Tiger Guards

Chapter 736 The Charm of the New City
In Jinyang, Liu Fang, one of Wang Song's advisors, boarded a boat on the Fen River.

From north to south, being upstream, one can barely catch a glimpse of the entire Jinyang New City.

Especially after the city's regional hierarchy was re-planned last year, the buildings at each level underwent a series of roof reductions and renovations.

When viewed from the Fen River, Jinyang City appears as a mountain city with orderly steps, rising layer by layer towards the west.

As the boats continued south, Liu Fang drew ever closer to Jinyang, and the first thing that came to mind was the scene of a water attack.

Even if Jinyang City were to be attacked by water, it would be difficult to damage the core Taicang Pavilion and Taiping Pavilion.

Moreover, Jinyang City originally had no city walls.

That low earthen wall on the outside is not even as good as the earthen wall used by some herders to pen their cattle and sheep. What military defense value does it have?
Furthermore, Jinyang will inevitably continue to expand outwards in the future, establishing various pavilions and neighborhoods. When Jinyang City completely spans the Fen River and reaches the foot of the mountains at both its east and west ends, the question of whether or not to use water attack will become meaningless.

Such a vast city must have had more than a million inhabitants.

If they are reduced to being flooded by the enemy and do not dare to launch a desperate counterattack, then they deserve to be drowned.

Liu Fang was deeply impressed by the scene before him in Jinyang City and the potential future plans.

Like other envoys from other states who came to Jinyang, Liu Fang could not possibly enter the city on the first day.

First, the boat stopped on the west bank of the Fen River. A riverside street had developed along the riverbank. The street was forty paces wide, and the shops and stalls on both sides of the street seemed to stretch as far as the eye could see.

The street stretches for eleven miles from north to south, not even counting the alleys on the west side of the main street. There are some shops in the alleys, but business is not as good as on the main street.

Therefore, there are steps or wooden platforms everywhere along the west bank of the Fen River to facilitate the replenishment or movement of goods.

On the east bank of the Fen River, soldiers and civilians engaged in business in Jinyang had begun to develop the area without authorization, each enclosing land and building various temporary storage sheds.

After all, the east bank was a major trading base for sheep and horses where various tribes of the Hu people came to trade in August, and it was basically a place where people could use it freely.

All the various Hu tribes could come and use it. The soldiers and civilians of Jinyang temporarily occupied some land and built temporary sheds for storage or pens for fattening livestock... It was not excessive.

Of course, if the prime minister of the Marquisate of Jinyang and the prefectural governor of Taiyuan County adopt a laissez-faire attitude towards these phenomena in the future, then these simple and temporary shacks will be demolished and rebuilt into sturdy earthen and wooden buildings, becoming real estate.

The chaos has only been going on for a few years?
Therefore, the remaining middle-aged and elderly people still have a strong business sense.

Naturally, Liu Fang also had a similar sense of smell and vision, and immediately determined that these shantytowns on the east bank of the Fen River would definitely be demolished.

If the resistance is too great, and nobles and officials are also involved, then an accidental fire that is accidentally started can completely solve the problem.

Without a doubt, those who had the vision, ability, and courage to acquire land on the east bank of the Fen River were military households with high military ranks, officials of the Marquisate of Jinyang, or officials of Taiyuan Prefecture.

As for the powerful and influential families of Taiyuan, only the Wen Hui and Sun Zi families were killed. These were the only two households, with Wen Hui being an unmarried single person, not representing two separate families. The others were implicated and became government slaves or miners.

Therefore, only the new-style powerful families in Zhao Ji's shogunate could acquire land on the east bank.

Since they weren't registered, these temporary buildings on the east bank weren't included in the scale.

Liu Fang strolled around the official wharf on the west bank, climbed the ladder to the roof, and observed the banks of the Fen River with other out-of-towners who were visiting Jinyang for the first time.

Anyone who has visited Jinyang cannot help but marvel at its wealth and dense population. Wealth translates to sustained military capability, while a dense population signifies the explosive power of military mobilization in a short period.

Liu Fang was a rational man, and he naturally saw at a glance the terrifying mobilization power contained within Jinyang City. If the Zhao family continued to manage it, it wouldn't be impossible for a single city to suppress the northwestern states.

Some sentimental country bumpkins, after witnessing the prosperity and peace of Jinyang, and then thinking of the devastation and decay of their own hometown, could maintain their composure if they had strong self-control, but would burst into tears and become emotionally distraught if they had weak self-control.

After surveying the scene on the east bank, Liu Fang turned around atop the rooftop and looked at the largest pavilion on the west bank outside the city: "Is that Cai Garden?"

An envoy from another state, who was chatting with him nearby, nodded and said enviously, "It is indeed Cai Garden, but I only regret that I have too little money!"

Cai Garden is naturally a respectable place, and also a place where money can be made in a day.

The entire Cai Garden is square, a three-story courtyard building with sides measuring seventy steps. It contains many schools, where Cai's disciples from various places gathered to give lectures. These schools differed only in the depth of their studies.

In addition to the academy, Cai Zhaoji received Zhao Ji's support and created printing plates, a more advanced printing technology than the woodblock printing of Longcheng University.

Not only Cai Yong's works were printed, but also annotated versions presented by his disciples were printed and sold at Cai Garden after being proofread by Cai Zhaoji.

Therefore, the East Gate Pavilion was built opposite Cai Garden. Cai Garden only had windows inside, and the entire exterior was covered with straw and yellow mud for fire prevention and theft prevention.

Inside Cai Garden, you can buy all kinds of beautifully printed classics as long as you pay money. Each classic also has annotations from various schools of thought... The classics themselves don't actually lack text; the annotations from various schools are the main part.

Therefore, what is being sold are the annotations; the original text and suspected passages are merely bonuses.

Therefore, Cai Zhaoji's reputation was extremely polarized. Some people wished they could devour her alive and burn the entire Cai Garden to ashes; but in the eyes of others, Cai Zhaoji was like a messenger of light who held up a torch in the dark to drive away ferocious beasts and dangers.

Liu Fang also went to see Cai Garden. The exterior of Cai Garden was unremarkable, just a three-story mud wall with no windows and no one in sight.

To see the full view of Cai Garden, you have to go inside and explore its interior.

Liu Fang only glanced at it casually a few more times; he didn't have that much money to buy all the annotations.

Are these annotations important?
It was very important to scholars and commoners from poor families.

But in Liu Fang's eyes, the teacher who explained these annotations was more important!
Only by becoming a distinguished disciple of renowned scholars and Confucian masters can one open the door to an official career and, with the support and guidance of their teachers and fellow students, naturally rise to prominence!

Even if he had money, Liu Fang wouldn't bother buying these inanimate objects.

He wasn't interested in Cai Garden; he cared more about the development of Jinyang City... Now he was convinced, and if given the chance, he would naturally move away from Zhuo County and settle in Jinyang.

If one settles in Jinyang and acquires a small amount of real estate, enough for their descendants to live comfortably and pass down the tradition of farming and scholarship, even if they fall on hard times, they will eventually rise again.

With a plan forming in his mind and growing increasingly eager, Liu Fang stopped looking at the scenery near and far.

He would rather be a planner in the shogunate, which would be more meaningful than admiring and praising the development of Jinyang.

Putting aside his distracting thoughts, Liu Fang returned to his quarters to bathe and change into new robes, then awaited the summons from Grand Tutor Zhao the next day.

(End of this chapter)