Daming Yinghua

Chapter 1 The Boy Calling for Help

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 shines down, so that the water town at night is no longer as dark as ink.

Those ponds separated by reeds and mud weirs, like many empty eye sockets without eyes, silently facing the sky as if accepting their fate.

The silence is occasionally broken.

There was a soft sound of waves, a boy of twelve or thirteen swam across this large area of ​​water, and finally touched the embankment.

He climbed ashore, put his hands on the ground, stood up with gritted teeth, wiped off the smelly and dirty river water on his face, took a few breaths, and ran along the river bank to the town with many houses in the distance.

At the turn of the [-], the noisy streets during the daytime have returned to silence.

The young man stood still in the middle of the stone-paved road, listened carefully to distinguish the sound, then uttered his feet again, turned around a small temple, and finally saw the old man Da Geng dressed in moonlight.

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

The old man was stunned by the sudden appearance of a figure, and after he fixed his eyes and saw that he was a half-sized man, he asked with a bluffing face, "What a little devil, is Su Ning's nest?"

This is a dialect in Suzhou Prefecture, the old man asked which family in the town this doll is from.

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

He talked and gestured, and finally let the old man Da Geng understand his origin and the disaster he suddenly encountered today.

After hearing this, the old man's face became serious, and he changed his trot pace. After leading Zheng Shoukuan around two alleys, he pointed to the tall house with burning torches in the distance, and said, "That's the inspection department of this town."

Zheng Shoukuan hurriedly thanked him, and ran towards the place where the torches were brightly lit.

The old man looked at the boy's back, hesitated for a moment, and sighed.

"Everyone says Jiangnan is good, but I see people in Jiangnan complaining. Officials become thieves, and thieves become officials. How have we ever seen each other? See you every month. Alas, pitiful, pitiful..."

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

……

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

Ever since he followed his aunt Zheng Haizhu to the north from Zhangzhou, Fujian, Zheng Shoukuan had already discovered that his aunt seemed to be quite familiar with the Jiangnan area.

He thought it was all due to his aunt being able to read and read from a young age and reading all kinds of books in the ancestral house, so he admired himself, the only relative, more and more.

I was in danger today, and my aunt's advice at the critical moment was indeed correct.

When the young Zheng Shoukuan rushed into the Qiandun Inspection Department, Chen Aliang, the deputy inspector, and several archers on duty had already played the "horse tag" for several rounds.

"Master Jun, Lord Jun, help!" Zheng Shoubandan cried.

Chen Aliang was betting on his happiness, glanced at the young boy holding the door frame, and said impatiently: "I don't understand the birdsong from other places."

Zheng Shoukuan hurriedly cupped his hands, trying to make his accent close to the local dialect of Wu: "Master Jun, my aunt and I were on a passenger boat outside the reeds in the north, and met a lake bandit who kidnapped my aunt. The leader is tall and fat, But I'm blind in one eye. I beg the military master, help..."

As soon as he uttered the word "save", Chen Aliang snorted, and said to his bow soldiers: "Did you hear that, in this world, being a soldier is worse than being a bandit? Hey, you, will you be able to get a wife next year?"

Chen Aliang pointed to a skinny young archer and asked.

The thin man shook his head embarrassingly: "Deputy Sizun, my grandfather, the Lumi owed by the public last year hasn't been paid yet, how can a young one have a family to get married?"

"No money to marry, grab it, haha," Chen Aliang shook the horse tag in his hand, turned the side with 'Hubaoyi Songjiang' to his subordinates, and said teasingly, "The ones who are far away are like the heroes of Liangshan, and the ones who are close , just learn from me, Daming Water Bandit, you don’t need to spend half a penny, you can take away the fresh and tender girl.”

All the archers laughed obscenely and carefreely.

Young Zheng Shoukuan was furious, but he tried his best not to lose control of his emotions, but bent down again, took out a silver collar from his arms, took a few steps forward, and spread his palms to Chen Aliang.

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

Chen Aliang's eyes lit up, he threw the cards and took the silver collar.

Under the dim oil lamp, although the boat-shaped silver collar is small, its outline is quite beautiful, and the central lettering is clear.

This is not broken silver, but official silver.

On Chen Aliang's cheekbones like knives, the lazy pig face was replaced by fox-like cunning and vigilance.

He squeezed out some traces of kindness and asked Zheng Shoukuan: "Is your family receiving the imperial salary?"

Zheng Shoukuan was originally gifted and intelligent. He followed his aunt for two years and was much more mature than his peers. He keenly discerned that the change in Chen Aliang's attitude was not just due to the management of money itself.

Then he gathered himself together and replied, "My father is the county pusher."

"Which county?"

"Longxi County, Zhangzhou Prefecture."

"Oh, so they are from Fujian. Why did you and your aunt come to Jiangnan?"

"Visit relatives."

"Visiting relatives? From Fujian to Zhejiang, and then to our Nanzhili, your aunt is the only one who takes you and a half-year-old on the journey? Has your aunt been out of the cabinet? How can you get a guide?"

"For Master Huijun, my aunt is a self-made girl, and the county officials allow her to travel far away."

Chen Aliang let out an "oh".

He knows how to comb girls himself.

It is a new custom in Fujian and Guangdong. It is said that there are some women there, or because of some reasons, they don’t want to find a man, or in order to get out of the boudoir to do some work, they comb their hair like the women who are out of the boudoir, and swear never to marry. , the freedom of local activities or traveling alone is much greater than that of ordinary unmarried girls.

Chen Aliang knew it well.

In this way, the woman who was taken away has no support from her husband's family, and her elder brother is just a little sesame official, who is still from another province.

I'm afraid it's an egg!

　This is the third part of the "History·Empire Trilogy" that I started at the starting point.The main idea of ​​the historical trilogy is: the contest between the feudal town and the imperial power (Tang), the party struggle at the dawn of modern times (Song), the imperial experiment in the age of great navigation (Ming)
　　
　
(End of this chapter)