“Your Highness, there is something I don't quite understand," Zeng Man said hesitantly, bowing slightly.

"What is it?" Tan Weixin asked casually.

"Your Highness has already revealed the entire plan to Ye Tao. Is that not somewhat inappropriate..." Zeng Man was rather disapproving of the princess's seemingly excessive trust in Ye Tao. "The Ye family's strength is indeed quite formidable now, especially the Ye family workshop. Compared to them, the official workshops' output of various machines can only be described as crude. I think Your Highness should bring the Ye family under your control as soon as possible.”

How could Zeng Man understand Tan Weixin's trust in Ye Tao, let alone understand where such trust came from? Tan Weixin smiled faintly and said, "Lord Zeng, how much do you know about Ye Tao?"

Zeng Man straightened his back, but his tone remained unchanged, "Ever since the Ye family workshop began undertaking the repair and maintenance of military equipment in Yicheng, I have been paying attention to them. I have arranged for four people in the Ye family workshop in Yicheng, one of whom is already at the 'journeyman' (xuegong) level and is qualified to enter the military equipment workshop. Three apprentices, one in the first year, the other two, one in the rough work workshop, one in the precision work workshop. One of the employees at Yi Jia Home Furnishings is someone I planted, and now, according to the Ye family's rank, is one of the foremen of the afternoon shift. When the Danyang branch of the Ye family workshop recruited workers, I planted another four people. They are still apprentices.”

Tan Weixin did not expect that Zeng Man had already done so much without making a sound. Zeng Man was not entirely subordinate to her; in fact, many of his actions were fully autonomous. Zeng Man had noticed the Ye family in Yicheng several years ago. This keenness was truly astonishing. Tan Weixin stared directly at Zeng Man and said, "Lord Zeng, your arrangements are indeed a step ahead, but you have planted so many people, how much more do you understand about Ye Tao as a person compared to others?"

When facing the sovereign Tan Xiaopei, Zeng Man felt a sharp gaze that seemed to penetrate him. But Tan Weixin was different. Her sparkling eyes were not penetrating, but rather seemed to be analyzing. Zeng Man hesitated for a moment and said, "I think... Ye Tao is unfathomable."

Tan Weixin nodded and said, "Yes. Lord Zeng, on this matter, I suggest that the work of those planted in the Ye family be changed from espionage to protection, protecting the Ye family's technology from being spied on by outsiders, and especially, protecting Ye Tao from any danger or trouble.”

Tan Weixin's use of such a consultative tone to discuss this matter with Zeng Man made Zeng Man somewhat uncomfortable. He thought for a moment and said, "I will arrange it later. But, does Ye Tao... have such value?"

"You should know better than I do that the Ye family is what it is today not because the Ye family has been accumulating experience as excellent carpenters for generations, but only because of Ye Tao. Do you think Ye Tao created the Ye family to become a dangerous military technology expert? But, I can tell you that most of Ye Tao's abilities are still hidden. If he wanted to, he could create machines of destruction ten or a hundred times more terrifying. But he is, after all, a good person. Moreover, Ye Tao is also an excellent mathematician, physicist, and strategist. Most importantly, he is a friend I can completely trust," Tan Weixin said seriously.

Zeng Man did not doubt the areas of expertise Tan Weixin mentioned that Ye Tao possessed, but he was slightly skeptical of the strategist claim. In his opinion, Ye Tao's creation of the marching chess and grand strategy gameplay, although certainly showing some understanding of military affairs, should not reach the level of a strategist.

"Do you think So Zheng, this guy who has been holed up in the workshop since he was a child, could fight Chi Yun, who grew up immersed in military books, to such a degree? Grand strategy gameplay is a game that requires a clear tactical ideology to support it. You should be able to get the records of So Zheng's chess games from the beginning of playing marching chess to now. Go and see how So Zheng gradually became like this, and you will understand. If you don't believe it, later when I summon the women's team, I will pull in the Ye family team, especially Ye Tao, to practice combat. Then you can come and see Ye Tao's performance," Tan Weixin explained with a smile. Zeng Man was the kind of person she felt she could respect and was worth respecting. Such people would indeed do some things because of orders, but they would not change their own thoughts and opinions because of orders. Rather than demand anything of Zeng Man, it would be better to let Zeng Man gradually change his views as his understanding of Ye Tao increased. When Zeng Man was able to completely trust Ye Tao, with the help of such a senior intelligence officer, she, Ye Tao, and Zeng Man together would definitely be able to do many interesting things.

"By the way, Lord Zeng, have you come up with a good name for that carriage company?" When Zeng Man began to show a tendency to overthink again, Tan Weixin quickly changed the subject.

"...Not yet. Please bestow a name, Your Highness," Zeng Man bowed.

With a turn of her eyes, many names flashed through Tan Weixin's mind. Forget it, let's just carry out the piracy to the end. Those names were like roulette, and ultimately stopped on one name. Tan Weixin said the name out loud, "Then... let's call it Federal Express."

A person like Zeng Man would naturally not change his views on Ye Tao because of a long conversation with the princess, especially those vigilant views, nor would he wait for the princess to arrange those opportunities that would help increase his understanding of Ye Tao, because he would suspect that Ye Tao's performance on such occasions was either an act or genuine. He was a person who lived in lies, conspiracies, and deceptions, and had long been accustomed to looking at others from another perspective.

After all, he was the planner of Federal Express, and in the future, he would also hold a rather important position in the Federal Express system as one of the covers for his identity. And at present, Zeng Man had many opportunities to contact Ye Tao. For example, asking about the design and improvement of those four-wheeled carriages and the like. But Zeng Man quickly discovered another range of abilities of Ye Tao, the "so-and-so-ologist" - cryptographer. When Zeng Man casually brought up the issue of confidentiality in the transmission of intelligence, Ye Tao was perhaps more excited, or perhaps he was not prepared to guard against Zeng Man at all, and actually listed more than a dozen different forms of ciphers at once. From simple substitution ciphers to complex mathematical ciphers that made Zeng Man spend a long time just to barely understand, each had its own characteristics. But what impressed Zeng Man the most was the Four-Corner Method (sijiao haoma jianzi fa) that Ye Tao casually mentioned. This method, combined with many other forms of ciphers, could almost form an unbreakable cipher form. And Zeng Man immediately realized that in his intelligence organization, which he had always been good at, there would probably be an additional job of a cryptographer, which required a very high degree of reliability and talent.

It wasn't long before Zeng Man witnessed that strategist identity. In a grand strategy battle a few days later, because the level of the two sides was so high that it was a bit unbearable, one side was led by Zhuo Tianzheng, the second son of General Zhuo Mang, and the other side was jointly commanded by Tan Weixin's three younger brothers, including the Crown Prince of Dongping, Tan Weiming. And the level of those who came to watch the progress of the game and listen to the explanation was also not low. So Zheng, the very popular commentator, didn't dare to talk nonsense, so he had to let Ye Tao personally take the stage to explain.

What everyone didn't expect was that Ye Tao, the guest commentator, not only explained the strategic and tactical intentions of both sides clearly, but also talked about some things that other commentators had not mentioned. For some tactical actions of both sides, he would explain them from two other aspects, one was the rationality within the rules of the battle game, and the other was the feasibility in real military expeditions. Especially when the two conflicted, the questions of why and how were articulated by Ye Tao in a clear and systematic manner, opening the eyes of everyone present. This time, Zeng Man would never doubt Ye Tao's identity as a "strategist" again.