"I saw you talking and laughing with Yu Wensheng's guard Wei Yao."
A strange voice came from the darkness.
Zheng Quchi shushed and then recognized the person.
"Don't keep following me. Don't I need to sneak into the enemy camp? Naturally, a false brotherhood like this needs to be maintained from time to time."
For example, she and him were nothing more than a fictitious partnership.
Shan Bian stared at her for a moment and said, "Yu Wensheng actually sent troops to garrison. We can no longer sit back and wait for death. I will go tonight..."
She was surprised: "To assassinate Yu Wensheng?"
Shan Bian's pretending to be profound suddenly lost his composure and he jumped: "What nonsense are you talking about? I went to assassinate Yu Wensheng because I thought my life was too long? I mean, this time the barbarians invaded, the masons followed There have been many casualties in the labor force. In order not to delay the project, they will definitely recruit people from all over Ye State. We can arrange for more people to sneak in to cooperate with our destruction task."
Seeing his triumphant look, Zheng Quchi's eyes darkened and he said casually: "Then I'll just wait and see."
But this time Shan Bian did not allow her to stay out of the matter. He put a palm on her shoulder: "We will split up. I will arrange the personnel, and you will find an opportunity to kill Yuan Sui and Yin Xiao."
Zheng Quchi raised his head and his eyes widened: "Me?"
"Who are you? Aren't you always responsible for the assassination missions in the past?" Shan Bian's expression darkened. At this time, he seemed to have revealed his usual disguise, and approached her and said, "Zhi, what are you doing recently? The behavior is getting weirder and weirder, and sometimes when I look at you, I feel like I’ve become a different person.”
Zheng Quchi tried hard to restrain the subtle changes in facial expressions. She had actually anticipated the questioning and suspicion at this moment, so she was not too panicked.
"Are you familiar with me?" Zheng Quchi took a deep breath and asked back aggressively: "Have you ever really gotten along with me? Have we talked about each other? How well do you think you know me?"
Shan Bian was sprayed with spit on her face, so he quickly let her go and wiped his face: "Zhi, that's too much. It sounds like I don't have any friendship with you. We have experienced a lot together. Something thrilling."
Zheng Quchi knew his urine nature. Although he usually acted out of tune, he was definitely not a simple person for the Mo family to send him to coordinate the tasks.
She did not take it lightly, let alone trust him easily. She continued to output: "I used to be the assassin, but now in order to sneak in, I don't even have a suitable weapon. You said I would assassinate the original follower Yin Xiao, I will use Why do you want to assassinate someone and seize the blade with your bare hands?"
Shan Bian couldn't stand her repeated questioning, so he forced out an awkward and pleading smile and said: "Okay, okay, I said the wrong thing. As long as you are willing to do it, I will leave the weapons matter to you. I will do it in a while." I’ll prepare it for you, and I’ll even finalize the location, time, and ambush location for you. All you need to do is..."
He twitched the corners of his mouth, looked into her calm eyes, and lowered his voice: "Just kill someone."
He must have arranged it directly for her.
Can Zheng Quchi refuse at this time?
Of course not.
She replied with a smile, "Okay."
——
Fu County
The night is dark, and the moon is shadowed by the bow.
In Linyuan, two figures knelt upright in front of "Master Li".
"Please help us."
Master Li, who was dressed in a blue robe and a green fox fur coat, sat leisurely on the rocking chair. His head was still wrapped in a bandage, and his thick hair hung down on the back of his neck. He said calmly: "People can only save themselves, I will help Nothing to do with you."
"You can do it, you must have a way, but you..."
Just as Yuan Sui was about to speak out his words, he saw a gloomy black shadow covering them heavily. The huge shock and chill made the two of them freeze up, and the words they were about to say were choked back in their throats.
They raised their eyes tremblingly, only to see a tower-like figure stationed behind "Master Li" like a black god.
On that backlit face, only a pair of eyes as sharp as thin blades clearly marked them.
"Master Li" rubbed his sickly white forehead: "Be careful in your words and actions."
They gritted their teeth, but were unwilling to leave like this. Yin Xiao knew that his identity could not be mentioned casually, so he could only remind the other party tactfully: "Master Li, we took such a big risk to cover it up for you, to protect you. This false identity is safe. Now that we are in trouble, we just ask you to give us some guidance for the sake of our fellow disciples. Really, we only ask for this once, and we will never dare to bother you easily in the future."
"Yes, if we didn't really encounter difficulties, we wouldn't come here so late at night."
The two of them leaned down, their foreheads against the backs of their hands, and spoke sincerely.
"Master Li" stopped shaking, and a lamp shone brightly in the gauze, like frost on the courtyard steps. He sat quietly for a moment.
He asked: "What are you asking about?"
When Yuan Sui and Yin Xiao heard this question, they were surprised. They stood up quickly and said, "Now Yu Wensheng wants us to wait for half a month to build the prototype of the city wall, but the construction drawings have long been burned and cannot be restored. We can use the current manpower and material resources to rebuild a city wall..."
They told "Master Li" about the problems they encountered, but they felt that when everything was put together, it became a mess.
“What materials are currently being used?”
Yuan Suidao: "Stones and binding soil are far from enough. They still need to be mined and dug by manpower, and the binding soil also needs to be mixed with fired chalk ash (lime). Fu County has been undergoing frequent fortifications recently, so there is no such thing." It accumulates, so it is very difficult to achieve enough bonding soil in a short period of time.”
Yin Xiao also said: "If we follow the previous method of building walls, in this humid and cold weather, it will take an unknown number of days to solidify the gaps, so it is best to build scaffolding to facilitate wall reinforcement and transportation..."
The two of them talked to each other, but it turned out that there were far more difficulties than methods. It was not that they were helpless, but that the order issued by Yu Wensheng was imminent and there was no time for them to proceed slowly.
"Master Li" stood up, folded his clothes, and said: "Quarrying stone requires a lot of manpower, and transportation back and forth is also time-consuming. It is better to use this material, use stones as the foundation, and then use Fu County's famous local loess mixed with sand and gravel to build the walls. , can be quickly prototyped.”
“But the stone foundation is not stable and often becomes loose.”
"This problem can be solved by purchasing a large amount of glutinous rice slurry mixed with chalk ash (lime) to bond the masonry."
After hearing this, they felt as if they had found a treasure, and their spiritual towers immediately opened up, and they were deeply inspired.
"Thank you Master Li for your guidance!"
It was a quiet night, and after Yuan Sui and Yin Xiao left with a lot of thanks, the silent man behind "Master Li" lowered his head: "Master, why do you want to help them?"
Teach them, isn’t this tantamount to helping Yu Wensheng in disguise?
"Master Li" walked into the room, his eyebrows slightly lowered. When the warmth accumulated by the charcoal fire burning in the room gradually dissipated the chill around him, the color of his lips returned from lavender to light aqua: "Help? You just I know the first, but I don’t know the second.”
The big man was not a mere layman. He said: "This method can indeed make the city wall strong."
The original follower Yin Xiao can be rated as a master craftsman, and the skills he has learned are accurate, so he can naturally tell whether what his master tells is true or false.
He understands the "first", but what is the "second"?
"The method is good, but do you think it can be done so easily?" He glanced at her with willow-leaf eyes, dim and misty.
There are solutions to many things in this world, but some methods may work, but that doesn’t mean they are suitable for everyone, and they may be self-defeating in the end.
To use the simplest analogy, for example, if a robber comes, he can be killed and dealt with, but the strong will adapt to it, and the weak will use it with caution.
The big man seemed to understand. He walked to the smoky charcoal stove, flicked it, and added a few more pieces of charcoal.
Then he turned around, knelt down in guilt, and knocked his head heavily on the ground.
"Master, Saw didn't find the second girl in the camp. Instead, he almost killed you because of his delayed return. Please punish him severely."
It was Gongsu Jiruo who went by the pseudonym "Master Li". He changed his face, borrowed his identity, and returned to Fu County. He had always planned carefully, but the only unexpected mistake was this accident.
He stroked the wound on his forehead, but there was still a tingling sensation: "It's okay, it's just what I ordered you to do."
Saw raised his face: "I heard that someone, regardless of the danger, took the risk to save the master when the rocks collapsed?"
"Well, someone did dig me out from under the rubble." Gongshu untied his fox fur and laid it beside the bed.
Saw lowered his eyes: "Who is he? Does Saw know him?"
Gongshu stood up and unconsciously touched his waist with his fingers. The "Yanlin" tag that should have been hanging there was empty.
He unexpectedly thought of that face that was fresh in his memory.
He has dark skin, fluffy and messy hair, a small stature, a small head, a small face, and small hands, but he looks very energetic, as dazzling as a ball of fireworks, and full of vitality.
"He is not from us, and he is a stranger to me."
Saw was startled.
Would a stranger do this?
"Then why did he..."
Gongshu opened his eyes and pressed his hand on the dark wall, and the lamp behind the gauze curtain was cut out by the silk cover: "There is no need to delve into his affairs...but we will see him again soon."
Public loss means resting peacefully.
Saw stood respectfully against the wall, looking at his nose, nose and mouth, and his mouth and heart, like a silent sculpture that stayed in the dark to guard his god.
——
The second snow since the beginning of winter fell quietly in the morning.
Far away in the Shanyin Valley to the west of Fu County, a team of people with their heads covered with cloaks rode past like the wind. Finally, they found their master among the rocks in the wilderness.
Before they even had time to rein in their horses, the men jumped up and rushed over eagerly.
"Sima!"
The man who was seriously injured but not treated, and who was chased and ran for his life until he collapsed, heard a familiar shout and slowly opened his eyes.
He had a sinister look between his brows, and his dark eyes quietly swept over them.
Then, without any warning, he burst out laughing wildly, shocking everyone who came to greet him and were dumbfounded.
"Hahaha... Yu, Wen, Sheng! As long as I die, you and the Ye Kingdom behind you will never have peace!"
The person who came to respond pulled off his hood, his face full of anger and hatred: "After we received the news from Sima, we immediately sent someone to send a message to the nomadic barbarian. Now Yu Wensheng is probably too exhausted to continue chasing Sima. If not In this case, we may not be able to successfully break through his defensive interception and come to meet Sima."
"Fortunately, there is only one Yu Wensheng in Ye country." Other subordinates felt sad.
They brought clothes and put them on Mo Ye, who was almost naked, and then put on a long white bear cape. He turned back and looked in the direction of Fuxian, his eyes full of unruliness and revenge.
"Wait." He raised one eyebrow and said in a sinister tone like a curse: "I will be back soon."
——
At dawn, the county sent workers to deliver more than a dozen "earth lifters" to Guixuanling.
When they first saw the "earth lifter", the masons gathered around to join in the fun were all amazed and curious, and discussed its uses and functions.
Only Zheng Quchi was surprised when he saw the equipment he had previously manufactured being mass-produced. He was also a little amused and helpless.
She did not feel that she had been infringed, because the sample was given to the work officer Muke, and he also gave her corresponding "remuneration" in return.
But, don’t they know that they need to change it before using it again?
This is an earth lifter. As the name suggests, its main function is to dump soil. Of course, it can also be used to move stones. However, since the volume and weight of stones are different, if the lifter is slightly modified, it will be more suitable. .
More importantly, they don't know how to install wheels on it, so wouldn't it be more convenient to move it around?
Forget it, she already had a general understanding of the abilities of these carpenters in Fu County.
They only know about conventional furniture and house construction, and have rarely been involved in other things.
When she saw the familiar worker officer Muke, Zheng Quchi was not in a hurry to say hello as there were many people there. However, when she saw the mass-produced "earth starter", an idea to make money suddenly came to her mind.
She plans to design the 2.0 version of the "earth starter" when she has time, and then take it to Muke for an estimate and ask him to help find a suitable "seller."
In this way, the poor woman can not only earn design fees, but also play a certain role in promoting the construction industry in Fu County, killing two birds with one stone.
When the "earth lifter" was delivered, Zheng Quchi guessed that construction was about to start.
She thought she would continue moving rocks, but she didn't expect that she would be transferred to digging ditches.
He didn't know what size and thickness of the city wall Yuan Suiyinxiao and the others planned to build, but when he saw them again, Zheng Quchi found that they looked confident and asked them to dig a wider foundation trench again.
What kind of ridiculous operation is this?
Don't you think you don't have enough time?
She was too lazy to guess what they meant. She had been digging soil for a day and was so exhausted that her limbs were weak and her waist and knees were sore.
The working people in ancient times were really miserable. After just one day of hard work, she suffered from kidney deficiency.
If she could have traveled through time and become an emperor or a wealthy person, she would have definitely built machines to replace cheap labor and liberate the hands of the poor people.
It's a pity that what she traveled through was a working craftsman at the lowest level who was waiting to be liberated.
The worst thing is that others can lie down after work, but she still has to drag her tired body to find Wei Yao and rush to the official kiln overnight.
Wei Yao didn't waste any time and took her to the official workshop of Fu County on horseback.
At this time, Zheng Quchi didn't know that her move had completely turned the dangerous situation into a mess.
(End of chapter)
