Chapter 581

The Great King felt anguish and indignation, "Mengmeng is resentful because I, the king, owe a debt and don't repay it; now it publicly seeks revenge, unwilling to see me well—it wants to harm me~"

Bai Ze had already lain back down, lazily agreeing, "Yes, it wants to harm you so it can inherit your debt."

The Great King thought, that doesn't seem reasonable.

He silently lay back down and accepted three construction tasks in bed.

【Having claimed the Royal Garden–Abyssal Terrace Isle, please select a construction site.】 Upon claiming, a new side construction task popped up immediately: Side Task Two.

The reputation of the Academy for Side Task One is truly unchanging for ten thousand years; once I ascend the throne, I will forcibly declare the Northern Border Academy the number one academy in the world.

Bai Ze: '…Black‑red is still red, unsuitable for an emperor. The historian will record it, write it in the history books.' Then, after two thousand years, it will still be dug up and gossiped about.

The Great King worried, 'Are we supposed to do all the bad things in advance? Then what's the point of being emperor?!' This guy's worry lasted only three seconds before he cleared up, and Bai Ze knew he had become logically self‑consistent.

'Have you resigned yourself to giving up Side Task One?'

'No. I, the king, just suddenly realized that compared to fear of gossip, a historian lacking tact can be killed.'

Bai Ze: ……

【Side Task Two, construct the Royal Garden–Abyssal Terrace Isle.

Official subsidies: all raw materials; all tools and equipment;

Site Technical Chief NPC×1 (recovered after task completion); specialized technical workforce×5000 (recovered after task completion);

Logistics chain supplement: recruit 5000 local workers from the Northern Border;

Estimated construction period: five months (150 days)

Task supplies: work uniforms×5000 【summer wear, winter wear】 (if the start date does not span summer and winter, winter wear is canceled); meals×5000×150 days; wages×5000×150; winter construction subsidy: cold‑proof tents×500 (tops).

Whether to say it or not, the Great King was extremely satisfied after looking it over—the project at Abyssal Terrace Isle is bigger than the recent task, the Sea‑Suppressing Palace! But the Great King also understood that it's already autumn; if work starts immediately, the schedule will cross winter, and if we wait until next spring to start, then we'd have a full set. Likewise, the cold‑proof tents are also needed for this set of winter clothing, so he too must forcibly cross the winter. The winter clothing for the laborers doesn't count, but this tent the Great King wants—after recovering it, using it as a marching tent would be extremely handy, convenient and sturdy, and still keep out the cold in winter.

'Mengmeng is really forcing me to be a foolish ruler, adding difficulty to my unified task! But it's fine—I, the king, haven't ascended the throne yet, hahaha~'

Bai Ze: ……

【Side Task Three: construct a road linking the Northern Border and Shangdang Commandery, Qinghe Commandery.

Official subsidies: all raw materials; all tools and equipment;

Site Technical Chief NPC×1 (recovered after task completion); specialized technical workforce×6000 (recovered after task completion);

Logistics chain supplement: recruit 6000 local workers from the Northern Border

Estimated construction period: four months (120 days)

Task supplies: work uniforms×6000×2; meals×6000×120; wages×8000.

The Great King looked and said, 'The construction of Abyssal Terrace Isle specially marked the uniform distribution standard, but this imperial road has no mark! Directly two sets? Mengmeng can't have it—it's broken!'

Bai Ze: '…Because it's an imperial road, no one will scold you.'

'You see, you see, and you still say you didn't deliberately give me more difficulty?! But… hehe, he's mistaken—I, the king, am the type who would forsake profit for fame. Not to mention that winter clothing and tents are precious in the Great Jin, just saying they could solve the winter for five thousand households, I, the king, would also submit!'

Bai Ze was not surprised at all—this is the Great King.

The Great King had already made up his mind, accepted the construction task, and began considering where to modify this garden. His heartfelt home was no longer Chang'an but Youzhou; the idea of relocating the capital had not been just a day or two.

Since we'll be returning later, there's no reason to discard the Royal Garden here. The Great King began selecting a site around Youzhou, preferably not too far from Youzhou City, so that future outings would still have a place to stay; he started searching in the southern and western directions of Youzhou City.

'It'd best be a barren patch—mengmeng's wool plucked to let it prosper. Surely the Royal Garden–Abyssal Terrace Isle can't still lack carriage access, right?'

He quickly found a place in Ning'an County with mountains and water and sparse population; traveling on horseback from Youzhou City takes about a day, by carriage two days suffices, and going out to stay and play the distance is suitable. The Great King has already begun considering Youzhou as the radiation range of the capital; we can't pile all the good things in Youzhou City.

The Great King selected the site and got to work, discovering that this garden actually had no map—first we must confirm the construction address, then the system will design the layout according to the geographical environment of the construction site. He clicked to start construction; on the upper part of the full terrain map of Youzhou appeared a square green virtual shadow. This job the Great King can handle! He found that wasteland in northern Ning'an, shrank the map as much as possible and moved it downward; according to scale, the plot of land enclosed by the garden's virtual shadow became larger.

Bai Ze looked and saw this guy wanted to frame Ning'an County and the eastern part of western Yangjiang County all at once, then got up again to wait and watch the show.

Who would have thought that before the Great King even let go, a new dialog box popped up: 【It is detected that the lord's selected address contains farmland and houses; before construction we must properly relocate the populace. Change the construction address? Yes/No】

The king gaped, "…… This means I still have to spend my own money to move things?"

No one answered him.

Seeing that Mengmeng didn't object to the construction site he had chosen, the king feared that if he changed his mind he'd lose the advantage, so he reluctantly agreed. What if Mengmeng can only pop one box at a time?

He painfully clicked 'No', and after clicking and releasing it, it succeeded. The king was delighted; he couldn't wait to zoom in on the map to look, and discovered…… it wasn't as big as he imagined.

"Cheater Mengmeng! The frame is that big a white frame!" The landing point of Yingtai Zhou is the center of that huge frame.

"Let me see…… it covers four hundred hectares? Also… not bad." The king put on a brave front.

"With only ten thousand workers and a five-month schedule, there's definitely a plan for how big we can build for you. This is still with a cheat; otherwise, if we only recruited Jin people, four hundred hectares would take ten years to build."

Seeing the concrete numbers, the king was already satisfied; he couldn't even finish playing in the garden of the Northern King's mansion, and this four hundred hectares would be enough for his sister and aunt to stroll for half a month.

The next day the king announced externally that a major project was to commence; he had already grasped the situation in Shangdang and Qinghe, and the next step was to build a chariot road within the two commanderies linking to the Northern Border.

The eight-direction chariot roads are standard equipment of the Northern Border; every place that becomes the king's territory has them.

The benefits of the chariot road need not be mentioned by the king; he said to build it and no one objected, so he simply announced officially that the garden would be incorporated into a proper project.

The chariot roads of Shangdang and Qinghe naturally must recruit locals, so that new subjects know the benefits of following the king. As for the five thousand people to build this garden, the king intends to use them to lure drifters from outside the city.

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【Who knows if everyone has a concept of four hundred hectares; the Summer Palace is three hundred hectares— the king cannot lose!】