Ningtang County is a small and small county. There are two streets in this county. One is east-west, which is very long. It is called vertical street by people here. The other is north-south, which is relatively short. .
This county is located in the south of the Yangtze River, but there are not many rivers, but even so, there is a river that runs through the entire county.
The people of the county town do their laundry and wash vegetables here, so it is always very lively here. Later, gradually, some people from the nearby villages will catch their own vegetables and drive the boat to this river, and then stop. Selling by the river.
Over time, the river became a vegetable market in the county seat.
It was just dawn today, and there were many people coming around the river. There was a lot of noise, and there were also many small traders who were rocking their boats to take out fresh vegetables from their boats for sale.
At this moment, everyone found a boat parked on the shore, but there was no one on it, but a piece of clothing was hung on the bow, and there were several words written on the clothing.
However, most of the people present were illiterate and could not understand the meaning of those words.
"What is this ship for?"
"Yeah, stop like this, what are you doing?"
Some looked curiously at the ship, others approached to take a look...
"Ah!" An exclamation came, and a person who approached looked at the ship with horror on his face.
This person seemed to be frightened, but it was precisely because of this that more people were attracted to see the boat. It was at this time that they discovered that in the cabin with the curtains lifted, a few people were lying there. A bloodstained man who was tied up by five flowers.
This... what's going on here
"Go and report to the official!" Someone said, and soon ran to report to the official.
The people of Ningtang County reported to the officials after they discovered the boat and the people lying on the boat. At the same time, all kinds of speculations about the boat spread rapidly in the county town. At this time, he had already left Ningtang County.
It was already bright, Jiang Zhen let Wang Haisheng row the boat, but he washed the blood stained on the boat and sorted out the cargo on the boat.
During this period, Wang Haisheng had been watching him secretly, shaking the boat very inattentively.
When Wang Haisheng looked over again, Jiang Zhen looked over and frowned: "What are you looking at?"
"No... nothing." Wang Haisheng said quickly.
Jiang Zhen took a few glances at Wang Haisheng. Yesterday, whether he was beating and hurting people at first, or extorting confessions from others, he never avoided Wang Haisheng. Later, he packed those water bandits with wounds in their boats. When it was delivered to Ningtang County, Wang Haisheng was even asked to carry it.
He did this to test Wang Haisheng.
Wang Haisheng has always thought that he is a good person, but he himself is not the same as what Wang Haisheng imagined.
"What do you think of what I did before?" Jiang Zhen asked.
"Jiang Zhen, you are literate!" Wang Haisheng looked at Jiang Zhen with admiration: "I didn't expect you to be literate, no wonder you were so quick to settle accounts before, you are amazing!"
The admiration in Wang Haisheng's eyes cannot be ignored, but Jiang Zhen is a little speechless. Could it be that Wang Haisheng kept peeking at him before, just because he thought he was very literate
"I'm asking you, what do you think of our attack on the water bandits?" Jiang Zhen said.
"This... the water bandits should all be damned." Wang Haisheng said, "Why do we have to send officials?" People like them who don't have a fixed place to live have always kept a distance from the government, preferring to solve things on their own, rather than sending them off. At the same time, it is probably because they have seen too many life and death. In fact, their acceptance of murder is much better than that of modern people. The water bandits will kill them, and they are nothing to kill the water bandits.
Jiang Zhen smiled: "Wang Haisheng, you follow me in the future, as long as you listen to me, I will make you live a good life."
"I've been following you." Wang Haisheng looked at Jiang Zhen puzzled.
"Also... By the way, you can call me the boss in the future." Jiang Zhen said.
Wang Haisheng agreed, and then Jiang Zhen gave him about ten taels of silver: "Take it."
"This... this..." Wang Haisheng looked at Jiang Zhen in surprise. He always felt that he would work with Jiang Zhen, and it would be good if he could have food and shelter. He didn't expect that Jiang Zhen would even give him money.
"I did a good job last night. Here's to you." Jiang Zhen said, thinking that in the days to come, he must train Wang Haisheng well, and by the way, instill some ideas in Wang Haisheng.
This shouldn't be difficult. People like Wang Haisheng who have never been to school and read books are definitely easy to fool.
Of course, the top priority is to copy the old nests of those water bandits.
Yesterday, the water bandits had already recruited the location of their old nest, but it was too dark last night, and Jiang Zhen didn't go there.
The so-called old nest is actually a house in a relatively remote place. Those water bandits live on the boat during the day, but come here to sleep at night. Most of their money is carried with them, but the goods they loot are not will be stacked here.
Jiang Zhen entered the room and looked at it, feeling that he had made a fortune.
These water bandits are all lazy and lazy, and they are reluctant to sell the goods they grab, so that there is a lot of goods piled up here. Although a few of the food inside is broken, the rest can be sold, and… these things are more than The cargo on his ship is worth the money.
Without any hesitation, Jiang Zhen loaded all the goods onto the ship. Due to the large amount of goods, in the end their ship almost couldn't fit.
The goods included fabrics and china, bales of candles and even… some books.
There wasn't a single book in Hexi Village, so after Jiang Zhen crossed over, he had never read a book.
He sent Wang Haisheng to go boating, and when he had nothing to do, he opened the book in his hand and read it, and found that... he couldn't understand it.
In the army, Jiang Zhen is actually quite knowledgeable. He not only has good knowledge of firearms, but also knows three foreign languages, namely English and two languages in Southeast Asia.
When he was studying, he tried hard to endorse and listen to the tapes, and he learned it for exams. The latter two languages were taken to do tasks, and he was taken away with the relevant teachers to learn. Later, when he was doing tasks, he was like that. Living in the environment for a long time, it is the same as the local people.
But he can speak three foreign languages, but he has never learned traditional Chinese characters.
And now the book in his hand, the characters on it are not only traditional characters, but also have no punctuation, so how can people not understand how to use words and sentences.
Can't you write some vernacular... He can still read the simplified version of the Water Margin in Romance of the Three Kingdoms, and he can also guess the signs hanging at the entrances of those shops in Fucheng...
Jiang Zhen looked at the book in his hand and stared at it.
Wang Haisheng looked at Jiang Zhen, but the expression of admiration on his face became even stronger.
Unexpectedly, Jiang Zhen is still a scholar! He has always felt that a scholar is unattainable, but he did not expect to have one by his side!
On the other side, in the county seat of Tangning County, the county magistrate frowned as he looked at the clothes that had been plucked from the bow with writing on them, "What's written on it?"
Several people on that boat were injured more or less, and they were tortured. I don't know what happened to them, and who tied them to the county seat...
"My lord, I see... It seems that these people are all water bandits. They robbed a lot of people, and even killed them to go to the merchants, so they came to send officials." The master from Tangning County said. These characters were written in a mess, if it wasn't for when he was dealing with those yamen, he had seen those yamen who didn't recognize a few words write a bunch of characters that lacked arms and legs, and he would definitely not recognize them now.
Come to think of it, the person who caught these water bandits and sent them to officials was probably someone who just learned a few words randomly.
The magistrate of Tangning County wouldn't take the initiative to arrest those rogue gangsters, but he was very satisfied and happy that someone caught the gangsters and sent them to him.
After interrogation, it was found that these people were indeed water bandits and that they had also murdered some foreigners. The magistrate of Tangning County directly sentenced them to death. At this time, Jiang Zhen and Wang Haisheng were still selling various goods.
In addition to selling things, Jiang Zhen will tell Wang Haisheng stories every day, taking half an hour in the morning and evening to let him exercise and teach him fighting skills.
This Wang Haisheng is not too young, ten years older than Boss Jiang, it is impossible to learn more deeply, Jiang Zhen mainly let him learn to stab with a bamboo pole.
Wang Haisheng is a hard-working person. Although he is tired every day, as long as Jiang Zhen asks, he will complete it seriously. He is definitely the most obedient soldier Jiang Zhen has ever brought.
As a reward, Jiang Zhen would buy jins of pork every day, cook it and eat it with Wang Haisheng.
This time, Wang Haisheng worked harder.
Jiang Zhen and Wang Haisheng spent more than ten days, and they did not sell all the goods in their hands, but Jiang Zhen had already planned to return to Hecheng County.
He is still waiting to go back and marry Zhao Jinge! I don't want to face Wang Haisheng all day anymore.
Jiang Zhen now has three hundred and twenty taels of silver in his hand, plus several boxes of copper coins. This really has to be converted. In fact, it is not comparable to the wealth of the Jiang family. After all, the land in the hands of the Jiang family is very valuable, but even so, this is also a lot of wealth.
Jiang Zhen and Wang Haisheng rocked the boat and returned to Fucheng first.
After arriving in Fucheng, Jiang Zhen first went to get the clothes made by himself, then went to the blacksmith shop to buy an iron pot, a kitchen knife, and some farm implements, and then went to buy oil, soy sauce, sugar and some seasonings...
This time, Jiang Zhen can be said to have made a big purchase. He directly spent nearly twenty taels of silver, and also bought all the things he needed at home.
Wang Haisheng looked at the red-colored new toilet on the boat, and only felt that Jiang Zhen was like a replacement. Before, he bought the cheapest cloth for Zhao Jinge, but he didn't expect to buy the most expensive toilet now.
Jiang Zhen didn't know what Wang Haisheng was thinking. He was not a stingy person. He didn't have money before if he didn't spend money, but now that he has money, he would naturally spend it.
He even bought a hairpin for Brother Zhao Jin.
In the city, some well-born twins will be raised by their parents as sons, and they can even read and read. They are not dressed up in a feminine way, but they don’t wear crowns like men, and they are usually tied with a hairpin. Hair pulled up.
Jiang Zhen bought a hairpin that was not feminine at all, and it was the most expensive of all the things he bought.
Carrying a cargo of goods, Jiang Zhen and Wang Haisheng embarked on the return journey.
At the same time, the villagers of Hexi Village were all talking about a great event.
The Zhao family is getting married!
Although Jiang Zhen publicly said that he liked Brother Zhao Jin before, the people in the village didn't take it seriously. They only said that when Jiang Zhen wanted to rely on Zhao's family and let the Zhao family serve him.
Later, when they saw that Jiang Zhen either ate at Zhao's house or asked Zhao Liu's to deliver him food, they were even more sure of this, and even sympathized with Zhao's family.
As a result... When Jiang Zhen left Hexi Village and didn't know where to go, the Zhao family even started to prepare for the marriage!
At first, some people heard that when the Zhao family went to the blind man to ask about the date of their marriage, they thought they were going to marry Zhao Jinge to avoid Jiang Zhen while Jiang Zhen was not there. As a result, someone went to Zhao Liu's to ask them, and was unexpectedly arrested. Tell them that they want to marry Zhao Jinge to Jiang Zhen!
No, they didn't want to marry Zhao Jinge to Jiang Zhen, but... they wanted Jiang Zhen to join the Zhao family.
This... is the Zhao family crazy
They really dared to think, did Jiang Zhen agree
In the countryside, it is normal for the poor to be a door-to-door son-in-law, but no one in Hexi Village thinks that Jiang Zhen is willing to be a door-to-door son-in-law.
"Jiang Zhen is actually quite good. He is sincere to our brother Jin. He... He has been thinking about Brother Jin!" Zhao Liushi took the trouble to talk about this to a friend of hers again.
The friend looked at Zhao Liu with pity, still didn't believe it, only thought that Zhao Liu was deceiving himself.
There was a pair of children in their village who were like this. Even though their family was poor, they told others that his family was living a good life and ate meat every day... Zhao's family reckoned it was like this.
This Zhao family is making furniture and making quilts. Zhao Fugui has not gone to work, and has kept the house clean...
His family didn't have any money at all, if it wasn't for Jiang Zhen's coercion, he would definitely not spend it like that!
And that Zhao Jinge, if Zhao Jinge grows up like that, Jiang Zhen might be sincere to him and still miss him all the time
"Jiang Zhen is really good, he gave us the money." Zhao Liu said again, and showed the bracelet on his hand: "He also bought me a bracelet."
"You..." The person who came here sighed, even this Zhao Liushi could lie. She said at first that Jiang Zhen wanted to be the son-in-law of their family. Since he was the son-in-law of the house, how could Jiang Zhen still give her money and buy her a bracelet
Jiang Zhen and his father and mother both figured it out clearly. Is it possible to be so stupid at this time? Moreover, the preparations for the marriage were almost done. Jiang Zhen was still invisible and didn't know where to go. It was obvious that he didn't care about the marriage at all.
Therefore, most of it was said by Zhao Liushi. As for her bracelet... "I didn't expect you to hide a bracelet." This person only thought that the bracelet was given to Zhao Liushi by Zhao Fugui back then. Because it was very small, Before the Zhao family had an accident, it was not sold.
Zhao Liu's face was full of depression and even more aggrieved.