road ran along the foot of the small fort to its main gate and to the civilian houses outside. The houses were interconnected, so whichever direction one took, the wall could be reached, greatly facilitating the defense. The small fort at this moment resembled a palace hidden within a solid citadel.

"Everyone's tired after a day's work; go freshen up and have dinner quickly." Li Bucai dismissed the crowd, not returning immediately to Xinggong. The new fort now resembled a bustling new City, dotted with fresh wooden houses like villas, each lit from within; villagers occasionally chatted at their doorsteps. Li Bucai, while they were still awake, went to check on his subjects.

He entered a wooden house, a home of three. The three girls, aged sixteen to eighteen, were sisters of the same family, presently arranging the newly built rooms. After obtaining permission, Li Bucai asked them to give him a tour. The rooms were spacious; upon entering was a large hall, three bedrooms, a kitchen and a bathroom. As for toilets, only two communal ones had been erected on either side of the fort. Li Bucai originally planned that once things stabilized, he would lay sewage pipes throughout the fort; being close to the mountain, a water tower could be built on West Mountain, with pipes installed to provide running water, which would greatly improve convenience once both supply and drainage were in place.

But those are future matters; at present supplies are severely scarce. In this three‑person household there are only three porcelain bowls and a rough copper pot, nothing else. The bedroom lacks even a single bed, so they must currently sleep on the floor.

Li Bucai furrowed his brow and asked, "How's the food? Are you able to eat enough?"

"Lord, each morning we receive food from the Yan group office, one unit per person, enough for a day's meals; for families with smaller appetites, a small surplus remains each day." Compared with Sky City, although their dwelling is still not as good as home, being able to fill their stomachs each day makes them feel very satisfied.

"That's good. The conditions here are far more modest than at home, but after a short while everything will improve; everything will be provided."

……

After leaving the three‑person house, Li Bucai visited several more homes before heading alone toward the small fort, his head down. During these two days of construction he noticed a problem: the original allocation of one unit of food per person per day plus ten bonus units failed to motivate them; once they received their food unit, they rarely thought about the reward, and it seemed they lacked passion in their work.

Li Bucai thought to himself: Governing a region is not as simple as giving each person a single task; waiting a month to grant rewards may be too long, making it hard to stir their enthusiasm. bxzw. com

First release