News from the naval port kept reaching the capital. Kangxi was in a very bad mood as he read the secret reports from Fuquan, Fei Yanggu and his two sons, as well as from Yinti and Yinzhen.
The emergence of so many hidden dangers in the nearby fishing villages made Kangxi feel somewhat threatened. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn't have thought much of it, but now so many outside spies had appeared.
"Li Dequan, did Saito personally deliver the memorial?" Kangxi was quite surprised to hear Li Dequan say that Saito had come directly.
"Yes, Saito is outside!" Li Dequan quickly replied.
"Let him in!" Kangxi didn't dare waste any time and immediately called Saito in.
After bowing, Saito stood respectfully in the middle of the hall, awaiting Kangxi's question.
Ever since Fei Yanggu told him to come and deliver the secret memorial, Saito knew that Kangxi would have something to ask him. Fei Yanggu and Yinzhen repeatedly instructed him to relay whatever Kangxi asked in detail.
"Saituo, did you personally interrogate those people?" Kangxi knew Saituo's interrogation methods. If he hadn't asked some tricky questions, Saituo certainly wouldn't have come back now.
"Yes, Your Majesty, I interrogated them myself. These servants shouldn't have done this on a whim!" Seto felt a little awkward. His sister had married into the royal family, yet she was subjected to all sorts of exploitation.
Saito inquired with those people and learned that they had become their informants, partly to earn more money and partly to try and strike at Dao Qingyan.
Those people's families originally ran small businesses, and their businesses were quite good. The establishment of Qingyan's Minsheng Pharmacy, Yuelai Inn, and Linglong Pavilion directly wiped out many merchants.
Their descendants will not have an easy life either. After all, they have lived a wealthy life since they were old enough to understand, but now they can no longer enjoy that kind of life, which is something these people simply cannot accept.
"You mean those people did it for these two reasons?" Kangxi was quite surprised to hear this. Could they really harm the country for their own benefit?
"Yes!" Saito dared not conceal the truth and reported directly to Kangxi.
Kangxi sneered. Don't these people have any sense of right and wrong?
"You don't need to say anything more about what others say. You can't control what outsiders think. Have you done your investigation? How many villagers are actually from the fishing village?" Kangxi asked Saito.
Emperor Kangxi planned to protect the fishermen in the village, and treat the others as his spies.
Saito nodded and took out a list from his purse. The list contained information about the villagers in the deep palace. Kangxi glanced at it and found that the villagers were quite amusing, as they had even tattooed their family crests on the hands of their relatives.
"Fortunately, when they were avoiding a shipwreck, they couldn't tell whether it was a fishing boat belonging to their own village, which is why they resorted to this desperate measure, but it actually brought us some convenience." Seto thought this was a blessing in disguise.
Kangxi was pondering whether he should let Saito take more people back, otherwise, relying on the methods of Yin Zhangyinhen and others, he might not be able to deal with these people.
"Saituo, take one-third of the new army with you and get everything settled in the fishing village. Also, don't let any of those people get close to the naval port. Interrogate the rest of them, and even if they aren't spies, deal with them!" Kangxi picked up his brush and wrote a few words on the document, then told Saituo to leave with the memorial.
The atmosphere in the capital is tense. With Seto's sudden appearance, those people will definitely not let it go. Therefore, Seto really should leave as soon as possible.
"Yes, this servant will handle it immediately." After receiving Kangxi's order, Saito took the new army away, and her heart calmed down.
Before returning to the capital, Fei Yanggu instructed Saito that if anyone tried to obstruct him, he should prepare everything and hand it over to His Majesty so that His Majesty could come and resolve the matter personally!
In the village square, Yinzhen and Qingyan came together. Prince Yu selected some guards and gathered all the villagers together, requiring them to undergo inspection, including the women and children.
Every villager in the fishing village has a tattoo. When a child is born, the elders personally tattoo the child during the third-day-old ceremony. Women who marry into the village have their tattoos done by the elders on the second day after their wedding.
So, everyone who didn't have tattoos was taken away. Qingyan looked down at the platform and saw that many of those taken away were children.
"Si Si, it seems that informants are not just adults anymore!" Qingyan felt a chill run down her spine. These people were not only acting behind the scenes, but they had even trained children and sent them over.
The Qing Dynasty officials were investigating adults. These children grew up here from a young age, and by the time they reached adulthood, they had already thoroughly explored the area. If outsiders were to come and investigate, they certainly wouldn't be able to find out anything!
"Hehe, we underestimated them. This time, we can't be kind to them again!" Yinzhen said directly to Qingyan.
Qingyan was soft-hearted and often felt she should let young children off the hook, but now, none of them dared to think that way anymore.
Princess Consort Yu also regretted it. There were several children in the family, and Princess Consort Yu had planned to take them to the capital to raise them, so that at least these children could have a good future.
"This is reality!" Prince Yu and Fei Yanggu didn't feel anything was wrong. This was the cruel reality. The women didn't understand, but the men present understood it very well.
In the face of war, no one can truly escape.
"Master, the investigation is complete. There are fewer than a hundred actual villagers!" Erlu reported personally.
What? !
Everyone was shocked. In a small village of five hundred people, only one hundred were actual villagers.
"Are you sure?!" Yinti was stunned for a moment, then quickly confirmed it again.
Erlu nodded; these were all handled personally by Tulichen.
"These 100 people will be moved to the new village immediately. The rest of you will stay here, even the children!" Yinzhen dared not make any further moves; it was best to get everyone out of there as quickly as possible.
Yinzhen narrowed his eyes. These people probably knew what was going on. He quickly ordered the villagers to be moved away to prevent anyone from moving the children.
"Bayan, go keep watch at the village entrance. If you spot any unfamiliar children, detain them immediately!" Bayan was involved throughout the process, and he knew what the villagers looked like.
“Your servant understands!” Bayan, accompanied by two servants with excellent memories, hurried to the village entrance.
The group of people stood on the platform, looking at the relaxed expressions of the villagers below, and they laughed too.
Upon learning that they were safe, the villagers hurried home, intending to collect their belongings and leave.
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