The carriage started quickly and soon arrived at the intersection. Scout No. 1 was following on foot. He was already out of breath from the rush. When he saw the carriage coming, he immediately got on board. People were coming and going on the road, and the large car Qiao Yan was riding in had trouble traveling. Not long after, he was overtaken by Yang Cao's carriage on a shortcut. After following him for a while, Yang Cao slightly lifted the curtains and looked forward, but he didn't see the carriage. As calm as before, the car body swayed slightly from side to side, showing that the load was not heavy, and the ruts were also very shallow. Yang Cao immediately felt something was wrong, and whispered: "Go, see if there is anyone in the carriage."
Investigator No. 1 immediately jumped off the carriage and hurried over. He rubbed his body against the front of the car and fell down immediately, saying: "Ah, the big car hit someone."
The driver was startled and immediately stopped the cart and said, "You, you bumped into me, what are you doing to me?"
Investigator No. 1 immediately got up and grabbed the bridle of the horse, saying: "It's unreasonable to try to leave after hitting someone!" After saying that, he got on the car and pulled the handlebar, taking the opportunity to bump into him. Unintentionally, he raised the curtain with his arm and suddenly found that there was no one in the car.
The investigator immediately took out his work permit, flashed it, and shouted at the driver with a fierce look on his face: "Where are the people in the car? I'm from the Yamen. You have to tell the truth, or else you may get sued!"
The coachman was at a loss and didn't know who the person in front of him was. He only saw his ferocious face, and he was afraid to provoke him. He couldn't help but said: "No, I don't know. As soon as the man got on the car, he gave me a double reward. All I had to do was deliver a letter to Sanxiantai. I had to hang up the car curtains and curtains on the way and couldn't open them. They told me that if the letter wasn't delivered, I would be charged double the amount of money. After saying that, I went to the shaded area at the corner of the last intersection and didn't even call. Stop, jump out of the car and leave." He said and took out an envelope.
Investigator No. 1 snatched the envelope, opened it, and saw that it was indeed a blank piece of paper. He stopped talking to the coachman and reported back immediately after taking the envelope. Yang Cao immediately knew that he had been tricked and lost. Now that person is the only clue to this matter. Once lost, it will be like a cow in the sea, and it must be recovered as soon as possible. She quickly spread out a regional map in the car that marked the streets, exits, and routes around the surveillance area. She wandered around the map nervously while thinking rapidly in her mind. Not going outside the city and walking on foot means that their stronghold is in the city or at least there is a foothold in the city. The location where he got off the bus should not be where the stronghold is, otherwise a little analysis will reveal it. The driver said he got off at the previous intersection. This shows that Yang Cao and the others discovered it quite timely. The target should not have gone far yet. Judging from the time, it should not be more than half a street, and there is still the possibility of reshooting. Thinking of this, Yang Cao quickly circled the possible locations and paths of several targets on the map with a red pencil, then opened the car's bottom box, took out the eight-fold telescope, handed the map and telescope to the front and sat leaning in the car. The No. 2 investigator who came to help said, "From the commanding heights, search and observe." The No. 2 investigator took the things and nodded.
The coachman glanced around and stopped the carriage along a high wall. With a telescope in hand, the No. 2 investigator stepped on the roof of the car and jumped up to the wall in two steps. He then climbed up a big tree with the help of the wall and rode on the tree. On the fork, he covered the telescope with a cloth and quickly searched the streets and alleys based on the target's appearance and the points marked on the map.
As time passed by, Yang Cao took out his pocket watch and looked at it. Cold sweat slowly began to form on his forehead, and the eyes of the three people under the tree gradually became more and more anxious. Suddenly, the No. 2 Scout's telescope suddenly stopped swinging. He paused for a moment, held the telescope in his left hand, pointed to the west with his right hand, and then quickly made a few one-arm sign language downwards. Yang Cao immediately lowered his head and looked at the map. Said: "The target is moving from west to east. He is walking on the Fifth Line."
At this time, the No. 2 investigator tilted his legs, held his hands and feet on the tree trunk twice, and almost jumped down from the tree. As soon as he landed, Yang Cao immediately said to him: "You have the best physical fitness. You can walk on foot." Cross the line, the Geng line is wide, and the cart takes the Geng line, move." Then the coachman shouted: "Drive!" The cart galloped straight through the Xiejie according to the planned route, while the No. 2 investigator came from the other side of the narrow street. He took a shortcut and ran away.
Yang Cao's carriage drove around for a while, slowed down on a straight road in front of Qiao Yan, and put down the No. 1 investigator. The No. 2 investigator had just come out of the narrow alley, still some distance away from the target. Investigator No. 1 calmly said to the newsboy on the side of the road: "A daily newspaper." He took out a coin from his arms and threw it over. Investigators always carry a lot of change with them in case they pay bills at any time without having to change. .
Investigator No. 1 stood quietly by the road holding a newspaper, looking over the edge of the newspaper and observing silently. When he was young, Qiao Yan passed in front of Investigator No. 1. After he passed six or seven meters, Investigator No. 1 Putting away the newspaper calmly, Shi Shiran followed slowly. At this time, Scout No. 2 had also recovered from the violent panting of running, and slowly followed behind Scout No. 1. Still restoring the tip position according to the No. 1 main tip and No. 2 auxiliary tip, Yang Cao's position changed slightly, falling slightly behind the No. 2 scout. Although Guangzhou has been recovered, there are still not many women showing their faces. If a woman appears repeatedly, she will be more eye-catching and easier to be exposed. Therefore, only male investigators are generally assigned to serve as the lead, and women are often used as mobile substitutes.
Yang Cao followed Investigator No. 2 and walked through another street. She suddenly noticed something strange in the eyes of a beggar on the side of the road. Although the beggar kept shaking his bowl of ballast to beg for food, his eyes were more than ten meters behind Qiao Yan. Keep patrolling. Yang Cao's heart skipped a beat, as someone responded to his target.
She walked forward quickly, surpassing Scouts No. 1 and 2 one after another. She held her waist with her hand to remind Scout No. 1 that someone was assisting her target. Scout No. 1 used his eyes to indicate that he had received it, then put his hands behind his back and turned toward the back. No. 2 sent a message, and the No. 1 and No. 2 investigators immediately exchanged positions to confuse the responders, while Yang Cao slowed down and fell behind, searching for the beggar.
Sure enough, the beggar followed quietly among the crowd. At this time, Qiao Yan in front of him suddenly turned into an alley next to him, then pressed his body against the alley wall behind the street and peeked behind him. No. 2 exchanged positions. The investigator did not follow him into the alley. Instead, he walked slowly and walked straight through the alley without looking sideways. Investigator No. 1 stopped calmly, sat down at a tea stall by the road, ordered a cup of tea and two snacks, and calmly drank slowly while reading the newspaper. Yang Cao turned into a cloth shop on the side of the road, rummaged through the fabrics, chatted with the shop assistants, and watched secretly through the door.
Qiao Yan stared at the back of Scout No. 2 who was walking away. He looked away for a while, and then turned his eyes to the beggar in the crowd. The beggar shook his head gently. Qiao Yan's heart suddenly felt relieved. After letting out a long sigh of relief, he waited for a while, and when he saw nothing strange, he no longer hesitated, walked out of the alley, and walked forward quickly.
Yang Cao walked out of the cloth shop and switched to the main position. Investigator No. 1 followed behind her. The two of them trailed behind Qiao Yan quietly, like an invisible trail. The No. 2 investigator wore his double-sided coat inside out and a six-in-one melon-pipe hat. With plaster on his face and slouched shoulders, he was leaning against the wall in front of the street and taking a nap, silently waiting for the target to appear. Everything gradually fell into place.
Half an hour later, Qiao Yan stood in front of a courtyard door, knocking on the door with three short and two long keys. At the same time, he looked around vigilantly. After a while, the courtyard door opened, and Qiao Yan ducked inside. The courtyard door clicked and closed tightly.
Outside the door, at the street entrance, people were coming and going, bustling, and there was no loneliness at all in the dusk. The slanting light of the setting sun lazily fell on Yang Cao's shoulders, and Yang Cao lit a lady's holy boat with his right hand lazily. Holding it, he blew out a smoke ring gracefully and said softly: "It's good to go home."
Back at the bureau, Yang Cao sorted out all the materials on hand and began to sort them out. To be honest, there were too many materials in front of her, and they were all confusing. The data retrieval system set up by the computing center in Guangzhou helped them a lot, allowing them to use the "keyword" mode to query various related data at any time, but this kind of mechanical retrieval still requires a lot of manpower to sort and analyze.
Although they all have related card systems, at a glance, there are hundreds of various index cards. This relies heavily on the brain power of the officials in charge.
Yang Cao realized that the existence of Wu Ban had a qualitative change in the entire case. In the past, they only suspected the existence of a "Martial Arts Team", but this time, it seems that this team not only exists, but is also very careful. She recalled the recent intensification of counterfeit currency cases, and the clues about the mysterious silver medicinal silver ingot "Sanjiang Mao" reported to her by Section 9 of the police.
What do they want to do when they come together? Obviously, collecting "favors" is only part of it, otherwise it would be impossible to explain why they spend money to cultivate a "military squad". Yang Cao knew very well that the cost of accumulating force was far beyond the cost of hiring a few literati to copy. A team of several hundred people gathered together to eat and drink. Just eating and burning firewood for a day was a huge expense, not to mention the cost of monthly wages.
Even a wealthy family like the Liang family cannot bear the expense of maintaining private soldiers for a long time. Foshan's Zhongyi Camp is a joint venture between all the big players in Foshan.
Obviously, the Liang family is not alone. There may be many local wealthy families who are secretly colluding with him. However, these wealthy families either do not live in Guangzhou, or the main members of the family are in the countryside, and the limited powerful units of the Senate cannot monitor them. their anomalies
Thinking of this, Yang Cao's hair stood up. Under the rule of the Ming Dynasty, it was understandable that these large households would jointly raise militiamen, rural warriors, and the like. What do they plan to do with it now?
(End of chapter)
