The earliest merchant attendant who fell ill went to the Liu family's pharmacy for treatment immediately after entering the city.
However, upon discovering it was the plague, the Liu family immediately hatched a wicked scheme.
With the skills of their pharmacy's doctors, curing the illness was not particularly difficult.
After all, with the extensive trade between north and south over the years, there was no shortage of various medicinal ingredients.
But at this moment, the head of the Liu family in Yangzhou issued a frenzied order to substitute the medicinal ingredients.
While the substituted ingredients were still effective, the course of treatment was significantly prolonged.
An illness that could have been cured in three to five days was dragged out for more than half a month!
The people from Xuanwen Publishing House accidentally learned of this matter and informed the family head.
This newly emerging group of aristocratic families had many shared interests.
Moreover, the Yangzhou Liu family was backed by the Hedong Liu clan!
Several years ago, the Hedong Liu clan was a prominent family second only to the Five Great Clans and Seven Prominent Families. Now that they were gone, the Liu clan was at the apex of the pyramid.
The head of the Zeng family did not dare to act on his own and relayed the information to the Yi Xing Zhou family.
The Zhou family, in turn, passed the news to the Wuxing Shen family. The original intention was to see if they could extort some money from the Liu family.
As a result, the Wuxing Shen family brought the matter to Xiao Yu.
Xiao Yu, as a Duke, upon learning of this matter, not only failed to report it to Li Shimin but also suppressed the issue.
Even more outrageous was that the subsequent assassinations by trained killers, the switching of goods, and the fake newspapers were all carried out under his orders!
And then, it was implemented layer by layer by the Shen family, the Zhou family, and the Zeng family!
The spies from the Yi Xing Eastern Depot sacrificed seven lives to unearth this information!
"Crash..."
After listening to Fang Er's account, Li Shimin swept all the memorials from the table to the ground.
"Presumptuous!"
"Issue an imperial decree for Qi Wudao to lead his men to surround the Xiao residence!"
"Xiao Yu is an old minister, and I will give him an opportunity to defend himself!"
"Yes!"
Deng Dengjie hurried out of the hall upon hearing this.
In the Xiao residence's backyard.
Grand Empress Dowager Xiao sat by the stone table, picked up a cup of water, blew away the froth, and casually asked.
"How is Yangzhou?"
Xiao Yu's face showed no sign of guilt; instead, he smiled triumphantly.
"Sister, rest assured, this old man has made thorough preparations. Neither the Hundred Riders Bureau nor Fang Er's Eastern Depot will be able to find any fault with the Xiao family!"
Grand Empress Dowager Xiao glared at him: "Never be careless. Li Shimin is a ruthless wolf. If he finds out about this, none of the Xiao family will have a good end."
Xiao Yu waved his hand dismissively.
"Sister, don't overthink it. This matter has nothing to do with you!"
"You know nothing, and you haven't been to the Xiao family!"
"Report..."
At this moment, the butler rushed over.
"Reporting to Your Lordship, Qi Wudao of the Hundred Riders Bureau has surrounded the Duke's residence with his men!"
"See the old Madam out through the secret passage."
Xiao Yu, showing no panic, tidied his robes and instructed the butler.
Then he swaggered towards the mansion gate.
When he arrived at the gate, he scanned the soldiers of the Hundred Riders Bureau to his left and right and walked towards Qi Wudao with a smile.
"Hahaha, Brother Qi, what is this about?"
The words made Qi Wudao feel disgusted. He then said expressionlessly.
"I dare not! This humble one is merely a dog before His Majesty and is not worthy to be called brother with Your Lordship!"
"His Majesty has summoned Your Lordship to the palace. Please accompany me."
"Brother Qi, you are too modest. Enough of this nonsense, I will accompany you."
After speaking, Xiao Yu waved towards the mansion, and a sedan chair was carried out.
"This old man is old, and my legs are not as good. Please forgive me, Brother Qi."
Qi Wudao: ........
Jump around then, let's see how long you can jump!
Leaving his accompanying Hundred Riders Bureau brothers to continue surrounding the Xiao residence, he rode a bicycle in front of Xiao Yu's sedan chair.
A large chain case, a black uniform, a buzz cut, and a short-barreled shotgun slung across his waist.
The pedestrians on the road, seeing this attire, consciously retreated.
The Hundred Riders Bureau, not to be trifled with.....
By the time Xiao Yu entered the Liangji Hall, half an hour had passed.
"Your humble servant, Xiao Yu, pays his respects to His Majesty!"
"May His Majesty be in good health!"
After bowing, he straightened up, put his hands in his sleeves, and stood quietly to the side.
Seeing his calm demeanor, Li Shimin was instantly enraged.
"Duke of Song!"
"The Wuxing Shen family, do you know of them?!"
"Replying to Your Majesty, this humble servant has heard of them vaguely."
"You incited them to tamper with matters during the Yangzhou plague. Do you admit to this?"
"Your Majesty, this humble servant is wronged. What does this have to do with me?" Xiao Yu instantly put on an innocent look and looked at Li Shimin with pleading eyes.
His gaze was neither evasive nor shifty, showing no sign of guilt.
Zhang Gongjin was so angry that he almost died. He snatched the telegram and threw it at Xiao Yu's face.
"Old dog Xiao! Look at this!"
Xiao Yu bent down, picked up the telegram, and glanced at it.
It was an official document from the Yangzhou Bank, with strings of coded numbers.
Where the decoded text should have been written below the numbers, it was blank, with only indentations from pencil marks that had been erased.
"Your Majesty, what does this prove?"
"Isn't it just a few sentences? And these words were spoken by the Duke of Anguo!"
"Even if it was written by the butler of my residence, what does it have to do with me?"
Fang Er, as if he had anticipated such an outcome, put on an angry expression cooperatively.
"What nonsense are you spouting to me? How could it be me who said it?"
Xiao Yu calmly stroked his beard.
"Your Majesty, in order to prevent others from using telegrams to conspire and pass messages, there was a regulation in the court."
"Anyone renting telegram services from the Chang'an Bank can only use clear text, which is the Analects of Confucius."
"This telegram was sent by the Chang'an Bank and received and copied by the Yangzhou Bank."
"The imprints on this paper are sufficient proof of everything."
Xiao Yu said, pointing to the strings of numbers on the telegram.
"Translating these few sentences according to the clear text code from the Analects of Confucius, they are the very words previously spoken by the Duke of Anguo."
"To establish the heart for Heaven and Earth, to settle the life of the people, to continue the lost studies of the past sages, and to bring peace to all generations for eternity."
"So, what does this have to do with me?"
Fang Er chuckled and took another book out of his box.
The Xiao Family Instructions.
"Duke Xiao, if we translate according to this, what would it be?"
When Xiao Yu saw the book, his smile froze for a moment, and then he forced a smile and said.
"Brother Fang, where did you get this fake?"
"My Xiao family has never had any family instructions, let alone printed them into a book!"
"Hehehehe, I knew you wouldn't shed tears until you saw the coffin!"
Fang Er pulled out an account book from his chest, flipped through it, and stopped on a page.
"Fifth day of the fifth month in the third year of Zhenguan, the Xiao family in the capital printed two hundred copies of 'The Xiao Family Instructions', with a total revenue of seventy-six guan."
"Handled by Liu San'er of Xuanwen Publishing House."
"Using your family instructions as the telegram cipher, the translation yields a different result!"
"I am aware of the plague matters in Yangzhou, and they are to be suppressed for the time being and not leaked."
".........."
One by one, incident after incident.
Attacking physicians, impersonating to murder, printing fake newspapers, and throwing bodies at night.
All were described in meticulous detail!