In the fourth year of Shengping, the fourth month was approaching, and the hottest season of the year was about to return. At this time, Matou City Ferry-the most important, most central point in the Shouchun defensive line, and the hub for launching a counteroffensive into Huaibei-was finally completed.
This meant that after two full years... no, after more than five full years, Shouchun's military system had finally been built from the inside out.
The clusters of forts and ferries at the various river mouths; the registered male and female workforce at Shao Lake, now numbering as many as a hundred and thirty thousand; nearly a thousand flat-bottomed transport vessels of all sizes; the logistical support system linking Hanshan Road, the great warehouses, and the centralized craftsmen's camp; the system of rewards and compensation built on Lulang Coins as a supplementary instrument, alongside military pay released by the court.
Added to these was an army of roughly ten thousand, tempered through two large-scale expeditions that might not both qualify as complete victories, but had certainly brought no losses.
At this moment, the final gap closed, and they became a single whole.
Even a project fanatic like Liu Cheng could not help proudly puffing out his chest when he looked back over it all. He felt that these past few years of work had not been wasted: at last, he had a comprehensive major project to his name. And now that it was accomplished, if they really counted up the credit, there was no way Xie Wan could claim it all.
And so, with a certain sense of ceremony, at this General of the Guards' suggestion, the two Gentlemen of the Palace of the Northern and Western Commands took the lead, bringing the prominent figures of both commands and those who