"You're saying that Consort Xiao planted people among the guards in the Prince's palace?"
Xie Yuan's gaze fell on Luo Peiyu, who was kneeling in front of him.
"Yes! They were originally Xiao Zixiu's trusted confidants."
Since Luo Peiyu had decided to surrender to Xie Yuan, he naturally wouldn't hide anything.
She told Xie Yuan all the secrets she knew at once.
She even wrote down a list of nearly twenty names, all of whom were members of the Prince's personal guards.
In fact, Consort Xiao had only told Luo Peiyu who was responsible for delivering the message.
However, Luo Peiyu was very clever. She used her position as a teacher at the Prince's Academy to follow the clues and eventually found out everyone on this line.
Xie Yuan: ...What a talent! This is a genius at intelligence gathering!
"Although Xiao Zixiu has left, these people have gone into hiding."
Luo Peiyu replied respectfully.
Xie Yuan thought for a moment and asked, "How did they transmit messages?"
In the Great Zhou Dynasty, the proper way to transmit messages was naturally by writing letters and then using the official post roads.
Although Lingnan is remote, it still has post stations.
Lingnan is located south of the Five Ridges, and is blocked by continuous mountains, preventing direct access to the inland.
Most official roads first connect the coast to Fujian and Zhejiang, and then connect to the official roads in Fujian and Zhejiang.
This made the postal route quite troublesome, and sending messages was also quite time-consuming.
After Helian Jue occupied Yuezhou, he took over the post stations in several places.
To send messages via the post road, one had to go through the jurisdiction of the Yue King's Palace.
Therefore, Xie Yuan concluded that the guards in the Prince's mansion should not rely on post stations to deliver messages.
Could it be a message sent by carrier pigeon?
Xie Yuan herself raised carrier pigeons, and she communicated with Helian Jue and Princess Xu through them.
However, raising pigeons requires both technical skills and space.
Those guards were too busy hiding themselves to bother with using carrier pigeons.
Do they have other unique communication channels?
Xie Yuan was filled with questions.
However, she then recalled that when Helian Jue was pretending to be weak to deceive others, no one in the capital had seen through his true nature.
The capital city received no news of the Yue Prince's military expeditions on these occasions.
Xie Yuan concluded that even if those people had a way to contact the capital, it wouldn't be very convenient.
Their messages were quite delayed.
However, news has a time limit.
Once news becomes history, it loses its value.
Those soldiers shouldn't pose much of a threat, but that doesn't mean Xie Yuan doesn't need to investigate and dig deeper.
"It's a caravan! They have connections with caravans from Guangcheng."
“Every month, they would send the message to the shops the caravan had opened in He County.”
"Then, the message will be sent to Guangcheng by caravan, and then from Guangcheng to the capital."
Luo Peiyu is truly skilled at intelligence gathering. She has only been at the Yue Prince's residence for less than two months, yet she has already gathered so much useful information.
Xie Yuan became even more convinced that this was a talented individual.
"Good! You did a great job."
Xie Yuan didn't hold back his praise and even let Luo Peiyu choose for herself, "What are your plans next?"
"Do you want to continue teaching at the academy, or would you like to change jobs?"
Xie Yuan already has female soldiers, so he is not lacking in martial prowess.
In addition, she also has adopted orphans. These children, having lived in poverty and spent their lives on the streets, are quite adept at gathering information and intelligence.
However, they were not professional intelligence personnel after all.
Compared to someone as talented as Luo Peiyu, he still falls short.
Xie Yuan glanced at Luo Peiyu, then at the list she had collected, and suddenly an idea struck him—
"I want to set up a brand new department dedicated to investigating, collecting, and analyzing intelligence."
"Hmm, let's call it the Embroidered Guard. If you'd like, you can serve as an Embroidered Guard Envoy."
Xie Yuan said earnestly.
Luo Peiyu's heart was pounding wildly.
She had a premonition that she was about to embark on a completely new life.
Her fate may be about to undergo a dramatic change starting today.
"The Embroidered Uniform Guard?"
What makes this happen?
But someone who can wear embroidered clothes must be somewhat respectable.
During the Great Zhou Dynasty, the imperial court imposed very strict restrictions on clothing.
There are explicit rules regarding what kind of clothes different people should wear.
Merchants, though incredibly wealthy, were forbidden from wearing silk or brocade.
Of course, in reality, many wealthy businessmen wore fine silks and satins.
But in this kind of case, the authorities won't investigate unless the people report it.
Once someone exposes it, they'll be caught one by one.
Palace slaves like Luo Peiyu could only wear coarse green clothes.
One should not wear colors such as vermilion or purple, which are associated with nobility.
They also cannot wear fine clothes.
Princess Xie mentioned the "Embroidered Guards," meaning that these people wore embroidered robes, which were elegant clothes different from those of slaves and commoners.
This is absolutely a symbol of status.
Luo Peiyu was tempted.
She gently licked her lips. "Your Majesty, I... I'd like to try out this Embroidered-Clad Messenger."
"good!"
Xie Yuan nodded in satisfaction when she saw that Luo Peiyu had made a very wise choice.
Then she called Zheng Yurong over and said, "Go and select some women soldiers. Their skills don't have to be great, but they must be clever."
They are intelligent, perceptive, observant, and good at summarizing.
They can discover clues in the smallest details and thus uncover even greater secrets!
There are spies in the army, and her Yue Prince's mansion also needs intelligence agents.
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