Chapter 1 The New City

The capacity of the supporting transportation infrastructure for the new city, its ability to accommodate additional troops stationed there, its capacity to shelter refugees and residents from surrounding areas in times of crisis, its capacity to host large-scale events such as exercises and sacrificial ceremonies, its communication capabilities with surrounding cities, the speed of material transport, and various issues to be addressed during the second and third phases of construction after future population expansion... all sorts of issues were laid out on the table, examined and improved upon bit by bit. Although the detailed design and construction schedule for the new city, and other important details, hadn't been finalized, in reality, both Yunzhou and the Dongping court were already fully aware of the new city's future capabilities and potential in various aspects. Although the argumentation required a great deal of manpower for calculations, entailed a certain cost to simulate some situations on a small scale, and required sending out a considerable number of people for field investigations, this method of arguing with a small price to avoid major problems caused by decision-makers slapping their heads and making decisions, and this method that allowed decision-makers to feel that everything was under control, still moved the Dongping court up and down.

Tan Xiaopei didn't care that the style of the new city was so unlike the inherent urban style of Dongping, and so different from the Iron City, which was also designed by Ye Tao. Tan Xiaopei had long been accustomed to it. In fact, Ye Tao had never designed anything that conformed to everyone's imagination, but the facts proved that Ye Tao was usually very reasonable. However, the ministers in the court would have wild ideas. But now that Ye Tao had arrived in Danyang, and after participating in two court meetings to explain the concept of the new city, the draft design of the new city was finally approved.

And Ye Tao, also began to carry out an extremely important part related to the new city in Danyang: raising funds.

Not surprisingly, the meeting with Tan Xiaopei confirmed the policy of striving to obtain the documents, but postponing the treasure. Tan Xiaopei attached even less importance to the troublesome treasure at that location. However, when Ye Tao returned to Yunzhou, the Yunzhou New City would be fully launched. Now, in addition to the funds allocated to Yunzhou by the court and the inner treasury, as well as those raised locally in Yunzhou, there was still a considerable funding gap. Yunzhou now needed money everywhere. Clarifying the local governance system required money, preparing and training the fifty battalions of troops required money, developing the local economy required money, and the construction of the new city, a major spending item, was even more unnecessary to mention. Although Yunzhou's economy had been put on track through the efforts of Ye Tao and Tan Weixin, it still needed time to see the results. In this case, in order not to delay the construction of the new city due to funding issues, Ye Tao solicited Tan Xiaopei's opinion, and after asking Tan Weixin's thoughts by flying pigeon, he finally decided to hold a press conference on the Yunzhou New City project in Danyang, a place where Dongping's top merchants, wealthy families, and chambers of commerce gathered, to raise funds from the merchants and aristocratic families. And at this press conference, the Yunzhou New City draft, which originally only a few people had seen and may not have understood, would be made public.

When the Xie family received the invitation letter with the signature of the Yunzhou Economic Development Office, they were quite surprised and delighted. The Xie family's foundation wasn't in Danyang, but closer to Chunnan, which was within the jurisdiction of the Grand Canal Supervisor's Office. The Xie family had started by messing around with shipping, and the Grand Canal Supervisor's Office had opened up and widened the original unconnected rivers, making their business even better. Although the Xie family had made a fortune, their attitude towards the Grand Canal Supervisor's Office wasn't purely flattery. The Grand Canal Supervisor's Office was now personally managed by the Crown Prince, Tan Weiming, as a place for him to practice. As a major shipping company, the Xie family not only strictly implemented the various regulations of the Grand Canal Supervisor's Office, but also tried to humbly convey their thoughts on some unreasonable procedures to Tan Weiming's close aides. What they didn't expect was that several of the Xie family's executives were later received by Tan Weiming, and one of them was appointed as an official in the Grand Canal Supervisor's Office in charge of river transportation. This low-ranking Chang family official was conscientious and did a good job. More importantly, the Xie family didn't ask their own people to take care of them, and this minor official rarely deliberately took care of their own people. This fairness may have been deliberately done by the Xie family to please His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, but Tan Weiming also felt that it was indeed worth giving the Xie family an opportunity. The Xie family, a giant in inland river shipping, had expanded its business significantly and had accumulated a large amount of funds to move into other areas. So, this time, Tan Weiming specially helped them get a position. The Xie family thought they owed him a big favor.

The venue was set in the Yizhan Tower's lecture hall... in fact, this was also the only place in the world that had a projection system that could be used for presentations. In the center of the stage was a workbench with an extremely large model on it, but when the invitees entered the venue one after another, the model was covered with a huge silk curtain, suspended directly from the top of the stage with ropes so as not to damage the model.

When the two representatives of the Xie family slowly walked into the hall where they had both come to see performances, they were surprised to see so many people waiting there quietly. Almost every family in Danyang that could be counted had representatives, and two from each family, very consistently. Those who were already very familiar with each other were chatting in groups. There were also some people at the deputy director level from Ye's Workshop, scribes from the Yunzhou Economic Development Office, and the like, mixed in the hall and chatting with everyone.

This was a promotional investment and public relations event. Ye Tao could be said to be very experienced in such activities. And Yunzhou had already conducted extremely effective promotional activities when Ye Tao was only the Director of the Roads and Bridges Department, so they were naturally more familiar with it now. The people around Ye Tao and those from Ye's Workshop had also long understood the importance of briefing those who were most likely to cooperate before the official launch.

"Manager Xie, you're here too." The Xie family really had a lot of friends here, especially since the Grand Canal system connected the Qingluo Plain into one, directly reaching Chunnan in the south, and extending almost to the border with Xiling in the west. Those who were involved in trade, as long as they transported goods from these directions, almost couldn't avoid dealing with the Xie family. The Xie family was low-key, but they really had a lot of friends.

The one referred to as Manager Xie was Xie Shubo, who was in charge of dealing with merchants who needed freight transportation in Danyang. Seeing those he knew come up to greet him, Xie Shubo responded warmly.

"Has the Xie family also gone to Yunzhou to open a business? The business over there in Yunzhou may be a bit unfamiliar to you, right?" someone who had been dealing with the Xie family for a long time asked in a low voice. Everyone didn't have any rejection of the Xie family wanting to extend its tentacles into Yunzhou. The Xie family had always been low-key, law-abiding, and made money with harmony, maintaining good relations with everyone. However, Yunzhou didn't have a developed shipping industry, and it didn't seem to have a realistic foundation for the development of such an industry. The main river flowing through Yunzhou was the Di River, and the Di River was only suitable for shipping from the new city eastward... and from the new city to the border between Yunzhou and Northern Liao was only a little more than four hundred *li*, and most of it was open grassland. Although there were some towns along the Di River, these towns had always been connected by ground transportation. Moreover, due to the local Dunhao Tiandi Express, a company operating with an extremely advanced corporate system and management system, Yunzhou's ground freight transportation was extremely developed. It was hard to say whether there was a place for the Xie family to show their talents.

However, Xie Shubo didn't say anything. He had done his homework before coming to this venue today. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince wouldn't recommend them to this place for no reason, and wouldn't give them a chance to make a fortune for no reason. There were indeed many opportunities in Yunzhou, but first they had to pay something. Xie Shubo naturally knew the advantages of inland river shipping, which was low transportation costs, but the initial construction investment, a series of wharves, freight yards, and the construction and maintenance system for freight ships along the coast, etc., were quite huge. But, was it worth it? Considering the current Yunzhou, it wasn't necessary to spend money to build such a system on the Di River. But what about the future? The Crown Prince was obviously considering the transportation needs when capturing Northern Liao in the future and when dominating the territory of Northern Liao in the future, so that the Xie family, who had the most say in this regard, could have the opportunity to appear on this occasion.

Xie Shubo smiled and replied, "Yunzhou also has rivers, doesn't it? As long as there are rivers, it's not impossible for our Xie family to get involved. Besides, I haven't figured out what this new city launch is all about yet."

After Xie Shubo chatted with some old acquaintances for a while, Ye Tao arrived. Ye Tao strolled into the lecture hall, accompanied by Tan Weishi and Dai Qiuyan on his left and right, respectively, and behind them were Liu Yong, Jin Ze, and Guan Huan. They walked to the front of the lecture hall and sat down in the middle of the first and second rows. Immediately, everyone in the lecture hall sat down nearby.

"Let's begin," Ye Tao said with a smile to a minor official who ran over to ask for instructions.

The minor official cupped his hands, then ran to the side. After a while, the curtain on the stage was slowly raised. The carefully crafted model of the entire Yunzhou New City was revealed to everyone.