If you traveled back to ancient times, while others ate Guanyin clay, you would actually have giant

Qingyang County is located on the border and is not an important city, so the city wall is only about three meters high and probably only two meters wide at most. Three people could probably squeeze on it side by side. You could say it's useless, it can resist some mountain bandits and outlaws, but if it really encounters an invasion by foreign enemies, it would probably be nothing more than a decoration.

The walls of the capital city were completely different. It was estimated that the capital city had the tallest and thickest walls in the entire Great Dragon Empire. When Zhou Wu first arrived in the capital city, he was so amazed by the towering walls that he stood there for a long time, unable to recover.

Zhou Wu estimated that the city wall of the capital was at least twenty meters high. He didn't know the exact width, but it could easily accommodate five carriages running at the same time.

As for the specific height and width of the Niujia Village building, Zhou Wu hadn't really thought about it.

"Hey, I knew it. Take a look at this first."

An looked helpless, then took out a map of Qingyang County from the government office.

"This is Niujia Village. If we are to build a city wall, we must first determine the approximate location of the wall, and then determine its height and width."

To be honest, the map that An took out was far too rudimentary compared to his previous life, but in this era, it was already considered the most exquisite map.

Fortunately, the general outline was still discernible. Zhou Wu and An discussed the map for a long time and finally determined the location of the city wall. The entire city wall enclosed Niujia Village and the dock that was connected to it, and its length and scale were about the same as the length of the county town's city wall.

"Isn't this a bit too large? Otherwise, the dock and Niujia Village could each build their own, which would save a lot of money."

An also felt that the workload was a bit too much, and tried to persuade Zhou Wu from the side.

"No need. If the construction is done separately, Niujia Village could easily be besieged if the enemy is encountered. Although the construction of the connecting wharf seems to be a large project now, it will enclose more land, which will give us more room for development in the future."

As the head of a prefecture, An naturally knew that overall construction would be better in the long run, but the money he was spending was beyond what ordinary people could afford. However, since Zhou Wu insisted, An did not try to persuade him further, since he could also get a share of the credit if the report was submitted.

"As for the height and width, I think we should aim for a middle ground. It should be at least ten meters high, otherwise it won't be able to withstand the enemy's attack, and the money will be wasted."

"You said it yourself, so don't regret it."

Zhou Wu had made his statement, but An knew that the city wall was not so simple.

"Will not."

"Although this is a good thing, we still have to go through the procedures. I'll write a report to the higher-ups first, and you can go back and wait for news."

"Then I'll have to trouble you."

"I'm a little unaccustomed to your sudden politeness."

. . . . . .

After Zhou Wu left, An pondered how to write the memorial. After a moment's thought, he came up with an idea, and soon the memorial appeared on the desk of the cabinet minister in the capital.

"Old Chen, would you like to take a look at this report?"

A middle-aged official handed his memorial to what he thought was an older official. Clearly, among those present, this older official was the most experienced, so when people had memorials they couldn't decide, they would usually hand them over to this old official, Mr. Chen, for a decision.

"What is it now? Let me see."

Old Chen took the document and began to read it, but soon his brows furrowed.

"Private funds to repair the city wall? Although there were precedents in previous dynasties, there are no relevant laws in this dynasty. This matter is indeed a bit tricky."

Old Chen was also stumped by this memorial. If he didn't approve it, it would be a great thing for the country and the people. If he approved it, he was afraid that his colleagues would use it to slander him. For a time, Old Chen was caught in a dilemma.

"What is your opinion, Elder Chen?"

"Why not leave it to the sage to decide?"

Unable to make a decision immediately, Mr. Chen could only pass this difficult problem on to the top leader.

And so, this memorial ended up in Li Tiancheng's hands again.

"Summon the Crown Prince."

After reading the memorial, Li Tiancheng frowned, seemingly lost in thought. A moment later, he ordered someone to summon the Crown Prince.

"See Father."

Li Junren knew that his father had summoned him, and he dared not delay for a moment.

"Your Highness, please take a look at this memorial."

Li Tiancheng said nothing else, but simply handed the memorial in his hand to Li Junren.

Li Junren initially thought there had been some border war or something, but he didn't expect that someone was willing to fund the construction of the city wall for Dalong. When he looked at the signature, it turned out to be a memorial from An, the prefect of Jinshan Prefecture, which meant that it was most likely related to Zhou Wu again.

"What does the Crown Prince think?"

"Your subject believes this is a good thing."

"Oh, tell me."

"Your Majesty, the fact that the people are willing to contribute funds to build the city wall not only shows that they are loyal to the emperor and love their country, but also represents that the benevolent governance of the Great Dragon Empire has had a significant effect, which is why people are willing to contribute to the country."

"Yeah, that makes sense."

"Moreover, our national treasury is currently empty. Even if the taxes collected this autumn are collected, it will only be enough to cover the previous deficit. There will be no extra money for infrastructure development. Now that someone is willing to pay for these things for us, we are of course very happy to welcome it. Moreover, we should promote it vigorously so that everyone can take it as an example. If everyone can follow suit, that would be a great thing."

In fact, Li Junren's analysis coincided with Li Tianxian's thoughts. So when he heard that his son had the same idea as him, he immediately made a decision and drew a circle on the memorial, which meant that the emperor had read it and agreed.

After receiving the imperial court's reply, An immediately went to Niujia Village to tell Zhou Wu the good news.

"That's great. Although I know there's a high chance the court will agree, I haven't received any definite news, and I haven't been able to sleep at night for the past few days."

Zhou Wu's insomnia was clearly exaggerated; Yang Chun called him several times every morning but he couldn't wake up.

"Then I'll arrange the construction on my end?"

"Oh, right, when I submitted the memorial, I thought that since you're not short of money, I expanded the scope of Niujia Village a little bit."

Although An was the prefect, he didn't normally have the authority to arbitrarily divide administrative regions, even for just a village. But this time, he secretly slipped the map into the memorial, which the emperor himself reviewed. He had exploited a loophole, but who dared say anything?

"Thank you?"

"Hmph, salted fish is quite delicious. Next time, send something else, like mullet roe?"

"Hehe, the weather's nice today. Haha."

Seeing that An hadn't forgotten about the gift, Zhou Wu seemed a little embarrassed.

"Alright, I'm leaving now. If you have any questions, please let me know."

"Ok."

"By the way, I heard that someone has been investigating you recently."

Just as he was about to leave, An suddenly remembered a report his subordinate had given him a couple of days ago, saying that they seemed to have discovered some unknown people asking around about Zhou Wu.