Several days later, Ji Yuan appeared in Jingji Prefecture of Great Zhen, outside the capital.
It had been nearly eight years since he had last visited Great Zhen's capital. Now that he had come to Jingji Prefecture again, Ji Yuan could no longer recognize what the city looked like.
After its expansion, the city's scale far surpassed what it had once been. There were three layers of walls alone. The outermost wall was the most majestic, reaching nine zhang high. What had once been the outer wall had become an inner wall, while the innermost was the wall of the Imperial City.
On one side beyond the city wall, they had even dug a broad short canal, diverting water from the Tongtian River. It had become a port beside the capital as well, crowded with ships and bustling with freight.
The outer perimeter of the capital covered the greatest area. Following the city gate past the newly built outer wall and entering the capital's new districts, Ji Yuan saw buildings lining broad streets. Most had been constructed in recent years: shops, residences, academies, government offices, and more.
Some of these districts were inhabited by local residents who had relocated from around the capital, but even more people had come here by reputation from all across Great Zhen and even from throughout the world. Merchants bought land and erected buildings; eminent Confucian scholars migrated here; people from all over the world brought goods to Great Zhen's capital to trade. Some came simply to admire the sights of Great Zhen's capital, while countless students came to gaze upon the Literary Sage, harboring the extravagant hope that the Literary Sage might favor them.
Naturally, although buildings had risen in most places, there were also countless pavilions and storefronts still under construction. Merchants from