Chapter 388

Su Naifa is reliable; of course, Gao De himself is not bad either.

He put away the bottle of second-rank Ice Sha, then pulled open a drawer, took out a huge piece of parchment that had been prepared long ago, and spread it out on the table.

"This is the Phoenix city construction draft I've drawn over the past few days. Take a look and see if there's anything that needs modification or supplementation. If both you and I feel there's no problem after looking at it, then let Miss Aisha take a look...

She is a princess of the Saint Xi En Duchy and must know many of the pitfalls encountered during the construction of Saint Xi En cities; she should be able to discover many places we haven't noticed."

Upon hearing this, ripples flashed in Su Naifa's deep blue eyes, like the shimmering light on the surface of a lake.

She walked to the table with great interest, leaned over slightly, and carefully examined the design draft Gao De had drawn.

The patterns on the draft were not exquisite, but the lines were straight and level, as if drawn with precision rulers and compasses.

—This is the basic professional quality of a Rune Constructor.

Gao De was not a professional in terms of urban design, but he had the urban construction ideas of many super-large cities with populations of over ten million from his previous life as a reference.

For the overall layout, Gao De adopted the simplest yet easiest-to-replicate grid city layout, constructing a grid road network with roads in the east-west and north-south directions as the main trunks.

This layout could divide blocks most efficiently, just like cutting a huge cake according to a regular chessboard grid, with each piece square and the boundaries clear.

This would make land utilization extremely convenient, and building layout could also proceed in an orderly manner.

More importantly, it reserved vast space for the further expansion of the city in the future.

On the basis of the grid layout, Gao De referred to modern urban planning concepts and incorporated the idea of "functional zoning."

That is, clearly dividing living areas, commercial areas, industrial areas, etc., to avoid the interference caused by mixed functions and to improve the city's operational efficiency.

Rulers of many countries also had corresponding awareness of this point, but they did not do it finely or regularly enough.

It was common for "industrial" shops and commercial shops to be mixed together; the noisy sound of blacksmithing and the operation of alchemical machines were unusually clamorous, which would affect the conduct of normal commercial activities, and vehicles transporting raw materials would also cause congestion on streets that were not very wide to begin with.

There were actually many examples of this kind.

And the specific zoning plan Gao De set for Phoenix was actually not complicated either.

The conditions of the northern realm were laid out here; naturally, the simpler it was under reasonable circumstances, the better.

First was the living area, which adopted a zoned and graded setting, dividing the living area into different regions according to the residents' status.

Building a high-end living area within the limited region influenced by the Ice Jade Bingyu Wutong was actually Gao De and Su Naifa's residence.

With the Ice Jade Bingyu Wutong as the center, the first outer region extending outward was the living area for high-circle Ice-Born mages or city civil servants.

Ordinary residents were concentrated near the North Binghu.

Although it was some distance from the city center, the transportation was convenient and it was close to water sources; additionally, the natural landscape of the North Binghu could also create a relatively comfortable living environment.

Then, within the living areas, it was planned to build corresponding community squares as places for residents to communicate and engage in activities.

In addition, space was also reserved for small grocery stores, taverns, community shops, and other living support facilities.

Of course, Phoenix currently had no commercial and trade system, so there were no shops of this type.

So it was just reserved.

The commercial area was the same; according to Gao De's idea, it was to be centered on the Ice Jade Bingyu Wutong, with several narrow but prosperous commercial streets built in a radial shape.

But for now, it could only be said to be reserved space and could not really build up the commercial area.

The administrative area was centered on the original City Hall, concentrated in that area, and a municipal square was set up in the administrative area for holding ceremonies or activities, and even for issuing government decrees.

The industrial area was planned to be located at the edge of the city, with a compact layout near the side of the volcano.

It was both far from the living area, avoiding industrial production affecting residents' lives, and far from the Jin Hui Farm, preventing industrial activities from causing interference to agricultural production.

The education area was built around the several large schools that had already been established.

Naturally, reserving several grids for the education area was also a must.

Phoenix currently indeed could not even popularize basic education, and the schools were already enough.

However, in the future, the increase in population would make the number of school-age children further increase, and additionally, higher-level education would certainly have to be launched.

At that time, one would need to build more middle schools, and two, one would need to build high-level schools, all of which would require a large amount of space.

The roads were designed with the capital city as the standard; the two main trunk roads in the east-west and north-south directions were both set to a width of twenty-five meters.

At this width, four carriages could travel side-by-side in both directions, and a green belt position was reserved in the middle of the road to separate the two-way lanes.

The sidewalks on both sides were each three meters wide.

The width of other roads was half that of the main trunk roads, which was the so-called "two-lane" standard.

The main trunk roads and secondary trunk roads were connected to each other, forming a tight transportation network to ensure unimpeded flow between various areas of the city.

Gao De even reserved a strip area of a certain width in the road planning as a corridor for future pipeline laying, avoiding the inability to lay pipelines in the future due to dense buildings on both sides of the road.

And according to the future layout of the pipelines, the positions of inspection wells were determined in advance and marked at corresponding positions.

—Phoenix currently had no ability to build pipeline facilities, but in Gao De's eyes, this was the foundation of a city and must be supplemented in the future, so taking precautions was also a must.

After finishing the draft designed by Gao De, Su Naifa raised her eyes and pointed with her finger at some strange lines on the draft, "What do these lines mean?"

These lines were much finer than the other lines on the draft, but they were spread throughout every area in the city, everywhere.

"They are some of my immature ideas, but for now, it's just an idea, and I can't find a way to realize it for the time being." Gao De spoke the truth; as for what the specific ideas were, he did not elaborate further.

"I have already started to look forward to the appearance of Phoenix after the expansion is completed." Su Naifa stopped looking at the design drawing and said seriously.

She had no opinion on Gao De's design ideas.

"Then later, you take the design drawing to Miss Aisha to see, and discuss together whether there is anything that needs improvement."

Gao De paused and continued: "I will be leaving in a few days. The expansion of Phoenix still has to be presided over by you. If any problems are discovered during the construction process, you need to adjust them flexibly."

"Don't worry." Su Naifa's answer was short and powerful, and then the conversation turned: "As for the Minister of the Construction Department, do you have a suitable candidate in mind?"

Hearing this question, Gao De frowned slightly.

After deep thought for a moment, he shook his head, "Phoenix seems to have no talent in this area. If it really doesn't work, I can only find someone who is relatively steady, cautious, and pays attention to details to fill the position, and slowly cultivate ability and accumulate experience during the actual city construction process."

The entire northern realm only had this one city of Phoenix, and it was such a city with almost no design.

Under these circumstances, it was not realistic to find a talent among the locals who matched the Construction Department.

"That's all we can do." Su Naifa replied.

"Education, ah, education!" Gao De sighed leisurely. In the process of rapid development, the importance of education became increasingly prominent.

Only by spreading universal education could the future northern realm get rid of this talent predicament.

Otherwise, there would only be a greater and greater shortage of people.

But precisely because universal education had not yet been popularized, there was simply no way to find a sufficient number of teachers now.

Without a sufficient number of teachers, universal education could not be popularized.

Well, it's a closed loop.

Gao De couldn't help but rub his temples with his fingertips, feeling a bit of a headache.

Just at this moment, both he and Su Naifa heard a burst of hurried footsteps.

"War Mother, My King, a stranger has come outside, saying he wants to see you, and is currently waiting outside the City Hall." A guard ran in from outside the City Hall, stood at attention, saluted, and reported.

"A stranger?" Gao De and Su Naifa were both slightly startled, having no clue.

It was mainly because in the land of the northern realm, given their prestige, very few people would directly name them to see them.

"The person said his name is Quentin." The guard hurriedly added.

It was actually him, the former Chief Guardian of the Snowfield Guardians, who had been wandering the snowfield for years, performing the duty of guarding the snowfield, and had not returned to the headquarters for many years.

So when they destroyed the Snowfield Guardians, they had not crossed paths with Quentin.

After such a long time, he had actually come to the door at this time.

"Please invite him in." Gao De and Su Naifa looked at each other, then said slowly.

A few minutes later, a burly man who was dusty and unusually sturdy walked in.

He was wearing clothes sewn from rough animal skins, and the mane that had not been completely scraped off still remained on those skins, trembling slightly with his movements. His dark face was covered with a thick beard, and overall he looked somewhat unkempt.

This appearance and attire, coupled with his thick, high-bulging arm muscles, made him look like an orc who would raise a big club at any time and shout "For the Horde," with no sign of a mage at all.

But as the saying goes, one cannot judge a person by their appearance; such a rough man was precisely a noble fourth-circle mage, and the top combat power of a duchy was nothing more than this.

If Su Naifa were not on the side, even with the accompaniment of several other fourth-circle mages of the Enduring Zhenbing Tribe, Gao De could not possibly have received the other party.

Too dangerous.

However, with Su Naifa there, it was different; the sense of security she gave was too sufficient, and she alone was enough to easily hold the scene.

"Respected Enduring Zhenbing War Mother, Enduring Zhenbing King, I, the former Chief Guardian of the Snowfield Guardians, Quentin, pay my respects to you both." As soon as he entered the room, the burly man bent his waist and bowed to sixty degrees without hesitation, saying in a deep and rough voice.

"Quentin, what is your purpose in coming to Phoenix? Are you here to seek justice for the Snowfield Guardians or to surrender?" Su Naifa's deep blue eyes showed no emotional ripples, and she spoke lightly.

"Neither. I have already heard the ins and outs of the sect's destruction on my way to Phoenix, and after entering Phoenix, I also personally went to see the Undead Ice Sculptures." Quentin straightened up and looked at the two of them squarely.

The Undead Ice Sculptures, that is, the ice sculptures formed by Ryan and the fifth-rank zombie behemoth he summoned.

"The doctrine of our Snowfield Guardians is to guard the snowfield. Ryan practiced forbidden necromancy and harmed the people of the northern realm; meeting today's end is a crime he deserves, and I have no grievances to state."

"As for surrendering," this former Chief Guardian of the Snowfield Guardians named Quentin straightened his expression, "In the Snowfield Guardians, hunters and guardians were originally two distinct factions, each doing their own thing."

He added seriously: "In these years, I have spent most of my time wandering on the snowfield, running around to guard the snowfield, and have not returned to the sect headquarters for a long time. As for what Ryan did, let alone participating, I was completely unaware, and even heard about the sect's destruction only recently."

"You can't hold me jointly responsible for his crimes just because we came from the same sect."

Su Naifa pondered for a moment before nodding slightly, "Then what is your purpose in coming to see us?"

"I heard that the Enduring Zhenbing Tribe released news that they are willing to accept the northern realm tribes to join."

"I have wandered the snowfield for so many years and have seen and helped many tribes, large and small. They live extremely difficult lives. If a large tribe is willing to take them in, they would certainly be very willing to accept." Quentin straightened his expression, spread his hands, and continued:

"But they are all just small tribes, distributed across the vast snowfield. The news you released is actually very difficult to reach their ears, and even if they were lucky enough to receive this news, it would actually be very difficult for them to migrate to Phoenix on their own."

"Therefore, I came to the door."

"I know the specific locations of their tribes. If you are willing to receive them, I can lead the way for you."

"In addition, there are actually many of us guardians on the snowfield. They certainly know many such similar small tribes. If you agree, I can summon them to do this together."

"You should know that Ryan has become a fifth-circle mage, right?" Gao De suddenly asked.

"I know, and thanks to you, Ice-Born, otherwise who else in the entire northern realm could sanction him." Quentin looked at Su Naifa, half-flattering and half-sighing.

Looking at the thick-browed and big-eyed man, Gao De, who was actually quite good at talking, glanced at Quentin with a strange look and said again: "Then you still dare to come to the door for this matter that has nothing to do with you? Aren't you afraid that we will treat you as a remnant and take you down directly?"

"I'm afraid," Quentin spread his hands and said in a matter-of-fact tone: "However, the doctrine I uphold is to guard the snowfield. This is what I should do. What's more, I believe that the King of the Northern Realm, who can bring revival to the northern realm according to the prophecy, should be a person of great wisdom and heart, and will not do such a thing."

"The Snowfield Guardians have already been destroyed." Su Naifa reminded.

"The sect is gone, but the doctrine will not disappear; it is still in my heart." Quentin said seriously.

"You just said to summon other guardians?" Gao De noticed a detail revealed in Quentin's words: "You guardians all act alone and are distributed in various places on the snowfield. How can you contact them?"

He was both puzzled and inquisitive.

On this vast and harsh snowfield, it was almost impossible to get in touch with personnel scattered in various places.

"It can't be called contact, it can only be considered leaving a message." Quentin thought for a while and said truthfully.

"Leaving a message?"

Quentin took a stone out of his arms.

The stone was about the size of a palm, round and oval in shape. Looking closely, it seemed that strands of silver texture were flowing inside the stone, and these textures intertwined to form a unique and complex pattern.

"What is this?"

"A little gadget, we call it a Shadow-Recording Stone; it contains Phantom Light Crystal inside."

"After injecting mana into the Shadow-Recording Stone, the Phantom Light Crystal will be activated, and it will record the light, shadow, and sound in the surrounding environment. Then you only need to inject mana in reverse to present the recorded picture and sound."

"We place it in those tribes to leave messages for the guardians who come later."

This was really just a little gadget; it looked rare, but its function was too limited, and there were many restrictions, so Quentin didn't take it too seriously.

But what he didn't expect was that after he finished introducing the Shadow-Recording Stone, Gao De's eyes lit up all of a sudden!

(End of this chapter)