The project proposal had been submitted at the meeting, and the leader had given his approval. Naturally, the next step was to get down to serious work on the project.
According to the plan, the first step was to expand-or rather, improve-Hanshan Road.
Liu Acheng had actually traveled this so-called Hanshan Road himself. It was the route he had taken to assume his post, leading overland from Mount Liuhe, across the river from Jiankang, to the Fei River. Yin Hao had also taken this route when he first advanced to occupy Shouchun. After all, his troops were the so-called Central Army and had to set out from Jiankang.
That was precisely why Yuan Zhen had taken Hefei rather than him.
In terms of capacity, this road naturally could not compare with the water route through Hefei. Its advantage, however, was that it was reliable and direct. Apart from a short stretch at its southernmost end, which belonged to Tangyi, where the relocated Chenliu Commandery had been established, almost the entire route lay within Huainan Commandery.
Moreover, spring plowing was now over, so workers could readily be hired from the military colony at Shao Lake and the refugees' fortified manors throughout Huainan. The timing was appropriate.
There were no major problems with startup and maintenance funds either-yes, the wastage allowances would go into the public coffers.
Military supplies already had to be shipped constantly from South of the Yangtze to the Western Command. But lax management, officials manipulating matters for their own gain, and the absence of a corresponding system of rewards and punishments for civilian laborers and escorting soldiers had resulted in enormous waste. Even before Liu Cheng arrived, he had discovered that losses amounted to nearly forty percent.
If, as Sima Yu had said, supplies from south of the