If you have just arrived in Jiangnan and then plan to live permanently, it is easy to have the illusion that after the New Year, the excitement here does not seem to have changed.

There are still so many shouts on the street, and the guests in the restaurant have not stopped, but there are more officials in the fence.

That's because after the New Year, merchants from other places came, and they always wanted to taste the different flavors of this beautiful place.

A hundred years ago, the scholar of Wenying University said that the five elements and eight works are also rivers and lakes, but in fact, they refer to temples and people.

But in fact, this little person from all walks of life does have his own set of rules.

For example, this 'foot walk', although it is not an official position, but it is responsible for the transportation of large and small goods inside and outside the city.

There are more or less overt or implicit rules about what to send, what goods to receive, and how much money to charge for the identity of the owner.

Especially in the south of the Yangtze River, the waterways are developed, in addition to taxes, further south of the south of the Yangtze River, Yangling County, which also belongs to Wanzhou, is a large grain household in the Duan Dynasty, plus the war horses and forage in Jiangbei County, even the government will cooperate with them in this matter of transportation.

For this reason, some people jokingly say that Wanzhou produces grain in the south and horses in the north, which is the top of the Jiangnan in the middle.

In this way, even if you are down, and you can't afford to be a beggar, and you want to move goods to the dock to earn food and drink, then someone has to introduce you and worship the dock.

Otherwise, you'll just stand by the river and watch, and no one will carry the goods for you.

In the words of Cassia when he first learned about these rules: to move bricks, you have to find a good construction site and a contractor.

There is a recent popular conversation in the circle of wealthy families in Jiangnan County, that is, the Xie family accepted a doorman, for food and drink, but did not do anything, and flowed around the alleys all day long, accompanied by five stones and wine.

It stands to reason that there are two kinds of customers accepted by the family, one is to follow the path of the family with all their hearts, calling them customers on the surface, and secretly there is no difference between signing a deed of sale.

This kind of person can take the imperial examination, or he can find a position in the family, which is the so-called outsider, and the highest position is just the head of the family.

There is also a kind of that you don't have to do anything, the family provides you with food and drink, and you study for the imperial examination, but after entering the court and becoming an official, you are a member of my faction.

If you regret it afterwards, the power of the Jiangnan family in the court can make you never turn over.

Even if this kind of person is in a high position in the future, he will definitely have a handle in the hands of the family, after all, they don't believe in anyone except their own people.

And the popular talking point in the circle, Lu Ze, is the second type.

The reason why he was ridiculed was because he really didn't study, as if he came here just to eat.

But fortunately, his first impression of the Xie family was too amazing, so the Xie family has not pursued it, since he said that next year's imperial examination will be a tribute, the Xie family will not even be able to afford an idler for a year.

Sitting on the passenger boat in the river, Lu Ze warmed wine in a small furnace beside him, with a brand-new big wine on his body, and a piece of fine jade material in his hand, so chic and happy.

If there is no drunken prodigality, it has always attracted the girls on the shore to look back.

In fact, I don't blame others for saying that he said behind his back, just the piece of jade in his hand was bought by him for a year's pre-spent pen, ink, paper, and inkstone.

In his own words: If you are afraid of poverty, you must change some hard currency.

"Boat boss, alright, stop here. Lu Ze said and handed over a piece of broken silver.

The boat boss smiled and took it, but he thought in his heart that the temper of this rich man was strange, and it had circled the whole city several times.

Suddenly, the passenger ship slowly docked, this is not the shore mouth, but a small pier, and several ships are stopping here to unload.

Lu Ze put down the jade material, carried the warm wine jug ashore, and stood in front of a footman with a smile.

"You will never be able to wait to live if you wait like this, no one will recognize you if you have not visited the docks. Lu Ze said with a smile.

The thin, lame fellow stared dryly and didn't speak.

"Why is the girl here, tyrannical and ruined. ”

Lychee took a breath: "I will pay you back......"

"That's not what I meant, aunt...... Brother has been short of money recently?" Lu Ze glanced at the eyes of the people around him and changed his words.

Lychee didn't speak again, and glanced at the jade material on Lu Ze's waist.

provoked Lu Ze for a moment, and hurriedly covered it: "Brother, don't think too much, this is Lu's life." ”

Lychee gave him a blank look.

Lu Ze shook his head and smiled, ignored the lychee, and left the dock with his head down.

The weather was still cold in spring, so Lychee rubbed her sleeves and continued to stare at the unloading ship for a morning.

Until the noon break, when the other guys had received their morning's wages and dispersed, Lychee still stood there alone, silent.

The last cargo ship departed, and Lychee sighed, without money, she might not even be able to survive in this county.

"Hey, that brother, yes, it's you, come!"

Not far away, a man with five big and three thick greetings and motioned for Lychee to come over.

"Big brother, what's the matter?"

Lychee muffled her throat, her hair was so special that she dressed up in disguise to magnify the temperament of the mountain people in Yuezhou, and it was easy to ignore her daughter.

After all, women have no hair...... It's no different from not wearing clothes, except for the nuns who leave the dynasty in the north, although they have grown some in the past two years, but which family's daughters will go out like this.

"New here?" the man shook his legs, "follow me in the future, get a sign with me later, there will be work in the afternoon, your hands and feet will be numb, and you can have dinner." ”

Lychee opened her eyes and lost her mind for a moment.

"There was a brother who said hello, to be honest, we are all poor people, but we did it for the sake of human rules, and I had the opportunity to thank that brother. ”

With that, the man left on his own, leaving Lychee alone in place.

......

......

"Return! Close! Curfew!"

At night, the soldiers of the City Defense Division walked the streets and alleys, shouting new orders from above.

Curfew, Gangnam County closed its gates at night, but there was never a curfew.

Lychee held the cold bun and quietly hid under the bridge pier, ready to make do with it all night today.

It's not the first time she's lived here, and after being kicked out by the restaurant shopkeeper, she has nowhere to go.

That's it! There are still rules in the beggar circle who can live and who can't, how can the rich family of Li Village know this, but after being beaten badly and scratching the faces of a few beggars, he earned a place to live.

Even this bun is leftover from the shop, because there is one penny left, and one penny is newly out of the pot, and it is only half a penny for her to move a piece of goods.

sighed, and took out the purse on her chest, there was a tear on it, which was pulled by a beggar a while ago, if it weren't for this, she wouldn't have risked her life to go back.

After eating the steamed buns, I drank two sips of river water, and the lychee fell asleep deeply, and I had to get up early tomorrow to move the goods.

In the middle of the moon, on the bridge where Lychee was sleeping, two black shadows flashed by, rushing towards the place where the family gathered in the south of the city.

The speed of the black shadow is rare for ordinary people to see, and through the shadows of the moonlight, the patrol soldiers of the City Defense Division have become blind.

The county town of the curfew fell silent all of a sudden, and the sons and girls were bored at home listening to their parents' earnest teachings.

In the mansion of a wealthy family, the old housekeeper checked again whether the courtyard door was closed, and it was not peaceful in the county town recently.

Somehow, a while ago, a side of a family in the city was suddenly killed, and the murderer was not found, but the method was a wild road on the rivers and lakes.

Otherwise, how can there be a curfew, ordinary people are dead, who will care about you?

The latch moved, and the old butler nodded, carrying the lantern and preparing to go back to his room to sleep.

The shadow of the courtyard gate hung over the old butler, and two steps in front of him was the moonlight.

The cold wind of the late spring night blew through his neck, and the old butler never stepped into the moonlight again.

One hand quietly caught the lantern without making a sound.

"You can use a knife or a sword, what kind of hidden weapon do you use, how can there be so many people who use hidden weapons on the rivers and lakes?"

"Didn't you say confusing the public? ”

“...... Okay, disguise yourself and find the next one. ”

"Why do you say that the top wants to kill the people of the Jiangnan family, or do you have to cover up what the Jianghu people did?"

"Are you looking for death? This is what we should ask? Be careful, this is under Luo Xinghe's nose. ”

......

......

"General, teacher, you lost. ”

The Emperor looked at the old man with a smile and withdrew his hand from the chessboard.

The old man shook his head with a smile, and almost clapped his hands in celebration: "Okay, it's really a good thing, Your Majesty, the old man thinks that if this is spread out, he can share half of the chess path with Go!"

"Report!" Before the emperor could speak, a herald came running and knelt in the hall.

Say. ”

"Your Majesty, the right general of Wudian personally led 150,000 right guards out of Mangdang Pass!"

"Got it. ”

The emperor stepped down from the herald with an unchanged expression, but the old man was taken aback, and stood up from the futon, pointing to the chessboard with trembling arms.

"Your Majesty, are you going to go to war with the Lichao?!"

"Teacher, for the people of my dynasty, the dynasty is the whole world, but for me, as long as I am alive from the dynasty, I will sit ...... It's always half of the country!"