Chapter 1 When the Plan Takes Effect

Just as the planning of Danyang New Capital entered the implementation phase, the entire model had been created within one of Danyang's airship hangars at the aviation mooring station, underneath the enormous dome. The current airship hangar basically represented the peak of the architectural technology that Ye Tao could attempt. The entire airship hangar was so large that it was worrying. How big was it, exactly? Although Ye Tao knew very well that if it were placed in his own time and space, it definitely wouldn't be able to accommodate Boeing series airliners, but putting in four business jets, like Gulfstreams, wouldn't be a problem at all. Two gigantic, intersecting arc-shaped supports and other well-ordered supports held up the entire dome. Since there was no plastic and no synthetic materials, the hangar's roof was made of the largest canvas that Dongping could currently produce. This canvas was two zhang wide (approximately 6.6 meters), and it was something that the Seven Seas Trading Company had specially developed for the sails of their main battleships. When used for sails, a width of two zhang was sufficient for any warship. Seamless entire sheets of canvas also made those warships, which flaunted their power on the sea, look even more impressive. This ultra-wide canvas was already another product of the Seven Seas Trading Company that others couldn't easily imitate. However, for the airship hangar, this canvas was still not wide enough. Fortunately, the artisans who were currently manufacturing airships had ample experience in how to make the seams invisible and perfectly sealed. Moreover, the well-designed support structure and roof wouldn't put too much pressure on the roof, and the lifespan was still decent. A total of four such airship hangars consumed countless amounts of steel, hundreds of millions of tons of rust-proof paint, and the entire six-month output of waterproof canvas from the Seven Seas Trading Company's sail-making department. But when the entire building was completed, when the hanging lamps lit up, illuminating the huge sand table model in the very center, it immediately became the place that everyone longed for the most. This place represented Danyang's future, Dongping's ambition, and a dream about the future.

The entire model was about forty chi square (approximately 13 meters), roughly displaying the future appearance of Danyang New Capital and the surrounding landscape configuration. Currently, when no one was viewing the model and meetings were being held here, several workshop apprentices and student workers continued to work on the entire model, especially embellishing it with things like trees, striving to make the model look more realistic. However, there was one area in the middle of the entire model that was empty, and to this day, there was still no design plan for it. Moreover, this location was right in the very center of New Capital Danyang, which was precisely where the new royal palace would be located in the future.

Because of the Dongping royal family's consistently high mortality rate and low birth rate, the royal palace had never seemed to lack space. In fact, up until Tan Xiaopei's generation, it was only because Tan Xiaopei's direct brothers had died, leaving only him, that he became the ruler. It was rare in Tan family history for two brothers, like Tan Weiming and Tan Weiran of this generation, to both be alive and kicking, and not because they stayed far away from the battlefield. The Tan family had even had women go to the battlefield and die in battle before. If it was a matter of building more houses because there were more people in the family, Tan Xiaopei wouldn't refuse. However, the matter of the royal palace wasn't that simple. And Ye Tao didn't have much interest in this thankless task. The future royal palace had to integrate a wide variety of functions, providing the royal family with a place to live and ample space to conduct government affairs, needless to say. It also had to take into account defense and refuge in case of emergencies, the needs of work, life, and entertainment, and the fact that this place was bound to be the site of a series of ceremonies in the future, and there had to be sufficiently magnificent sacrificial buildings... Ye Tao did have some impressions, such as putting the Temple of Heaven's Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests and the three main halls of Taihe, Zhonghe, and Baohe together. However, not to mention whether the architectural style would match the entire city, the cost and the time and effort involved were really unbearable. Later on, Ye Tao finally decided that he didn't care about the materials needed for traditional buildings. Where was he going to find so much precious Phoebe zhennan wood? And he just didn't feel anything for this extremely luxurious building material. In the end, Ye Tao decided to build the functional part of the royal palace (which would also be the imperial palace in the future) with seriousness, solemnity, and simplicity as the keynote, and then build the living part of the royal palace with scenery, local customs, and livability as the keynote. And Ye Tao decided to control the entire construction budget of the royal palace to below ten million taels of silver. In particular, the administrative part of the royal palace's functional area would be a certain distance from the living area, in order to connect with the concentrated office area of the imperial court located on the south side of the royal palace, to maximize the use of the city's own municipal facilities, and to minimize the construction costs of future necessary systems, including pipelines and mail.

Ye Tao came to Danyang with a simple idea and gave it to Tan Xiaopei. Naturally, Tan Xiaopei didn't have any complaints, but the entire court was in an uproar. It wasn't that they thought the cost was too high, but quite the opposite. The Chunnan ruler's summer palace outside Yuhang City, according to the Chunnan ruler, was barely livable, and that courtyard had cost two million seven hundred thousand taels of silver. And that was built ten years ago. Although prices were relatively stable now, according to Tan Weixin, inflation was everywhere, and if they were to build it now, they shouldn't even think about it without three million five hundred thousand taels. The Chunnan royal palace had been renovated several times in recent years, and each time the cost had been over a million taels. What everyone suspected was that Ye Tao would only spend ten million and be able to build what? However, Ye Tao had always ignored the opinions of others. Once he submitted the report, Ye Tao knew that Tan Xiaopei would ultimately approve it. What Tan Xiaopei wanted to leave for his children and grandchildren was a foundation that could be operated, a simple and rigorous family style that pursued victory, not a huge, overly ornate courtyard full of intrigue. Ye Tao used plaster to carve out some of the buildings that he had already considered thoroughly, such as the future new Hall of Political Affairs, the Hall of Diligent Governance for private office work and receiving officials, and next to these two buildings, the office areas where subordinates would assist in basic paperwork, the inner court archives closely connected to the entire administrative space, and the life service section providing catering for the administrative area were all easy to handle and arrange. Ye Tao finally couldn't help but copy the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests and the Temple of Heaven, even copying the mysterious Echo Wall series, and the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests would be the only relatively purely wooden structure in the entire royal palace complex. In addition, there was the idea of a lakeside living and leisure area that suddenly popped into Ye Tao's mind. He moved the carving knife in his hand at will, and a narrow-shaped architectural model came out. What made Ye Tao hesitate was, for the sake of this building, would he really have to create a lake in the royal palace?

"This... what is this?" A voice rang out behind Ye Tao as he rested his head on his forearm, staring blankly at the architectural models he had made. It turned out to be Tan Weiming.

"I just carved it out on a whim. It doesn't seem suitable for the royal palace," Ye Tao said frankly.

"You really have patience... the court has been arguing these past few days, calculating one by one whether ten million is enough. Really, they don't treat money like money at all. Ten million taels... even if you spend money liberally, it's enough to raise another Blood Kirin Army," Tan Weiming said, sitting down next to Ye Tao, not caring that his azure robe was immediately covered in plaster shavings.

"You've seen too much in Su Feng City, there are still many people who don't have enough to eat or wear," Ye Tao sighed. "Don't talk about ten million taels of silver, I know people have to live on less than one tael of silver a month. I know that many people can't save even a few dozen taels of silver in their entire lives. Every penny is calculated clearly, even calculated for years, decades later, and if they don't have a good year, they don't dare to buy anything casually... Opening your mouth and closing it saying ten million is too little is really too dissonant." Ye Tao shook his head. He was now one of the people standing at the pinnacle of power in Dongping, even in the entire continent. The lives of who knows how many people depended on his opinion.

Tan Weiming had indeed grown up in the process of managing the Grand Canal Governor's Office these past few years. The arrogance in him had been washed away, and now, although he still cared about the basic dignity of the royal family, he was a good governor who cared for his subordinates and all the people under his rule.

"These past few years, although many people have become wealthy because of us, and their lives have improved because of Dongping's prosperity, there are also people whose lives have changed because of our construction, and even many places have changed their customs... I really don't know if this is good or bad. The Grand Canal region is the most obvious. Some villages used to worship gods, river gods. Because of the excavation and renovation of the Grand Canal, some river channels were filled in to become fields and beaches. What are they supposed to worship? I've seen them several times looking panicked, and I don't feel good about it myself. This is completely different from whether they have money or not, whether their lives are good or not," Tan Weiming said with a sigh.

"The wheels of history are always rolling forward. We stand on the chariot shaft, we can see the scenery in front, we can see the ruts behind, but we can't see how many lives are crushed under the wheels. Many people... can't see it either," Ye Tao rarely sighed with emotion. Suddenly, an idea popped into his head. He thought about it, and the more he thought about it, the more interesting it became. He thought for about a few minutes, and then said, "However, Your Highness, I have an idea. Why don't we write these things down, or find someone to write them down, and then let people see them? Let people see what life is really like for the people of Dongping."

"Oh?" Tan Weiming was clearly very interested. He asked, "Brother-in-law, what are you planning to do again?"

Ye Tao smiled and said, "Bao Wen Hall has been established for many years, but I haven't taken good care of it except for the beginning. Now, they finally have something to do. Let's print some things and sell them, shall we?"