The pork butcher is smoother than a pig butcher!

Chapter 372 New Town Planning
Ganluchuan's main tasks this year, besides land reclamation, are infrastructure construction.

Therefore, the men's current focus is on making brick blanks and building brick kilns.

The construction of the new city requires a dedicated person to be in charge of the project.

The only person who could write, calculate, and understand General Gan's urban planning intentions was Gan Mingfu, a centurion with the talent of a scholar who had passed the imperial examination.

Gan Minglan simply stated her request.

Gan Mingfu and the Zuo family's mapping team worked for half a month to translate the planning map onto the sand table micro-map.

This morning.

A dozen or so elderly veterans, along with Commander Gu and others, were invited.

When they saw the model of Ganluchuan New City in one corner of the greenhouse, they were so amazed they couldn't stop smiling.

The city walls outside the city are high and wide.

The city has neat and orderly streets and alleys.

There's also the moat that connects to the main river, and the small rivers that flow in front of the gates of each house within the city.

Water is flowing in the sand table.

For these roughnecks who have just finished their literacy courses, this is much more intuitive than looking at any blueprints.

As the chief designer of the model, Gan Mingfu explained to everyone the reasons behind the design of the new city.

This lecture lasted for half an hour.

After a while, everyone started asking questions:
"According to Commander Gan, the new city on this sand table is about twenty times the size of the old site from the Tang Dynasty! Our garrison currently has a permanent population of just over 20,000. Isn't that a bit too big?"

It would take at least one or two years to build such a magnificent city.

We were looking forward to moving into our new home in the second half of the year.

Someone immediately retorted:

"What's so big about it? Look at the different house types in these courtyards. The most densely packed and numerous ones in this area are the traditional courtyard houses."

The buildings lining both sides of the four main streets and the four side streets are all two-story buildings connected together. These are clearly intended for use as shops, and space must be left for backyards.

Judging from the layout on the sand table, the largest areas are actually occupied by these two- or three-courtyard structures.

Those who disagreed were cursing under their breath.

Are you stupid?
With your rank of centurion, you should at least be assigned to a second-class corps, right?

What difference does it make if it's completed a year earlier or later?

Yes.

Who wouldn't covet such a large house?

Count them, there are sixty two-courtyard houses and twenty three-courtyard houses on the sand table.

The centurions and chiliarchs were exchanging veiled accusations.

Several older veterans thought further ahead:

"After a long winter, the garrison will have several hundred more children in the second half of the year. There will only be more and more children in the future. When they grow up and get married, won't the fathers have to separate the family property for their children? Nowadays, the cost of building houses by firing bricks and tiles is low. Those who are capable can buy an extra yard. That is truly for the benefit of future generations."

Oh right, how about buying the yard with real money?
Gan Mingfu nodded:
"The first courtyard was built for rank-and-file soldiers, the second courtyard was for centurions, and the third courtyard was for generals of the rank of chiliarch and above."

These courtyards all belonged to the garrison property of Ganluchuan. After they were built and allocated, the military families living there could continue to live there for free as long as their descendants continued to enlist in the army and had the corresponding rank.

What's being offered for sale are two-story courtyard houses located on the four main streets and four side streets. You can buy the entire courtyard or a single shop on the ground floor. Each household registration booklet is limited to one courtyard house.

"Can you really buy it?"

"Yes, it's possible! Courtyards on the main street aren't cheap, but those on the side streets are about 30% cheaper."

"Just how expensive is it?"

"The shops on the main street cost around two hundred taels, while the most ordinary ones on the side streets cost eighty taels."

Is it expensive?

The soldiers of the vanguard battalion almost burst out laughing.

If it weren't for the purchase restrictions, they could have bought ten sets at once.

Even the older veterans are pondering:
There are three children in the family. It's not feasible to buy a courtyard for each child, but we need to buy a courtyard on a side street and divide it into three parts. Would it be possible for each child to have a shop and a room on the second floor?

That's what he thought, and that's what he asked. Gan Mingfu nodded: "Okay! The garrison can issue one or more shop deeds!"

With a property deed, a property can be bought and sold on the market.

Everyone was ecstatic.

There's not even a hint of a shop yet, and they're already itching to hand over the down payment to the sanatorium.

Some people are optimistic about the commercial street in Ganluchuan New City.

Some people are also studying urban renewal plans for the old city.

But it turns out...

The Tang Dynasty ruins where they are now living in dug-outs will be converted into a horse farm after the new city is built.

Horses were one of the most valuable assets of the Ganluchuan Garrison.

Not to mention the warhorses obtained from the Russians, Ganluchuan now possesses over ten thousand horses, including the Hu horses previously assigned to the vanguard battalion.

Even the rarest of wild horses, the Rat King managed to collect ninety of them.

In the past two weeks, more than twenty female wild horses have started to go into heat.

Despite having many fine horses in the garrison, none of them can outrun a wild horse.

Especially the Horse King.

Even the King of the Northwest wrote to him repeatedly, his heart set on the wild foal with the blood of the Horse King.

Therefore, this horse farm will undergo major renovations and be improved.

Thirty acres of land were reserved between the new town and the old town.

In the future, one-third of this area will be used to build a school, and the remaining space will be used for a silkworm rearing room and a brocade weaving workshop.

These are all Phase I projects, and they will be prioritized for construction over the others.

Gan Mingfu gave a detailed explanation of the school:

"The schools in Ganluchuan are different from those imperial examination schools in Guannei. They have separate schools for boys and girls. Tuition is free for both schools, and they also provide students with three meals a day."

The boys' school recruited males aged five to thirteen with military status. The curriculum was the same as that of General Gan's personal guards, covering both literary and martial arts.

The admission requirements for girls' schools are the same as those for boys' schools; the only difference is in the curriculum.

The teachers used were either elderly men over fifty years old or female teachers.

The girls' school held unified reading and writing classes in the mornings, and specialized classes in the afternoons. These specialized classes taught practical skills such as weaving, embroidery, cooking, carving, medicine, and winemaking.

Students can take all the skills courses once, and then choose one skill to focus on learning after six months based on their interests and strengths.

An outstanding graduate of the boys' school was proposed to be a squad leader when he enlisted in the Ganluchuan Garrison.

Outstanding graduates of the girls' school could directly work in the brocade weaving workshop, embroidery workshop, medical clinic, and winery of the sanatorium.

The monthly salary in the first year will be no less than one tael of silver, and there will be opportunities for salary increases every year depending on work performance.

"hiss"

The crowd was in an uproar.

Commander Gan's words represented General Gan's meaning.

Free schooling is already astonishing enough.

The skills taught in girls' schools are definitely practical.

If you study hard, you can get a job that earns one or two taels of silver a month.

Is that a job?
That's the confidence to support oneself, and also a respectable dowry that can be brought to the husband's family.

These are people who have daughters or granddaughters. Even if they prefer sons to daughters, they still have the reason to want the best for their own flesh and blood.

Not to mention the shops in the new town that are available for sale, which have excited countless families, the news of the opening of a girls' school has generated an exceptionally strong response.

The pregnant young wives felt much more at ease.

Thinking to myself, even if I don't give birth to a son this time, I'm not afraid. My daughter can go to school when she's five years old!

(End of this chapter)