Liu Qing's troubles were not limited to handling complex government affairs. More importantly, he had to implement some rather peculiar ideas. Among them, the most peculiar was that in the months Ye Tao had been away, Yun Province had gained another administrative unit at the bureau level: the Correspondence Bureau.

The Correspondence Bureau did not interfere with the original postal services, at least not yet. For now, the Correspondence Bureau was a small organization directly serving the Pacification Office, mainly to ensure that all external correspondence of the Pacification Office was efficient, secure, and rapid. At the same time, it was responsible for sorting out and filtering intelligence documents for the Pacification Office. Because of this responsibility, the Intelligence Bureau temporarily divided its respective jurisdictions into four departments: East, South, West, and North. These four departments, in addition to the Eastern Section, Southern Section, Western Section, and Northern Section, also had their own document aliases, which made Ye Tao unable to do anything but roll his eyes.

The alias for the Eastern Section was "Nokia"; the alias for the Southern Section was "Motorola"; the alias for the Western Section was "Ericsson"; the alias for the Northern Section was "Aifeng"...

The work of the Correspondence Bureau was to streamline the process of transmitting various official documents related to the Pacification Office and various departments of Yun Province. Judging from the situation in the month or so since its establishment, this pocket-sized bureau was performing quite well. On the one hand, it had the elite personnel, excellent horses, and vehicle resources of the Pacification Office. On the other hand, it drew various experiences from transportation companies that had already proven their efficiency and performance, such as FedEx and DHL. Now, the Correspondence Bureau had accelerated the speed of ordinary official documents to the level of the original four-hundred-li fast courier, while the most urgent intelligence and official documents had not been improved much... After all, no matter how capable a manager was, it was impossible to make eagles fly faster. They could only work hard on copying letters, encoding and decoding passwords, and other links. Now, because the four sections in the southeast, northwest, and north had all enabled different types of passwords and had their own professional codebreakers, both security and efficiency had been greatly improved.

What was even more satisfying was the progress made by the Correspondence Bureau in summarizing and organizing various documents and materials. Although it was not yet possible to quickly obtain any information needed by the heads of the Pacification Office, the Correspondence Bureau had initially demonstrated its ability to be a comprehensive document management agency embedded within the Pacification Office.

"Now, if I say I need last year's ordnance production, total tax revenue, and the like, how long will it take to get the information?" Ye Tao asked after listening to Liu Qing's introduction.

Liu Qing thought for a moment and said, "If it's in Ningyuan or Thunder Cliff, it's probably more than a day. If it's here, it will take four to five days to get the rough numbers, and about twelve to fourteen days for the Correspondence Bureau to send the detailed documents."

Ye Tao nodded with satisfaction and said, "That looks very good. Liu Qing, thank you for your hard work these days."

Although Liu Qing looked a little tired, it could be seen that his mental state was still very good. This illegitimate son of the Liu family had won a lot for the Liu family and for his mother. Now his position was very different from before, especially in these days, he was almost the hub of the Yun Province administrative system. If he had not taken over Feng Zi's work and put the entire Pacification Office's document office into operation, then Ye Tao and Feng Zi's departure for these months might not have delayed matters that had already been decided, but due to the lack of efficiency, new ideas would inevitably have been impossible to implement. The Correspondence Bureau was a good example. Perhaps Liu Qing's work in these months was not creative in itself, but the role he played was solid. And with his performance in these months, he had completely transformed from the liaison between Ye Tao and the Seven Seas Trading Company to an important part of the Yun Province administrative system.

Even the eldest son of the Liu family, who was slightly jealous of Liu Qing's current rise in status and felt that Liu Qing had followed the right person, had to admit that what Liu Qing could do was something that these people in the Liu family had never thought of, and something that no one who had not worked and studied with Ye Tao for many years and mastered Ye Tao's management habits could do. And Liu Qing's mother, who did not have a good background, did not have to show off her arrogance. She was as plain and content as usual, but her status in the Liu Mansion had clearly improved. Liu Qing's mother, Yu Shi, now had her own luxurious courtyard, a large group of servants and maids, and her monthly allowance was the same as that of the eldest mistress of the Liu Mansion.

As an official in Yun Province, as a person who had followed Ye Tao step by step to his current prominent position, Liu Qing knew that Ye Tao was tolerant and even encouraging of any other personal habits, but he hated corruption and bribery. Although Liu Qing was doing things that officials of the second or third rank could do, his temporary rank was only the fifth rank. Fortunately, the official salary in Yun Province was quite generous. Although he could not give his mother much help in terms of money, he had no problem living comfortably and decently.

Liu Qing's diligence and integrity were seen by the people of Yun Province. Even the Liu family's business in Yun Province was supported by the locals. Although Liu Qing had never deliberately helped the Liu family's industry develop, and often asked to recuse himself when there were conflicts of interest, his image had greatly improved everyone's impression of the Liu family. The Liu family, a large merchant, could only be considered to be trying to expand its business in Yun Province, but the results it had achieved surprised the Liu family.

"In the Yun Province system, it's really been hard on you to manage such a large number of things beyond your rank. Xin'er and Yun'er are not good at these things, so I can only trouble you," Ye Tao encouraged. "However, the situation where power and rank are reversed will soon be changed. Now that you've come to Danyang, I'll arrange for you to go to the Ministry of Personnel for a formal report and evaluation. When you return to Yun Province, you'll also be an important official of the third rank."

"Your Excellency, hehe, only in Yun Province can I, a fifth-rank official, manage so many guys whose ranks are higher than mine, and there won't be any backlash... You don't know what that feeling is like..." Liu Qing was a little excited, and having been with Ye Tao for a long time, he naturally knew that there was no need to be restrained in the relationship between superiors and subordinates.

"It's very refreshing, right?" Ye Tao had also heard about Liu Qing's temper tantrums several times. At those coordination meetings, Liu Qing not only flew into a rage because of the poor performance of several departments, but even pointed his finger and scolded several officials whose ranks were above his. "Anyway, as long as you can do things well, rank doesn't really matter. At least... as long as I'm in Yun Province, that's how it is. But you will definitely be given the honor and status that you deserve."

"Yes!" Liu Qing cupped his fists and bowed, a strong emotion surging in his chest. He and Feng Zi were different. Feng Zi was more of a personal advisor to Ye Tao, helping him analyze and understand various complex situations. He was an intellectual; while Liu Qing was a capable official. It seemed that capable officials had not been valued much all along, even in the Eastern Peace Dynasty, there was actually this situation. Situ Huang Xuping was an advisor and intellectual, and only after he ascended to the position of Situ, one of the three dukes, did he gradually begin to learn government affairs and manage government affairs, to the point that everyone today would regard him as a capable minister, forgetting his dazzling image of resourcefulness back then. However, in Yun Province, the situation seemed to be different. Ye Tao, Tan Weixin, Dai Yun and others did value advisors, staff, and consultants, but they would not let such people do things that they were not good at or suitable for, and they would not let advisors waste their imagination in trivial daily affairs, but they would not force those capable officials who had unparalleled coordination and processing abilities and could make things run smoothly to do things that they were not good at.

"Your Excellency, in another month, those woolen textiles will be on the market one after another. When you return to Yun Province, you should be able to see the fields in the south of Yun Province being harvested. Some old farmers have said that although this year's harvest is not particularly good, the dredging of water conservancy is effective, and deep plowing and careful cultivation, as well as pest control and fertilization, are in place. This year's harvest may not be less than that of an ordinary bumper year. Next year, when everyone is familiar with this practice and sees the benefits, the harvest may be even better. The news from the pasture is also very gratifying. The number and quality of young livestock bred this summer is also very good. Coupled with the operation of the Bureau of Commerce, the funds, manpower and demand brought by so many merchants pouring in... This year, it is estimated that by the end of the year, the total tax revenue of Yun Province can increase by 40% to 60% year-on-year."

Ye Tao smiled and said, "It seems that next year, the Yun Province Pacification Office can pay me back."

"It should be possible," Liu Qing replied with a smile.

Yun Province needed to invest funds in construction too much, and the original gold reserves and the Yun Province Development Fund could not withstand the large expenses and could not maintain the huge cash flow. In this case, Ye Tao himself took out a large sum of money to build the world's leading factory area in Yun Province: the Yun Province Branch of Ye's Workshop. Needless to say, he and Tan Weixin also jointly took out a considerable amount of money and lent it to the Yun Province Pacification Office at zero interest in their private names... It was probably unprecedented in the world to not take money from his position, but to inject capital instead.