With a clang, the two steel rails were hurled heavily onto the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust. The workers, who had walked only a few hundred meters, were already sprawled on the ground from exhaustion, gasping for breath.
Fortunately, the overseer following close behind hurried over and instructed the logistics workers to bring them mung bean soup so they could replenish their strength.
Only then did the overseer say to them, "If everyone thinks it's too heavy, then we'll carry one rail at a time. But let me tell you first: today, only these three Tuen are responsible for transporting the rails. There are two hundred rails in total, and they must all be moved before dark. Prepare yourselves. Starting tomorrow, the Tuen will rotate."
When everyone heard this, they finally breathed a sigh of relief. They had genuinely feared being made to shoulder rails like this all day. Wouldn't that exhaust them to death?
The workers transporting the sleepers on the other side were having no easier time. Although horse carts hauled them back and forth, sleepers were not light either. Each solid wooden beam was 1.2 meters long and weighed dozens of jin. They had to carry them up and down, while also tying both ends of the sleepers with iron wire. Fifty people were assigned to this work, and one kilometer required nearly two thousand sleepers. It was no easy task either.
If carrying rails and moving sleepers were merely backbreaking labor, then securing the rails required both physical strength and technical skill.
The workers from the other two Tuen—ten Decades in total—had each selected one Decade Leader and one Squad Leader, making twenty people altogether. They were currently learning how to secure the railway from craftsmen sent by Lin Fei. Once those twenty had