The sun hadn't fully climbed over the ridge when Yang Xu was already drenched in sweat. He stood by a large pit filled with a suspiciously grayish slush, holding a long wooden pole in hand like a general before battle. Behind him, a few of the villagers stared, some with genuine curiosity, others with faces that screamed, "Our county magistrate has gone mad again."
"Come on, stir faster! This is the future of this hidden land!" Yang Xu barked like a foreman from a construction site in modern China.
Wang Ergou blinked. "Master Yang… is this gray mud really going to change our fate?"
Yang Xu gave him a look of exaggerated gravitas. "Not mud… cement! The soul of civilization! The bones of cities! The ultimate tool for turning flat ground into palaces!"
Wang Ergou still looked unsure. In his eyes, the so-called 'cement' was just a mix of crushed limestone, clay, and a ton of elbow grease. And Yang Xu had made them burn stones until they turned into powdery dust, then mix that with sand and water in specific ratios.
Honestly, even Wang Ergou's old granny had raised her eyebrows when he came home coated in what she called "filthy ghost paste."
Still, Yang Xu pressed on. "Mix it well! We'll try casting it into a simple mold today—if it sets like I think it will, we're about to enter the real era of infrastructure!"
One peasant piped up, "So… this is gonna help with our buildings?"
"Buildings? Ha!" Yang Xu grinned like he was announcing the arrival of the Immortals. "It's gonna help with roads, bridges, walls, wells, houses, and in the future—maybe even public toilets with proper drainage!"
That last part got some confused looks, but no one dared question the strange but brilliant magistrate. After all, hadn't he taught them how to rotate crops, make charcoal filters for cleaner water, and even introduced a weird-but-tasty new dish involving roasted yams and fermented soybeans?
He was odd, but oddly effective.
Later that afternoon, the cement slab was complete. They had poured the mix into a mold made from repurposed wooden crates. Yang Xu hovered nearby like a broody chicken, poking it with a stick every half hour.
By evening, it had hardened—not perfectly, but enough to bounce back when Wang Ergou tried poking it with a bamboo spear.
"It worked! It actually worked!" Yang Xu shouted triumphantly, throwing his arms into the air like a man who'd just solved world hunger.
As if on cue, the system's cold but familiar mechanical voice echoed in his mind:
[Ding! Congratulations to host for successfully synthesizing ancient-grade cement using rudimentary techniques. System recognizes host's ingenuity and alignment with early infrastructure goals.]
[Reward Unlocked: Basic Infrastructure Blueprints Package] ——Included: ① Stone-paved Road Design (Resilient, rain-resistant, good for muddy terrain) ② Basic Arch Bridge Blueprint (Can span up to 8 meters with local materials) ③ Reinforced Three-story Wooden Building (Supports administrative or residential use)
[Blueprints automatically stored in system inventory.]
Yang Xu blinked.
Then burst out laughing.
"Hahaha! What did I say?! Cement is the future!"
The villagers nearby stared at him again—some were used to him laughing into the air like he'd seen the heavens part, others still occasionally wondered if he was possessed by a wandering deity.
Yang Xu waved dismissively. "Don't mind me—just the divine rewards of progress!"
Of course, he didn't plan to explain everything to them. Trying to describe "blueprints" and "structural integrity" to folks who were still amazed at his barrel-based water collection system was a bit much. Better to roll it out step by step.
And speaking of steps, the next few days saw Yang Xu calling his crew together again—Lao Zhang the carpenter, Aunt Liu who somehow managed village logistics with her legendary loud voice, and a few of the more dependable laborers like Ergou and Da Shun.
He laid out a rough sketch of the new road he planned to build from the center of the village outwards, connecting to the nearest farmland, and eventually looping to the small river on the western side.
"Why a road?" someone asked.
"So I don't have to trip in knee-deep mud every time it rains," Yang Xu said with a grin. "And when we start transporting things—like stone, wood, or future crops—it'll save everyone a lot of broken ankles."
He didn't mention trade or outside visitors. Not yet.
The county was still hidden, nestled between narrow mountain trails and dense woodland that even passing hunters rarely entered. The place was peaceful, untouched—and for now, that was perfect.
But Yang Xu knew better than to rest on that.
Progress had a price. And that price was sweat, work, and sometimes… dealing with the occasional villager who tried to eat the cement because he thought it was a new type of gray tofu.
Yes, that actually happened.
He'd caught Uncle Ma hunched near the slab, poking it with chopsticks.
"Uncle Ma, for the last time, it's not food!"
"Eh? It smells like roasted rock…"
"IT IS ROASTED ROCK!"
The man sighed. "You city folks are always coming up with weird snacks."
Yang Xu rubbed his temples. At this point, he wasn't sure whether he was a magistrate, a teacher, or a full-time babysitter of very enthusiastic yet occasionally clueless villagers.
Still, it was worth it.
At the end of the week, when the first tiny cement path was finished—just a ten-meter stretch near the well—it was smoother than anything anyone had ever walked on. No mud. No uneven stones. Just… flat, reliable progress.
The villagers stared at it like it was the eighth wonder of the world.
Yang Xu couldn't help but smile.
"Step by step," he muttered. "Stone by stone, road by road—we're gonna build something amazing here."
And deep in the mountains, in a county still unseen by the greater Tang world, history was being quietly rewritten by one man with a system, a brain full of modern knowledge, and a strong dislike of muddy shoes.
[ A new Chapter Coming in a few minutes as an apology for the late upload of this chapter T~T ]