Chapter 1 The Auction's Shock

The auction's final result left Jiang Yan in stunned amazement. It wasn't just that Dongping, through this method, could reduce the impact of massive urban construction costs on the national economy to almost nothing, and even, based on the land sales in Ganduo, the state could even profit slightly. More than that, it was because Jiang Yan realized that the various parties' willingness to invest such large sums concealed a profound confidence and trust in Yunzhou and Dongping. Without trust in the Yunzhou Pacification Commissioner's Office, Ye Tao, and the Dongping court, no aristocratic family or merchant guild would wager so heavily, entrusting millions of taels of silver to the Yunzhou Pacification Commissioner's Office. And without confidence in Dongping's future, no one would dare to invest so heavily in urban construction.

Jiang Yan was even more amazed that during the construction of Ganduo City, the Yunzhou Pacification Commissioner's Office actually allowed everyone to offer opinions on the expenditures of various projects, even requesting audits. Ye Tao made no secret of the fact that the Ye Clan Workshop had a deep vested interest in Ganduo, Yunzhou, and even Dongping as a whole. But because of everyone's trust in Ye Tao and his Ye Clan Workshop system, no one objected to the Ye Clan Workshop's construction teams undertaking important work and receiving huge construction orders. When Ye Tao sincerely asked everyone to offer more opinions on the Ye Clan Workshop at the after-auction reception, everyone felt Ye Tao's sincerity and approachability, but they just shrugged and didn't react.

"Mr. Jiang, you've gained quite a bit this time," in a corner of the reception, the people from Chunnan gathered together, and Song Xiangjun complimented Jiang Yan softly.

Jiang Yan forced a smile in response, saying, "Princess, I can't compare to you. After all, things happened suddenly, and I wasn't as well prepared as you were."

Song Xiangjun smiled and said, "Not at all. I'm just representing everyone. Many talented people from various families and clans have done a lot of preparatory work. They even went to Yunzhou twice for on-site surveys."

Jiang Yan had no intention of criticizing the Chunnan aristocratic families, led by the Song family, for being overly intimate with Dongping and Yunzhou, because that was precisely the situation he wanted to see. The deeper the entanglement of power and interests between Chunnan and Dongping, the more Dongping would have to consider when taking action against Chunnan in the future. But Jiang Yan only hoped that this entanglement of interests wouldn't go awry. The risks lurking behind it naturally included that if those great aristocratic families felt that siding with Dongping was more beneficial than continuing to support Chunnan, then the problems that would arise when the two countries went to war in the future would be enormous. Right now, the military positions controlled by the major aristocratic families alone were enough to send shivers down one's spine.

Jiang Yan wasn't very sensitive to numbers, so he turned to a secretary beside him and asked, "How much money did the Yunzhou Pacification Commissioner's Office raise in total today?"

The secretary was prepared and replied respectfully, "The total is 35.56 million taels."

This number made everyone gasp. More than 30 million taels of silver was roughly the total annual tax revenue of Dongping, and several million taels more than the total annual tax revenue of Chunnan, which meant that in just a few hours, Ye Tao held an enormous amount of financial resources that could cope with the entire year's expenditure of a major country. Although they believed that Ye Tao would definitely use the money for its intended purpose... in fact, they mainly believed that Dongping had never skimped on military spending, and that Dongping was now financially wealthy and didn't need to divert this huge sum, but the things that this money could do still made people feel frightened.

"More than 30 million... and this is just one auction. Plus the one in Ningyuan later, wouldn't that be 70 million taels of silver? What exactly can Ganduo be built into?" Jiang Yan couldn't help but sigh.

"No," Ma Yufeng, who was standing next to him, said, "This time, all the plots of land that could be sold at high prices were released together. The auction in Ningyuan will mainly focus on those mid-priced residential and commercial areas. It will be difficult to raise even 20 million taels. Adding the two together, it will be about 55 million taels of silver." Ma Yufeng was originally supposed to attend the auction as Song Xiangjun's assistant. But he didn't show any dissatisfaction at all for Jiang Yan taking his place. Letting Jiang Yan owe him a small favor was very worthwhile for Ma Yufeng, who intended to make a name for himself in the officialdom. At least, it was much better than just giving advice to Song Xiangjun.

Jiang Yan's furrowed brow didn't relax, and he asked again, "Then how much money will it take to build Ganduo City? Can this 50 million taels of silver be used up?"

Ma Yufeng didn't answer. He had been recommended to Song Xiangjun as an assistant, so he had some understanding of cities and construction. When it came to construction, no one really understood how much it would cost. Especially building a huge city from scratch, this completely exceeded the common sense of anyone in this time and space. In the past, cities mostly developed step by step from villages and towns. When they encountered the need for large-scale expansion and renovation, especially important cities with regional political, military, and economic center functions, the country usually had to endure a period of tight finances, and the project usually lasted for many years. Often, there was a considerable gap between the initial design and the final result. Often, the later it got—when the main part of the city, the most important part, was completed—the people in charge and the powerful couldn't stand the huge expenses, and the last part was done hastily, or they waited until they had more money on hand to repair it. And those monarchs who spared no expense in building projects seemed to always appear before everyone as negative examples of ruining the country and harming the people.

After considering it, Ma Yufeng said, "This, it's really not clear. But back then, the expansion of the east city of Yu Hang, building the docks and water gates, plus part of the seawall, took six years and cost 24.4 million taels in the end. This Ganduo, it looks like it's quite a bit bigger than two east cities of Yu Hang, this 50 million taels... I'm afraid it's about right."

Jiang Yan didn't say anything. He knew that the situation was too different. The biggest expense of the Yu Hang east city project was filling the sea with a large amount of stone to build the dock area. Moreover, back then, no one really knew how much the major construction aristocratic families had pocketed from the Yu Hang east city expansion. But although Ganduo had a terraced fortress built along the mountainside that everyone felt was very difficult, and there was a project to organize the entire clifftop, thinking of Ye Tao's usual ease with technical problems, and the projects that Ye Tao had handled over the past ten years, from the smallest Zhan Garden in the past to the later Iron City and Sufeng City, etc., including the construction of tower buildings that no one else had been able to solve so far, no one had ever suspected the Ye Clan Workshop of any embezzlement, no matter how expensive the construction cost was.

Not to mention anything else, just take the construction team that the Ye Clan Workshop sent to Yu Hang to help Yu Hang grout and consolidate the foundation of the bell tower. Although they turned a blind eye to the embezzlement of those Chunnan construction companies who had contributed to the bell tower project, they absolutely did not tolerate any shoddy workmanship or cutting corners, and directly reported everything to the Chunnan Minister of Public Works through the person in charge of the construction team. And after the project was completed, they provided a detailed account without anyone asking, detailed to the point that even the 33 taels of silver lost in a large number of small transactions for purchasing materials were listed. It can be imagined that under the model of the Ye Clan Workshop's construction team, whose construction quality, speed, and account purity were all equally perfect, and under Ye Tao's consistent policy of intolerance for corruption, how much funds could be saved from the Ganduo City project alone... Perhaps, things didn't need to be said so complicatedly. Ye Tao and Tan Weixin, a family who had so much money that they didn't know what to do with it, wouldn't be corrupt themselves, and no merchant in the world would dare to take the risk of being corrupt under Tan Weixin's nose.

"Mr. Jiang," Song Xiangjun saw that the more Jiang Yan thought about something, the more worried he became, and quickly interrupted his thoughts, "After your meeting with the Dongping King this time, are things settled?"

"I just came over to chat, no one can say for sure what will happen after that," Jiang Yan smiled. As a strategist, he had done his best. Once these strategies were proposed, whether the other party agreed or not, the ideas in their minds would be different. And Tan Xiaopei was obviously a more interesting and more courageous person than expected. Although he didn't know Tan Xiaopei's true thoughts, at least on the surface, he had achieved fruitful results this time. After that, he would arrange for Tan Weizai to go to Chunnan again, and this was not something that could be resolved in a short time.

"Then, if Mr. Jiang has time, you might as well go to Yunzhou once. If you are interested, let Master Ye know, and they will naturally make thorough arrangements. Even if you go to Yunzhou yourself, it is very convenient now. To know the truth about Yunzhou, it is better to travel there in person than to imagine it here. Is Mr. Jiang's errand urgent?" Song Xiangjun asked softly.

"This..." Jiang Yan was a little tempted. It's better to see once than to hear a hundred times, this was something he knew deeply. During these days in Danyang, he deeply felt the difference between Dongping and Chunnan, not only the glimpses of military appearance, military strength, national strength, etc. displayed in Danyang, but also Dongping's temperament that was very different from Chunnan.

Here, he had been interrupted by the furious roars coming from the adjacent elegant room in the restaurant more than once, which had disrupted his thoughts or interfered with his meetings with some people. Later he learned that those who were very uncouthly haggling over business or other matters, and speaking so plainly and clearly about cooperation, confrontation, alliances, and interests, were often the top one or two people in various companies and chambers of commerce. This alone was completely different from Chunnan. In Chunnan, everyone also had this and that problem, and there were various conflicts of interest, but they were often hidden under the surface, and no one was willing to put them on the table, let alone have the heads of the various aristocratic families personally intervene. If these things were put on the table, it was often because something terrible had happened.

The Chunnan mission had stayed in Danyang for quite a long time after all, and they had led Jiang Yan, who had come to Danyang with a mentality of observation, to meet all kinds of people, from ministers, vice ministers, and assistant ministers of various ministries, some mid-level officers of the forbidden army, to shopkeepers and managers of various shops, and even accountants, auditors, and economists from the two accounting firms of Deloitte and PricewaterhouseCoopers, which had just emerged in recent years but were quite respected. And the more he came into contact with these people, the more interested Jiang Yan became in the entire system created by Tan Weixin. Often everyone saw that Ye Tao had promoted the establishment and development of the Blood Kylin Army, built one city after another, and used unparalleled creativity to make miracles constantly appear on the entire land of Dongping. But Jiang Yan could see that behind all of this was the grand economic, political, and governance system promoted by Tan Weixin, executed and understood by the Dongping King's family and those ministers and great aristocratic families in conjunction, and with increasing understanding in execution…

So, what would Yunzhou be like now, which could almost be said to be directly managed by Ye Tao and Tan Weixin, this most talented couple in the world?