In the late summer and early autumn of the 44th year of Wanli in the Ming Dynasty, the southern section of the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal, the Sujia Canal.

The moonlight sprinkled down, so that the night water town is no longer as dark as ink.

The ponds, separated by reeds and mud weirs, are like many empty eye sockets without eyes, resigned to their fate, quietly facing the sky.

Silence is occasionally broken.

The waves sounded softly, and a boy of twelve or thirteen years old swam across this large body of water, and finally touched the embankment.

He climbed ashore, propped himself on the ground, gritted his teeth, wiped the foul water from his face, took a few breaths, and ran along the embankment to the town with many houses in the distance.

At the turn of the day, the noisy streets of the day have fallen silent at this time.

The young man stood in the middle of the stone road, listened to the sound, regained his strength, turned a small temple, and finally saw the old man dressed in moonlight.

"Inspection Division, where is the Inspection Division?" The boy ran up and asked eagerly.

The old man was first stunned by the sudden appearance of the figure, and after fixing his eyes on the half-sized child, he asked with a scareless face: "What a little ghost, what is the compartment in the nest?" ”

This is the dialect of Suzhou Prefecture, and the old man is asking this doll, which family in the town is the child.

The young man's name is Zheng Shoukuan, who is not from Jiangnan, because he has lived with his aunt in the neighboring Songjiang Mansion for more than half a year, and he can already understand Wu.

He made a series of comparisons, and finally let the old man understand his origin and the sudden disaster he encountered today.

After hearing this, the old man's face turned solemn, changed his trotting pace, and after leading Zheng Shoukuan around the two alleys, he pointed to the high-walled house with torches burning in the distance, and said, "That is the inspection department of this town." ”

Zheng Shoukuan hurriedly thanked him and ran towards the torch.

The old man looked at the young man's back, was stunned for a moment, and sighed.

"Everyone says Jiangnan is good, and I see Jiangnan Li people resentful. The official is a thief, the thief is an official, how have you ever seen it? See you every month. Sorry pitiful, pitiful ......"

The old man hummed softly, and his rickety back quickly disappeared into the boundless night.

……

An hour ago, when Zheng Shoukuan was pushed off the boat by his aunt, his aunt clearly told him that the nearest town was called Qiandun, and there must be an inspection department to maintain local law and order, and he could call for help.

Since following his aunt Zheng Haizhu and going north from Zhangzhou Mansion in Fujian, Zheng Shoukuan has already discovered that his aunt seems to be quite familiar with the Jiangnan area.

He thought that this was all due to his aunt's literacy since she was a child and read all kinds of books in the ancestral house, so he admired his only relative more and more.

In distress today, my aunt's guidance at the critical moment was indeed correct.

When the young Zheng Shoukuan rushed into the Qiandun Inspection Division, Deputy Inspector Chen Aliang, and a few archers on duty, had already played the "horse tag" several rounds.

"Master Jun, Master Jun, help!" Zheng Shou said with a wide cry.

Chen Aliang was gambling on his head, glanced at the little boy who was holding the door frame, and said impatiently: "I don't understand the bird language in the countryside." ”

Zheng Shoukuan hurriedly gave up his hand, trying to make his accent close to the Wu dialect: "Master Jun, my aunt's passenger boat and I met lake bandits outside the reeds in the north, and the bandits kidnapped my aunt. The leader was tall and fat, but blind in one eye. Please, military master, save ......"

As soon as he spit out the word "save", Chen Aliang snorted and said to his archers: "Do you hear, in this world, it's better to be a soldier than to be a bandit, hey, you, can you say a daughter-in-law next year?" ”

Chen Aliang asked as he nodded at a thin young archer.

The thin man shook his head curtly: "Deputy Sizun, my grandfather, the rice owed by the public last year has not been paid yet, how can the little one have a family background to marry." ”

"I don't have money to marry, rob it, haha," Chen Aliang shook the horse tag in his hand, and the side printed with 'Hubaoyi Song Jiang' towards his subordinates, teased, "If you are far away and learn from Liangshan heroes, if you are near, you can learn from me as a Ming water bandit, you don't need to spend half a penny of silver, and the tender girl will take it away." ”

The archers laughed obscenely and heartily.

The young man Zheng Shoukuan's anger swelled, but he tried not to let his emotions get out of control, but he hunched his waist again, took out a silver ingot from his arms, took a few steps forward, and spread his palm to Chen Aliang.

"Buy some wine for the military master and a few uncles to drink."

Chen Aliang's eyes lit up, threw the cards, and took the ingots.

Under the dim oil lamp, although the boat-shaped ingots are small, the silhouette of the beating is quite beautiful, and the central inscription is clear.

This is not broken silver, but official silver.

Chen Aliang's cheekbones were like knives, and his lazy pig appearance was replaced by fox-like cunning and vigilance.

He squeezed out a few traces of kindness and asked Zheng Shoukuan: "Your family, is it the one who leads the court?" ”

Zheng Shoukuan is already talented and intelligent, and he has followed his aunt for two years, and he is much older than his peers, and he keenly discerns that Chen Aliang's attitude has changed, not just because of the money itself.

He then settled down and replied, "My father is a magistrate in the county. ”

"Which county?"

"Longxi County, Zhangzhou Prefecture."

"Oh, it's from Fujian. How did you come to our Jiangnan with your aunt? ”

"Go relatives."

"Walk relatives? From Fujian to Zhejiang, and then to our Nanzhili, your aunt took you a half-sized child to travel? Is your aunt out of the cabinet, how can she get the guide? ”

"If you go back to the military master, my aunt is a self-combing girl, and the government and county are allowed to go far away."

Chen Aliang let out an "oh".

Self-combing girl, he knows.

It is a new custom in Fujian and Guangdong, saying that some women there are reluctant to find men for some reasons, or in order to be able to go out of the boudoir to do some work, they will comb the kind of hair of the pavilion women, and swear not to marry for life, and the freedom to move on the ground or go out alone will be much greater than those ordinary unmarried girls.

Chen Aliang knew it in his heart.

In this way, the woman who was taken captive had no husband to rely on, and her brother was just a small sesame official, still from another province.

I'm afraid of it!