58: Chapter 58 Knowing People and Making Good Use of Them

When Gao Feng returned to the Panshi Stockade with that massive and awe-inspiring triumphant army, everyone was in an uproar.

Unlike what he had previously worried about, the Panshi Stockade's lair had not suffered any destructive damage, other than the granaries being emptied and the interior being somewhat cluttered.

This was undoubtedly a huge surprise.

After investigation and analysis, everyone agreed that it was because Bear Overlord, upon discovering they had already left, was too eager to pursue the main force and did not take this small mountain fortress seriously, which allowed the buildings to be preserved.

That night, a victory banquet, even grander and more reassuring than the one at A Thread of Sky, was held within the Panshi Stockade.

This time, without the tension of being in the wild, everyone completely let their guard down.

Pigs and sheep were slaughtered, fine wine was drunk freely, and an atmosphere of joy filled the entire valley.

The veterans of the Panshi Stockade proudly boasted to the newly joined surrendered soldiers about the brilliance and martial prowess of their Stockade Master.

Those surrendered soldiers were also already convinced and submissive, linking arms and calling each other brothers with the old soldiers, no longer harboring any estrangement.

At the banquet, Gao Feng reaffirmed the compensation standards for all the brothers who died in battle and publicly announced the "work point" reward system for everyone involved in the construction.

For a time, the entire Panshi Stockade was buzzing with voices, and morale was at an all-time high.

Everyone was filled with infinite longing for a better life in the future.

...

After the revelry, the next morning, the entire Panshi Stockade threw itself into an unprecedented and bustling "great construction" effort.

Gao Feng knew deeply that the current Panshi Stockade was far from meeting the needs of a force with a population of nearly two thousand.

It was too small and too fragile; it had to undergo a thorough expansion and upgrade.

He named the entire expansion project the "Panshi City" plan.

The first step of the plan was to take stock of the population and supplies and carry out the most rational division of labor.

Luo Qin, a woman who had shown remarkable talent in internal affairs and planning, was unhesitatingly appointed by Gao Feng as the "Chief of Internal Affairs," temporarily taking charge of the Administrative Hall and coordinating the livelihood and construction scheduling of the entire Panshi Stockade.

Under her direction, several core administrative departments were quickly established, replacing the previous rough and chaotic management model.

The Household Registration Office was placed in charge of Thin Monkey.

His task was to complete a thorough investigation and registration of the entire population of the Panshi Stockade within three days.

Name, age, gender, place of origin, original faction, and most importantly—the skills they were proficient in.

Were they young men who had served as soldiers? Farmers who had tilled the land? Craftsmen who knew how to forge iron? Embroiderers who knew how to sew? Even those who could sing songs or tell stories had to be recorded one by one and compiled into a roster.

Only by knowing people can one use them well.

The Storage Office was placed in charge of the steady and prudent Old Qiu.

The supplies captured at A Thread of Sky, plus the mountain stronghold's original assets, were piled up like mountains.

He needed to lead his men to count, classify, and store all the weapons, armor, grain, cloth, gold, and silver.

Any movement of supplies had to have a "transfer order" personally signed by Luo Qin or Gao Feng; otherwise, anyone who dared to use them without authorization would be dealt with according to military law.

The Medical Office was headed by Uncle Sun and his grandson, Cow, responsible for the medical care of everyone in the stockade.

The core of the entire "Panshi City" plan was a newly established department that made everyone feel curious—the Ministry of Works.

Gao Feng took on the position of Minister of Works himself, overseeing the overall situation.

The specific executor was the old master he had personally discovered and promoted from among the surrendered soldiers, Sun Jiu.

Sun Jiu was an experienced Old Blacksmith, and Gao Feng could see the obsession with forging techniques in him after just a few sentences of conversation.

"Master Sun, I want to build a new type of iron smelting blast furnace, and I also need a fuel that can replace charcoal and burn at a higher temperature."

"I have the blueprints and the methods here, but I lack a chief foreman who can turn the things on the blueprints into reality."

"Are you willing to be this chief foreman?"

Faced with Gao Feng's personal solicitation, this craftsman, who had lived at the bottom of society for most of his life, was moved to tears.

Gao Feng even solemnly announced in front of all the craftsmen the establishment of the "Hundred Crafts Institute" and formulated a nine-grade system for "craftsman quality," raising the status of craftsmen to a height comparable to that of a battalion commander in the army, unprecedented in history.

"In my Panshi Stockade, we do not worship ghosts or gods; we only respect two types of people!"

"One type is the brave warriors who can bleed for the stockade!"

"The other type is the skilled craftsmen who can use their hands to create a home!"

These words completely ignited the flames in the hearts of Sun Jiu and these craftsmen.

With the attitude of scholars dying for those who appreciate them, they poured all their enthusiasm and skills into the subsequent construction.

The next morning, Gao Feng took Luo Qin, the newly appointed Chief Engineer of the Ministry of Works Sun Jiu, as well as battalion commanders like King Tiger and Zhao Iron Pillar, to the highest point of the beacon tower to carry out on-site planning.

In his hand, he held a long wooden stick, sketching the magnificent blueprint of the future Panshi City on the muddy ground.

"Here," Gao Feng used the wooden stick to draw a huge square area below the cliff near the beacon tower, "will be our 'Inner City,' which is also the 'Military City'."

"The Inner City will be built around the beacon tower. All the barracks, armories, the Hundred Crafts Institute, and the residences of our core members will be established here."

He then drew a larger circular area outside the Inner City.

"This is the 'Outer City,' which is also the 'Civilian City.' All the families of the soldiers, ordinary farmers, and the refugees and merchants who will be attracted in the future will all live here."

"And outside the city, this most fertile land will all be reclaimed as farmland!"

His plan was clear and grand, making everyone around him feel stirred with excitement.

"Stockade Master, your idea is good."

Sun Jiu, as the Chief Engineer, still raised the most practical question, "However, to build such a large city, relying only on our current manpower, and these stones and wood in the mountains, I'm afraid... it won't be built in three to five years."

"Three to five years?" Gao Feng laughed, "Too slow."

"Master Sun, have you forgotten that secret weapon I told you about?"

Sun Jiu was stunned, then immediately thought of something, his breathing becoming rapid: "Stockade Master, are you talking about... ce... cement?"

"That's right!" Gao Feng's eyes flashed with a confident light, "It's cement!"

That afternoon, Gao Feng took Sun Jiu and a dozen of his most capable craftsmen to a place in the valley rich in limestone.

Following the memories of his previous life, he guided everyone to build a simple calcination kiln using the most primitive methods.

Limestone, clay, iron powder...

When these ordinary materials, according to the mysterious ratio given by Gao Feng, were sent into the kiln, burned by a raging fire for a day and a night, and then cooled and ground, a gray, fine powder appeared before everyone.

Gao Feng had people fetch sand, stones, and water, mixed them together according to a certain ratio, and then poured them into a pre-made wooden frame mold.

The next morning, when the wooden frame was taken apart, a hard, rough, concrete block that looked like a gray rock appeared before everyone.

Sun Jiu picked up a hammer and tentatively tapped it.

"Clang!"

With a crisp sound, only a shallow white dot was left on the concrete block.

He increased his strength and smashed down hard.

"Bang!"

The hammer was bounced back half a foot, numbing his wrist, while on the concrete block, there was only one more shallow crack.

"This... this thing, although not as hard as bluestone, but... but it can be molded into any shape at will!"

Sun Jiu's eyes widened instantly like copper bells!

"And the solidification speed is too fast! If it is used to build walls, using stones as bones and cement to fill the gaps, the sturdiness of the city wall will likely be three times stronger than a pure stone wall!"

"Most importantly, the speed of construction can be more than ten times faster!"

"A divine object! This is simply a divine object!"

Sun Jiu was trembling with excitement; he knelt on the ground with a thud, looking at Gao Feng as if he were looking at a Heavenly God descending to earth.

The craftsmen behind him were also stunned, and then they followed suit and knelt down, their eyes looking at Gao Feng filled with unprecedented fanaticism and worship.

They knew that with this divine object called "cement," the magnificent blueprint previously described by the Stockade Master would no longer be a pipe dream!

They would create a miracle with their own hands!

The successful firing of cement was like injecting the strongest stimulant into the construction of the entire Panshi Stockade.

A vigorous wave of infrastructure construction thus began.

Gao Feng established the structure of a "hundred-person engineering team" and introduced the concept of "assembly line operations."

The stone quarrying team, transportation team, cement production team, and wall-building team each performed their own duties, and the entire valley turned into a huge and orderly construction site.

And the implementation of the "work point system" greatly stimulated everyone's enthusiasm for labor.

In addition to the busy construction, Gao Feng did not forget the training of the army.

He divided all the capable soldiers into eight hundred ordinary combat soldiers and four hundred elite cores.

The elite cores were divided by him into three brand-new military branches: the "Tiger Guard Battalion" for full defense, the "Divine Mechanism Battalion" for operating new long-range equipment, and the "Rangers" he valued the most.

The entire Panshi Stockade swept away the laziness and chaos of the previous mountain bandit forces, presenting an amazing, thriving, and upward-looking spirit.

Time passed rapidly in the busy construction and training.

But Gao Feng, in the dead of night, felt deep distress within the spirit spring space.

Inside the spirit spring space, time seemed to stand still.

Gao Feng was shirtless, his whole body steaming with heat, and sweat trickled down his bronze skin like streams.

He was practicing the "Iron Tiger" boxing stance from the "Tiger Venerable Art," every move and style fierce, peerless, and full of vigor.

"Hah!"

He suddenly threw a punch, and a dull explosion sounded in the air.

However, after withdrawing his fist, there was no joy on Gao Feng's face; instead, his brows were tightly locked.

"Still not working..."

He muttered to himself, his voice carrying a trace of undisguised irritation.

Since the battle at A Thread of Sky, more than ten days had passed.

In the outside world, he was busy planning construction and directing the overall situation.

But every night, he would seize this precious time, which was ten times that of the outside world, to enter the space and practice hard.

Calculating it, he had been cultivating in the space without sleep or rest for nearly half a year!

He ate the spirit spring water as food and drank it as water; the process of Body Tempering was even more unbearable for him, but the results were also significant.

His body had long reached the Peak of the third stage of Muscle Tempering.

The large tendons all over his body were taut like bowstrings, and his muscles were knotted like iron blocks; whether it was strength, speed, or explosive power, they were all far superior to Martial Artists of the same level.

Even against an ordinary fourth stage Early Stage Martial Artist, he was confident that he could fight one.

However, that barrier from the third stage to the fourth stage "Bone Tempering" was like a natural chasm; no matter how he impacted it, it remained motionless.

"Where exactly is the difference?"

Gao Feng sat cross-legged by the spirit spring, lost in deep thought.

He knew that on the path of martial arts, the further one went, the more difficult it became.

The first stage is Force Cultivation Stage One, the second stage is Skin Tempering, both relying on hard training and grinding effort.

But from the third stage of Muscle Tempering to the fourth stage of Bone Tempering, a "qualitative" leap is required.

It requires the vigorous Qi and blood to permeate into the bones, repeatedly tempered, until the bones are as hard as iron and sound like bells and drums.

For this process, relying solely on hard training is not enough.

It requires huge resource support, such as rare medicinal herbs containing the essence of heaven and earth, refined into Medicinal Pills to be taken, to nourish the bones from the inside out.

It requires the guidance of a high-level Cultivation Technique, with the correct method, to effectively guide Qi and blood into the bone marrow.

It even more requires the verbal instruction and personal teaching of a famous master; some key tips and insights can often save people years or even decades of detours.

And of these three things, Gao Feng had none.

Although the "Tiger Venerable Art" is not bad, it is ultimately just an ordinary skill circulated in the Jianghu; its upper limit is the limit, and wanting to rely on it to break through is even more difficult.

Medicinal Pills and medicinal herbs are even more out of the question.

Those that were captured had long been exhausted in previous battles and healing.

As for famous masters... in the Gui Jian Chou Mountain Range, he himself was the strongest "famous master" in everyone's eyes.

"Sure enough, individual power is ultimately limited."

Gao Feng looked at his calloused fists, and a strong sense of crisis welled up in his heart.

He was more eager for absolute martial power than anyone else.

Because he had personally experienced it.

The scene of Bear Overlord's violent axe easily tearing apart the elite army formation was still vivid in his mind.

That was a pure, unreasonable aesthetics of violence.

In front of that kind of absolute power, any strategy or any army formation seemed so pale.

Gao Feng understood deeply that everything he had built now seemed to be thriving, but it was actually incredibly fragile.

As long as a fifth stage "Marrow Tempering" master or a sixth stage "Organ Tempering" Grandmaster came from outside the mountain, they could easily crush all of this to pieces!

Everything he was doing now, developing forces and building cities, was just to buy time for himself, to strive for the time and environment to safely improve his personal martial power.

"Forces must be developed, and personal strength must not be left behind."

"The two complement each other and neither can be missing."

"But now, I have encountered a Bottleneck and must find a way to break the situation."

He thought over and over again, and the method to break the situation inevitably fell back on his biggest trump card—the spirit spring space.

His gaze swept over the piece of black land in the space.

The area of the land had expanded to nearly the size of a basketball court after Dual Cultivation with Luo Qin and Luo Qi.

But since then, no matter how hard he "tilled" with Su Yue, Luo Qin, and Luo Qi, the size of the space and the output of the spring water had not changed at all.

This made him more and more certain of his initial guess: only the first time with each woman, that most pure initial Yin and Yang Qi, could become the "fuel" for the evolution of the space.

His gaze, involuntarily, fell on the remaining two beauties—Luo Shu and Luo Hua.