Chapter 1 "Isn't the atmosphere in the Ye Family Workshop regarding research and development a bit strange lately?" Although Tan Weixin didn't need to be polite with Ye Tao, she was still careful to keep things in a warm atmosphere, trying to make Ye Tao understand her concerns.

"Strange? What's going on?" Hearing about issues with research and development, Ye Tao immediately became interested.

Tan Weixin pulled Ye Tao to sit on the sofa and said, "I only noticed something was off when I went to the workshop this time. The technicians at the Ye Family Workshop are quite wealthy, even those who are single-mindedly focused on R&D and don't get production bonuses. The Ye Family Workshop provides them with good care and even looks after their families. Basically, being able to enter the technician ranks at the Ye Family Workshop means a big change in fate, not just for themselves, but for their entire family. Apprentices, workers, and technicians in the workshop are all working hard to accumulate skills and experience so they can pass the technician exam. In fact, some technicians earn more than the master technicians. But now, most of the research work in the workshop is large-scale projects with large teams. Once the products are released, they are primarily aimed at the military and various levels of governance in Yunzhou… Don't you think that's a bit abnormal?"

Ye Tao hesitated for a moment and said, "I'm only setting the major project directions now. Aside from some key projects, I don't get involved in the specific details of R&D anymore. How did things turn out this way?"

Tan Weixin said understandingly, "It's because you're too busy. The entire North relies on you for management. Yunzhou is stable on all four borders, but it's all large-scale construction projects. Gangduo, and the series of projects on the Benlang Plains, will only gradually calm down once they're all completed. Then everyone will have the energy to refine their demands for quality of life. And the Ye Family Workshop is too good at creating miracles. It's certainly because everyone wants to get the technician qualification, and it's easiest to get recognized by playing a role in these major projects. But it's also because everyone's standards are high. They're embarrassed to mention many small things, those smaller achievements. Did you know that the dyeing workshop now has a complete set of high-temperature steam disinfection technology? They came up with the idea themselves, designed the complete set of equipment and procedures, and developed a disinfectant that can function stably in a high-temperature sealed environment. After disinfection and ironing, the clothes have a faint scent of grass. When I saw those things in the dyeing workshop, I found it a bit unbelievable. But the old masters were embarrassed, saying that this kind of thing wasn't very useful. What do you think? I haven't done a specific investigation. Actually, my understanding of the Ye Family Workshop is mostly on paper. I don't know much about the actual operations, probably because I don't understand the technology, and it's hard to understand that level of relationships and systems. But I estimate that many of the practical technologies that are currently in use within the Ye Family Workshop haven't been reflected in other areas. Their internal expenses are directly offset by the expenses for R&D and production equipment. This time, I visited the dyeing workshop and several other related workshops, and I realized that they don't even ask for funds for many things. They directly find some discarded tools and materials internally, borrow equipment and tools from friends in other workshops, and make the things themselves. You need to pay more attention to this, it's too wasteful."

Ye Tao smiled and said, "Everyone likes to do big things, it's the same everywhere." He vaguely understood what Tan Weixin meant. She wanted to release the technological achievements that the Ye Family Workshop had accumulated and turn them into another boost for the entire Yunzhou, the entire Northern Frontier, and even the entire Dongping. Because the Ye Family Workshop now has to cooperate very closely with the national military and political plans, and has to put its main energy into developing the most critical technologies, the best solution is indeed to rely on the independent entrepreneurship of technicians and skilled workers to form individual workshops for operation and development. "But… I still say the same thing, I won't stop the technicians from starting their own businesses. But, you're also a veteran economist, right? Right now, these are all considered work-related creations. The technology belongs to the workshop. Are you planning to have the technicians buy these technologies and then do it themselves? … Do you know how much work that would be?"

Tan Weixin smiled. Ye Tao's thinking now was indeed beyond that of a technology supervisor, a researcher, or a designer. The amount of work Ye Tao was talking about wasn't just about issuing loans and reviewing them. Letting technicians start their own businesses, how would the operating risks be calculated? The Ye Family Workshop would definitely have to cut off the economic umbilical cord with these independent workshops. It wouldn't be possible to keep sending them blood transfusions. At most, there would be some bias in project outsourcing and procurement. Right now, there's no concept of a limited liability company. If they take out loans to operate, they'll have to keep paying off the principal and interest before they can breathe a sigh of relief if they fail. Not everyone can withstand this kind of pressure, especially those technicians. They have the technology, but they may not be able to operate these industries well. To solve this problem, it seems that the concept of limited liability companies really has to be established, but… the "Company Law"? Isn't that a bit too ahead of its time? What about the related accounting standards and auditing systems? As for the issue of related patent rights, Dongping only has a simple legal regulation to deal with and avoid these problems. Tan Weixin's idea is to establish and develop a patent registration system, turning it into a national policy that can continue to play a role, so that Dongping's technological development can embark on a modern path from now on. To comprehensively solve these problems, I'm afraid the entire Northern Frontier Military and Civilian Administration would have to be busy for several years.

"Hehe, we'll handle it on a case-by-case basis. For the time being, we can only use the Ye Family Workshop's special permits to work around it. For these strange and unusual things, the Ye Family Workshop's licenses might be more useful than hastily establishing a patent bureau. That's the effect of technology licensing plus advertising," Tan Weixin joked. "The key isn't how to implement it, but that the economic situation in Yunzhou and the entire Northern Frontier is too official and grandiose. It lacks meticulousness, it lacks the nourishment of ordinary people's livelihoods. According to you, our technology is already in the Industrial Revolution. It's just that our Industrial Revolution isn't very revolutionary, not radical at all. But our people are still living in the Middle Ages…"

Ye Tao shrugged helplessly and sighed, "Okay, let's split up this matter. It's impossible to achieve it overnight, especially those technicians. Letting them leave the Ye Family Workshop to work on their own? I really don't have that kind of charm."

Ye Tao spent almost ten days finally dealing with the backlog of various political and military affairs, and then ran to the Ye Family Workshop, auditing the large and small technological improvements department by department, and then constantly listing technical data, making many projects independent and detailed. The Ye Family Workshop did not adopt the method of directly pushing these technicians out. If they were willing to operate independently, especially if their families had some foundation, that would naturally be the best. For those with various concerns, a technician would be paired with someone with some business experience to independently operate a workshop, holding a certain amount of shares. The Ye Family Workshop would not interfere in the operation or the development of these branch technologies at all. After a year of independent operation of such a workshop, the independent workshop could purchase the remaining percentage of shares from the Ye Family Workshop at market price. The Ye Family Workshop would get a year of dividends and the added value after a year of development, while those technicians would have a year to experience the prospects of an industry and strengthen their confidence… Many people who had already become technicians felt that their role in related research was limited and it was difficult to go further. They were very interested in this model where they only bore very limited risk, and many small workshops were quickly established. And these organizations, many years later, would be known as the Ye Family Chartered Economic Entities.

Among them, a relatively large workshop was "Di Shui Hang," a manufacturer of disinfection and washing equipment that was spun off from the dyeing workshop. It was jointly established by six technicians and four merchants. They also provided comprehensive washing and disinfection services to large businesses and wealthy families. Because Dongping was generally relatively wealthy and there were many opportunities, women from poor families rarely earned money by washing clothes for wealthy families. The profession of washerwoman hardly existed, but services in this area were welcomed by many families. "Di Shui Hang" had to continuously expand its clothing processing factory scale in less than a month after opening. The department of the Ye Family Workshop that provided uniforms to employees signed a major cooperation agreement with Di Shui Hang, with at least four to five hundred sets of clothes to be washed and disinfected every day. Wealthy families in Ningyuan also packed up various kinds of clothes and sent them for centralized processing. Otherwise, relying on the servants in each household and the servants' families, it seemed like those things would never be finished. There was also the washing and disinfection business for small amounts of clothes from small families. There were too many young people in Yunzhou's governance system, and many of them had not started families, or had not brought their families to Yunzhou. These bachelors were a huge market. There were also travelers, merchants who traveled around selling goods, and so on, who also needed fast and reliable washing services. Di Shui Hang also responded quickly, opening four branches in Ningyuan, specializing in accepting small batches of clothes for washing and disinfection, and also delivering them back as needed. The chain laundry began to take shape. Di Shui Hang's ability to respond in this way was not beyond Ye Tao's expectations. The boss behind Di Shui Hang was Ye Tao's old friend, Du Fengchi. This guy now had a very strong interest in the chain industry. Opening chain hotels like *Ru Jia* in Yunzhou had given him a taste of success. He had a clear understanding of brand consistency, service, consistent pricing and differentiation, and the service industry. He was now far from the businessman who only knew how to run inns and hotels. He was a super entrepreneur with keen observation, strong execution, and a strong execution team. Di Shui Hang, as an enterprise that needed to set an example, could often get guidance from Ye Tao and Tan Weixin, making Du Fengchi more and more daring to act, and he soon opened Di Shui Hang's chain laundromats in other cities in Yunzhou, and was preparing to open a store in Danyang.

And like Di Shui Hang, small and medium-sized workshops that exposed the non-core technologies of the Ye Family Workshop and used various technical products to change the lives of ordinary people continued to emerge. So many technicians inside and outside the Ye Family Workshop saw that technology actually had such benefits, and they had a sudden realization. The slogan "Technology for the people" also spread unconsciously.