Chapter 1213 - 1212: Project Initiation
"What the fuck?"
"What the fuck!?"
"Are you serious!?"
In the Ancient Culture Research and Analysis Archival Room, after listening to Xiao Yuya’s report, everyone was stunned.
"The Red Chess River Project... we’re still only at the research and feasibility stage!"
"We don’t even know how many difficulties there are. We have to consider construction strength, terrain and geomorphology, environmental impact, the effect of elevated rivers on transportation, and continuous maintenance. The construction difficulty is even greater than the Qinghai-Tibet Railway..."
"And he’s just going to brute-force it now?"
"Nothing’s going to go wrong, right? If something goes wrong, it’ll be a huge problem!"
"How do we get through the Hengduan Mountain Range? How do we cross the Qinling? How do we handle some elevated river sections? How do we deal with the high evaporation of water volume in Jiang Province?"
"There are way too many issues. This is a scientific, systematic project. It’s not just a matter of digging out a channel with one shovel and calling it a river."
"We’re literally fabricating a major river out of thin air!"
There were no geology experts present, but everyone still had some basic theoretical knowledge. Even just knowing a bit on the surface was enough to realize how difficult this project actually was.
Not to mention, the real pain points of the project were definitely far more than what they currently understood.
Faced with this group of big shots, Xiao Yuya couldn’t help trembling. She spoke weakly, "Lin Wan said that after Lu Zheng completes the river channel, he’ll leave the final short gaps between the various Water Veins untouched, so we can wait until after we’ve inspected it and then dig open those last sections ourselves."
Everyone took a deep breath.
"So this is what Immortal Technique looks like?"
"Years of argument and analysis, countless difficulties, at least four trillion in costs, a super mega-project that touches the nation’s very foundations and fortune—why does it all suddenly feel kind of easy?"
"It’s not that easy either. Lin Wan said Lu Zheng will still need to spend at least a few months on it." Xiao Yuya added, shrinking her neck again.
To be safe, Lin Wan and Xiao Yuya hadn’t just said "two months," they used a vague, inflated number.
Everyone, "..."
"I’m seriously starting to wonder if that old legend about the Foolish Old Man Moving Mountains might actually be real. For an Immortal, shifting mountains and filling seas really doesn’t seem like a big deal..."
"I’ve always been hoping Lu Zheng and Lin Wan would give us a nice surprise, but I never imagined the surprise would be this huge." Someone laughed bitterly. "This feels more like a scare than a surprise. The stuff we have to do on our end actually isn’t small either..."
"Xiao Yuya?"
"Here!"
"What’s Lu Zheng’s stance over there? Is he willing to meet with us? Red Chess River is a massive project, there are a lot of issues, we’d like to hear his concrete measures before we can be at ease..."
"They said there’s no need. As long as our people cover things up at some key locations, that’ll be enough."
A middle-aged man curled his lips, momentarily at a loss for words.
Another person laughed, "What are you afraid of? Didn’t he already say it? He’s leaving the final water release work to us. My guess is, he doesn’t want to meet us because he can’t be bothered to listen to us nag and whine."
"What do you mean, ’nag and whine’? This is called being responsible to the people!"
"How are we going to explain typhoons changing course? How are we going to explain floods on the Yellow River, Yangtze River, and Zhujiang River?"
"..."
The elder in charge said, "Immortal Technique is not something we can understand. Lu Zheng is willing to lend a hand for the Red Chess River Project—that’s a blessing from heaven. What we can do is provide him with all relevant data and materials for his reference."
Although the Red Chess River Project had always been stuck at the research and feasibility stage, there were actually major internal disagreements.
After all, the cost is enormous! The pain points are too many!
Even if every foreseeable difficulty were solved, new problems during construction would keep popping up.
Most importantly, after paying such a huge price, what the actual effect would be—nobody dared to guarantee.
Because once this project succeeds, although its significance would be massive for Hua Country, it’s ultimately more like adding flowers to brocade, not sending charcoal in the snow.
So ever since this project was first proposed, nobody was in a rush. They just kept doing preliminary research and feasibility studies, only pulling out the Motuo Hydropower Station to be formally initiated and developed.
But probably no one would have imagined that Lu Zheng, this Immortal, would actually step in to help!?
A follow-up project originally estimated at twenty to thirty years, even thirty to forty years—he’s planning to finish in a few months?
"Report the situation up!"
"If the higher-ups approve, even just the cover-up work will be huge. Especially in Jiang Province—we’ll probably have to mobilize construction corps. The other three provinces will also need to mobilize their engineering teams."
"The local geology bureaus and all sorts of construction units across the country will likely have to move too."
"If we formally launch it, the media will also need to start releasing things in stages. We can’t just fire off a giant firecracker out of nowhere."
"For a strategic-level project like this, trying to cover it up and slip it past everyone will take a massive amount of work."
"Xiao Yuya!"
"Here!"
"You’re responsible for contacting Lin Wan. Make sure communication between both sides is always timely and smooth."
"Yes! I’ll be on call twenty-four hours a day!"
...
Once business was settled, someone sighed, "Luckily our usual style is to get things done first and talk later, and we’ve always done well on secrecy. Even if Red Chess River suddenly opens up, although it’ll be abrupt, ordinary people will just be shocked, not suspicious."
"After all, Red Chess River is just a river. When we do the publicity, we should minimize talking about the difficulties. We just benchmark it against the Grand Canal."
"Exactly, exactly. If people in ancient times could excavate the more than one-thousand-kilometer Grand Canal, then us excavating a six-thousand-kilometer Red Chess River is perfectly reasonable, right?"
"Right, right, right. Especially since we have huge engineering teams, modern equipment, and explosives. It’s just digging out a river channel—piece of cake, easy and fun, right?"
...
So, not long after, the construction corps in Jiang Province received orders, and many units set off, heading toward the southern deserts.
Heavy machinery across Shu Province, Qin Province, and Gansu Province was also fired up and being transferred all over the place.
In some areas close to cities, roadblocks, barricades, and board screens were all brought into use.
Holding the engineering research reports and initial route plans provided from above, Lu Zheng started from the big bend of the Yarlung Zangbo River and moved forward along the terrain.
The farther he went, the more he felt that whoever conceived this project was seriously bold—really daring to dream.
Diverting water from the Yarlung Zangbo River meant not just crossing the Hengduan Mountain Range, but also passing through the water systems of the Nu River, Yuqu River, Lancang River, Jinsha River, and Yalong River, then going all the way upstream north.
While increasing the water volume of these Water Elements, the plan then draws water from them to cross the Qinling into the Wei River, Han River, and Yellow River, then takes water diagonally northwest into Gansu Province, follows the Qilian Mountain north, and finally enters Jiang Province.
Fully exploiting existing Water Elements and elevation differences, defying the natural flow, and diverting southern water northward.
It’s downright terrifying!
However...
Lu Zheng traced the route once and discovered there was still room for adjustments.
After all, the route laid out by ordinary people hadn’t taken into account the construction difficulty when an Immortal is doing the work. Some places they deemed impossible, Lu Zheng could actually open up a river channel out of thin air.
Because...
Back in the day, Lu Zheng had learned a spell from Song Kaichuan, the Mountain Opening Curse, and he still hadn’t found a chance to put it to practical use!
"Let’s get moving!"