120: Chapter 120 Asleep?

Zhou Yun also stood in the rain.

He did not use an umbrella, nor did he use his battle Qi to shield himself; he simply stood there quietly, letting the torrential rain soak him through.

His hair clung to his forehead, and his robes hung heavy and sodden, but the smile on his face was deeper than it had been a moment ago in the Council Hall.

This rain was not just for the reservoir, nor was it just for the crops.

It was for the hearts of these two hundred and ten thousand people.

With this rain, the seeds in the fields had truly come to life.

With this rain, they finally truly believed—this wasteland could really become home.

...

The torrential rain lasted for nearly two hours before it gradually began to let up.

The reservoir was more than half full, its murky surface rippling with fine waves in the wind, and the water in the diversion channels had already begun to spread along the ditches toward the distant fields.

Zhou Yun changed into dry clothes and returned to the Council Hall, but before he could even settle into his seat, Minister Wang Fugui arrived.

"City Lord, this is the foreign trade proposal I rushed to complete overnight. Please take a look!"

Minister Wang Fugui's eyes shone as he presented a thick stack of booklets on the table with both hands, his mouth running like it had been wound up:

"We have the reservoir, we have the Sweet Dew Array, and the crops will be ready to grow soon. I've calculated it: after deducting the annual ten percent construction fund and the daily expenses of the city's citizens, we will still have at least fifty percent of the surplus grain left. Fifty percent, City Lord!"

"These are all Silver Rank spirit rice and Gold Rank vegetables. Which city outside wouldn't fight to have them?"

"I have already drafted preliminary plans for three trade routes, please take a look—"

"Leave it here." Zhou Yun pressed his hand on the stack of booklets. "I will read it carefully in a moment."

Minister Wang Fugui wanted to say more, but heavy footsteps sounded at the door.

Tieshan strode in, holding a roll of blueprints under his arm that, when spread out, covered half the table. He laid it out on the table and weighed down the four corners with a teacup and an inkstone.

"City Lord, I have surveyed the site selection and scale for the satellite city." Tieshan pointed to several spots on the blueprints. "Now that conditions in all aspects have stabilized, construction should be put on the agenda. Please take a look."

Before Zhou Yun could lower his head to look at the drawings, Wan'er had already entered from the side door, holding a logbook.

"City Lord," she placed a well-organized document on top of the stack of trade booklets and the roll of engineering blueprints.

"After the new city was brought under our jurisdiction, the original administrative units are no longer suitable."

"The layout of the city needs to be re-divided. Logistics, military, trade, and residential areas need to be integrated organically while being distinguished. This is the initial proposal, please take a look."

The three documents were stacked together, reaching a height of nearly half a foot.

Zhou Yun looked at the mountain of paper in front of him, feeling his temples throbbing.

He subconsciously cast his gaze toward Lei Lie, who was sitting by the door.

Lei Lie had his arms crossed over his chest plate, leaning against the doorframe, and gave him a slight shake of his head.

—No.

He had no proposal.

Zhou Yun breathed a sigh of relief.

But when his peripheral vision swept over Strategist Zhu Ge, the breath he had released caught in his throat again—Strategist Zhu Ge's right hand was slowly stuffing a scroll of bamboo slips into his left sleeve.

The movement was small, but under Zhou Yun's gaze, it seemed exceptionally conspicuous.

Their gazes collided in mid-air.

Strategist Zhu Ge stuffed the bamboo slips all the way in without changing his expression, then proceeded to wave his feather fan as if nothing had happened, even wearing a hint of an innocent smile at the corners of his mouth.

Zhou Yun took a deep breath and returned his gaze to the tabletop.

He read the three documents, word for word.

Minister Wang Fugui's trade booklet was written in flowery language, filled with terms like "profit margin," "turnover cycle," and "supply and demand gap," with numbers accurate to the single digit; it was clear he had put in a lot of hard work.

Tieshan's blueprints were rough but solid; the site selection, terrain, water sources, and distances were clearly marked, and next to one spot, he had scribbled in charcoal: "High winds here, city wall needs to be thickened."

Wan'er's initial proposal was the most difficult to read, with dense entries nested layer upon layer, each one involving the coordination of three or four departments.

The Council Hall was quiet, with only the sound of turning pages.

Everyone looked at Zhou Yun, waiting for him to speak.

I don't know how much time passed before Zhou Yun closed the last page, leaned back in his chair with his eyes closed, hands folded over his lower abdomen, his thumbs unconsciously circling each other.

He was silent for a long time.

So long that Minister Wang Fugui couldn't help but secretly nudge Tieshan with his elbow and ask with his lips: "Asleep?"

Tieshan glared at him.

After a long while, Zhou Yun opened his eyes.

"Regarding trade," he looked at Minister Wang Fugui, "Minister Wang will be fully responsible. I have only one requirement—fair trade, no bullying or monopolizing."

Minister Wang Fugui puffed out his chest: "Rest assured, City Lord!"

"As for the city planning and satellite city construction," Zhou Yun paused, his gaze sweeping over Tieshan's blueprints and Wan'er's initial proposal, "I have an idea, see if you think it's feasible."

Tieshan and Wan'er both looked up at the same time.

Zhou Yun stood up and walked to Tieshan's large blueprint, his finger landing on the scattered markings on the wasteland—those were the locations where the citizens had already built treehouses and cultivated fields.

"Everyone has already made a home in the fields," his finger slowly drew a circle on the blueprint, "If we make them go back to live in the city, they will have to travel back and forth between the fields and the city, which is too inefficient."

He looked up and glanced at the people present.

"So my idea is—don't plan the city with the city wall as the center anymore. Instead, let's make the fields the center and radiate outward. The citizens' homes and the fields will be integrated, with settlements growing around the fields rather than around the city walls."

Tieshan frowned and opened his mouth, but he didn't rush to refute; instead, he lowered his head to stare at his blueprints, his fingers slowly sliding along the marked points, his mind clearly re-simulating the plan.

Wan'er had already opened her logbook, her pen tip scratching quickly across the paper, breaking down Zhou Yun's ideas into administrative frameworks.

"Secondly," Zhou Yun continued, "Once the Hongdao Array is built, we will need rapid passage between the various settlements. Branches of the psychic small jianmu can grow upward to form connecting platforms, directly accessing the main and branch roads of the Hongdao Array. Citizens can board the tree from their doorstep, enter the Hongdao Array via the platform, and reach any settlement."

Strategist Zhu Ge's hand, which was waving his fan, paused.

He glanced at Zhou Yun, then lowered his head, trying to suppress the curve of his lips, but failing.

The roll of bamboo slips in his sleeve was the proposal for the layout of the Hongdao Array.

There was no need to take it out.

"Do you think it's feasible?" Zhou Yun asked.

After a brief silence, Tieshan was the first to slap the table: "Feasible! With this, we don't have to worry about how to build the city walls for the satellite settlements; we can just push outward along the fields! The construction cycle will be shortened by at least half!"

Wan'er looked up, her eyes filled with suppressed admiration: "Administrative divisions can also be managed by settlement clusters, with one village head assigned to coordinate each area. It's more flexible than my original plan."

Minister Wang Fugui's eyes rolled around: "Trade routes will be easier to plan, too. Wherever the nodes of the Hongdao Array are, we can set up the markets; it's guaranteed to be busy."

Lei Lie had not spoken throughout, but his brows were knitted tighter and tighter.

Zhou Yun noticed and looked at him: "Minister Lei, do you have any concerns?"

...