Royal Gold Medal County Magistrate

Over half a month, significant changes began to appear in Ban Shan Ward.

Firstly, many residential houses were demolished, clearing a large square. The square's surface was entirely repaved with stone slabs, and a stage had already been set up at the innermost position. Several large billboards were erected around the square with wooden frames, currently still blank.

At the same time, various flowers, plants, and other decorative items were placed in the square, and many vendor spots were planned. Although recruitment hadn't started yet, many resourceful people had already consciously run to the square to set up stalls.

Fang Zheng Yi was happy to see this happen. Nowadays, ordinary people didn't have money, and it was rare to have a few courageous and business-minded people willing to stand up.

Therefore, he specially ordered the Military and Law Enforcement Department to send people to actively protect these small vendors from harassment by local bullies and hooligans.

Rows of small trees were also planted along both sides of the street. However, they weren't a uniform species. The miscellaneous small trees were all dug up from the mountains outside the city, which was very convenient.

Most importantly, the number of public toilets in Ban Shan Ward greatly increased. At the same time, people were ordered not to dump their night soil buckets at will. A designated area had already been reserved behind the public toilets for unified dumping and collection.

Severe penalties would be imposed if anyone was caught. Because the public toilets were built densely, the people didn't find it too troublesome. On the other hand, they were very proactive and willing to comply for fear of being fined.

However, accidents were inevitable during this process. The size of the public toilet cesspools designed according to the original plan was sufficient to meet the needs of the people in Ban Shan Ward.

However, the matter of 'shitting and winning a prize' spread like wildfire, and people from several surrounding wards came to Ban Shan Ward to defecate, attracted by its reputation. In an instant, the amount of feces greatly increased...

Therefore, the original pit was obviously not enough, and people were temporarily ordered to deepen and widen it.

Also because of this, the influx of floating population into Ban Shan Ward increased, and consumption within the area also increased in the short term.

The people were happy to see this happen.

It could be said that the people of Ban Shan Ward were very satisfied with the current situation. Merely changing the sanitation alone not only didn't excessively disturb the people but also greatly increased their quality of life.

Ban Shan Ward might become the first ward in this world to promote the tourism industry by virtue of going to the toilet...

In order to facilitate his work, Fang Zheng Yi also purchased a house in Ban Shan Ward.

At the same time, the number of his family's servants and guards was also increased. After all, the renovation of Ban Shan Ward had only just begun and only some superficial work had been done. There were no highway robbers, but petty thieves were still indispensable.

Xiao Tao liked to stroll on the street when she was free, so Fang Zheng Yi provided her with a few more bodyguards out of concern.

Under Fang Zheng Yi's publicity, most of the people in Ban Shan Ward knew that the great changes over the past half month were due to the arrival of Young Master Li and Mr. Sai in Ban Shan Ward.

Therefore, during their daily street patrols, people constantly greeted Fang Zheng Yi and Li Yuan Zhao from both sides of the road.

Li Yuan Zhao always had a smug look on his face, and his enthusiasm for managing Ban Shan Ward became higher and higher, although he didn't do anything.

............

It was another sunny afternoon, and the three of Fang Zheng Yi were sitting at a tea stall, observing the pedestrians on the street.

Li Yuan Zhao said with a smile: "Lao Fang, you still have a way. I didn't expect such a big change in just over half a month."

"I want to transform the entire city like this!"

Fang Zheng Yi sipped his tea, getting a mouthful of tea dregs, and spat out a mouthful of spit: "Okay, this period of renovation cost less than two thousand taels of silver. The main expense was the large-scale acquisition of people's houses, and the rest was labor costs plus the purchase of materials."

"This is just the beginning. I don't know how much silver it will cost later, but let's calculate according to the current standard... There are one hundred and eight wards in the capital, which requires a total of two hundred and sixteen thousand taels."

"You help me ask His Majesty for money!"

Li Yuan Zhao chuckled twice: "Then do you still have money in your hands... What if you run out of money?"

"Yes, tens of thousands of taels are always available. Ban Shan Ward is benchmarked against Tao Yuan County. It should be enough to do a comprehensive basic transformation. As for more... then it's gone."

"For money, we can ask the big wealthy households if we don't have it!"

Fang Zheng Yi carelessly stirred the tea dregs in his teacup, his brow furrowed.

He really couldn't get used to the messy things added to it. The price of fried tea on the market was rising too high, so he had to quickly lower the price of tea.

Helping Emperor Jing sell tea was a task, and promoting tea was also one of his necessary jobs.

First, fried tea is delicious, and second, it can supplement the people with more nutrients. Ordinary people are generally deficient in nutrition, so it's good to supplement a little more.

Third, tea must be boiled before drinking. The common people prefer to drink raw water, and the groundwater in the capital is seriously polluted, always with a bitter taste.

Moreover, it is unhygienic and very easy to get sick.

The solution to this problem is simple, just let the people boil water to drink, but the power of habit is huge, and it is extremely difficult to reverse.

The most core problem is that the bottom people lack fuel, and they eat less hot meals, let alone boil water to drink.

During the reign of Emperor Wuzong of Tang Dynasty, the Japanese monk Ennin came to China and saw that ordinary people in Shandong area "never cooked soup to eat, but only ate cold dishes all year round". When extremely valuable guests came, they would give them "empty cakes and cold dishes" as a delicacy for entertaining.

Boiling water costs more fuel than cooking. Ordinary families in the Song and Yuan dynasties did not light a fire in their daily lives except for cooking, let alone boiling water.

Even in the Qing Dynasty, the habit of drinking boiled water to prevent stomach problems was only popular in the upper class, and ordinary people only drank cold water.

Fang Zheng Yi thought about it and couldn't find a perfect solution. Tea is an addictive product. If he could provide cheap and good-quality tea, it should alleviate this problem to some extent.

But returning to the root, the people still have no money, so he has to get money!

"Where are the big wealthy households?" Li Yuan Zhao saw that Fang Zheng Yi looked absent-minded, and he also felt a little muttered in his heart.

Fang Zheng Yi looked at Li Yuan Zhao with a complicated expression.

Did he still need to look for them? Your old Li family is the biggest wealthy household in the city.

"As for the big wealthy households... they are everywhere in the capital. Do you still remember those people who bought jewelry at the Qiyuan Festival? They are all big wealthy households."

"It's also easy to attract people to Ban Shan Ward. I still have a few 'Heart of the Ocean', 'Heart of the Forest', 'Heart of Magma', 'XX Heart' top-quality diamonds in my hand. In a few days, I'll hold an auction at Ban Shan Square and promote it!"

"When the time comes, won't people come? Then write a slogan, [Poor people don't enter Ban Shan Ward] to set off the high-end atmosphere of Ban Shan Ward, that's it!"

Li Yuan Zhao was a little speechless: "Lao Fang, isn't it a big deal for us to cheat and deceive like this all the time?"

Fang Zheng Yi glared: "What cheating and deceiving, I am market marketing to promote the rational flow of resources."

In the imperial society, few of the big wealthy households are clean. Fang Zheng Yi had seen it when he was a beggar.

At that time, his concept had not been reversed, and he had been using the moral values of modern people to examine this world. Undoubtedly, he was almost shattered.

The combination of capital and power ruthlessly crushed the dignity of the people.

Many of his beggars were runaway slaves, debtors, or ordinary people who had offended nobles. Unable to bear the burden of life, they degenerated into the bottom of society, living in a daze and unable to recover.

A small mistake, and a lifetime is put into it.

If caught... you don't even have the chance to pick cotton!

Fortunately, Fang Zheng Yi lost face in time, and his moral values were successfully preserved.

While the two were chatting, an old lady wearing a red armband came over.

Rubbing her hands and smiling embarrassedly at Fang Zheng Yi: "That... Mr. Sai, spitting anywhere... three pennies."