Chapter 522

Such reasoning ability was impossible to ignore.

Luo Luo Yangxing really did not want to deal with Su Qiao.

It wasn't that he looked down on Su Qiao, or feared him or anything.

He just felt that being around Su Qiao brought bad luck—their stars clashed!

Anyway, whenever Su Qiao was around, nothing good ever happened to him.

But compared to Zhu Youjian losing his temper, even if he inwardly resisted Su Qiao, he still had no choice but to pay a visit..........

"Luo my lord, I don't mind helping, but I'd like to ask—after you found out about that Embroidered Uniform Guard Company Commander's suicide, were there any other leads?"

Su Qiao had nothing particular to say to Luo Luo Yangxing—strictly business.

Seeing Su Qiao's attitude, Luo Luo Yangxing breathed a quiet sigh of relief. "Mr. Su, we did turn up a few leads, but they were all scattered fragments, and every one of them went dead. Since you're asking, I'll tell you about them."

"Fine, let's go—head to your place first. Let's sort this out properly; I'm actually getting curious."

The cleanup was so clean and decisive—Su Qiao couldn't shake the feeling that the method resembled that of an old acquaintance.

The Bai Lianjiao had tried to deal with him several times, and Su Qiao had had people investigate, but there had been no results at all.

Every time, just at the crucial moment, the trail would suddenly go cold.

It all turned into scattered fragments that couldn't be connected at all.

On the surface this looked like an assassination by Eastern Japanese warriors, but Su Qiao felt it wasn't that simple.

Mainly because it was too logical.

The timing was spot-on, the manpower was sufficient, and everything else pointed squarely at Eastern Japanese warriors.

But Su Qiao still had one nagging doubt in his heart.

On an official road not far from Jingcheng, a group like this had appeared.

The enemy had quite a few men—two or three hundred of them!

Such a large caravan would have been one of the most eye-catching sights in all of Jingcheng.

If they were all Eastern Japanese warriors, judging by their level 5 or 6 of speech, they simply couldn't hide their Eastern Japanese accents.

Or rather, they couldn't speak Great Ming official speech at all!

So how did they communicate with people?

From far away all the way to where Su Qiao and his group were, traveling in broad daylight, they couldn't have failed to run into people or escape the notice of passersby.

Could they really have all been Eastern Japanese warriors?

Su Qiao followed Luo Luo Yangxing to their Embroidered Uniform Guard's Northern Garrison Office.

The Juan Sect files and some leads were all kept here.

Su Qiao flipped through them briefly, then still asked Luo Luo Yangxing to walk him through the direction of their investigation.

"Since Mr. Su wants to hear, this official has nothing to hide. We previously investigated based on their weapons, facial features, cart ruts, and clothing. The cloth of their garments all came from Fuyuan Cloth Shop on the east side of Jingcheng. The Embroidered Uniform Guard went to inquire, but too many people had bought that kind of cloth! There's simply no way to keep track."

376—Su Qiao's judgment!

"Continue!"

Su Qiao nodded, showing he understood.

After all, with so many customers, it was perfectly normal to lose track over time.

Luo Luo Yangxing went on: "Exactly, that lead went dead for the time being. After that we looked into the blades and edged weapons, but we couldn't trace where they came from at all. They might have been smuggled in by someone, or perhaps they weren't obtained in Jingcheng at all—maybe they were acquired somewhere else entirely."

"Mm, that's possible. They might have planned the assassination without ever entering Jingcheng, and instead been hiding in villages nearby."

Su Qiao said after a moment's thought.

Luo Luo Yangxing nodded. "Exactly, our men thought the same thing, and even sent people to investigate the surrounding area."

"Any results?"

Su Qiao asked curiously, pressing further.

Luo Luo Yangxing's face darkened as he shook his head. "None—absolutely nothing. The people in the nearby villages hadn't spotted any trace of these men."

"And then what?"

"After that we looked into the goods and the situation with the carts. With that many carts, there was no way to hide them!"

"Right—several hundred men pretending to transport goods. If the number were too small, it would look too fake. It had to be at least twenty-eight, or thirty, or several dozen—up to a hundred carts or more."

"Yes, we made inquiries at the cart-houses in Jingcheng, but couldn't find out whose they were. After that we went to check other nearby places, and finally tracked them down in Tianjin—at the White Horse Cart-house. But by the time the Embroidered Uniform Guard got there, the cart-house had long been emptied out."

By this point in the telling, Luo Luo Yangxing was practically gnashing his teeth.

He felt the Embroidered Uniform Guard had been made complete monkeys of from start to finish—led around by the nose!

Su Qiao, meanwhile, raised an eyebrow. Whether burned down or emptied out, both made the leads vanish.

One had to admit the people behind it had been very meticulous.

"Hold on—Luo my lord, did you investigate when exactly the White Horse Cart-house's people disappeared?"

Su Qiao suddenly called out to him and asked.

Luo Luo Yangxing pulled out a Juan Sect file for Su Qiao to look at. "Of course we asked. The Embroidered Uniform Guard made inquiries among quite a few people within the Tianjin Guard, and finally confirmed that it should have been the day after they ambushed us that they all withdrew."

"The day after? That proves their messages traveled very fast. Riding hard on the official road would barely be fast enough—carrier pigeons would actually be quicker."

Su Qiao said, his eyes lighting up.

"Carrier pigeons?" Luo Luo Yangxing, prompted by Su Qiao's remark, also immediately thought of something, and a hint of delight appeared on his face.

"Hold on a moment!"

Seeing that Luo Luo Yangxing was about to call the Embroidered Uniform Guard men over to launch an investigation, Su Qiao quickly stopped him.

This was only one lead—the rest hadn't been sorted through yet.

"Calm down first, a little while longer won't matter. Keep going and tell me the rest."

Cut off by Su Qiao like that, Luo Luo Yangxing did indeed calm down considerably, realizing he had been a bit rash just now.

So he spoke up, "We naturally seek people who have seen these assassins. A gathering of one or two hundred would draw attention."

Su Qiao interjected, "It is also possible they were not together before, but gathered only after sending messages by some method!"

"That is possible. Those below raised this idea, but it was immediately rejected. After all, if they gathered elsewhere, they would surely assemble and pose as a caravan, eventually converging. We found no place in Jingcheng where they could gather and hide."

Luo Yangxing shook his head and directly rejected it.

"Then they came from elsewhere?"

"Yes. We found nothing near Jingcheng. Furthermore, we considered whether they gathered in Tianjinwei. For this, the Embroidered Uniform Guard questioned many inn boys and shopkeepers, but found no clues."

"And after that?"

"After that, until now, there is still no result!"

Speaking thus, Luo Yangxing truly felt as if his head were full of bumps, feeling he had strength but struck cotton, finding no place to apply force.

Yet from Luo Yangxing's brief account just now, Su Qiao had at least discovered two flaws and directions for search and inquiry.

"My lord Luo, I have a thought. Please listen and see what you think."

"Good!"

Hearing Su Qiao's words, Luo Yangxing's eyes brightened, and he specially poured Su Qiao a cup of tea.

Su Qiao took it and said, "First point: pigeons. My lord Luo has already thought of this."

"Yes, correct!"

"Second point: the gathering place. I have two guesses: one is where beggars congregate, the other is Tianjin City!"

"Where beggars congregate? Their dress and appearance before did not resemble beggars at all."

Luo Yangxing said, puzzled.

Su Qiao rolled his eyes at him. "They are not wooden men; they can change clothes! Think: if they killed the beggars at the original location and then posed as beggars at their gathering point, would it attract attention?"

"It would not!"

"Exactly. This is the most concealed method!"

Although Luo Yangxing had once harbored some petty thoughts, hearing Su Qiao's analysis, he had to admit it was indeed brilliant.

"But we already investigated Tianjin City. Where could they hide?"

"Tianjin City has two places to hide: one is a courtyard long abandoned, a remote spot with secret chambers and tunnels where they could hide; or they could hide within brothels!"

Luo Yangxing had been constrained by his previous thinking; once reminded by Su Qiao, he immediately understood.

"It is possible!"

"Then what is the third point?" Luo Yangxing asked eagerly.

Su Qiao took a sip of tea to moisten his throat, stood up, and said, "The third point, and the most important one, is the issue of communication! There are many caravans and many people. If posing as a merchant caravan, they could not all be Japanese samurai; there must be Great Ming people among them. Otherwise, how would communication be resolved? Would they not be exposed before even arriving?"

"But they likely already fled with the people of the White Horse Carriage Company in Tianjinwei. How can we investigate this?"