pertwk Chapter 1611 Getting to the bottom of things
Chapter 1611 Getting to the bottom of things
Chapter 1611 Getting to the bottom of things
But he may not have paid much attention to it at the time, so he can't think of it now.
Liu Wu didn't know what he meant and didn't want to disturb him.
Finally, Bai Ziqi interrupted his own train of thought and asked again:
"Has Qi Yunsheng been poisoned?"
"I checked it, no."
Bai Ziqi asked his men to continue sealing the body, and he turned around and walked out of the cellar: "After the incident, how will Mangzhou be dealt with?"
"Seal off the city, and activate the forbidden magic formation at the same time." Liu Wu followed, "After three days of searching without any results, expand the scope to a radius of fifty miles."
"That's right. We can't rule out the possibility that they used the escape technique to escape before the city was sealed off." Bai Ziqi asked him, "After expanding the scope, have you found a more suitable suspect?"
"No."
Liu Wu hesitated a little when he said this, and Bai Ziqi saw it and said, "Just say it if you have something to say."
"Because Mangzhou was so crowded at the time, some officials and wealthy businessmen chose to stay in Zhuowei. The straight-line distance from there to Mangzhou is only more than ten miles, but the mountain road is actually a bit rugged, probably several dozen miles." Liu Wu said, "After investigation, many people pointed out that General Chongwu suddenly went out in the evening and did not return until dawn the next day."
"Oh?" Speaking of General Chongwu, Bai Ziqi was not very interested. "Why did you leave suddenly?"
"It was said that the tribute that was being transported was stolen, and six or seven other teams were also robbed along with the inn. General Chongwu led his men to chase after them, and finally caught two local thieves in a deserted village nearby."
"Hmm..." Bai Ziqi thought for a moment, "Have you also suspected him?"
The Baidu Envoy's questions were all very difficult to answer. Liu Wu coughed lightly and said, "It's my duty."
"There's something wrong with this confession, isn't there?"
"This one……"
"Just tell me, I'll keep it a secret."
"General Chongwu was away from the inn for too long, leaving in the evening and returning at dawn. In addition, the two thieves he captured only admitted that they stole money from the inn, but denied stealing tribute and supplies."
"What did the little thief say specifically?"
"They fell asleep as soon as they returned to the deserted village. When they woke up, there were a pile of boxes around them and an angry General Zhongwu in front of them. Oh, and later we found that one of them was wearing an iron ring on his finger. It was a storage ring with a large capacity."
Otherwise, how could two people and two horses carry away more than a dozen boxes?
"Do you think these two little thieves are telling the truth and they were framed?"
Liu Wu said: "I wanted to go to the prison for interrogation, but was told that the two prisoners had disappeared. They suddenly disappeared from the county prison late at night two days before I arrived in Mangzhou. The jailer on duty that night was knocked unconscious and no one knew what happened."
Bai Ziqi was now interested: "Did he escape from prison or was he kidnapped?"
"The county couldn't make a judgement and only issued a wanted warrant, but they never caught the two men."
"In other words, we don't know whether we are alive or dead?"
"Yes... you can say that." Liu Wu was so nervous that he licked his lips in response to Bai Ziqi's question. "General Zhongwu insisted that someone was trying to frame him."
Bai Ziqi pondered and asked, "Where is General Chongwu?"
"More than two months ago, I rushed to the northern front to perform my duties."
Bai Ziqi was curious: "General Chongwu has not cleared his suspicion, so why can he rush to the northern front to perform his duties?"
Liu Wu explained: "After General Xue was killed, the northern line was vacant. The emperor and the regent agreed to transfer General Chongwu and General Yuwen to the northern line to fill the vacancy."
Bai Ziqi let out a long sigh, "I see. No wonder you suspected General Chongwu."
It seems that General Chongwu was the direct beneficiary of Xue Zongwu's death.
Liu Wu touched his nose awkwardly: "This..."
He was not the only one who suspected Chongwu. As far as he knew, the Lord was so angry that he couldn't eat for several days.
Bai Ziqi continued, "To sum up, the Nine Nether Emperor was not as free to act in Yao Country as in the Shining Gold Plain, so he reduced the number of people entering the country, had a legal and legitimate identity in Yao Country as a cover, and followed Xue Zongwu all the way to Mangzhou. So his path in Yao Country was basically the same as Xue Zongwu's. Have you checked this?"
"We have checked. But to be honest, there are too many teams entering from the northwestern border and taking the same route to Mangzhou, so it is difficult to find them one by one."
"Is there no team among them that possesses extremely powerful military force?" Although he had no hope in this direction, because Emperor Jiuyou must be good at disguise, Bai Ziqi still asked one more question as a matter of routine.
"The team that escorts officials into the capital usually has some skills. Extremely powerful? Uh..." Liu Wu thought about it and shook his head.
"Who did you think of again? It doesn't matter, you can tell me no matter how outrageous it is. Sometimes, intuition is more reliable than anything else."
Liu Wu read out six or seven names in a row, and then said: "These are all people with high cultivation and great reputation. They were all around Mangzhou when the crime happened."
One of the names sounded particularly familiar. Bai Ziqi said "Wait a minute", interrupting Liu Wu's announcement of the names.
"He Xiao?" He confirmed with Liu Wu again, "He Xiao was also near Mangzhou that night?!"
"Yes." Liu Wu nodded. "He was invited by our king to come to watch the ceremony. That night, he stayed in Zhuowei with Teshi and the royal guards, staying in the same inn as General Chongwu."
"Did you know how powerful he was at that time?" Bai Ziqi had fought with He Lingchuan before. If he had not recalled the Deng Ling at that time, this "Chiyan Special Envoy" would have suffered a loss.
At that time, He Xiao's cultivation was good, but he was not strong enough.
"He didn't know when I asked him. But not long after, he signed a life-and-death agreement at my king's Shoudian competition arena and killed He Yang, the leader of the Qingwei who supervised Qingyang, on the spot."
Bai Ziqi stood still and said, "I have only heard a little about this matter, but I don't know the whole process. Was it really done in front of the Qingyang Regent?"
"Yes, I was there in front of my king, Qingyang Regent, and all the civil and military officials."
"This is unbelievable." As far as Bai Ziqi knew, Qingyang was extremely protective of his own shortcomings. How could the death warrant at the Yao Wang birthday ceremony have any effect on her? "With Qingyang's ability as the regent, how could he not be able to rescue him in time?"
The former chief state teacher of Beijia was too late to save his own men at the birthday celebration of King Yao? This was not like the Qingyang he knew.
"Well, actually..." Liu Wu coughed lightly, "The magic weapon that killed Commander He was taken out by himself. It didn't hit He Xiao, but it backfired on its master. The accident happened too quickly, and even if Qingyang Regent took action, it would be too late."
He didn't know whether Bai Ziqi and Qingyang were related or not. He only knew that both of them were from Beiga and he couldn't afford to offend them.
"As expected of He Xiao, he has made Qingyang suffer a loss again." Qingyang traveled to the Golden Plains, and the people he brought with him were no ordinary people. He Xiao was able to defeat He Yang in a head-on duel, no matter what means he used, which really showed that this person was very powerful.
I haven't seen you for a few years. You've improved so much?
Liu Wu laughed awkwardly.
"Speaking of Xue Zongwu's murder, was He Xiao in the inn the whole night?"
"Yes." Liu Wu nodded, "The special envoy my king sent to pick him up, as well as the royal guards, all testified to this."
"How can you prove it? They drank together all night?"
"No, they each went back to their rooms to rest for a few hours at night." Liu Wu looked embarrassed. "When General Zhongwu rushed back in the morning, he had breakfast with He Xiao."
Bai Ziqi accurately grasped the loophole: "That is to say, no one in the inn saw He Xiao during those hours at night."
"You can say that." Liu Wu hesitated before saying, "Are you suspicious of He Xiao?"
"No, I only questioned, not inferred." Bai Ziqi smiled, "He Xiao is now doing very well in Tianshui City, and he is very happy."
"He is the most popular person in front of our king and the most popular foreign businessman in Yao Country." Liu Wu listed them all. "Not long ago, he presided over the construction of Youhu Villa, and is currently serving as the governor of the Tianshui East Expansion Construction."
Bai Ziqi already knew all of this.
As they were about to leave Xiaotao Villa by car, Bai Ziqi said to Liu Wu, "He Xiao and I are old acquaintances. Tell me in detail what he has done in Tianshui City in the past few months."
The carriage traveled along the way, and Bai Ziqi listened all the way.
When they arrived at the inn where he was staying, it was already dark. Bai Ziqi waved Liu Wu away and sat by the window, looking out in a daze.
In the small courtyard outside the guest room, there was a night-blooming cereus quietly blooming, exuding a refreshing fragrance.
There was no lantern lit under the eaves, but the moonlight was like water, gently pouring onto the white flowers, creating a pearly texture.
That beauty was too stunning to last for two hours.
With a cup of tea in his hand, Bai Ziqi drank it for more than a quarter of an hour.
Bai Qi came up with some hot water to make a cup for him, but Bai Ziqi asked him, "What do you think?"
"My Lord, what do you mean?"
"Qingyang, Chongwu, He Xiao, and Emperor Jiuyou."
Bai Qi had been with him for a long time and understood Bai Ziqi's way of speaking, so he said, "It seems that they are all a little suspicious, but..."
He was also in the carriage and could hear Bai Ziqi's interest in General Chongwu and He Xiao. Every time the adults asked questions like this about someone, that person would be in big trouble.
Bai Qi also knew that the adults might not really want to ask for his answer, but just needed to expand his thoughts through conversation.
Bai Ziqi asked: "But what?"
"They can't be linked together to form strong evidence." Bai Qi whispered, "They are just a few suspicious points."
"If it was so easy to connect the dots, the Nine Nether Emperor would have been captured by the Yao Nation long ago. Why would we need to come here?" Bai Ziqi tapped his temple lightly. "I told you, what should we do when we can't figure out the clues?"
The servant boy answered quickly: "Believe in your spiritual perception."
"How long has He Xiao been in Yao Country?"
"More than two months."
"How long has Qingyang been in Yao Country?"
"Uh, more than a year."
Bai Ziqi asked again: "How long has the Nine Nether Emperor disappeared?"
"…Almost three months."
"I said before that after killing Xue Zongwu, Emperor Jiuyou himself stopped committing crimes. Could it be that he had things to do in Tianshui City and was unable to split his time between them?"
The servant nodded. But he and Bai Qi also knew that there were countless strong men who entered Tianshui City at that time, and He Xiao and Chong Wu were just one or two of them.