Chapter 1 We're Returning to the Manor Immediately!

"We're returning to the manor immediately!" Ye Tao suggested, amidst the flurry of good and bad news. Although Tan Xiaopei only knew that the manor was Ye Tao's center for handling all affairs, not the specific details, he agreed. However, when they arrived at the manor area after a day and a half's journey, Tan Xiaopei was surprised. The current manor was completely different from the one Ye Tao and Tan Weixin had used as their marital home. At the foot of the manor, a whole expanse of newly built structures stood side by side, forming an entire fortress complex. In these buildings, besides a considerable number of soldiers, guards, and people serving Ye Tao's family and the entire manor, there were complete communication, command, staff, and management teams. The Jinglue Manor in Danyang was merely the executive agency for all strategies and the office for a large number of administrative personnel, while all decisions could be made here without hindrance.

As Tan Xiaopei headed towards the manor with Ye Tao, the Flying Eagle had already transmitted Tan Xiaopei's handwritten order to Danyang: from this day forward, all intelligence documents were to be sent to the manor. Tan Xiaopei would understand the situation and make decisions at the manor, and the Yunzhou Transmission Bureau was actively cooperating, temporarily adding three shifts of airships traveling between the manor and Dongjiaji. Now, the Transmission Bureau's airship crew was the team with the most abundant night flight experience in the world. They could guarantee that important documents would arrive at the manor from Dongjiaji the next day. In this time and space, this was an extremely terrifying efficiency.

The road from Danyang to the manor was a wide concrete road with bright yellow spray-painted marker lines. Normally, even Ye Tao's carriage would only travel on the right side, and salute the messengers, soldiers, and carriages coming from the opposite direction. But Tan Xiaopei's arrival was different. The entire wide road was completely one-way, placing Tan Xiaopei's carriage in the middle of the road.

Looking out from the carriage at the guards of the Imperial Cavalry Battalion and the Imperial Infantry Battalion, standing neatly along the road, their military appearance absolutely comparable to the Imperial Guards, and the uniformed staff of various departments, Tan Xiaopei still saw something. Although the Imperial Cavalry and Imperial Infantry Battalions had excellent military bearing, their temperament was very different from that of the Imperial Guards. Compared to the Imperial Guards, the Imperial Cavalry and Imperial Infantry Battalions were more like combat troops. The degree of wear and tear on their equipment was relatively high. The armor was certainly polished to a blinding shine, allowing the brass fittings on it to fully display their brilliance, but the saddles, stirrups, and weapons on their bodies were completely unadorned, maintaining complete consistency with Yunzhou's main battle troops.

When he entered the service building complex at the foot of the mountain, Tan Xiaopei was even more surprised. There were dedicated areas for receiving and sending intelligence documents and letters, dedicated document processing areas, dedicated residential living areas, and even dedicated sports activity venues. From the outside, this was a heavily guarded fortress complex, and in reality, it was. The height of the outer city wall was roughly equivalent to that of a town, but the city wall was very wide, allowing two carriages to run side by side. The density of crossbow cannons and Greek fire jet ports on the city wall was extremely exaggerated. This did not surprise anyone, after all, the Ye Clan Workshop now relied on the production of these small and medium-sized crossbow cannons to train apprentices and workers in the ordnance workshop, so that they could understand the technology and management system of ordnance production. But in reality, because the Ye Clan Workshop's production efficiency was becoming more and more terrifying, the production capacity of this size of ordinary city defense crossbow cannon was greater than the speed at which the various levels of the Dongping army accepted new equipment, plus exports to Chunnan. What to do with the excess production capacity? Now, it was basically directly transported to various cities and passes in Yunzhou to strengthen defenses, and even a large batch of things were sent to the Tan family's Jiangshan Fort and the Dai family's Tianling Fort for them to play with as they pleased. Now, Yunzhou's main battle camps, except for the heavy weapon camps, all had their own professional training, and didn't have much time. But Yunzhou's garrison camps had a considerable number of crossbow cannons to play with. The garrison camps now conducted crossbow cannon operation training almost every day. Now, if anyone recklessly attacked Yunzhou, these garrison camps in Yunzhou would be enough to give them a hard time.

Only when he entered the manor could he gradually appreciate the communication efficiency here. Yunzhou's entire telegraph network was being built, but the lines that had already been built could continuously report the situation from various places. Now, the personnel from the Intelligence Bureau, assigned by Tan Xiaopei and Nie Rui to provide intelligence support for Yunzhou, were very accustomed to using the telegraph network. They only needed to write short letters, write them according to the scheduled code, and then throw the things that no one could understand before decoding at those telegraph stations, and they could safely do other things. The telegraph system was far from busy now, and processing these things could be said to be the best practice. But urgent things from hundreds of miles away could instantly reach the manor, which was unthinkable before. When the telegraph line from the manor to Danyang was connected, this feeling of a thousand miles in an instant was even more terrifying.

After briefly gathering with Tan Weixin and Tan Weishi, Tan Xiaopei, whose mind was full of troubles, entered the top floor office of the manor with Ye Tao, Tan Weixin, Dai Yun, and several accompanying ministers. The affairs in Chunnan were the Tan family's family affairs. Although Ye Tao's interjection now wouldn't be considered presumptuous, with Ye Tao's character, he didn't want to cause this trouble.

Tan Xiaopei had no intention of letting Chang Ling show off her arrogance, especially since this arrogance was directed at Zhuo Xianchen, a young general he favored very much. After pacing back and forth in the workshop for a while, Tan Xiaopei slowly ordered: "From today onwards, Zhuo Xianchen will concurrently serve as Dongping's plenipotentiary envoy to Chunnan, and concurrently serve as the commander of Dongping's military officer corps stationed in Chunnan. Whether it is military support, military procurement, joint exercises, training, or other matters, Zhuo Xianchen will be responsible for everything. Zhuo Xianchen was originally a Zhongjun Zhonglang General in the Imperial Guards, and I will directly promote him to a formal general of the fourth rank. Dongping used to handle various relations with Chunnan separately, the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Revenue, the Ministry of Rites… In the future, Zhuo Xianchen will decide everything, whether to talk, how to talk, and who to involve in the talks. After the negotiations are settled, Zhuo Xianchen will also be fully responsible for the implementation. I want them to know that Zhuo Xianchen is my man, the man I sent out, not someone who can be bullied casually."

"Duke Yan has been a great help this time. Naturally, this favor must be repaid. Doesn't the Song family have a fleet? I'll give them two *Huya* (Tiger Tooth) ships, ten *Cangshui* (Azure Water) ships, and *Lanshui* (Azure Water) ships." Tan Xiaopei smiled and said, "This favor can be considered repaid."

Ye Tao and Tan Weixin looked at each other and nodded. Tan Weixin smiled faintly and said, "I'll have the Deputy Minister of the Department of Commerce set off for Yuhang immediately. If Zhuo Xianchen wants to discuss ordnance with Chunnan, let's start with Yunzhou's goods." The Deputy Minister that Tan Weixin thought of was actually very crude in basic business, not because of a lack of ability, but because he was very impatient with complex work and couldn't concentrate on work. But this guy named Han Jin had a deep love and strong ability for negotiation. Tan Weixin and Shi Wei both knew Han Jin very well, and usually let him be responsible for inspections in various places and didn't let him go out to negotiate very much. But now, it was time for Han Jin to show off his skills and eloquence.

As for the centrifugal tendencies shown by the Chen family's industry, everyone couldn't decide how to deal with it for a while. Chen Kai considered himself a retainer of the Ye family, and this intention was very obvious. In the Third Civil Affairs Office of Yunzhou, he was responsible for punishing corruption and other things, and performed very well. Did he really want Chen Kai to come forward to handle this matter? What to do with the affairs of the Third Civil Affairs Office was not a big problem, but what to do with the Chen family's many industries? Who should they belong to after they were dealt with?

After Chen Kai was summoned, his attitude was very firm. He was a retainer of Ye Tao, and naturally these industries belonged to Ye Tao. He didn't want to have anything to do with the former Chen family anymore. He liked his current job, and he liked the feeling of doing the right thing now.

Ye Tao never forced others, but who else could do this now? And how should this matter be handled? A swift and decisive action? It was very likely to cause a direct reaction from the Daoming Sect. Although the Chen family had always been handling business matters, there was no reason why those people from the Daoming Sect wouldn't know anything about it after so many years. To take over this batch of industries almost certainly meant a conflict with the Daoming Sect, and many people knew that Chen Kai was currently working in Yunzhou. Yunzhou had never tried to hide this. So, no matter who was sent to take over these industries in the name of the Chen family, it would cause a fierce reaction from the Daoming Sect. Moreover, judging from the current situation, the centrifugal state might not be intentionally or unintentionally incited by people from the Daoming Sect, with elements of contact. After the Daoming Sect's headquarters was destroyed, they needed huge funds even more, and these industries could do that. There were quite a few well-known century-old shops inside. And to send people to take over these industries almost meant that they had to use various means to conduct a game with the Daoming Sect within the entire continent. The shops within Dongping didn't need to be taken care of, and those within Xiling couldn't be counted on. The key lay in those in Chunnan and Northern Liao. The shops in Chunnan had lucrative interests and could transfuse blood to the Daoming Sect, while Northern Liao was the opposite. Now, Ye Tao and Tan Xiaopei were worried that through these shops, the Daoming Sect might be able to transfuse blood to Northern Liao, causing more or less trouble for Dongping's future strategy.

After discussing the pros and cons, Tan Weixin suddenly said: "What if Ye Tao went to Chunnan in disguise as Chen Kai to handle this matter? Naturally, I would go too. The danger is a bit dangerous, but what if we let the Special Operations Battalion and the Guards also go? Also in disguise. Now, Yunzhou, apart from the two children, doesn't have anything that needs Ye Tao to keep an eye on." After saying that, Tan Weixin looked at Ye Tao with a look of longing and anticipation.

Ye Tao's heart stirred. After thinking about it, he said, "That's a good idea. Your Majesty, is it alright for us to go?"