abnabooks Chapter 1539 The Real First Case Scene
Chapter 1539 The Real First Case Scene
Chapter 1539 The Real First Case Scene
"Supplies," the man said. "You just said that he and his men are also flesh and blood. The range of the army's activities is the range in which it can obtain supplies."
"Yes, Bai Qi was born in the military, so he knows the limitations of the army. The soldiers of the Black Armor Army need to eat and rest." Bai Ziqi went on to say, "In fact, it is not easy to support such a cavalry unit. Which one is easy, logistical supply, medical treatment, and concealment? Especially in the later period, the number of Black Armor Army troops increased significantly, and the pressure of logistics and concealment must have increased greatly. When they are not on missions or killing people, they certainly won't wander around in black armor. So what do these people do for a living? Why can one or two thousand people gather together without attracting attention, and have a place to eat and heal their wounds?"
Bai Qi immediately said: "Perhaps it is an army formed by local tyrants?"
"It's possible. But to lead the elite to act like this, their leader shouldn't be an unknown person."
He pointed to the red dots on the map and said, "These red dots define the range of their activities. This means that they can obtain supplies within four days' journey. Considering that their actions must be extremely covert and the fewer people who see them the better, this range can be further reduced to one day's journey."
After that, he drew red circles with the red dot as the center: "The bases where the Black Armor Army obtains supplies and changes into regular uniforms are roughly within the range of these red circles. As long as we find out what villas, forces, or even commercial organizations are within these red circles, we can screen out the targets."
Bai Ziqi paused and said, "They were able to hide for so long, which means that their cover was very thorough. We are new here, so we may not be able to find them immediately. It is best to cooperate with the local forces."
This is not Beiga, he cannot rely on the Heavenly Palace and call upon endless resources.
Many clues have to be investigated personally.
However, the dozens of actions where the Black Dragon Mark appeared were widely spread in the Golden Plains, so the time, place, and process of the incident were not difficult to obtain. There were even special ballads, vernacular novels, and storytellings that described the demeanor of the Nine Nether Emperor. Which storytelling or jokes in the teahouse in Julu Port would not include the deeds of the Nine Nether Emperor? Bai Ziqi listened to it for many days, and although he felt that it was exaggerated and distorted, he understood the basic facts.
Bai Qi also said: "There are many temples in the Golden Plains. It is not difficult to ask them for information."
The smaller the temple, the more evil spirits may appear.
There are many small and wild gods in the Golden Plains, and there are many rumors. The believers are of diverse composition, deeply rooted in the hometown, and know the local situation best.
"This is a good idea. Bai Shisan, take some people to do it."
Bai Shisan agreed.
Bai Ziqi held his chin and looked at the map: "When collecting clues a few days ago, Bai Qi said that this Jiuyou Emperor is not that powerful. He basically only picks on the weak."
Bai Qi was ashamed: "My subordinate's words were rude."
"No, what you said is basically right. Although the targets of his dozen operations can all be called extremely evil, there is indeed no tricky idea. This is a very smart approach. On the one hand, it quickly makes a name for itself, and on the other hand, it minimizes its own losses. But there are exceptions, which is--" Bai Ziqi pointed to a small dot on the map, "The operation to kill Xue Zongwu and Qi Yunsheng!"
"Not only are these two people highly skilled in cultivation and powerful in martial arts, they are also important figures in Yao State. Xue Zongwu, in particular, commanded a large number of troops and brought several hundred guards with him on the day of the incident. He was unexpectedly killed in his father-in-law's house. That night, Xiaotao Villa in Qiyunsheng was bustling with people and guests." Bai Ziqi pondered, "I want to know why Emperor Jiuyou went against his usual behavior and chose to face such a difficult problem?"
Even from his perspective, Xue Zongwu was a difficult target. Why did the Nine Nether Emperor choose Xue Zongwu as his target?
What benefit can he gain from the death of Xue Zongwu and Qi Yunsheng?
The servant boy asked, "Could it be because Xue Zongwu is powerful and famous, and killing him would be the best way to boost his reputation?"
"This is certainly one of the reasons, but it is not sufficient." Bai Ziqi's eyes were serious, "The risks and rewards are not proportional."
"Let's connect the dots in time. Suppose the first time the Great Emperor Jiuyou showed up was at Keshan, and the second time was at Liuping and Shizhoutou, what about the third time?"
The servant boy immediately found out the times of the remaining sixteen Black Armor Army actions for him and connected them in sequence with black lines.
With this marking, everyone could see clearly that, just as Bai Ziqi had said before, the actions of Emperor Jiuyou were basically concentrated in the central and eastern parts of Shanjin.
"The last action of the Jiuyou Emperor was more than two months ago—" the servant boy mentioned the last part, "that is, Xiaotao Villa in the territory of Yao Kingdom!"
"He entered Yao Country, went to Mangzhou to kill people, and then disappeared." Bai Ziqi stroked his chin, "Why did he stop? Did he have other things to do? Is there anything more important than his claim of 'doing justice for the heavens'?"
The Black Armor Army and the Rebel Army on the Golden Plains were still going strong. But in Bai Ziqi's view, that was all a cover.
In order to cover up the true whereabouts of Emperor Jiuyou.
"After killing Xue Zongwu, what did Emperor Jiuyou do?"
As long as he could figure out the reason, Bai Ziqi felt that he would be a big step closer to the truth.
Of course, now he has to go back and go to Baimao Mountain.
……
From Shizhoutou to Baimao Mountain, guide Liu led Bai Ziqi and his party to take a shortcut, saving two days.
Fortunately, the public security along the way has improved slightly. If it were half a year ago, Guide Liu would never dare to deviate from the official road.
Along the way, Guide Liu also described to Bai Ziqi the vivid history of how the dynasty changed overnight in the Kingdom of Ba.
Bai Ziqi had heard a little about it before, but today he learned all the details and listened with great interest.
The money spent on hiring a guide was well spent.
When talking about You Enguang and practitioners from many places attacking the royal city and King Biao being unable to fight back, Bai Ziqi inadvertently said, "By the way, you said before that King Biao has a chief steward Nangong Yan who is in charge of the imperial guards and has killed people like crazy?"
"Yes, yes. He was a tyrant in Xuncheng, killing people without blinking an eye, and could stop children from crying at night." Guide Liu nodded repeatedly, "I used to do small business in Xuncheng, and I accidentally offended a feather guard. I was so scared that I ran away at night. My companion was caught because he walked a step slower, and I have never seen him since then."
"Is his army very powerful?"
"Yes, it's said among the people that if Nangong Yan hadn't died suddenly, the King of Wei might not have been overthrown so quickly." Guide Liu said, "I couldn't believe it for several days after hearing the news of Nangong Yan's death, but the people around me started to burn incense and were overjoyed."
"How did he die?"
“He was killed.”
"Who has this ability?"
"I don't know. Nangong Yan died at the border. I heard that dozens of people were hung on the wall all night and were not discovered until the morning. There was also a sign on the wall with words like "Heinous crimes, deserved death" written on it."
Bai Ziqi just asked casually, but he became concerned when he heard this: "He died suddenly and inexplicably, and was hung on the wall. There was a message on the wall? Why does it sound like the method used by the Nine Nether Emperor?"
"Yeah, a lot of people have been saying this lately, saying that Nangong Yan was probably killed by the Nine Nether Emperor. The emperor specializes in killing the most treacherous and evil, and Nangong Yan fits the bill perfectly. Besides the Nine Nether Emperor, who else could have killed this evil man? Nangong Yan is always accompanied by dozens of feathered guards. In the past, someone tried to assassinate him, but he killed them instead and skinned them alive for public display."
Guide Liu added, "In fact, in the border town we passed by earlier, and in the royal capital Xuncheng, many people offered tablets to Emperor Jiuyou to thank him for killing Nangong Yan."
Bai Ziqi murmured, "It seems that the country of Bei was the first crime scene."
"Huh? What?" Guide Liu didn't hear clearly.
"You said at the time that Nangong Yan led his men out of the city and ordered the city gates to be closed tightly, not allowing anyone to enter?"
"Yep."
"So who is Nangong Yan chasing after?"
Guide Liu shook his head: "I don't know about that. There are many people coming and going."
"The city gates were closed because he was afraid that the people he was chasing would turn around and flee back into the city." Bai Ziqi said immediately, "In that case, Nangong Yan's target had just left the city not long ago! He wanted to catch up with the other party and either capture or kill him!"
Guide Liu said in surprise: "You, you mean that Nangong Yan's target at that time was Emperor Jiuyou!"
Is this possible? Is this possible? Guide Liu thought it was incredible.
If it was really Nangong Yan who rushed into the hands of the god of death, then he deserved to die without a burial place.
"Either he was chasing after the Nine Nether Emperor, or he was chasing after someone else and was killed by the Nine Nether Emperor on the way." Bai Ziqi asked, "Did the pedestrians outside the city hear or see the fight between Nangong Yan and others?"
"If there was, it would have been spread long ago." Guide Liu said, "I heard that there were few people outside the city at that time. Afterwards, the city went out to investigate and found that the battle scene was not only bloody, but also with fallen trees and rocks. Oh, it was in the dense forest on the outskirts of the city, less than three or four miles away from the city gate. I guess the forest was too dense, so the sound could not be heard in the city."
To enter Xuncheng, the capital of Peng State, Guide Liu only needed to show a token, which made customs clearance and accommodation in Xuncheng extremely convenient.
This token comes from Changlong Wuxing.
Bai Ziqi asked him casually: "When did the Yangshan Chamber of Commerce and the Changlong Martial Arts Company obtain their privileges here?"
He knew that You Enguang's coup to seize power was supported by the Mou Kingdom. The Yangshan Islands had a good relationship with the Mou Kingdom, so it was not surprising that they had some commercial conveniences here.
Guide Liu thought for a moment and said, "It seems like... it was only a few days after the new king established the country."
"The country has just been established, and Yangshan has been treated preferentially?"
"Yes, yes. I remember that within seven days of changing the country's name to 'Peng', Yangshan's products appeared on the market, and large ships from Julu Harbor set sail one after another, all of which were bound for Yangshan."
"Well, so soon?" A new country has just been established, and there are many things to deal with. Even if it is a small country, the new monarch has important state affairs to deal with in the first few days of taking office, such as regaining power, maintaining stability, dividing credit, rewarding, and issuing orders. How can he care about a foreign businessman?
Unless... unless the commercial privileges allocated to Yangshan are also part of the reward for merit.
Did Yang Shan participate in the Burmese coup?