Chapter 1 A Burning Passion

Tan Xiaopei's fervent passion and equally ardent words moved Ye Tao. For the first time, he knelt down very proactively, though only on one knee. He lowered his head and said sincerely, "As you wish."

A gratified and satisfied smile appeared on Tan Xiaopei's face. He glanced meaningfully at Tan Weixin, who was at the side with a helpless expression, reached out and patted Ye Tao's shoulder, laughed heartily, turned around and left the living room, crossed the courtyard, boarded his carriage, and returned to the palace.

The two princes, on the other hand, leaned back leisurely on the soft chairs beside them. Tan Weiran clasped his fist in a humble manner towards Ye Tao and said, "Brother-in-law, from now on, I will be your subordinate. You must take care of me."

Ye Tao took a deep breath, calmed his emotions, and said in as calm a tone as possible, "I wouldn't dare say 'take care of.' After all, there are too many things to do in Yunzhou. If you really take charge of the Jingyun Cavalry, that's a money-burning place. I estimate we'll both have a headache."

Tan Weiran grinned and said, "Brother-in-law, you're really easy to talk to. Father was waiting for you to set conditions, but he didn't expect you to agree so readily, and agree to everything. I told Father that you would definitely agree quickly, because you and sister are the same kind of person, the kind who are usually indifferent, but when they get impulsive, they can be more crazy than anyone else. And I was right." Tan Weiran suddenly turned around, stretched out his hand towards Tan Weiming, and said, "Come on, dear Crown Prince, hand over the bet."

Tan Weiming smiled wryly, took out a jade pendant from his pocket, and stuffed it into Tan Weiran's hand. He looked at Ye Tao, then at Tan Weixin, who had a teasing look on her face, shook his head, and said, "Brother-in-law, my younger brother's ability to understand people can be considered to have gotten your true inheritance."

Ye Tao's face lengthened slightly because of frustration. He raised his eyebrows and asked, "You brothers actually play this game?"

Tan Weiming scratched his head and said, "Often. This jade pendant has been passed back and forth for so many years, we've almost forgotten where it came from in the first place."

Tan Weixin sighed and said, "Weiming, I've been thinking about it, and I still want to ask clearly. The whole idea was yours, wasn't it?"

"What idea?" Ye Tao asked, "To make me the Yunzhou Pacification Commissioner?"

Tan Weiming smiled mysteriously and said, "Yes. I told Father that since both of us, father and son, believe that you will definitely be at least a competent Yunzhou Pacification Commissioner, then let's confirm this appointment. Father trusts you, and I will trust you in the future… It's just that, unlike Father, I don't expect it to take fifty, sixty, or even longer to unify the nations. I hope to see that day in twenty to twenty-five years. Especially so that Father can see this day with his own eyes. For this goal, I think, taking a small risk is harmless. Besides, I don't think it's risky at all for you to be the Yunzhou Pacification Commissioner."

Tan Weixin sneered, "You really know how to downplay things. I'm asking about the additional clause."

Tan Weiming smiled evasively and said, "It's not a big deal."

Ye Tao asked strangely, "Additional clause? What additional clause?"

Tan Weixin snorted unhappily. Seeing that their sister seemed to be about to explode, Tan Weiming and Tan Weiran quickly bid farewell and left.

"Additional clause? What additional clause?" Ye Tao had no choice but to chase after Tan Weixin and ask.

Tan Weixin shook her head, frowned, and said, "Anyway, you'll know in a few days. It's not a bad thing for you… With great power comes great responsibility, indeed. You, Spider-Man, don't want Kirsten Dunst, but there's no way to stop her from wanting to deliver herself to your door."

Ye Tao was stunned. He thought for a moment and asked, "To marry a Dai family girl? Who?"

*Bang*—A throw pillow smashed into Ye Tao's face, probably to punish him for the fact that his first reaction wasn't to say "no," but to directly start considering candidates.

Was Tan Weixin being unreasonable? It couldn't be said exactly. It was just a strange reaction under a complex psychology. And when Ye Tao racked his brains and couldn't figure out where the Dai family was going to find an eligible young woman who was necessarily closely related to those core Dai clan figures, and began to use various methods to probe indirectly, Tan Weixin deliberately not saying or always being "interrupted" by sudden affairs at crucial moments became a very good form of entertainment.

And Ye Tao, naturally, didn't have much time to think about this problem, and couldn't even find anyone to decline this matter. Because until now, whether it was Tan Xiaopei, the Tan Weiming and Tan Weiran brothers, or the Dai clan head Dai Shining, none of them had mentioned such a thing to anyone in any setting. To bring up this question rashly would seem rather foolish. What's more, Ye Tao still had to finalize the initial team of the Yunzhou Pacification Commissioner's office in the short few days before he departed for Yunzhou to take office.

Feng Zi naturally didn't need to be mentioned. He was now undoubtedly Ye Tao's chief advisor, a position that was probably even higher than that of his father, Qu Yan. And Ye Tao, who understood and appreciated Feng Zi's lazy nature, was happy to have such a friend-like advisor by his side, who could offer ideas at any time. What's more, Feng Zi was still a very qualified doctor, although lacking in practical experience.

Liu Qing had been working by Ye Tao's side for quite some time. Now, Liu Qing's work had far exceeded the scope of contacting the Seven Seas Trading Company. Due to Feng Zi's laziness, Liu Qing had actually become the head of Ye Tao's secretariat. This time, after obtaining Liu Qing's consent, Ye Tao confirmed his position and granted him the title of Records Officer of the Yunzhou Pacification Commissioner's Office. The Seven Seas Trading Company, on the other hand, would need to send another liaison to Ye Tao's side.

Next was Suo Zheng. Even though Zou Shuangwen, the Military Supervisor of the Blood Kirin Army, repeatedly tried to retain him, both Suo Zheng himself, many officers in the Blood Kirin Army, and the Dongping Ministry of War had to admit that a person like Suo Zheng would be able to play a greater role in Yunzhou than in the Blood Kirin Army. The current Blood Kirin Army was no longer reliant on Suo Zheng alone for logistics management, but an entire team was operating at high speed. And Yunzhou needed a person like Suo Zheng, who had very rich experience in logistics management, equipment management, and military equipment production and maintenance. If Yunzhou could allow the army to quickly form combat effectiveness and catch up with the war against the Northern Liao in a few years, then Suo Zheng, who would inevitably perform well at that time, might become the first military officer in history to enter the rank of High General through logistics. There could be no greater temptation or higher pursuit than this.

When General Xu Jingtian left office, the team he had been using, which was half Dongping officials and half local Yunzhou people, was still operating, and there were quite a few people who could be used. It was just that Ye Tao was not at all familiar with that group of people and still needed time to understand them. After all, his position in the Luqiao Division was so busy that he really didn't have time to take care of other things. Since the affairs of Yunzhou were bound to become increasingly complex in the future, Tan Xiaopei also agreed to send a batch of students from the Imperial Academy and the National Academy, or talented young people who had not yet entered officialdom, to Yunzhou every year for Ye Tao to train and appoint. Of course, unqualified people would be returned. There were also quite a few talented people in Yunzhou who could be used. Ye Tao had absolutely no psychological barrier to using Dai clan descendants. He wished that those Dai clan descendants, who had always been known for their ability and diligence, could help him share some of the work. At the same time, Ye Tao also wanted to select some people from the tribes of Yunzhou to enter the Yunzhou Pacification Commissioner's Office and its affiliated institutions.

After solving the problem of personnel, he still sought clarification from Tan Xiaopei on some arrangements. In the next three years, Dongping would provide the Yunzhou Pacification Commissioner's Office with a basic funding of two million taels per year. This portion of funds could be used for anything, including purchasing materials and hiring manpower within the borders of Dongping. And within this portion of funds, a considerable part would actually be transferred by Ye Tao to the Leiyin Demon Sect to cover the expenses of the increasingly expanding Leiyin Demon Sect. Due to the complexity of Yunzhou's affairs, Tan Weixin would train a team to handle the operation of the Inner Treasury within the next year. The commercial affairs of the Inner Treasury had now become so complex that it was absolutely impossible for one person to manage. Yet Tan Weixin was able to simplify things in various ways, ultimately allowing herself to simply point out the direction for the management team under her. This situation made Tan Xiaopei feel that he could give it a try.

Afterwards, Ye Tao and Tan Weixin gathered some members of the Seven Seas Trading Company and the Jiuzhou Trading Company, expressing to them that they would be carrying out a series of developments in Yunzhou, and hoping that they would actively participate in Yunzhou's various commercial activities. And Tan Weixin, in turn, promised projects and profits to all the merchants who made large-scale investments in Yunzhou in the first batch. In commercial matters, Tan Weixin's promises were more effective for these merchants than anything else.

In addition, there were some minor issues that needed to be clarified, such as whether Yunzhou could sell military equipment and horses to Xiling and Chunnian in the future large-scale trade, and how to handle domestic procurement.

With so many things to do and so many problems to solve, Ye Tao and Tan Weixin were really busy, and it made Tan Xiaopei regret that he had written in the letter of appointment that he had to leave Danyang to take office within ten days, which was obviously asking for trouble.

In addition to these, the old general also put forward another suggestion, which was to build a sufficiently magnificent and grand city in Yunzhou. From the perspective of Yunzhou's layout and military security, Yunzhou had an obvious situation of being heavy in the west and light in the east. Suiyuan City, Ningyuan City, Thunderclap Cliff... and even most of the small and medium-sized towns were located west of the central line of Yunzhou. The eastern side, facing the Northern Liao, was obviously too empty. From a military point of view, there needed to be a fortress capable of accommodating enough troops to adjust the focus of Yunzhou's defense. Only in this way would Yunzhou's army have a better starting position and a more guaranteed supply line for future operations against the Northern Liao. From an economic and population point of view, since the northern nomadic tribes had an almost blind worship and awe of those magnificent buildings, a grander city closer to the north would help stabilize Dongping's rule among the Yunzhou tribes and other northern tribes, and would also be conducive to attracting more people to settle east of the central line of Yunzhou, making the side facing the Northern Liao appear fuller.

When the old general mentioned cities, Ye Tao couldn't help but think, which city will it be this time? Silvermoon? Orgrimmar? Darnassus? ... It's really something to look forward to.