Chapter 176 The Old Nest

"I was neither the oldest nor the most talented at that time... but I was the best luck, so I survived and became the king of Dongping. But if I could choose, I hope that my brothers and that little brother could survive. I would rather become an ordinary general and expand my territory for my brother... But I survived. That was the most critical and difficult moment of Dongping and the Tan family. And the one that we could survive in the end was here, this Jiangshan Fort. Now, Jiangshan Fort is old after all, since you are also a family, how to rectify the Shanzhou Fort, I will give you... But I can only give you one month and take out the plan. As for how to proceed, what should you do, let your senior brother come? I have another appointment to you." In the Tan Cemetery on the back of Jiangshan Fort, standing in front of the stone tablet stained with some moss, Tan Xiaopei told Ye Tao.

The Tan family won the country with warlords, and Dongping's vast territory was founded. They kept exploring how to govern the country well, and finally gave Dongping an extremely rapid development in these generations. However, Tan Xiaopei did not hesitate to the difficulties back then. Tan Xiaopei always admitted that he was not a good national king, but he was really a very good general back then.

Jiangshan Fort can be said to be the old nest of the Tan family. But Jiangshan Fort is really old, not only as a military fortress, but also as the fundamental point of the Tan family. Although Tan Xiaopei has to allocate a large amount of money from the surplus of the inner palace to maintain Jiangshan Fortress every year, and he has to spend a lot of time every year to sweep the tombs for his brothers, elders, and ancestors of the Tan family, it is impossible to change the fact that Jiangshan Fort, a fortress that has a history of hundreds of years, is completely behind the times, except for Jiangshan Village, which is the central management agency and demonstration site of all farms under the Tan family.

Within half a year, the Jiangshan Fort held weddings of the three young children of Tan Weiming, Tan Weiran and Tan Weixin, witnessing the continuation of the Tan family. Tan Xiaopei had greater expectations for the Jiangshan Fort: he hoped that this place could become the eternal spiritual home of the Tan family, and hoped that this place could be a place for the Tan family, which would become an imperial family in the future, and that the young children would continue to maintain the cultivation of serious, brave and simple temperament of soldiers by the young children, and hoped that this place could become a symbol of stability and security...

And now, it seems that only Ye Tao can do this.

To renovate such a huge quasi-military building system, we must sort out what kind of plan will be the most suitable for hundreds of years of addition, reconstruction, and expansion. I am afraid that only Ye Tao can do such a thing, and only Ye Tao will slam the table and quarrel with Tan Xiaopei for the best plan he thinks. As for the cost, that is not a problem. In recent years, the surplus figures of the inner government have become more and more exaggerated, and the national treasury is full, and there is no need for subsidies from the inner government. Even if Ye Tao decides to flatten the entire mountain and start over again, Tan Xiaopei will not frown. What's more, after deciding to rebuild the mountain fort, a large number of old ministers of the Tan family, as well as the families where the former old ministers were divided, expressed their wishes.

"...Your Majesty, one month is not enough." Ye Tao rolled his eyes and said.

"It took less than a month for you to come up with the general plan of Tiecheng. This place is just a reconstruction. It takes so long? If you want to be lazy, you have to have a limit." Tan Xiaopei said dissatisfiedly.

Ye Tao naturally cannot explain that the general design of the Iron City land is basically plagiarized, and there is no need to worry about it, just make adjustments based on specific geographical conditions. He scratched his head and explained: "There are too many projects to build the mountain fort before and after. The times are different. The construction materials themselves are different. Because of the war, wind and rain erosion, various problems have been caused, and the current situation is also different. Let's not talk about anything else, the main fort alone is the oldest construction period, but the foundation of the building was now very problematic, and there has been a clear overall tilt... All the situations need to be investigated clearly. Decide which needs to be demolished and rebuilt, and which need to be renovated.

What can be preserved? One month of work alone is definitely not enough. Moreover, Your Majesty, it is impossible for the entire Jiangshan Fort to start construction together. You also have to decide on the entire hero planning and construction period, especially. What you want is not a simple renovation and reconstruction. But a Jiangshan Fort with an overall design... In addition, there are various secret passages that were temporarily excavated back then. Some have collapsed, and some have no one knows the entrance and exit now. Only knowing that there is probably one thing, and the land... It is said that it also leads to the Tanjia Treasure Cave... Your Majesty, you have to figure out all these things. Otherwise, if something goes wrong in the future, it will be troublesome."

Tan Xiaopei sneered: "The treasure cave of the Tan family... It was only these years before the Tan family that I have been rich. In the past, I always kept the army first, and demolished the east wall and repaired the west wall, where can I hide things? Don't listen to Lao Zhongtou's nonsense. However, Lao Zhongtou is the person who knows Jiangshan Fort best now, and he has relied on him for repairing and repairing these years."

Lao Zhongtou is almost eighty years old this year, but he is strong and looks no different from those in his fifties. Perhaps he is more energetic. He started as a small worker who was delivering earth and stones. He worked in Shanbao for 60 years and is now the "engineering director" of Jiangshanbao. When Tan Xiaopei proposed to let Ye Tao be responsible for the overall engineering project of Jiangshanbao, Lao Zhongtou was the first to question it. However, Tan Xiaopei has always attached great importance to such an old family. He specially arranged Lao Zhongtou to go to Yicheng, Tiecheng, and Danyang to see Ye Tao's architectural works of different styles. He also asked Lao Zhongtou to visit the site of the project that Daishi Construction Bank was in charge of, and to see the engineering management of Daishi Construction Bank. He even asked Lao Zhongtou to look at the two branches of Yeshi Workshop, which made Lao Zhongtou affirm Ye Tao's qualifications.

But when Lao Zhongtou met with Ye Tao, the two technicians quickly became friends. Every day, there were big and small problems, Lao Zhongtou pulled Ye Tao around and introduced how he solved the problem at that time. Although Lao Zhongtou admired Ye Tao's comprehensive knowledge and rigorous and meticulous work style, Ye Tao was also surprised that this old man had started to use low-pressure grouting technology during the repair and maintenance of the Shantou without any instruction. A series of techniques often used to maintain cultural relics and buildings in later generations were often used in later generations. Although the special cement varieties developed by Lao Zhongtou himself were relatively cost-effective, they were more suitable for this kind of repair and maintenance application than general cement in Ye's workshop.

"...Okay, then you can come up with a plan depending on the situation. As for whether you are talking about the full start of construction, what does it matter?" Tan Xiaopei sighed. "The inner government is very rich now... Is there still more money than I expected. If the full start of construction can shorten the construction period, wouldn't it be good?"

Ye Tao frowned and said with some embarrassment: "This... Jiangshan Fort still needs land to be used. Once the construction is fully started, no matter how fast it is, I am afraid that you can come for vacation and rest like now, and don't think about holding a ceremony or something... This is why Princess Xiu is not young anymore. Don't the weddings of the children of the Tan family have to be held here?"

Tan Xiaopei frowned and said helplessly: "...This, why not do this. You can come up with two plans, one is to start the full construction, and the other is to carry out in stages and batches. Let me choose."

"Yes." Ye Tao bowed and replied, "In addition, Mr. Qi asked me to take time to go to Crescent Island once. Your Majesty... I hope I can give you an extra month of vacation."

"Well, I know this. The new ship on Crescent Island has been launched. Hehe... Cangshui Ship Lanshui Ship has been compared. If it weren't for the tight time, I would have wanted to go and see it. In addition, what's your ordering method? The number of places is scarier than the year... I really don't know how so many goods were sold. This year I asked Lin Chengze to see it. In addition, what about the batch of Uz scimitars you ordered. How about giving me some? Zhuomang asked me several times and said that the scimitars were a good thing. I asked me to get a batch of cavalry for the imperial guards." Tan Xiaopei nodded and agreed.

Ye Tao smiled wryly and said, "Your Majesty, that was made for the Yunzhou tribal cavalry. This batch is only 4,000. It is still a local style. If Your Majesty wants it, it will be fine. But can Your Majesty wait for a while? The group of architects trained by the Samir family have basically started to build a bell tower. Now the construction of the bell tower in Dubai Port. This time the elder brother will follow Dubai to command the most difficult part of the project. After all, the elder brother is too experienced. The Samir family feels very happy to cooperate with us, not only they buy goods from us.

The things have passed. They have also opened industries here, and in the local area, we have also begun to have some important cooperation projects. The Samir family has sent troops to control all the Uz Steel Mining Areas. From next month, special cargo ships will transport Uz Steel Steel Ingots to Yicheng every month, and then we will make weapons according to our design, which is much easier than the local style. Moreover, the Samir family has also bought us fifty Damascus swordsman, forging master, etc.... Although the cost is very high, my Dongpingdi ordnance technology will also go upstairs."

"Damascus? Are you talking about the arc sword with a blade that looks like water-patterned?" Tan Xiaopei said movedly. In his private collection, there are two Damascus swords, one brought by the Samir family to Ye Tao. Then it was plundered by Tan Weiran and then offered to him. The other one was dedicated to him when the Yunzhou tribe came to the ground last year. The beautiful patterns on the blade and the sharp and tough texture made him very much like it. After all, he is a soldier in his bones. "How high is the price?"

"The movements of the big guys in the four bell towers, ten top-level versions of Tissot clocks, ten clockwork navigation clocks, ten sets of sextants, ten telescopes, twenty barrels of turbulent oil, six crossbows... If calculated based on the quotation, in general, it was half of the profits made by Qihai Trading Company in Nanyang last year. It was this, which was exchanged for Uzi Steel and Craftsmen." Ye Tao's tone did not have much annoyance. Indeed, according to the quotation, the price of these things was extremely terrible. When Chunnan came to inquire, the price given by Ye's workshop was one million taels, including the first year of replacement of parts and maintenance in the mainland, the training of ten basic maintenance personnel, the second year of door-to-door engineers were on-site repairs and maintenance... Compared with the four movements, other things seemed to be less important.

However, the actual cost of these things is not that terrible. These products produced by the exclusive technology of Ye’s workshop have extremely high profit margins. Tissot Watch House is one of the most terrifying commercial units with Dongping’s profit margins.

"Worth it!...If you think it's expensive, I'll pay the money." Tan Xiaopei said carelessly.

"Your Majesty, these are all joint ventures in Qihai Trading Company, Jiuzhou Trading Company, and Ye's Workshop and the Inner Mansion. In fact, I originally wanted to pay for the money to eat these things myself, but everyone would not allow them." Ye Tao said respectfully.

"Well...what will the output be produced in the future? I have also seen Uz Steel's scimitar, and it seems very difficult to beat."

"Your Majesty, as long as the materials are guaranteed to be supplied, after the craftsmen arrive, I will allocate appropriate personnel to carry out this matter. We will strive to start production within three months and form large-scale production within six months. We will strive to change the Blood Qi army within one year."

"The Blood Qi Army... Why is it the Blood Qi Army again?" Tan Xiaopei frowned. Unless he encountered big trouble, the Blood Qi Army would not have the chance to serve as the main combat force in the future. Priority to changing the Blood Qi Army's clothes is obviously not in line with his expectation to quickly improve the combat effectiveness of the army.

"Because," Ye Tao explained: "The Blood Qi Army is the richest... The Blood Qi Army's procurement team is not managed by the Supervisor himself. Now His Majesty asked those donors to negotiate the procurement matters of the Blood Qi Army? In fact, the representatives of the family were more exaggerated than the original officers' advisory group. Now, as long as most of the officers in the Blood Qi Army think it is worth changing, the representatives of the procurement team don't care about the money at all... They are also urging me to design light infantry armor suitable for fighting for the Blood Qi Army. Cavalry swords with new materials. They only looked at the workshop and booked 20,000 pieces. If I hadn't persuaded them, I'm afraid that their company's archer's short blade would have to be replaced with that kind of material."

Too extravagant! Too wasteful!… With the elite bravery of the Blood Kid Army cavalry, the combat power will be improved with a new weapon. But the longbowmen will change to the carry-on short sword? God knows how many opportunities are those guys to pull out the short sword except for training. In the battle of Yunzhou, in the head-on collision with the Xiling cavalry, none of the longbowmen had the opportunity to draw the short sword because no one could rush to them at all. There were heavy infantry in front, heavy equipment camps behind them, and cavalry armed to the teeth of the Blood Kid Army on both wings. Even if someone was extremely lucky to come to them, they had a very affordable and powerful choice of short crossbows before drawing the sword. Later, when there were fighting infantry to assist the heavy infantry, it would be a problem whether these archers needed to receive fighting training...
Chapter completed!