The county seat of Shanghai is not large, although I wandered slowly, and after about twenty minutes, I was already at the city wall. Looking at the narrow city gate, crowds of merchants and vendors crowded at the city gate waiting to line up to leave the city, Feng Yunshan frowned: "What's the matter?" ”

Zhang Zhidong's face changed, and he hurriedly pleaded: "Your Majesty, it's Weichen who hasn't managed it well!" There are too many people in Shanghai County, especially at noon and evening every day, there are too many people in and out of the city, and the city gate is too small, and it is often blocked at the city gate. Therefore, Weichen made a provision last year, this treasure belt gate and Chaoyang Gate can only go out of the city at noon, Yan Haimen enters the city, and the opposite is true in the evening. Despite this, there are so many people that it is still clogged. His Majesty later followed Weichen to the outside of the city to see, the city foundation outside the city, because of the development and construction outside the city, resulting in the continuous accumulation of bricks and mud, the city wall of Shanghai County is only one zhang four feet high, the city gate is low and difficult to walk, often congested, the carriages and horses can not go together at all during the day, and a large number of materials such as grain, rice, firewood and grass in the city can only be transported in the middle of the night when no one is there, and it is inconvenient to travel. In short, Weichen didn't do a good job. ”

Feng Yunshan waved his hand, his face was as usual, and he didn't blame Zhang Zhidong: "Okay, Aiqing doesn't have to blame herself, and it's no wonder that you are blamed for this matter." As the city expands, the population increases dramatically, how to manage it? From the initial planning to the later construction, it is necessary to take into account. ”

Feng Yunshan sighed, it is true that Zhang Zhidong is not to blame, who would have thought that Shanghai's development would be so rapid and the population would increase dramatically to such a crowded level? It has to be said that the thinking habits of foreigners are really open, and from the very beginning, the planning of the concession area has taken into account the situation of the next tens of years.

Nowadays, no one in the whole country has experience in this area, so they can only make a head and let people explore and study on their own. At least, I generally know that starting from the aspect of urban functional division, residential areas, commercial areas, factory areas, leisure areas, public service areas, etc., and then from the city's rivers, greening, drainage facilities, public transportation roads, future power and communication pipelines and so on. Suddenly, Feng Yunshan remembered that the cities of later generations, except for a few deliberate ones, most of them had no city walls!

Feng Yunshan understood one thing, the reason why later generations demolished those ancient city walls that could have been used as cultural relics, this is the reason. Can't because of the need to protect the so-called cultural relics to bind themselves, let the people bear the so-called protection of some upper-class elites of the preference for the protection of historical heritage and pay, for the people, it doesn't matter whether the cultural relics are not cultural relics, life is convenient, economic development is the last word.

Now that it has entered the modern society, warships and artillery are now popular, and this low ancient city wall has slowly lost its due role in war defense. In a dozen years, when more powerful high explosives became popular and artillery developed, this kind of wall was more like paper, and it could not stop the attack of modern weapons at all. Rather than this, it is better to simply abandon it: the demolition of all the walls of Shanghai County can be used as a symbol to liberate the thinking habits of the officials and people of the Chinese Empire, which is not only conducive to the urban development of Shanghai, but also can remove the shackles in people's hearts.

Thinking of this, Feng Yunshan said solemnly: "I thought that if the city wall of this Shanghai county was demolished, the traffic of the people would no longer be blocked like this. ”

Zhang Zhidong and Liu Shengbang were both surprised. Zhang Zhidong even persuaded loudly: "Your Majesty, the city wall has been demolished, is it still Shanghai City?" What's more, if there is a mob rebellion, won't it be difficult to resist without the city's support? It's better to open a few more gates on the existing city wall to ease the connection. ”

"Aiqing doesn't need to say much! I've made up my mind! Feng Yunshan stood on the city wall, pointed out, and said: "The original concession area where foreigners gathered over there is now not a concession, but it has developed. Looking at the momentum of its development, in two years, it will surpass this Shanghai county. Why, this wall restricts the development of Shanghai, the land area is too small, and even the Pudong Free Trade Zone opposite is likely to exceed the county seat of Shanghai. Therefore, not only for the convenience of the people's transportation, but also for the overall development of Shanghai County, the city wall must be demolished! ”

"You see, how many people come and go in and out of this city every day? What's more, there are still so many laborers who enter Shanghai County every month. Even if a few new gates are added, it won't take two years, or the same? It is not possible to open all the walls in all directions, and in this case, the walls will lose their value and significance. Therefore, it is better to demolish the city wall, so that the concession area over there, and even the towns and villages in all directions of Shanghai County, can be connected with this Shanghai county town and seek common development! Feng Yunshan continued in high spirits: "When the time comes, Shanghai, the Tokyo of Shanghai, will be the real Tokyo!" Only in this way can it develop into a metropolis, just like Bianjing in the Northern Song Dynasty, with a population of one million, or even more than 10 million, and the wealth is comparable to that of the country, which is the development goal I have set for Shanghai! ”

Zhang Zhidong and Liu Shengbang looked at the high-spirited and scolding emperor with admiration, their eyes full of admiration. Although they could hardly believe that the emperor said that the population was millions or tens of millions, what kind of scale should it be, is it still a county seat, a prefecture, a province does not have that many people. However, since the emperor spoke so confidently, they were still willing to believe the emperor's words unconditionally. What can a person who can overthrow the Manchu Qing in a few years?

However, Feng Yunshan looked at the moat under the city and told Zhang Zhidong, although he would soon be transferred to Wuchang: "Zhang Aiqing, you write it down first, and when you go back, you will discuss with the rest of the county government how to remove the city wall." This moat is also an obstacle, and the walls and ruins that you have torn down can be filled in the moat, so that many more places can come out. However, this city wall does not need to be completely demolished, such as the section of the city wall and city gate of the City God Temple, which can be preserved as a cultural inheritance gift for some people in later generations. And the moat does not need to be completely filled, think carefully, the part leading to the Huangpu River should be preserved, and a few more bridges should be built, if the boat can be navigated directly from the Huangpu River to the moat wharf, it is better. In this way, Zhang Aiqing, you will gather people in the afternoon and prepare for life. At three o'clock in the afternoon tomorrow, a kick-off meeting for the demolition of the city wall will be held in the west gate section of the city wall, where there is relatively little traffic, and the demolition of the city wall will be officially started. I'll stay one more day for your wall demolition ceremony! ”

The emperor's words are holy decrees. It turned out that the emperor wanted to personally participate in the demolition ceremony of the city wall, Zhang Zhidong held back the doubts in his heart, even if he didn't have time to prepare, he had to act immediately.

It must be that the emperor knows that without him, and he doesn't know how long the demolition of the city wall will be delayed, so he will use his identity first to demolish a section before talking. Now that it's been moved, it's easy to do later. Fortunately, the emperor also knew that he was in a hurry, and only began to demolish the city wall in the remote section of the city wall.

Early the next morning, when an early shopkeeper led two men to the gate of the West City, when he saw the big poster, he thought that he was old and dizzy, and looked hard several times before he was sure that the city wall was going to be demolished, and he was immediately surprised. All of a sudden, the news spread in all directions.

By the morning, although there was still some time before three o'clock in the afternoon, the west of the city was already bustling and noisy, and tens of thousands of people were already surrounding the inside and outside of the west city, blocking the entire west of the city.

"Why did the government tear down the city walls? This can't be done, if the city wall is demolished, will we still be in the city in the future? Doesn't that turn into the countryside? What if there are thieves coming again, what if a foreigner kills him? ”

"yes. I have to go to the county magistrate and make it clear that the city wall cannot be demolished! This is an antiquity, suppressing the luck of a county in our Shanghai County, if this is demolished, everyone will be unlucky. ”

Some of the people were talking.