The autumn wind blew the white clouds in the sky to the east, and also blew the word "wine" hanging high in front of the small wine shop to flutter violently.

This is a small wine shop located in the Shanxi border pass, the side of the head of the pass city, is facing the door of the store, is a rammed earth built, slightly dilapidated, even some damaged city wall, that is the outer wall of the side of the head pass, but also part of the Great Wall of the northern gateway of the Central Plains.

Yang Chen sat at the table at the door of the wine shop, drinking the spicy "dry roast" while his eyes fell on these people who were constantly walking back and forth at the foot of the city wall.

Yang Chen, who is in his early thirties, is of medium stature, looking full of wind and frost, and only a pair of eyes are still bright enough to seem to be able to understand people's hearts. On the surface, he was demoted from the six-rank petty official of the Criminal Department to the end because he offended the powerful in the capital, and came to this small county town to become a county official history, but the truth behind it is far more complicated.

At the end of last year, that is, in the eleventh year of Zhengde in the Ming Dynasty, a Jinyi Wei spy who infiltrated the grassland secretly reported to the imperial court, saying that the Tatars outside the Saiwai wanted to send spies into the Ming Dynasty, and used extraordinary means to destroy the city walls in the area of Yatou Pass, so as to achieve the goal of invading the Central Plains. After learning about this, although many people did not think so, for the sake of prudence, the Criminal Department still sent him, a master investigator who has repeatedly cracked major cases, to this small Biguan County, and found out the truth here under the pretense of being a historian.

Yang Chen, who was in a desperate position, came to the county where the Bitou Pass is located more than half a year ago, and became the fourth master of the county government after the local county order, the county lord and the main book. He was sent to the local county government to be a warden in charge of criminal prison affairs, but in fact, it was logical from the perspective of his authority.

However, in such a small county, there are really not many things, and he, the fourth master, can only be an ornament, even if there is any case on weekdays, it is mostly handled directly by the county order, and it is not his turn to ask.

In this regard, Yang Chen was also happy, because he knew that his ultimate goal was to find out if there was anyone, or who would attack the partial wall. So in the past few months, he would always come to this small wine shop, called drinking, but in fact, he was monitoring the people and movements above and below the wall to see if there was anything unusual.

It's just that, after a few months, to this day, he has not gained anything, except that he found that recently under the order of the Yamen above, the partial head pass began to cover the bricks inside the wall, which made this section of the wall a lot more lively.

But that doesn't show any problems. After all, the partial head pass is one of the three passes in the north with the same name as Yanmen Pass and Ningwu Pass, and it is reasonable to wrap the rammed earth city wall with bricks and stones to play a better defensive role.

"Perhaps, this statement itself is fake news......" Yang Chen couldn't help muttering in his heart after drinking the last glass of wine: "And if I really can't find the relevant clues, I'm afraid that I won't be able to return to the capital in this life." But that's okay, compared to Beijing, which is full of powerful people, this small Guancheng is quieter, and there are a lot less pickles......"

As if to prove his idea wrong, there was a quarrel in front of the otherwise quiet street, and two men in cloth suddenly pulled up there, and they were about to make a move. Seeing this, many idle people were soon surrounded by them, looking at them with great interest, but none of them stepped forward to persuade them.

Seeing this, Yang Chen, who had an official position, was naturally not good at standing still, so he walked over with a drunken step, and when he got closer, he straightened his face and scolded: "What are you doing? Dare to do it in front of this official, aren't you afraid of going to the county government to eat a lawsuit? ”

Hearing him say this, the hand of the short man who had just swung his fist and wanted to hit the person in front of him was put down, and the surrounding people quickly recognized Yang Chen's identity and hurriedly saluted: "It turns out that the fourth master is here, Lao Hu, don't bully people......

There is another advantage of having few people in a small town, that is, several officials are recognized by everyone, and as soon as Yang Chen appears, the deterrent effect is full.

"What the hell is going on?" Snorting wine and squinting his eyes, Yang Chen looked at the two of them in front of him, and he also had the impression that he was a dilapidated man named Hu Sui in the city, and he had never been a peaceful master. As for the person opposite him, he looked quite responsible, and he didn't have much impression.

Hearing Yang Chen's question, Hu Sui immediately shouted: "Fourth Master Mingjian, it's not that the little one wants to make trouble, it's really this guy who took my money bag and refused to hand it over, so I will use it against him in a hurry." ”

"You...... You are talking nonsense, when did I take your money bag, it is obviously my money bag, you just saw it and insisted that it was yours, I don't give it to you and want to use the robbed ......" The person on the other side hurriedly retorted, and added another sentence: "Fourth master, I was wronged, you have to be the master for me." ”

Before Yang Chen could speak, the surrounding people were already smiling and speaking: "Old Hu, when will you be rich again?" Don't you want to slander him when you see the hunt, right? ”

"It's just that...... Two days ago, Lao Hu, you borrowed money from me, and today you suddenly have money? ”

"What do you know, Lao Tzu is running at this time, but I didn't expect it to fall out without noticing for a while, and was picked up by this kid......" Hu Sui was immediately annoyed, and wanted to grab it again, but was stopped by Yang Chen reaching out and stopping: "Bold, do you really want to enter the class room?" ”

After stopping Hu Sui, Yang Chen looked at the person in front of him: "What's your name and what do you do for a living?" Is the purse really yours? ”

"Back to the fourth master, the younger one is called Qu San'er, and he sells oil cakes in Dongcheng. The money in this money bag is small, how many days do you get up early and are greedy and late to earn...... How dare the little one pick up his money and not pay it back? As he spoke, his face was full of grievances.

At this time, someone on the side chimed in: "Yes, I remember, he is indeed a seller of oil cakes in Dongcheng, and I have bought them from him before." ”

Someone testified, and after confirming his identity, everyone was even more convinced that Hu Sui was the one who wanted to blackmail, after all, one was a broken household, and the other was a serious businessman, and everyone would prefer to believe the latter.

And after feeling this, Hu Sui was even more anxious, his face turned red, and he pulled his neck and shouted: "Fourth master, the little wronged, the money bag is indeed mine, and it was picked up by this kid......"

"Hmm...... Both of you say that this money bag is your own, which makes this official a little embarrassed. Yang Chen touched the short beard on his chin with his hand and said, "Why don't you divide it in half?" ”

"No!" The two of them objected almost in unison, and some people around them also sneered, feeling that this drunken fourth master was too unreliable to come up with such an idea. However, because of his official status, he did not dare to say it to his face.

Yang Chen didn't mean to be embarrassed, he just smiled when he saw this: "In this way, then you can only use other methods, such as letting God decide whose money is owned." ”

"Huh?" The people around him were stunned again, feeling that the fourth master was becoming more and more unreliable, and he actually said such strange words. If God can decide this, what else does the yamen have to do?

Ignoring the people's discussions, Yang Chen stretched out his hand to Qu San'er: "You hand over the money bag to this official." ”

Qu San'er hesitated for a moment, but did as he said, after all, people are officials, and it should be impossible to ignore the money. Yang Chen took it, checked it slightly, and found that it was still quite weighty, and when he opened it, there were some golden copper plates inside, which should be about a hundred, and there were indeed a lot of them.

"Okay, since you all said that you are each in your own money bag, then let this official break it." Yang Chen said, then turned around and said to the shopkeeper who was watching the bustle of a shop behind him, "Bring a bowl of water." ”

The man agreed, and soon brought a bowl of water. After Yang Chen took it, he put it on the ground, took out the money, and looked at the two: "Before the official asks God to judge this matter, I will give you one last chance." If he admits it now, he can assume that this incident did not happen, and he will not pursue it. But if God makes a decision later, I won't spare you. ”

These words made everyone around snicker, thinking that he was deceiving people. However, obviously the effect is also average, and Hu Sui and Qu San'er both insisted again that the money bag was their own.

"Hey...... That's all there is to it. Yang Chen said, shaking his head, he had already put his hand into the money bag, took out a few copper coins and threw them into the water bowl.

Although everyone didn't believe the words of the drunken fourth master, he was still driven by curiosity to move forward, stretched his neck and looked over, wanting to see if there was any so-called change.

But the result disappointed everyone, God didn't mean to give an answer at all, and after the copper coins entered the water, they only sank to the bottom of the bowl with a bang, and then there was no movement. Water is still water, bowls are still bowls, and copper coins are still copper coins......

Yang Chen stared at the bowl of water with his eyes down for a long time, even if the people around him had whispered again, he was not distracted. It wasn't until after the tea time that he raised his head, and his drunken eyes, which were originally a little hazy, suddenly became bright, and flashed over the two people in front of him like lightning: "God has given the answer!" ”

"Huh? But what is the answer? Everyone was a little confused, they didn't know what kind of medicine he was selling in his gourd, and some people couldn't help but scream.

Yang Chen smiled slightly, then his right hand suddenly reached out and grabbed one of them: "You are lying, this money bag is not yours!" ”

Everyone looked in amazement in the direction he reached out, followed by another exclamation. Because the prisoner he designated was not the more suspicious Sha Hu Sui, but the harmless Qu San'er!

The sound of discussion and suspicion suddenly sounded......