239 Digging the Cornerstone (1/2)

Gaia, first year, 9th month, 27th day, morning. Ouyang Shuo brought four Guards out of the city.

His destination was the Military Factory built in the stone caves in the western suburbs.

The Military Affairs Department was in charge of this. Three months had passed since they built this factory. It managed the production of military grain pills, military tents, and scaling ladders.

When one passed the city west gate, one would see masons working on the official path not far from the gate. The starting point of Tianhai Road wasn't the current city west gate, but the city west gate of the planned third city wall.

Although the official road wasn't like the inner city ones made from green stone, it still wasn't easy to build. Many wild grasses grew in the wilderness. The masons had to first remove these grasses and their roots from the soil, this measure prevented them from growing again.

The dirt road was made up of three main ingredients: limestone, dirt, and sand. They had to press the composite dirt to prevent growth of wild grasses and to prevent the road from becoming muddy during the rain.

The designer of Tianhai Road, Hui Tuban, specifically designed a ‘Roller’ that they had horses pull. He let the blacksmith shop produce a circular iron tube and used eight horses to pull it, which greatly reduced the manpower required.

As the official road had an important function to help military movement and transportation of resources, they couldn't make the road too narrow. They made it 20 meters wide, and it also had a good drainage system.

At the sides of the road, they also planted many trees.

Apart from that, along the way, there would be some streams from Friendship River as well as some hills. They needed to build bridges and also split mountains to open paths. The difficulty was nothing the inner city project could compare to.

Lastly, there was the important relay system, which included the relay path and the relay station.

The relay station could allow officials to stay overnight, they were a day away and 30 kilometers apart. Between the relays, there would also be simple shops to provide food and rest. Normally, there would be one shop every five kilometres.

After he exited the city, Ouyang Shuo took a left. After just 10 kilometres, he came to the rock cave where the Military Factory was located in. The cave entrance was a large steel door. Unless there was an emergency, it would remain closed. At the side was a small door that people could pass through, and it acted as the usual pathway.

In front of the cave was a restricted area warning sign, and a squad of soldiers stood guard next to it.

When he saw the level of secrecy and importance placed on this area, Ouyang Shuo nodded his head in agreement.

After he dismounted from his horse, Ouyang Shuo passed the reins to a guard and walked toward the big gate alone.

When the soldier on duty saw him, he bowed and said, “My lord!” Then, he rushed to steel gate; he wanted to open it up.

Ouyang Shuo waved him off, “There's no need. I'll just go in from the small door.”

The soldier had a look of difficulty, “My lord... this....”

”Don't say anything more! I've come here without notice, so I don't want to disturb you guys.”

”Yes, my lord!” The soldier didn't want to debate with him and respectfully opened the small door.

The inside of the cave wasn't as dark as he had expected. Pieces of white stone on the sides and the ceiling of the cave gave out a gentle white light.

Upon closer inspection, these actually weren't man made lights. Instead, they naturally occurred.

Ouyang Shuo knew that these small rocks were a type of fluorite, natural sources of light.

As he raised his head, he saw that the cave was over 10 meters high and 150 meters wide. The area in front of him was limitless. Such a cave wouldn't cause one to feel locked up and restricted.

Ouyang Shuo's arrival shocked the manager of the factory, a middle-aged man who looked very steady and calm. When he received the news, he rushed over, “My lord, welcome! Sorry I didn't welcome you better!”

Ouyang Shuo waved him off, “I came here without telling anyone. Just show me around!”

”Yes, my lord!” The manager nodded, as he led the way before Ouyang Shou, “The Military Factory is split into three regions, which mainly focus on the production of different resources.” He pointed at the nearest region and said, “The most outer region is the one that makes the scaling ladders.”

Ouyang Shuo looked toward the direction he pointed in, only to see a 10 meter path in the middle; a wooden wall boxed up the sides.

On top of the 4 meter high wooden wall, one could see set after set of scaling ladders piled up.

”How's the building progress of the scaling ladders?” Ouyang Shuo asked.

”My lord, based on the speed, we can build one everyday.”

Ouyang Shuo nodded. After the scaling ladder region was the military tent region. Everyday, they could make 20 tents. Finally, it was the military grain pill region.