Chapter 11: City of the Serpent Surprise

Jingni had originally thought they would stay in the south until spring. She knew that while the eastern mountains also lacked food, they could still manage to survive until spring by being frugal. Now, there were only about thirty thousand people left in the northern mountains, a little over forty thousand in the eastern range, but in the southern alliance, there were as many as one hundred and twenty thousand.

“My husband, how do you intend to arrange things? I think the south is more suitable as our headquarters.”

Although it was already deep winter, Lin Shu had no desire to waste time.

“My dear wife, this winter will be a long one! It's the perfect time to build a city. It’s neither convenient nor proper for us to keep living in caves.”

So that was his plan! “But husband, building a city is very difficult, especially considering the materials, manpower, and harsh weather here. It would be even harder!”

Jingni did not want to force the tribe to risk their lives constructing a city, and besides, the simple-minded tribespeople had no experience with such construction.

With her small mouth, large eyes, and pointed nose, Jingni’s worried frown was all the more endearing.

“Don’t worry. I’ll have the carriage manufacture bricks, stone beams, and tiles. The tribespeople won’t need to handle any complex work—so long as they’re not fools, it’ll be fine.” Lin Shu wasn’t aiming for intricate ancient mansions, just rough stone houses, so there was no need to worry about expertise.

Speaking of the divine carriage, Jingni stopped asking questions. “Husband, this is a divine carriage, you know, and it’s drawn by dragon-horses, too!”

“Yes, it’s a divine carriage!” Lin Shu nodded in agreement. He felt rather helpless whenever he thought of the spaceship now looking like a horse-drawn carriage, but there was nothing to be done—the rules of this world were not the same as those on Earth.

After delivering a batch of icefish to the eastern mountains and leaving behind twenty thousand blades, spears, and bows, the carriage returned to the northern headquarters.

Now, with nearly two hundred thousand tribespeople, all loyal, Lin Shu no longer needed to worry about rebellion. So, each tribe was managed as before: the northern mountains were led by High Priest Hugu, the eastern range by Chief Taka, and the southern alliance by Zabu Lie and Tulan, each serving as principal leaders.

As soon as the carriage arrived, High Priest Hugu reported loudly, “Great King, the blades, spears, and bows have all been packaged and will be distributed to each tribe as soon as the snow stops.”

The weapons distributed to the tribal militia did not include armor or steel crossbows; such heavy equipment would only be given to the main fighting force in the future.

Lin Shu nodded and stood on the carriage platform. “Very good, you may handle it as you see fit. I’ve called you here today because I plan to build a county city and three townships in the northern mountains.”

“Great King, do you mean a city? It’s said that in the warm southern lands, cities are everywhere.” High Priest Hugu was both surprised and delighted. He understood the benefits of cities, but also their difficulties.

Lin Shu nodded. “Hugu, order each tribe to select their strongest warriors. Once I’ve built the city walls, you can send people in to build the stone houses.”

“Great King, should we also have the warriors help construct the city walls?” The high priest knew it would be difficult, but he couldn’t let the king brave wind and snow alone for their sake.

Lin Shu shook his head. “Not for now, and neither the elderly nor the young are to come down the mountain.”

“As you command, Great King!” The high priest and others felt a tremor in their hearts. The king was protecting the tribe’s vulnerable.

Lin Shu was impatient by nature. That very day, he drove the carriage into the mountains to gather stone.

The second-level carriage’s force field could handle up to ten thousand pounds. Under its vibration, whole swathes of stone cliff were absorbed into its internal space. The stones were then cut into shape: some into long blocks, others into thick stone tiles.

By day, he gathered materials; at night, he slept and stoked the fire to replenish energy. In just three days, Lin Shu had piled the county city’s stone by the great river west of the northern mountains.

After preparing cement mortar, the carriage began the construction in earnest.

“Husband, I’ll rest for a while,” Jingni said, losing interest after watching for a bit.

“All right, go to the carriage and sleep.” Far from tiring of it, Lin Shu looked positively delighted.

The county city was designed to house fifty to sixty thousand people: a square city, each wall five kilometers long, six meters high, and three meters thick—a total of twenty kilometers of wall.

The foundations were three meters deep and four meters wide. When transporting the stone, the carriage had already piled the excavated earth outside the trenches.

After the carriage passed quickly, modular stone bases floated into the trenches, and the cement mortar from its storage sprayed onto the stone blocks.

The stones around the carriage seemed weightless, stacking together one by one. With the carriage’s five-ton force, even multi-ton stones made the city walls rise at a pace visible to the naked eye.

Except for sleep, Lin Shu spent all his time on the construction site. The central brain had already designed the blueprints, so his presence wasn’t necessary, but he enjoyed being in command.

“Husband, the city walls will be finished by noon. I’ll go notify the tribespeople to start building the stone houses.” In just four days! Had she not seen it herself, Jingni would not have believed it.

The wind and snow were lighter that day, and knowing Jingni was a skilled swordswoman, Lin Shu agreed. “All right, have them send a few hundred people to learn first. Once some stone houses are up, we can gradually add more manpower.”

As soon as the order was given, the warriors who had waited so long hurried down the mountain. If only a few hundred were needed, otherwise nearly all the able-bodied would have come.

The stone houses were all single-story: three and a half meters high, each about ten square meters, square and incredibly simple.

After finishing the city gate, Lin Shu personally built dozens of stone houses, even clearing the earth from the foundations.

“Husband, go rest in the carriage. Let me teach them.” After glancing at the stone and the models, Jingni had already figured out how the construction worked.

“All right, I’ll watch for a bit, then head back to the carriage.”

The stone tiles only needed to be laid one by one on the beams—very simple. After watching a while, Lin Shu felt reassured and returned to the carriage to play with the child and rest.

The next day, another thousand people from the tribes arrived. After another day, Lin Shu left the northern county city.

The three townships were even simpler, each housing only ten or twenty thousand people, several times smaller than the county city.

Two townships were built at the northern and southern ends of the mountains, the third in the middle of the eastern side, at the foot of the mountains near the river, which was also close to where Lin Shu and Jingni had first met.

Since this was the starting point, all the stone houses inside were built directly by the carriage. High Priest Hugu and others sent help, but Lin Shu sent them away.

In just a few days, a township for twenty thousand was complete. The walls stood seven meters high, a full meter taller than those of the county city.

Seeing the tall stone walls from afar, the old priest burst into laughter. “Ha ha, wonderful! This is marvelous!”

“We have our own city now—even the Donghu people don’t have one!” an old chieftain said excitedly.

“Husband, what do these words mean?” Jingni asked, pointing to the two large characters above the city gate. She didn’t recognize them, but they felt familiar.

Lin Shu had checked the script with the central brain, so there would be no mistakes due to dialect. “These are simplified characters. This is our starting point; from now on, it shall be called Jingni City.”

“Jingni! Husband, those are my name, aren’t they?” Jingni’s heart fluttered.

Lin Shu smiled gently. “Yes, that is your name.”

“Long live the Great King!”

“Long live the Great King!” Bringing clothing, iron tools, and now even building cities—there was no way to repay him. High Priest Hugu and thousands of tribespeople knelt to the ground in deep gratitude.

In the past, they had revered and feared King Lin; now, it was reverence mingled with gratitude.