Chapter 263 — Spies, Excellent Spies

Gao Yang nodded. Hetty was the sort who would never show fatigue or any other imperfection before others, but in the presence of this "coffin-lifting ancestor" of hers, the lady had grown increasingly accustomed to letting herself go. Probably the pressures she bore day to day were simply too many, and because of her station she could only carry them alone; now that she finally had an elder to whine and complain to, she had gradually grown used to this way of relating.

But regardless, he still had to remind Hetty of something, to keep her from growing too slack and careless: "No system is absolutely perfect. There will always be someone who finds the loopholes. Don't stake everything on your opponents forever being that stupid."

"Yes, I know," Hetty nodded at once, and immediately asked, "Ancestor, how do you plan to deal with those families with ill intentions? They have already begun sending spies into the Cecil territory..."

Gao Yang waved his hand dismissively. "No additional response is needed."

"Huh?"

"The Cecil Chamber of Commerce has already begun operating. This network will penetrate the entire southern half of the kingdom—will even penetrate the entire kingdom. Its development is the priority. For now we need only build steadily and forge this intelligence and economic network well; beyond that, no further action is required." Gao Yang leaned back against his chair and, looking at the astonished Hetty, went on slowly, "Those who are 'curious' about Cecil will never die out. As long as we keep developing, there will always be more eyes fixed on this place, and with the spread of arcane machinery and the arcane net, their attention to this place will only grow. Under the present circumstances, we cannot send troops to level every noble in the Southern Frontier, so we may as well let them rest easy for the time being—rest easy while awaiting the Cecil economic and intelligence network to seep into every corner of their domains."

The noose was slowly tightening; to flash a blade now would only scare off the prey inside the snare.

"But those spies who have already entered the territory... are we to execute them?"

"Execute? Why execute?" Gao Yang smiled faintly. "They have already been exposed, and given their common sense and their 'professional skill,' no matter how they flail they cannot leap out of the Cecil management system. At this point, executing these spies from the various noble domains of the Southern Frontier en masse would do us no good; it would only further jar the fragile nerves of the local nobles. Openly they might not act, but the expansion of our chamber of commerce would certainly suffer. After all, everyone still has to maintain a friendly face."

Hetty frowned. "Then you mean..."

"Send all the spies caught outright to open up wasteland on the northern shore, and as for those identified but not yet disturbed... have they not already become glorious Cecil construction workers? Form them into a new construction brigade, dedicated to building the various new districts. The territory is just now building a new industrial zone to the west and is short a large batch of hands—let that be their new work assignment. Remember, this is a routine work transfer; do not let them suspect a thing."

Gao Yang paused, then continued, "Name the new construction brigade the 'Twenty-Fifth Production and Construction Battalion.' Put them under separate management, with isolated production and living. They may communicate with the outside, but all communication must be reviewed. From now on, if new spies are discovered, first assess their ability: the rather dim ones get sent to open wasteland or dig mines; the clever ones good at disguise get sent to Battalion 25."

Hetty did not catch on for a moment and asked blankly, "But won't these people realize something is off? If their movement and communication are restricted, they should immediately realize they have been exposed..."

Gao Yang smiled faintly. "No. You simply tell them this: 'Do not ask questions. You are carrying out the Duke's secret plan.' They will fill in the rest themselves."

Hetty was dumbstruck. "..."

After being dumbstruck for a moment, Hetty managed to squeeze out another question: "But if they look at the people around them, won't they still realize the nature of Battalion 25... ah, no, they won't realize it!"

"Exactly. A spy who is only discovered after successfully infiltrating the territory must be an excellent spy, and the spies sent into Battalion 25 later will also be excellent spies—and an excellent spy will absolutely never allow himself to be exposed," Gao Yang said cheerfully. "Every single person in Battalion 25 will firmly believe he is the only spy. Of course, we cannot rule out the case of two or three who infiltrated together and were sent into Battalion 25 as a group, but that does no harm."

Hetty remained dumbstruck. "..."