novelraw Chapter 309 Opening of the Canal
Chapter 309 Opening of the Canal
Chapter 309 Opening of the Canal
When the good news arrived from Luolu Mountain, Ling Chengen was discussing the artificial canal with Bai Qingyu. In addition to the canal, there was also the need to dig irrigation ditches in the farmland area, build waterwheels, and expand a lake near the Beast City.
Because of the dry season in the northern wilderness, many streams and rivers dry up.
The Beast City is located deep in the plains, making water supply a major problem during the dry season.
Ling Chengen paused the negotiations, took the battle report, and carefully read it from beginning to end. A smile appeared on his face as he handed the report to Bai Qingyu, who was standing beside him, and said in a light tone, "First battle, a great victory."
The report of victory was written in great detail and was probably written by Chang Tianchen himself. The handwriting was a little messy and slightly upside down, but it was easy to read through.
Bai Qingyu looked at the detailed summary above and said, "I thought it would take longer."
"I didn't expect Phantom Fang to target the wandering orc organization on the mountain first, which saves them the time of encircling and annihilating them one by one."
Ling Chengen nodded slightly and smiled, "At first, there was no movement for many days in a row. I thought he had encountered some difficulties and was unwilling to write back to explain. I didn't expect him to change his usual aggressive style and instead take a steady and pragmatic approach, minimizing casualties."
Bai Qingyu closed the battle report in her hand, tilted her head and asked, "How do you plan to reward him?"
Ling Chengen picked up his pen and began to reply. While writing, he was still able to spare some attention to answer his question: "How else can we reward him? The wandering orcs of Luolu Mountain were originally sent by him to lead the team for practice. His reputation is mixed, and coupled with his unstable mental state, many soldiers in the army actually fear him more than they respect him. A small reward will be enough to boost morale."
“Giving too much would be inappropriate.” Ling Chengen quickly finished writing his reply and handed it to the Crow Clan messenger waiting outside. He then carefully placed another letter bearing his personal seal into a bamboo bucket and instructed, “Send this bamboo bucket tied with a red thread to Chang Tianchen.”
"Send the other bamboo bucket to Chongguang and have him count out a batch of supplies in advance, make a list, and send it to the warehouse at the military camp."
The crow warrior stuffed the two bamboo buckets into his small bag, nodded, flapped his wings, and flew out the window.
Bai Qingyu took a long bamboo tube from the earthenware jar next to the desk, unscrewed the lid, and pointed to the canal and waterway planning map on the desk: "Are you sure there's nothing else that needs to be modified on this map?"
After putting down his pen, Ling Chengen signed his name in the blank space at the bottom right corner of the drawing, and pressed the stamp on the red clay with the stamp on the corner of the table, stamping it on his signature.
"There's nothing to change; this is the final version of the plan."
"Remember to make two more copies when you have time. Finally, be sure to send the map to the map office, the one with the stamp."
Bai Qingyu nodded and said, "Understood. Leave this to me, don't worry."
Ling Chengen watched as he packed the blueprints into the bamboo tube, looked up at the braided purple hair beside him, rested his chin on his hand, stared at the excessively long eyelashes when the man lowered his eyes, and asked, "Is your breeding season coming soon?"
Bai Qingyu paused in twisting the bamboo tube lid, lifted his eyelids, stared at her for a long time, then curved his lips into a smile and said, "You remember?"
“I remember your breeding season was around April last year.”
Bai Qingyu nodded slightly and said, "It is indeed coming soon, at the latest it may be ten days, but if it is earlier... I am not sure."
For the first two years after male orcs reach adulthood, their breeding season is not particularly stable and sometimes varies. However, after the age of twenty, their breeding season will stabilize.
He placed the bamboo tube on the chair and, across the desk, took her fingertips: "You should focus on appeasing them. If you let me get close to you, they might feel resentful. Aren't you worried?"
Ling Chengen grabbed his long, slender, fair fingers with his other hand, tilted his head, and said, "What do I need to worry about?"
Bai Qingyu really wanted to kiss her at that moment. In fact, he hadn't been intimate with her for the past two months.
He was aware of her attitude towards the other people.
Ling Chengen treated him exceptionally well, but he was always greedy and never satisfied.
But that's how it is when you love someone; you want to capture all their attention and make them fall head over heels for you.
But it's not possible.
He missed the best opportunity and could only watch as she approached other male orcs, getting closer little by little, and accepting their advances.
He wasn't without sadness, but when he chose this relationship, he knew what the outcome would be, so he carefully restrained himself, suppressing his jealousy and possessiveness.
Bai Qingyu took a deep breath and tentatively asked, "Hmm, if I kiss you in the study, will you beat me up?"
Ling Chengen couldn't help but chuckle and said, "Is that what you're thinking about?"
Yes, I want to kiss you.
Ling Chengen waved to him, but Bai Qingyu didn't go around him at all. Instead, he leaned over the desk and pressed his lips to the corner of her lips.
His kisses were always delicate and gentle, and his long purple hair, bathed in the afterglow of the sunlight streaming into the study, had a unique tenderness and affection.
Ling Chengen raised his hand and ran it through his hair, his thumb gently rubbing his earlobe, deepening the kiss.
Bai Qingyu's earlobes slowly turned red, and finally she slightly turned her head away from the kiss.
He looked out the window, touched the tip of his nose with his hand, and said somewhat awkwardly, "The Crow Clan's messenger is coming, I have to go."
Ling Chengen watched him leave, and couldn't help but chuckle softly.
A minute later, the Crow Clan's messenger flew in through the window, and she resumed her official duties.
Ujah seemed to have lost the strength to fight back. The ice on the Xuemu River had also thawed, and large groups could no longer cross the river using the solid ice.
Because the water beastmen had come into contact with the water beast tribe near Xuemujiang during the cold season, and a market was planned outside the city after the spring, the water beastmen were already used to attending the market outside the beast city on the first day of each ten-day period.
Because it has only been open for less than a month, the outer city market of Beast City is not very well-known yet.
However, the trade markets in the central region are not as lively as they were last year, with many tribes belonging to the City of Ten Thousand Beasts absent.
Especially after April, the Hailing tribe transported all the salt powder to the Beast City for sale. As a result, many tribes, having suffered from a severe salt shortage after a long winter, urgently needed to purchase more. So they inquired about the tribes that had previously sold salt powder and finally learned about the outer market of the Beast City.
Ling Chengen spends most of his time handling official business, from digging canals and irrigation ditches to disease prevention in livestock farming, field management, research on soil fertilizers, military training, coordinated operations, and emergency management of the beast city.
After all, it's not just the large tribes across the Xuemu River that are eyeing the Beast City; the beast tides from the north have also been relentless. Sometimes they are small beast tides, sometimes medium-sized ones, but so far, we haven't encountered a large beast tide.
The canal excavation is progressing faster than expected. By mid-May, the final section had been dug, and all that remained was to blast open the part that connected to the Yehelan River so that water could be diverted into the canal.
To ensure the safety of the Beast City, a moat sixty meters wide was dug around its perimeter. This width was a decision she made after careful consideration.
Because orcs are physically stronger than ordinary humans, a moat about ten meters wide is completely ineffective in protecting the city.
If there hadn't been talk of digging a canal, she wouldn't have considered the issue of a moat. But since the canal connects to the waterways within the Beast City, the moat must be dug deep and wide.
Sixty meters is the basic width, and it may be widened later.
Ling Chengen had this plan in mind.
After all, in her hometown, the moat was between 180 and 250 meters wide.
On May 20th, the canal was opened to water.
Ling Chengen stood on a high point at the mouth of the canal, watching the fire-type warrior sit on the back of the water beast and ignite the fuse with his supernatural power. After the explosion, dust flew up, and the soil at the junction of the canal and the Yehelan River began to collapse. Soon, water began to seep in from the cracks.
After the breach was created, the water flow increased, and eventually a large amount of river water surged into the canal channel.
The moment the canal water was diverted in, Ling Chengen looked at the rushing river on the other side and the various water beasts rising and falling in the water, and said to Bai Qingyu beside him, "After the river water is diverted, the water beasts of the Yehelan River will probably also go down the canal waterway. Have you arranged all the precautions I asked you to take?"
Bai Qingyu nodded slightly and said, "Yes, don't worry about that."
The canal's channel is unsuitable for giant water beasts to enter. To prevent the canal mouth from being washed away by the fierce current, it has been continuously expanded. Earth-type warriors were specially hired to petrify the soil at the bank mouth and reinforce it multiple times to prevent the dike from bursting.
Previously, the water beasts might have been a problem, but currently the Beast City is short of meat. So, before the breeding scale is established, these water beasts that enter the canal and moat along the waterways have become a ready-made source of meat.
These water beasts are dangerous to warriors who are not skilled in naval warfare, but to the Crane Clan warriors, they are whetstones for training in coordinated combat and a continuous supply of provisions.
Furthermore, the connection between the Xuemu River and the Yehelan River will also benefit the Water Beast Clan. They are naturally adept at living in water, and with the expansion of their living area, their food sources will become more abundant. Moreover, while they are not good at running on land, they are very skilled at swimming in rivers.
This would make it much more convenient for them to participate in the market trade in the City of Beasts.
Ling Chengen was in no hurry to bring the water beast race into the Beast City, mainly because the houses in the Beast City were mostly cubicles, and there were no large bodies of water planned within the city, so there was no suitable place for them to live.
Bai Qingyu had previously spoken with the tribes of the Water Beast Clan. They were unwilling to move into the Beast City because they felt it was more convenient to live outside the city. Their skin needed to be in frequent contact with water, otherwise it would dry out and become extremely painful.
This is somewhat similar to the hippopotamus, so after Ling Chengen figured out the reason, he didn't intend to force them.
The Water Beast Clan wanted to be on good terms with the Beast City, so they were willing to assist them in managing the canal waterway. They also signed an agreement to help the orcs in the Beast City cross the river. They would arrange for the orcs to wait at fixed points on the riverbank at fixed times every day, which would make things more regular. They would only receive a fixed amount of supplies as payment each month.
After the canal opened, Ling Chengen observed it closely for a period of time and found no problems, so he handed over the management of the canal to Bai Qingyu.
After the canal opened, Shi Panxing's rehabilitation was completed, and he was able to move freely.
After he fully recovered, he resigned.
At the end of May, he went directly into the moat at the city gate. As long as he followed the waterway downstream towards the Xuemu River, he could enter the sea from the Xuemu River.
Ling Chengen stood on the stone bridge over the moat, watching Shi Panxing enter the water. He then turned slightly to look at Shi Ruoan beside him and asked, "Are you really not leaving with him? Actually, you could leave together. We're quite familiar with each other; you don't need to act like a hostage..."
Shi Ruoan watched the silver-white mermaid skillfully tumbling in the water after entering it. Under the dazzling sunlight, her long hair, which swung out from underwater, revealed a beautiful silver-blue hue at the top. Her slender, holy fishtail rose to the surface of the water before quickly sinking back down.
Ling Chengen, with his hands on the railing, said to Shi Panxing, who had resurfaced, "It seems your body is really fully recovered; you're very agile."
Shi Panxing swept all her long hair back, her face sweeping away the previous deathly and gloomy look, revealing an unusually bright smile.
"Without you, I wouldn't be where I am today."
Ling Chengen leaned against the railing, resting her chin on her hand, her eyes lowered, quietly watching him: "Don't you need to bring any other luggage? Are you just leaving like this?"
"No need, we won't lack food along the way."
He pulled off the silver-white waist chain and tossed it onto the bridge: "Keep this. If you ever reach the seaside and need help, you can blow this conch shell. As long as I'm in the sea, I'll rush over to help you as quickly as possible."
"Of course, if I could gather a group of sea warriors, they would lend you a helping hand at any cost upon hearing the sound of the Thousand-Sound Conch."
Ling Chengen raised his hand and grabbed the dreamy-colored conch shell. The slender silver chain fell onto her arm, leaving a long water stain.
She looked down at it for a moment, then smiled and said, "Then I'll accept it."
"Take care along the way."
She leaned on the railing, gazing lazily at the wide moat, casually waving her hand at him as she watched him plunge into the water and swim forward.
Ling Chengen played with the pinkish-blue seashell, then turned his head and asked, "Is this thing really that magical? If you blow on it at the beach, the deep sea can hear it?"
Shi Ruoan shook his head and said, "Ordinary Thousand Sound Conch cannot do this. This Thousand Sound Conch is imbued with his spatial power, so it can transmit sound to his ears."
"It's really quite amazing." Ling Chengen put away the special conch shell, stretched, and turned to say, "If you need to leave, just let me know."
Shi Ruoan shook her head and said, "Yu Heng is not here during this period, so I cannot leave."
Panxing has left, leaving only him and Yuheng as the seventeenth-tier warriors.
However, since the beginning of spring, Yuheng has been going out of the city to collect herbs from time to time. It is normal for him to not return for three to five days, and sometimes he can't be seen for half a month.
Beast City needs a level 17 warrior to be stationed there and cannot leave without permission.
Ling Chengen shook his head helplessly, but he understood why he had chosen to stay, so he said no more.
Everything in Beast City is back on track.
Ling Chengen hesitated for a long time between the two options of rapid expansion and first governing the Beast City, and finally chose the latter.
Therefore, Beast City ushered in a period of rapid development for a year and a half.
And she finally ushered in her breeding season at the turn of spring and summer in the third year of the cycle of all beasts.