Clan Rise: Starting as a Grandfather

Chapter 321: Chapter 311: The Construction and Planning of Guard City

Yang Zhenshan then asked some more questions, which Zhou Ren and Lu Wenhua both answered one by one.

After the two of them left, Yang Zhenshan went to inspect the city walls again, where the repair of Guard City’s ramparts was underway frantically, with a thousand-strong construction crew bustling about.

From the initial chaos and maladjustment, the construction team gradually entered a more orderly and progressive phase.

Although there are many shortcomings in both management and construction, this was inevitable.

Yang Zhenshan had brought over some concepts from his previous life, but it would take time for his subordinates to understand and implement his ideas.

Overall, it still looked very promising.

After inspecting the walls, Yang Zhenshan hurried back to the government office and found a working room in the Experience Bureau.

Apart from handling the clerical work within the garrison, the Experience Bureau also took part in daily management tasks, such as overseeing finances, military pay, farmland, judicial matters, and litigation, assisting the seal-keeping officials in managing the affairs of governance.

In fact, the largest organization within the Guardian Department was the Experience Bureau.

For more effective management, Yang Zhenshan had further delineated the duties of the Experience Bureau, with Han Fei serving as the head, under whom were divided more than a dozen sections, including two for clerical work, as well as sections for finance, military registration, horse administration, military law, construction, and so on.

The so-called clerical rooms were essentially secretariats, specifically the ones assisting Xie Yuan and Song Dashan, the two Commanders.

As for Yang Zhenshan, with Lu Wenhua and Zhou Ren as his deputy officials, the entire Experience Bureau served him, so there was no need to set up a separate clerical room for him.

The room Yang Zhenshan was currently visiting was the construction section of the office, which as the name implies, was responsible for the construction projects of Tenglong Guard, managing the construction teams, planning buildings and construction works, and devising construction schedules, among others.

The entire construction section had eight civil servants, all from the former garrison soldiers.

To be honest, it was hard for these soldiers to do such work; they were elite when it came to fighting battles but completely out of their depth with planning and scheduling, causing chaos and great stress.

Seeing Yang Zhenshan arrive, the eight soldiers stood up quickly, ”Sir!”

One by one, they looked utterly dejected, like wronged young wives.

They were indeed overwhelmed by all these messy tasks.

Yang Zhenshan couldn’t help but find their situation amusing.

However, he didn’t console these soldiers because he knew any reassurance he gave would not help; after all, he lacked manpower to replace them.

He had indeed sent people to other places to recruit civil officers, such as students and scholars, all very welcome at Tenglong Guard.

Unfortunately, very few were willing to come.

The reason was simple; Tenglong Guard was a garrison, which to scholars meant a bunch of rough soldiers, spending their days amidst coarse men, something that was beneath their dignity.

”How’s the city planning coming along?” asked Yang Zhenshan.

”Sir, this is the planning map we’ve made, please have a look!”

Yang Zhenshan stepped forward to examine the planning map they had created.

Tenglong Guard wasn’t very large, just a small fortress with a circumference of merely ten miles.

The eastern half of the city was originally the Lan family’s residence, which has now been transformed by Yang Zhenshan into the Guardian Department and several courtyards, along with a large garden.

The future East City area would also serve as a residential and office area for the office officials, as for the West City area.

According to Yang Zhenshan’s plan, there needed to be a market, a commercial street, and a residential area.

The market was to facilitate the military households in the vicinity to purchase and sell goods, and the commercial street would serve a similar purpose but mainly host larger merchants.

Such as cloth stores, inns, restaurants, gold and silver shops, and so on.

Ordinary military households certainly couldn’t manage such businesses, hence the need to attract business from outside.

More merchants would aid economic development; though the Tenglong Guard market was not large, the Guard was going to develop many industries, including currently the salt trade and soon, according to Yang Zhenshan’s plan, overseas trade.

Once overseas trade kicked off, Tenglong Guard would become the largest commerce center in the northern Liaodong Region.

By then, Liaodong’s furs, medicinal herbs, dried goods, and the like could be shipped out on sea vessels, while fabric, porcelain, tea leaves, silk, and other items would be shipped in by sea to Tenglong Guard.

With overseas trade, the influx of merchants to Tenglong Guard would naturally increase, and a bustling commercial street would become indispensable.

Places like inns, restaurants, and teahouses were all necessary; it wouldn’t do for a bunch of merchants to arrive without anywhere to stay or entertain guests for meals.

As for the residential area, it was also meant for the business owners.

Generally, the military households would not reside within the city because they were responsible for farming the land.

However, as more merchants settled in Guard City, the shopkeepers, sales assistants, and business owners would need places to live. The owners couldn’t always stay in inns, so buying a small courtyard and setting up a home in the city was a natural expectation.

Yang Zhenshan scrutinized the planning map; the market and commercial street were actually not very problematic. The commercial street was divided into two parts, one stretching from South City Gate to North City Gate and the other from West City Gate to the city center. Since the other side was the Guardian Department, there was no connection between the east and west.

The market was situated in the southwest corner, a suitable area for petty trades.

”How many houses have you planned for the residential area?” Yang Zhenshan inquired.

”Eight hundred courtyards!”

”...”

Yang Zhenshan was somewhat speechless. He knew he should come and take a look.

Who are the eight hundred courtyards for?

The military households would not enter the city, and the officials from the government office would all live in the East City district and wouldn’t need to buy additional properties for residence.

Relying on outsiders and merchants to fill up these eight hundred courtyards was just a joke.

”How big are these small courtyards?”

”Uh, each is a standalone courtyard house.”

Yang Zhenshan understood. The small courtyards they planned were just like the ones planned inside the garrison for the military households.

The military households’ courtyards typically had a main house with three rooms and two side wings of two rooms each. Additionally, other shacks would be built, with a small courtyard covering roughly one hundred and fifty square meters in total, enough to accommodate a family of eight to ten people.

”Change it. Build ten sets of large three-section courtyards, thirty sets of smaller three-section courtyards, and one hundred sets of standalone courtyard houses. Convert the rest of the area into low-rent housing!” Yang Zhenshan said after careful consideration.

”Low-rent housing?” The soldiers looked at each other, not understanding what that meant.

”Yes, low-rent housing! That is, without a courtyard, no, that’s not right, make the courtyard a little smaller.”

Yang Zhenshan simply took some paper and began to draw it himself.

The low-rent housing he had in mind consisted of rows of houses facing south, with ten rooms to a row. Each row of houses had a courtyard that was one zhang wide, containing a well and clothes drying racks.

”These houses are for the merchants’ assistants to live in and can also serve as guesthouse rooms!”

”Look here, the guesthouse is located here, and we can build these types of low-rent housing behind it. If the guesthouse is full, customers can stay in these low-rent houses!”

”If a merchant has many assistants, they can rent a whole row of low-rent housing!”

”The low-rent housing is for rent only, not for sale. The price can be lower, but it also adds some income to the government office!”

Yang Zhenshan briefly explained his idea.

”But will there really be so many people living here?” The soldiers also raised their doubts.

Yang Zhenshan gave them a look as if they were simpletons, ”If you doubt there will be so many people, why did you plan so many courtyards?”

”...” The crowd laughed awkwardly.

”There should be, right?”

Yang Zhenshan was not sure either; after all, it was just a plan. The actual situation in the future would depend on the development of sea trade, and there were many problems to be solved before sea trade could be developed in Tenglong Guard.

”Forget it, just plan according to my idea for now. If it doesn’t work, we can leave the area vacant for the time being. If other needs arise later, it’s not too late to build!”

...

By mid-July, the refurbishment of the city wall was basically completed.

The wall of Guard City was one zhang and five chi high and about eight chi wide. There were no facilities on the wall, just two parapets, and not even a gate tower—it could be said to be quite rudimentary—so the maintenance was easy.

With the completion of the city wall repairs, the internal renovation plans were also put on the agenda.

Meanwhile, Yang Zhenshan also brought up the issue of sea trade.

To start sea trade in Tenglong Guard, there was a lot to prepare for.

Firstly, ships. Without ships, how could one sail the sea? However, ships could be purchased, so this was relatively easy to solve.

Next was manpower. Even just for coastal sailing, you need professional expertise.

Sea trade was not well developed in the Liaodong Region, and it was not easy to find talent in this area. Yang Zhenshan had no choice but to ask Luo Shang to invite people from Jiangnan and the southeast.

Lastly, and most troublesome, was how to get the court to agree to Tenglong Guard participating in sea trade.

Although Da Rong did not ban sea trade, there were many restrictions on it. To conduct sea trade, one had to go through the Market Shipping Department, which imposed high taxes. This led many sea merchants to engage in smuggling.

However, as the Commander of Tenglong Guard, Yang Zhenshan naturally could not be involved in smuggling if he were to conduct sea trade in the name of Tenglong Guard.

But if the Market Shipping Department were to extract taxes, he couldn’t just work for nothing!

Actually, circumventing the Market Shipping Department was not difficult; just set up the Navy in the name of Tenglong Guard.

The Navy going to sea would have a legitimate reason, whether for training or fighting pirates; there was always a justification. Yes, and smuggling some private goods on the side wouldn’t hurt either.

In the southeast of Da Rong, many Navy garrison stations did just that.

Yang Zhenshan could do the same.

However, to establish the Navy, higher approval was still needed.

The Central Army Commander’s Mansion?

Forget it, the Central Army Commander’s Mansion would never agree to him setting up the Navy.

This had to be taken up with the old Emperor.

Once bitten, twice shy. After the salt field incident, Yang Zhenshan quickly put together a petition and sent someone to the Capital City.

However, no sooner had he sent off the petition than the punishment from the Central Army Commander’s Mansion arrived.