Chapter 167: Trap
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“Li San, I order you to immediately send people to monitor all medical clinics. Do not let anyone who buys medicine for bruises and injuries escape surveillance.”
In the Qi Prince’s residence, Xiao Ming spoke solemnly to Li San.
Li San had already learned about the burning of the government estate on his way back. At present, Wang Xuan was in Cangzhou City, responsible for gathering intelligence on the grasslands, while Li San handled affairs within the fiefdom.
This incident filled him with guilt because he had received no prior warning.
“Your subordinate has already arranged for a secret investigation upon arriving,” Li San hesitated before continuing, “By the way, Your Highness, these past few days, I’ve had the covert guards keep an eye on merchants returning from the grasslands. A few of them behaved suspiciously—after entering Qingzhou City, they snooped around everywhere and even lingered near the workshop district and the Machinery Department.”
“Are you saying these merchants are spies from the grasslands?” Xiao Ming asked.
“Wouldn’t that make sense? These smugglers only care about profit. They’ll take our silver to work for us, but they’ll just as easily take the barbarians’ silver to work for them,” Li San replied.
“They take our silver?” Xiao Ming frowned. “Do the covert guards also buy information about the grasslands from them?”
Li San nodded. “The grasslands are vast, and only these merchants can infiltrate the barbarian tribes. Recently, the barbarians have grown very wary of unfamiliar merchant groups. The covert guards I sent, disguised as merchants, were almost captured. It’s been difficult to gather intelligence, so we’ve had to resort to bribing these merchants for information.”
Double agents were not unheard of in reality, and Li San was right not to trust these merchants. Xiao Ming said, “In that case, secretly arrest those suspicious merchants immediately and interrogate them under torture. We don’t have time to play games with them. Right now, it’s better to kill a thousand by mistake than let one slip away.”
Li San nodded, his expression darkening.