The Rise of Miracle New City

Fueled by the frenzied stimulus of wealth and the backing of transcendent martial power, the landscape of the South City was undergoing a drastic transformation at a speed that shattered the worldview of all who witnessed it.

Over the leveled ruins of the South City, a "South City Grand Cross Avenue"—a full ten zhang wide, poured entirely from gray-white cement, and as flat as a massive mirror—now ran through the east, west, south, and north.

Standing on this expansive avenue, even a thousand heavily armored cavalry charging side by side would not feel crowded. Along both sides of the road, cement lampposts carved with dragon motifs stood every five zhang. Embedded atop them were simple glazed covers newly developed by the inner court workshops, designed to reflect moonlight and house luminescent stones. Even at night, this avenue was as bright as day.

But what truly left the people of the capital breathless were the miraculous, magnificent buildings rising from the ground along the street.

Right in the prime real estate at the very center of the Grand Cross Avenue, a massive circular building covering tens of thousands of square meters squatted like a behemoth of steel.

Beneath its towering dome, over a dozen thick cement Roman columns—each requiring ten men to encircle—supported a colossal porch. The entire structure presented a cold, gray-white tone. Above the main entrance hung a gold-lettered plaque personally inscribed by the Emperor: Great Zhou Stock Exchange!

Right next to this resplendent exchange was a Royal Sales Office covering a thousand square meters. The interior was decorated like a fairyland, and a red wool carpet brought as tribute from the Western Regions was rolled out at the entrance. Two rows of Brocade Guards wearing Flying Fish robes and wielding Embroidered Spring swords stood like statues, deterring any riffraff.

Stretching outwards along both sides of the Grand Cross Avenue, the top-tier supporting facilities that Wang Hao had promised the future homeowners of the South City were also shedding their scaffolding.

There was the spacious and brightly lit Great Zhou Royal Primary School with its playground paved in smooth sand; the three-story Royal General Hospital, which even featured planned sterile operating rooms inside; the heavily guarded, high-walled South City Patrol and Penal Bureau; and the Great Zhou Mercenary Guild, boasting a grand entrance and bustling with voices, established specifically for martial artists of the Jianghu to accept quests!

Rows of uniform two-story street-facing shops, complete with rainproof arcades, had already hung up red silk banners advertising spaces for rent.

Most remarkably, this cluster of buildings—representing the latest industrial civilization and commercial frenzy of the Great Zhou—was situated right next to the academic holy land of the Great Zhou dynasty: the Imperial Academy! The two were separated by nothing more than a single cement road.

On the day these buildings were fully completed and the tarpaulins were pulled away, the entire capital was thrown into an uproar.

The atmosphere within the Imperial Academy, however, was as stifling as if everyone had lost their parents.

The imperial students, who usually prided themselves on their lofty purity and wished they could walk with their noses in the air, now lay blankly over the dilapidated blue-brick wall of the Academy. Clutching their Four Books and Five Classics, they stared at the outrageously wide avenue and the magnificent Roman-columned buildings outside, completely deaf to whatever the master was lecturing about in the classroom.

"Is... is this truly a creation of the mortal realm? It hasn't even been a month! If this isn't immortal magic, what is?" An imperial student from an aristocratic family, who usually loved writing poems to satirize the government, spoke with a trembling voice, completely oblivious to the wolf-hair brush dropping from his hand.

"An insult to culture! An insult to culture!" The Chancellor of the Imperial Academy, an old scholar with a white beard, stood at the entrance. Looking at the glittering Stock Exchange across the street that reeked of copper coins, he trembled with rage, tears streaming down his face. "To establish such a place of vulgar merchants beside the sanctuary of the Sage! This is humiliating us scholars; this is digging up the very roots of the Great Zhou's literary heritage!"

The old Chancellor cursed with sorrow and indignation, yet not a single commoner passing by paid him any heed. The gazes everyone cast toward the Imperial Academy even carried a hint of mockery.

"My lord! That broken-tiled roof of your Imperial Academy has been leaking for years with no money to fix it! Look at the houses built by the Royal Family—so grand! So sturdy! If I could just buy a house here in the South City, I'd be perfectly content even if it meant my son had to sweep the streets across the way!" a coolie pulling a large cart said enviously.

Scenes like this played out every single day.

Standing on the unfinished rooftop terrace of the Stock Exchange, Wang Hao faced the howling wind, looking down at this new city molded entirely to his will. His eyes were as fervent as if they could ignite the entire world.

"What are houses? Just bricks and cement! The supporting facilities are the true king of reaping wealth!" Wang Hao spread his arms, as if to embrace the entire capital. He laughed heartily to Pei Jingzhe behind him, "Do you see it? School districts, medical resources, core commercial zones, and absolutely secure public safety! I have used the mighty power of the state to concentrate the absolute best resources of the Great Zhou onto this piece of land!"

Wang Hao spun around abruptly, an inexplicable light flashing in his eyes. "The gold, silver, and jewels that those aristocratic families have extorted from the commoners over hundreds of years are all rusting away in their moldy cellars! Today, I will use these South City properties and this Stock Exchange to force them to wag their tails like begging dogs and spit out every last drop of their family fortunes to me!"

If the magnificent exteriors and domineering facilities merely left the people of the capital in awe, then the model homes officially launched by the sales office directly shattered the rationality of all the high officials, nobles, and wealthy merchants.

On this day, the South City Sales Office officially opened for business.

In the prime location of the Grand Cross Avenue, the Royal Construction Company unveiled six specifications of model homes in one go, perfectly corresponding to the seven social ranks of the Great Zhou: Duke, Marquis, Count, Viscount, Baron, Knight, and Commoner:

A standard two-story house with a courtyard, covering 500 square meters.

A two-courtyard compound covering 1.5 mu, featuring a premium two-story main house.

A three-courtyard compound covering 4.5 mu, featuring a luxurious two-story main house.

A four-courtyard compound covering 7.5 mu, featuring a standard villa as the main house.

A mansion courtyard covering 15 mu, featuring a premium villa as the main house.

An estate courtyard covering 50 mu; a high-end manor.

And finally, a luxurious manor situated by the artificial lake, occupying excellent Feng Shui, and covering a massive 75 mu!

On the first day of viewings, without any need for promotion, nearly all the prominent nobles in the capital, the great salt merchants from Jiangnan, wealthy businessmen from all over, and even those aristocratic wives and young ladies who usually never stepped out of their inner gates, all squeezed into the South City like mad.

When the Duke of Ying's wife, Lady Li, walked into that luxurious manor putting on airs with the support of four maidservants, she instantly froze in place, even forgetting to breathe.

The luxurious villa before her eyes had none of the dark, oppressive paper windows of traditional mansions that reeked of rotting wood.

What greeted her sight was an entire wall made of massive, completely transparent glass floor-to-ceiling windows!

The winter sunlight poured in unhindered, spilling over the spacious hall adorned with a pure wool carpet from the Western Regions. Suspended from the ceiling was a gigantic crystal chandelier made of hundreds of perfectly cut glass pieces, refracting dazzling, rainbow-colored light in the sun.

"My heavens..." Madam Sun gasped, her legs turning to jelly as she slumped onto a genuine leather sofa. This sofa had been produced by the Royal Furniture Factory, which the Inner Court's Directorate had established overnight. Stroking the soft leather and looking out at the crystal-clear view of the lake, her voice trembled. "This... even the Moon Palace in the Heavenly Realm could only be as good as this, right?"

A clever young eunuch from the sales office quickly stepped forward and expertly introduced the features: "Madam, take a look. These are called floor-to-ceiling glass windows. They block the wind, keep the warmth in, and let in excellent light. What's heating this room is a system of constant-temperature copper pipes embedded in the walls, called central heating. Even if it's snowing heavily outside, you only need to wear a single layer of clothing indoors. And then there's the washroom..."

The young eunuch led the crowd to the bathroom and pressed the copper handle on a white porcelain toilet.

Whoosh!

A clear stream of water instantly washed away the waste, leaving not a trace of foul odor. "This is a flush toilet. It connects to an independent sewage channel underground in the South City. From now on, when you get up in the middle of the night, you'll never have to smell the stench of a chamber pot again."

"There's actually such god-like enjoyment?!" The eyes of several wealthy salt merchants from Jiangnan, who had followed them in to view the house, turned completely red. Jealousy and desire made the fat on their bodies quiver.

For these tycoons who were so poor that all they had was money, they usually had no other ways to spend their wealth besides buying land, buying women, and eating exotic delicacies. Now, with such an era-transcending, overwhelmingly superior luxury product placed before them, the most primal vanity and greed in their hearts were completely drawn out.

"Buy! I'm buying it!" The top salt merchant from Yangzhou shoved the young eunuch aside and pulled out a thick stack of banknotes from the Datong Bank from his robes, spitting in his excitement. "How much is this luxury manor?! I bid two hundred thousand taels! No, three hundred thousand taels!"

"Get lost! Does a lowly merchant reeking of copper coins like you deserve to live in a fairyland like this?" The patriarch of a prominent aristocratic family next to him flew into a rage, kicking the salt merchant away before roaring at the sales manager, "I bid five hundred thousand taels! I want that premium lakeside estate! I'll sign the deed right now!"

"Bullshit! My Duke Dingguo's Estate set our sights on that premium estate first! Whoever dares to snatch it, I'll hack them to pieces!" The heir of Duke Dingguo drew his waist blade halfway from its sheath, blocking the doorway with a ferocious glare.

Madness. It was utter madness.

The entire sales office transformed into an irrational, frantic gladiatorial arena. Those aristocratic families who usually spouted benevolence and morality, the self-proclaimed aloof relatives of civil officials, and the unbearably arrogant military nobles were now tearing at each other like shrews, even ripping each other's hair out, just to snatch a luxury manor equipped with floor-to-ceiling glass windows, central heating, and a flush toilet.

The dazzling brilliance of glass completely blinded the eyes of the capital. It was no longer just a material; it had become the ultimate symbol distinguishing identity, status, and wealth. If you didn't own a villa with glass windows in the South City, you'd be too embarrassed to even greet anyone when you went out!

Standing on the second floor and monitoring the entire scene, the managing eunuch looked down at this flock of fat sheep scrambling to throw their money away. He smiled so widely that the wrinkles on his face could crush a fly.

"Tell them that cash transactions take priority! Furthermore, we do not accept banknotes from the Datong Bank. We only recognize the silver and gold coins issued by our Royal Bank! Have them take their gold and silver to exchange them!"

With this masterful stroke, Wang Hao was not only going to reap massive profits from the real estate, but he was also using the opportunity to completely monopolize the Great Zhou Dynasty's currency issuance rights in the hands of the Royal Bank!