Chapter 441: The Workers Outside

ancient ferry dock.Zhao Sheng led a large group of workers who were drawing lines on the ground.

They neatly placed pebbles on the earth to form long, straight lines of pebbles, using them to outline the general shape of the neighborhood.

As Zhao Sheng placed the lines, he looked at the “Deity’s blueprint” in his hand and loudly said: “Build a town office right here, so the Town Chief who will manage this town in the future can work here.”

The workers quickly made a mark in the center of the ground encircled by those pebbles to show where something would be built.

“Turn this into a shop here… merchants can buy and sell goods here.”

“And this area can become residences…”

Zhao Sheng kept speaking as he walked, but soon, he began to feel unwell, with “huff” and “puff” noises interrupting his words.

A young lad from Qingjian County ran over holding a big bowl; it was full of a thick herbal soup, emitting a fragrant yet bitter smell: “Sir, your asthma-calming soup has been brewed and is ready.”

Zhao Sheng picked up the bowl, took a sip, and it was so bitter that his two eyebrows furrowed into one.

When he rested, others couldn’t move either, as they still needed to listen to his instructions, which seriously hampered their efficiency.

He was feeling distressed when suddenly two old farmers beside him appeared carrying a bamboo sedan chair; they smiled happily and said: “Mr. Zhao, please sit on this, and we will carry you while you move. That way, you won’t be as tired.”

Zhao Sheng said: “Huh? How can that be okay?”

The two old farmers replied: “You are our great benefactor, and we don’t know how to repay you. Please just let us contribute our effort for you.”

Hearing this, Zhao Sheng felt too awkward to refuse further; he obediently got onto the bamboo sedan chair. Immediately, things felt different—the two old farmers carried him briskly and flew along, taking him wherever he wanted to go.

They swiftly zipped over to check this construction site, then swiftly zoomed off to inspect that one.

Zhao Sheng was naturally impulsive, but his asthma had limited his actions; now, without worrying about it, he felt his own efficiency multiplied several times, and his figure could be seen everywhere all across the ferry dock construction site…

“By the way, I heard yesterday that the cement factory lacked limestone; has that issue been resolved?” Zhao Sheng turned to ask the two little monks.

Those two little monks had just started their jobs and were eager to prove themselves; they quickly answered: “Sun Genping from Sun Family Village brought over a hundred people, and they found limestone near a small mountain two li to the north; they organized a transport team today to go haul the rocks back.”

Zhao Sheng smiled: “That’s good news.”

Right as the two finished speaking, suddenly shouting came from outside the fort—workers who had gone out to dig limestone ran back in terror, with their transport carts seemingly abandoned.

Zhao Sheng said: “Huh?”

Master Zhan Sheng dashed over immediately and urgently asked: “What happened?”

Running at the front, Sun Genping looked embarrassed: “We finished digging the limestone and loaded up our carts, then we planned to bring them back when suddenly a bunch of bandits rushed out and terrified us; we dropped our transport carts and ran away.”

Master Zhan Sheng’s expression darkened: “Bandits again?”

Zhao Sheng also said: “Hey? How can that do? I’ll go find Boss Zao Ying to send cavalry to recover our limestone carts.”

The group quickly sprang into action…

Instantly, the camp grew noisy as the entire cavalry camp under Zao Ying’s command rushed to gather, mounted their horses.

However, just then, the sentinel on the watchtower suddenly shouted aloud: “People are coming toward the fort outside—everyone look north! A transport team has appeared to the north.”

Several leaders climbed up to the watchtower and gazed north; strangely, a large group of people all dressed in chaotic equipment, strangely resembling bandits, were pushing the carts with the limestone they were transporting straight toward the ancient ferry dock.

At once, the cavalry didn’t need to go out just yet; everyone waited to see what would unfold.

When that group halted just beyond arrow range from the fort, their lead man walked forward with his hands raised and no weapons in sight, calling out loudly to the fort: “Don’t shoot, good-folks! We’re not here to attack you—it was all a misunderstanding. We aren’t taking your carts; look, we brought back the carts filled with stones for you.”

Inside the fort, people exchanged glances; after several seconds, Xing Honglang loudly said: “This aunt is Yongji Xing Honglang—who are you?”

“We’re all farmers from Linyi County to the north; just listen to our Shanxi accent.” the man leading the group said: “A few days ago, Old Zhang Fei’s men robbed us and forced us to join his rebel army; they made us head to this area… and… and we were meant to assault your fort, but we didn’t charge ahead then—we stayed at the back… we truly never joined the fight at all and ran off as soon as fighting broke out.”

Hearing this, the people inside the fort all froze in surprise at the same time.

Okay, that explanation was believable!

During that incident, nearly everyone who dared to charge ahead at the fort ended up a corpse—either dying from hand grenades, firearms, or else getting kindly managed the situation by He Ping…

The farmer called out loudly: “We didn’t want to become bandits; we only followed them with knives to our throats. After seeing you kill Old Zhang Fei, we were too afraid to approach you. But over these days, we kept hiding nearby and watching—you folks are different from the other rebels; you’re building the fort and even giving work to all…”

As he spoke up to this point, everyone inside the fort understood—these people were here to seek refuge on their side.

Master Zhan Sheng put his palms together: “Amitabha! Evildoing drives people away in fear, but good deeds draw them near; these folks were attracted by Boss Xing’s good acts. This poor monk believes they can be trusted.”

Xing Honglang could also make out the Shanxi accent in their speech; since they weren’t arriving from Shaanxi, they must be commoners from Shanxi who had been forcibly enlisted: “They can be trusted, but not entirely so; it’s best to keep them outside the fort temporarily to avoid them setting nighttime fires or acting as insider agents. Simply have them help us dig limestone and transport it back to the fort, while we pay them wages for their labor.”

Old Nan Feng and Zao Ying nodded together, feeling this plan was reliable.

Gao Chuwu grinned: “Good idea!”

As he was the great general of the Shanxi “expeditionary force,” his single “good idea” settled the matter.

Xing Honglang craned her head out of the fort wall and bellowed: “Got it—so from now on, you don’t want to join rebellions anymore, right?”

The farmer outside replied: “We never were rebels in the first place.”

“Fine! Then it’s straightforward.” Xing Honglang: “We’ll keep you on for work; your job is digging stones and bringing them back to our fort, along with daily payment of three jin of flour each.”

The people outside cheered: “Excellent! Now we have something to eat.”