Chapter 105 Tugging One Hair Moves the Whole Body

Ye Tao and Zhao Dazhu hadn't seen each other in a long time. Running into each other in Tianmeng City could be considered a coincidence. The two fellow disciples patrolled the entire construction site, discussing solutions to some technical problems. The reason why Zhao Dazhu had to personally supervise the construction in Tianmeng City was because of the many problems encountered here. The Ye Clan Construction Company was not very proficient in fortress-style construction. In Tianmeng City, in addition to the tribal youths and North Liao prisoners of war who were responsible for the basic heavy labor, the construction team from the Tan Clan's Mountain Fortress was in charge of the construction work that required technical skills. Zhao Dazhu's status could keep these guys, who were somewhat related to the Tan Clan and were proud and arrogant, in check. Moreover, Zhao Dazhu could master all the skills from the simplest to the most complex, allowing him to provide solutions to any problems encountered.

"If everything goes smoothly, it won't take a year… Based on the current progress, even considering the ice-sealing period in winter when construction is not suitable, the main project can be completed by next spring. However, the setting up of sewers and the like will probably take at least two to three years, step by step. We are becoming more and more skilled at this set of procedures: excavating and constructing in separate zones, and then finally merging them for use," Zhao Dazhu said with a smile.

"It probably won't be that smooth." Ye Tao was a little embarrassed to say this to his senior brother.

"Oh? Are you going to transfer manpower?" Zhao Dazhu immediately understood Ye Tao's meaning. Building a city was naturally closely related to warfare and political diplomacy, even if he was a bit dull, he understood this.

"Yes, I want to speed up the war process. I don't plan to let North Liao spend another winter," Ye Tao said.

Zhao Dazhu frowned slightly, but then he grinned understandingly and said, "That's good too. After all, it's not good to fight for too long. A quick battle and quick resolution… It may mean more deaths in the short term, but it's still worth it, right?"

Ye Tao said, "That's the idea, I guess."

Zhao Dazhu nodded: "It's okay, this place won't be needed for the time being anyway, you don't need to think too much. When the fighting starts up front, you won't let the North Liao people have a way to attack here, right?"

"They have airships now… It's really hard to say, but they have to be able to think of this place first," Ye Tao said, "Once the war starts and the front line moves forward, then this place won't have much meaning. If Gao Senqi controls the overall situation, he probably won't make a mistake on this matter."

"It's useless to tell me these things," Zhao Dazhu shook his head and said, "This kind of thing is not something I can interfere with anyway. Anyway, remember to let me know if there's anything fun to do after you're done with Tianmeng City."

Ye Tao had always admired and envied Zhao Dazhu's pure enthusiasm for technology, and he naturally agreed to this request without hesitation. Among their fellow disciples, Guan Haishan was now engaged in large-scale construction in Yazhou, becoming the leading port design and supervision expert in this time and space, as well as a senior designer of coastal defense and wave-resistant facilities. Chunan, with its long coastline, had repeatedly offered him a lot of money to design breakwaters for coastal cities. After Suo Yong entered the Ministry of Industry, he also felt like a fish in water. In a few years, he greatly improved the manufacturing and research capabilities of the workshops under the Ministry of Industry. The workshop system of the Ministry of Industry, which originally had financial and material advantages, hired many senior craftsmen to join it, improved the investment, manufacturing, and cooperation methods of the workshops with other departments, and had now become the most powerful competitor of Ye Clan Workshop in official construction projects and military equipment manufacturing projects; Suo Zheng was now the Vice Minister of the Ministry of War and the only person in this time and space who had never personally been on the battlefield but had become a general. He had developed his own system in logistics management and had become a master. Although Qian Shun was not very noticeable, he had always been responsible for the internal work of the Ye Clan Workshop, but the Ye Clan Workshop was now a very remarkable existence. Qian Shun, who originally had no ambition, now lacked neither status nor wealth. But only Zhao Dazhu, who was now not young and had already started a family, was still obsessed with technology. This persistence made everyone feel incredible, but at the same time made everyone envious. How happy it was for a person to be able to live a simple and persistent life without considering too many other things.

Ye Tao was thinking about what project to throw at him? And in a very short time, Ye Tao made a decision.

"Senior brother, how about… I give you the entire railway project from Gondor to Yanjing?" Ye Tao tentatively asked.

"Huh?" Zhao Dazhu asked strangely: "Is doing this fun?"

Ye Tao smiled and said: "It's not fun, not fun at all… Building bridges and paving roads has always been the most arduous and boring work. However, there are many mountains and ridges between Gondor and Yanjing, and all kinds of landforms are complete. Whether it's the laying of railways or the construction of bridges, drilling culverts, everything is there… I think, senior brother, you should take over this project, and then, while building, organize the materials. In the future, our *Railway Construction Code* will be compiled by you."

Ye Tao didn't need to emphasize that such a textbook and specialized encyclopedia-like thing would make Zhao Dazhu famous in history. Zhao Dazhu understood what kind of significance such a thing had. And Ye Tao's explanation made him a little hesitant. Simply put, this kind of construction work was indeed not very attractive to Zhao Dazhu now. But this kind of project involving comprehensive and extensive technical layout was different. Zhao Dazhu hesitated for a moment, but still agreed.

Since he had already come to Tianmeng City, Ye Tao simply made some modifications to the original plan of staying for a short time, seeking opinions, and then quickly returning. The tribal leaders were extremely enthusiastic, and if he didn't stay for a while longer, it wouldn't be good if they had any resentment in their hearts. So, Ye Tao continued north with his guards, inspecting many tribes. And at this time, Ye Tao suddenly realized that he had come at the right time. Ye Tao thought this way, naturally not because of the luxurious hospitality he received in various tribes, with various wild game delicacies that were very different from the diet in Yunzhou. More, it was because he saw some hidden dangers in these tribes.

In this era, the reason why he was able to achieve something in both familiar and unfamiliar fields was largely dependent on his forward-looking vision, theories, and common sense. After observing the tribal life, he found that in order for these tribes to truly integrate into Dongping in the future, they must be supported for a period of time, just like when he ruled Yunzhou, he treated the tribes on the Benlang Plain, guiding them to develop for a period of time. Now, the tribes here have had quite decent weapons and training due to Dongping's strong intervention in military affairs, and their combat power has greatly improved compared to before, but their tribes are still stuck at a production level that is not much better than slash-and-burn cultivation. Fishing, hunting and simple planting are extremely common means of making a living here. Now, during wartime, this cultural discontinuity is not a big problem, but once the war is over, if there are no proper arrangements, then these tribes will face disaster, not to mention that after the railway is built in the future, a large amount of materials will pour into here. If the tribes' own productivity and culture are not strong enough, then it will almost be the end. And Ye Tao had to consider these things clearly. From the bottom of his heart, Ye Tao also hoped that these tribes could continue to develop healthily and vigorously like those on the Benlang Plain, so that Dongping's appearance would be more diverse. But how should the tribes develop? Ye Tao needed to investigate, needed more time to understand, and then he could think in the most comprehensive way.

But just as Ye Tao was doing this kind of work, North Liao made a response to Ye Tao's visit. They reinforced the town of Xuwenzhen, less than a hundred miles west of Jiamen Town, and then transferred about a hundred airships, which was almost half of the airship fleet that North Liao could piece together nationwide. Even though Ye Tao himself didn't care about this arrangement that was obviously aimed at him, his subordinates, from Liu Yong and Jin Ze to the captain of Yunzhou One, all unanimously opposed Ye Tao returning the way he came after the inspection was over. Although their aerial combat capabilities were not weak, aerial combat was really uncertain.

So, the radio telegraph machine in Tianmeng City, which had just been erected and had a tall iron launch tower and exaggerated wind-powered generator sets, sent a very helpless telegram to the Central Army Camp: The return journey is blocked by North Liao airship formations. Although it was possible to take a boat back to Yicheng first, and then return to the Central Army Camp from the Zhenning Pass, this kind of thing was really embarrassing. After exchanging brief opinions with Dai Yun and Tan Weixin via telegram, Ye Tao decided: he wouldn't leave. He would stay in Tianmeng City and coordinate the tribal coalition forces and the main force of the Northern Frontier Pacification Office to advance east and west!

Dai Yun and Tan Weixin were very dissatisfied: Ye Tao's return journey being blocked, although it had no impact on their great march and offensive adjustments, it still affected the mood of the two wives. Tan Weixin and Dai Yun immediately loaded half of the guard battalion onto airships and flew lightly all the way to Yicheng, then changed into a complete set of brand-new equipment in Yicheng and boarded a boat to the north. Since Ye Tao was blocked in Tianmeng City and could not return, then fine, they would send the troops to him. Of course, half a guard battalion of a thousand people was definitely not enough. The Special Operations Battalion got the news and directly sneaked through North Liao's territory towards Tianmeng City. And when the news spread, Tan Weixin and Dai Yun, who were still gathering troops, found that so many large families across the country who feared that the world would not be in chaos wanted to "participate in this grand event," and they provided the most elite military forces in their hands, which did not affect the war against Liao, to back up Ye Tao. Tan Xiaopei certainly had the Jiangshan City send out three thousand clan soldiers from the Tan family, and General Zhuo Mang had two young members of the Zhuo family lead two thousand elite cavalry carefully trained by the Zhuo family to rush to Yicheng as soon as possible, preparing to board a ship to go out to sea. The Shi family could not wait for this kind of opportunity to get involved with Ye Tao. As the largest supplier of building materials for Dongping's "government projects," they had enough financial and material resources to support a clan army of around one thousand people, and other than the two hundred clan soldiers who stayed behind to guard the old house, the remaining eight hundred were all sent out. Because the Shi family originally had a fixed fleet that constantly transported materials north, their small force was actually the first to arrive.

Various large families had accumulated nearly 20,000 troops, who would arrive in Tianmeng City one after another within a month. With the successive arrival of these troops, the fleet shuttling back and forth between Yicheng and the small port to the north, which had no name yet, suddenly increased. It should be noted that this time, those who went to Tianmeng City to support Ye Tao were all the troops in Dongping that originally had the best conditions and treatment, except for the Blood Kirin Army. Although they had arrived on the frontier of the Northeast, since there was maritime transport that could connect them, and the maritime transport capacity was still sufficient, there was no reason to let these elite troops live too simply…

The commander of the Eastern Route Army, who did not know much about the temperament of Ye Tao and Dongping, if he knew that his small arrangement had caused him such a big trouble, would he beat his chest and stomp his feet in regret?