Chapter 1 Resolving Matters

Ye Tao's arrival seemed to offer the possibility of resolving a series of outstanding disputes, particularly concerning Nanyang colonization and the construction of the technology system. From the perspective of his identity, whether it was as Senior Executive Officer, Technical Director, and major shareholder of the Seven Seas Trading Company, or as the Northern Frontier Pacification Commissioner, and son-in-law of Tan Xiaopei, Ye Tao was qualified to make any decision. A large number of reports were sent to Ye Tao, so he could take the time to read them. Everyone dared not trouble Ye Tao too much with the strategic matters of the Seven Seas Trading Company. After all, Ye Tao was new to Nanyang and needed time to understand the situation. More importantly, someone needed to take him to inspect the area before he could directly understand the situation and feel the atmosphere. But also because Ye Tao was new, shouldn’t he have time to rest? However, the expansion and rectification plan of Hengbo Port, the planning of the shipyard, the construction plan of the entire industrial park, especially a series of project proposals from the Seven Seas Trading Company strongly requesting the establishment of a branch of the Ye Family Workshop in Nanyang, were all piled up in front of Ye Tao.

Internally, the Seven Seas Trading Company was both anticipating and worried about the establishment of a branch of the Ye Family Workshop in Nanyang. If a branch could be established, a large number of products could be made locally, or components could be shipped from other branches for assembly in Nanyang, which would greatly reduce the logistics costs of the Seven Seas Trading Company in supplying goods and improve flexibility. In the production of products such as wuzi steel and Damascus steel, it would avoid the trouble of repeatedly transporting steel ingots to Yicheng, Danyang, and Yunzhou, manufacturing them, and then shipping them back to Nanyang. However, once a branch was established, given the Ye Family Workshop's current reputation for excellence, which was renowned throughout the world, there would certainly be countless people trying to take advantage of it. In Nanyang, which was still in the development stage, although the craftsmen would not be shortchanged on wages, how could their safety be guaranteed? And how could the technological advantage be maintained in Nanyang, where various forces were intertwined, so that those unique skills would not be leaked?

Ye Tao easily stated that there was absolutely no problem in establishing a branch, especially since the Seven Seas Trading Company was willing to fully bear the costs of factory construction and equipment procurement and installation. This was a large sum of money. Ye Tao agreed to establish a comprehensive precision workshop area capable of assembling various timing products, including grandfather clocks, and various optical products, including binoculars with built-in levels with optical projection scales; a heavy and light ordnance workshop each capable of independently undertaking the design and production of weapons of various materials; a tropical and nautical supplies design and production center capable of designing various products based on Nanyang's special environment and using Nanyang's special products; and a design and manufacturing center specializing in rubber processing and product manufacturing. At the same time, he would also establish an employee training system in Nanyang for levels below technician. All technician assessments could only be conducted by the Ye Family Workshop located in Dongping, and would still be registered by the Dongping Ministry of Industry and issued qualification certificates with unique numbers. These alone were enough to surprise those who were concerned about Nanyang, and Ye Tao also promised to establish an aircraft design and production center in Nanyang, which would be technically synchronized with the Ye Family Workshop Research Institute in Yunzhou.

Ye Tao was not at all worried about the leakage of technology and craftsmanship. The Ye Family Workshop's ability to develop to its current state, undoubtedly recognized as the best, largest, and most profitable manufacturing conglomerate in the world, was not a matter of a day or two, but of more than ten years of persistent specialization in technology, coupled with good luck. And the Ye Family Workshop did not rely on one or two technologies to dominate the world, but a complete set of technology systems. In the Ye Family Workshop, the more skilled the technicians, the more modest and cautious they were, actively participating in creation and design on the one hand, and constantly paying attention to the development of other work categories on the other. No one thought they knew everything or could do everything. Those technicians who built airships were considered by many to possess magical powers, but they still humbly sought advice from people in other departments about the principles of the devices installed on the airships.

If all previous efforts had only allowed the Ye Family Workshop to lead others by a dozen or so years of high-speed development, then the electrical and related products that had been developed and gradually put into practical use based on these precision manufacturing processes had completely left all other manufacturing counterparts behind by an era. Ye Tao knew that, under his guidance, the Ye Family Workshop Research Institute had already begun research on electroplating technology, which had also stimulated research in electrochemistry. Yunzhou had begun to try to manufacture internal combustion engines and steam engines, and had begun to lay experimental railways. When the power problem was solved, there would be more and richer content to try. And many projects were being prepared for that moment: such as gliders, such as ship propeller propulsion methods, such as color photosensitive technology that was already showing some signs... Ye Tao didn't have time to worry about how much technology and craftsmanship others were stealing from him. They didn't have too few things in their hands, but too many. Within Dongping, the Ye Family Workshop had already outsourced many basic businesses to the workshops owned by the Gao family, the Shi family, and other merchants. If it weren't for maintaining its system of continuously cultivating talents, it was estimated that all businesses, including those of the Yi Family, could be outsourced. Others could learn one or two crafts and technologies, but this strategy of following the Ye Family Workshop had no impact on the Ye Family Workshop, but only increasingly enhanced the Ye Family Workshop's sacred position in the eyes of others. Ye Tao generously said that he was not afraid of technology leakage, and the executives of the Seven Seas Trading Company had no doubts. In terms of technology, Ye Tao was definitely a man of his word.

The arrival of Tan Weixin also made everyone smile. Tan Weixin was the God of Wealth in everyone's minds. From a young age, Tan Weixin had established an outstanding position in everyone's minds in economics and finance. The series of tutorials she wrote on economics, macroeconomics, accounting, management, finance, monetary economics, and so on were only available to top merchants, shopkeepers, and key figures in top merchant houses of this era. The various professionals cultivated by Tan Weixin's intermittent lectures, with the exception of a few people hired by the Inner Court and Yunzhou to specialize in economic research, were all reused by the imperial court or merchants. But everyone actually knew that, in terms of professional ability, those who had been doing economic research were the most deeply studied. The fact that these people, who had disappeared from public view for so long, could continue to receive Tan Weixin's guidance was envied by many people. And these people dealt with all kinds of core economic data of the country every day, which were all top secrets. Although Tan Weixin didn't have the energy to give lectures to the managers of the Seven Seas Trading Company in Nanyang, she could still take the time to answer everyone's questions, observe the basic economic data of Nanyang, and give some suggestions.

For a time, the two people who had just settled down in Hengbo Port were trying various passionate ways in a comfortable environment where no one bothered them, while still having to deal with a lot of work. The pace of life seemed to have returned to the way it was in Yunzhou, in their carefully built manor. However, the Seven Seas Trading Company had been dealing with Ye Tao, Tan Weixin, and others for so many years, and was quite familiar with their working methods. While transporting a large number of materials and documents, they also sent a number of capable assistants. These people were extremely proficient in various businesses in Nanyang.

In order to conceal the specific time of Tan Weixin and Ye Tao's arrival in Yazhou, the Seven Seas Trading Company also made a series of arrangements. On the fourth day after their arrival in Yazhou, a high-speed warship squadron consisting of six Tiger Tooth ships set sail from Yicheng and sailed straight to Yazhou without stopping at any port. When that fleet arrived, Yazhou would officially announce Ye Tao's arrival. Ye Tao and Tan Weixin and their party would also take this small fleet back. Whether they would continue to prepare to go to Chunnan for a while, or return directly to Dongping, would depend on their mood.

The arrival of Ye Tao and Tan Weixin not only stirred up various arrangements for the Seven Seas Trading Company and Yazhou, but also secretly influenced the entire Nanyang, and even the situation as far away as the Middle East. Assad was the first in the entire Samir family to come into contact with Ye Tao, and his position in the family had also risen all the way as he led many cooperations with the Ye Family Workshop and the Seven Seas Trading Company. He also knew Ye Tao's energy very well. Not to mention anything else, just the two miraculous towers built by Ye Tao's eldest brother, Guan Haishan, had made the Samir family stand out among the many countries in the Middle East and the Gulf region. Those craftsmen who had been trained by the Ye Family Workshop and participated in the construction of the twin towers had given the Samir family the confidence to build a brand-new country. Although only a small model city was under construction so far, the unique architectural style, the intensive and precise urban construction model, the precise use and allocation of manpower, the requirements for professionalism, and the changes in the self-positioning of those craftsmen were gradually shaking the entire ancient Gulf region. It must be said that craftsmen, engineers, and architects are indeed a special class that connects the upper and lower levels. They can contact the highest level of a kingdom's power, and at the same time, they can contact the people at the lowest level. Between these two classes, architects can also be at ease. The impact of those craftsmen who were deeply influenced in Dongping, in the Ye Family Workshop's system, on the Samir family and the many countries in the entire Gulf region could no longer be ignored. Perhaps, precisely because of this unique charm of Ye Tao, and considering the complex and close connection between the increasingly prosperous country of Dongping and the Samir family, Assad sincerely extended an invitation to Ye Tao, inviting Ye Tao to Dubai Port. The Samir family's war of founding was coming to an end. Although it had not formed a vast country, it had firmly gained a foothold. The inauguration ceremony in two months would be an unparalleled honor if a heavyweight figure like Ye Tao could be invited to attend.