Xinshun 1730

Chapter 33 Frontier Army
The first day of the winter month.

Northwest of the Acropolis of Handoli, in the woods on the upper reaches of the Songhua River.

A group of Handoliwei soldiers were logging there.

"Shunshan down!"

Two strong men pulled the big saw and made a tooth-piercing creaking sound.The sawdust fell on the white snow like bread crumbs on butter.

Accompanied by the creaking sound of the big saw, the Korean pine, which is as thick as half a person, has begun to explode, making a rattling sound.

The old soldier yelled at the top of his voice, reminding the rest of the people on the mountain not to be hit by the falling tree.

When the tree yells to explode, you have to yell once, and when the tree really falls down, you have to yell again.

This is a lesson learned by the ancestors in exchange for blood, and it has long been used to nature.

With a bang, the fine red pine fell to the knee-high snow.

The jade fragments on the branches were all over the sky, and were blown by the west wind, falling everywhere.

Beside a stone not far away, a fire was set up early, and several soldiers were sitting beside them, roasting their soaked clothes, and a young man was sitting beside them.

The young man was [-] or [-] years old, holding a broken translation of Xu Guangqi's "Measurement Law" in his hand, and holding a wooden stick in his hand. Make an extension line, and make a solid line between two parallel lines as shown in the picture above..."

Covered by the splashing snowflakes, the picture that was so easy to draw was suddenly out of shape.

Thinking of the titles such as "acute angles, obtuse angles, extension lines, parallel lines" in the book, I felt even more annoyed, and stood up and cursed: "Damn, what a beep!"

The surrounding soldiers roared with laughter, the young man lost his temper, threw the torn book on the stone, and suppressed the words in his mouth.

He was referring to Sang and scolding Huai just now, not the snow covering the picture, but Emperor Taizong of Dashun.

Damn, are you sick?If you want to be an official, if you don't take the imperial examination, you have to learn the basics of geometry and the law of measurement. If it's not for being an official, for entering the Wude Palace, who the hell would learn this stuff?Have an egg?

The young man thought to himself, thanks to Taizong Li Guo's early death, if he died a few years later, maybe he would come up with some kind of moth and leave some weird legacy.

At that time, Li Guo died of illness before returning to Beijing, so he passed the throne to Gao Yigong, and then Li Laiheng's lineage came into being.

Although Li Guo died, he left a lot of legacy.

The imperial examinations remained the same, and for fear of provoking the wrath of the world, they could only distinguish what kind of Western learning such as geometry in Wude Palace, and it was stipulated that in the future Wude Palace would have to take exams such as "Original Geometry" and "Measurement Method".

Young people are good at learning, but they really don't like parallel lines, acute angles, circles, inscribed polygons and the like.

Classical Chinese with geometry, so sour...

Classical Chinese with geometry and no punctuation marks, so sour...

If it wasn't for entering Wude Palace, if it wasn't for becoming an official, who would learn this stuff?

The young man thought, thanks to the fact that these books were published later, if they were available in the Song Dynasty, then the story of Mr. Fan Wenzheng cutting cold porridge and studying hard would probably turn into cutting cold porridge and measuring the volume of cold porridge. Not funny?
Now there are a lot of "Geometry Exercises" in the capital, but those booksellers are rich, and they are reprinted every year for the examination of Wude Palace.It's not easy to get a book in this bitter cold place, it's really unfair.

After scolding Taizong Li Guo's eight generations of ancestors in his heart, he didn't dare to swear, so he could only put away the broken book angrily, and muttered: "What are you laughing at? I will have the opportunity to go to Wude Palace next year. When you see me in the future, you may call me a military gate."

The gate of the army, the gate of the camp, can only be called the governor.When he said that, everyone laughed even harder.

This young man is called Du Feng, and his ancestral home is Yuncheng, Shandong. When Xie Qian and the Yuyuan Army rebelled, his ancestors also participated.

If we talk about it, it can be regarded as a famous figure in history-Sun Zhixie, who wrote a letter to shave his hair, was caught by the rebel army and covered his whole body with an awl, and stuffed his hair into the eyes of the awl. You grow hair!

Zhasun Zhixie's awl is what his old grandmother used to put on the soles of her shoes.Although it cannot be left in history, it can also be used as a family heirloom and a conversation piece for future generations.

Under the historical changes, these Yuyuan Army did not give Zhang Cunren the opportunity to flood the Yuyuan Army by flooding the Yellow River embankment, which can be regarded as the reputation of Hou Fangyu, one of the four sons of Fushe.

There is no chance that the excrement basin of the Yellow River embankment will be held on the head of this Fushe son. Otherwise, even though there is controversy, a single "Peach Blossom Fan" will not be able to wash it clean.

After Dashun won the world, these Xie Qian and the rest of the Yuyuan Army participated in the Northern Expedition to Liaodong.About [-] old people from Shaanxi, Henan, and Han from Southwest Shandong died in Liao.

Later, some of these people were recruited into the main force of the Fifth Battalion, and some stayed in Liaodong, Liaobei and even the Songhua River to guard the border and enrich the population.

Du Feng's father is now the Captain Zhechong of the Zhechong Mansion in Handuoli. He broke his leg and couldn't get promoted, so he can only be a Captain Zhechong.

On both sides of the Songhua River, the military system of the Tang Dynasty was restored, and Captain Zhechong was also a fifth-rank official, not too big or too small.

In the Acropolis of Handoli, there were many officials who were demoted here because of the struggle between the court and China. Du Feng grew up here since he was a child, and he also learned some knowledge needed to be admitted to the Martial Virtue Palace from some people.

A certain adult who completed Xu Guangqi's unfinished business and translated the last six volumes of "Elements of Geometry" was also thrown here because of his involvement in the prince's dispute back then. It can be described as a place full of talents.

Du Feng is proficient in bow and horse. Although he hates the pain of matching classical Chinese with geometry, he has learned it very well in order to get ahead in the future.

Handuoliwei's soldiers only need to pay the blood tax, and there is Dingkoutian that cannot be traded, and the rest of the taxes and labor are exempted.

The only thing to do is logging in winter and practicing on weekdays.

The government soldiers on both sides of the Songhua River are the best irregular light cavalry in Dashun.

The banditry is so strong that hedging may not be able to defeat the regular "three walls" elite of the fifth battalion, but the reconnaissance, sneak attack, capture of the flag, plundering of grain roads, chasing and killing defeated soldiers, etc., are absolutely beyond the reach of soldiers elsewhere.

Since the year before last, the Songhua River Defense Envoy has been ordering all Zhechong prefectures to cut more logs and accumulate logs in winter.I don't know why.

This year's task is even heavier, requiring a lot of wood.

Fortunately, there are woods all over the mountain here, and it is close to the Songhua River.Take advantage of the winter to cut down, trim the branches, and pile them up by the river.When the spring opens and the river melts, it will be fine to put the wood down along the water flow, and it will not be very tiring.

This year's task has been completed on the first day of winter, and today is the last few.

Ordinarily, Du Feng's father was going to show up for the last one, one was to offer sacrifices to the god of heaven, and the other was to thank the mountain god for protecting him, so he was not killed by being crushed this year.

It's just that his father had a broken leg and felt uncomfortable in winter, so he asked Du Feng to go through the process.

Although he is the son of Captain Zhechong, Captain Zhechong doesn't have much power. Dingkoutian is his own, and Captain Zhechong doesn't care about military pay.

If there was no war, Captain Zhechong's fart would be loud, but it was not so loud that people would be silent, and everyone was not afraid to joke with him.

Seeing that the last piece of wood had fallen to the ground, Du Feng put away the torn book, took out a piece of red cloth from his arms, and tied the red cloth to the last piece of wood.

Blessed by the God of the Mountain this year, not a single person was killed by a log throughout the winter, which is really something worth celebrating.

"Light it up. Thank you, God of the Mountain, for your blessing. Grandpa Tian, ​​Grandma Di, and Niangniang He, bless us for a year of peace and safety."

A dozen strong men knelt in the snow and kowtowed towards the frozen Songhua River in the distance.

Du Feng held the firecrackers, lit them halfway, threw them into the air, knelt down and kowtowed with everyone.

The explosion of firecrackers echoed in the empty mountain, and those resident birds who were too lazy to fly away flocked out, calling out a glimmer of vitality in the winter.

After the echo quieted down, the foreman directed the people to hang "little braids" on the wood, which is the hemp rope used to lift the wood.

The knot of this hemp rope is skillful, and where to tie it is not fair without more than ten years of experience, and accidents are easy to happen if they are slightly staggered.

Fourteen strong frontier soldiers cheered and separated into two rows, waiting for the leader's call.

This chant is not random, every sentence must be on the point, otherwise, if the fourteen people take a little wrong step, accidents will easily happen.

The light ones broke the feet and the waist, and the serious ones lost their lives.

"Hold up and hang up!"

With a loud yell, a dozen strong men raised the crossbar on the pigtail in the snow and responded, "Hey, hey, hey, hey, get up!"

"Gentlemen in the capital! There is a warm pavilion."

"Hey adults in Jiangnan! There is a spring breeze."

"Hey, our government soldiers and frontier soldiers! There is ice."

"Slap your waist and get up! Pull the braid!"

"Be careful with your feet! Hide under the trees then"

"Who can't move their legs, the most fucked up!"

Du Feng has listened to such a rhythmic chant so many times this year, full of complaints.

He didn't need to carry it, he came here today just for a formality.

The sound of the trumpet echoed, and some people who did not need to carry the wood gathered around the fire.Du Feng also took out the corn cob pipe, took out the cigarette pouch his sister sewed for him, and poured out a handful of tobacco leaves.

It's not easy to get supplies in Handoliwei. In summer, there are military vendors who come by boat from upstream to sell them. It's not easy to smoke a cigarette in this place.It is said that Emperor Taizong also smoked, and his favorite was this small pipe made of corncobs.

Shaking the cigarette purse, each of them shared some.

Green smoke came out of the corncob pipe, mixed with the hot air from his mouth, curling up.The sun shines white and bright, a little dazzling.

The chanting on the mountain continued, Du Feng squinted his eyes in an attempt to avoid the glare of the snow, and looked at the people carrying wood below.

Wait for a while to go down the mountain and return to Leng, and wait until the first spring to put the raft down along the river to pass the points, even if it is over.

The soldier blowing the blue smoke squinted his eyes and said: "It's a pity, there is no good business this year. If it is like last year, it will be good to catch up with the wave again. A family with a dozen taels will have a good year."

The business mentioned by the military man is to rob the caravan.

Last year they were lucky, they caught up with a group of North Korean businessmen, and there were not many of them, so they killed them all.Forty percent was given to the Songhua River defense envoy as a tribute, and the rest was divided among themselves, and there were more than a dozen taels.

Du Feng thought in his heart that it was hard to say whether there was any business or not, and it was not yet the Chinese New Year.

There are unspoken rules for this kind of "buying and selling" share.The big head will be given to the defense envoy, and the rest, whoever discovers it first will get dozens of taels more, and whoever delays will get dozens of taels more.

Thinking about going to the Martial Virtue Palace in the future, he would spend money everywhere in the capital, not to mention managing up and down, even if the capital is not easy to live in, a large sum of money is needed.

Since his father is the captain of Zhechong, he has his own confidants, and he went to various rivers early to inquire about news.

Patrolling the border and complaining, but no one complained about this kind of thing.

There are even those who can rely on a horse and a gun to squat in the mountains where people are freezing to death for a month.

But if it's an official job on the border, it's so hard, I would have scolded my mother a long time ago.

Du Feng thought that if there was any news, it would be a few days away.

Seeing that the matter here is over, he knocked his pipe to his feet, stood up and patted the snow on his buttocks, and jumped onto a bay red horse next to him.

"I'm going back, it's none of my business."

"Go back. If you want me to say, the captain doesn't need you to come, it's better to stay at home in the cold weather."

The soldiers waved their hands at him, indicating that nothing could go wrong.

The work of stacking is led by veterans, and the count was clear yesterday, there is only more and less, and there is no mistake.

Just wait for the water in the river to melt in the spring of the next year, put these wood into rafts, and send them downstream to the Acropolis.

After lightly pulling the reins, Du Feng wrapped himself in the leather robe and went down the mountain.I thought to myself, I don't know if those brothers have discovered anything, if they can make a vote this year, they will have money to buy gifts when they go to the capital in the future.

　Newcomers and new books, please ask for a few tickets.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)