As long as he disappears completely, her identity will not be exposed, and her secret will forever remain just a secret.
——
After the Lantern Festival, the weather in Ye Kingdom began to change abruptly, and the cold intensified. Judging from the current situation, it seems that a heavy snow is likely to fall in the coming days.
This may well be the last snowfall of this winter.
On the 17th, the full moon.
The sky was overcast, and the area around Guixu Ridge was shrouded in a hazy, indistinct mist, with the sky remaining gray from morning till night.
Zheng Quchi stood at the railing. For the past few days, she had been feeling uneasy and tense, as if something unpredictable was about to happen.
She suddenly remembered her artisan rating.
Uncle Mu had said he would bring her the results after the New Year, but she hadn't received any news.
And Wei Yao, there hasn't been a single word from her these past few days, and even Ya has disappeared without a trace.
Suddenly, everything around her became hazy and indistinct; she couldn't see her own hand in front of her face and couldn't predict what the final outcome would be.
Ultimately, whether Ya can successfully rescue Qiu remains to be seen. Perhaps, due to her betrayal, he will be lured into a trap by Yuwen Sheng and end up like Qiu.
Someone below called out, "Sang, Qi wants you to go and take a look at the arched gate. He said the scaffolding doesn't seem to be secure enough. Also, he found that some of the blue bricks don't have the maker's name engraved on them. Should we still use them?"
Because Zheng Quchi had strictly stipulated that every stone and every brick used in the city wall must be marked with the person who handled it, the responsibility was implemented at each level, forming a quality traceability system, which could effectively prevent anyone from being lazy or profiting from it.
Upon hearing this, Zheng Quchi hurriedly came down from upstairs: "Who is in charge of procurement and transportation? Why not use the previously used Beishi blue bricks?"
The stonemason who delivered the message was also helpless: "I heard that the brick replacement was arranged by the people in the county, and they were the ones who transported the bricks to Guixu Ridge. I don't know who was in charge of this matter. We still need to investigate. We craftsmen discovered something was wrong when we were moving the bricks, so Master Qi sent me to call you over to discuss it."
Zheng Quchi temporarily put aside the weight on his mind and focused on the current construction work.
As soon as Qi Gong saw her coming, he quickly led her to take a look at this batch of blue brick materials.
Zheng Quchi strode forward, lifted the tarpaulin covering the bricks, and stared intently at them.
No, these are not bricks fired using the techniques she taught, but rather inferior bricks made with substandard materials and shoddy workmanship.
She stepped forward, grabbed a piece, and broke it off. The sparse gaps and the brittle, powdery texture due to insufficient moisture content fueled her anger to the depths of her eyes. She released her grip and crushed it into powder under her feet.
"This batch of bricks is unusable; return them to where they came from!"
At this moment, a group of people hurried over from the other side, led by a foreman and several stonemasons.
The foreman, surnamed Bai, waved his hand to stop the others from moving the bricks: "No, this batch of bricks was delivered after the county magistrate's approval. It meets the requirements and procedures. How can you just say you don't want it and want to return it? Who will be responsible for the losses incurred?"
Seeing that the man surnamed Bai was up to no good, Zheng Quchi ignored his words and said, "The magistrate is a busy man, so this may not be related to him. It's just that one of his irresponsible subordinates made a mistake. If you don't dare to go, then I will go instead."
Bai Gongguan stopped her and said in a harsh tone, "Sang Xuanqing, don't think that just because others respectfully call you Sang Gong, you are really our boss. This matter is not up to you to decide. This batch of bricks must be used today."
At this point, Zheng Quchi was completely enraged: "How are you going to use it?"
She pushed him away, picked up a brick from the pile, and smashed it to the ground in front of everyone, shattering it into pieces.
"Look at this, with this kind of quality and these bricks, how many times do you think it can withstand the wind and rain, or withstand several impacts and explosions from the enemy?"
Bai Gongguan was stunned by her move and immediately fell silent.
Zheng Quchi coldly surveyed him and the people behind him.
"Do you know that this is the strongest line of defense that our Fuxian County will ever build from now on? There are some things that I don't need to say more about, you should all know. Over the years, we have taken many measures to drive away and deploy defenses against the nomadic barbarians, but with little effect. Have you ever calculated how much financial resources and lives we have lost?"
These nomadic barbarians always send small groups of cavalry to plunder the area surrounding Ye State without warning. Because the border area is very wide, the defending army often cannot predict which direction these nomadic barbarian cavalry will advance from.
In addition, the nomadic cavalry would quickly leave after plundering the people's property and women, without lingering in battle, making it difficult for the defending troops to arrive in time to provide assistance.
This was the original intention and purpose of the Ye Kingdom in building its city walls.
Over the years, the damage and destruction of the surrounding city walls, coupled with years of neglect, have led to a widespread loss of control over defenses, which has emboldened these nomadic barbarians to become increasingly arrogant and complacent, believing that Fuxian County is powerless to deal with them.
She is now filling in all the previous gaps and omissions with dots and lines, rebuilding an impregnable defense that will prevent them from having any further chance to invade.
Even if it's an invasion, be prepared to pay a huge price for it.
Some of the craftsmen who were complicit in the corruption behind Bai Gongguan said nonchalantly, "Do you need to tell us these things?"
Zheng Quchi laughed, his voice full of sarcasm: "So, since even a three-year-old understands this, why do you still do such a despicable thing? You smuggled this life-saving money, using inferior goods instead of the proper ones. Have you ever thought about who will ultimately suffer the consequences?"
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