Construction of the Cross-Sea Bridge was still in its initial stage. The prisoners of war piled bags of sand and gravel onto the reef flats one after another, enclosing every spot where they planned to drill wells and install bridge piers. This formed a series of rectangular basins in the seawater, separating the construction sites from the sea. The stacked sandbags stood more than five meters above the highest tide level, so even when the spring tide arrived around the middle of each month, it would not flood these man-made basins.
Normally, this step should have been carried out at the turn of the month, when the tide ebbed and Dark Bridge emerged from the water. However, Dark Bridge's surface was uneven, and even oxen and horses had to tread carefully while hauling loads. Pulling carts across it was even more impossible.
Besides, even if four-wheeled carts could travel across Dark Bridge, their carrying capacity still could not compare with ships'. And each month, Dark Bridge remained exposed for less than two days and two nights, leaving them nowhere near enough time to work. It was better to transport the sandbags by ship instead.
They had begun from the northern shore of the Cross-Sea Bridge. In the dozen or so days since then, they had already completed nearly twenty basins. The dam-building work was now proceeding in an orderly fashion. Once Luo Chong delivered the rebar and cement, they could immediately begin pouring the bridge piers.
At the same time, another project was being built in Yashan Commandery on Qiongzhou Island. It was the Dawn Lighthouse that the Han Tribe had originally planned to construct there—a lighthouse standing atop a massive reef in the reef-strewn area at the northeastern tip of Qiongzhou Island.
This was the only route from the