Chapter 1 The Group Studies Lecture

Ye Tao's "Group Studies" lectures saw a continuous surge in attendees, to the point that by the fourth lecture, the location had to be moved to the Yizhan Lou's (Chess Battle Tower) lecture hall. Only this place could accommodate up to five hundred listeners. Besides the cadet officers, supervising officers and adjutants, and Dongping's active-duty officers, there were also outstanding scions from various families, managers and even principals from large businesses, and some local Danyang officials. Furthermore, each lecture's content would be meticulously recorded by a dedicated person and presented for imperial review. Although the inquiry proclaimed by the ruler, Tan Xiaopei, was yet to come, this kind of practical attention made it clearer than any nominal inquiry how much Tan Xiaopei now valued Ye Tao.

Dongping lacked formal, large-scale military academies or similar institutions. Military knowledge had always been passed down through the generations of military families. Now, the two military review offices under Liang Jun's command, the Huoqi Army (Fire Qilin Army) and the Mengxue Army (Fierce Blood Army), were unexpectedly shouldering part of the responsibility for military studies. As this institution, combining teaching and practice yet full of joy and incredibility, became increasingly mature under everyone's watchful eyes, Tan Xiaopei finally issued a secret decree, demanding strong participation from the Ministry of War and the Capital Garrison Command in the second Xingjun Chess Open and the subsequent cadet officer selection.

Under the ruler's personal attention, the two military review offices, maintaining extremely high training and teaching quality, received strong support in terms of troop construction. All three thousand soldiers of the Mengxue Army were composed of cavalry, including two thousand light cavalry and one thousand mounted archers. This structure, emphasized and insisted upon by Dai Yun, was ultimately approved. In reality, Dai Yun's goal was that these three thousand men should ideally be an elite force capable of switching roles between light cavalry, heavy cavalry, and mounted archers by changing equipment and horses, able to serve as scouts, conduct surprise attacks, or engage in large-scale battles, depending on the needs of the operation. In the internal, ubiquitous competition, some of Dai Yun's ideas had actually been implemented by certain individuals.

The Huoqi Army, on the other hand, was more specialized. Half of the three thousand men were costly heavy infantry, while the other half consisted of one thousand longbowmen and a five-hundred-man trebuchet unit. Having completely abandoned the light infantry troop type, the Huoqi Army was perhaps the most extravagantly equipped force of this era. However, due to the complete provision of warhorses and packhorses, and a strong emphasis on physical fitness and marching training, the Huoqi Army's fully loaded marching speed was actually no worse than that of the Capital Garrison's infantry units.

By autumn, when the lecture craze on popularizing basic military knowledge at the two military review offices had passed its peak, and various courses and training programs began to develop in specialized directions, all the cadet officers were organized into a terrain surveying competition. Over two hundred cadet officers were divided into twenty groups and dispatched to various locations. Under the guidance of professional soldiers, they corrected existing military maps and, as much as possible, converted existing descriptive maps into more accurate contour maps.

In fact, after a full half-year of various knowledge infusions, the Huoqi Army and Mengxue Army had become the elite troops of this era, possessing the most abundant and detailed theoretical foundation of professional officer corps. The Ministry of War was seriously considering recalling those officers from the two armies who had long since retired, and recruiting young men who had previously been unable to join the army for various reasons but were now young enough and had room for development, to fulfill their dreams.

Perhaps this was the power of systematic learning. The two military review offices, initially regarded as a mere pastime, had emerged in this manner in just over half a year, something no one had really expected. In particular, the two armies consistently maintained high morale and a strong competitive atmosphere, allowing both armies to grow at an extremely rapid pace. Although this kind of competition could not be extended to the entire Dongping army, because behind this competition was an extremely complex system, requiring an officer and non-commissioned officer class with a considerable cultural foundation, continuous, good, and professional training and education, and an attractive incentive system, there was no problem in extracting some simple experiences from the success of the Huoqi Army and Mengxue Army and promoting them.

Unlike the sensational appearance of the two military review offices, the salon-style lectures quietly taking place within Princess Zhaohua's residence were much more low-key, so much so that not many people even knew about them. However, in terms of significance, they were by no means inferior to the two military review offices, which were equivalent to establishing an alternative military academy for Dongping.

The lectures in the princess's residence were also held once every ten days, with only about twenty participants. These included Dongping's Crown Prince Tan Weiming, Vice Minister of Revenue Lin Chengzhe, and the heads of Dongping's major wealthy families and merchants. Tan Weixin didn't dare open Pandora's box too wide, but merely mentioned some superficial modern economics and finance, and conducted several mock operations of Piaohao (draft banks), which made everyone realize just how terrifying the power of the money in their hands was.

Afterward, Piaohao (draft banks) jointly operated by the inner court and large businesses, and supervised by a special team formed by the Ministry of Revenue, were established. The initial business only involved membership-based off-site settlements, remittances, and strictly controlled credit with extremely limited quotas.

As snow began to fall this year, the Ye family, having moved out of the garden gifted by Tan Weixin and into the "Zheng Garden," which had been meticulously designed to be more practical and beautiful in every aspect, had become an unshakeable name in Danyang and even the entire Dongping. No one doubted the power of the Ye family, which brought in gold every day, or the increasing influence the Ye family now held in officialdom and the business world. However, Ye Tao was somewhat depressed.

IKEA Home Furnishings and Tissot Watch Shop were constantly operating below capacity. As far as IKEA Home Furnishings was concerned, Yicheng at least maintained a parallel approach to the high-end, mid-range, and low-end markets, but in Danyang, IKEA Home Furnishings had completely become synonymous with high-end home furnishings. Mirror-finish paint and gold and silver tracing crafts were the most popular. Although these technologies were still so mysterious to other woodworking shops, within the Ye family's workshop, the local apprentices recruited after the Ye family's entry into Danyang had become proficient due to too many opportunities to practice. Tissot Watch Shop, although it finally had several types of products with anchor escapement clocks, pin-tooth escapement spring-powered pendulum clocks and timers, it seemed that the entire market's demand for clocks was more and more gorgeous, rather than more and more accurate… In the case of IKEA Home Furnishings and Tissot Watch Shop not developing new products, but emphasizing production capacity and product quality, Ye Tao didn't have to worry about these two businesses at all.

With Yizhan Lou (Chess Battle Tower) being watched by the Dongping military and regarded as a similar "patriotic education base" and "reserve officer training base," Ye Tao had no choice but to let things run their course.

Every few days, letters would arrive from Yicheng, informing him of the progress of the clock tower in the Yicheng port area. As the new year arrived, the clock tower had already exceeded a height of one hundred and sixty Chi (尺, traditional Chinese unit of length), continuing to climb upward at a speed that left Ye Tao speechless. This building, using a cast iron frame, lighter and more durable bricks, and cement, was not only top-notch in this time and space in terms of design and construction difficulty, but also top-notch in terms of various collaborations and project management. Under the stimulation of the Yicheng clock tower, the Danyang clock tower also started preparations such as tidying up the foundation and preparing materials ahead of schedule.

Across an artificial river from Zheng Garden was the now bustling new urban area of Danyang. Walking out of the front door of Zheng Garden and standing on the street along the river, one could see carriages continuously transporting various building materials to the other side, and workers and gardeners shuttling back and forth. Behind two alleys was a large area reserved for the clock tower. Without regulations for civilized construction, a construction site about a third of the size of the city did not have the scene of dust flying and people shouting. In this era without strong lighting, it was even more possible to leave the quiet night to everyone. Ye Tao didn't have to be surprised by such a scene, it was what he had expected long ago.

However, he lamented his current awkward identity. Was he now an architect, a designer, a businessman, a civil official, or a military general? He was a little confused. Those who came and went with him were all wealthy and powerful. He couldn't count the number of times he had entered and exited the princess's residence. Furthermore, Princess Xiu, Tan Weishi, who came to Zheng Garden almost every two or three days to play with him and ask him for gifts, and her calling him "brother-in-law," which had spread throughout Danyang and even further, was an obvious sign that he was favored. Not to mention, the Crown Prince and the Little Prince had no less contact with him. It was not easy for those wealthy merchants in Dongping to make an appointment with Ye Tao.

However, Ye Tao was somewhat dissatisfied. What was he now? He was indeed following his dream, wanting to make himself and the people around him live better, and striving to make this time and space feel somewhat familiar and somewhat kind to him... He had paid a lot for this goal. What he had paid was definitely not to get himself closer to power, definitely not.

Sometimes, Ye Tao even began to feel that his life was really too boring. But he was somewhat helpless. He understood that his current busyness was not because of anyone, but precisely because of himself, and Tan Weixin, who came from the same time and space as him. The more they worked hard, the deeper they would be entangled in the vortex of this era. Everything they did and wanted to do required more and more power as a foundation, which would make them more and more busy.

Sometimes, Ye Tao even felt that in this world, the one who understood him the most, and never urged his pace or delayed his pace, was probably only Sophie, who gently catered to him every day. He would often hold Sophie's beautiful face and kiss her, or draw a few quick sketches and watercolor portraits for Sophie, who always went along with his various reasonable or unreasonable demands, to regulate his mood. Until one day, Ye Tao suddenly realized that his current state, this feeling of weariness, was so similar to that state in the era he was familiar with when he was tired of work, tired of serving customers, and tired of office politics? Occupational burnout? How could this be possible?