“I? I'm an underwriter from the Internal Affairs Office, here in Danyang to pick up the next season's orders.” Tan Xiaopei answered with practiced ease.

The answer was somewhat surprising. Underwriters were a relatively new type of merchant that had only emerged in recent years. Strictly speaking, it was an experiment initiated by Tan Weixin, similar to agents. However, these agents had no restrictions on sales regions. The only challenge was finding ways to sell the agricultural products, manufactured goods, and other items produced by the various industries under the Internal Affairs Office. The underwriter system began when Tan Weixin first took over the Internal Affairs Office's industries, before she even knew Ye Tao. Initially, underwriters were seen as a means for wealthy merchants to curry favor with the Internal Affairs Office. They always kept their profit margins low, returning as much revenue as possible to the Internal Affairs Office. But in recent years, the situation had gradually changed. After Tan Weixin met Ye Tao, Ye Tao and the Ye Family Workshop helped the Internal Affairs Office modernize many of its industries. Although the Internal Affairs Office remained as reserved, low-key, and rational as before in its business dealings, the competitiveness of its products greatly increased. Underwriters also became particularly profitable merchants. Consequently, the requirements for becoming an underwriter for the Internal Affairs Office became increasingly stringent. Currently, the Internal Affairs Office only had nine underwriters in the entire Eastern Peace region, and each of them was worth billions.

“Oh, so you’re in big business,” Zhang Shun asked with a chuckle, “It must be interesting doing business for the Tan family?”

Tan Xiaopei smiled and said, "It's just shipping and selling goods. After a few years, it's all old customers and old business. It's all the same. Unlike you, Boss Zhang, running around trading horses must bring you a lot of new experiences, right?"

Zhang Shun said with a smug look on his face, "That's for sure. Business has been getting smoother in recent years. It's not like before, when we'd run into bandit gangs. Now that was exciting."

Zhang Shun was a good storyteller. He started to eat the roasted meat handed to him by his attendant while recounting the things he'd encountered in his nearly twenty years of running his horse trading business to and from Yun Province. The atmosphere around the campfire was extremely lively.

Unexpectedly, just when everyone was in high spirits, Zhang Shun suddenly turned to Tan Xiaopei and said, "Brother Tang, I'm sorry, I just happen to have some business to discuss with these brothers. Could you… move somewhere else?"

The sudden shift in atmosphere stunned Tan Xiaopei, and Tan Weishi, who was sitting next to him, frowned. This Zhang Shun was really cunning; it was hard to get angry at him now.

"Boss Zhang, what kind of business do you have that you need to keep from others? Tell us, maybe I don't know about it," a voice came from behind them.

"Zhe Luo!" The tribesmen around the campfire cheered. In the eyes of the tribesmen, Zhe Luo was an undisputed warrior, a super archer. But since following Ye Tao as his personal bodyguard, Zhe Luo had rarely appeared before them. However, such a heroic figure would not be forgotten due to a brief absence. On the contrary, he became even more mysterious because he didn't appear often. What's more, Zhe Luo was not only a master archer, but also the heir to a medium-sized tribe. This status made Zhe Luo even more respected by everyone.

"Lord Zhe Luo!" Zhang Shun quickly stood up and cupped his fist towards Zhe Luo.

Seeing Zhe Luo, Tan Xiaopei smiled and whispered in Tan Weishi's ear, "Ye Tao is here too. Let's go find him."

Tan Weishi smiled shyly, but still stood up and called Jin Ze to leave together. Tan Xiaopei and Zhuo Xiu looked at each other. In their opinion, girls always leaned towards their partners, so there was nothing surprising about it anymore.

Zhe Luo swaggered over to the campfire and sat down in a spot that several tribesmen had cleared for him. He casually took a plate of perfectly roasted lamb chops that someone offered him. He took a deep breath of the greasy aroma mixed with cumin, black pepper, chili, and other spices. He casually picked up a piece of roasted meat and put it in his mouth, chewing as he said to Zhang Shun, "Boss Zhang, you should know the rules of Yun Province, right?"

Zhe Luo's words immediately sobered Zhang Shun up. Yun Province currently had the most complete commercial law in the world, and a fairly complete system for self-improvement of commercial law, thanks to Tan Weixin. The commercial law clearly stipulated the penalties for merchants who used their power to obstruct competitors from entering the Yun Province market. For ordinary traders, it was difficult to form enough power to obstruct others, and in reality, the Yun Province Administration lacked the power to punish such merchants. However, for merchants like Zhang Shun, who mainly dealt in horses and relied heavily on the Yun Province Bureau of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry and the Yun Province Bureau of Commerce and Trade's quota adjustments, being labeled as engaging in unfair competition by Yun Province would result in enormous losses. In the past, the Yun Province pastures and the tribes on Benlang Plain had some private trade, but Yun Province was different now. Trading through the Bureau of Commerce and Trade was more profitable and safer than the original private trade. In addition, with the supervisory power that Ye Tao, Ge Lan, Tan Weixin, Dai Yun and others had forged together in Yun Province, almost no one dared to defy the world.

"How could I? Lord Zhe Luo, how could I dare? Tianma Trading has always been the most law-abiding. It's just that the year-end deal is a bit troublesome. If Brother Tang wants to do business in Yun Province, leave all the troubles to me. I, Zhang Shun, dare not say anything else, but at least the routes for transporting goods are still very smooth, right?" Zhang Shun immediately patted his chest and said. He could also see that this Tang was definitely extraordinary, otherwise Zhe Luo would not have jumped out at this time.

"Brother Zhang is too polite." Tan Xiaopei was amused by the scene in front of him. Such a vivid scene could not be seen in the imperial court.

"Just say what you need, Brother Tang, what business are you planning to do in Yun Province?" Zhang Shun quickly changed the subject and turned to ask Tan Xiaopei.

"Didn't I get a batch of Damascus steel scimitars? They said they were prototypes from the Ye Family Workshop, not the final design. Only about a hundred or so. The people of Yun Province love knives and weapons, so if I bring some other goods from the Internal Affairs Office, it should be enough to make a splash in Yun Province, right?" Tan Xiaopei boasted. He wasn't afraid of the bragging being exposed. Not only did he not really plan to do this business, but even if he did, he believed that the Ye Family Workshop could help him produce a hundred or so Damascus steel scimitars with completely different styles. The Ye Family Workshop not only had strong technical strength, but also had a nationwide logistics and distribution efficiency of 20 days for small batches of goods and custom orders. In this relatively slow-paced time and space, this standard would not be outdated for a long time.

But Tan Xiaopei's casual remark immediately caused a buzzing discussion around him. The Ye Family Workshop did not produce a large number of weapons, but most of them were high-quality weapons. Generally, after the Ye Family Workshop tried to finalize the design of a weapon, it would basically be handed over to the workshops of the Gao family, Dong family, Xu family, and the newly emerging Shi family, who firmly followed the Ye Family's technical trends. And the Damascus steel scimitars were even more legendary artifacts. Currently, only a few guards under the Yun Province Administration were fully equipped with Damascus steel weapons.

Zhe Luo naturally knew Tan Xiaopei's identity, so he was happy to join in and quickly said, "Brother Tang, are you talking about the off-hand blade (fushou ren)?"

Tan Xiaopei didn't understand what that was. These specific technical details wouldn't reach him, but as the national ruler, he still had basic adaptability. Seeing Zhe Luo helping him out, he continued, "Yes, but I don't understand what it does either. Brother Zhe Luo, do you know?"

Zhe Luo smiled and said, "The tribal cavalry is suitable for equipping with dual blades. My Lord Ye doesn't know what he's thinking, but he insists that dual blades should be equipped differently, dividing them into main hand and off-hand. The main-hand weapon should be thick and sharp, capable of chopping and smashing, mainly used for attack, while the off-hand weapon should be light and flexible, used for parrying, blocking, and close-range defense, so he created this off-hand blade. The design is very beautiful, and the feel is very good. But after the Jingyun cavalry tried it out, they all said it was a waste of their temperament. Who cares about defense? The off-hand blade is too light, not satisfying in battle, and if the main-hand cavalry sword slips out of hand, it can't replace the cavalry sword. They don't want that thing. As a result, this batch of prototypes was recovered, and now only our guards are equipped with one, as the third melee weapon. Look, it's this thing." As he spoke, Zhe Luo took a slender scimitar in its sheath from his waist and gently drew it out. In an instant, the exquisite water ripple pattern on the blade captured everyone's attention.

"So beautiful…" Zhang Shun murmured. And those tribesmen who had a deep-rooted love for good weapons looked at Tan Xiaopei with fiery eyes.

Although this off-hand blade was shorter and thinner than the cavalry sword, it was not necessarily unsuitable for battle, just lacking the heavy and satisfying feel of the cavalry sword. The off-hand blade might not be suitable for large-scale equipment, but it was very suitable as a personal weapon. Carrying it with you, like Zhe Luo, was a very good choice, and it didn't affect daily activities at all. They didn't know that Zhe Luo was a deep enthusiast of this kind of off-hand blade. As a master archer, he had never been very interested in cavalry battles. The cavalry sword that was equipped for him was always hanging on the saddle and rarely used. Zhe Luo not only carried an off-hand blade with him, but also had another one stuck in his quiver. For him, this thing was more useful than a cavalry sword.

"Brother Tang, please don't take offense at what happened earlier. I, Lao Zhang, just have this bad habit of not being able to stand seeing others proud. I didn't realize that you really have extraordinary connections. Come, let's have a drink. Let's just say that what happened earlier is over, okay?" Zhang Shun was also straightforward and quickly apologized.

Tan Xiaopei waved his hand and said, "It's not like there's any offense or not. Let's drink this cup."

At this time, two people from the Ye residence happened to be carrying two large buckets of Grey Goose Essence Wine over. Zhe Luo quickly called out, "Hey, there just happens to be good wine. Let's change to good wine and drink again."

The arrival of Grey Goose Essence Wine brought cheers, and after drinking three rounds, Tan Xiaopei and Zhuo Xiu stood up and quietly retreated. Zhuo Mang and Chi Xianping, who were sitting opposite them, as well as Zhe Luo, also left unnoticed while everyone was scrambling for the essence wine.