Chapter 236

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Protagonist:

Chen Yi

A city wall 1,100 meters long sounds simple enough, but in reality it consumed 11,000 cubic meters of stone, sweeping clean all the stone near Ma La; even Shang Shicun had to relocate sixty households to live right by the water stockade for daily work convenience.

Besides the wall, the iron-clad heavy wooden gates were another major expense. Considering that importing steel directly from Earth wasn't convenient, and Chen Yi had been absent for a long time, Yu Weichao generously traded clothing, scissors, and other daily necessities for impure crude iron, then had men hammer and refine it into gate-cladding material. This process, too, sounded simple but was hard to execute. To forge crude iron they had to build a blacksmith forge; to reach sufficient furnace temperature they had to produce coke and bellows; to make bellows they had to improve leatherworking methods…

Fortunately Yu Weichao had studied solidly during his school years; whatever problems arose, at least he could seek concrete answers from the Car ECU he had brought along — otherwise hands-on trial and error, reinventing from scratch, would get people killed. Copying isn't that simple either; China's knockoff industry has operated for so many years yet remains at knockoff level — getting the form but not the essence — and that's precisely why.

Yu Weichao would never spell out these difficulties in detail; that would make him look incompetent. Relative to his own position, he intentionally or unintentionally remarked: "The cash or goods reserves in the city have never exceeded 10,000 bei — roughly equivalent to 10 taels of silver in ancient China."

Communicating with a modern person is indeed convenient. Chen Yi nodded to show understanding, then fished out that conch shell from his pocket and asked: "The bei you speak of — is it this kind of shell?"

Yu Weichao was indeed someone who had seen big money. He gasped: "Of course not, this is… a conch shell, right? A single one is worth 10,000 bei." Chen Yi, however, expressed slight dissatisfaction: "Do you know what material it's made of?"

"Gold?" Yu Weichao took it in hand, hefted it, and said: "You wouldn't be thinking of taking it back, would you? Something worth 10,000 bei is no small amount — at least several thousand yuan worth of goods. Even if this shell weighs half a jin, that's only tens of thousands worth; not worthwhile."

He now looked down on businesses with mere multiples of profit.

Chen Yi thought: A literary theorist, indeed not a pure scientist; studying mathematics was wasted on him. He snorted, shook his head, and replied: "It's not gold."

"Not?"

"Of course not." Chen Yi affirmed: "Its specific gravity differs from gold; it's definitely some rare metal. I'll test it when I get back."

Though he didn't directly denounce it, Yu Weichao sensed something and hurriedly said: "I'll also pay attention to that information when I return."

He gave an embarrassed laugh: "Still think the Organization shouldn't make money. Actually, concentrating supplies to build a colonial bridgehead is still very important."

Yu Weichao understood Chen Yi's thinking quite well; in two or three sentences he had defused Chen Yi's irritation.

Chen Yi said helplessly: "Right now it's just that we don't need to make small money anymore."

Having mentioned the conch shell, he incidentally told of the 1,000 blades and swords transaction finalized yesterday: "I've brought all the supplies; as for safety, you must give it more consideration."

"We'll trade on the boat." Yu Weichao had an idea: "Local shipping is underdeveloped, and I've heard there are monsters in the water, so a ten- or twenty-ton ferry boat already counts as a large ship. If we trade on the boat and then each go our own way, even if there are opportunistic robbers, they wouldn't dare act on the boat."

"Wouldn't dare?"

"A ten-ton small boat is extremely fragile; those strong mercenaries could split the planks with axes. We have rockets — if forced, we sink the goods; in water this deep, salvage is nearly impossible. That's the theory…" Yu Weichao paused, then continued: "When will we be able to get some weapons?"

He naturally meant firearms.

Chen Yi pondered without answering immediately. Not giving Yu Weichao firearms was, to some extent, also a precaution against him, but now it seemed the necessity of that precaution was indeed not great. However, there was another issue: who would control the firearms?

He immediately asked: "How is She Lei doing?"

Yu Weichao seemed to have a ready answer: "He garrisons the water stockade daily, conscientious and dutiful."

This answer was interesting. Garrisoning the water stockade described his daily duties; conscientious and dutiful was not a given. The water stockade is only so big; since no outsiders have invaded, garrisoning earns no merit…

"Call him over." Chen Yi gazed into the distance, looking toward the river depths and the great mountain not far away. The water stockade was still unsafe, liable to attack by all sorts of people at any time, yet its defense relied on mercenaries…

For a city defender, mercenaries aren't even as useful as local militia.

The Martial Arts Hall students aren't ready yet; seek allies locally? But our own numbers are too few — ultimately won't work — and it's hard to guarantee local militia loyalty either. The West Continent is a continent that doesn't farm; can't even get land-bound peasants — truly worrisome.

Yu Weichao isn't a true administrative official either; managing such a huge spread of affairs, there are bound to be oversights. A real official can afford oversights; on the West Continent an oversight means not only all previous efforts wasted but likely costs one's life. So ultimately we must find him a couple of deputies…

While thinking, She Lei shuffled up to Chen Yi.

At first he was indeed too distracted by the West Continent's wonders to care about anything else, but after these several months, recalling Earth's various aspects and contrasting the West Continent's dilapidation and danger, to say he harbored no resentment is impossible.

Chen Yi wasn't old, and couldn't judge from the surface just how much resentment She Lei held, so he merely asked casually: "Been on the West Continent this long — any thoughts?"

If he were a smart person, right now he should sell his loyalty, declare his loyalty, move his lord with a red heart of loyalty. But She Lei used to be a little hoodlum; the biggest decision he ever made was joining the Martial Arts Hall to train properly. He couldn't understand: why did I train hard, commit only a minor mistake, and get exiled to this barren land?

So She Lei held his neck stiff and said: "I have no thoughts. I want to go home."

That one sentence made Chen Yi abandon the idea of having him lead the West Continent team. In his eyes, leaking his own secrets, leaking the Martial Arts Hall's secrets, was absolutely not a minor mistake. Especially for a woman — today he's in the mood, tomorrow another whim strikes; he can't always let himself bear enormous danger. However, so-called "learn from past mistakes to avoid future ones" — punishing She Lei wasn't suitable for public declaration in the Martial Arts Hall, so in silence he simply dispatched him to the West Continent.

But seeing this situation, Chen Yi quickly made a judgment and turned to Yu Weichao: "In the short term I can only supplement you with a batch of light weapons — any use?"

"Pistols are useless; rifles would barely do." Yu Weichao was someone who had investigated; with a pistol's muzzle velocity, even a famous-brand penetrator like the Type 54 has insufficient deterrence, and thicker armor is even harder to pierce.

Chen Yi nodded in understanding: "Next time I'll bring them over for handover."

Done; ignoring She Lei further, he walked into the water stockade.

The latter stared blankly, looking at Yu Weichao at a loss.

At this point a Party Member is no use either; Yu Weichao shook his head at him, patted his shoulder, and left.

Ahead, Chen Yi was observing the new blockhouses under construction at the four corners of the water stockade — all white blue bricks, looking solid at a glance. These angular blockhouses of modern design had good fields of fire on all sides. Seeing him pay attention, Yu Weichao hurriedly said: "In the four corner towers, I was thinking we really ought to put some heavy weapons."

"How heavy?"

"Heavy machine guns? Or anti-aircraft machine guns. Cannons would be even better — just no one knows how to operate them."

Chen Yi went "Oh," thinking: Those restricted big guys can't even be bought in the United States; can only go back and try to find an opportunity later.

However, with the penetration and muzzle velocity of heavy machine guns or anti-aircraft machine guns, they could indeed form enormous deterrence locally.

Provided there's a supply of bullets in massive quantities.

Overthinking anything gives a headache; Chen Yi simply strolled around inside the water stockade.

Besides the outer forts, the water stockade interior was built on the concept of a trade bridgehead. Warehouses and living quarters are close, waterways facilitate escape, and underground tunnels will be dug year after year… Once something happens, the warehouse is the final defensive point; everywhere else can be abandoned…

She Lei on the city wall felt some impulse; after coming down, a blow of river wind changed his mindset again — he wanted to beg Chen Yi but couldn't bring himself to lose face, so he went begging Yu Weichao instead.

The latter, having served in a government research institute no matter what, wouldn't speak for him; unable to withstand the persistent pleading, he hurriedly chased after Chen Yi and said: "We placed some artisans' workshops outside the city — blacksmiths and such — all like that. Want to go take a look?"

"Why place them outside?" Chen Yi frowned.

"Artisans and equipment aren't worth much, while safety inside the city is more important." With that explanation Chen Yi understood, and nodded.

She Lei trailed behind eagerly yet dared not approach; he only saw Chen Yi frown a moment, relax a moment, nod a moment — didn't know what Yu Weichao said — his mindset shifting in ways not to be told to outsiders.

Never mind; Chen Yi just rested one night in the water stockade, then awaited the upcoming handover.

1,000 blades and swords isn't a large number to modern ears, but if you really calculate: a blade or sword over 1,000 yuan has the thickness and weight to withstand combat; 1,000 of them is a million-yuan value.

Of course, this figure was a large transaction rarely seen among the nobles of Ma La; considering the not small quantity of military equipment that had recently flowed out, Lanier brought a full three Hundred-man Cavalry Regiments to Shuizhai.

300 Knights, the worst of them rode Saber-toothed Beasts; the slightly better Dragon Beasts and Elephant Beasts all stood over 5 meters in height, those 12-meter-long Knight's Lances, four on each side placed beside the Knights' legs, the sight of them alone made one dread at first glance. 300 such Knights, like 300 Battle Elephants, or 300 Tanks arrayed here, their combat power could likewise be equated as such — even those Foreign Mercenaries who claimed to pay attention to rules turned pale as earth.

The Knight Captains of the Knight Order each rode special Mounts, among them the tallest reached a full 10 meters — seeing them, Chen Yi deeply suspected, what use could blades and swords no longer than 1 meter have against such Fierce Beasts.

Yu Weichao was also stunned silly, finally shouting a line when the other side neared the Wall: "Stop Outside."

Then he stood eye-level with the other side.

The Wall and those Dragon Beasts' height were the same.

……(Unfinished, if you want to know after this, please log in www. qidian. com, Chapter more, Support author, Support Genuine Reading!)