Chapter 1 A Considerable Test

The torrential rain that arrived as scheduled was no small test for Gondor, and for Ye Tao. Ye Tao was mainly responsible for Gondor's conceptual and overall design. Gondor's many unique urban functions, especially the foresight in burying various power lines during the initial design, were naturally Ye Tao's idea, but the final design of these functions was completed by a large design team that included Guan Haishan. No one had ever really worked on such a complex project before, especially designing drainage pipes without detailed weather data. Although plenty of allowance had been made, everyone was still somewhat unsure.

After all, Ye Tao didn't have a background in urban planning. Although he knew that the flow rate at the bottom of a brick-built pipe with a cross-section like an inverted egg was faster, which could partially solve the problem of pipe blockage, and although he had racked his brains to dig up every relevant documentary and written material on urban planning that he had seen before, selecting potentially useful features to incorporate into Gondor's design and construction. The magnificent Minas Tirith in *The Lord of the Rings* was naturally the primary reference for aesthetic design, but the above-ground portion drew more inspiration from other cities. The underground portion borrowed heavily from the clean, orderly, and aesthetically pleasing municipal engineering designs of Paris. Because they were building a city from scratch, Gondor faced very few restrictions. For example, the underground portion was created by directly excavating the ground to a sufficient depth, completing all the underground works before starting above-ground construction. This part accounted for a third of the entire construction cost. Ye Tao really didn't want any problems with the underground works that had consumed so much effort. If there were problems, an imperfect Gondor would be a minor matter; more importantly, it would seriously affect the ongoing surveying and construction of the new capital, making everyone less confident in this completely new urban planning system.

However, Gondor's performance was extremely impressive. Gondor had a bell tower in the mountain section, and one in each of the four directions of the city on the ground level. Every morning, the timely and distant ringing replaced the ambiguous daylight of the stormy season, becoming the standard for the entire city's activities. Most of the troops that had arrived in Gondor were stationed in the camps peacefully, conducting indoor training within their capabilities. Those troops who would participate in the parade continued their training without their armor. Yunzhou was wealthy, and ginger soup was plentiful. These highly spirited camps would never allow themselves to be weaker than anyone else on such a grand occasion.

Despite the strong winds and heavy rain, the city operated normally and remained robust. Even on the third day of heavy rain, the streets remained as dry as before, with no standing water. On the stone slabs laid on the ground, which had been painstakingly carved with shallow anti-slip grooves, everyone could run around. Although they would inevitably get wet, they wouldn't end up covered in mud like in some cities when it rained.

Every day, minor officials wearing boots and raincoats made of natural rubber shuttled through the streets and alleys, asking about the residents' living conditions and helping them repair leaks. The city's construction was so complex that it was impossible to ensure that every building was perfect. Moreover, so many people and contractors were involved in the city's construction that Ye Tao, Guan Haishan, and others couldn't completely control it. The areas where Jiang Yan and Zheng Zhe were located were mostly plots of land bought by wealthy families who hired their own people to build, and these areas had more problems. Many families felt that arranging drainage pipes was somewhat redundant and costly, but now they were suffering. Jiang Yan and Zheng Zhe couldn't help but chuckle that there were always some people like that everywhere in every country, but the householders in these areas were in trouble. Those who hadn't moved in yet were fine, but those who had moved in had to seek help from the government. Although the Gondor Governor's Office didn't have a governor yet, it was already operating well. Buildings that were temporarily unoccupied but well-equipped were used to temporarily house these down-on-their-luck people. Of course, punitive rent was unavoidable. And this aroused another wave of curiosity among the various people who had arrived earlier: when did the government start doing such thoughtful things?

Many parts of the city also stopped operating. The streetlights on the main roads, which originally lit up every night, were temporarily out of use. Although Ye Tao had considered a certain degree of water resistance when developing electrical equipment, especially light bulbs and lamps, electric lights had been in practical use for too short a time. Due to limited production, everyone felt that light bulbs were very precious and didn't want to waste them. Only the lights around the Gondor Governor's Office remained lit, as a kind of experiment. And this area inadvertently became the hope in the hearts of all the people of Gondor. When the entire city was plunged into darkness, when all around were the crashing thunder and the sound of incessant, heavy raindrops washing everything away, the people could always find a high point nearby and look into the distance, seeing the warm light in the city center. It was not surprising that everyone had such emotions.

The Governor's Office was also the busiest place in Gondor, with a large number of staff coming and going. Those civil affairs officials even had rubber raincoats, but the number of raincoats was limited. Those who transported various intelligence and documents didn't have such good treatment. But now in Gondor, there were many people who needed to transmit information in this situation. After all, Gondor had just been built, and there were still many details to be improved or tested. This situation also made Ye Tao determined that even if the telephone system was not perfect, and could only transmit point-to-point for the time being, there was still

"The east city reports that there is a slight leak in a small area of the Tieyun (Iron Cloud) Cavalry's camp. It seems that the tiles have been blown off by the wind. Are there any craftsmen who can repair it?"

"The cargo docks report that everything is normal, and all warehouses are prepared for waterproofing."

"The armory reports that all the lightning rods are fine, and the fire oil bombs have all been dispersed. We guarantee that there will be a double shift on duty for twelve hours. Fire extinguishing equipment has also been distributed."

"The layered part of the mountain is the most troublesome in this kind of weather. Make sure there are enough people for emergencies, and remember to use the anti-slip ramps. The stairs are like small waterfalls..."

"Tell the brothers patrolling the mountain roads to be very careful and watch out for landslides and mudslides. Especially the back mountain section. If the brothers on duty at the Hero's Hall on the mountaintop have enough water and food, don't run around. This weather..."

"The section of the west city wall was struck by lightning!" "Ah!? What?" "No reaction. The craftsmen are checking. It seems that the lightning rod on one of the turrets hasn't been installed yet."

"Have the families in the west city whose houses were flooded been settled? ... Tell Xiao Ding to keep an eye on this matter. Remember to double the housing repair fees and pipeline installation fees."

…………

In the busy Governor's Office, all kinds of situations were being summarized. Officials and soldiers coming and going brought one piece of news after another, taking away one instruction after another. The army had never given Ye Tao much trouble, and thanks to thorough preparations, nothing major had happened in Gondor. Except for someone dumping a lot of debris into the sewer, causing a blockage and flooding a block, nothing major had happened. And in Gondor, the fines and punishments for this kind of thing were always severe.

A few days later, Ye Tao finally breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that Gondor had withstood the test. The drainage pipes not only quickly removed a large amount of rainwater from the ground, making the entire city relatively dry, but also had plenty of capacity to spare. The load on the sewer pipes during these days was only about half of their capacity. It was estimated that even in the event of a once-in-a-century rainstorm, they could safely get through it. Although the docks couldn't load and unload normally in this weather, the management and transportation of materials, especially the work of delivering some stocked daily necessities to various parts of the city, had never been interrupted. Of course, this was only a special measure during the special initial stage of city construction. The docks were a relatively weak link in Gondor's well-planned defense system. The dock warehouse area was even outside the defensive circle. Once Gondor was running smoothly, a large number of daily necessities related to people's livelihood would never be stored here for long. As for now, because Gondor's population was not very large and the city had not fully operated, managing one warehouse area was much more convenient than managing a large number of scattered warehouses.

After the first few days of torrential rain, when the speed of the rain stabilized and the frenzy was reduced, Gondor's popularity gradually recovered. The bell tower resumed telling the time on the dot. After the lighting around the Governor's Office reliably operated for a few days, the dock area, the command headquarters, the avenues radiating from the central square to the edge of the city, and the market area also began to provide nighttime lighting. The merchants breathed a sigh of relief, especially the inns and restaurants, whose night business immediately improved. The vast majority of those who had moved into Gondor early were people with some savings. Drinking and chatting in teahouses and restaurants, and then walking home along the lighted streets, became a special fashion during this time. But the officials' commute traffic decreased. Although it had not been completed or inspected, the pipeline mail system had been put into trial operation. High-pressure steam propelled metal mailboxes through the offices of different departments, and the junior officials quickly got used to judging whether a department was busy based on the frequency of the pipeline rumbling.

Everyone was looking forward to the weather clearing up, so they were not afraid of the stormy weather at all, and they didn't feel annoyed at all. Those soldiers and officials from the military joked that it was like new recruit training. Even though they had good grades and could enter the main combat camp, before the official assignment, the training officer would definitely give these top students a hard time to let them know how high the sky and how thick the earth were...