Dragon's Origin

## Chapter 609: Tearing Down the City Walls (Part 1)

The scale of this grand scheme far exceeded the Emperor's imagination. Initially, he thought he might collect a protection fee of one or two hundred million gold coins at most. However, as they delved deeper, the Emperor estimated that if they operated according to this plan, earning tens of billions, even hundreds of billions of gold coins out of thin air wouldn't be surprising.

As an Emperor who had been suppressed since childhood and had finally glimpsed a ray of hope, neither he nor his entire royal family had ever seen tens of billions or hundreds of billions of gold coins.

Even though the Emperor's financial situation had improved recently, it was due to the dividends from Mei'er's business that they had become accustomed to seeing gold coins in units of hundreds of millions. But a single business generating hundreds of billions of gold coins was unheard of.

And this was just the economic benefit; it didn't even account for the boost to the Emperor's prestige and power. Simultaneously, it would weaken the strength of all factions fighting within the kingdom.

The stroke of genius was the act of tearing down the city walls. It was an act of weakness so blatant that it left no room for suspicion, unless the Eight Great Dukes could truly unite, which was unlikely.

Therefore, this was almost a perfect scheme, one that all parties would unknowingly fall into. Even if some clever individuals saw through it, a single family or two couldn't influence it in any way. The only thing that worried the Emperor was a different group of people.

"Those commoners in the capital are, after all, my subjects, and they are the ones who truly support me," the Emperor earnestly consulted Wang Sheng. "If we simply drive them out of the capital, wouldn't that disappoint them and make them stop supporting the royal family?"

"Are you and those ministers in your court all useless?" Wang Sheng scolded the Emperor without any reservation. "Can't you handle such a simple matter? Or are you unable to think clearly?"

"One shouldn't trouble two people with the same task," the Emperor wasn't at all offended by Wang Sheng's scolding, unlike when they were splitting things fifty-fifty. He wasn't angry at all: "If you want half, then you have to put in half the effort, right?"

"Fine," Wang Sheng was left without any temper. "For the sake of the gold coins."

"First of all, you're not forcefully driving them away," Wang Sheng patiently explained to the Emperor. "Won't you first build a large number of houses outside the moat of the outer city, plan it well, and then move people out area by area? You can't possibly start construction on the entire capital at once, can you?"

"Give them bigger houses, bigger plots of land, relocation subsidies, all new houses, complete with surrounding facilities, and shower them with real gold and silver. How many people would be unhappy?" As Wang Sheng spoke, the Emperor and Steward Zhou listened with utmost attention, like the most obedient students.

It wasn't as if there weren't greedy people in this world, and it was normal to want to be a holdout. But this was a feudal monarchy, and the Emperor surely had a way to resolve it. So Wang Sheng didn't mention it at all. Making ninety percent of the people happy was a success.

"It's not like they can't live after moving out," Wang Sheng continued to explain. "Both the inner and outer cities will be demolished and rebuilt. Do you know how much work that is? How long will it last? How many people in the capital can it support? Besides, those who bought houses and land in the capital, don't they need to eat, drink, and use things? Won't that support even more people?"

"The original population of the capital was enough for everyone to eat. Now there are more people who don't produce but only spend gold coins to buy things. Wouldn't the common people earn even less than before?" Wang Sheng asked rhetorically, one sentence after another. "Those people who bought houses and land will need someone to serve them, right? They'll need to hire workers, right? What if there aren't enough people? They can only raise prices. Wouldn't that mean earning more than before?"

Wang Sheng's words were like heavenly scriptures to the Emperor and Steward Zhou. They had never thought of it before, but it made perfect sense. Their earnest listening made Wang Sheng despise them. You don't even understand large-scale infrastructure construction to boost domestic demand and increase GDP? You're an Emperor for nothing, a failure! Bad review!

"Of course, you have to think of all this before you start construction. You have to make people very satisfied before they buy your houses and land. They need to have everything they want nearby, things to eat, drink, wear, and use," Wang Sheng reminded the Emperor not to start construction without thinking it through, and he had to give some warnings: "You have to make people feel comfortable and good. It has to be both beautiful and convenient, so that people will be willing to spend money."

The Emperor seemed to see a completely new scene, a completely new capital, pre-planned and fully functional residences, groups of wealthy people indulging in pleasure in the capital, and gold coins flowing steadily into the Emperor's pocket. The scene was so exciting to think about!

"In short, remember one thing," Wang Sheng's words floated over from the side: "Before making a plan, have the person making the plan change their perspective. If they were going to buy a house in the capital, what would they want to see before they would buy it? If you can do that, it should be simple."

The Emperor could only nod vigorously now. It was really worth it to invite Wang Sheng over. He originally thought he was simply worried about someone sleeping soundly beside his bed, but Wang Sheng casually threw such a big plan at the Emperor, making him so pleasantly surprised that he didn't know what to say.

Thinking about the prospects of this plan, hundreds of billions of gold coins! Suddenly, the Emperor felt a little heartache. He had to give half to Wang Sheng! Although this half would definitely go to Mei'er, it was tens of billions of gold coins, not tens of thousands!

"If you're so excited that you can't sleep now, then I advise you not to think about it so much," Wang Sheng掃興 said at this moment, frowning at the Emperor: "If you can't hold your breath and let the various parties become wary, then you'll still have to obediently be that puppet emperor, a human-shaped seal!"

One sentence calmed the Emperor down. A human-shaped seal? The Emperor vowed that he would never want to be the helpless self of twenty years ago, unable to protect even his beloved concubine and daughter. He must not allow the great opportunity before him to be seen by others because of his gaffe, nor can he allow his ministers to fail because they cannot keep secrets. Whoever dares to block his path on this matter is the Emperor's enemy!

"Anything else?" Wang Sheng saw that the time was right and began to think about leaving: "If not, I'll leave first. Wasting half a day on such a small matter. Oh, right, remember to confer Mei'er a princess title! The kind with an imperial decree publicly announced, it must be the most glorious princess. The Emperor wants to win me over, so he has to show some sincerity, right?"

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"Don't worry, the most honorable princess," the Emperor nodded without hesitation, not at all concerned about Wang Sheng's complaint just now: "The whole world will see my sincerity."