Chapter 1 At the Clock Tower in Danyang

On a breezy, sunny day, Ye Tao brought Dai Qiuyan to the clock tower in Danyang. According to modern construction terms, the Danyang clock tower was now structurally capped. However, the rudimentary observation deck and the hall with its limited floor height beneath it had already attracted many visitors. Everyone loved the feeling of surveying the mountains, and it was another sensation entirely to overlook the entire city, watching the streams of people and carriages moving along the streets below.

Of all the people who came to visit, the one person the current construction supervisor, Guan Haishan, was most displeased with was the arrival of the king and queen. The moment the imperial guards and a large contingent of attendants arrived, the entire construction site was immediately shut down, delaying the project's progress for a whole day. After that, Guan Haishan rarely agreed to requests for visits from dignitaries.

The dignitaries' strong interest in visiting was partly due to the lifting device installed in the clock tower, which saved them the effort of climbing nearly three hundred chi (a Chinese unit of length, approximately 1/3 meter).

Although the lifting device, centered around a counterweight and a manual winch, had performance and reliability that were far from satisfactory due to technological limitations, it was at least a relatively expedient solution.

However, Guan Haishan greatly welcomed the arrival of Ye Tao and Dai Qiuyan. Dai Qiuyan, a quiet and lovely girl, had always been well-liked by those who were nominally Ye Lao Geng's disciples, but had actually learned more from Ye Tao. Moreover, since Dai Qiuyan's artistic talent had been gradually discovered, Guan Haishan and this future "sister-in-law" had grown even closer. Dai Qiuyan had sketched from life at nearly all of the buildings and gardens Guan Haishan had supervised the construction of, leaving behind many drawings. Furthermore, Dai Qiuyan's ability to create imaginative renderings based on Ye Tao's sketches, designs, and structural drawings saved Guan Haishan, whose spatial imagination was not great, a lot of trouble.

On the top-level observation deck, several apprentices from the Ye Family Workshop working on the construction site had set up a screen for the "young mistress," creating a small, quiet space that would not be assaulted by the strong winds. Although, occasionally, gusts of air that didn't represent the prevailing wind direction would still come at them from various angles, it wouldn't expose Dai Qiuyan's delicate face to the howling wind.

"Look, that's the royal palace. From here, it doesn't look that big. But the halls and buildings inside are indeed quite interesting," Ye Tao said, pointing and introducing Dai Qiuyan, who was climbing to the top of the clock tower for the first time.

"Peering at the royal palace… isn't that presumptuous?" Dai Qiuyan asked nervously. She tightly gripped Ye Tao's sleeve and said in a low voice, "It won't be good if others hear."

Ye Tao said displeased, "What are you afraid of? You and I have both been inside the royal palace, it's just a different angle."

Having heard all kinds of strange remarks from Ye Tao, Dai Qiuyan smiled slightly and didn't take it too seriously. However, she no longer refused to look at the royal palace in the distance. To be honest, the style of the royal palace with its red walls and yellow tiles had always been very attractive to Dai Qiuyan.

What attracted Dai Qiuyan even more was the entire new urban district of Danyang surrounding the clock tower. In the new urban district, an artificial lake had been created, becoming the very center of the entire area. The entire new urban district gradually expanded around the artificial lake. The innermost circle was all the residences of the great aristocratic families. Although most of them were still under construction and had not yet taken shape, especially the newly transplanted trees that didn't look so lush, they would probably have a better appearance by next spring. But around the artificial lake, a circle of magnificent pavilions and towers had already begun to take shape.

The outer circle was smaller courtyards. Some of these courtyards were built by merchants and wealthy households who had bought land, as well as some mid-level officials, who did what they could to find their place in this space. But that wasn't all. Dai Yue, the boss of Dai Yue Pavilion, had partnered with the Ye Family Workshop and borrowed a large sum of money from Deloitte Accounting Firm to acquire a considerable amount of land. Ye Tao and the Ye Family Workshop were in charge of the design, while Dai Yue Pavilion and its construction team were responsible for constructing a series of small courtyards of various types. Among these small courtyards, some were more traditional in style but had many improvements in the details, while others ignored the social and ethical functions of traditional courtyards and only valued comfort and practicality. These small courtyards without formal front halls and middle halls were now attracting a lot of attention. And most of the courtyards with more formal traditional architectural styles had been reserved by those mid- and low-level officials.

Further out were different forms of public buildings. On the north side of the new urban district were mainly government office buildings, and after a while, some institutions would move in one after another. Among these institutions, the most eye-catching was the Liang Jun Chayue Fu (Two Armies Review Office). On the south side of the new district were various shops. The transportation and logistics of these shops had been carefully designed. For example, the service roads for transporting goods were designed behind the shop buildings, so they would not affect the flow of people on the central avenue at any time. Now, some shops had already begun to move in, and some businesses had begun to flourish.

The east and west sides of the new district were relatively closely connected to the original urban area, giving the entire new urban district a unique shape: it was not a city within a city, but a unique and charming area in Danyang, a city that had attracted much attention.

As Ye Tao's fiancée, Dai Qiuyan had admired this new urban district from the ground more than once, and had even entered the courtyard centers and even the ancestral halls of those great families that ordinary people would never have the opportunity to enter in their lives more than once. However, it was true that viewing these buildings, these courtyards and gardens, these streets from the ground and overlooking the entire area from the air felt completely different. Looking at the entire new urban district from the air gave people a sense of having everything under control, and even Dai Qiuyan, a little girl who had no ambition and not many desires, was dazzled by it.

Although he wanted to stay with Dai Qiuyan and sketch from life, Ye Tao inevitably had many things to deal with as long as he was on the construction site. Especially since he was here to solve problems today.

The Danyang clock tower had also entered a critical stage. Because Ye Tao and Guan Haishan had adjusted the construction plan of the clock tower, the external decoration and sculpture work had only just begun, but the installation of internal facilities had entered the final stage. If all went well, the clock chamber would be installed within ten days, the chiming bells would be hoisted within fifteen days, and the first trial time announcement would be held the day after the hoisting was completed. In terms of building construction, even the brick-and-stone hybrid building with a metal frame, which was extremely rare in this era, was no longer a challenge for Ye Tao's eldest brother, Guan Haishan, but Guan Haishan, who was not proficient in precision machinery, still had to rely on Ye Tao for the installation of various facilities in the clock tower. Today, Ye Tao was here to solve the design and installation problems of the pulley system used to hoist the chiming bells.

The installation of the pulley system was very particular. The pulley system used to hoist the chiming bells had to be able to bear the weight of the chiming bells through a large number of pulleys and linked ropes, but also ensure that the entire hoisting process was smooth and safe, and also accurately send the chiming bells to the intended installation location. Unlike the clock tower in Yicheng, the clock tower in Danyang did not use a single large bell. Because the internal space of the Danyang clock tower was more spacious than that of the Yicheng clock tower, and the structure was more stable and mature, the clock tower used two sets of four slightly smaller bells. When these four bells, which weighed more than two thousand jin (a Chinese unit of weight, approximately 1/2 kilogram), chimed, they could interweave an orderly rhythm. Although the chimes might not be enough to cover the entire city of Danyang, this more elegant and gentle chime was more suitable for the special city of Danyang.

However, hoisting four bells was more complicated than hoisting one large bell. From the way the four bells were bundled, to how to use pulleys to balance the weight and reduce the swaying of the bells during hoisting, thereby reducing the risk of accidents… a lot of things made it impossible for Ye Tao to stay by Dai Qiuyan's side for long.

Seeing that the easel had been set up, and the workshop apprentices had even unfolded the painting tools for Dai Qiuyan, sharpened the charcoal sticks, and prepared the buckets of water that might be used to wash brushes and mix colors, Dai Qiuyan softly thanked the apprentice standing aside, gently pushed Ye Tao, and said, "Brother Ye, go and get busy. Don't worry about me."

Ye Tao nodded apologetically, gently squeezed Dai Qiuyan's hand, and followed Guan Haishan's deputy, who was already standing aside looking a little impatient.

While Ye Tao, Guan Haishan, and a group of assistants were holding clipboards, drawing sketches, and calculating various related data, in a tea shed next to the construction site, two guys who looked like ordinary laborers were talking in low voices.

A dark-skinned man who looked to be in his forties said, "Ye Tao is here. That car over there is his. Has the leader ordered us to take action yet?"

Another young man in his early twenties said calmly, "Lao Feng, don't worry. The leader is waiting for an opportunity."

"That Ye Tao is really hateful. If it weren't for him and the Blood Kirin Army, how could we have suffered this defeat," the man called Lao Feng said viciously.

The young man didn't reply. Ye Tao's ability to defeat generals and kill enemies on the battlefield wasn't particularly strong. There were plenty of people in any country who could beat him, and this was just the least threatening of Ye Tao's many abilities that made him feared.

After the defeat in Xiling, the Xiling court studied the Blood Kirin Army and the few Dongping generals who were beginning to be known, and suddenly discovered that the key Blood Kirin Army generals were almost all related to a place called Yi Zhan Lou (War Chess Tower), and Yi Zhan Lou was Ye Tao's property. The role of Yi Zhan Lou was not just for entertainment. It actually played a role in honing the strategic and tactical thinking of Dongping's younger generation, and when this kind of thinking was combined with the Blood Kirin Army and the strange mechanisms of the Liang Jun Chayue Fu, an amazing chemical reaction occurred. The young man didn't think that ordering the assassination of Ye Tao would be of any use even if it succeeded. Now that some people in Xiling understood the role of Yi Zhan Lou, then Dongping, the actual beneficiary, would naturally realize this as well. Even if Ye Tao was gone, this mechanism would probably be maintained, it just might not be as exciting as when Ye Tao was around.

The young man instructed, "You should carefully find out the progress of this clock tower. I see everyone is discussing the clock chamber and the chiming bells, is it almost finished?"

Lao Feng sighed. He had disguised himself as a laborer and worked on the construction site for a long time. He had been there almost from the beginning of the clock tower's construction. The task at that time was not to assassinate Ye Tao or anyone else, but to find out the structure of the clock tower and learn construction techniques. Even in the era Ye Tao came from, the absolute height of buildings implicitly had the flavor of national power competition, let alone now? A landmark building was very significant for enhancing a country's image.

Lao Feng belonged to the kind of high-level spy who had martial arts skills and knew a little about technology, but even though he relied on his knowledge of construction and worked hard during these days, becoming a management personnel at the foreman level, he still had no idea about the construction technology of the entire clock tower. He was silent for a while, and then sighed again, saying, "This Ye Tao is really a genius. This clock tower really has extraordinary qualities."

The young man squeezed out a hint of contempt from his nostrils. In his opinion, Lao Feng, a technician spy, was not very reliable. The mutual attraction between technicians and the pursuit of technological excellence made such spies have great hidden dangers.

"You just need to find out the situation clearly," the young man interrupted Lao Feng's reverie and said, "Although Ye Tao is important, he's just the second target anyway. The arrangements here in Danyang are being stepped up, so don't reveal yourself in order to find out about Ye Tao."

Lao Feng nodded and said, "I know. Besides, there are Xiao Yu and the others. I'm not the only one on the construction site."

The young man nodded and said, "The first target lives in seclusion and rarely goes out, which is really troublesome… I heard that he might come to the construction site on the day of the trial time announcement. If that's the case, we might take action here. Once there's definite news, you and Xiao Yu and the others should be prepared."

Lao Feng nodded and looked at the situation on the construction site. He was now responsible for the basic decoration work of the top-level observation hall, which was also a very critical position. If Ye Tao hadn't come today to guide the preparation work for the chiming bell hoisting and clock chamber installation, he should have been busy in that two hundred and seventy chi high hall. But now, the workers under his charge were either sleeping in the dormitory on the side of the construction site, or wandering around Danyang with the generous wages they had earned these days.

After the young man left, Lao Feng drank another cup of tea, then came to the construction site and mingled with the apprentices and craftsmen of the Ye Family Workshop, asking for advice on various issues. In the past few months, Lao Feng had established a simple and honest image in everyone's minds. Many of the Ye Family Workshop's apprentices and craftsmen and some of the newly promoted technicians had interacted with Lao Feng, and they didn't hide their knowledge in many aspects. It was just that the Ye Family Workshop's technology in construction and other fields was too complicated, and Lao Feng had not learned much at all.

Watching the apprentices and craftsmen excitedly talk about Ye Tao, whom they regarded as a genius, and the extremely important link in the entire clock tower construction that was about to take place, Lao Feng friendly and curiously interjected from time to time, and the Ye Family Workshop's apprentices and craftsmen, who had no suspicion, quickly revealed a lot of information.