I, a useless prince, started with the Xiang Yu template.

The next few days.

The entire territory of Beiliang is accelerating its development.

The matter of preparing for winter is of utmost urgency.

Chu Yun issued a decree.

Twenty thousand laborers and over a thousand professional craftsmen were all conscripted.

The procession, in a grand and imposing manner, drove out of the gates of Beiliang City and headed straight for Heiyu Mountain, a hundred miles away.

The road was bustling with carriages and people.

Food, tools, ironware, planks, cloth, and tents were continuously transported to the mountains.

The desolate and lifeless landscape of Heiyu Mountain has been completely shattered.

The entire mountain came to life.

At the foot of the mountain, beside the ravine, along the mineral vein.

The tents were erected in a dense, continuous row.

Wooden stakes were driven into the ground, canvas was laid on top, and ropes were used to secure it.

In just one day, temporary camps stretching for miles sprang up.

Smoke rose from the chimneys, and the air was filled with the sounds of people.

Looking around, the mountains were full of people.

With clear division of labor and each person fulfilling their duties, there was no chaos whatsoever.

Some of the laborers were responsible for clearing wasteland, leveling land, and repairing mountain roads.

The originally rugged and muddy mountain paths were quickly widened, compacted, and paved with stones.

It was transformed into a wide and unobstructed coal transport road.

A group of craftsmen formed a team to build the factory.

Logging, cutting boards, erecting frames, laying roofs, and building walls.

The clanging, sawing, and tamping of earth continued day and night.

A large number of laborers were also directly stationed in the open-pit mines.

The Heiyushan open-pit coal seam is exposed, a unique advantage.

No need to dig deep wells or mine tunnels.

Raw coal can be mined simply by shoveling away a thin layer of topsoil.

The efficiency is frighteningly high.

"Hurry up! Stockpile the coal before it gets cold!"

"His Highness said that the sooner we start mass production, the sooner we can get through the winter in peace!"

The foreman, holding a tin megaphone, patrolled back and forth, shouting instructions loudly.

The laborers were covered in sweat, but their hands never stopped moving.

The shovel went into the soil, cracking and scraping away the top layer of black soil.

The pickaxe was swung, knocking down large chunks of raw coal.

Gravel, raw coal, and black soil are separated quickly.

Baskets of shiny black coal were quickly piled up in the stockpile next to the mine.

A young laborer wiped the soot off his face, panting heavily, and spoke as he carried coal.

"Who would have thought that this dark, broken stone could save a life?"

The middle-aged, experienced laborer next to him replied casually, his movements practiced.

"What do you know! The Prince himself has tried it; it can't be wrong!"

"The villagers in the mountains used to say that these stones were hard to burn, but that's because they didn't know the right method!"

"Now that it's made into honeycomb briquettes, it burns longer and produces no smoke, making it ten times better than dry firewood!"

"Whether millions of people can survive this winter depends entirely on this pile of black stones in our mountains!"

The young man's eyes lit up, and he worked with even more enthusiasm.

"We have to work hard! We're doing a life-saving job!"

The mining area was bustling with activity.

Raw coal is being mined continuously.

The speed at which factories were built outside the mountains was equally astonishing.

In just three days.

At the foot of Heiyu Mountain, rows of neat, simple workshops have been built one after another.

All rooms are open-plan, spacious, airy, and well-ventilated.

It is specifically used for stacking coal powder, mixing coal slurry, pressing coal briquettes, and drying coal.

One, two, three...

The workshops are lined up neatly at the foot of the mountain.

It took only a few days to go from nothing to something.

A large coal-making plant area was built on a desolate mountain.

Inside the factory area, assembly line operations are carried out directly.

The craftsmen further refined their tasks according to the standard procedures taught by Chu Yun.

The first step is coal screening.

Large chunks of raw coal that have been mined are piled up in a unified manner.

Specialized personnel used hammers and mortars to break the pieces into small pieces.

Then filter repeatedly using multiple layers of bamboo and iron sieves.

Coarse slag and hard lumps are removed, leaving only fine and uniform pure coal powder.

The second step is to mix the mud according to the specified proportions.

Coal powder, loess, and water are precisely mixed in a fixed ratio.

Multiple people repeatedly stirred, trampled, and kneaded the soil with shovels.

Continue until the coal slime is uniformly dry and viscous, not sticky to the touch, and does not crumble.

An experienced craftsman scrutinized the coal slurry, giving instructions to a novice.

"Remember this humidity level!"

"If it's too wet, it won't dry properly and will easily crack."

"If it's too dry, it won't press properly, it'll burn quickly, and it'll be waste material."

"The proportions set by the Prince must not be deviated from even by a fraction!"

The novice nodded repeatedly, making sure to remember it.

The third process is molding.

The large batch of standardized molds urgently produced by the Prince's Mansion were all transported to the factory area.

Uniform round holes, uniform size, uniform thickness.

The craftsmen filled the coal slurry into the mold, compacted it, flattened it, and vibrated it to tighten it.

After demolding, neat and standard honeycomb briquettes fall out in an orderly fashion.

The holes are evenly spaced, and the product is in perfect condition.

The final step is to air dry.

The factory area has specially opened up an extra-large drying area.

Rows of wooden frames and stone slabs are neatly arranged.

The formed honeycomb briquettes are laid out in a staggered pattern with uniform spacing, allowing for ventilation and sun exposure.

The scorching sun bakes during the day, while the evening breeze dries the leaves.

After a full day and night, it will be completely dry and ready for storage.

Mining takes place in the mountains, and coal is produced in the factory.

Two production lines operate day and night, with two shifts working non-stop.

The place is bustling with activity during the day and the lights stay on all night.

There is no worry about the raw coal being transported and stockpiled.

On the mountain paths, pack animals, donkey caravans, and human-powered carts shuttle back and forth.

The trucks left the mountains fully loaded with raw coal, and returned empty.

Raw coal was continuously delivered to the workshop.

A steady stream of finished honeycomb briquettes are produced, dried, and stored in the workshop.

The efficiency is terrifyingly high.

One day's production capacity is enough to produce tens of thousands of honeycomb briquettes.

Looking at the bustling scene all over the mountain, an official in charge of supervising the construction stood on a high place and looked out.

His eyes were filled with shock.

Having served as an official for many years, he had never seen such terrifying execution.

Ten thousand people were conscripted, and the task was completed in a few days.

Mining, factory construction, mass production, and stockpiling were all accomplished in one go.

He couldn't help but sigh softly.

"In the past, when the Northern Liang government was handling matters, it could take up to half a year to repair a road."

"In just a few days of the prince's rule, the barren mountains were transformed into a factory area."

"Such boldness, such efficiency, and such a focus on people's livelihood are unprecedented!"

........

The scene changes.

Zhenbei City.

After round-the-clock repairs, this abandoned border town, which had been deserted for more than a decade, has been completely transformed.

The rammed earth city wall, which was once dilapidated and collapsed, has long been thoroughly repaired and reinforced.

The cracked walls were all filled and compacted, and the huge gaps were filled and reinforced with layers of bluestone mixed with hard soil.

The outer wall of the city was smoothed and reinforced, and all the uneven and dilapidated traces disappeared.

The wall is over ten feet high, thick and well-organized, standing straight on the wasteland.

The crenellations, arrow towers, watchtowers, and defensive trenches on the city walls were all repaired and restored.

The original rotten and broken city gates were all replaced with thickened solid wood heavy armor doors, studded with iron rivets, making them heavy and sturdy.

Looking from afar, there is no longer any trace of decay or desolation.

Instead, a heavily fortified border military fortress was erected.

The weeds and rocks outside the city were cleared away, creating a wide open space for the city walls.

The city has been completely transformed.

The previously collapsed houses, barracks, warehouses, and post stations have all been repaired.

The ruins were cleaned up, and the broken beams, pillars, doors, and windows were replaced one by one.

The gravel and yellow sand on the street were swept away and leveled, and the potholes were re-compacted and paved solidly.

The once overgrown, desolate, and deserted city is now orderly and well-organized.

It has completely shed its former appearance as a dilapidated and isolated city, and is beginning to take shape as a majestic pass in the northern frontier.

After the main structure of the city wall was completed, the finishing touches and repairs inside the city never stopped, proceeding in an orderly manner day and night.

Thousands of laborers and craftsmen worked in shifts, keeping the work running non-stop.

The bricklayers repaired the walls of the houses, the carpenters repaired the beams and pillars of the barracks, and the blacksmiths rushed to make city defense equipment, rivets, and arrow shafts.

The grain and fodder warehouses, armories, stables, kitchens, and guard barracks were all repaired, categorized, and arranged in separate zones.