287: Ginger is spicy when it is old

The plague finally vanished after raging for half a month. This could be considered the only silver lining in a bad situation!

However, because of this plague, Chang'an lost quite a few people, and there were even tremendous costs and losses in terms of industry and commerce.

It could be said that in this gamble, there were actually no winners!

Of course, it was precisely because of this plague that the imperial court was given a wake-up call!

Even with the old immortals in the Si Tian Jian, and even with the Holy Monk Tang Sanzang presiding, it was not guaranteed that Chang'an would be completely safe.

Taking a step back, what if this kind of thing happened not in Chang'an, but in the provinces and cities below?

What if it happened in a remote area, and Chang'an could not learn about the extent of the plague's spread in time?

What if, in the future, those enemies used various methods to carry out secret invasions?

For example, poisoning, or tampering with crops to halve or even eliminate the harvest, or even causing climate mutations? Or perhaps, like what happened in Shandong, establishing a religion to create division and separatism?

"The Tang Dynasty's crisis awareness is too weak; the long-standing illusion of being the Celestial Empire has made everyone lower their guard!"

Li Chengqian said to Tang Ku in the imperial palace, "Holy Monk, am I not really suitable to be this Emperor?"

The bitterness and frustration in his tone were truly indescribable, which made Tang Ku scratch the back of his head helplessly and say, "Your Majesty, how do you expect this Poor Monk to answer that? Being an Emperor is not that simple. Although the Emperor was Emperor for such a long time, you should go ask him if he hasn't also had similar worries?"

It is said that conquering the empire is easy, but maintaining it is difficult. To maintain the prosperity of our Tang Dynasty, one must pay a certain price... Now that we have learned our lesson, we should reflect on the pain, patch up every loophole we can think of; that is the best strategy. Instead of wallowing in self-pity, it would be better to work with this Poor Monk to study the countermeasures for what comes next!"

"Oh, the Holy Monk already has a countermeasure?"

Li Chengqian's eyes lit up.

Tang Ku nodded, and just as he was about to speak, he suddenly heard a voice from outside the hall clearly say, "Reporting to Your Majesty, the Emperor has arrived outside the palace gate; he is here to visit you..."

Li Chengqian was startled and hurriedly lifted his robes to run out. From afar, he saw Li Shimin walking up the steps, accompanied by a few attendants.

His steps were vigorous, moving as if flying. Before long, he had arrived close by, and seeing Li Chengqian already descending the steps to welcome him, he could not help but reveal a smile of relief.

"Father, this epidemic has just passed. Why aren't you resting in the palace instead of running around everywhere? It's so dangerous!"

In Li Chengqian's seemingly blaming tone, there was deep concern.

The old Emperor stroked his beard and smiled, "Why else would I come if not to worry about your affairs? Hehe, looking at your worried face, are you anxious about what happened before? Hehe, actually, it's simple to solve this. When I was following your grandfather in battle, I traveled north and south, establishing a powerful intelligence network. Those people in charge in various places were all old hands from back in Taiyuan, or their descendants. Now they are all retired at home, having become wealthy men in their regions. It was already discussed back then: as long as our Tang Dynasty falls into crisis, these people will all mobilize again and serve our Tang Dynasty once more!"

"Really?"

Li Chengqian was suddenly startled, then couldn't help but pout and say, "Then why didn't you tell me earlier?"

"Hehe, your father must always keep some trump cards!"

The old man smiled with a composed air, "Don't forget the saying, 'The imperial family is the most heartless.' It was so easy to help you onto the throne; don't I, your old man, have to be on guard against you?"

"Was I helped onto it?" Li Chengqian's mouth twitched. "I was forced into it; I was pushed onto the throne against my will!"

Tang Ku chuckled on the side. Li Shimin looked embarrassed, then cleared his throat and said, "Ahem, well, since the Holy Monk is also here, I won't say anything else. Now the Tang Dynasty is at the forefront of the storm; just having these Mortal intelligence networks is far from enough. Holy Monk, I have an idea now: to send the practitioners of the Tang Dynasty to various places, carrying the defensive equipment and communication equipment already developed by the Si Tian Jian, to build a complete national-level defense network. This would truly connect the territory of the Tang Dynasty closely together. As the saying goes, 'When one side is in trouble, all sides support it.' At the very least, within the Tang Dynasty, if anything happens anywhere, we must know about it at the first opportunity. Don't you agree!"

Tang Ku asked in surprise, "Did you come up with these new terms yourself?"

Li Shimin rubbed his nose and smiled, "I've been going to the Si Tian Jian to 'borrow' things recently, and Yuan told me... He said these terms all came from the Holy Monk and that young brother Nezha!"

"Well, what Your Majesty said is indeed a method. Currently, our Tang Dynasty's productivity is too backward, especially with blocked information, which easily puts us in a passive position!" Tang Ku frowned slightly. "Besides the communicators in our hands, does the Si Tian Jian have any way to transmit messages as quickly as possible?"

"There is a way, of course there is a way!"

Li Shimin smiled, and suddenly a small Daoist boy appeared behind him; it was none other than Xingyunzi. The young man was dressed sharply today, in a short outfit, with his hair combed into twin sun-and-moon buns, and his clothes looked like those of a Martial Artist.

He held a tray in his hand, about the size of a normal plate, but it was cast from pure copper. In the very center was a Taiji Diagram pattern, and all around it were the Fuxi sixty-four hexagrams, the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches directions, and so on. It looked like an exquisite compass.

"The Holy Monk may not have seen this; this thing is an information transmission device that my Master just perfected... It can convert what a person says into text information and transmit it to another machine. We have numbered these machines, and by using the ten digits from Zero to Nine, combined in threes or twos, we can transmit information to another machine..."

"Although I still don't understand the principles behind it, that doesn't stop us from using it... The only downside is that this thing must be used by someone with magical power; ordinary people cannot use it even if they get it. Moreover, if you don't know the password to transmit information, this thing will self-destruct to ensure the security of the information to the greatest extent!"

Tang Ku pouted, "Your Master can always come up with unexpected things... Well, what kind of people does Your Majesty intend to send down next? As far as I know, many of those royal retainers are amateurs, and they are not good at intelligence work either. If you want to have them stationed in every city, I'm afraid there won't be enough manpower!"

"Hehe, the Holy Monk's considerations are correct, but this is not a problem!" Li Shimin laughed, "In addition to the various Disciples of the Si Tian Jian, Daoist Xuanji Zi of Shu Mountain has already sent someone to deliver a letter. Soon he will send Disciples to lead a group of Shu Mountain Sword Immortals to come and serve. By then, there will be more than enough manpower!"

Li Chengqian couldn't help but give a thumbs up, smiling bitterly, "Experience truly comes with age, Father, you are amazing!"