Hu Zongxian was very curious about just how far present-day Shuntian Prefecture had developed. While eating and drinking in Tongzhou that day and traveling into the capital the next, he kept asking about it.
Wang Yan patiently explained everything to Hu Zongxian in detail, treating it as an advance handover of duties.
Back when Wang Yan had been the county magistrate of Great Prosperity, he had already effectively influenced the development of all Shuntian Prefecture. Once he took overall charge of the prefecture, his influence began extending to the surrounding regions.
Thus, after nearly six years of development, with Wang Yan fully tapping the Great Ming Empire's potential, all manner of major projects had been launched. It was no exaggeration to say that, had he not shouldered the expenses of suppressing the Japanese pirates in the southeast midway through, Wang Yan would have practically rebuilt all of Shuntian Prefecture.
It was also because of the capital's immense prosperity, which drew in labor and wealth from the surrounding regions. After all, with so many projects underway, Shuntian Prefecture's own people alone could never have managed them. Every place needed workers, and there were only so many people in the prefecture. How could that possibly be enough?
And because Shuntian Prefecture had a clean administration and no crushing exploitation, commoners did everything they could to remain here. Combined with the land surveys and household registration checks, the prefecture's population rose from 1.2 million to more than 2.4 million over those six years.
At the same time, because of the population growth, Wang Yan carried out urban expansion and renovation projects. Large numbers of new residences appeared outside the city walls to the east and south of the capital.
Within the city, Wang Yan demolished several old districts. With the aid of cement,