In just half a month’s time, huge changes began appearing in Banshan District.

First, many residences were demolished, clearing out a huge square. The square’s surface was entirely repaved with stone slabs. A stage had already been set up in the innermost position, and several large billboards were erected around the square using wooden frames, currently still empty.

At the same time, various plants and decorations were placed in the square, and quite a few spots were designated for vendor stalls. Although vendors hadn’t been officially recruited yet, some quick-witted people had already taken the initiative to set up stalls in the square.

Fang Zheng was happy to see this. The common people had no money now, so it was rare to have a few courageous individuals with business sense willing to step up.

So he specially ordered the City Garrison to dispatch people to actively protect these small merchants and vendors from harassment by ruffians and hooligans.

Rows of saplings were also planted along both sides of the streets, although not of a uniform species. All sorts of random saplings were dug up from the mountains outside the city, which was quite convenient.

Most importantly, the number of public toilets in Banshan District greatly increased. At the same time, the common people were ordered not to dump their feces buckets at will. A designated location had been reserved behind the public toilets for unified dumping and collection.

If anyone was discovered violating this, they would be heavily fined. Because the public toilets were densely built, the common people didn’t find it too inconvenient. On the other hand, afraid of being fined, everyone was very proactive.

However, unexpected incidents were still inevitable in this process. According to the original plan, the designed size of the cesspits in the public toilets should have been sufficient to meet the needs of Banshan residents.

But the news of the “poop lottery” spread, and common people from several neighboring districts came to Banshan to take a dump, attracted by the novelty. The amount of feces surged in a short time…

So the originally planned pits were obviously not enough. The depth and width had to be hastily increased.

It was also because of this that the influx of migrant population into Banshan increased, and consumption in the area grew in the short term.

The common people were happy to see this.

It could be said that the people of Banshan were very satisfied with the current situation. Just the change in sanitation alone neither excessively disturbed the people nor greatly improved their quality of life.

Banshan District may have become the first district in this world to promote the tourism industry because of toilet use…

In order to facilitate work, Fang Zheng also purchased a house in Banshan District.

At the same time, the number of servants and guards at home also increased, after all, the transformation of Banshan had only just begun, and only some superficial work had been done. There may not be highway robbers, but petty thieves were still inevitable.

Fang Zheng was uneasy about Xiao Tao’s tendency to wander the streets when she had nothing to do, so he assigned a few more bodyguards to accompany her.

Under Fang Zheng’s publicity, most of the people in Banshan knew that the huge changes in the past half month were due to Lord Li and Mr. Sai coming to Banshan District.

So when the three of them patrolled the streets daily, there were constantly people on both sides of the road greeting Fang Zheng and Li Yuanzhao.

Despite not doing much, Li Yuanzhao always had a proud and satisfied look on his face, and his enthusiasm for managing Banshan District continued to grow.

…

It was another sunny afternoon. The three of them sat at a tea stall, observing the pedestrians on the street.

Li Yuanzhao said with a smile, “Old Fang, you really have a way. I never thought there would be such a big change in just over half a month.”

“I want to transform the entire city like this!”

Fang Zheng took a sip of tea, getting a mouthful of tea leaf dregs. He spat out the saliva. “Indeed, the transformation in this period cost less than two thousand taels of silver. The main expense was purchasing numerous houses from the people, with the rest being labor and material costs.”

“However, this is just the beginning. It’s hard to predict how much more silver will be required in the future. But let’s estimate based on the current standard. With 108 districts in the capital, a total of 21,600 taels would be needed.”

“Your Highness, please ask His Majesty for funding on my behalf!”

Li Yuanzhao chuckled embarrassedly, “Old Fang, do you even have enough money yourself? What will we do if the funds run out?”

“Yes, I have at least a few thousand taels. It should be enough to fully upgrade the infrastructure of Banshan District to the standard of Taoyuan County. But beyond that… there’s nothing left.”

“When it comes to money, if we don’t have any, we can always hit up the fat cats!”

Fang Zheng absentmindedly poked at the tea dregs in his cup, his brows furrowed.

The random ingredients mixed into the tea made it quite unpleasant to drink.

First, fried tea had a delicious taste. Second, it could provide the common people with additional nutrients, which was beneficial since ordinary folks generally suffered from nutritional deficiencies.

Third, tea needed to be boiled before drinking, but the common people preferred to drink unboiled water. The groundwater in the capital was heavily polluted and always had a bitter taste.

Moreover, drinking unboiled water was very unsanitary and could easily lead to illnesses.

The solution to this problem was simple – just have the people boil water before drinking. But the power of habit was huge and extremely hard to change.

The core issue was that the bottom class lacked fuel. They rarely ate hot meals, let alone boil water for drinking.

During the reign of Emperor Wuzong of the Tang Dynasty, the Japanese monk Ennin came to China and saw that ordinary people in Shandong “never cooked soup to eat, only eating cold dishes all year round”. When extremely honored guests came, they were served “empty cakes and cold dishes” as delicacies.

Boiling water took more fuel than cooking. In ordinary households of the Song and Yuan dynasties, they didn’t light fires for daily life except for cooking, let alone boil water.

Even in the Qing Dynasty, the habit of drinking boiled water to prevent stomach ailments was only popular among the upper class. Ordinary people only drank cold water.

Fang Zheng thought back and forth but couldn’t find a perfect solution. Tea was an addictive product. If affordable and good quality tea could be provided, it should be able to alleviate this problem to some extent.

But it came down to the people having no money. Gotta make money!

“Where are the fat cats?” Li Yuanzhao saw Fang Zheng in a distracted state and also started muttering in his heart.

Fang Zheng looked at Li Yuanzhao with a complex expression.

What’s there to look for? Your Old Li family is the biggest fat cat in the city.

“These fat cats… they’re all over the capital. Remember those people buying jewelry at the Qiyuan Festival? They’re all fat cats.”

“It’s also easy to attract people to Banshan District. I still have a few pieces of top-quality diamonds – ‘Ocean’s Heart’, ‘Forest’s Heart’, ‘Lava’s Heart’, ‘XX’s Heart’. In a few days, we’ll hold an auction at Banshan Square and promote it!”

“By then, people will naturally come. We’ll write a slogan: 【No Poor People Allowed in Banshan District】to highlight Banshan’s high-end, classy image. Perfect!”

Li Yuanzhao was a bit speechless, “Old Fang, we can’t keep scamming and tricking people like this, right?”

Fang Zheng glared, “What scamming and tricking? This is marketing to promote the reasonable flow of resources.”

In an autocratic society, few fat cats were clean. Fang Zheng had seen this during his days as a beggar.

Back then, Fang Zheng’s mindset had not yet adapted. He had been judging this world through the lens of modern morality. There was no doubt that this incongruity nearly shattered him.

The combination of capital and power ruthlessly trampled on the dignity of the common people.

Many beggars under him were runaway slaves, debtors, or ordinary people who had offended the nobility. Unable to bear the heavy burden of life, they had fallen to the bottom of society, living in a daze day by day, unable to rise again.

One small mistake, and their whole life would be ruined.

If they were caught… they wouldn’t even have the chance to pick cotton!

Fortunately, Fang Zheng shed his pride in time, allowing his moral compass to be successfully preserved.

As the two were chatting, an old woman with a red armband came over.

She rubbed her hands and smiled embarrassedly at Fang Zheng, “Umm… Mr. Sai, spitting on the ground… three coins.”