Chapter 114 The Initial Stage

Due to the relatively low volume of documents circulating and being exchanged in this space-time, within a short period, the main Yunzhou institutions had all switched to stationery and envelopes with their respective logos. Various credentials also began to be reissued as concise and easily readable new printed materials with the marks of their respective institutions. Since all plate-making and printing work was now concentrated in Ningyuan and Suiyuan, both cities with fairly strict design and production processes and security measures, this move effectively cut off the path for local officials to arbitrarily set local tax categories and increase the tax burden on the people. Although not all printed materials would use anti-counterfeiting technology, the combination of special paper, fine metal engraving, and dark green ink was something that not just anyone could copy in this space-time. This linking of official documents, bills, and visual identities was only the initial step in a series of measures taken by the Yunzhou Pacification Commissioner's Office based on these identifiers. After all, these institutions had to be established first, begin to sort out matters within their respective domains, and begin to establish their image in the eyes of the people and various other individuals.

When the major institutions were just beginning to have preliminary structures, disputes over the jurisdiction of these institutions began. First of all, the Manufacturing Bureau and the Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Bureau both had their own opinions about the Commerce Bureau's complete monopoly on Yunzhou's foreign trade affairs. Everyone agreed that the group currently gathered in the Commerce Bureau was indeed experienced in doing business and had many methods and connections. However, if all material sales relied entirely on the Commerce Bureau, then there would be concerns about profit distribution in the future. The Commerce Bureau certainly needed funds to establish channels, but didn't the Manufacturing Bureau also need funds for technological research and equipment replacement? The Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Bureau also needed large sums of money for the construction of farms, the trial planting of various species not native to Yunzhou, and the research and improvement of various agricultural and animal husbandry products. The construction of water conservancy facilities, pest control, or the prevention of livestock epidemics all required considerable initial investment before any results could be seen.

For the heads of several departments, there was another concern: if the Commerce Bureau completely monopolized all types of commercial activities in Yunzhou, then the Commerce Bureau and the Manufacturing Bureau and the Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Bureau would not be parallel institutions, but at least half a level higher. When the Commerce Bureau's influence became large enough, it could even influence the decisions of the Pacification Commissioner's Office. Regarding such concerns, Tan Weixin also decisively made improvements. The sales of various products were mainly carried out independently by the producers, with the Commerce Bureau only assisting from the side. The Commerce Bureau would gradually be built into a large-scale comprehensive department integrating investment promotion, promotion, logistics, public relations, and economic strategy research. However, this adjustment and division of responsibilities was just a proactive measure. The only thing in Yunzhou that could attract external attention now was probably Yunzhou's military horses.

The graded and classified strategy for the sale of military horses that Ye Tao and Tan Weixin had originally come up with on a whim had already begun with the assistance of many experts specializing in this field. Ge Lan, the director of the Agriculture and Animal Husbandry Bureau, personally presided over the formulation and grading of the assessment standards for military horses and ordinary horses. Ge Lan divided all the horses produced in Yunzhou into four types according to their origin and characteristics, and each type was further divided into four levels. The highest level of special-grade horses was not selected according to a ratio, but largely depended on probability. In Ge Lan's eyes, a special-grade horse was not so rare that it could leave its mark in history, but at least it was one in a thousand or one in ten thousand. It not only had excellent physical qualities but also had considerable intelligence and leadership over the herd. Only such special-grade horses could become a good aid for mighty generals to fight on the battlefield, or make distant big spenders willingly bring out piles of money to include them in their palms.

For example, among the ten fine steeds that Ge Lan had previously given to Ye Tao, in Ge Lan's eyes, only Ye Tao's mount "Night Star" and two other white horses could be considered special-grade, while the other few could only be considered better among the first-grade horses. Ge Lan brought that batch of horses to Danyang to offer treasures and make friends with the Tan family and other aristocratic families in Danyang, which was quite a bit of a show-off. In this case, after carefully selecting ten horses to give to Ye Tao, only three were special-grade, which shows how rare special-grade horses were. Now, even the horses equipped by the most combat-effective Iron Cloud Riders in Yunzhou are only "averagely" considered second-grade. After such grading, the number of horses that can be sold to the outside world each year will not increase much. However, even if it takes considerable manpower and material resources to test the horses one by one, and it is necessary to bear considerable feeding costs for a long time, Yunzhou's income from horses will increase by at least 30%. This increase will not be reflected in the soaring military expenditure of Dongping because Yunzhou has obtained permission to sell horses directly to the Chunnan Kingdom, which is eager to establish a scaled elite cavalry. In the pricing of third-grade and second-grade horses, Yunzhou even managed to offer the same price as selling to the Ministry of War of Dongping, only adding a transportation cost along the way due to the increase in the transportation distance. This price even made the Chunnan officials responsible for mediating this matter repeatedly praise Dongping and Yunzhou for being friendly enough and worthy of the alliance between the two countries.

The relatively independent Command Department has basically completed the reorganization of the fifty battalions, determined the candidates for all the battalion commanders, and started various affairs such as re-equipment and training with solid steps. After adjusting the garrison distribution of the fifty battalions, new barracks began to be built gradually. Especially the re-equipment work, although the Ye Family Workshop was still in the construction and debugging stage, and the original Yunzhou smelting industry was also consolidating and lacked sufficient production capacity, Ye Tao relied on the workshops in Danyang and Yicheng, and relied on the powerful material transportation capabilities of Federal Express and DHL Express, forcibly completing the re-equipment of an Iron Cloud Rider cavalry battalion, a Jingyun Rider cavalry battalion, a garrison battalion, a heavy infantry battalion, and two scout cavalry battalions in the first month of the first re-equipment season. Seeing batches of brand-new and excellent armor and weapons, the enthusiasm of the Yunzhou armies for training and preparation was even more stimulated. Everyone wanted to use good training performance and results to make themselves the next batch of troops to be re-equipped.

In the months after Ye Tao took office, Yunzhou had begun to undergo various gratifying changes. Due to the detailed investigation of various products of Yunzhou and the rectification of various government offices and institutions at all levels in Yunzhou were still in progress, and the Ye Family Workshop had just installed a complete set of smelting, forging, and stamping equipment, and had just begun to test the equipment while carrying out small-scale ordnance production. A large number of production and research equipment, factories, and auxiliary buildings themselves were still under construction, and the Yunzhou Manufacturing Bureau, which was closely related to the Ye Family Workshop, was currently only integrating its resources and rectifying itself in the direction of scaled and efficient operations... It can be said that Yunzhou's development has not even begun to exert its strength. But the current Yunzhou, even in this situation where it has not exerted its strength, the vitality it presents is enough to make anyone marvel, and thinking about the adjustments made by Ye Tao and Tan Weixin in several aspects are not large, but when they are connected with each other, it is like using several small-scale course changes to make Yunzhou truly enter a track of high-speed development. This kind of knowledge and talent makes people feel more and more that Tan Xiaopei's bold appointment does have its unique aspects.

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