Chapter 1 Ye Tao Departs Danyang with Reputation

Ye Tao left Danyang laden with accolades. Though his stay in Danyang was short, lasting only a few days, his visits to Huang Xuping and Tan Weixin, securing their high praise, showcasing his clock, and intimidating Luo Qin, the talented scholar from Chunnan, were enough to make Ye Tao's name a topic of enthusiastic discussion among many. On his return journey, Tan Weixin did not come to see him off, but she did dispatch three guards to protect his safety. This also served to strengthen the connection between herself and Ye Tao, ensuring that he could rely on these guards, who held modest power but respectable ranks, to overcome any troubles he encountered in the Ye family's business operations.

By the time Ye Tao returned to Yicheng, more than a month had passed since his departure. He had been concerned about the production of the clock encountering difficulties, but to his surprise, during that month, a series of specialized tools for manufacturing the clock had been gradually developed. Several apprentices were now capable of crafting and calibrating precise gears. While mass production of clocks was still a ways off, the progress made in such a short time was remarkable. The fabrication and processing of the escapement mechanism also seemed to pose no major issues; at least, Ye Tao's fellow apprentices were all performing this high-precision work admirably. In any case, Ye Tao had never expected to mechanize the large-scale production of these gears in this era as it had been in another time. Being able to produce parts of this precision by combining machine tools and manual labor already filled him with a sense of accomplishment.

Ye Tao immediately began dividing the clock-making department into three sections: parts manufacturing, calibration, and final assembly. He began training the first clock-making technicians of the Eastern world of this era while simultaneously commencing trial production. With the Ye family workshop's technical capabilities, they were already able to produce one clock every two to three days. The final clock design did not include a musical chiming mechanism; instead, it only featured a deep, resonant chime. Ye Tao then compiled the materials for the music box, which he had already developed to a relatively mature stage, and passed them on to his fellow apprentices, who began preparing to establish a dedicated music box workshop.

Unexpectedly, the music box workshop seemed to be more popular than the clock workshop among the apprentices and workers, with far more people hoping to enter the music box factory than the clock factory. The pay in the two factories was actually better in the clock factory, as Master Qi offered a separate stipend to each apprentice and worker in the clock factory to safeguard the clock's technical secrets, in addition to their regular wages. However, the Ye family workshop's long-standing tradition of instilling a pursuit of technology in each apprentice and worker through years of learning and training came into play. Compared to the somewhat static clock, the music box, capable of playing music in various timbres, was clearly more magical in the eyes of most people.

Ye Tao realized that the Ye family workshop's technological accumulation had reached a certain point and was beginning to show signs of a breakthrough. While feeling the abundant fruits of his years of dedicated research, Ye Tao once again felt extremely frustrated. Because, once the technical problems were solved, the issues of sales and establishing distribution channels took precedence. When Qi Zhentao received news from the capital, Danyang, and realized that Ye Tao had become a rather famous figure, he immediately began urging Ye Tao to go to the capital.

From Qi Zhentao's initial reluctance to let him go to the capital the last time to his current urging of him to set off as soon as possible, the two trips to the capital were treated very differently, a contrast that truly frustrated Ye Tao.

After staying in Yicheng for less than a month, Ye Tao set off again for Danyang.

Having long known that Ye Tao was planning to stay in Danyang for an extended period this time, Tan Weixin had already prepared a residence for him. It was a garden only a few minutes' walk from the Princess's residence. Built decades ago and renovated a few years prior, the garden exuded an air of warmth and elegance. Although no one had lived in the garden for the past few years, it had been well-maintained. Previously, Tan Weixin had used this garden to store various gifts, paintings, and calligraphy that others had given her. It was a place that the Princess particularly liked, and everything displayed or hung on the walls was a treasure. The Princess's gift of such a garden to Ye Tao naturally caused quite a stir.

"Dare you refuse it?" Ye Tao's reluctance towards the garden made Tan Weixin feel strange.

"…Don't you know what the current opinion of me is in Danyang?" Ye Tao said with a wry smile. "I originally thought that I could take advantage of the reputation I had built up last time to do some good things in Danyang this time, but it seems that the situation is not quite right. I feel like, although I now have fame, there seem to be a lot of negative comments. How did I suddenly become a guy who relies on your favor and seeks fame and praise?"

Tan Weixin curled her lip and said, "It's still the people from Chunnan causing trouble. Chunnan can't let go of this face, so they must suppress you. Luo Qin doesn't have the ability, but some people do. Have you heard of the Song family of Yu Hang?"

"Isn't the Song family the largest commercial family in Chunnan? Could this matter be related to the Song family?" Ye Tao asked, puzzled.

"In Dongping, big merchants don't really want to have any contact with the government, but Chunnan is not like that… Without the support of high-ranking officials in the court, could the Song family have its current status? The Song family's fourth son, Song Yu, has now come to Dongping to advise Luo Qin," Tan Weixin said.

Scratching his head, Ye Tao said, "…Sounds a bit like crisis management?"

Tan Weixin chuckled and said, "That's exactly it, so I think it's very interesting. What if they call you a court jester, a sycophant, a favorite? Why not just act like a court jester? Can't a court jester do all sorts of things?"

Ye Tao was silent for a moment, then said, "You mean, play something interesting?"

Tan Weixin said cheerfully, "That's right, why be so nervous? Rumors are just rumors, after all. You are neither incompetent nor lacking in resistance to such messy rumors, and, after all, you have me as your backing, so what's there to be afraid of?"

Ye Tao suddenly felt a little uneasy and tentatively asked, "It's not that simple, is it? What exactly do you want to do?"

"It's nothing, I just think those Chunnan guys are very dishonest. I will never let those Chunnan guys succeed. When Father and the White Lotus Princess get married, the Chunnan guys must have their tails between their legs," Tan Weixin said. "As for how to do it, that's your business. Ask me for whatever you need, just suppress those Chunnan guys."

"Aren't you making things difficult for me?" Ye Tao scratched his head and said, "I don't have any money to play this game. Otherwise, if I could use money to crush the Song family to death, that would be a great thing, wouldn't it? That Song Yu or whatever wouldn't have to worry about any crisis management."

"What ideas do you have?" Tan Weixin's eyes lit up.

"What do you think about me building a garden across from Golden Valley Garden? It doesn't have to be that big of a budget, but it should have better landscape effects than Golden Valley Garden, right? The garden design of Golden Valley Garden is really quite poor. A lot of elements have not been used well, and it doesn't look very exquisite in terms of decoration."

Tan Weixin's expression changed several times in an instant, and she sighed, "Do you know what kind of places are around Golden Valley Garden?"

Ye Tao was taken aback and said, "I really haven't paid attention. After all, I've only been in Danyang for such a short time."

"The land across the street is the residence of General Zhuo, my uncle's family; on the left is the home of the old Grand Tutor Hang Haiping. Hang Haiping is also the father of that guard of mine you met named Hang Tianqi. I'm too embarrassed to move his family; on the right, it's also difficult to get the land. That land is the warehouse for silk and other products, but even I'm afraid I don't have the ability to take that land from the owner of Yuan Xin Chang," Tan Weixin said. "I admire your idea, but the feasibility is really hard to say. Do you have any other ideas?"

"Why don't you have your princess's residence torn down and let me rebuild it?" Ye Tao said.

"Bah!" Tan Weixin spat. "This is a garden that has been passed down by the Dongping royal family for hundreds of years. Even if I could decide, I would never let this garden be destroyed in my hands. Besides, I am still very satisfied with my garden after so many years of additions."

Ye Tao shrugged and said, "Then forget it."

Tan Weixin considered carefully, she felt that this was really a good idea. Of course, as someone who had entered the high-level social circle of Danyang, Ye Tao would definitely have many opportunities to meet and clash with Luo Qin and Song Yu. Even if Ye Tao wanted to avoid them, those two cheapsters from Chunnan probably wouldn't let Ye Tao go. Now, probably only by suppressing Ye Tao could Chunnan rationalize its actions to gain a position in the upper echelons of Dongping. However, a beautiful garden, like a monument, would have an effect that could not be achieved even by verbally attacking those Chunnan guys a hundred times. Between Dongping and Chunnan, whose culture was more prosperous, whose craftsmanship was more exquisite, and who was seeking fame and praise? When the results came out, all observers and debaters would shut up. Moreover, in this era, as long as the funds were guaranteed and the technical means were excellent, the time required to build a garden was actually not that long, only a few months.

The reason why a garden becomes a garden is that most of the time is spent on letting those trees and flowers grow into shape. And these things, as long as they are properly operated, transplanting is not a very difficult thing.

After thinking for a long time, Tan Weixin asked, "If not a garden, are you interested in a military camp?"

Tan Weixin mentioned an opportunity. Danyang was now expanding outwards, and the city's space was not quite enough. The Dongping royal family and the Ministry of War were discussing relocating the 24,000 soldiers originally stationed in the city to outside the city, and they were planning to build a huge barracks on Danqingshan, less than five miles from Danyang.

Tan Weixin had a certain say in this matter, because among the 24,000 soldiers who were being moved out of the city, 4,000 were Imperial Guards supported by the royal treasury, and one-third of the construction costs of the entire huge barracks were allocated from the royal treasury. Now the Ministry of War was haggling with Tan Weixin about what the construction plan for the entire barracks should be. Tan Weixin's opinion was that it was better to pay a little more in the early stages to ensure that the barracks had a capacity of at least 40,000 to 50,000 people, but the Ministry of War was unwilling to bear the extra costs. According to Tan Weixin's idea, the construction cost of the entire camp would be as high as 1.4 million taels of silver, and no matter how much they haggled, the Ministry of War was only willing to bear a maximum of 600,000 taels, which made Tan Weixin feel uncomfortable about bearing the remaining funds.

However, if the construction of this barracks could be given another function, then it wouldn't be a big deal for Tan Weixin to pay out hundreds of thousands more taels of silver. Moreover, the construction of this barracks could involve the army, and a large number of the army's artisans could also participate in the construction, which meant that the time required to build such a magnificent barracks might be shorter than building a beautiful garden. If the construction plan could be finalized immediately, it might even be completed before the Golden Valley Garden was fully completed.

After listening to Tan Weixin's suggestion, Ye Tao was very tempted. For Ye Tao, the significance of building gardens and magnificent buildings was probably equivalent to building models in his original time and space. However, the time and space were different, and the abilities were also different. Things that he had absolutely no ability to complete in the past were not a big problem here. Ye Tao's mind began to swirl with various shapes of fortresses, barracks, castles, and cities. Being able to participate in, or even preside over, such a project was really tempting to her.

"How is it? Are you a little tempted?" Tan Weixin saw the change in Ye Tao's expression. The expression on Ye Tao's face was like that of a big boy who had seen a fun toy.

"Okay! I'll take it," Ye Tao said decisively.

"That's good, I'll have the officials from the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of War come to you to negotiate later. Your title will still be Proofreader of the Zhaohua Princess's Residence," Tan Weixin once again emphasized the identity she could give Ye Tao. It wasn't that she didn't know how complicated the officialdom was, but many times, if you wanted to do something, you had to involve yourself in that fierce and filthy river. The identity of Proofreader could only be regarded as a small and insignificant title, not even a position. However, on the one hand, this could prevent the infighting of the officialdom from directly affecting Ye Tao, and it was indeed an identity that could be used to get along with those officials who worked together. Considering the influence of the Princess's Residence on the entire Dongping officialdom, this identity was basically sufficient.