Chapter 1177: The Prosperous and Advanced City

First Volume, Chapter 1177: The Prosperous and Advanced City

Lin Quqi answered with ease: "This Second City has only five hundred and fifty farm owners."

"Once the trees mature, the County Yamen will buy all this timber at market price in one go."

"Though no money comes in for years, one sale is enough to let the farm owners live comfortably for life."

"Moreover, the Qin King has explicitly mandated that timber prices must strictly follow market price; any farm owner who dares to inflate prices will have their contract immediately revoked."

At first, Jing Ci wondered whether these farm owners, once enriched, would hoard timber and arbitrarily raise prices.

But this concern vanished in an instant.

After all, this was Beixi County—anyone who dared cause trouble would be crushed by Qin Feng in an instant.

Both the Liang Kingdom and Bei Di had long spread rumors that Qin Feng was the "enemy of the wealthy gentry"; as long as the gentry obeyed, they could profit.

If they disobeyed, Qin Feng, who had raised them up, could just as easily destroy them in an instant.

In other words, Qin Feng had fully delegated commercial permissions while tightly holding military power.

As long as Qin Feng remained the King of the Northern Border, no merchant would dare to overstep.

Qin Feng's Golden Sword does not interfere with commerce—it merely cuts off merchants' heads when necessary.

In Beixi County's Three-Layer Outer Wall, two layers are firmly controlled by five hundred and fifty farmers—or rather, farm owners.

To Jing Ci, this seemed like directly nurturing five hundred and fifty landlords. But after deeper investigation, Jing Ci realized the truth was precisely the opposite.

These five hundred and fifty farm owners, while earning profits, must also feed back into Beixi County.

This was Gao Ming's brilliance!

When they reached the final layer of the Outer Wall, all that met the eye were houses.

Two-thirds of Beixi County's population reside in the third layer of the Outer Wall, where all types of housing are neatly arranged in continuous rows.

Lin Quqi enthusiastically explained: "These houses were all uniformly planned and constructed by the Qin King."

"Whether ordinary civilians or families of soldiers, all have settled here."

"This is both an Outer Wall and the residential zone planned by the Qin King."

Residential zone…

The name was fitting indeed.

Jing Ci was utterly awed by Qin Feng's intellect—his mastery extended from military affairs to people's livelihood, both reaching the pinnacle.

According to Lin Quqi, one hundred thousand civilians lived in this residential zone alone!

What did that mean? Many counties couldn't even muster one hundred thousand people in total.

Yet Beixi County, merely one Outer Wall within its County City, housed this many people.

What amazed Jing Ci most was that despite such density, there was no crowding—everything was orderly and clean.

The Vice Minister of Rites from the Study Corps stared, dumbfounded, at the clean, tidy streets and vast stretches of Lou Ge.

"Good heavens! I'd heard the people of Beixi County lived better than any wealthy household in Heaven."

"But I never imagined their lives were this good."

"Even ordinary civilians live in Lou Ge?!"

In this age, constrained by construction techniques, a two-story Lou Ge was already remarkable; a three-story Lou Ge was considered the "Number One Building in Heaven."

Lou, Ge, and Ta differed greatly in height due to their distinct functions.

Among them, Ta was the tallest but least practical; Ge usually had only one or two stories, while Lou had two or three.

The Vice Minister of Rites was stunned because every building in sight was vast clusters of two-story Lou Ge!

A single glance told him the number of Lou Ge in Beixi County's residential zone already surpassed that of Di Wang Du.

Jing Ci covered her mouth, eyes wide open, feeling this wasn't a County City—it was… a fairyland on earth.

"Qin Feng… cough cough, how could the Qin King possibly think this way? It's just people's homes—why build so extravagantly?"

When Qin Feng first planned the residential zone, Lin Quqi had been so shocked he couldn't sleep for days.

He'd thought Qin Feng's head must have been kicked by a donkey.

But now, looking at the orderly residential zone, Lin Quqi felt nothing but pride—his admiration for Qin Feng was beyond words.

"The Outer Wall is long and narrow, and when civilians build homes, they naturally add courtyards, consuming too much land."

"That would lead to chaotic, unauthorized construction, making the Outer Wall unbearably congested."

"But the Qin King unified the construction of the residential zone, using only Lou Ge, thereby banning anyone from privately building Civilian Household."

"Thus, land use in the Outer Wall was drastically saved, allowing many more civilians to settle."

"Moreover, these Lou Ge were built by Tianji Camp craftsmen, cutting costs and accelerating construction speed."

Although Jing Ci understood that Qin Feng's entire planning was driven by utilitarianism—

Maximizing profit.

Yet…

Seeing Beixi County's civilians all living in Lou Ge still left Jing Ci profoundly shaken.

"How much does it cost to buy one of these Lou Ge?"

Hearing Jing Ci's question, Lin Quqi shrugged and held up two fingers: "Just twenty taels of silver—the cost of materials."

What?!

Twenty taels of silver!

The Study Corps was stunned again—ten taels for a horse was one thing, but twenty taels for a Lou Ge?

This… this was simply unbelievable.

Seeing their shock, Lin Quqi quickly added: "Don't misunderstand—only those with Beixi County Household Registration can buy Lou Ge at this low price, and each household is limited to one."

Jing Ci finally understood why so many people were desperate to relocate to Beixi County.

As long as one becomes a part of Beixi County, they will instantly rise to wealth and enjoy a prosperous, comfortable life.

What Jing Ci found most incomprehensible was Qin Feng's extraordinary long-term vision.

Livestock and houses were sold nearly at cost, yet all these benefits attracted a flood of talent to Beixi County.

Scholars and merchants surged forward in droves.

Not just outsiders—even Jing Ci herself felt tempted, wishing to register as a resident of Beixi County.

When Jing Ci turned around, she found the entire study group's gazes were identical—fixed intently on those Lou Ge, as if they longed to move in right then and there.

The third Wengcheng was already comparable to an immensely powerful County City.

And this was merely a part of the "Outer City."

Beyond the third Wengcheng, what came into view was the true Inner City of Beixi County.

Though it was the county center, its area equaled the combined size of the second and third Wengchengs—undoubtedly vast.

Compared to the Inner City, the Zhu Zhai Qu seemed like an ordinary small county town, utterly unremarkable.

Jing Ci glanced once and spotted over a dozen three-story Lou Ge!

The Vice Minister of Rites was so stunned his jaw nearly dropped to the ground.

He knew best the architectural scale of the Di Wang Du—there were only five three-story Lou Ge there.