Chapter 246: We are already good citizens, why do we have to endure this torture?
Zhang was worried that Ruan Mian would quarrel with the officers, so she quickly pulled her behind her and whispered some advice.
"Mianmian, don't worry. This is an order from the Governor. Why don't we... go and talk to General Huo secretly? Maybe he doesn't know about this yet."
General Huo was coming to propose marriage, and even Ruan Qing would be captured with them. If he knew, how could he have no reaction?
However, Ruan Mian shook her head: "Mother, if the Governor insists on doing this, I'm afraid General Huo won't be able to help."
"Previously, Wu Heng mutinied and the former governor fled. His whereabouts remain unknown. At that time, Wu Heng was leaderless, so General Huo, as the border general, temporarily took over."
"Now that the imperial court has issued an order to dispatch the Governor, General Huo cannot overstep his authority and confront the Governor, otherwise he will be implicated as well."
Upon hearing this, Zhang frowned. "If that's the case, then is there any other solution? If we're really forced to serve, I'm afraid we'll be forced to do it for eternity!"
"We're already good citizens, so why do we have to endure this torture? What's the point?"
Ruan Mian thought about it carefully. Now the three countries are friendly and there is no war, so there is no rush to build the thousand-mile-long defensive wall.
I'm afraid the real purpose of the governor is not to ask them to repair the national wall, but to make the people of Jinsha Village become exiles again in disguise, and by the way, to reorganize Wuheng Town.
After all, Wuheng City was already in ruins after the previous war, and even the city walls were in ruins.
The Governor's Mansion is even more unbearable to look at.
Thinking of this, Ruan Mian glanced at the top of Longchang Mountain rising high in the distance and spoke.
"I want to see the Governor."
…
At night, the Governor's Mansion.
The man in the black robe heard the commotion outside the courtyard, put down his teacup, and looked at the servant in front of him: "She's here, go make a pot of the best Yuhu tea."
The servant stepped aside respectfully.
Soon, Ruan Mian was brought to this yard.
All the way from Longchang Mountain to Wuheng City, the scene in the city was indeed similar to what I imagined.
The ruins are broken and dilapidated.
At night, only sporadic electric candlelight can be seen.
The lights at the post station far away in the suburbs are brighter than those in the entire city.
However, the Governor's Mansion was repaired much faster than he had imagined.
Today it is no different from before the war.
Ruan Mian came here once just after he was exiled.
The man in front of him had a smile on his face, but his eyes were cold.
He seemed to be politely inviting her to take a seat, but the oppressive and scrutinizing look in his eyes made Ruan Mian feel deeply hostile.
In the original book, Chen Bochong did not have many roles, at least in the chapters that Ruan Mian read, he appeared very few times.
It can be seen that his aura is not like that of an ordinary passerby villain.
While on guard, Chen Bozong suddenly smiled.
"Madam Ruan, since I came here, I have heard a lot about your deeds. As a woman, you were able to come all the way from the capital to be exiled here, and yet you have accomplished so many things. This is truly unprecedented and few people know about."
"Your courage and intelligence truly earn my admiration. This Jade Lake tea I prepared today was specially prepared for you."
Ruan Mian's eyebrows moved, and he asked calmly, "Does the Governor know that I will be here?"
Chen Bozong curled his lips into a smile, suddenly stood up and leaned forward, his body suddenly moving closer to Ruan Mian.
The overwhelming momentum pressed down like a tidal wave, and Ruan Mian's upper body subconsciously retreated, but the next moment, he reached out and touched her back to stop her from leaving.
Those dark eyes stared straight at her. "You've always been a man of honor. I asked your entire village to do forced labor in place of the convicts, so why didn't you step forward?"
Seeing Ruan Mian's tense expression, he smiled and then stood up and sat back in his original seat.
His expression softened a bit, and he said frankly, "But this matter is not negotiable."
"Madam Ruan, although I admire you, I cannot use the backdoor just because you are a woman. I treat everyone equally."
"As long as we live here, no one can refuse to rebuild Wuheng."
Ruan Mian also came with preparations.
She spoke slowly and calmly: "Of course."
"Although we have been restored to good status, we are also registered as Wuheng residents. This place is our homeland. When the country is in danger, everyone can be trusted. When our homeland is in trouble, everyone can help it."
"If we all become slaves, will Wu Heng be able to rebuild? Can the Wanli National Wall be built overnight?"
"On the contrary, if all the people of Wuheng serve as you say, carrying loads and doing hard labor day and night, with no one to plant crops, no one to produce, no one to transport goods, and no one to raise children, how can Wuheng be rebuilt?"
She continued fearlessly, "The emperor exiled all the prisoners to the frontier. Besides being a punishment, he also wanted to allow this land, far from the capital, to be cultivated and developed."
"Otherwise, why would exiled prisoners, besides building the national wall, also be able to cut wood, farm, and build? Those who were registered as good citizens could even trade, transport goods, and interact with the outside world."
Seeing her eloquent words, Chen Bozong couldn't help but look at her twice more.
The smile in his eyes became even wider: "Madam Ruan is indeed not an ordinary woman. No wonder Lord Xie loves you so much. Even though he was demoted to this point, even though you were divorced before, he still wanted to marry you."
"Then, in your opinion, what should I do to comply with the Emperor's wishes?"
Ruan Mian couldn't see the look behind his smile. "Wu Heng City does need to be rebuilt, and we can contribute together. However, regarding the construction of the national wall, I hope the Governor can follow the law."
"After all, Madam Ruan just wanted to escape the arduous task of building the national wall."
"Your Excellency, Governor, are mistaken. I am thinking that we clearly offer greater value to the reconstruction of Wu Heng, so why would Your Excellency, Governor, relegate us to the most useless position?"
"Value?" Chen Bozong became even more interested: "Madam Ruan, tell me, what is your great value?"
"I'm afraid you are making fun of me by asking this question, sir."
Ruan Mian was too lazy to pretend with him. Chen Bozong was very smart and how could he not see their value?
It's just that they didn't give him any benefits, so he was so picky and made things difficult for them.
So Ruan Mian directly announced: "Sir, give me three days and I can complete the construction of the main wall of Wuheng City."
"When the time comes, my Lord will come to inspect it. If it's acceptable, my Lord will let the people of our village continue to use their own value to build Wu Heng, instead of... serving as exiles doing trivial and useless work."
Three days?
Chen Bozong laughed, and just as he was about to speak, a familiar voice suddenly came from outside the house.
"Master Chen."
Huo Zong, wearing armor, strode in, with Xie Huaian standing beside him with an expressionless face.
Chen Bozong took a look, approached Ruan Mian, and turned to face them.
Huo Zong looked displeased: "Master Chen, the people of Jinsha Village are all registered good citizens. It doesn't make sense to ask them to work on building the national wall. In my opinion, I think..."
But before Huo Zong could finish, Chen Bozong interrupted him with a smile.
"General Huo, you may not know this, but Madam Ruan has already told me about this. I promised her that if we can complete the main wall of Wuheng City in three days, I will dispatch someone else to take care of the national wall."
"If we can't repair it, and we don't have the ability, even if General Huo and Lord Xie come to talk to us, there's no turning back."
"After all, I am the Governor of Wuheng, and it is true that there is a lack of manpower to build the national wall, and countless prisoners have been killed or injured."
When Huo Zong heard this, his temper exploded!
"Three days to repair the main city wall? You should have given her three months! Chen Bozong, I didn't expect you to bully a weak woman so easily!"
"General."
Xie Huaian stopped his momentum and glanced at Ruan Mian.
In fact, Ruan Mian stopped listening to their conversation when Xie Huaian walked in.
He only looked at Xie Huaian, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but curl up.
She suddenly realized that she really missed him.
After not seeing him for a while, I felt that he had lost a lot of weight.
However, Chen Bozong suddenly held her waist and slowly pushed her forward.
Xie Huaian's face changed slightly, but before they could react, Huo Zong suddenly pushed Chen Bo Zong away with a punch!
"Where are you putting your hands, you old pervert?!"
Chen Bozong brushed off his clothes disapprovingly, and looked at Xie Huaian with provocative eyes.
He continued, "General Huo's impulsive nature must have caused him a lot of trouble. He should learn more from Lord Xie. He hasn't said anything yet. I think..."
However, before he could finish his words, Xie Huaian's knife was already on his neck!
"grown ups!"
Ruan Mian subconsciously called out to him. Even Huo Zong didn't expect that Xie Huaian was more reckless than himself. Seeing Chen Bozong's pale face, he laughed out loud.
"Indeed, I need to learn from Master Xie."
Chen Bochong's eyes suddenly darkened, but before he could threaten her, Xie Huaian suddenly smiled, retracted the knife nonchalantly, and cut off the belt of his cloak.
"I was just joking with Master Chen. Master is a magnanimous person. Why would he care about such things?"
"It's getting late, and the night is dark and the dew is heavy. I'm afraid my beloved wife will catch a cold, so I'll take my leave first."
After saying this, he took Ruan Mian's hand and walked out of the Governor's Mansion without looking back.
For the first time, Huo Zong followed behind someone like a younger brother and laughed heartily: "Brother-in-law is really good at kung fu."
The call of "brother-in-law" touched Xie Huaian's heart.
Ruan Mian followed them to the post station, and Huo Zong couldn't wait to ask: "Madam Ruan, what exactly was the three-day appointment between you and Chen Bozong..."
"I can do it."
This was not only a response to General Huo, but also said to Xie Huaian.
She knew that Xie Huaian would also be worried about her.
However, Huo Zong was surprised. "How did you do that? That's the main city wall! It took several groups of convicts, hundreds of people, a full six months to build the outer wall of Wuheng City."
"Even if it's just a main city wall, it's the most complicated. It took half a month just to carry the stones, not to mention carrying the loads, and..."
"General Huo, I already have a plan for dealing with this."
Ruan Mian took out a pen and ink from the side, quickly wrote down some procedures on it, and handed it to the two of them to read. However, Huo Zong was a little confused.
"Is this volcanic ash the material that Madam Ruan used to build the road?"
Ruan Mian nodded and said frankly, "That's right. Three days isn't a long time, but as long as we make the right arrangements, it's not impossible."
“One day to find the raw materials and arrange the personnel, one day to arrange the process and mix the raw materials, and another day to pour the mold.”
"This is the material I used when I built the road last time. Once it solidifies, it can stick to huge stones. Mix it with fine sand and gravel, and it will solidify into a solid material that can be poured into any mold."
"General, our village already has experience in road construction and is especially familiar with handling raw materials. Stones, volcanic ash, and other raw materials are readily available. We just need to transport them to the city. The most we'll need is to transport some sand and gravel from the Linfen River."
Ruan Mian originally wanted to use concrete for pouring, but under the current limited conditions, it was impossible to make concrete mixing tools so quickly.
Moreover, the city wall was so high that pouring it alone was too difficult, and three days was obviously not enough.
They could only use what was available. When building the road, they dug a large rock mountain near the house to get stones, and also made a road to the area where the volcanic ash was.
Using these, and adding fine sand and gravel, they smeared them into the gaps between the stones, making the city walls stronger than the previous ones.
At this moment, the greatest benefit of building the road was reflected.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
