Choose a Home, Make it a Fortress (Task)

[Sun Dao]

Sun Dao had been travelling for days; while it seems such a short distance on a map, the road from Luo Yang to Pu Yang was actually quite long. It didn't help that it rained and Dao's horse refused to move at any reasonable speed through the mud.

Damn dirt roads.. I suppose I'll have to make that one of my projects. One of my extremely expensive projects. I don't even want to think about how much it costs to cobble a stretch that long.. Dao quickly distracted himself by turning his attention to the city at hand, Pu Yang. Formidable walls, he thought, admiring the obvious craftsmanship that had gone into their construction, I wish I could have met the architect behind their construction, no doubt I could have learned a thing or two from him. Riding on, he passed through the gates a few minutes later and headed straight for the government office.

There weren't many ranking officers here at the moment, and Sun Dao was here to take charge and turn this city into a place that Wei, and Cao Cao himself, could be proud of. This city was well situated in a strategic position, had a respectable population and an army large enough to hold the walls. Maybe.That had yet to be proven to Dao, but he preferred to be optimistic on such matters.

Before long the government office was before him, and he would have passed it by save for the group of guards out front. Dismounting, Sun Dao passed the reins of his horse off to a guard, ordering him to take it to a stable hand to have it cared for. The guard began to move away and Dao made his way up the stairs. He had been sure to wear the robes of his office today,so that all would recognize him as an officer of Wei, and none would question his authority.

The entryway was already open, and he was met shortly after entering by a young scribe, who bowed awkwardly and introduced himself. "G-Greetings, my lord." he managed awkwardly attempting a smile, "Who may I announce to the senior official?" Dao kept himself from laughing, the boy obviously had not dealt with officers much before. "I am Sun Dao, thank you, but no need to introduce me, show me to whoever is in charge." Dao motioned down the passageway with his arm, but the boy's smile had faded, and he was staring quite intently at the ground.

"The.. The Darkstar." the boy whispered, "Right this way my sir. My sire. My lord!" he squeaked the last two words, spinning on his heels and walking quickly down the corridor muttering something that was supposed to be intelligible. "This way" was Dao's best guess. "Take it easy, child. My reputation isn't that bad." The boy kept walking. At least, I didn't think it was that bad.. he thought to himself, now slightly worried.

The scribe led him down a few corridors, through a few rooms, and finally to the personal office of the senior official, though the man was not the senior of many. The room was as lavishly decorated as a man of such middling importance could be, making the room actually quite comfortable. This particular man, Rong Yun, had gained his status on the combined grounds that his family was influential in the city, and that Rong never shies away from slander or threats to eliminate or intimidate his rivals and those lower in rank. Despite the man's shortcomings as a decent human being he was actually not a half bad administrator, for times of peace. But this was not one of those times, this was a time that requires a strong hand to issue orders and keep the wheels running smoothly.

Rong was sitting behind a desk in a rather plush chair, reading a novel that Sun Dao couldn't recognize, which was extremely rare. At least until he realized that the novel wasn't actually what it seemed, and probably contained some form of images inappropriate for the eyes of company. Dao was tipped off by the way that Rong Yun slammed the book shut and dropped it behind him in his seat as he leapt up, rounding his desk red-faced and screaming, "Damn you boy! How many fucking times do I have to tell you not to bother me unless I call for you!" the young scribe seemed to be actually shrinking in size, "B-b-but I" he tried to explain but was cut off by the round-faced Rong who clearly didn't know that his (semi) full beard did not actually make him look more impressive.

"No, I don't care, I'll have you on the streets by sundown. And who the SHIT is this bastard?" Rong turned on Sun Dao, now face to face. Well, to be honest it was more face to chest, Rong Yun was actually quite short for the volume of voice he could muster. Sun Dao smiled slightly but did not speak, hoping to get a few more colorful obscenities out of the man before he noticed the symbols on the robes. "What the hell are you smiling at, you overdressed piece of garbage? Do you even know who I am!? Rong Yun! Rong. Yun! I could have you jailed the for the rest of your pathetic inbred life! In fact, I think I'll.." He trailed off suddenly, looking down at the symbols printed on Dao's clothes, face paling noticeably.

"Luckily for you, I do know who you are, Rong Yun. Also lucky for you, you will no longer have to worry about the problems of this city on your own, Administrator. He put extra enunciation on the last word, to make sure that Rong knew that his rank could not protect him. The other was slowly backing away bowing his head low, completely silent. "You have hereby been relieved of the extremely temporary command that the last provincial governor left you in before he moved on to greater things in the capitol. And as for who I am, I am Sun Dao. The squat administrator's eyes shot up, looking Dao in the face, before remembering his manners and staring at his feet once again.

"Sun Dao? Advisor to Lord Cao Cao? The same Sun Dao who led a small force in brutal slaughter of countless northern bandits?"

"The same" Dao responded impassively. He could see the scribe smiling out of the corner of his eye.

"N-not that there was anything wrong with that, my lord, you were right to do so, nobody quest-"

"Enough." Sun Dao exclaimed, cutting the other off mid sentence. "You know who I am, I know who you are. All that we need to establish from this point is that I am in charge, under direct order from Cao Cao himself. Boy," he turned to the scribe, pointing at a table containing parchment and writing boards, "Gather writing supplies for two, give the second to Administrator Rong, here." Rong Yun began to protest, but Dao waved him silent. The scribe rushed over to the table and was back quickly, passing the writing supplies to the administrator. "I never did catch your name, child."

The boy paused, "Me?" Sun Dao nodded, "Oh. Oh! Jing Shi, sir." He said, trying to sound confident. "Well, Jing Shi, Dao said, smiling, "I'll see to it you are compensated for having to deal with this man. And, additionally, any of my following orders that I dictate to the two of you that you correctly take down but Rong fails to.. A percentage of his salary this month shall be paid to you as reward." The boy was beaming, the administrator scowling through his patchy beard. "More to ensure that you write everything properly, Rong. Now, lead me to the barracks, and on the way I will tell you the first change I need to see."

Rong Yun stormed out of the room, followed by Sun Dao and Jing Shi, who was absolutely beaming at this point.

[Sun Dao]

The barracks was only a few buildings away, which was good because Sun Dao did not have much to say. "First on the agenda, the Government Office will be more clearly marked, flags of Wei on the corners of the rooftop, and banners flanking the entryway. Two guards at all times on the doors, the rest will patrol around the building to ensure there are no break-in attempts." As they reached the barracks, Dao looked it over briefly and added "The same goes for the barracks, and ensure all official buildings within the city are clearly marked as well." Rong Yun was scratching furiously, while the young scribe Jing would only make a few marks per sentence, obviously well versed in shorthand.

"What is the training and conditioning regimen?" he addressed Rong, who looked up blankly before realizing he was supposed to answer, "Thrice weekly, physical conditioning exercises followed by weapon practice."

"Not bad," Dao remarked, "See to it though that this becomes every other day, alternating by half so that half the garrison practices one day, half the next, and so on." Rong nodded and continued writing, "Now, to the walls." Sun Dao turned and began leading, heading for the nearest stair access he could see to the walls.

Once they had reached the top of the stairs, they began to walk around the wall top, with Rong Yun explaining the countryside, the locations of farms and the overall terrain, with Sun Dao giving the occasional command to be carried out. The ill-tempered administrator was actually quite knowledgeable, as it turned out, and Dao believed he could still be quite useful to the city.

"Now," he spoke as the three of them came around to their starting point, "I want the garrison divided into groups of roughly two thousand each for this particular project. My previous change of training schedule is to be implemented once this is finished. They are to be put on three-day rotations, one day working, the next day they spend home with their families, and the third they spend on guard duty with drill time cut in half to keep them rested." He paused for a moment, thoughtful. "Oh, and see to it that groups on their first day, the day spent on my project, are given extra rations. They will need it to keep their strength."

"Are you going to tell us what this project actually is?" Rong Yun interrupted, "Um... Sir." Sun Dao smiled, "Fortification, my good man. Pu Yang will be our fortress in the east." Rong nodded as he continued, "Now, it is early afternoon but too late to begin today. You will go back to the offices, give the orders, brief the soldiers, and ready the first group, preferably all soldiers who have had time off recently to begin at dawn tomorrow. Work clothes, naturally. We will be getting very dirty.

"Very well, sir." Rong Yun turned to leave. "I'm not done yet, Rong. You will be joining us tomorrow, and not to watch." The slightly rotund man almost let his disdain leak through into his expressions. Sun Dao was having a lot of fun with him. "Have notices put up through the city that any fit men who wish to volunteer to aid in the construction of better protection for their home cities will be greatly appreciated. Unfortunately, we cannot afford to pay them wages, so I do not expect a very high turnout of volunteers, if any.. But let it known either way that any men physically capable for labor with desires for political office will receive recommendations from me for their aid in making Wei a safer place by the sweat of their brow. But make it a little more eloquent than that, if you will. I've seen your handwriting Rong, I know you do not lack the education or indeed the flair for verbal inventiveness." Sun Dao smiled graciously at the two.

"Well, you have your orders, off with you now. I will see you at dawn tomorrow, thank you both for your time." With a short bow, Sun Dao dismissed the two after glancing at their notes, passing a wink to the young scribe Jing Shi.

A few moments later, he was alone on the wall, save for a few guards in either direction, patrolling. He took in the landscape for a while more, admiring the sheer beauty of this land, before he headed off to arrange lodgings for the night. Tomorrow, their work would begin in earnest.

[Sun Dao]

He arrived at the field outside the city just as the soldiers were forming their ranks, and officers were counting heads. The previous day had been spent arranging for the required tools to be brought out of storage to be used for the next couple weeks: wagons, saws, shovels and the like. Some requests had to be put out to local farmers with unneeded equipment, as they would need replacements for the spades that would undoubtedly break. He had then spend the evening hours studying the regions maps, deciding where he wanted to get their resources from.

There was a group of less than a dozen volunteers to the side, about the turnout Sun Dao expected, unfortunately. As he came close to the soldiers, he could tell that they really did not enjoy the prospect of a day of manual labor. He approached a group of officers, obviously the ones in charge, and introduced himself. It would still be some time before the head count was complete, but after introductions Sun Dao needed to ensure that they were up to speed.

His instructions were straightforward, the army would be divided once more into three groups, one of one thousand, the next two of five hundred men. "Now, the largest group is to be tasked with the digging of the trench. It will be about the length of three men from the base of the wall so as not to weaken the structure, and nearly as deep as two men, as wide as four with shallow banks." They were basic field measurements that did not require measuring poles to be carried around. The measurement was taken from eying a man on average height, and using his height to make an estimate. "Naturally, the trench will span the length of every wall, leaving gaps for the gates." Dao pulled out his map and spread it on the ground to show the locations the other two units would need to go.

"The other two units will head here, and here." He motioned to two locations a good distance from the city, it would require over an hour to reach each. "This group, next to the forest is to begin harvesting bamboo, are any of you familiar with placing anti-calvary and anti infantry stakes?" one of the officers waved his hand, indicating that he had, "Excellent, then you will be in charge of this group. They will be gathering the bamboo, and wood, if they cannot find enough, and cutting it to about the length of a man and loading it into the carts to be transported back here. They will be stored to be cut later in the event of a siege. This task should be finished by the end of the day, so keep me posted.

"Finally, the third group will go to this location here, where the current irrigation trenches divert water from this stream. You are to dig two more trenches feeding into the main one, but ensure that they stay sealed. These will be used to quicken the flooding of the fields around the city, again in the event of a siege. Now, each group should have about a quarter of the men on break at any given time, make sure they stay rested, and do not push them if they cannot handle it. I do not want injuries here. Meals will be served at their proper times, and ensure that water is always at hand, this kind of work will require the men drink plenty."

With that Sun Dao gave the order to begin dividing the soldiers, once they were each in their assigned units, Sun Dao moved to address the group. "I apologize, to all of you for requiring your skills be diverted to tasks that most of you probably have to do at home on your farms anyway. I know that the prospect of a full day working probably does not sound very appealing, and again, I apologize. But remember that in an attack, your families will be behind these walls," He pointed, voice raised so that as many men as possible could hear, "And with these added defences you will provide, we will watch our enemies break upon them! At that time, you will have no doubt that your sweat will have been worth it. I, for one, would prefer my sweat over my own blood any day." A mild chuckle swept through the nearby ranks, though probably at his expense.

"Either way, if you have friends who have been separated into different units that you wish to work alongside, step out of rank and switch places with another. Do it now, and do it quickly." A few minutes later the shuffling was complete, orders given, and the smaller units set out, wagons and tools in tow. The larger unit began the process of digging the trench, the volunteers went wherever they felt most comfortable, and so the day began.

This would be only the first of many, as a project of this magnitude would take nearly two weeks to complete, even with such a number of men.

[Sun Dao]

By the end of the first day, the collection of bamboo and solid wood was finished, and the trench was well underway. Luckily this was not the hottest time of year, in fact the weather was quite mild, so there were no reports of heat-related injuries. By the end of the second day, all the wood and bamboo had been stored in a warehouse inside the city, to be cut and set up in the event of an attack. Sun Dao had a system put into place for bi-weekly checks on the wood, as no doubt if months passed without it being needed, more would need to be harvested and the old wood would be used elsewhere. The group that had been used for collecting the wood was transferred to the irrigation ditches as soon as they were finished, to speed up the process.

Most of his time was spent riding back and forth between locations, ensuring everything was going to plan. But when he wasn't giving orders or adjusting plans, he would spend his time digging alongside the soldiers, or hauling dirt away from the cities. The excess soil that was being removed was of a good quality and many of the local farmers were willing to bring in their own carts to fill up and take away to spread in their fields. The rest was taken out beyond the city so that it did not provide any unwanted cover to attackers.

---

Just under two weeks later, a few setbacks and a bruised shoulder later, they were finished. Sun Dao ordered the guards schedules set back to normal, with two days free of conditioning exercises. Unfortunately for them, weapons training was still required.

On the plus side, the round administrator Rong Yun had actually lost a bit of weight and looked a little healthier overall. Naturally it would not last, and of course the man still bore no love for Sun Dao, but for the moment he appeared rather human. As for the scribe Jing Shi, Dao transferred the boy to work directly for him, as he thought he had a promising amount of intelligence. He might make a fine administrator one day.

So the time had come for Sun Dao to take his final tour of the wall before officially declaring them finished. The trench looked good, and he had made it part of the wall patrol's duty to report any sections of the trench that seemed to be eroding, and a group would be put to restoring it. Archers from the walls could see straight in, and with stakes on the inner wall and at the front edge, it would provide a formidable obstacle.

The irrigation ditches had been widened to allow for wartime flooding. If an enemy were to attack, given enough warning the fields could be flooded in a day, turning ground to mud, preventing heavy siege weapons from getting near the walls.

Sun Dao was pleased, but he was far from satisfied. He was the type that felt that any preparations that could be made, should. And that there was never reason to be finished. And so he turned from the walls, and returned to his quarters. He would call a meeting and begin planning on the next project in the morning.

The lives of the people could never be too well protected.

---

Overview of basic defences added:
- Faster flooding of fields around the city to slow or stop enemies.
- Trench around walls to slow infantry, and prevent/slow calvary and siege attacks against the walls.
- Bamboo poles to be sharpened and set up in the trenches to prevent a charge

[Mikey]

Nice task Dave. I like the storytelling. You didn't just set out to build a trench, but to also build your character.

Rewards

Sun Dao is proclaimed the Guardian of Pu Yang by the populace of the small city, and although the defenses make the people feel safer, it also generates rumors surrounding the need for such defenses. Such rumors of war in the east could soon reach the Lords Lu Bu and Yuan Shao...

Pu Yang:

New defenses. (See Task)

Sun Dao:

+ 50 Reputation Points.