Tang Dynasty Hidden Guards

"Young master, that's Hongni Bay!"

Zuo Qingling pointed to a bay not far away, where tens of thousands of people had witnessed the incident, making it easy to find out where it happened.

Xue Wei arrived at the bay and looked around. It was quite far from Chang'an City, about ten miles away, but very close to Han Chang'an City, less than two miles away. Currently, there were still over 100,000 people living in Han Chang'an City. The tens of thousands of witnesses should refer to the people of Han Chang'an City.

Interestingly, most of the rumors about Huanglong were spread by people in Chang'an. It's likely that they only knew where the incident occurred, and no one else witnessed it firsthand.

However... there was no city gate on the north side of Chang'an City, and it was actually quite a long way for ordinary people to come around the south gate.

Xue Wei seemed to have thought of something. He carefully examined the ground and found that the weeds were lush and there were no signs of large-scale trampling.

"What are you thinking about, young master?"

"I was thinking, if tens of thousands of people were to visit Huanglong, then the weeds here would probably be gone."

"It happened more than a month ago, so the weeds might have grown back."

Xue Wei shook his head and pointed to a large rock, saying, "This large rock must have been stepped on by several people. The grass growing in the cracks of the rock should have been trampled away. But the grass in the cracks is so thriving, without a trace of being stepped on. Logically speaking, it can be seen that there are actually not tens of thousands of people who witnessed this."

"Could the news be fake?"

"uncertain!"

Xue Wei looked at the distant city wall and laughed, "Let's do an experiment. Go up to the city wall over there and look this way. See if you can see me?"

"good!"

Zuo Qingling urged her horse away, and soon her figure appeared on the city wall two miles away, while Xue Wei rode his horse back and forth along the river.

Soon, Zuo Qingling returned, laughing, "I can see the young master, but I can't see the horse!"

Xue Wei laughed. "That explains it. It was indeed a yellow dragon flying, but the tens of thousands of people on the city wall couldn't see the ships. They only saw the yellow dragon flying in the air, or the people on the ships were supporting the dragon with wooden poles, or someone was lying on the ground flying a yellow dragon kite, or... it was a Kongming lantern."

"But people will still come to the riverbank! They can't all just stand obediently on the city wall!"

"Therefore, quite a few people are needed to cooperate, disguise themselves as yamen runners, and prevent curious people from getting close."

Zuo Qingling gave a thumbs up, "Young master is truly amazing. You just came here for a casual look and figured out the truth."

"These are all just normal inferences!"

Xue Wei stood on high ground and looked out over both sides of the river. He noticed a dock about two miles to the west, with dozens of warehouses on it.

"I've found Huanglong's starting point!"

Xue Wei mounted his horse and galloped towards the warehouse.

Before long, they arrived at the warehouse, which resembled a private dock. The warehouse itself was privately built and used for rental purposes. The warehouse had a wall, but the gate was unlocked, so they simply pushed it open and went inside.

Who are you looking for?

A man in his thirties walked out of a small hut next door and looked at the two of them warily.

"If you are not tenants here, you cannot come in."

Xue Wei took out two silver ingots from his pocket and said with a smile, "This is twenty taels of silver. If you tell me which warehouse houses Huanglong, these twenty taels of silver are yours."

Those who guarded the warehouse usually only earned two or three strings of cash a month. Twenty taels of silver was equivalent to more than half a year's income for them. Anyone would be tempted and would find it hard to refuse.

The guard swallowed hard a few times, glanced to both sides, and then suddenly lowered his voice, "The third warehouse from the west in the second row!"

Xue Wei threw the silver to him. This was a method Yuan Min had taught him; money could make ghosts find Huanglong for them, and it really worked.

The treasury keeper picked up the two silver ingots and hurriedly ran back to his hut.

Zuo Qingling, standing to the side, stared in disbelief. After a long while, she asked, "How did you know that the Yellow Dragon was hidden here, young master?"

"It's very simple. If I were the one in charge of this, I would definitely prepare a backup plan. That's the right attitude to do things – to think things through thoroughly and ensure that nothing goes wrong."

Xue Wei strode to the third warehouse from the west in the second row. The gate was locked. He looked up and saw a small air vent about two feet in size, about ten feet above the ground on the wall. He then glanced back at Zuo Qingling.

Zuo Qingling gave a wry smile, leaped onto the air vent, and darted inside in a flash, faster than a gecko, leaving Xue Wei speechless.

Before long, Zuo Qingling reappeared at the air vent, her face full of excitement. "There really is a yellow dragon, it's a Kongming lantern, you can drag it with a thin string."

"Is it placed on the ground or in a box? Are there any other goods nearby?"

"It was placed in a large box with a lid, and there were no other goods inside. It was just an empty warehouse with only this one lonely box inside."

"Get down!"

Zuo Qingling jumped down. "What else does Young Master need me to do?"

"Do you know how to interrogate criminals?"

"No, but I think it's simple: if you don't talk, you die!"

Xue Wei nodded. "Go and interrogate the man who guards the warehouse! Ask him whose dock this is? Whose warehouse is this? Who rented that warehouse? Also, I think he has the key to the empty warehouse. He must have been inside, otherwise, how would he know there was Huanglong inside when the boxes were covered?"

"Should we take the money back?"

"No need. Once he gets the money, he'll have leverage over us, and he'll deliberately hide the fact that we were here."

Fifteen minutes later, the man, whose face was still bleeding, took out his key and opened the warehouse door. He glared resentfully at Xue Wei, who had just given him a pleasant surprise of twenty taels of silver, only to have him almost die in the blink of an eye.

This is the dock and warehouse complex of Liu Zhan, a wealthy merchant in Chang'an. The warehouses are empty and no one is renting them. As for who put Huanglong in there, the warehouse keeper doesn't know. All he knows is that it was a group of burly men dressed in uniform black warrior outfits.

Xue Wei hired a donkey cart and sent the large box containing the yellow dragon back to Yuan's residence in Chang'an.

Yuan Min was full of surprise. They had brought back Huanglong in just over an hour? How did the other three teams solve the case without finding Huanglong?

Xue Wei had been studying Huanglong in his room. As night fell, Yuan Min brought a cup of tea into the room.

"So, have you found any clues?"

Xue Wei shook his head slightly. "This yellow dragon is fake; it's a trap."

Yuan Min was taken aback. "Why?"

"Because this yellow dragon can't fly at all. The dragon head is carved from wood, which is too heavy. Also, I couldn't find any place to support it with a long pole, which means it wasn't supported by a long pole. This is a loophole by the forger; they forgot to drill a hole."

"Maybe they'll drill another hole on site?"

"Impossible. They would definitely rehearse beforehand to ensure that the backup faucet is usable."

Xue Wei suddenly realized something, "You're right, we need to drill a hole on-site!"

He pointed to a dot of ink under the dragon head, "This is the mark left by the sculptor to indicate the location of the hole. During the rehearsal, they would definitely drill the hole, but this dragon head was specially left for me and we didn't rehearse it, so we overlooked the drilling."

Yuan Min was truly impressed. Xue Wei's deduction was reasonable and flawless, and it should be the truth.

"So who do you think set this trap for you?"

Xue Wei sneered, "I thought of Wu Chongxun. This was a trap he set for me, misleading my investigation. The warehouse keeper was very likely his subordinate, pretending to lure me into a trap."

At this point, Xue Wei sighed, "The real backup Yellow Dragon should have been obtained by Wu Chongxun and the others. Wu Chongxun left me a replica of the Yellow Dragon, but I don't know whether he replicated it exactly as it was, leaving crucial false clues to lead me astray in the right direction, or whether he misled me into replicating it, making me think that the dragon's head was supported by wooden poles from the beginning."

"What was Wu Chongxun's intention in deceiving you?"

Xue Wei said in a deep voice, "He's competing with me for the position of Hidden Guard. He's unwilling to accept it and wants to steal the credit and solve the case before me."

Yuan Min suddenly laughed: "Since you're in a dilemma, why don't you throw away this evidence and look for new clues? That way, you won't be led by the nose by Wu Chongxun."

Xue Wei nodded. "You're right, but I still need to investigate this dragon. However, I won't be the one to investigate it; I'll hand it over to another group of people."

Yuan Min stepped forward, gently massaged his head, and said softly, "Actually, you still have a sliver of hope that this really is the backup dragon, right?"

Xue Wei smiled wryly, "You're right, I did have a sliver of luck."

Yuan Min whispered again, "Is it possible that the Huanglong incident was orchestrated by Wu Chongxun and his group, and that he's trying to stop you from solving the case?"

Xue Wei nodded. "That's certainly possible!"

"Then go investigate the person guarding the warehouse; I think he's the biggest loophole."