Herald of Steel

Alexander planned to put the newly captured workers in his sugar plant to expand his capacity.

Currently, he could not turn all the beetroot he produced into sugar.

He lacked enough manpower.

This led to him selling a lot of the raw vegetables to third party buyers which was perhaps even worse than getting pennies on the dollar.

Alexander was determined to stop it.

....

With the workshops done, Alexander at last took to the streets and found that the city had not changed that much in the following nine months.

Only many of the aqueducts that were under construction seemed closer to completion, the sewage works covered further of the city's underground, and there was a half built stadium in the central district.

Alexander thus toured the various districts just as a way to see the current state of his people.

He started in the western district, where many of the apartments were still under construction while those units that were completed were filled to the brim with people.

The people lucky enough to get allocated these lots were all skilled craftsmen and upper middle class people- so businessmen, blacksmiths, workshop supervisors, and even those clergymen working as teachers.

All the men were currently away at work, thus leaving only the children and women folk to fill the streets.

They ran shops, collected water from the nearby wells for drinking and cooking, cleaned clothes and various utensils like plates and glass, bought groceries, and waited by the bakers to get their bread done.

The sheer vibrancy of all the activities was something that left Alexander a bit surprised because he did not think the place would develop so fast.

It was so rapid that there were already some signs of a bit of congestion along the roads, which was especially impressive given these roads were nearly 8 meters wide.

This was quite spacious even by modern standards.

Although that had more to do with the fact that many of the newly opened shops, stalls, and carts were parked right in the middle of it.

In fact, the front of most of the apartment buildings was filled with various family run shops and Alexander was surprised by how extensive the choices they offered were.

"Sour wine, Get your sour wine!"

"Fresh fish caught today! Come and get it! Quickly!"

"Pickled cod and herring! Take a look!"

"Onion bread with cheese… baked just this morning, get it for the whole family!"

"Salted meat, delicious salted meat!"

"Apples, figs, peaches, and grapes! All taken from the Cisran hills!"

"Plums, nuts, and black currents! Berries, cherries, and strawberries! Bought straight from the harbor."

"Lettuce, cabbage, leek, cucumbers! All fresh from the Jaya's farm!"

"Onion, garlic, beans, and lentils. Get your spices and veggies right here!"

Such and many more cries filled the air, its intensity and frequency surprising Alexander.

In his original plan, the western district was supposed to be only a residential part, meant only for the people to live and relax.

So where did all these shops pop up?

And it was not just food stalls.

There were people selling metal tools like nails, hammers, knives, pots and pans, and even hoes and plows, although Alexander had no idea who was buying the last two items here, there was no farmland in sight.

Hawkers with open carts peddled toys for children- wooden and stuffed dolls dressed in eye catching clothes, tops, miniature animals, beautiful pottery, shiny babbles, etc. as well as various beauty accessories like ribbons, lipstick, simple copper and zinc chains, ear rings and hair pieces for women.

Candles and lamp oil for lighting and firewood for cooking were sold by chandlers and woodcutters, but by far the biggest business here were the bakeries, as seen by how crowded their storefronts were despite how many of them there were.

A large number of housewives were seen taking their wheat or other types of grain up to these bakeries and have the bread baked for them- these shops had specialized ovens and experienced men that made this staple food taste better than any homemade charcoal kiln would ever hope to get.

And because they served a large community, these bakeries were pretty cheap per person.

Thus many families were willing to pay, on average three to four times a week that small amount of money to save time and get a better product while focusing on other chores.

Only the poorest of the poor would try to always make the bread from scratch in their homes.

.....

Alexander on one hand was quite pleased by how organically the entire community had grown up, with many businesses moving from the southern district to the western district to more quickly serve the people.

Heck, the hustle and bustle of here nearly rivaled the market district.

But the problem was such businesses were all set up haphazardly, creating a lot of disturbances for the surroundings and more importantly illegally occupying a lot of empty lots.

Lots on which Alexander planned to build entertainment centers such as bathhouses, some smaller amphitheaters, parks, and even a zoo.

These projects were also quite ambitious as Adhania, or in general the whole world, did not really have any concept of the latter two.

Parks were just seen as large open green fields and there was no one in the world who lacked such spaces.

You just needed to go outside the city walls to touch all the grass you could ever want.

As for their small cousins- gardens, yes they existed, but they were only seen as playthings for the rich and wealthy.

The common man did not dare dream or even want such a luxury.

As for locking up animals and showing them around for a fee, nobody seemed to have yet dreamt of such a ludicrous idea.

However with all the shops sprouting out like mushrooms around here…Zanzan was already feeling the brunt of a swelling population.

So if Alexander wanted to accommodate all these amenity centers, many of these shops would have to go- removed from the roads and even kicked off the vacant land.

But he was also reluctant to order such a destructive act because he could see the people needed these shops.

For the busy womenfolk, walking all the way to the southern districts to get their essentials was too much of a hassle, too time consuming.

And this quickly made Alexander see a flaw in his original city design,

When he had built the four districts and separated them into neat zones, he had done it using his modern perception of a city- i.e. each part squarely bound to a single identity- residency, industrial, economic, entertainment, etc.

He thought such clear divisions would make administering the place easier.

However the problem was ancient people did not live like that- they lacked the swift mobility of cars, buses, and trains to let them access all those distant points within a reasonable timeframe.

So industry, economy, and residency were usually mixed- people mostly stayed where they worked and traded with the vendors around them for most of their needs.

Only the entertainment portion was separate, with people flocking to various theaters and traveling circuses whenever they came to town.

'Hmmm, this was an oversight,' Hence while watching the people go on about their lives Alexander hummed so, noting, 'I should really start some kind of public transport before kicking these shops out. Large carriages pulled by horses to act as buses or trams should be the first. Yes, they can be even state sponsored to keep the costs to a bare minimum. Like the bathhouses.'

It went without saying traveling around such a large city was quite a hassle for the average Zanzanite.

The only real choice they had was their simple pair of feet.

Now, there was something akin to the ancient version of a taxi- a fast, two or four seated horse carriage that you could rent from specific 'shops' and that would take you anywhere, but as you could guess, it was way beyond the ability of any ordinary citizen to afford such a mode regularly.

It was mostly used by wealthy merchants, and visiting dignitaries who did not have the time or ability to buy and maintain a stead.

As for the nobles- well there were several ways they could move around.

Personal carriages were the obvious one.

Men also liked to travel by horse to better see the view.

While women much more preferred to use a palanquin- a large covered box of single capacity carried by four to six men.

Because the men carried the thing on their shoulders, the ride was much smoother, and able to much more easily navigate the usually tight and cramped street corners.

As for options for traveling between cities, well the nobles had the same opportunities, while the commoners got a few more items added to the menu.

The most common method was still walking, while occasionally asking for a kind merchant to give a lift along the way if one was lucky enough.

At other times, if one lived in a particularly big city and his destination was equally famous, he could hope to find a merchant caravan and pay a certain fee to tag along with them.

Or if one could afford, take a hired horse from one of the stables.

Let us say no to piracy! Don't take part in a crime! Don't patronize thieves!

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