Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors
Chapter 370 - 234: Building Blocks_2

Chapter 370: Chapter 234: Building Blocks_2

When the mountain floods erupted, these wood rafts were washed down the mountains, entering rivers, and then transported via the Yangtze River to the Grand Canal, continuing to glide along the flow, heading north to the capital.

The entire journey spanned more than 1800 kilometers, with officials stationed along the way to prevent these precious timbers from being lost.

These huge pieces of timber, along with ships carrying gold bricks, grain, and various other construction materials, passed through the Grand Canal, ceaselessly heading north.

There were more than 20,000 of these ships, while the grain needed for the transportation of hundreds of thousands of laborers and troops reached four hundred million liters.

From a high vantage point, one could see the bustling Grand Canal filled with countless ships sailing northward; and behind these vessels, a large number of logs, either tied into rafts or huge single logs connected by ropes, were slowly drifting northward.

This was what the ancients called, "Floating big logs, covering the water’s surface."

In the mountains where white marble was quarried, there were also a large number of craftsmen busy at work.

There were over ten thousand laborers and more than six thousand soldiers, and along the path to the capital, there were tens of thousands of workers and thousands of mules and other beasts of burden.

The method of quarrying stones was quite primitive; in the absence of heavy machinery, workers could only drill holes and hammer in wooden wedges, then apply fire and pour water, causing the stone to expand and contract with the heat, and making the wood wedges swell with absorbed water, widening the cracks in the stone.

If one were to assume the boulder’s perspective, then this entire process would appear even more interesting.

One such boulder was originally part of the mountain. It had spent an immensely long time here, even before humans had established civilization, it lay quietly buried in the mud, watching the world without grief or joy.

But now, countless laborers climbed upon it, starting with insignificant hammers and chisels, pricking it with small holes.

To the boulder, it might have been no more than a tickle, as it had witnessed countless landslides and earthquakes throughout the eons. However, soon after the wooden wedges were driven into the holes, and with the alternating heat of the fire and the chill of the water, the boulder felt some sort of change within itself.

A giant crack appeared, and quickly became unmanageable.

The laborers continued to wedge larger pieces of wood into the crack until, with the cries of astonishment from thousands, the boulder thunderously slid down the mountainside.

Afterward, this boulder, which had not moved for thousands of years, began its journey.

Weighing more than two hundred tons, the boulder was like a small hill, and in that time, no amount of laborers could hope to shift it at all.

But soon, these clever craftsmen began to dig wells along the way, freezing water into ice, and then dragging it with a great deal of manpower and animal power.

The dragging laborers formed a mile-long extensive line, and the boulder moved at the fastest speed it had ever experienced since its creation—less than five kilometers a day.

Along the way, it saw countless sights it had never before encountered, those tiny humans like ants, were actually pulling it little by little toward the destination.

Then, various craftsmen began to carve upon it.

Depending on the stone’s color and texture, the craftsmen skillfully showcased their talents.

In the lower right side of the boulder, a blue vein was perfect for carving an Azure Dragon; while the pure white left side was engraved with a White Dragon. Both dragons wrestled among the flowing clouds, with the raging sea below and the resplendent clouds dazzling to behold.

A five-clawed Jin Dragon rose into the clouds, eventually extending all the way to the grand and imposing palace of the Forbidden City.

Around the imperial city, the laborers and soldiers were also busy.

They dismantled the buildings within the former imperial city, relocated the civilians, and then removed the entire foundation of the previous palace. They filled it back with a mixture of quicklime, clay, and crushed bricks, and also scattered cooked sticky rice and alum as an adhesive agent on the foundation, making it extremely hard.

Above that were several layers of floor tiles.

The deepest part of the entire foundation even reached more than eight meters, completely avoiding any risk of subsidence and ensuring that the Forbidden City’s palace stood as firm as Mount Tai.

As various materials were continuously transported to the capital, Li Hongyun was about to officially start his work.

From a historical point of view, the construction of the Forbidden City could be considered an exceptionally well-planned systematic project.

From preparation to completion, it took a total of fourteen years, with eleven years solely dedicated to preliminary preparations and transportation of materials. It was only during the last three years that construction officially began.

In just three short years, countless halls had risen from the ground, and those praiseworthy details were also revealed one by one to the world.

Three years is a lengthy timeframe, but considering the enormous scale of the entire Forbidden City project, those three years were quite brief.

Various work processes were intricate and complex; a single misstep could delay the project’s timeline. But the ancient craftsmen were able to arrange all the sequences of work in an impeccable order, an ability certainly not possessed by the average player.

All in all, it was a job Li Hongyun felt he could not possibly handle, and even now, he could only choose to trust the integrity of the game development team of "Dark Sand."

The work started first with laying floor tiles.

Various sizes and specifications of floor tiles appeared in Li Hongyun’s view. He used his thoughts to place these tiles onto their corresponding outlines, and then, various craftsmen according to his wishes, would carry the tiles to the designated spot, place them steadily, and then continue to tamp them down.

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