Chapter 54: The Craftsman's Sorrow

Letting the artisan cavalry move freely, Lin Shu surveyed the terrain behind the hills a few kilometers from the river mouth. The slope was not high, but with the trees atop it, even the roaring sea wind was effectively blocked.

[Commander, this spot is excellent. The artisans have horses and ox carts, so traveling is not difficult.]

"Good, then clear the trees and press them into timber," Lin Shu instructed.

The forests of Liaodong were dense, so he didn’t need to climb the mountain to quarry stone just yet.

Suddenly, the air rippled, and the entire carriage floated off the ground. Boom! With the force field fully open for a hundred meters, the air exploded in rings, shattering the surrounding grass and trees into fragments that were promptly sucked into the carriage’s interior space.

A green hemisphere floated by, leaving the land as clean as a fresh haircut.

With the weeds cleared and the ground leveled, two-story prefab wooden houses were nailed into place.

The small wooden houses had no beds inside, but Lin Shu had prepared fur mats for them.

Each house housed ten people; for twenty-three thousand, that meant two thousand three hundred small wooden houses.

For two stories, one thousand one hundred fifty wooden buildings were needed.

Nearly an hour later, the former patch of woods was now a bare expanse.

In their place stood neat rows of square wooden buildings. Around them, numerous wooden warehouses of various sizes served for bathing, dining, and other communal needs.

Stepping from the carriage and gazing at the tidy, beautiful wooden city, Lin Shu felt a twinge of reluctance—knowing it would be destroyed in just over ten days!

But these simple wooden buildings, at most, would be weathered away in a year; leaving them was pointless.

"Xin Ying, have Wu Song and his men come here."

Wu Song, nearly thirty, was the eldest son of Wu Yangjing, main commander of the Liaodong camp, and now the leader of the twenty thousand cavalry artisans.

[As you command.]

With a click, Lin Shu turned to see a steel pole rising from the carriage roof, hoisting the command flag.

The flag was bright red, symbolizing boiling blood.

The steel pole rose thirty meters high, and the blood-red military flag danced vigorously in the air.

Soon, the cavalry spotted the flag. From two kilometers away, they began to gather.

Thump-thump-thump—the great war drums on the ox carts thundered to life.

At the sound, Master Bao, head of the artisans, hurried to his feet and shouted, "Quick, form up! The cavalry are coming!"

Seeing a unit of cavalry charging in, thousands of artisans hastily moved to gather around Bao.

As soon as the horses stopped, Wu Song’s personal guards called out, "Third Artisan Battalion, follow us immediately and prepare to set camp."

"Yes, the artisan team will follow at once," Bao replied quickly.

The artisans also had horses to ride. Though not skilled riders, with saddle and stirrup they could sit steadily.

Soon enough, the familiar scent of wood shavings wafted over, and Bao looked up to see the cleared wooden city ahead!

"My heavens! Am I seeing things?" Bao exclaimed.

A squad of foremen glanced around and spoke, "Chief, you’re not seeing things. Look, those Hu cavalry are already walking into the wooden buildings!"

"How did this happen? I don’t recall seeing this wooden city before!" The second foreman tried to remember.

As they drew closer, it was indeed the smell of wood shavings, but no preservatives had been used; the timber was of mediocre quality.

"Ah! Who’s been so careless? Not only is there no oil, it hasn’t even been roasted!"

"What a pity, it’ll start leaking in less than half a year!"

"Such waste! Building a city, a dock, and ships should take four or five years at least!"

Listening to their chatter, Lin Shu floated to the roof of one of the tall wooden buildings.

"Enough, find an empty room and settle in. No need to question, this was crafted by your king himself."

What? The king?

The artisans hurriedly dismounted, none daring to lift their heads.

Bao lowered his gaze and sighed, "So it was the king who built it! No wonder the quality is so poor!"

Once everyone had chosen their bunks, several commanders and foremen assembled before the carriage.

With the king out of sight, Wu Song and the others didn’t dare approach too closely.

Suddenly, the door beside the carriage opened automatically, and the king’s voice rang out.

"Come in, all of you."

Everyone looked to Wu Song, who was delighted and quickly led the way. He hoped for a cup of tea, too!

His father’s crystal cup had come from drinking tea in this very carriage.

The compartment was five meters long and three meters wide, matching the carriage’s size. Of course, none realized this was not the real interior.

Once seated, Lin Shu drank a sip of herbal tea, lest the others hesitate to do so themselves.

"What you’ve heard is true. I plan to build the royal city at the river mouth and construct a seaport with ships within a month."

Within a month! They all ignored the words, thinking they’d misheard.

The king looked friendly, nothing like the terrifying rumors; a few foremen relaxed considerably.

"Your Majesty, the river mouth is far from the stone hills and old forests. If we’re to build a city, we’ll need to quarry upstream on the Liao River!"

Bao spoke up, steeling himself; there were no materials yet, surely they couldn’t have twenty thousand digging dirt!

Lin Shu nodded, "Chief Bao, the king will provide the materials."

"Artisans are to handle technical work; other tasks will fall to the cavalry. The artisans will split—half will prepare to furnish the buildings, the other half will familiarize themselves with ships and learn repairs and maintenance."

None of them understood! The four foremen wore bitter expressions. No foundation, yet talking about furnishing! Are you dreaming, Your Majesty?

Operating ships could be learned, but there were no ships yet, so what would they maintain? What repair?

Some artisans had impure thoughts but dared not voice them.

"Just assign the artisans as needed, especially the helmsmen—make it a priority."

"Wu Song, select several thousand cavalry to train as sailors."

Wu Song’s face fell; he raised his hand to accept the order. Even he didn’t want to go to sea, let alone these Eastern Hu soldiers!

All were stunned, and after a few more sips of tea, Lin Shu dismissed them to prepare.

As soon as they left the carriage, the bewildered artisans grew nervous, as if afraid the three generals would target them.

Wu Song wanted to snatch a cup but didn’t dare. He smiled and carefully stored his small tea cup.

These exquisite, transparent cups, some with colored patterns, were disposable in Lin Shu’s eyes; he would never keep a used cup for others.

Once the commanders and foremen returned to the wooden city, curious cavalry and artisans crowded around.

Learning they’d have to go to sea, many Eastern Hu cavalry wilted! If not for fearing the king even more, they would’ve found excuses to escape!

The artisans weren’t as panicked as the cavalry, but all sighed in dismay!

The royal city wasn’t even built yet—half would likely die from exhaustion before it was finished!

The people suffer in prosperity and in decline. No matter the empire’s wealth or ruin, the powerless commoners always bear the brunt.

Lin Shu paid no mind to their sighs; in a few days, their outlook would change.

With the spaceship carriage, he didn’t need to exploit them directly.

Time was pressing, and the carriage began clearing the river mouth for the port.

After collecting the mud and sand into its space, dozens of massive concrete pillars were planted in the excavated riverbank.

The pillars were two meters thick at the top, three meters at the base, with most of their length sunk deep beneath the sandy water.

Like building a bridge, one cement pillar and beam after another, thick concrete slabs were laid atop.

It was called a seaport, but essentially, it was several long bridges stretching into the sea.

The river mouth, several kilometers wide, had five such bridges. The shortest was three hundred meters; the longest stretched a thousand meters straight into the sea, its end big enough to dock ships draining tens of thousands of tons.

The bridges were spaced far apart, enough for several hundred-meter-long ships to turn simultaneously.

With the docks complete, Lin Shu, while daylight lasted, piled stone dams along both banks.

The dams were built by layering stone blocks and slabs, tightly interlocked. Simple yet as sturdy as concrete, mainly because there was abundant stone.

The stone dam consumed most of Lin Shu’s stone supply.

By now, dusk had fallen. Taking advantage of Yan’er’s slumber, Lin Shu continued building a massive warehouse by the dam.

The warehouse walls were masonry, cemented together, and the triangular roof was formed from stone slabs and reinforced concrete.

"Heh, with the force field, not a single support beam is needed!"

Like playing a game of building blocks, time quickly slipped by. That was why Lin Shu loved construction—it felt like playing a real-life virtual game.