Chapter 1 Entering the Family

Unconsciously, several months passed. Tan Weishi was content to be part of this family. Although, as a princess, her wedding ceremony was simple; it couldn't compare with Tan Weixin and Ye Tao's wedding. They simply worshipped their ancestors together at the Jiangshan Fort ancestral temple, followed by a small, intimate wedding feast. Those who attended the feast were Tan's and Ye's closest relatives and friends, along with the absolute core ministers and generals of Dongping. The standards weren't low, just very, very discreet. After all, no one knew what the proper thing to do was, when Ye Tao married two princesses, becoming the only double-titled royal son-in-law in history.

But even though the feast and ceremony were so low-key, the gifts sent by all the guests were extraordinarily substantial, even more valuable than when Ye Tao married Tan Weixin. Tan Weishi speculated that perhaps it was because she wasn't as good at taking care of herself as her older sister. Every member of the Dongping royal family had their own property. Tan Weixin was wealthy and also the clever, steady type. She would naturally prepare whatever she needed herself and wouldn't allow herself to be wronged. But although Tan Weishi had performed so outstandingly in the past few years, in the eyes of these uncles who had watched her grow up, she was still a child. And children should naturally be given more sweets. Tan Weishi didn't suspect that this was everyone's compensation for the low-key handling of her marriage to Ye Tao.

Arriving in Yunzhou, entering this family that included her older sister and her good friend Dai Qiuyan, Tan Weishi didn't feel uncomfortable at all. In Yunzhou, there were always new and exciting things to keep her busy. And as Tan Weishi constantly tried out all kinds of new gadgets, the person who suffered the most was her chief bodyguard, Jin Ze.

For the bodyguards of these royal nobles, there were two situations that were the most troublesome: one was being caught up in armed conflicts such as wars, raids, and assassinations, and the other was entertainment activities that might lead to accidents.

As for the former, Jin Ze was very relieved. He had never seen a place as peaceful as Yunzhou in his life. In Ningyuan City, Suiyuan City, and Thunder Cliff, important officials under the Yunzhou Pacification Commissioner's Office, especially young officials, often set off alone on horseback or with a coachman in a carriage. "Light travel" was not enough to describe the situation in Yunzhou. Many mid-level officials in the Civil Affairs Bureau who often had to travel to other towns and cities would carry all their luggage in a single leather bag behind their saddles and run all over Yunzhou. As for the merchants and wealthy households, they had gradually adopted this habit. In a place where no one from Ye Tao down cared much about pomp and circumstance, everyone else didn't care either. Officials might have been trying to figure out what the superiors wanted, but the merchants and wealthy households had reined themselves in after several times their pomp outdid that of a department head and they were teased about it.

But the magical thing was that in Yunzhou, under these circumstances, theft, robbery, and kidnapping were still very, very rare, so rare that they could be ignored. But as long as these things happened, the Yunzhou Pacification Commissioner's Office would definitely react extremely strongly, and any involved gangs would be thoroughly investigated and completely eliminated. Although Yunzhou couldn't be said to be a place where people didn't pick up lost items and doors weren't locked at night, the public security was indeed very good. Ye Tao, Tan Weixin, Dai Yun, Dai Qiuyan, and others had always liked to travel in disguise, only bringing the minimum number of attendants to travel, and nothing had ever happened. In Yunzhou, although everyone had the habit of carrying weapons with them, it was only due to the martial spirit. Many of the short swords and daggers carried by merchants and wealthy households were more decorative than practical.

The problem was with going out to play. Before coming to Yunzhou, Jin Ze felt that his future days would probably be difficult. In a place like Yunzhou, how could Ye Tao's family not engage in activities such as hunting and outings? But for an old-fashioned bodyguard like Jin Ze, dealing with such scenes was considered very experienced. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been appointed as Tan Weishi's chief bodyguard. However, Jin Ze never expected that activities such as hunting and outings wouldn't be a problem at all. Although Tan Weishi used to like to prank people, her nature wasn't rough. After coming to Yunzhou, she went out with Dai Qiuyan to sketch and see the scenery far more often than to go hunting. Even when going to hunting grounds and ranches, the attraction of teasing those cute little animals was greater than showing off Tan Weishi's not-so-great archery skills. However, some activities made Jin Ze not know how to do security work at all, such as... flying.

After the first airship demonstration at Ye's Workshop, Tan Weishi, who was very interested in this novel gadget, pestered Ye Tao to agree to let her fly once as well. And the first flight she took was an experimental flight from Ningyuan to Suiyuan. Ye Tao, Tan Weishi, Liu Yong, and Jin Ze took up half of the airship's flight crew. Liu Yong was very interested in this experiment, but poor Jin Ze was dizzy in the air and didn't know what to do at all. However, the airship, referring to obvious landmarks on the ground, crossed the mountains and arrived in Suiyuan within a day with the help of the wind, which was really surprising. Since he had set a precedent, Ye Tao simply manufactured an airship specifically for his family, in addition to the formal production plan, and even opened up an airship mooring field in the villa. This airship was naturally much more comfortable than those mass-produced airships, and its volume was also slightly larger. It could carry fourteen people, and the bow was equipped with a pair of binoculars. And instead of constantly blowing in the wind, there was a cabin that could accommodate eight people, which was very comfortable. The circular portholes made of B-grade glass still allowed people riding in the airship to see the scenery outside at any time.

As the weather gradually became warmer, it must be said that flying in the airship became more and more pleasant. Not to mention that the temperature in the air was obviously cooler than on the ground, even the sound of the wheels turning was replaced by the whistling of the wind, and the bumps of the vehicle were taken over by the gently swaying rhythm in the wind, which was much more comfortable than traveling on the ground. And Tan Weishi became more and more fond of flying. Now, she flies almost every few days, more often than the professional pilot teams of the Communication Bureau, who are constantly testing new routes and calculating the time efficiency of delivering messages. And what was even more frightening was that even though Jin Ze sometimes complained a little, Ye Tao not only didn't stop Tan Weishi from flying, but also made her special goggles and taught her how to fly herself. When the time entered July, Chunnan had already launched an offensive, capturing three cities in Xiling in just a few days, and when Yunzhou was also fully prepared, Tan Weishi's airship control technology was considered one of the best in the entire Yunzhou airship team.

Therefore, when Yunzhou was going to hold an important meeting at Thunder Cliff again to finalize the war preparations, Tan Weishi volunteered to personally operate the airship for this long-distance flight from the villa to Thunder Cliff.

This was the first time in many years that Yunzhou had expanded outwards. And whether Yunzhou's various systems and methods that differed from Dongping could play a role in actual combat, whether they could fully demonstrate Yunzhou's strength, and whether they could demonstrate that Yunzhou's military, political, and other preparations were correct, all depended on this time.

Yunzhou had held many such meetings, and the style of valuing professionalism and valuing coordination and cooperation between various departments had begun to take shape when Ye Tao took over the position of Yunzhou Pacification Commissioner and divided the departments. But the more important agenda of this meeting was a very small meeting attended by only a dozen people. At this meeting, Ye Tao took out the fifteen-year strategy that he had been planning and perfecting for the past few months. The main content of the strategy was Yunzhou's long-term development. In these fifteen years, Yunzhou would further strengthen its system-guaranteed comprehensive governance advantages on the premise of providing sufficient military horses, military equipment, and technical equipment guarantees to the other states of Dongping, and raise Yunzhou's military, economic, and other aspects to a new level. And in this fifteen-year plan, there were also various short-term and long-term methods for the continuous erosion and weakening of Xiling, some of which had already begun to be implemented. Lei Huang also came to Yunzhou once again to listen to this important meeting. The last time he went to Danyang, he met with the national ruler and the crown prince, who greatly praised the achievements he had made. Even so, after returning to Xiling, he gradually transferred power to the High Priest Group after the arrival of personnel from the Intelligence Bureau and the Yunzhou Pacification Commissioner's Office. And this time he came to Yunzhou to have Ye Tao fulfill his promise to let him do something interesting.

Lei Huang was not disappointed. He had always worshiped Ye Tao like a deity, and after not seeing him for several months, this time he welcomed Ye Tao at the top of a cleared and leveled mountain in Thunder Cliff, and what he saw was an airship descending from the sky. Because he was worried about Ye Tao's family's airship always flying solo, under everyone's strong suggestion, a escort formation composed of four airships was finally formed. The ropes dropped by the slightly larger airship carrying the Ye family were caught by the soldiers on the top of the mountain, tightened, and tied to the iron pillars that had been set up on the ground long ago. Then, the airship's ladder was lowered, and Ye Tao jumped down first, waved to the crowd waiting for him, and took Tan Weixin, Dai Yun, Tan Weishi, Dai Qiuyan, and even Sophie, one by one, who had flown with him, and walked towards the crowd side by side.

Among the Yunzhou high-level, the existence of airships was no longer a secret, and even among many ordinary people, airships had changed from being mysterious and unpredictable to now being able to cause surprise and yearning, but not to the point of being shocked. However, seeing something flying for the first time, seeing Ye Tao coming down from the airship calmly, Lei Huang still prostrated himself on the ground with reverence.

"Lei Huang, what are you doing?" Tan Weishi asked with a smile, "Flying is fun, right? I'll let you fly later."

Lei Huang looked at Tan Weishi, who was dressed strangely, humbly and cautiously. Tan Weishi also looked at this mysterious and interesting guy. After a long flight, Tan Weishi felt a little dizzy. She came up and pulled Lei Huang up, and said, "High Priest, don't lie on the ground, Ye Tao still has something to do with you."

"Yes." Lei Huang looked up at Ye Tao, who had a helpless smile on his face, and then got up.

Tan Weishi turned around with a smile, but unexpectedly felt dizzy and suddenly fell down. Ye Tao quickly rushed up and hugged Tan Weishi in his arms.