The express messenger who had traveled eight hundred miles left, and the more than one hundred soldiers who had escorted the crossbow craftsmen also left.
But the mess left behind belonged to the local county magistrate. While it was said that over a hundred soldiers controlled a dozen foremen, the situation was actually far more intense, with verbal clashes escalating into physical brawls as more than a dozen foremen, each with hundreds of workers of different trades, confronted the hundred-plus soldiers.
Even though it is a few hundred people against more than a hundred people, they can't gain any advantage. They are well-trained, have tacit cooperation, and have been in actual combat for many years, while they are a group of loose sand, have no rules, and are full of loopholes. What's more, this guard team of more than a hundred people is elite.
The dozen or so foremen who were able to be captured meant that most of the hundreds of men were defeated. At the beginning of the fight, the leader of the more than one hundred soldiers also issued an order: hold back, or at least suffer some injuries, but absolutely no one should be killed.
Those who were fighting, whether they were artisans or laborers carrying earth and sand, were all civilians. If a civilian died at their hands, Your Majesty, whom I have just met, would skin them alive.
So no one was killed, but there were injuries on both sides. But injuries are different. I don't know if the soldiers on this side were more resilient, but the wounded and bruised ones still marched quickly, bringing the crossbow makers back to the army. However, these crossbow makers were so exhausted from the journey that they were almost dazed.
On this side, more than a hundred of the hundreds of people had to stay in bed for more than a month before they recovered. Although more than a hundred people were not bedridden, they were asked by doctors not to do heavy work for at least three months, otherwise the injured parts (arms, shoulders, legs, etc.) would not heal and had to recover this time.
This meant that nearly half the workforce was unable to work, forcing the project to halt. The county magistrate stared blankly at the deserted construction site. Not far away, a frail, wiry worker, a skilled line painter, also stared blankly. He was a skilled line painter, perfectly able to draw straight and curved lines the first time. He worked on the site.
During the fight, because he was thin, the foreman and other workers protected him and asked him to stand back. To be precise, the fight was over before he had a chance to rush forward to help.
He also witnessed terrifying combat power. The soldier gave a flying kick, and Dazhu, who was much stronger than him, was sent flying. He was literally thrown through the air, thrown more than half a foot away, and fell to the ground, unable to get up. Another soldier grabbed Gousheng's shoulders with both hands and pushed him with his knee, and Gousheng also fell to the ground.
More soldiers just punched, almost one person at a time. Every time they punched, someone would fall to the ground. It seemed that the soldiers could always dodge the attacks and knock someone down with one punch.
They never attack first, but if you hit them, they'll be knocked down. The person they're protecting is also a craftsman, I heard he's a carpenter. The boy who draws the lines has been dazed these past few days. Others say he might be frightened, but he knows he's not. He just can't figure it out.
The county magistrate gazed at the halted construction site, bewildered. His county wasn't wealthy, and the river bisected it, three-quarters on this side and one-quarter on the other. The old bridge had long been rickety, threatening to collapse at any moment. He had his men guarding it, barring any traffic.
For a poor county like his, undertaking such a large-scale water conservancy project, blocking the river and building a bridge, was no easy task. It required the right time, right location, right people, and right money. Not to mention the immense effort he had put in to hire a skilled water conservancy expert and various experienced boatmen who were familiar with the river and the local weather.
Just building the three water-blocking dams was extremely difficult. Almost all the manpower in the county, except for those responsible for ensuring farming and harvesting, took turns to build the three dams. The young and middle-aged people worked hard, and women, children and the elderly delivered meals. After great difficulty, the three water-blocking dams were built and the water level was controlled.
Finally, the demolition of the old bridge and the construction of the new one began. The hundreds of people and more than a dozen construction teams were carefully selected. Many of them lived on this side of the river, but because of the bridge construction, they left their homes and lived in temporary sheds on the other side, and they never returned.
His people were good, they were all very good. But they were beaten, and the bridge he promised them might be gone.
He went to the prefect countless times before he got the money for building the bridge. The prefect said that money was needed everywhere and asked him to spend it frugally and think of some way himself. The money he was given was already tight according to the budget.
When the bridge was actually built, he discovered that countless unexpected problems and extra money were needed on both sides. He and the county accountant tried every possible way to save money from other county expenses.
The people were kind too. When they heard that the county had run out of money to build a bridge, many people came here to work for free. They blocked the river, filled the soil and dumped stones, which required a large amount of sand, gravel and earth. The young and middle-aged people had to carry them on their shoulders, while the women, the elderly and the young could not carry them without tools, so they carried them on their shoulders and hands.
He and his accountant calculated that with over 10,000 people in the county, based on the volume of earth and rock fill, he owed the entire population 30,000 workers. That meant everyone in the county had worked three days on the construction site for nothing. None of them were wealthy, and each had their own challenges, but nearly everyone came to help. Those with money contributed money, those with labor contributed labor, and those with food brought in extra bread...
Now that construction has stopped, it will take more than three months for the workers to return. Therefore, the entire project will not be completed before the spring floods arrive. All these efforts have been wasted...
Countless days and nights of anticipation and hard work were in vain. The county magistrate sat on the shore and shed tears facing the river.
The county magistrate sat on the ground and cried, and was seen by the people who came down from the zip line. Since the zip line was built, the brave ones also tried to use it to cross the river. Gradually, more and more people began to use it.
When the county magistrate first saw that some people were using it, he asked someone to reinforce it and build a circular platform and stairs above and below.
The news that the bridge could not be repaired and the county magistrate was weeping by the river spread quickly. The county magistrate himself had no idea that two thousand people from his entire county would go to the prefectural government office and ask the prefect to intervene on their behalf.
This matter has become a big deal.
No one kept it a secret from him, so he got drunk and took a day off the next day. When the people sent by the prefect broke through the siege and found him, he was so panicked that he rushed over and almost knelt down before he persuaded the people to go back.
The prefect went out of his way to find workers of various trades in the five surrounding counties to come to this county for support, which meant that all the specialized technical workers and manual laborers were gathered.
When the bridge was rebuilt, two thousand people surrounded the prefectural government office to demand an explanation. The prefect did not dare to hide the truth and reported the whole story.
This was probably what the civil officials knew about the "struggle for the road", but when the matter was reported and received in the capital, Xuanyuan Hao was no longer in the palace.
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