The villagers of Wang Family Village stood there with their bowls barely set aside, still licking traces of broth from their lips, when the words of the Heyang laborers finally sank in.
Only then did they realize something uncomfortable. Something they had never really thought about before.
The phrase "bandits" did not sound heroic at all when heard from ordinary people. It did not sound rebellious, or righteous, or desperate. It sounded like a disaster.
If the bandits landed here, everything these people had just begun to rebuild would be smashed apart again. Homes, food, peace, dignity, all of it would vanish like smoke.
So this is what we've been doing all along?
The thought hit like a slap.
Bai Mao clenched his teeth so hard it almost made a sound. Then he suddenly roared, voice cracking with something between shame and determination.
"Wang Family Village, listen up. Work harder than them. Not the same. Harder."
The others answered immediately this time, voices loud and clear.
"Got it!"
No hesitation now. No laziness. No dragging feet.
They had eaten. Their stomachs were warm. Strength returned to their limbs like blood flowing back into numb fingers.
And more importantly, something inside their heads had finally clicked into place.
A group of men who used to drift like loose sand suddenly moved with purpose, like bricks being laid into a wall.
Just as they were about to throw themselves into work with full enthusiasm, someone squeezed through the crowd.
He wore a blue hat.
A proper, dyed-blue woven helmet, the kind that instantly made him look like he belonged to a different class of human being. Not richer. Not stronger. Just… more official.
He pushed a small cart forward, and piled on it were a bunch of similar hats, except these ones were yellow.
"Here, take one each," he said with a grin. "Put them on."
The Wang villagers stared at him.
"...Huh?"
The man laughed like he had seen this reaction a thousand times already.
"Yellow hats for regular workers. Blue hats for technical workers like me. White hats are for the bosses. Bai Yuan gets one. Magistrate Feng gets one. That's the rule."
He tapped his own head proudly.
"Rule set by Dao Xuan Tianzun himself. Construction site regulations. You follow them, you don't die stupidly."
The last sentence sounded suspiciously practical.
The Wang villagers exchanged glances. None of them understood what any of that had to do with building walls, but rules were rules. Especially when they came from someone who could summon rain and dragons like ordering takeout.
So they obediently put on the yellow hats.
And immediately, something changed.
They straightened up a little.
Not because the hat had magical powers, but because wearing the same thing made them feel… organized.
Also, it did look kind of cool. Like a uniform. Like they belonged somewhere.
One of them tapped his hat and muttered, "Hey, this thing's pretty sturdy. If a rock falls, maybe my head survives."
Another replied, "Yeah, unlike your brain, which was already broken long ago."
"Shut up."
The blue-hat technician clapped his hands loudly.
"Alright, Yellow Hats, over here. I'll teach you how to mix cement. This stuff isn't mud. You mess it up, the wall collapses and crushes you. Then you become part of the foundation. Permanent employee."
That got their attention.
"First, go to the river. Bring sand. Buckets of water. Move, move, don't walk like you're attending your own funeral."
Soon, people were running back and forth.
"Add cement, add sand, mix. No, not like that. Are you stirring soup or building a fortress? Put your back into it."
"More water."
"Not that much. You trying to build porridge?"
"Good. Now again. Faster."
The entire construction site erupted into motion.
Two major projects ran in parallel. On one side, the militia was chopping trees and raising a wooden palisade that stretched along the edge of Qiachuan Dock, enclosing it like a protective cage. On the other side, the cement team was laying foundations for something far more solid, a proper fortress that would replace the wooden wall once completed.
Wood first. Cement later.
Temporary defense first. Permanent defense after.
Efficient. Practical. Brutally sensible.
Meanwhile, far above all of this chaos, Li Dao Xuan had just woken up.
He picked up a pineapple bun with his left hand, still warm from delivery, and casually tapped on the box with his right hand.
"Heyang County."
His viewpoint shifted instantly, hovering above the county city like a lazy god who had not yet finished breakfast.
He chewed slowly while looking around.
"Hmm."
Heyang County looked very different from Cheng County.
More shops. Even though most were closed now, you could tell they used to be busy. Prosperous, even.
Once river transport resumed at Qiachuan Dock, this place would bounce back quickly.
There were also far more restaurants.
Street food stalls everywhere.
Li Dao Xuan narrowed his eyes.
"These people… they like eating."
He reached over to his computer, typed a quick search, and blinked.
"'Yellow River Ecological Food City'? Seriously? This tiny place?"
He glanced at the pineapple bun in his hand.
Suddenly, it did not taste as good anymore.
"Damn it. I want local food now."
His gaze drifted across the city until it landed on a crooked signboard.
"San Chi Knife-Cut Noodles."
The shop looked like it had been closed for ages, but at that moment, the owner was sweeping the floor, preparing to reopen.
"Oh? Flour supply is back, huh."
The owner finished cleaning, dragged out a stove, set up a large pot, and began stuffing coal into the furnace.
A lot of coal.
Not the careful, stingy kind of burning. This was the "throw it in like it grows on trees" kind of burning.
Li Dao Xuan raised an eyebrow.
"That's not normal. Coal isn't cheap… unless…"
He turned back to his computer and searched again.
A few seconds later, his expression changed.
"Oh. That explains everything."
Heyang County had coal mines.
Not just any coal. High-quality coal. And shallow deposits.
The kind you could dig out without needing modern machinery.
And the best part?
The mines were less than ten li from the county, located at Jinshuigou and Wang Village.
Both places were already within his field of view.
He had just never paid attention.
Now he did.
His perspective shifted.
Jinshuigou.
A narrow mountain valley just northwest of the county. A small dirt road wound into it like a lazy snake.
No real village. Just clusters of crude huts.
Inside those huts lived people who were… black.
Not their skin, but everything else. Clothes, faces, hands. Covered in coal dust.
Their lives were clearly miserable.
Bottom of the social ladder.
But interestingly, the drought had not destroyed them the way it had destroyed farmers.
Coal did not care about rain.
People still needed it.
They just got paid less grain for it during hard times.
So while farmers starved and turned into rebels, these miners remained stuck in a strange middle state.
Not dead. Not alive.
Just… enduring.
Li Dao Xuan's eyes lit up.
"Coal."
He took another bite of his bun, suddenly in a much better mood.
"This place is worth developing."
He looked down at the miners again.
"Hang in there. Your lives are about to get upgraded."
He switched his view back to Gao Village Family.
And immediately jumped.
"Whoa, what the hell?"
Thick black smoke billowed into the sky above the village school, covering it like a dark cloud.
His first instinct was pure panic.
"Did it catch fire? Did I somehow burn it? No way. I only thought about burning my own school, not this one."
He paused.
"Also, this model is fireproof. Custom made."
Good. So not a fire.
He waved his hand.
A strong wind swept through the box, blowing away the smoke in one clean motion.
From below, the tiny figures erupted into cheers.
"The Dao Xuan Tianzun has arrived!"
"He used divine power to disperse the smoke!"
Li Dao Xuan leaned closer and activated the focus function.
On the rooftop stood a crowd.
One man looked like a smoked sausage, completely blackened by soot. Gao Yiye, Song Yingxing, Bai Yuan, Third Young Lady, and a bunch of students stood around him. Even the girls, who were usually neat and pretty, now had soot-smudged faces.
Li Dao Xuan could not help laughing.
"What are you people doing up here?"
Gao Yiye bowed slightly.
"Reporting to Dao Xuan Tianzun. Mr. Song and Bai Gongzi are leading the students in an experiment. They are using the steam engine to lift a massive stone."
She gestured.
"They attached gears and pulleys to the engine's wheel, connected iron chains, and wrapped them around a large stone on the ground floor. When the engine runs, it turns the wheels and lifts the stone all the way up to the rooftop."
Li Dao Xuan looked down.
Sure enough, a massive rock sat there on the rooftop like an uninvited guest.
The same miniature steam engine he had casually given them earlier was now being used like industrial equipment.
He nodded slowly.
"Impressive."
Then he pointed at the lingering smoke.
"But why does it look like you tried to summon a demon while doing it?"
Trivia
Construction Site Helmets
Color-coded headgear is a modern industrial safety concept used to distinguish roles and responsibility levels on work sites. In this chapter, the system appears centuries early, not as ideology, but as a survival response to large-scale coordinated labor. When work becomes dangerous, hierarchy stops being abstract.
Coal and Economic Immunity
Coal workers historically suffered less from agricultural disasters because their product retained value regardless of weather. This did not make them wealthy — it merely kept them exploitable year-round. Stability is not the same as safety.
Steam Power and Lifting Systems
The true revolution of steam engines was not motion, but multiplication — gears, pulleys, and torque converting fuel into obedience. Once heavy objects move without muscle, social structures follow shortly after.
Black Smoke
Inefficient combustion is not a technical flaw alone. It is the visible cost of learning in public. Every era pays this price first with air, then with people.