With a warehouse full of supplies, I stood alone as king in this chaotic world, gun in hand.

Since cars cannot be used in this area, workers have to be recruited from nearby villages, where villagers use wheelbarrows or handcarts to move the stones.

As for the workers' wages, they are paid every three days.

Moving stones is too tiring work; people will only be willing to do it if they are offered real money.

With the dam issue resolved, they then focused on building Runan City.

The foundation trenches for the inner city have been dug, reaching the hard old soil layer.

Before construction began, Nangong Wu and Eileen surveyed the foundation trench.

"Master, the soil in the north is all original and hard, so there's no need to tamp it down. The soil in the south is softer and needs to be compacted to ensure that the foundation is evenly stressed," Eileen said.

"I've noted that down," Nangong Wu instructed the person behind her.

"Yes," Su Siyan replied, taking out a pen to write everything down in her notebook.

After the survey was completed, Eileen had the foundation compacted.

At her command, the people waiting around immediately got to work, and thirty vibratory impact rammers operated simultaneously.

The Flying Feather Guards have already built the dikes and know how to do it.

A few days later, the foundation trenches in the eight-mile-plus area were compacted, and then a 30-50cm thick layer of sand and gravel was laid as a cushion layer to adjust for differences in stiffness. For areas with uneven thickness, the soil was filled to a stable layer, and the construction surface was leveled...

Days passed by, and the New Year was fast approaching.

By this time, most of the old city wall had been demolished.

Nangong Xiao gave everyone three days' rest in advance to prepare for the New Year.

Nangong Wu left enough grain and enough meat for three days, because the weather here was mild with an outdoor temperature of 15 or 16 degrees Celsius. She couldn't leave too much, lest the meat spoil.

Then, taking Li'an and her daughter, they went to deliver New Year's food to the army.

When they found the army in the afternoon, they were still marching.

At this time, the army had already traveled about 5,000 li south, and there was still half the journey to Runan City.

There was no other way; the official road was winding and circuitous, sometimes taking several days to circle a mountain, even though it was only about ten miles in a straight line.

Upon seeing them, Nangong Wu did not land immediately, but instead went to find a place where 300,000 troops could be stationed.

Li Shuang's advance force had already spotted the helicopter and shouted to those behind her, "Princess, you're here! Let me take a look first."

Then the horse galloped away.

After running for more than three miles, they saw the helicopter parked there. Nangong Wu, Huo Jing, Li An, and the six children all came out.

She exclaimed happily, "Your Highness!"

Upon hearing the voice, Luo Yushao immediately recognized her, "Mother, it's my mother."

"Yes, are you happy to see your mother?" Nangong Wu patted his head.

"I'm happy." Luo Yushao nodded.

"Hiss!" Li Shuang pulled on the reins, dismounted, and knelt down on one knee in front of them.

"Your subordinate greets Your Highness and Princess."

"No need for formalities!" Huo Jing nodded slightly.

"Get up quickly." Nangong Wu helped Li Shuang up. "You've worked hard."

"Mother." Luo Yushao rushed over and hugged her legs.

"Shao'er." Li Shuang knelt down and hugged her son. "Have you been good while your mother wasn't here?"

Upon hearing this, Luo Yushao immediately stood up straight. "Mother, Shao'er is a good boy. Aunt Princess even praised my handwriting!"

"Hmm." Li Shuang stood up and bowed to Huo Jing again, "Thank you, Your Highness and Miss Ai, for taking care of Shao'er."

"Luo Yushao has good talent," Huo Jing said.

"Li Shuang, you're too kind," Nangong Wu said, pulling her up. "Has anything happened to the army these past few days?"

Upon being asked, Li Shuang's expression turned slightly cold. "The day before yesterday, our scouts discovered a group of suspicious merchants in a valley."

After receiving the report, Li Cheng and I secretly followed them and found that those people were indeed suspicious. There were more than fifty of them, so we drugged them with sedatives. After they were knocked unconscious, we checked their belongings and found that they were carrying caltrops and black powder, and each of them was carrying a short-barreled musket.

"Calamus, black powder, a short-barreled musket?" Nangong Wu's eyes also turned cold.

Li Shuang continued, "Li Cheng and I checked their bundles and found Taoist robes inside, and more than a dozen people had the Snake Spirit Society's mark tattooed on their bodies."

So we left only two survivors and wiped out the rest! But that member of the Serpent Spirit Society was very stubborn and refused to speak even under pressure.

The people from Changyang Temple confessed, saying they were sent by Ling Yangzi to assassinate a general in the Zhenyuan Army. As for where Ling Yangzi lived, he said he didn't know.

After Li Shuang finished speaking, she took out a drawing from her sleeve and handed it to Nangong Wu with both hands. "Your Highness, this was found on a person from Changyang Temple. The person said it was an ambush they set up along the way."

Nangong Wu took it, opened it, and her eyes flashed with murderous intent. "There are even landmines inside."

She was now certain that the people behind Ling Yangzi and Bei Chenzhan's gunpowder and muskets also came from her previous life.

"Keep the map safe. When the time comes, form a advance team to check their ambush locations first." She returned the map to Li Shuang.

"I have already found a place to camp. The army will stop here to celebrate the New Year and will continue its march after the New Year."

"The main army is still five miles behind. I'll go find Li Feng now." Li Shuang remounted her horse, bowed to the two men, and turned her horse around to ride back.

"Wuwu, did you figure something out?" Huo Jing asked her.

"The person who helped Ling Yangzi and Bei Chenzhan manufacture gunpowder and muskets is very likely from that world as well, and is someone who is familiar with weaponry," Nangong Wu said.

Those who can produce gunpowder and muskets are either arms enthusiasts, soldiers, or gun makers.

Huo Jing's expression also changed. "Bei Chenzhan has always wanted to seize the throne. With such a powerful weapon in his hands, he will definitely make a move against Bei Chenyan."

"Father, rest assured, I have already given Bei Chenyan a lot of weapons and ammunition. Bei Chenzhan can't touch him." Nangong Wu reassured him.

"The muskets that man made were crudely crafted, and the gunpowder was just ordinary black powder, so they weren't very powerful."

"Oh? How does it compare to your weapons?" Huo Jing showed interest in her weapons for the first time.

"It's not that the person is incompetent, but the conditions here don't allow it. The guns I brought are mainly made of alloy steel, which is something that can't be made here."

"The gunpowder is just ordinary black powder, a low-explosive, characterized by deflagration, while my explosive is detonation," Nangong Wu explained to him.

"Explosion, detonation?" Huo Jing imagined the scene of the explosion.

"Deflagration is subsonic combustion, while detonation is a shock wave propagating at supersonic speeds, with far greater power than deflagration. The former is gunpowder, and the latter is explosives." That was all Nangong Wu could tell him.

The deflagration subsonic combustion wave (tens to hundreds of meters per second) has an overpressure of only 7 to 8 times.

Her explosives included: HMX; ONC; CL-20, with a detonation velocity of nearly 10000 g/s and a density of 2.04 g/cm³.