Construction

"My lord, those demons aren't roaming the mountains right now. If we hurry, I reckon we should still be safe."

The woodcutter spoke.

Before, he had felled golden-thread nanmu for His Lordship to repay him. Now His Lordship needed help again, and he felt he could do his part.

An Weiyan frowned.

Repairing the houses was necessary. Otherwise, these people would have nowhere to live.

With wooden houses like these, cement was hardly suitable for patching ceilings and the like. They would have to use their own methods.

Speaking of cement, the roads in Linbei County were full of potholes too. He should buy a batch of cement and other supplies later and repair them.

An Weiyan rubbed his forehead, told them to wait a while, and went alone to the Earth God's temple.

After asking and learning that the peach tree demon had yet to undergo its tribulation, An Weiyan returned to the government office and finally agreed to the woodcutters' request.

"Lin Liyun, take a few men and accompany the woodcutters up the mountain tomorrow. Stay close and protect them."

After some thought, An Weiyan also sent Lin Liyun and his men to help.

If nothing else, should they encounter jackals, wolves, or the like, having Lin Liyun and his men nearby would make things somewhat safer.

"Yes, my lord!"

Wearing the steel plates An Weiyan had issued them, Lin Liyun and the others felt exceptionally safe.

At his words, they were all eager to give it a try.

They also held the long sabers His Lordship had issued them, and they all knew how sharp those blades were.

These things gave them a little more confidence.

With everything arranged, An Weiyan did not linger outside the government office. Lin Liyun and the others were keeping order here, so he need not worry about trouble breaking out.

After returning to the Taoist temple, An Weiyan took out his phone and contacted a cement factory.

He planned to order a batch of cement and give Linbei County's roads a thorough overhaul.

Once he had placed the order, the cement supplier arranged to deliver it to the warehouse the next day. An Weiyan would only have to go and receive it.

With that done, An Weiyan went to look around the main hall and noticed a few more sticks of incense in its burner.

The sight brought him a little joy.

Right, I should go down and print some notices later.

A notice saying that incense offerings are free needs to be hung somewhere conspicuous.

When people see that offering incense is free, they'll probably offer more even when I'm away.

As he thought, An Weiyan recorded each task in his memo app.

The next day.

An Weiyan went down the mountain, completed the tasks in his memo one by one, and then received the cement.

After storing the cement in the warehouse, he transported it to the government office.

With that done, An Weiyan hurried back to the Taoist temple without a moment's rest.

After hanging up the printed notices, he set out incense and candles beneath them.

He also hung up the "Cultivating" sign, then returned to Linbei County.

The woodcutters had already gone up the mountain to fell trees, with Lin Liyun and a few men accompanying them.

An Weiyan gathered everyone in town who had no work to do.

"I gathered you all today because I intend to renovate Linbei County. Its roads are now so muddy that whenever it rains, there isn't even anywhere to set foot."

"From now on, follow my instructions. One team will dig up all these roads, and another will bring sand from the riverbank."

"One more team will act according to my instructions."

As An Weiyan addressed the crowd, he began dividing the people before him into groups.

At An Weiyan's instructions, the townspeople immediately got to work.

Although they did not understand what His Lordship intended, digging up perfectly good roads and all, he surely had his reasons for arranging it this way.

The townspeople did not understand what His Lordship wanted to do. They simply felt that, as an official, he must be cleverer than they were.

With that thought, the groups immediately set to work.

One group began digging up the roads, while another went to the riverbank to dig up river sand.

Nearby, carpenters were also using golden-thread nanmu to make tables and chairs for An Weiyan.

The carpenters felt they also needed to make a bed and other furnishings for him.

Aside from having river sand brought over, An Weiyan also sent people to fetch some stones.

Since they were paving the roads properly, they might as well take care of the toilets too.

With cement, they could build a toilet directly out of stone.

To help the townspeople work faster, An Weiyan also brought over some tools.

Seeing things continually being brought out of Su Mu's government office, no one gave it much thought.

His Lordship had already said that a second batch of grain had arrived. What was so strange about bringing in a few other things along with it?

More importantly, with so many gods and ghosts around, even if His Lordship possessed some unusual abilities, that was nothing strange either.

Linbei County now bustled with activity, the work blazing like a fire in full swing.

When the woodcutters who had gone up the mountain returned dragging large trees, they found an entire street dug up, with nowhere at all to set foot.

The woodcutters were all taken aback by the sight, not understanding what was going on.

Meanwhile, An Weiyan was discussing the next stage of the plans with the masons.

An Weiyan trusted the masons' craftsmanship. If he left these things to them, they should be able to do a very good job.

"This part needs to be dug a little deeper to make a drainage channel, then given a slight slope so rainwater can flow into it easily."

An Weiyan discussed it with the masons.

The masons were extremely familiar with this sort of work and knew how to go about it.

An Weiyan's thinking was that, if they were going to dig, they should naturally dig a little deeper. Otherwise, if heavy rain flooded all of Linbei County later and forced them to redo the work, that would be a real nuisance.

The masons voiced no objections to His Lordship's wish to dig the drainage channels so deep.

In fact, the masons had far more experience than An Weiyan. He merely offered some general suggestions; as for the specifics, their experience meant he hardly needed to say much.

By now, digging was already continuing deeper along the entire street.

Once the digging was finished, it was handed over to the masons for repairs.

The others continued digging up the other streets, preparing to renovate all of Linbei County.

After discussing it, the masons also decided how to lay out the drainage channels and where to direct the water.

The construction of the toilets, their locations, and other details were likewise discussed and decided by the masons together.

Building such things required geomantic assessment.

After explaining the broad outline, An Weiyan watched them get to work. Seeing everyone working so hard, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

This way, he could keep them from sitting idle while providing them with disaster relief.

It would also make Linbei County a little better.

After all, this place would be his home base from now on. Naturally, he could not leave his home base looking this shabby and dilapidated.