Chapter 1 Aftermath

After years of construction, Danyang now possessed a more prosperous air than before, instead of just being the purely majestic city with perfect defenses it once was. The vast city had thoroughfares as its main arteries and large public gardens with shady trees as its core. At the top of every hour, the staggered sounds of the clock tower's chimes could cover most of the city. Danyang now had relatively clear divisions between administrative, commercial, and residential areas, yet they still had a feeling of intermingling and permeation. Ye Tao's residence in Danyang was located at the border between the commercial and administrative districts. The original villa by the lake was ultimately not suitable for housing a large family plus many servants and guards. It was eventually given to Feng Zi, becoming the place where this now nationally famous scholar and strategist could study and socialize in Danyang. From Ye Tao's current residence, it was close to Tan Wei Shi's embroidery workshop, the Yi Zhan Lou (Chess War Tower) of the Ye family workshop, and the Danyang Grand Theater, making it a very comfortable location. It might be a bit far from the palace, but Ye Tao didn't really enjoy running to the palace that much anyway, so he didn't care too much.

Even if Ye Tao tried to keep a low profile, he couldn't hide his tracks. Ye Tao's arrival in Danyang naturally attracted the attention of many people. Ye Tao had now completed the great task of conquering Northern Liao. The army, with the Yun Province army as its backbone, had performed exceptionally well. Now, the country bordering Yun Province was Western Ling. Without the worry of Northern Liao at its back, Yun Province had the newly formed New Liao Army as a backup, plus troops like the Glory Army and the Blood Kirin Army, enough to launch nearly 500,000 soldiers. For Western Ling, this was already an extremely large force. Although Western Ling had worked hard to develop in recent years and put a lot of effort into defense, it still couldn't keep up with the pace of Dongping's development. The former number one power in the world was now calculating how to deal with Dongping's army. If a war really broke out, Tan Xiao Pei probably wouldn't give up the attack along the Xunshan Pass. Even if Dongping had to guard against Chunnan, freeing up 100,000 troops shouldn't be a problem. Could Western Ling withstand the attack of 600,000 well-trained professional soldiers?

Some people also felt that Tan Xiao Pei wanted to discuss the southward movement of the Yun Province army with Ye Tao. Picking the softest persimmon first, in the eyes of the people of Dongping, Chunnan was still the weaker side. Not because of the number of troops and equipment, because, in the end, the difference wasn't that big. But the inherent arrogance in the Chunnan army and the infighting within the Chunnan court were difficult to understand. What was even more difficult to understand was that Chunnan had been challenging Dongping's bottom line in various ways over the years, even though they could see Dongping's ambition. It was probably not surprising that Consort Lian was living in Chunnan with the young Prince Tan Wei Zai and had no desire to return. Judging from Tan Xiao Pei's attitude, although he was dissatisfied with this, he didn't take any action. He just treated Consort Lian and Tan Wei Zai as hostages in Chunnan. Even if Tan Xiao Pei didn't value them, he wouldn't harm them because of the conquest of Chunnan. That would damage his credibility as the ruler. In recent years, there had been quite a few disputes between Chunnan and Dongping, both privately and officially. And Dongping had made a lot of concessions in order to appease people. But these concessions obviously couldn't satisfy the increasingly ambitious people of Dongping, especially some concessions in trade rules, which had affected the interests of many people. And now that the worry of Northern Liao was gone, Dongping's territory had greatly expanded, and the population and land had increased a lot, so the potential for war was even more advantageous. There were different opinions within Dongping about how to treat Chunnan. After Ye Tao arrived in Danyang, quite a few people who came to visit Ye Tao made it clear that they hoped Ye Tao would support the use of force against Chunnan. And the families and chambers of commerce behind these people would fully support them in all aspects. Ye Tao knew Tan Xiao Pei's determination, and he didn't completely reject these people. Instead, he seriously discussed some content with them.

Even though Ye Tao was prevaricating in various ways, the information he revealed still made these people overjoyed. At least, they all felt that Ye Tao himself supported the use of force against Chunnan. And Ye Tao also roughly understood how much support he could get once he sent troops to Chunnan. Just the funds and grain, supplies, and so on to assist in the war, just the initial inquiries, exceeded 14 million silver dollars. It was almost equivalent to the cost of the war against Northern Liao. It seemed that the aristocratic families in Chunnan had indeed offended the people of Dongping badly.

Moreover, the most powerful Seven Seas Trading Company and Kyushu Chamber of Commerce had not yet expressed their opinions. Old Master Qi was now enjoying a carefree life in Yazhou or resting in Yicheng for a while, but he also indicated privately that once the war started, the Seven Seas Trading Company would fully support it and provide no less than three million silver dollars, and the potential of the Seven Seas Trading Company was more than that. The Seven Seas Trading Company's fleet, war fleet, and the Dongping Navy in Yazhou could harass the entire coastline of Chunnan, and even conduct large-scale landing operations. How could such strategic value be measured in silver dollars? The Kyushu Chamber of Commerce was not to be outdone. What they had done best in recent years was the grain trade. As one of the royal chambers of commerce, the Kyushu Chamber of Commerce had not only improved Dongping's grain reserves in recent years, but had also become a grain marketing giant. Not only in Dongping, but even in Chunnan, they were also giants. They not only controlled the world's largest grain bank network, "No Worries About Food", which was all over Dongping and Chunnan, but also ventured into the field of grain production. In recent years, they had been carrying out land annexation in Chunnan on a grand scale. They had established 22 large farms and controlled 7% of Chunnan's grain output and 11% of its grain reserves. They had already begun to transport large quantities of grain back to Dongping. Once the war started, the Kyushu Chamber of Commerce stated that they would burn all the grain in the warehouses in Chunnan and pull out all the crops in the fields, regardless of whether they were ripe or not. The Kyushu Chamber of Commerce's business style had always been extreme and ruthless, and Ye Tao believed that they would definitely do so. In this way, the Kyushu Chamber of Commerce would bear losses of nearly 5.5 million silver dollars, and they also promised to provide the army with supplies, including grain, worth 4.5 million silver dollars after the war started. The Kyushu Chamber of Commerce alone would take out 10 million silver dollars… The strong support from these giant merchants and other aristocratic families not only added to Ye Tao's confidence in the future campaign but also made him feel enormous pressure. The statements of these forces clearly pushed Dongping to a position where war was inevitable. So, let's fight. That's what Ye Tao thought.

In Ye Tao's view, it was very courageous that the Northern Liao king finally gave up resistance, and even gave up the opportunity to nominally extend the history of Northern Liao by one year, and completely chose to submit to Dongping. He had to overcome his obsession with power, and overcome his last bit of madness, to choose such a cruel and humiliating path for himself, but a more beneficial path for most people. But the royal family of Chunnan did not show such qualities at all, not even a trace. The Chang family was arrogantly unreasonable. Consort Lian Chang Ling was like this, and so were the two princes vying for the throne. Even though this arrogance had nothing to support it. Such an opponent might choose to perish together at the last moment, a path that would not benefit anyone, but compared to the Northern Liao king's rationality, such an opponent could only give Dongping a greater chance. The Northern Liao king was able to trust Gao Senqi after suffering losses again and again, and Gao Senqi repaid that trust with his death. Although the Eastern Route Army was ultimately defeated, choosing Xie Boan to command the army was still a very wise choice. And even at the last moment, the Northern Liao king still chose the path of learning and development. The Northern Liao airship group did make Dongping very uncomfortable for a while, although this could also be regarded as Ye Tao's intentional indulgence, and it did consume a lot of Northern Liao's war funds. But what if Northern Liao had obtained airship technology even a year earlier? What if they had wholeheartedly increased the number of airships to another level? Thinking of such a situation, Ye Tao felt a little scared. But Chunnan had once received quite complete technical support from Dongping, but Chunnan's airship team was still half-dead. According to those who had been airship team instructors, they were playing around… The generals didn't understand the business very well, and their willingness to learn was not strong. The soldiers' abilities were at best to be able to operate the airships skillfully. Their performance in a series of tactical actions was very average. Heaven knows, Chunnan had actually had the opportunity to really have a showdown with Dongping, as long as they were willing. Back then, when the two countries were still in their honeymoon period, almost all of Dongping's military technology, except for things like the latest airships, super-heavy crossbow cannons, the formula for kerosene bombs and Mars bombs, and the Hellfire flamethrower, was all open to Chunnan. And all they needed was to let the army improve their technology and morale, and cooperate with sufficiently strict training. At that time, the officers who assisted Chunnan in training their troops did not hide anything, but Chunnan let such an opportunity pass by.

If there were no accidents, Ye Tao would command the battle against Chunnan together with Tan Wei Ming. Ye Tao would be responsible for the Eastern Route Army and coordinate the harassment attacks at sea, and organize landing operations. Tan Wei Ming would command the Western Route Army, with Zhuo Mang as his deputy, and gather the main force of Dongping's ground army, steadily advancing and gradually occupying the territory. But whether this would be before or after the attack on Western Ling had not yet been completely determined. Combining all the information about Chunnan, Ye Tao, at his residence, together with Tan Wei Ming, Zhuo Mang, Zou Shuang Wen, and the ever-present Tan Wei Xin and Dai Yun, compiled a "Strategy Book for the Battle of Chunnan," which included logistical preparations, political and diplomatic preparations, mobilization, operations, and post-war matters. The document, which was more than 1.9 million words long, included all kinds of relevant content. Several people wrote it out separately and personally, and finally sent it directly to Tan Xiao Pei's desk. Anyone who was qualified to read this document in detail would feel the immense power and confidence, and would inevitably feel that when the war started, Chunnan had absolutely no luck to expect.

After reading the document, Tan Xiao Pei didn't say anything more. He, as the ruler, naturally knew what kind of forces those people who went to lobby Ye Tao represented. He could also feel this surging war spirit. Although Tan Xiao Pei would worry about whether it was too hasty to start another war so soon after the great battle against Northern Liao, and whether there was a suspicion of exhausting the people and military, now that he had reached this point, accelerating the process of unifying the world could be considered a good choice. Tan Xiao Pei ran to the Tan family's old nest, Jiangshan Fort, and after meditating behind closed doors for three days, he wanted to meet Ye Tao at Jiangshan Fort.

Jiangshan Fort was only a day away from Danyang. By airship, it would only take a morning. When Ye Tao arrived at Jiangshan Fort, he was a little surprised. Jiangshan Fort was not built into a castle with more royal grandeur as he had imagined, but always retained its purely fortress-like temperament. Due to the advancement of construction technology and materials, the exterior walls of Jiangshan Fort were now all made of Shi's new type of city wall bricks, which were fire-resistant and corrosion-resistant. Because of their stable shape, the appearance of the city walls was also neat and beautiful. The originally scarred bricks and stones were all moved to the Tan family's newly built ancestral hall and turned into foundations and exterior walls. Except for the main passage paved with smooth bluestone, the ground of the entire ancestral hall courtyard was also made of these stones, which showed terrible wounds, but they tried to make them as flat as possible. This was Tan Xiao Pei's decision, but it was supported by the entire Tan family. No matter when, the Tan family must remember that their foundation was built by generations of people fighting.

Tan Xiao Pei was waiting for Ye Tao in a courtyard behind the ancestral hall. There were several hundred-year-old trees in the courtyard, supporting a large shade, and below were three simple tombstones.

"Don't be surprised... this is just my selfish wish. These are my brothers..." Tan Xiao Pei said lightly, although he showed a trace of sadness, he was more proud. "The Tan family has completely risen in my generation. Others can forget, but I can't forget. Just a few decades ago, my brothers were still fighting for the survival of Dongping. I didn't want to be the ruler, but the position of ruler still fell on my shoulders. My eldest brother, second brother, and younger brother all died on the battlefield. If Zhuo Mang hadn't saved me at the risk of his life, maybe I wouldn't have survived. But in the end, I still reached this point... Now, no one can stop Dongping's progress."

"Your Majesty, it's time to end it. It depends on whether you have made up your mind," Ye Tao said bluntly, not too affected by Tan Xiao Pei's emotions.

"Yes, it's time to end it," Tan Xiao Pei said with a self-deprecating laugh. He took a jar of wine from a servant standing on the side, took a big gulp, and then sprinkled the wine on the graves of his three brothers. "Do you know, two of the three graves are empty. In a real collision of armies, people are crushed into mud, where can you find corpses? It's time to end it. You shouldn't laugh at me, an old man, right?"

If the ruler ridiculed his age, other ministers would probably quickly say words of congratulations and blessings, such as "may you live for thousands of years." But for Tan Xiao Pei and Ye Tao, everyone knew that such words were superfluous. Such a ruler and minister no longer needed this set of formalities. Ye Tao tilted his head and said, "Anyway, it's just two or three years. We'll exhaust the people and military for once, destroy Chunnan and Western Ling, and I can take a good rest and travel around. Your Majesty, you can have plenty of time to take care of yourself."

"Yes, but before that, I still have something to ask you," Tan Xiao Pei said solemnly.

"Your Majesty, please tell me what it is," Ye Tao said, feeling a little uneasy that Tan Xiao Pei was speaking in such a requesting tone. No matter what, this was his father-in-law.

"Go to Yuhang and bring Wei Zai and Chang Ling back," Tan Xiao Pei paused, and said decisively, "You have full authority to handle it, at any cost, and you don't have to have any other concerns. Of course, you must never have anything happen to yourself."

Ye Tao thought for a while, and said just as seriously, "I obey." After bringing Chang Ling and Tan Wei Zai back, the war would begin. There was no doubt about that. But how easy would it be to bring these two back? Relying on spies and agents, there would be no chance, and they probably wouldn't even be able to see the two. And sending senior officials over would be too timid, afraid of not being able to bring the two back, and afraid of offending Chang Ling and Tan Wei Zai if the methods were too intense. Although this mother and son would probably be "honored" in Dongping for a long time and would not be able to cause any trouble, for the ministers, letting them offend the imperial concubine and the prince was still something they were apprehensive about. Only someone like Ye Tao could go over and solve the matter well. No matter when, whether Ye Tao was in office or traveling freely in the future, Chang Ling would definitely not dare to retaliate against Ye Tao for this matter. In addition, it was now in fact a very delicate situation in the Chunnan court. Prince Ju Xian Chang Hong Quan was already extremely dissatisfied with the situation in Yuhang. It had been four months since the death of the old Chunnan king. And the strategist Jiang Yan also died of illness after tearfully leaving behind a "Blood Letter to Seek the Country." His hard work and careful arrangements in his last few years had established a secret organization that Dongping's intelligence agency still couldn't figure out, and it would definitely become a thorn in the side in the future unification war. But Jiang Yan, who was already in poor health, had exhausted all his energy for this reason, and finally couldn't hold on any longer. Now the Crown Prince and the Second Prince were fighting for the throne, and neither side had the confidence to kill the other, but they had enough power to prevent the other from ascending the throne. Only Ye Tao's personal trip to Yuhang would give him full decision-making authority to judge how to deal with it in the way that was most beneficial to Dongping. If Ye Tao thought it was best to start the war directly, then the army on the border and the follow-up troops were actually ready at any time. Tan Xiao Pei didn't need to give many instructions for these things. Ye Tao understood on his own.

"How many people are you planning to take with you?" Tan Xiao Pei asked with interest.

"Your Majesty, there's no need to worry about this. Just leave it to me. I think Consort Lian and the young prince probably won't give in so easily... Anyway, after I bring them back, Your Majesty will have to punish them. It's better to pretend to be ignorant than to really be ignorant, right?" Ye Tao said frankly.

"Hehe," Tan Xiao Pei laughed heartily, "Wei Zai is, after all, a brother to Wei Ming and Wei Ran. I know everyone can't stand it, but after all... Wei Zai is still young, and no matter what, I don't want anything to happen to him. It would be good if the brothers could live together... just live."

Ye Tao smiled and said, "Your Majesty, don't worry, I will definitely live up to your expectations. It's time to prepare for other things."

"Yes... There's someone who cares more than I do. This matter is really troublesome," Tan Xiao Pei knew what Ye Tao was talking about: the issue of preparing the imperial regalia. After destroying Northern Liao, some people had even begun to urge him to claim the title of Emperor and change the era name directly. But Tan Xiao Pei knew very well in his heart that he would never do such a thing until he had resolved Chunnan and Western Ling. Before, Tan Xiao Pei hadn't even given much thought to this matter. The emperor's regalia and related things could not be prepared properly in a short period of time. That whole set of things was so complicated that it could drive any sane person crazy. But now it really had to be prepared. It would really take several years to get it done properly. And starting to prepare the regalia and ceremony could also put the minds of those ministers with great ambitions at ease. When the time came, their contributions would be indispensable.

The news that Ye Tao was being sent to Chunnan with full authority was confirmed a few days later. When the news reached Yuhang, it immediately aroused the vigilance of many people. The relationship between Dongping and Chunnan had not changed much in recent years. At least on the surface, they had always maintained a close and friendly alliance. But what about in private? Chunnan had even joined hands with Western Ling to fight against Dongping, and now the main target of Chunnan's intelligence agencies was Dongping. Dongping's relatively fluid household registration system, which it now adopted, also gave spies many opportunities. Now that Dongping had conquered Northern Liao and turned the vast territory and population into its own strength, its national strength, although it had not yet surpassed the sum of Chunnan and Western Ling, had an overwhelming advantage in dealing with any one country alone. It was normal for Dongping's relationship with Chunnan to be adjusted. And Ye Tao, the special envoy with full authority, might be here for this, right? Some people speculated like this.

However, the previous wave of senseless rumors against Ye Tao that led to the further deterioration of relations between the two countries was still on many people's minds. Many people were quite dissatisfied with the ignorant and fearless behavior of a small group of Chunnan high-level officials who constantly challenged Dongping's bottom line. But there was nothing they could do about it. The intelligence agencies were still in the hands of this group of people. Even if Ye Tao came to Chunnan only because of this matter, he probably wouldn't give Chunnan any good looks. He would definitely make many demands and restrictions on Chunnan and completely change Dongping's original attitude of forbearance everywhere. Not to mention that Chunnan was now in an extremely complicated period. Ye Tao definitely had various ways to intervene in the struggle between the two princes. Maybe Ye Tao would have to watch an enthronement ceremony. Some people also speculated like this.

How to treat Ye Tao and how the two countries, which had changed their power and status, should get along in the future became a real issue for the Chunnan courtiers to consider.

Ye Tao was naturally not in a hurry to set off. Instead, he carefully considered his own strength and position, and then sent out orders one after another. Chunnan's spies were causing trouble in Dongping, and Dongping's spies were lurking in Chunnan, and there were quite a few of them. Many intelligence lines had even been buried for more than ten years. Ye Tao had never been primarily concerned with intelligence work in Chunnan, so naturally he didn't have pawns like Kong Xinhua before or Sun Boping, who was now known as the Shadow Prime Minister in Western Ling. Nie Rui's lines in Chunnan also had guys who were now in high positions, but since they were Nie Rui's achievements, Ye Tao didn't necessarily want to use them, especially some more risky uses. It wouldn't be good to destroy other people's plans, would it?

But Nie Rui had no such concerns. He knew what Ye Tao was going to do in Chunnan. He didn't care how much damage his forces would suffer. He only hoped that Ye Tao could succeed and that Ye Tao and the people around him would not suffer any losses. Such talented people and their strong team were invaluable. And Nie Rui, after a conversation with the ruler Tan Xiao Pei, personally set off for Chunnan. This news was naturally kept secret. In any era, the leader of intelligence agencies was the most valuable target of local intelligence agencies, and the struggle in this area was often the bloodiest.