Ning’s message arrived while Wei was laying route markers across the planning room table. The first two communities had approved anchor furnaces. The south neighborhood had accepted a later relay trial at the workshop, after moving it away from the market well and choosing its own operators.
“The fourth?” Yan asked.
“Still waiting,” Wei said. “Its engineers will inspect first. We have no reason to hurry them.”
Bai crossed the fourth site’s materials off the loading list. “I’ll keep them in the depot. The drivers have a fixed route for the first three sites now, with receipts at each stop.”
He had hired the caravan owner who once refused to carry coalition goods. The owner had agreed after Bai offered a fixed rate, a safe return route, and the right to see the drawings. He wanted a signed receipt at every delivery, so the plan gave him one.
Wei assigned trained formation crews to the outer stations. Each team had a primary route leader and an alternate. Oren’s map markers showed the withdrawal path from each pylon to a staffed shelter. The crews practiced sending a flag signal at one end and answering with a runner at the other.
At the first site, the team reached a fork where the map showed a stone marker. The actual marker had fallen into the ditch. A new crew member started along the old path, which ended at a washed-out culvert. The alternate leader stopped him and pointed to the maintained road.
