Li Guang, the prefect of Youzhou, had been in Youzhou for more than half a year. After the emperor recaptured Youzhou, he received an imperial order to go north to Youzhou to govern the Youzhou prefecture on behalf of the emperor.
Many maps were hanging in Li Guang's government office, including topographical maps of the area around Youzhou, which marked the places where mountain bandits and brigands lived.
The map also marks which fertile fields in Youzhou Prefecture can be cultivated and which areas can be developed by sending people.
There are also maps of Youzhou City, indicating which areas are planned as commercial districts, which areas have a large number of residential buildings, where main roads are to be built, and approximately how many people will be resettled.
Of course, there was also the expansion of the outer city of Youdu.
Under the emperor's orders, Youdu was to be expanded by at least 100%, with a large number of vacant lots marked out. These vacant lots were awaiting instructions from the court, and would be put up for sale once the court issued new laws regarding urban land.
The most important issue now is the location of the cement manufacturing plant. The materials for making cement are concentrated in mountainous areas, but the material problem can be solved.
The Ministry of Commerce has already recruited enough merchants to mine cement materials, but Li Guang is thinking about how to save on transportation costs and improve efficiency when implementing the project.
Sima Junru's help was indispensable in doing such a thing.
Since the new emperor ascended the throne, he has attached great importance to the intelligence system in the north. Before the Northern Expedition, the original intelligence system of the Song Dynasty was taken over by Sima Junru, who quickly assembled a good team to start collecting information on all the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, including terrain, population, agriculture, handicrafts, where there are rivers and where there are minerals.
Of course, there was also information about landlords and wealthy merchants.
After the emperor reclaimed the Sixteen Prefectures of Yan and Yun, the difficulty of this task was greatly reduced. The Imperial City Guard had a relatively complete information classification system for various regions and began to monitor local landowners and wealthy merchants.
Although not complete, it was enough to meet Li Guang's needs.
After hearing Li Guang's request, Sima Junru readily agreed and ordered someone to select a detailed map of the mountains, rivers, and roads of Youzhou Prefecture, which was then given to Li Guang to fill in the gaps in his information.
Sima Junru was so quick to cooperate with Li Guang because this prefect of Youzhou was no ordinary person.
Or rather, Youzhou was not an ordinary place in the emperor's strategy; its current status was second only to Dongjing (Kaifeng).
Otherwise, the emperor would not have stationed 100,000 troops here, invested huge sums of money in military equipment every month, and invested even more money to build Youzhou.
The person who could sit in the position of Prefect of Youzhou must be an important minister in the eyes of the emperor, and must be completely different from the prefects of other prefectures.
As the commander-in-chief of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun under the Imperial City Guard, he naturally had to cooperate fully.
However, his most important task right now is not to cooperate with Li Guang, but to find Han Lixian.
The emperor's decree has arrived, giving Sima Junru a very important task: to find the Jin spies lurking in the capital city of Tokyo!
Winters in Youzhou are longer than in Tokyo; it's still snowing now, and the north wind keeps howling.
Upon entering the Han residence, Han Lixian had already prepared wine and meat, and the plum blossoms in the backyard were in full bloom.
"Father-in-law, His Majesty's letter..."
Han Li first poured wine for Sima Junru: "I have also received His Majesty's letter."
“Wanyan Gao’s spies are well hidden and not easy to find. I have already sent people to the capital to conduct counter-spy investigations, but there has not been much progress so far.”
Han Lixian was also quite troubled, as the emperor's task was no ordinary task.
Spreading rumors and gossip in the capital is one thing, but finding spies lurking in Tokyo, thousands of miles away, is extremely difficult.
After all, that's Beijing, someone else's territory, so it's hard to find a breakthrough.
Now I not only have a headache, but also a testicular ache.
The two sat there, drinking and brainstorming, but were ultimately refuted by the other.
Just then, someone outside said, "Master, someone outside is looking for you."
Tell him to come another day.
"Master, that man said he was looking for a distinguished guest at your residence."
Sima Junru put down her wine glass: "They came to see me."
"Let him in."
Situ Heng took off his hat and, led by a servant, went into the house.
"Sir Sima, Xue Lan is dead."
"Dead?" Sima Junru was slightly taken aback. "How did he die?"
He was stabbed in the throat and died between the hours of Yin and Mao.
Xue Lan was just a prostitute at Wangyue Pavilion, and that was her true identity. However, she also had another identity: she was an agent planted by Situ Heng in Wangyue Pavilion to entertain distinguished guests.
Most of those who patronized Xuelan were wealthy merchants, many of whom came from other prefectures of the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, and some came from the Jin Kingdom to do business.
Women of Xue Lan's status are practically everywhere in the brothels of Youzhou; this is one of the ways the Imperial City Guard gathers intelligence.
Most men are rational, but they only relax in the presence of alcohol and beautiful women, which is the best time to extract information.
The fact that Situ Heng was in such a hurry to come to the Han residence to report this matter to Sima Junru indicates that Xuelan's death was not an ordinary one.
Did she leave anything behind?
Situ Heng took out a piece of paper and handed it over.
Sima Junru opened it and was slightly taken aback.
The painting depicts a resolute-looking merchant named Liu Yu, with a note next to him stating that he was a Jin Dynasty centurion who had been infiltrating Youzhou for half a year.
"I have confirmed that Liu Yu did indeed arrive in Youzhou half a year ago, but his official identity is that of a man from Zhongshan, Hebei."
"What is his connection to Xue Lan's death?"
“He was the guest that Xue Lan entertained last night. According to the people at the brothel, he drank a lot of alcohol last night, and Xue Lan was with him.”
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