Chapter 531: Re-planning
Early that morning, Gao Yiye arrived in front of the tailoring shop.
Her “exalted status” was now known throughout the city. The bailiffs guarding the tailoring shop’s entrance dared not be remiss, quickly sending one man to inform Qiu Qianfan while the other stepped forward with a fawning smile.
Soon, Qiu Qianfan emerged to greet her. “Ah, Madam Li, you’re here so early,” he said, bowing slightly. “To what do we owe this unexpected visit?”
Gao Yiye smiled. “There are some town planning matters I wished to discuss with Your Excellency, the Prefect.”
“Town planning?” Qiu Qianfan repeated, clearly puzzled. “What’s there to plan?”
Gao Yiye replied slowly, “Puzhou City is simply too small. Our factories won’t fit.”
Qiu Qianfan was utterly bewildered. “What? How can that be?”
Gao Yiye sighed. “Prefect Qiu, you need only behold the sheer size of our newly constructed textile factory, and you will immediately grasp the situation.”
Qiu Qianfan truly didn't believe it. *Hadn't he personally overseen the purchase of that textile factory?* It hadn't seemed particularly vast then! He followed Gao Yiye towards the renovated textile factory, but the moment he laid eyes on the site, he gasped sharply.
There were not only colossal factory buildings designed to accommodate two hundred new textile machines, but also ancillary workshops for dyeing and garment manufacturing. Beyond those, the plans included employee dormitories, a cafeteria, sports grounds, a park, a school for the workers’ children, and a host of other communal amenities...
This single textile factory alone was poised to swallow up several tenths of Puzhou City’s entire internal space.
Puzhou City was simply too constrained!
Its layout was perfectly square, its city walls stretching for eight *li* and three hundred forty-seven *bu*—a dimension historically recorded and corroborated by modern archaeological teams.
Such an area was perfectly adequate for accommodating small, feudal-era handicraft workshops. However, attempting to cram in the massive factories conceived under Li Daoxuan’s new-world philosophy... that was an entirely different proposition.
Without exaggeration, any ordinary university campus or large industrial complex from the modern world could easily fill Puzhou City to bursting. There would be no room left, not an inch to spare.
Qiu Qianfan stared at the colossal factory grounds, unable to suppress his incredulity. “Does a single textile factory truly need to be this immense? And what, pray tell, is that enormous expanse of open land over there designated for?”
“A sports field!” Gao Yiye chuckled. “To provide a place for our workers to exercise and stay healthy.”
Qiu Qianfan wiped a bead of cold sweat from his brow. “And what about this open space?”
Gao Yiye replied, “A park, for the workers to stroll and relax.”
Qiu Qianfan threw up his hands. “Are you hiring workers, or simply pampering them like nobility?”
Gao Yiye smiled serenely. “Ensuring everyone can live a happy and prosperous life is our core guiding philosophy.”
Qiu Qianfan was momentarily speechless.
Gao Yiye continued, “This is merely the textile factory, and it has already consumed a significant portion of the available land. We have many more factories slated for construction, requiring even vaster plots. Moreover, certain facilities are unsuitable for erection within the city walls; they must be situated outside. Consider cement plants, Celestial Fertilizer factories, iron smelters, paper mills... these are all highly polluting industries, and it would be far better to establish them in more secluded areas.”
Qiu Qianfan’s jaw dropped in utter astonishment. When Xing Honglang had first arrived, he’d readily agreed to let them build as many factories as they wished, deeming the survival of the common folk paramount. But he had been utterly oblivious to the monstrous scale of these undertakings. A single textile factory was already poised to gobble up most of the city’s space; if more were added, his prefectural yamen might soon be surrounded by nothing but industrial complexes.
“I never imagined you would operate on such a grand scale!” he finally exclaimed.
Gao Yiye shrugged. “Precisely. That’s why we must now undertake a comprehensive re-evaluation of the town’s planning.”
“It’s beyond my capacity!” Qiu Qianfan groaned. “I simply don’t possess the skill for such a monumental task anymore.”
He gestured wildly at the textile factory before them, then declared exasperatedly, “If your other factories are equally colossal, then our Puzhou City would need to expand outwards by several *li*! Do you have any idea how many *li* of city walls would be required for such an expansion? These walls are beyond the means of a mere prefect like myself; even a governor couldn’t fund them!”
Gao Yiye produced a meticulously prepared blueprint and spread it open. Puzhou City was depicted right at the center, surrounded by several smaller, satellite towns radiating outwards like petals.
Gao Yiye pointed to one of the satellite towns. “Here,” she explained, “is a commercial town established around the Gudu Ferry, its primary function being cargo transport.”
“And this,” she continued, moving her finger, “is the Jiguanshan Iron Mine town, dedicated primarily to mining.”
“Adjacent to the iron mine town, we’ll establish an iron smelter and an ironware factory, forming a smaller township centered on these operations.”
“The hillsides over here are rich in limestone, so we’ll erect a cement factory, with a paper mill right beside it, forming yet another township around these two enterprises.”
Finally, Gao Yiye drew a grand circle on the blueprint. “Henceforth,” she declared, “Puzhou City will be encircled by these industrial townships, coalescing into a colossal metropolitan area. This grand city, in fact, will not require conventional city walls. Should an enemy launch an attack, we shall defend against them from whichever township they approach. Until they breach the outer ring of townships, they will never even reach Puzhou City proper. These settlements will not only safeguard the main city but also protect the agricultural lands enclosed within their perimeter.”
As she finished, Gao Yiye offered a faint smile. “Therefore, it fundamentally requires no city walls at all.”
Qiu Qianfan’s eyes widened to saucers. “This... this is truly...” he stammered.
It was utterly mind-boggling!
He had genuinely never before witnessed town planning on such a monumental scale. This wasn’t merely charting a town; they were charting his entire prefecture.
Qiu Qianfan shook his head, sighing deeply. “It looks magnificent, but such a dispersed layout means that should a large bandit army arrive to assault the outer townships, they would be easy to breach and difficult to defend.”
Gao Yiye replied, “As for matters of defense, General Xing Honglang, commander of the Puzhou garrison, will be in charge. Your Excellency need not fret.”
“How could I *not* worry?” Qiu Qianfan countered. “I fear she might not be able to hold them off.”
“She will absolutely hold them,” Gao Yiye affirmed. “You must have faith in her.”
Qiu Qianfan grumbled inwardly: *Rubbish! Even the imperial army can’t hold off these bandits; they merely watch them rampage everywhere. What makes Xing Honglang capable of such a feat?*
Still, his private thoughts were best left unvoiced.
Gao Yiye continued, “Prefect Qiu, rather than fretting over whether such an expansive endeavor can withstand bandit attacks, perhaps you should concern yourself with the welfare of Puzhou’s populace. Puzhou is renowned as the ‘center of the world,’ boasting a population more than three times that of other prefectures and counties. Hundreds of thousands struggle for survival amidst this severe drought. If we fail to construct larger factories and employ more workers, these desperate people, with no food to sustain them, will inevitably flock to the bandit armies. That, Your Excellency, is when your true headaches will begin.”
Hearing these words, Qiu Qianfan stiffened, then released a long, drawn-out sigh. “Madam Li,” he conceded, “what you say holds merit. Rather than fearing that too large an enterprise might be indefensible, it is wiser to fear that too small an endeavor might fail to accommodate our people. Very well, let us proceed with construction according to your blueprint.”
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