Chapter 26: The Three-Day Deadline Has Arrived

In the dead of night, Shi Shouxin sat alone inside his military tent, gazing blankly at the engineering blueprint.

"Actually, I could just slack off and do nothing. Even if it fails, the blame won't fall on me. But if I get it done, many people will certainly be willing to stand by my side. That will undoubtedly be of great benefit for my self-preservation down the road."

Shi Shouxin crossed his arms, pondering methods in his mind, muttering to himself like a madman.

In truth, Li Bao had oversimplified the matter. There were currently three unresolved problems concerning the construction of this plank road.

The first was how to manufacture qualified and compliant pillars. These pillars had to correspond precisely to the holes, and wedges had to be driven into the inserted end for fixation. The tolerance could not be too large; otherwise, the lifespan would be drastically shortened. Not only that, but the outer perimeter of the pillars also had to be coated with a layer of lacquer to prevent rot and moisture. You couldn't just have them rot or swell from dampness after a month of use. Withstanding the test of time was one of the main troubles.

The second problem was how to transport such thick pillars from afar. Marching along the plank road was fine, and horses could even run on most sections! However, long-distance transport of timber consumed an immense amount of human labor, especially given that the size and weight of this timber were far from negligible. Long-distance hauling under these conditions was nothing short of a nightmare.

The third problem was how to insert such thick and massive timber into the holes carved into the sheer cliff face! Just measuring the distance between the holes had required Shi Shouxin to devise numerous methods, which he had barely managed to complete. Yet, the precarious climbing along the cliff face was still far simpler compared to inserting the timber into the holes.

Out of these three technical difficulties, if even one proved impassable, construction could not proceed.

What should he do?

His head felt fit to burst from thinking, yet for a moment, no good ideas came to mind.

Just then, the guards on duty outside the tent led in a middle-aged man dressed in ordinary Wei army uniform.

Shi Shouxin looked the man up and down, feeling completely certain that he did not know him. Yes, he had never laid eyes on him before! They had never met prior to this!

"Might I ask if you are Military Supervisor Shi Shouxin?" the man asked with a smile, his round face looking amiable.

"I am indeed Shi Shouxin. May I ask what instruction you bring for me?" Shi Shouxin asked with a puzzled expression.

The man handed over a bamboo tube hanging from his belt, then bowed and said, "I am a bondsman of Lord Yang's household. This time, I am delivering a family letter for Yang Xiu, and incidentally, I have brought a letter for Military Supervisor Shi as well."

So he was from Yang Hu's family!

Shi Shouxin suddenly understood. This time, Yang Hu's cousin Yang Xiu was also among the army conquering Shu. It was entirely normal for their family to send someone to deliver a family letter that outsiders wouldn't see. If they didn't even possess this level of resourcefulness, they wouldn't belong in the inner circle of the realm's elites.

He waved his hand at the guards by the door, and the two men retreated dozens of paces away. Only then did Shi Shouxin look at the messenger and ask, "I shall write a reply now, and you will take it back, is that correct?"

"Precisely so. Please read the letter now, Military Supervisor. Burn it immediately after reading, so as not to leave any incriminating evidence behind." The Yang family messenger nodded in reminder.

Shi Shouxin broke open the letter, and a flash of surprise instantly crossed his eyes. Meanwhile, the messenger kept his head lowered nearby, eyes focused on his nose and his heart at peace, avoiding Shi Shouxin's facial expressions.

The letter was actually written by Yang Huiyu!

However, presumably out of caution against leaks, the letter contained no bizarre words, and passionate endearments whispered in bed were even less likely to appear. Yang Huiyu merely wrote from the standpoint of the "Grand General," admonishing Shi Shouxin on what he ought to do, much as if Sima Zhao had instructed her to say so.

Yang Huiyu reminded Shi Shouxin that Sima Zhao already harbored the intent to kill Zhong Hui, and would definitely make a move—it was merely a question of when. She urged him to pay close attention and avoid falling victim to Zhong Hui's plots. Should he truly encounter danger, he must find a way to contact Yang Xiu. She also mentioned that although Yang Xiu was arrogant and possessed a terrible temper, he would certainly never collude with Zhong Hui in villainy, making him someone who could be sought out for help at a critical juncture.

Shi Shouxin let out a soft sigh, feeling somewhat melancholic.

Yang Huiyu was already deeply entangled in this illicit romance, burning like an old wooden house—unless everything was reduced to ashes, the fire could simply never be extinguished. So be it; this affection could not be rejected, or else love turning to hatred would surely bring fierce retribution. Shi Shouxin understood the agony and anticipation Yang Huiyu must have felt when writing this letter.

He spread a sheet of white paper brought from home across the desk. After grinding the ink, he paused to think for a moment, then casually copied down a poem:

*You ask when I return, no date is set,*
*Night rains on Ba Mountains swell the autumn pool.*
*When shall we trim the candle by the western west window together,*
*And talk of the time when night rain fell on Ba Mountains?*

In Shi Shouxin's heart, Yang Huiyu was not a mere concubine, nor a hidden mistress, but his true partner—not someone to be played with casually and then kicked aside. He could not do such a thing, nor did he dare to. This woman was someone he needed to coax with utmost care, never neglecting her.

At that moment, Shi Shouxin felt as though he had transformed into Duan Zhengchun.

Placing the letter into the bamboo tube and sealing it with melted wax, Shi Shouxin handed it to the Yang family messenger.

"I take my leave. In a few days, I shall ride swiftly to Luoyang, and perhaps I shall return. Take care, Military Supervisor."

The man bowed to Shi Shouxin, then turned and walked away, disappearing into the night.

After the man departed, Shi Shouxin could only shake his head with a helpless smile.

He thought to himself: *A human life spans merely a few decades; a simple cold can carry one away. A true man should act with a clear conscience, and that is enough.*

On the first day of pondering methods to repair the plank road, Du Yu came running over to Shi Shouxin again, suggesting that the plank road could be built using bridge-building techniques—constructing the machinery first, then building the bridge.

He described the specific method, greatly surprising Shi Shouxin. Wasn't this precisely the segmental assembly bridge-building machine known in his past life?!

First, construct a caterpillar-like wooden structure on the plank road used to hoist crossbeams, which could be pushed along on wheels, functioning just like a "bridge-building machine." First measure the spacing properly, then assemble a section of the plank road on flat ground, secure it with ropes, and finally extend half of it suspended in the air to rest upon the crossbeam. Once secured, advance further, pushing the non-suspended module forward into suspension while the machinery continues to move, and then add a new plank road module behind it.

This method was entirely feasible.

This was the easiest of the three problems to solve: how to efficiently lay down the plank road timber!

"Has the Military Supervisor thought of how to build the crossbeams?" Du Yu asked with a trace of anxiety.

Shi Shouxin shook his head. Such a thick crossbeam—where on earth could one find that kind of timber? This problem seemed simple, but in reality, it was immensely difficult.

The trees that grew depended entirely on the mountains; the corresponding timber either existed or it didn't, and no clever tricks could alter that fact.

"Not yet. As for the transportation method, we can make use of the Bao River. We can rely on the current to transport the timber downstream, stop at the square holes, and then hoist them up," Shi Shouxin said in a deep voice. His day had not been without results; the section of the Bao River beneath their feet was deep enough to be used for transporting timber.

"True. However, those square beams are difficult to find, and chiseling new sockets into the cliff face presents layer upon layer of difficulties. I have heard this plank road was built by Zhuge Liang; I am afraid that when it was originally constructed, he anticipated that the Wei army would one day walk the Baoxie Trail. Opening those square holes so large was also meant to trouble us, preventing us from gathering materials locally. Zhuge Liang's talent truly cannot be underestimated," Du Yu sighed, filled with a sense of wonder at Prime Minister Zhuge's wisdom. Of course, when you stood opposite Zhuge Liang, his stratagems were inevitably used to torment you, which was simply unavoidable.

Who the devil knew whether the Prime Minister had intentionally left behind this hurdle when building the plank road back then?

"Brother Yuankai, there is a matter for which I need your help," Shi Shouxin suddenly grabbed Du Yu.

"Please speak freely; Du will certainly assist," Du Yu said with a nod. Leaving aside the fact that Shi Shouxin had saved his life, given that everyone was currently racking their brains to build the plank road, Du Yu could not refuse Shi Shouxin's request.

"Sima Liang's military camp is in Chang'an, and his family is there as well. Send someone to find him now, or go there personally, and mention such-and-such. As the Sima family's son-in-law, it will be much easier for you to speak."

Shi Shouxin instructed Du Yu face-to-face, whispering for a long time.

"Ah, I understand."

Du Yu was full of questions, but he did not ask much. That fellow Sima Liang was a famously mediocre member of the Sima family. Perhaps he had suffered some unspeakable curse because he was named "Liang" (meaning bright), as Sima Liang had appeared somewhat lacking in intelligence since childhood.

Du Yu couldn't quite fathom what leverage could be extracted from Sima Liang.

The outer surfaces of those square timbers required some packing material to compensate for tolerances and prevent decay. Otherwise, if made too large, the crossbeams wouldn't fit into the holes; if made too small, the crossbeams would wobble, and people walking on the plank road might slip into the water.

This was an additional requirement alongside driving fixing wedges.

A day passed. In the evening, Shi Shouxin took out several small square blocks of wood, each just a bit larger than a thumb, their edges already worn fuzzy.

He rolled these small wooden blocks between his palms—whenever he pondered major problems, he had this strange quirk to relieve pressure.

Would chiseling out the rock face anew work?

It wasn't entirely impossible, but it was unnecessary, because the terrain—flanked by the mountain wall on one side and the Bao River below—was already fixed. Without a base of support, a suspended crossbeam was inevitable.

If the holes were made smaller, the timber would certainly be easier to find, but thin wood could not bear the weight of heavily laden carts and carriages, meaning supply wagons could not be transported across.

If grain could not be transported, what use was this plank road?

On the contrary, the original square holes had already been proven viable through Prime Minister Zhuge's several northern expeditions; transporting grain through them was definitely feasible and saved a great deal of trouble.

"What on earth should be done? Use the old ones, or chisel new holes?"

Shi Shouxin muttered to himself, secretly pondering how Zhuge Liang had accomplished this back in the day. Could it be... that he had transported massive trees all the way from Shu?

That would be far too much trouble!

He felt that with Zhuge Liang's wisdom, he wouldn't have done something so foolish as to waste human labor and material resources in vain.

Pity that the old plank road had already been burned, making it impossible to reconstruct how it was made in the past. Rumors had it that Zhuge Liang was proficient in machinery, making his unfathomable depth legendary; he certainly must have devised many methods.

Given the national power of the Shu state, coupled with multiple northern expeditions, they surely wouldn't have spent massive amounts of manpower and resources simply to repair a plank road.

What the square holes on the cliff face were used for was something Shi Shouxin and the others had deduced after discussions. In fact, the current reality was that further south, the plank road simply ended abruptly into a dead end, leaving only the square holes visible on the cliff face, with the Bao River rushing right below—a landscape that inspired utter despair.

Their current plan was also one figured out through collective brainstorming, and did not necessarily reflect Zhuge Liang's original design.

Shi Shouxin sighed, closing his eyes to recall the letter written by Yang Huiyu, feeling a very intense concern that had nonetheless been disguised to avoid detection.

There were no flowery words of romance, no sweet endearments, only instructions and warnings, cold yet carrying meticulous care down to the smallest detail. There was also the hesitation and entanglement of a young woman terrified that her lover might come to harm, yet unsure of what to say when she wanted to speak.

Shi Shouxin slumped down onto the soft cushion, intending to write a farewell letter to Yang Huiyu, when his peripheral vision suddenly caught sight of the small wooden blocks he had been playing with just moments before.

Four of them happened to be standing upright, their cross-sections arranged into the shape of the character "Tian" (field), though not yet tightly fitted together.

Shi Shouxin instantly became overwhelmingly excited; he almost battered his own blockhead of a brain in realization!

Square timber! What kind of man was Zhuge Liang, and why would he use square timber? Aside from being troublesome, it reduced the cross-sectional area of the wood!

Although ancient times lacked lathes, turning round logs was already a familiar woodworking craft for carpenters! Why hadn't Zhuge Liang opened round holes instead?

It would have been both convenient and sturdy!

The answer was: round logs were difficult to splice together!

Four small square timbers spliced into one large square timber—this was the secret of the plank road's crossbeams! Once explained, it was truly worthless!

However, the four square timbers could not simply be placed together directly. They needed to be glued using the "glue" commonly used by carpenters, and at the same time, joined with various small hardware fittings. Beyond that, mortise and tenon structures frequently used in woodwork were also indispensable.

Various methods had to be employed to increase the overall strength of the square timbers. In other words, this kind of crossbeam was not made by simply cutting down a tree, peeling its bark, and trimming its edges; rather, it was a composite board formed by splicing!

In ancient Chinese woodwork, this was called "embracing pillars"! After the Tang dynasty, intensified deforestation made it increasingly difficult to find large timber suitable for building houses, so spliced composite boards began to flourish. But that was a matter for the future; in the present era, it was rarely used.

There were trees of this exact specification growing right in the valleys of the Baoxie Trail waiting to be felled. When the time came, they would just check if there were any whose width requirements had been reduced by half!

If there were, then this problem was solved!

Shi Shouxin stood up excitedly, throwing a fierce punch into the air!

"Zhong Hui, so what if you know how to stab people in the back! The trap you dug—watch me fill it up for you nice and neat!"