Chapter 126 Surveillance and Exploitation?
Emperor Wu took a couple of sips of tea to moisten his dry throat before picking up the top-secret memorial on the table and reading it.
I flipped through two pages, and they were all about a man named Xing Yu in Dongdu.
The inscription reads that last year during the Qingming Festival, Xing Yu, who was returning to his hometown to pay respects to his ancestors, slipped on the wet steps on his way down the mountain, lost his footing, and broke his head. The Xing family had already made preparations to dress Xing Yu in his burial clothes, but Xing Yu, who had been unconscious, woke up on the third day.
Upon waking up, he began behaving strangely. It was understandable that he didn't remember his children or wife, but he didn't even know his own name.
Xue Yao's secret report also detailed that within five days of Xing Yu waking up, the Xing family repeatedly invited many Taoist priests and monks from nearby Taoist temples to their home.
After that, many new things appeared in Dongdu, such as the lard soap that Li San Niang had used at Junyoulai.
Because of its cheap price and large quantity, lard soap left Dongdu and came to Chang'an, but in fact, Dongdu also had charcoal soap, goat milk soap, etc.
Emperor Wu didn't think much of it at this point, but the next paragraph read that at the beginning of this year, the Xing family in the Eastern Capital opened a new shop called a supermarket. Unlike specialized fabric shops, jewelry shops, and rice shops that only sell a single item, this supermarket sells everything and has everything.
When Emperor Wu saw the words "supermarket," he smiled knowingly. Ten years had passed since he last visited.
The last two pages read that Xing Yu had arrived in Chang'an three months ago with his wife and children, ostensibly to visit Emperor Wu's birthday celebration. The family was now staying at the Xing family's residence in Chang'an, located in Yonglefang.
The third page was short, with only a little over half of the space filled with writing, about a dead person.
In Shangwaizi Village, Qiantang County, Jiangnan East Road, a woman surnamed Liu woke up after catching a cold but could no longer speak human language; she could only make incoherent noises and shouts.
At first, Liu's family thought she had gone mad from a cold and high fever, but afterwards, the woman could only eat and drink. She couldn't dress herself, and even defecated and urinated like an animal, randomly choosing a place.
After a heavy rain, farmers who got up early to work in the fields discovered Liu's body floating in a pond.
The family's version of events was that they were busy with farm work and couldn't keep an eye on Liu, so she ran off on her own, fell into the pond, and drowned.
That's just how it is in the countryside.
The Liu family first informed the village head, who then reported it to the government. After it was determined that the woman was mentally ill and had accidentally drowned, the Liu family collected her body.
When Emperor Wu saw this, he put aside the question of which time and which kind of being possessed the Liu woman, but this bizarre drowning could not possibly have been the work of the Liu family.
The last paragraph on this page states that the spies distributed throughout Qiantang County went to the local government office to investigate afterward. The records of the county constables who investigated showed that everyone in the Liu family, from Old Man Liu to his three children, had alibis.
After the spies went to the village to investigate in their own unique way, they found that since Liu Shi went mad, the Liu family had never thought of abandoning her. The Liu family still had a conscience and treated her like a dog that couldn't guard the house. They gave her some food every day and tied her to the house with a rope around her waist.
On the night of the torrential rain, all the adults in the Liu family went to the fields to clear the irrigation ditches, leaving only three children at home, the oldest being no more than seven years old and the youngest just over three.
This allowed Liu to break free of the ropes and run outside, where she lost her footing, fell into the pond, and drowned.
Emperor Wu continued reading, saying without looking up, "Are the spies from the Liu family still around?"
"Your Majesty, they are still here. We have been monitoring them for two months and have not found anything unusual."
Emperor Wu nodded. "If nothing happens in another month, then we should withdraw."
"promise."
The next three pages are about intelligence on a military man who has been under surveillance by Guards agents for nearly ten years.
When Emperor Wu transmigrated here, he established his own direct guard army in just half a year. Xue Yao was not the first commander of the guards; the previous commander was Xue Yao's elder brother, Xue Mu.
Xue Mu was the second one; the first one was a trusted confidant appointed by Emperor Wu, who also lost his life while monitoring this man in the army.
Xue Mu was assassinated after being caught up in the power struggles within the imperial court.
Therefore, although the position of Commander of the Imperial Guard was a close advisor to Emperor Wu, it was also very dangerous.
Xue Yao accepted the position of Commander of the Imperial Guard from Emperor Wu in order to investigate why his elder brother was assassinated and by whom.
The man who had been under surveillance for ten years was Du Qinghui, a naval commander with great military talent whom Emperor Wu deeply feared.
Emperor Wu first noticed Du Qinghui in a secret report submitted by his imperial guards. The report stated that a small town near the sea in the south was being harassed by Japanese pirates. At that time, it was this man named Du Qinghui, who was just a minor officer, who led his team of no more than ten men in a warship and defeated two sizable Japanese pirate ships. They not only killed dozens of people but also seized a lot of supplies.
Initially, Emperor Wu only wanted to cultivate outstanding naval talents, but Du Qinghui later participated in many battles and rose all the way from a junior officer to a senior officer. Later, when Duke Xingguo Su Dingfang led an expedition against Baekje, Du Qinghui followed him all the way and became a centurion on the return journey.
What caught Emperor Wu's attention was that Du Qinghui deeply loathed the Japanese pirates. He beheaded all the pirates he encountered and never took prisoners. Even when the navy encountered ships carrying civilians from Japan during routine patrols, he would still kill them without hesitation. Later, he even applied to use warships to attack Japan.
Everyone already knew that among the thank-you gifts Li San Niang received was a lot of silver. That's right, Emperor Wu agreed to Du Qinghui's decision. The silver mines on the Japanese islands were occupied by the Tang Dynasty during the naval battle. The mined silver was smelted and then transported back to the Tang Dynasty's mainland by large ships.
The intelligence report on Du Qinghui was quite detailed. Except for details about what he ate each day and what time he went to bed, it included all the major events that had happened to him over the past three months.
In particular, it concisely describes where he met which people, what he talked about, and what actions he took.
Emperor Wu knew that Du Qinghui must know that Emperor Wu was a time traveler, just as Emperor Wu knew that Du Qinghui was a time traveler.
Earlier, the two tested each other, and Emperor Wu's confidant, the first commander of the Imperial Guard, lost his life as a result.
Later, the two reached an agreement on the surface: the peaceful life of the people of the Tang Dynasty was the bottom line.
When Emperor Wu saw the mention at the end that Du Qinghui was preparing birthday gifts for her, he felt a pang of melancholy. However, at the age of fifty, she was already someone who was about to celebrate her birthday.
"Xue Yao, what is the birthday gift that Du Qinghui gave me? Have you found out?"
"In response to Your Majesty, it appears to be a bonsai made of rare and precious coral from the sea. There is another item in General Du's secret room. In order not to arouse suspicion, the spies have not entered, so the contents of the item are unknown."
In fact, Emperor Wu was not very interested in knowing what birthday gifts the civil and military officials would give her. If you suddenly go from youth to middle age, even if you have ten years to adapt, you still cannot accept such a body, let alone celebrate the passing of your youth.
Emperor Wu himself did not want to celebrate his fiftieth birthday in a grand manner. However, Chancellor Lou Shide believed that Emperor Wu's birthday celebration should indeed be grand, not only to celebrate Emperor Wu, but also to give a good opportunity to deter the many small countries from the north to the south that were dependent on the Tang Dynasty, and to demonstrate the strength of the Tang Dynasty and the confidence of its people.
Therefore, rumors were spread in the first half of the year that Emperor Wu would hold a grand birthday celebration, which would be called the Longevity Festival.
The last two pages of this secret report are a summary of reports from the Imperial Guard spies regarding some unusual and strange individuals within the Tang Dynasty over the past three months.
There were only a dozen or so people, and the one at the very end, the third to last, was Li San Niang from the Li family in Changshoufang, Chang'an City.
Li Mingfang, the third daughter of Li Hualin, a physician at the Bencao Hall in Changshoufang, Chang'an City, was skilled in medicine. Because her ex-husband had two hearts, she took her daughter and divorced him. Before the divorce, she caught her ex-husband having an affair with her widowed cousin, and she miscarried in shock and anger.
With the help of her family, she successfully divorced and established a female household. Later, she displayed extraordinary medical skills, saving the only son of the second son of Qian Xiuran, the Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, and unexpectedly saving the daughter of Qibi Yatong of the Duke of Liang's mansion.
By teaching novel medical techniques free of charge, she has now passed the assessment of the Chang'an Medical Alliance and become its first female physician.
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