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Fei Qian was deep in thought, but after a while, he still hadn't come to any conclusions. He felt as if a heavy stone was blocking his heart, making him extremely uncomfortable.
Fei Qian thought about the people he had met during this time and combined it with the history he knew from his past life. Upon careful consideration, he realized that almost everyone was using their actions to prove their "Dao"—
Cao Cao's Dao was encapsulated in the comment he received in his youth: "A capable minister in times of peace, a hero in times of chaos." Throughout his life, Cao Cao followed this path, striving relentlessly. Even in his old age, when he had already amassed immense power and his ambitions were unstoppable, he was still bound by his "Dao" and never took that final step...
Yuan Shao's Dao was "reputation." In his pursuit of gathering the admiration of the world, Yuan Shao displayed astonishing courage and decisiveness. Otherwise, the heroes of Hebei wouldn't have so easily submitted to him. Unfortunately, after reaching the peak of his reputation as the leader of the anti-Dong Zhuo coalition, he began to decline. Unable to find a new Dao, he never managed to rise again...
Take Cai Yong, Xun Yu, and many others...
All of them were the same.
Then think about the era of the fluttering red flag in his past life. How many people gave everything they had, even their lives, to prove the Dao of the sickle and hammer...
Dao is ambition.
Dao is faith.
Dao is the ambition and faith that one strives to realize with all their might, even if it means enduring countless hardships, facing public condemnation, or walking over the bones of thousands...
Now that he understood what Dao was, the question remained: What is my Dao?
Fei Qian was deeply troubled, his gaze fixed straight ahead...
After an unknown amount of time, Fei Qian suddenly noticed a large shadow rolling back and forth in front of him. No matter how he shifted his perspective, he couldn't escape it...
When Fei Qian finally snapped out of it and focused, he realized it was Master Huang, who had been pacing in front of him.
Master Huang had come to discuss something with Fei Qian, but when he approached, he noticed Fei Qian mechanically turning his head away...
Then, summoning his courage, Master Huang moved to where Fei Qian had turned his head, only to find Fei Qian mechanically turning his head in another direction...
Fortunately, Master Huang realized that Fei Qian was lost in thought, but he genuinely needed Fei Qian's help, so he didn't leave.
When Master Huang saw Fei Qian's gaze gradually focus on him, he forced a smile and said, "Hehe, sorry to disturb you, Assistant Inspector, but I have a problem that I must report..."
"Is it a lack of funds?" Fei Qian's first thought was that the money he had advanced to Master Huang had run out. But how could it have been spent so quickly?
"No, there's still money. It's just... we're short on manpower... Tomorrow is the day to raise the main beam, and with so few people... I'm afraid we'll miss the auspicious time..." Master Huang was somewhat embarrassed. He hadn't anticipated the sudden shortage of labor.
Fei Qian didn't understand at first. If there wasn't enough manpower, why not just hire more? Why come to him?
After getting the full picture, Fei Qian couldn't help but sigh. It turned out he had dug his own hole...
Fei Qian had proposed a "clean-up" strategy to Liu Biao, and in recent days, Yi Ji had been working fervently on it. He organized people to clean the streets, arranged patrols in the markets, dispatched teams to various counties, and even recruited idle farmers to repair city walls, tidy up the roads around Xiangyang, and dig irrigation channels for large-scale water conservancy projects...
As a result, the previously sufficient labor force was suddenly stretched thin. Fortunately, Yi Ji knew that Master Huang was helping Fei Qian build a house, or else even Master Huang might have been reassigned.
Tomorrow was the long-scheduled auspicious day for raising the main beam, which was extremely important to Master Huang. Not only did the beam need to be raised accurately, but it also had to be done within a specific time frame. Going over the time would be inauspicious. But with the current labor shortage, this was a serious problem. For Master Huang, who had built houses his entire life, this was akin to ruining his reputation. So, out of desperation, he turned to Fei Qian for help.
After all, in Master Huang's mind, Fei Qian was still the Assistant Inspector. Surely, he could allocate some manpower.
No wonder the streets had seemed busier in recent days. Fei Qian only noticed this after Master Huang explained. However, even knowing this, Fei Qian had no good solutions. Yi Ji had already shown considerable restraint by not reassigning Master Huang. Could Fei Qian really go to Liu Biao and ask him to halt the ongoing "clean-up" strategy just to free up some laborers for his private construction project? That was clearly unrealistic.
Reschedule the beam-raising? How long would that take? Wait until the "clean-up" strategy was completed before building the house? Also unrealistic.
Fei Qian decided he would have to figure something out himself.
When Fei Qian arrived at the construction site with Master Huang, he saw that the main framework of the house was nearly complete. A large main beam lay quietly on a wooden frame, already wrapped in red cloth, waiting to be raised the next day.
This was the main beam of the largest hall, so it was long, thick, and naturally very heavy. If they relied solely on human strength, they would indeed need a lot of people.
But since they couldn't increase the manpower, the only option was to see if they could use machinery.
Fei Qian carefully inquired about the entire beam-raising process and couldn't help but frown. "Why not use a pulley system?"
Master Huang was surprised that Fei Qian knew about this and explained, "We are using pulleys, but the main issue is the lack of manpower during the lifting process. If the ropes aren't straight, deviations could occur, which would be bad." As he spoke, he pointed to the framework on both sides of the hall.
Fei Qian moved closer for a better look and suddenly understood. They were only using a few fixed pulleys. How could that save effort? No wonder they needed so many people.
Fei Qian turned and said, "Add a few movable pulleys, and you won't need as many people."
"...Movable pulleys?" Master Huang was confused. Pulleys were pulleys. How could they move?
Fei Qian pointed to the pulleys fixed on the wooden frames on both sides and gestured as he explained, "Those pulleys are fixed... You need to add movable ones... Ah, forget it. Let me draw it for you..."
Fei Qian realized that words alone couldn't convey the idea, so he grabbed a small stick and drew a diagram on the ground. He pointed to the drawing and explained to Master Huang, "Like this. Add a movable pulley, and you can save half the effort. Add a few more, and even one person could easily lift the beam. That should solve the manpower issue, right?"
As Master Huang studied the diagram, he began to tremble, his voice shaking as he swallowed hard and said with difficulty, "Assistant Inspector Fei... this... this method... are you willing to... teach it to me?"
"Ah? Oh." Fei Qian suddenly realized that he might have accidentally triggered a technological leap...
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A/N: China was one of the earliest countries to use pulleys, but pulley systems... well, that was a product of the Industrial Revolution... History is full of such fascinating details. Adding a few more pulleys took nearly a thousand years.