Although Zheng Quchi possessed extraordinary strength, he had never actually done any work involving forging or quarrying stones.
But weren't the jobs the county spent a fortune recruiting highly skilled workers? Are they really going to be in charge of the quarry, working as stone farmers clearing land and chiseling stones?
Forget it, there's no point in thinking about these things too much. Let's wait until we get to Ghost Ridge and then see what happens.
"Where is Qiu?" she asked.
The two of them trailed slowly at the very back of the craftsmen's procession, keeping some distance from those in front of them, and talked quietly.
Dan Bian smoothed his curly beard with his fingers and said, "He said he would sneak in with the laborers when he found an opportunity."
Zheng Quchi had anticipated that things would turn out this way, so he remained calm and composed.
This unbreakable trio is destined to be inseparable for the foreseeable future.
"You just said you don't know anything about stonemasonry, so how did you get in?" she asked curiously.
Dan Bian raised his chin: "I secretly used some connections."
Zheng Quchi immediately looked at him with an expression as if he had just heard a ridiculous joke: "If you have connections, why don't you find another job? Why do you have to become a fake stonemason who knows nothing?"
Speaking of this, Shan Bian was also full of grievances: "Do you think I wanted to do this backbreaking work? It was only because Master Qu asked Qiu to pass on a message to me—"
Halfway through his sentence, Shan Bian became alert and shut up, finally stammering out, "In short, it's all for the mission."
Qu Shi?
Then another person appeared whom she didn't know, but whom he and Qiu did.
This Master Qu must be a member of the Mohist school. He only saw Qiu and handed over all the tasks to Shan Bian. Even if she was slow to understand, she would realize that he was just keeping an eye on her.
Ha, no wonder "Sang Xuanqing" chose to betray them. With an illegal terrorist organization like theirs, they still engage in internal division, isolation, concealment, and exploitation. Who wouldn't turn to the dark side in their presence!
"Alright, that's enough."
Her expression was somewhat indifferent.
Dan Bian glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, unsure of what to explain to her. His expression was somewhat awkward and conflicted, and the two remained silent for a moment.
——
When we reached the Guixu Ridge area, the mountains were undulating and the air was damp and cold. A cold mist enveloped the entire mountainside, like a winding, slippery silver snake.
Zheng Quchi was covered in sweat after walking this mountain path, but he didn't feel cold at all.
She looked up at the rolling hills and felt that their shapes were very different from those she had seen on the plains.
Looking at it from a distance from another hillside, it appears majestic and desolate, with little green vegetation covering the area and a lot of exposed white-brown soil and rocks.
But upon closer inspection at the foot of the mountain, it appears to be extremely layered and chaotic, as if it might collapse at any moment.
However, this is all an illusion.
These stonemasons were all assigned to temporary sheds built in the valley. Then, the soldiers came to organize the personnel and arrange the preliminary cleaning work assigned from above—moving the rubble.
Zheng Quchi finally realized that these people did indeed belong to the category of having to do everything. Don't think that the government's money is easy to earn; it's all earned through sweat and labor.
Of course, the two master craftsmen, Yuan Sui and Yin Xiao, from the Jixia Academy didn't need to do these things.
Their positions are equivalent to engineering and technical personnel responsible for the design, organization, and supervision of construction.
To put it bluntly, this is the same job Zheng Quchi did before.
But now, she's starting over with a new account, and she's not high enough to qualify, so she can only work as a low-level construction worker.
After resting for a night, they were awakened by the sound of gongs as dawn broke. The soldiers ordered them to go to the vicinity of Zhishan Mountain in Guixupo before daybreak to clear away the ruins of the collapsed city wall.
Keep the intact, usable stones, and remove the broken or damaged ones so as not to delay the subsequent repair work.
"Hurry up and clear the moat around the city wall. In a couple of days, Master Yuan and Master Yin will come to inspect and survey the construction. The magistrate said that their project must not be delayed!" The soldier, gripping the hilt of his sword, shouted a warning to the craftsmen.
"The second-level stonemasons (specialized skills) go to the quarry to chisel stones, while the rest of the staff and laborers are responsible for moving the stones!"
The ranks of artisans, from highest to lowest, are: Master, Craftsman, and Craftsman.
"Gong" refers to an ordinary worker, without distinction of rank.
The hierarchy only begins with the artisan.
The artisan class is divided into two levels: Level 1 apprentice and Level 2 specialist.
The ranks of "master" are: first-level craftsman, second-level craftsman, and third-level grandmaster.
"Master" or "expert" – basically, people who reach the level of "master" are the top leaders of their respective crafts.
These are all educational materials that Shan Bian gave to Zheng Quchi on the road.
The "second-level stonemason" that the soldiers just shouted refers to the second-level skill of the "craftsman" level.
The quarry was visited by the garrison yesterday; it's located on a cliff.
Because of the high quality of the rocks in the mountains there, many craftsmen used to go to the quarry to dig stone strips and slabs when building various projects, which is why half of the mountainside is riddled with holes.
Zheng Quchi, being unranked, naturally belonged to the lowest tier, so she had to move stones. Of course, the same applied to Shan Bian, who got in through connections.
The two walked to the southwest corner of the Zhishan city wall. The locals do not call it by its scientific name "Zhishan", but rather by its shape, "Chicken Foot Mountain".
The mountain walls here extend westward, eventually forming two commanding heights to the south and west, which are the pavilions and fortresses.
As for Guixu Ridge, it was the area around Jijiao Mountain that collapsed. Zheng Quchi had not surveyed the exact length of the repairs needed, nor had he had time to properly examine the craftsmanship of the Ye Kingdom's city wall.
Because she was being watched by the soldiers, carrying a bamboo basket back and forth to transport rocks that had been knocked down from the mountain.
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