Chapter 217 New Drama

Assad, feeling content, led his massive Hu merchant fleet, escorted by the Qihai Merchant Guild's guard, as it set sail. Qi Zhentao, stationed on Crescent Island, tirelessly oversaw the training of sailors, his spirit undiminished by age. Word had it that a great expert, familiar with various ship types from overseas, was about to arrive on Crescent Island to manage the shipyard. The Ye Clan Workshop and related businesses were operating smoothly, digesting the enormous orders they had received. With these troubles behind him, Ye Tao was finally able to set off back to Danyang.

Even more content than Ye Tao were Tan Weiran and Tan Weishi. During their time in Yicheng and on Crescent Island, although their accommodations were inferior to their respective residences in Danyang, the delicious food, the beautiful and dazzling sea views, and the various seabirds and colorful fish had broadened their horizons. For Tan Weishi, participating in a naval battle that wasn't particularly dangerous was merely exciting; the sight of blood wasn't something the young girl enjoyed. But for Tan Weiran, who aspired to become a great general and help his elder brother unify the Central Plains, it was his first in-depth experience of military conflict, his first time on the battlefield, and at the forefront no less. As for the novel and precious gifts that the Qihai Merchant Guild, the Samir family, and the local Yicheng aristocratic families gave them in various guises, those were secondary. The only gift that Tan Weishi particularly liked was the litter of Afghan hounds and the four silver eagle eggs that Assad had presented. The puppies were completely loyal to their beautiful and adorable new owner, while the little silver eagles, which had only just opened their eyes after hatching, became Tan Weishi's greatest source of joy on the journey home. With the dignity of a princess, she personally fed the little silver eagles and cleaned their nest of dried grass.

After being away from Danyang for more than two months, Ye Tao returned. After entering the city in the morning, he freshened up and went to the Princess Manor, only to be told that the princess had just left for the Yi Zhan Lou (Chess Battle Building) to oversee the rehearsal of a new play in the large lecture hall. Indeed, in the entire Danyang, this was probably the only place that resembled a modern stage and could be used for performances.

In the lecture hall, in the space between the stage and the first row of seats, was a huge table. Spread out on the table were scripts, as well as designs for the stage and costumes. Tan Weixin was sitting at the table, looking intently at those things. Sisi and Qiao'er stood beside her, constantly adding hot tea to her cup or pouring out the cooled tea. Liu Xiangyuan, now a female official in the Princess Manor, was explaining the music and costumes in the play in a soft voice. As someone who came from a brothel and was once Danyang's best guzheng player, Liu Xiangyuan certainly knew a lot more about performing. As for the actors participating in the performance, while some came from opera troupes and brothels, there were also some bored scions of aristocratic families, some of whom were quite familiar with Ye Tao. At this time, they were all sitting quietly in different parts of the hall, holding scrolls of scripts in their hands, either memorizing their lines or whispering their lines with two or three others.

Tan Weixin's professional and experienced director's demeanor couldn't help but make Ye Tao smile wryly. He walked along the aisle towards the front row. In this quiet space, his footsteps immediately attracted the attention of many people. Those actors who were familiar with Ye Tao nodded to him, and Qiao'er gently tugged at Tan Weixin's sleeve, softly reminding her, "Your Highness, Master Ye is here."

Hearing this, Tan Weixin immediately turned around and smiled sweetly at Ye Tao. The smile was sweet and joyful, without a hint of being wronged. Ye Tao felt relieved. Tan Weixin might have encountered some obstacles, but she was still so optimistic and cheerful, so it wasn't a big problem.

"Xiangyuan, I'll leave things here to you. I..." Glancing at Ye Tao standing on the side, Tan Weixin said, "I'm going to find a place to have tea."

The place where Tan Weixin and Ye Tao went to drink tea was not far away, just in the Yi Zhan Lou complex, in the open-air tea seats on the small square in front of the Yi Zhan Lou. Although the Yi Zhan Lou was busy now, the open-air tea seats were usually empty in the morning. Ye Tao and Tan Weixin found comfortable seats in the warm sunshine, and the guards naturally dispersed at a distance, standing or sitting, protecting the princess's safety. In fact, everyone was not too nervous in the Yi Zhan Lou. The military chess enthusiasts who came and went were mostly locals from Yicheng, mostly children of aristocratic families and wealthy young men. If they encountered an alarm here, with a little greeting, the servants and guards of each family and the attendants of those young masters and young ladies would come flocking. Precisely because of this, the guards were quite a distance away from where Ye Tao and Tan Weixin were sitting, leaving only the chief steward Liu Yong sitting at a table next to them.

"What play are you rehearsing?" Ye Tao asked, starting the conversation with such a question was less jarring.

Tan Weixin curled the corners of her mouth and said happily, "Secret Love in Peach Blossom Land... Have you heard of it?"

Ye Tao's expression was strange. He was never a fan of the arts, but he knew about this play by the talented director Lai Shengchuan, and had seen downloaded recordings of the play and the movie starring Brigitte Lin, but he felt a little complicated about bringing this play, which was full of nostalgia, here, and seeing what Tan Weixin would transform it into. He hesitated and said, "This... is it very different from the one I know?"

"Well, big, very big." Tan Weixin looked at Ye Tao's expression and seemed even more pleased.

"The Jiuzhou Merchant Guild said they want to co-host the next merchandise exchange with the Qihai Merchant Guild. What do you think?" Ye Tao asked.

"Hmm?... Let the senior stewards discuss this. Is it necessary for me to decide? Anyway, it's a good thing for everyone, isn't it?" Tan Weixin sighed.

"What's wrong? Are you tired? Or are you not happy doing it?" Seeing Tan Weixin's attitude, Ye Tao said with some concern.

Tan Weixin shook her head and said, "No. It's just... I feel like my greatest effort was all for nothing. I'm just a little... a little disappointed. These days, I'm just doing some plays or something to relax and adjust. It's much better not to carry such a heavy burden on my shoulders."

Ye Tao frowned and waited for Tan Weixin to continue. She didn't say why.

"Sigh," Tan Weixin sighed, "Do you know? My memorial on 'Ten Years of Monetary Reform' was debated in the imperial court for two months, and it was finally rejected."

"Rejected? Why?" Ye Tao immediately understood why Tan Weixin was so disheartened.

That memorial, which was 150,000 words long, was the result of so much of her effort. She wholeheartedly wanted to use what she could do to make Dongping strong. That memorial was filled with her ideals for governing the country. First, through the issuance of gold and silver coins, she wanted to create a monetary system in the market where gold and silver coins coexisted with physical gold and silver. Then, when this system was recognized, she wanted to issue treasury bonds and silver bonds that could be exchanged for gold and silver coins at designated institutions at any time, to form a gold and silver-backed paper currency that could actually be circulated. After that, she would issue gold and silver-backed paper currency and metal subsidiary coins on the basis of the country establishing such credit, and completely prohibit the market circulation of physical gold and silver.

In the original actual operations of Dongping, when collecting taxes in various places, copper coins and physical gold and silver were still used in parallel. For some tax categories that were fixed to be paid in physical silver, such as commercial taxes, a certain amount of *huohao* (wastage fee) was added. In Tan Weixin's system, when gold and silver coins could circulate, this part of the implicit additional tax burden on merchants would disappear. Although considering the use and regulations of this part of the implicit income by local authorities, Tan Weixin still formulated a series of articles for the vertical management and transparent management of taxation, and formulated a systematic monitoring and statistical system.

And in the memorial, Tan Weixin's exposition on the National Central Bank and the state's control of financial management fully considered the characteristics of this era, and was not too unreasonable, but outlined a rather grand prospect.

Such a memorial was rejected? That meant that Tan Weixin's plan, which she had spent nearly a year researching, striving for, and perfecting, would probably not have the opportunity to enter the court again, be recognized, and be implemented for a long time. For Tan Weixin, whose health was terrible, this was a big blow. She had always believed that her body would not allow her to have so much time and energy to do such things many times.

"Why is that?" Ye Tao also wondered what kind of situation would cause the imperial court to reject a plan that was obviously something that someone with a bit of thought could see the prospects and blueprint for?

"Many reasons... The more absurd ones are the old fogeys who didn't understand the memorial at all and were yelling wildly. Some said that Dongping does not have the conditions to implement monetary reform, some said that there are no suitable candidates to implement such a plan, and some worried that my body would not be able to withstand such complicated work, fearing that if it stopped halfway, the impact would be too great. And the more reliable ones said that I could implement such a plan, but Dongping does not have subsequent talent reserves, and once I 'die,' this system will become a hotbed for cunning people with ulterior motives to make money and harm the country... Anyway, many." Tan Weixin shrugged and said helplessly.

"So, what are you going to do now?" Ye Tao asked. He didn't think Tan Weixin was someone who gave up so easily.

"What to do?" Tan Weixin said jokingly, "What to do? Don't you think about how old I am? I will naturally consciously gradually hand over the affairs of the inner palace, separate my own property from the inner palace, and then wait for my royal father to arrange for me to marry. I'm eighteen years old, and if I don't marry, there will be a problem."

Ye Tao was stunned. He had been waiting for this day for a long time, and he had been thinking about the way to propose for a long time, but it seemed that this was a little too hasty to bring up this matter on this occasion.

-------------

The second chapter of today, monthly votes! Monthly votes! Everyone, please encourage me.