Brocade Robe Unparalleled

Chapter 59 Mandala's Mission
night.

Lin Xuan's room.

The man in black robes asked in surprise, "Where did the Song family obtain the new salt laws?"

Lin Xuan shook his head and said, "I don't know. I thought it was given to them by our Nanzhao Kingdom."

The man in black robes said with certainty, "Impossible. We have no cooperation with the Song family of Shuidong. Even the An family did not obtain the new salt law, let alone the Song family?"

Lin Xuan lowered his head and remained silent, it seemed that the An clan chieftain and Nanzhao were in cahoots.

However, he was not surprised. The three major chieftains in the southwest were nominally the territory of Dayong, but in reality, they were no different from independent countries.

The government offices set up there by the imperial court were merely for show.

These major chieftains, without exception, all wanted to annex other forces and establish a new state in the southwest.

Lin Xuan explained, "Actually, the new salt law itself isn't that complicated. The Tian family's salt fields are right there, and anyone in the know can see the trick at a glance. If you investigate further, it's not hard to figure out the purification method from the large quantities of goods the Tian family has purchased..."

The man in black nodded slightly, not continuing the topic, and said, "Now that you have access to more intelligence, I need you to find out something."

Even though he was unwilling to work for Nanzhao, Lin Xuan could only clasp his hands slightly and say, "Please give your orders, sir."

The man in black robes said in a deep voice, "Not long ago, several women from Nanzhao were abducted to Sizhou. Find out where they are now..."

……

Jingbian Division.

Inside Wu Baihu's duty room.

Lin Xuan sat behind his desk and sorted the thick stack of intelligence reports on it into categories.

Besides maintaining stability, intelligence gathering is also a major responsibility of the Border Defense Command.

During their patrols, the Jingbian Guard also gathers intelligence on the area under their jurisdiction. In addition, the Jingbian Command has its own informants outside the region, and a large amount of intelligence is collected every day, which needs to be processed in a timely manner.

The vast majority of this intelligence is meaningless. Lin Xuan needs to eliminate these filler pieces of information, keep the truly useful ones, organize and record them, and then store them in the archive.

Wu Baihu's office had accumulated a considerable amount of intelligence.

It was almost noon, and Lin Xuan had only finished less than half of it.

He stood up, stretched lazily, and planned to go back to eat first.

When I got home and opened the courtyard gate, A Luo was squatting by the well washing vegetables.

Lin Xuan glanced at it again and noticed something was wrong.

The person squatting there washing vegetables wasn't A-Luo.

He stepped forward and asked in surprise, "Miss Qingluan, what brings you here?"

Tian Qingluan raised her head, casually tidied the messy hair at her temples, and asked, "Judging from Lin Xiaoqi's tone, it seems you're not very welcoming of me?"

Lin Xuan waved his hands repeatedly and said, "No, no, even if Miss Qingluan came every day, I would still welcome her."

Tian Qingluan stood up, shook the water droplets off her hands, and said, "Then it's settled. I'll come over every noon from now on. Lin Xiaoqi, don't bother me..."

Lin Xuan was taken aback for a moment, then laughed and said, "Miss Qingluan is joking. You're so busy, how could you have time to come over every day?"

Tian Qingluan shook her head and said seriously, "I'm serious. No matter how busy we are, we still have to eat. After tasting Lin Xiaoqi's cooking, I always feel that the food outside is a bit lacking. Anyway, Lin Xiaoqi comes back to cook every day. You don't mind if we add an extra pair of chopsticks, do you?"

After eating Lin Xuan's cooking a few times, she became much more picky about food.

With so many business matters to deal with every day, this pleasant time at noon has become one of the few things she cherishes.

After being taken aback, Lin Xuan could only say, "Of course I don't mind."

Actually, cooking for three people is easier than cooking for two.

There will inevitably be times when I need her help, so let her come and eat whenever she wants; it's just a matter of adding another pair of chopsticks...

After lunch, Tian Qingluan left satisfied.

After helping A Luo clean up the dishes, Lin Xuan returned to Jingbian Division.

As the afternoon drew to a close, Lin Xuan finally finished processing the intelligence that had piled up over the past few days.

The archives of the Jingbian Division were filled with various intelligence files.

Information concerning the Tusi (chieftains), the Nanzhao Kingdom, and the bandit forces near Sizhou was placed in different areas.

Lin Xuan filed the information he had compiled that day according to the type of intelligence.

Much of this information concerns the Tian family.

The Tian family opened several salt shops, and there were detailed records of how many customers each shop served each day.

The Jingbian Commandery has always kept a close eye on these chieftains.

Lin Xuan flipped through the previous files, which contained detailed records of every dispute between the two families.

Out of curiosity, Lin Xuan flipped through it a few more times.

Although the Tian family is a minor chieftain family, their strength should not be underestimated. The head of the Tian family, Tian Yunting, is at the peak of the sixth rank, and there are no fewer than ten sixth-rank martial artists in the family.

Furthermore, according to intelligence records, Tian Yunting's father had been promoted to the fifth rank more than ten years ago.

A fifth-rank martial artist is equivalent to a commander of a thousand men in the Jingbian Division.

To Lin Xuan's surprise, two years ago, Tian Qingluan's strength had already reached the sixth rank.

Two years ago, she was only seventeen years old.

When Lin Xuan was seventeen, he was only a ninth-rank official.

But thinking about it, it's not surprising. With the Tian family's wealth and their relationship with the Jiuli tribe, her cultivation path would definitely be incredibly smooth.

In terms of resources, she is probably no less than the scions of the top families in the capital.

After reviewing the Tian family's information, Lin Xuan filed several intelligence reports on Nanzhao.

Nanzhao was originally a vassal state of Yong, and paid tribute every year.

However, as the power of Dayong declined and it was surrounded by enemies, Nanzhao gradually developed rebellious intentions. It not only stopped paying tribute but also continued to infiltrate the southwest, attempting to take a share of the spoils after Dayong fell.

Originally, the Dayong Dynasty did not take small countries like Nanzhao seriously at all.

However, in recent years, Dayong has faced a harsh external environment. It was at war with the grasslands in the north, harassed by Japanese pirates in the southeast, and had local chieftains in the southwest. It simply couldn't spare any attention to deal with Nanzhao, which made them even more aggressive and their infiltration into the southwest became very serious.

In earlier years, they instigated a rebellion by the chieftains in the southwest, which was suppressed by troops dispatched by the imperial court.

Later, the imperial court adopted a policy of appeasement towards the chieftains in the southwest, granting them absolute autonomy. The chieftains gradually became more docile, but Nanzhao did not give up and continued to create various disturbances in the southwest...

Aside from this information, there was almost nothing else in Sizhou City that the Jingbian Division was unaware of.

Lin Xuan found out what the man in black robes had asked him to investigate.

This is, after all, the territory of Dayong. The Jingbian Division has been in Sizhou for many years and has a complete intelligence system. Its intelligence gathering capabilities are naturally unmatched by Nanzhao.

The Hongyun Teahouse on East Street in the city, though called a teahouse, was actually a brothel.

Unlike ordinary brothels, they offer their customers a wider variety of entertainment options.

As long as the customer is happy, regardless of height, weight, gender, age, or whether they are sisters or mother and daughter, they will fulfill any request the customer makes.

The most popular among them are virgins who have never been with a man.

They would set a price for a woman's virginity based on her appearance, figure, and other factors, and then have customers bid against each other, with the highest bidder winning.

In Lin Xuan's modern world, this would naturally be illegal.

However, here, matters that are consensual are beyond the jurisdiction of the government.

But these kinds of things are often not mutually agreeable.

The women here often value chastity more than their lives. Which woman wouldn't want to leave her virginity on her wedding night? It's not uncommon for women to be kicked out of their homes the next day because they didn't bleed on their wedding night...

Unable to find virgins willing to sell their chastity, they began to force them into prostitution.

Forcing women in Dayong carries certain risks.

So they set their sights on the Nanzhao Kingdom.

Some people secretly crossed the border between Dayong and Nanzhao, abducted Nanzhao women, sold their virginity at a high price, and then resold them to ordinary brothels.

Low cost and high returns have even formed an entire industry chain.

The conflicts between Nanzhao and Dayong have been ongoing in recent years. The Dayong government naturally doesn't care about Nanzhao's affairs. In fact, the local government is acting as a protective umbrella for these people.

The protector of Hongyun Teahouse was the Prefect of Sizhou.

Lin Xuan had no good feelings towards Nanzhao.

But as a human being, anyone with normal values ​​would find such heinous behavior unacceptable.

These beasts deserve to die!
After filing all the intelligence, Lin Xuan left the archives.

night.

Lin Xuan was practicing in front of the wooden dummy in his room when his eyebrows suddenly twitched slightly.

The next moment, the half-closed door was pushed open.

After only a few days of practicing the Starry Sky Technique, his perception had already improved significantly.

The man in black robes walked to the table, and before he could speak, Lin Xuan handed him a piece of paper, saying, "My lord, I've found out what you asked me to investigate. A few days ago, several women from Nanzhao came to this underground brothel. I wonder if they are the ones you mentioned..."

The woman in black took the note, read it, and then clenched her fist tightly, crumpling the note into a ball.

Lin Xuan noticed that her breathing had become noticeably heavier.

An extremely dangerous aura emanated from her...

(End of this chapter)