Chapter 1 The Colorful Business

Ye Tao said with a smile, "Shixiong, what do you think about us starting a business specifically for these colorful things?"

Qian Shun pondered for a moment, then asked, "Surely you're not planning to sell this stuff as regular glass for making bottles and jars, are you?"

Ye Tao said, "It's not impossible, but even if we're making bottles and jars, they shouldn't be sold as daily necessities, but rather as decorations and luxury goods. Actually, there's another thing we might try, but it depends on whether there are enough colors. But it seems our style here has never lacked color, right?"

Qian Shun was taken aback. But Ye Tao had already taken down the drawing board that was prominently placed in the office, and took out colored pencils from the drawer, quickly sketching the outline of a building. Compared with the original buildings of Ye's Workshop, the most significant difference of this building was that the entire facade above the wide arched door was filled with a frame of distinct black lines, which looked like it should be made of black iron. Various colors filled the small frames divided by the black iron frame, piecing together a complete picture.

Qian Shun wasn't naive enough to think that this was just another one of Ye Tao's quick ideas. Although Ye Tao was exceptionally intelligent, such a complete architectural plan could never be formed in a single thought.

Qian Shun asked happily, "You've been waiting for this day for a long time, haven't you? I'm impressed you could hold it in without revealing anything."

Ye Tao put the pen on the table and said, "Not really that long. I only started thinking about it when we started building our own glass factory. I thought, if we had all sorts of colors of glass, we should be able to make such a building. I can't help but imagine what kind of scene it would create in that wide hall when sunlight shines through such stained-glass windows. It would be magnificent, mysterious, religious, almost a divine realm. And how beautiful that building would be."

Qian Shun's lips were upturned in an extremely gentle and tolerant smile. "Little Shidi, you can still have this kind of thought after becoming Ye Jinglue (Area Commander), it seems you haven't been slacking off."

Ye Tao shrugged noncommittally and said, "Otherwise, wouldn't it be too boring? So, what should we call this colored glass business?"

Qian Shun also shrugged, but only to express his helplessness. "Coming up with names has never been my forte, you do it. Anyway, I'll just arrange all the production and transportation for you. Among us shixiong, I'm the only one whose skills aren't up to par. All I can do is this."

Ye Tao said, "Then let's call it Liuli (Colored Glaze) Workshop."

"Liuli Workshop?" Qian Shun savored the name, saying, "Not bad. Aren't you going to design a set of packaging and signage for each business? Do you have any ideas?"

The smile on Ye Tao's face showed that since such a name had popped up, he had naturally already decided how to shamelessly copy the original "Liuli Workshop." Of course, if the entire colored glass industry was included, the business scope of this Liuli Workshop, which belonged to Ye's Workshop, would greatly exceed that of the original. At least, the original Liuli Workshop wouldn't have window paintings as its business category. Ye Tao believed that as long as the Liuli Workshop opened in a few cities, it would definitely cause a craze. Liuli is such a special material. It is extremely transparent, highly expressive, ethereal and noble, delicate and reserved, quiet and peaceful, and extremely fragile. It can absorb brilliant colors and be crystal clear, it can be stunningly beautiful, yet it can be destroyed in an instant, it can transform into myriad appearances, yet it is eternally quiet. This unique temperament will surely attract all kinds of people. Now, the artisans who make liuli may not have so many ideas about processing techniques. It doesn't matter, Ye Tao can directly teach them the lost-wax casting method. As for the use of liuli and colored glass in architecture, it will have to wait for Da Shixiong (First Brother) Guan Haishan to see these ready-made things before deciding.

The conflict between Glass Group A and Glass Group B was quickly smoothed out by Ye Tao and Qian Shun. Originally, everyone was just wavering between traditional techniques and emerging methods, fearing that their own ideas would be rejected and diminish their right to speak. But now that both sides were satisfied, everyone was happy. Although Glass Group A increased the content of lead oxide added to the glass when presenting samples to present a more crystallized texture, Ye Tao required Glass Group A to pay more attention to material screening and try to reduce the production cost of Type A glass. In terms of being more similar to crystal materials, leaded glass seems to be no match for "Bohemian crystal glass", but this most basic material has the potential to become a daily household consumable and conventional building material. As long as the cost is low enough, Ye Tao can even promise to use it in large quantities in the construction of Gondor and the future Dongping Kingdom. The daily necessities made of Type A glass are relatively easy to process and have a high yield, so Ye Tao first approved the start of gradual production and gradual launch. The place of launch is naturally IKEA Home Furnishings, which has lacked hotspots for a long time and is about to become a practice place for apprentices and workers of Ye's Workshop. As the undisputed manufacturing giant of this time and space, Ye's Workshop has too strong a product configuration ability.

Glass Group B is developing mid-to-high-end crystal glassware, and their first batch of orders is for Grey Goose Winery's fine wine and Ballantine's liquor bottles. This batch of orders is enough to keep the Type B glass project team busy for a while, solving various problems from raw material management to storage and transportation. Naturally, with the replacement of wine bottles, Grey Goose Winery can justifiably sell the two now-famous liquors, fine wine and Ballantine's, at a higher price. Type B glass can also be launched normally at any time, as long as Qian Shun thinks the cost and price are appropriate.

The kind of glass that is most suitable for making lenses, after Ye Tao inspected the materials, confirmed that it is indeed mainly natural fluorite material, plus a part of other materials mixed and cast. Ye Tao couldn't help but imagine that if conditions were ripe in the future, he should be able to make cameras with quite high imaging quality. Natural fluorite lenses are the luxury of many photographers in modern society, and the exorbitant price makes many people flinch, but now, it may be born in his own hands. Ye Tao will not honestly start from the silver plate photography and go through the development history of photography technology that he knows step by step.

And the results in this area still depend on the Alchemy Workshop, which is also located in the Ye's Workshop Research Institute. There are hundreds of talents of various kinds collected from all over the place in the Alchemy Workshop, but now only the most basic kinds of chemical drugs have been completed. But it's not all bad news. Ye Tao stayed in the Alchemy Workshop for two days and found that at least one problem has been solved: language. Although it is not yet possible to use Chinese uniformly throughout the Alchemy Workshop, at least now everyone knows who uses what language. When the two sides do not have a common language, they often pull someone to translate. Moreover, because everyone's daily work and life are in communication with the local craftsmen of Ye's Workshop, the degree of Chinese popularization is getting higher and higher, and daily work is becoming more and more smooth. Up to now, the Alchemy Workshop has completed the extraction of basic chemical drugs such as sulfuric acid, nitric acid, caustic soda, etc., which is considered to be very fast progress.

By the time Ye Tao returned to Thunder Bluff with Dai Yun, Tan Weixin, and others, more than half a month had passed. At this time, the headquarters had submitted a preliminary battle plan to Ye Tao and Dai Yun. Tan Weixin and Xu Yao, who had been staying in Thunder Bluff all these days to preside over the matter, all looked proud, even though this pride could not hide their fatigue at all. A large amount of map work and data retrieval were inevitable, especially calculating the weight consumption of various arms, the material ratio, and considering how the logistics transportation capacity could be maximized, and how to minimize the logistics regulation pressure that Suo Zheng had to face. Once in the territory of Xiling, how to eliminate the enemy and preserve oneself in a planned manner is even more difficult to describe with a specific plan. Everyone can only try to anticipate various combat plans and coping methods based on the known situation and repeated simulations and map operations. Regardless of whether the plan is passed according to this version, the Intelligence Bureau will increase its intelligence work on the Zhenbei Army Division, and this intensity cannot be so great as to arouse Jiang Xujing's vigilance. The Yunzhou branch of the Intelligence Bureau's plan was not attached to the document, but was secretly presented to Ye Tao separately. According to the confidentiality principle of the Intelligence Bureau, even Dai Yun could not see this document.

The Yunzhou departments also had rough plans, at least on the surface they looked decent. As for how it will actually work, no one knows now, after all, no one has done this kind of thing before.

"Thank you for your efforts, this thing will be immediately presented to His Majesty the King for review, and while waiting for His Majesty's decree, please prepare what should be done. Everything for Yunzhou, everything for Dongping!" Ye Tao said at the banquet.

Everything for Yunzhou, everything for Dongping… This slogan was shouted out loudly by everyone, responding to Ye Tao.

One huge wine glass after another was filled, raised high, and drunk in one gulp. Whether they were from Dongping or Yunzhou, this slogan had immense bewitching power, as if everything everyone did had meaning. Perhaps this slogan will gradually lose its power after being vainly raised thousands of times, but at least now, it is still very suitable for encouraging everyone, and it can be regarded as the beginning of a new era in Yunzhou. And as this slogan was thrown out at this banquet, a plan involving all aspects of Yunzhou gradually unfolded…