Chapter 193 The Eastern Peace's Calculation

When the great war between Western Ridge and Spring South fell into a stalemate, the movements of Eastern Peace were deemed highly suspicious by everyone. To say that Eastern Peace would send troops to Western Ridge for the sake of its ally, neither Eastern Peace nor Spring South would believe that. The so-called alliance only connected the places where the needs of the two countries complemented each other. Although it temporarily concealed the underlying contradictions between the two countries, it was only temporary. Spring South had already obtained many things from Eastern Peace, such as various heavy military equipment, a complete set of methods for training troops, and a complete set of arms and tactics. They had gained a large amount of technology from Eastern Peace but lost a large portion of their domestic circulating funds. This part of the funds, however, greatly enriched the market liquidity of Eastern Peace. Spring South's orders ensured that Eastern Peace's increased production capacity due to improved production management levels would not be wasted. Transactions of horses and other items through Eastern Peace allowed a large amount of profit to flow into Eastern Peace. Because Tan Weixin had always carefully regulated the overall economic trend of Eastern Peace, Eastern Peace was becoming increasingly affluent. Spring South, though still the wealthiest in the world, appeared somewhat deformed in comparison to Eastern Peace. Everyone understood that once the two countries solved their internal and external troubles, it would be the time for the two countries to go to war. The two new armies formed by Spring South were stationed on the border between Spring South and Eastern Peace. The total number of the two new armies was close to 100,000, and the strict training they received made them very powerful, enough to pose a threat to Eastern Peace on the other side of the border.

In recent years, this situation had become increasingly obvious. Consort Lian, Chang Ling, had begun to use her subtle identity in Eastern Peace to undermine Eastern Peace. Especially this time, instigating the Crown Princess to create this series of events was already challenging the Eastern Peace royal family's tolerance. Although Tan Xiaopei suppressed the matter and it did not erupt, interactions with Spring South became more cautious. Although he sold airships to Spring South, he was stricter on other items than before. When Spring South urgently requested to provide super-large-sized crossbows this time, willing to pay a very high price, Tan Xiaopei refused almost without thinking. Although these operations would make it more difficult for Zhuo Xianchen in Yuhang and put him under greater pressure, this was what an envoy should do. Eastern Peace and Spring South were increasingly eager to get what they wanted from each other's hands, because everyone knew that this alliance relationship could not last forever, perhaps not even for many years.

However, after all, they were still allies. When Spring South was in trouble, Eastern Peace still needed to take some action to maintain superficial harmony. This would prevent Western Ridge and Northern Liao from taking advantage, and it was also to prepare for the future. Even if the alliance relationship already had many cracks, at least when it really broke down in the future, Eastern Peace hoped it was not because of any problems on their side.

Tan Xiaopei summoned Zheng Zhe, conveyed various intelligence collected by the Eastern Peace Intelligence Bureau to him, and asked him to hand it over to Spring South. In Yuhang, Zhuo Xianchen was ordered to submit a letter to the Spring South king, expressing Eastern Peace's concern about the situation at the Great South Pass, and informing Spring South that they would take a series of actions "within their capacity" to help Spring South. Actions were naturally necessary. Eastern Peace always kept its word. The entire Blood Kirin Army, a part of the Imperial Guards, a part of the garrison troops and logistical troops under the command of the Grand Canal Governor's Office began to move towards Xunshan Pass. The first batch of Danyang First Air Force, which had been re-equipped with Snow Owl airships, was directly transferred to Xunshan Pass and began to conduct high-intensity reconnaissance and surveillance on a series of targets within Western Ridge. In Zhenzhou, Lu Dan mobilized half of his troops, as many as thirty battalions, including combat battalions and garrison battalions, and stationed them on the southern front, as if they were ready to go south at any time. Yunzhou was even more ruthless. They attacked and advanced from Changshi Pass and Zijing Pass, taking the triangular area that originally blocked the area between the Northern Garrison Army Division and Yunzhou into their pockets. In order to achieve this combat goal, Yunzhou actually mobilized a total of fifty battalions, 150,000 people, although most of them were newly formed troops, and the intention of training troops was obvious. However, Western Ridge, suffering from insufficient combat power, could not spare troops to resist, and retreated while fighting, abandoning this area. Then they retreated to terrain that was more conducive to defense, confronting the Yunzhou army. The Yunzhou side, however, did not overreach themselves. They had originally aimed at training troops, so they not only practiced attack, defense, and marching, but also practiced earthwork operations. They built a series of fortresses and two sizable barracks on the edge of the already occupied area. Then, they left less than four battalions of troops in these places, all of whom were garrison troops and logistical troops, and the rest of the troops were withdrawn to Yunzhou. This short-term attack was obviously to take advantage, but because the show was done very well, Western Ridge was panicked for a while. After all, Western Ridge could not afford to fight on two fronts. At this time, Western Ridge, through some powerful commercial groups and aristocratic families that could still find connections, subtly conveyed an attitude of seeking peace to Eastern Peace through the Kyushu Chamber of Commerce, the Seven Seas Trading Company, and other institutions. Everyone understood that this peace would be shorter than the alliance between Eastern Peace and Spring South, but a secret agreement was reached in less than half a month. This simple agreement, which resembled a non-aggression treaty, had very little binding force on both sides, but it was what everyone needed now. Eastern Peace was clearly going to sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight. No matter who won or lost in the area of ​​the Great South Pass, it would not have much impact on Eastern Peace. Tan Xiaopei and others could not wait for the two countries to fight for ten or eight years without stopping. In the eyes of Western Ridge, it would be great if Eastern Peace did not intervene. In less than a month, the Great South Pass had changed hands six times. It was clearly a meat grinder, but no one could stop, and no one wanted to stop. The heavy losses already suffered could only be compensated for by the Great South Pass.

At this sensitive moment, the Eastern Peace court announced that the Danyang New Capital Plan, which had been progressing at a relatively restrained pace, would be fully launched. Moreover, after being stimulated by Gondor, the court and the public believed that, as the future core of the entire empire, the new capital Danyang should at least be larger in scale and capacity than Gondor. Gondor was a beautiful and distinctive city, but Gondor's design capacity was only about 500,000 permanent residents and 200,000 mobile personnel. However, Danyang's current population was already close to one million. When the country developed further in the future, and Danyang became the political core of the entire continent, it was likely that the population would exceed 1.5 million or even 2 million. Danyang must have such a capacity. In this case, the design team led by Ye Tao and Guan Haishan put forward a further expansion plan on the basis of the original plan. The plan would not only include large-scale renovation of the city, so that the entire city's municipal engineering would fully meet and exceed Gondor's standards, but also include the renovation of the surrounding water system to ensure that the new capital could meet the living needs of 2 million people in terms of water and electricity supply, instead of being in a state of overloaded supply for a long time. Because Danyang did not have as abundant grassland space around it as Gondor after all, and there was no way to install enough wind turbine arrays for power generation, Ye Tao and Guan Haishan had to use their brains to generate hydroelectric power. The technology for power generation was available and very simple, but everyone was a little unsure about the technology for power transmission and distribution. Fortunately, construction would still take some years, and the need for electricity supply would also have a very long and gradual process. In this case, Ye Tao and Guan Haishan had to use their imagination and complete the structural design first.

After such a plan was completed, Danyang's area would be four to five times larger than it is now, the green area in the city would increase by more than ten times, and all aspects would undergo earth-shaking changes. Outside the city, a series of natural and artificial landscapes would be formed, just like Gondor. Surrounding Danyang, Su Feng City, Tie City, and Jiangshan Fort would become three strong fulcrums. For the sake of the city's environment, the status of the original Jingdezhen porcelain production center would also be greatly improved, and a series of workshops that had an impact on people's livelihood and the environment would be moved there. Even a large part of the Ye family's workshops would be moved. In Jingdezhen, all these polluting workshops would implement new "environmental protection" production standards. In order to ensure that these measures would not affect the livelihoods of those merchants, all merchants and workshops that implemented environmental protection standards would receive tax benefits...

Of course, some people were a little depressed, such as the "Big Wave Washes Sand" bathhouse, which had become a must-go place for many people of status in Danyang. According to the city's expansion plan, the new city wall would directly pass through the current location of "Big Wave Washes Sand". The relocation of the bathhouse was unavoidable. Ye Tao, one of the shareholders of the bathhouse, had no objection, and even Du Fengchi, the owner of the bathhouse, had no objection, but when Du Fengchi ordered the bathhouse's manager to prepare to close down and carry out the relocation in the early stage, the old men who were used to being carefree in the bathhouse actually joined forces and secretly passed a resolution... That section of the city wall would be built last. "Big Wave Washes Sand" was not allowed to close down before the new store was completed and opened, and it must be open for them. Du Fengchi was completely speechless at this black box operation, but naturally it was not good to refuse such a good thing. This was also one of the few back doors in the entire Danyang New Capital Plan.

The Danyang New Capital Plan was announced at this time, and it was an expanded version, and then it started fully. As the news spread, Western Ridge was relieved. Eastern Peace really had no intention of taking action at this time. This Danyang New Capital Plan would cost at least tens of millions of taels of silver, consume hundreds of thousands of manpower, and take several years. During this period, Eastern Peace would probably not have any major military operations.