The hall quieted down after Ye Tao roughly explained the ideas he had shared with Tan Xiaopei and others. The expressions on everyone's faces varied – some excited, some hesitant, some doubtful, some worried… In such an occasion, the first to speak would inevitably be Suo Zheng, who would be driven crazy by the complex logistics work.

As the chief of logistics for the Yunzhou armies, Suo Zheng's position within the Yunzhou command was higher than his official rank. In addition to personally leading the transport battalion, he had established a logistics system with several officers in each battalion responsible for coordinating various affairs. In the Yunzhou army, Suo Zheng had a considerable voice.

"I knew about Senior Brother Ye's plan a few days earlier than some of you here. In the past few days, I've roughly calculated based on our current situation and considered the plan. I can say with certainty that logistics support for about twenty battalions operating outside the territory is no problem at all. The transport battalion has only a small number of personnel, but now, with the addition of frequently hired laborers and temporarily requisitioned carts and manpower from cart and horse agencies, the total number of people in Yunzhou used to ensure logistics supply is actually around fifteen thousand. As for transportation capacity, it can actually guarantee high-intensity operations for thirty to thirty-five battalions for about three months. Given that we have time to prepare now, I can actually think of all sorts of ways to create emergency plans to ensure that we have surplus grain in case of weather or military changes, and that we won't lack arrows, fire oil bombs, and other items needed by the heavy equipment battalion." Suo Zheng said with confidence, "The question is, can we ensure that this campaign ends within three months, and after the battle, how long will it take to stabilize the area, and how long will we need to supply the troops stationed there? In order to have more leeway in the operation, this subordinate suggests, should we send more troops?"

Everyone still didn't speak, but their expressions had changed slightly. Originally, it wasn't that they didn't want to fight, but they were just unsure about Ye Tao coming up with such a plan again. Everyone had no doubts about the fighting power of the Yunzhou army now, but they were worried about the issues of supply and coordination. After all, what they were about to do was something that no one had ever done before.

Suo Zheng's words opened up everyone's thinking. Xu Yao thought for a moment and asked, "Lord Ye, General Suo is right. The Zhenbei Army Division now has over a hundred thousand troops. Although in terms of combat power, if we can send twenty battalions, or even just ten or so, it shouldn't be a problem to defeat the enemy. But if there are fewer troops, there will be less room for maneuver in case of any unexpected situations. Or, we can mobilize twenty battalions of main force troops, plus a considerable number of auxiliary troops and logistics troops, so that the number of people we mobilize is no less than seventy percent of the current military strength of the Zhenbei Army Division. Moreover, we should overestimate the enemy's military strength. Although Jiang Xujing has been in a mess these past few years, he still has the title of the number one cavalry general in the Northern Kingdom. On the one hand, we must guard against him hiding a trick, and on the other hand, we must also assume that if he is desperate, he may temporarily gather a large number of cannon fodder to harass and attack. Moreover, because the northern part of Xiling has a strong religious atmosphere and the folk customs are barbaric and fanatical, this situation is actually very likely to occur." After saying these serious words, Xu Yao changed his tone and said, "For the sake of larger-scale operations in the future, since you also said that this battle is mainly to test the military strength of Yunzhou and to coordinate the troops, please seriously consider whether to let our Jingyun cavalry send two more battalions?"

As soon as Xu Yao fought for more troop deployment quotas, the atmosphere in the hall immediately changed. Everyone jumped out one by one, vying for the spots to go to war, or offering their opinions and suggestions. Not only the military, but also the local governance aspects of cover, secrecy, and cooperation needed to be fully followed up. In particular, Suo Zheng's idea of storing and transporting materials in advance reminded the people in the Ministry of Commerce of many methods. They even began to ask whether they should arrange for merchants to start hoarding grain on the spot, bearing the name of unscrupulous merchants to prepare for the army's advance.

Everyone also gradually realized that a combat plan could be linked to all aspects of Yunzhou. This attack on the Zhenbei Army Division was very likely to evolve into a comprehensive test of the strength and execution of various departments in Yunzhou.

Because the implementation of the combat plan would inevitably require the preparation of a large amount of materials, causing fluctuations in market prices, in order not to attract outside attention, the Bureau of Commerce and the Bureau of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry had to come up with a series of economic regulation measures. On the one hand, it was necessary for the current development of Yunzhou, and on the other hand, they could use various tricks to make unsuspecting people think that it was the inevitable consequence of Yunzhou's economic policy adjustment, and that it would be fine as long as the adjustment was completed. In general trade, the Bureau of Economy and Trade was not convenient to intervene in the market in a big way, but in Yunzhou, it was still no problem to find a few low-key, reliable merchants to come forward to purchase various items used by the army and the people in preparation. And in the trade of various grains, weapons, horses, medicines, etc. related to the army, the Yunzhou Bureau of Economy and Trade had a complete set of response plans, such as the final user certificate for military equipment and horses, the quota system, the sales and profit return system, the qualification certification system for military equipment and horse dealers, etc... These measures, implemented one by one, could form an effective regulation of the basic market by the Yunzhou Governor's Office. These were all Tan Weixin's efforts to move modern economic management methods over to Yunzhou in order to have a good market mechanism, and the original intention was to reduce the impact of the war on the daily lives of civilians in the inevitable unification war in the future, and to try to ensure that economic development was not greatly affected.

Attacking the Zhenbei Army Division was only a local war for Dongping, but for Yunzhou, it required the mobilization of all forces, and there could be no slack. Everyone expressed their opinions around a goal one by one. Whether they were related officials or not, they asked if they didn't understand, and they raised any inappropriate points in person. Everyone was already used to this kind of scene in the Yunzhou Governor's Office. But for Chen Kai, this was very shocking. He never thought that the atmosphere in Yunzhou's officialdom would be so harmonious.

He watched several battalion commanders jump out to express their opinions on the Governor's Office's material regulation plan. For example, in order to improve the level of grain reserves, the Bureau of Economy and Trade suggested reducing the allocation of alcohol to the army in the short term. Many battalion commanders, especially those from the tribal side, were very dissatisfied. In the end, Tan Weixin asked Suo Zheng to provide the quantity of alcohol allocated to the army, and asked the Bureau of Economy and Trade to provide relevant data, and everyone would hold a special meeting later.

Golan was worried that Yunzhou's increased reserves of military horses and other materials would reduce the income of the tribes and weaken the enthusiasm of the tribal people that had just risen. After some mediation, a very interesting plan was introduced. The Yunzhou Governor's Office would provide a one-time subsidy to agriculture and animal husbandry within a year. A part of these subsidies would be distributed directly as compensation for the losses caused by many products not entering the circulation channels, and another part would be converted into war bonds, depending on the situation of this operation in the Zhenbei Army Division, and there would be a certain amount of risk. Unexpectedly, Golan, who was originally earnest and worried, played a trick in this allocation ratio. He was very confident in this operation, and his influence in the tribal aspect was strong enough. He chose to convert eighty percent of this one-time subsidy for the tribal part into war bonds. And Dai Shizai, who represented all the veterans' farms, pastures, and forest farms in Yunzhou, looked at this friend he had known for many years with a wry smile, looked at his brothers Dai Shijin, Dai Shiheng, and Dai Shikui, who couldn't help but laugh at the conference table, and still followed his original idea, sixty percent war bonds and forty percent cash. But Dai Shizai made a request: the veterans' farms should send at least one battalion to participate in the war as an auxiliary force, and give priority to the veterans' farm system in terms of logistics and transportation services. The veterans of the veterans' farms, and those ambitious young people, would probably like such things very much at that time.

Chen Kai had not been in Yunzhou for long. While he was familiarizing himself with Yunzhou's various systems, he was also adjusting the leadership of the Third Civil Affairs Office. This time, he came to the meeting without bringing any staff in order to appear low-key. But the various resolutions and plans during the meeting tortured him badly. Although it was much more convenient to use a pencil and thick writing paper to record than using a brush, and he was already very skilled at it, he was different from most people present. Most people only needed to pay attention to things related to themselves, but he couldn't. Before the meeting, Tan Weixin had specifically told him to find any loopholes that might appear. Although Yunzhou's style was not to easily suspect anyone, it would never tolerate anyone. The Third Civil Affairs Office was now using a very pure force, almost all of whom were from the Inner Palace and the Intelligence Bureau. There was no doubt about their loyalty, and it depended on how Chen Kai would make such an organization play a supervisory role.

And although Chen Kai regretted that it was a mistake not to bring a scribe to the meeting, he diligently recorded and marked everything. He somewhat mockingly discovered that Ye Tao had hoped that he would have the Chen family's inheritance in discerning those ghostly tricks. Unexpectedly, he really did. Although he had only handled some simple businesses before because he was young, he constantly saw all kinds of tricks for corruption and personal gain in his mind just by listening to various strategies at the meeting. This immediate reaction startled him... Perhaps, he was really suitable for this job, Chen Kai couldn't help but think.

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ps: I would like to recommend a good medicine for colds based on my personal experience: Bayer Aspirin effervescent tablets. The hotel where the writers' class lives has bath water temperatures that are speechless. Fortunately, I haven't frozen to death yet.