Xinshun 1730

Chapter 34
Down the mountain is the river.

There is no road in the mountains, and the river is closed in winter, which is the best road.

The ice surface is flat and wide, and the fierce northwest wind blows away the snow on the ice surface, revealing a smooth ice surface.The horse stepped on it, not very willingly, and it seemed to be a little scared even though there were horseshoes on its hooves.

Du Feng knew how to read and write, and those who could read would memorize a few sentences, "Jingkang is ashamed, but still not snowy."

The two emperors of the Song Dynasty were imprisoned near the Acropolis of Handuoli, which was called the City of Five Kingdoms in ancient times, but it has long since disappeared, leaving only a few mounds.

Handuoli Acropolis is on the south bank of the Songhua River, with the Mudan River flowing from the south to the west, the Woken River to the east, and the Songhua River to the north.Bordered by water on three sides, it is easy to defend but difficult to attack.

From a distance, he could see the smoke from the cooking in the walled city, and he could smell the smell of meat and fish from a distance. Du Feng kicked the horse's stomach and quickened his pace.

The city is a hodgepodge of everyone.

The mainstream is the descendants of the Shandong Yuyuan Army, and the rest are the descendants of officials who were relegated to the frontier for the struggle between the DPRK and China, and the tribesmen in the forest who do not want to hunt and want to live as soldiers.

There are even a few Cossacks who fled here because of the uneven distribution of spoils and killed the chief, and taught the people here to grow rye-the Russians are also capable of growing food in a ghost place like Yakutsk.

Du Feng's house is the largest in Handoliwei, so it's easy to recognize.

There are piles of firewood outside, and a row of frozen tofu cut into small pieces on the pile of firewood.

At the door, his sister Du Ling was playing with some girls in the snow.

Du Ling wears a stolen Kuban Cossack cap of sable fur as a trophy.At this time, there is no Kuban Cossack military district, but this classic hat style has come here with the Cossacks expanding eastward.

Wearing a leather jacket and a pair of lambskin boots, the braids that have not come out of the cabinet dance happily with the master's steps.

Fifteen or sixteen years old, undersized, happy and happy, the Cuban cap on his head fell down from time to time to cover his eyes, and she pushed it back up again.

I don't know how long I played in the snow, my little face was flushed from the cold.

Seeing Du Feng coming on horseback, he ran over laughingly, without saying a word, stuffed his cold and red hand into Du Feng's sleeve.

"Brother, why did you come back? I'm waiting for you to eat."

After warming up, he took out his warm hands and helped Du Feng rub his frozen ears, and they went into the room together.

As soon as I entered the house, the heat came over me.

The hot ground dragon and the steam from cooking immediately warmed Du Feng who was about to freeze through, and his face felt wet.

Du Ling took off Du Feng's hat, took off the outer leather robe together, hung it aside, and shouted: "Mom, Mom, let's eat. My brother is back."

While speaking, a middle-aged woman in her forties pushed the door out from the back room. She had an ordinary appearance and was Du Feng's mother.

The family does not eat in the outhouse, but on the kang, with a small kang table.

It is not only because of warmth, but also because Du Feng's father, Du Qian, is disabled.

A few years ago, a tribe in the forest sued the Cossacks for taxing Yasak furs.

This Yasak fur tax was originally a tribute collected by the Golden Horde from the Rus countries. Russia started its home by collecting Yasaks from the Golden Horde, and now it has learned to come here to collect fur taxes.

The role of the Acropolis of Handoli itself here is to guard the frontier and collect tribute from various tribes to show its jurisdiction.

When the tribe in the forest came to complain, Du Qian took people to fight. As a result, he was shot in the leg during the chaotic battle and his bone was broken.

When winter came, it was very difficult, so I could only nestle on the kang to keep warm, for fear of catching a little cold.

The family of four sat on the kang, Du Feng followed his usual habit, first poured a bowl of wine for his father, and then poured a small glass for himself.

The food is rich, which makes people's index fingers move.

A plate of river fish caught during winter fishing weighs seven to eight catties. It is really delicious when stewed with tofu and pig skin with the big sauce from my hometown in Shandong.

Du Ling used a small sieve as a cage and sorghum as bait to catch some loose ducks.

Chop it into pieces, dip the radish to remove the stubble inside, and boil the delicate meat with a little sorghum rice noodles to make a good soup.

A plate of fried crispy soy beans, just right for wine.It is served with Shandong pancakes with the taste of hometown, but it lacks some scallions.

"Feng'er, are all the timber ready?"

Du Qian swallowed a sip of wine, moved his cheek while biting the pancake, and was able to speak freely, which showed that he was skillful at eating pancakes.

"It's all ready. The whip has been let go. The mountain god has also worshiped."

"That's fine. After this year is busy, next summer, you will go to the Jilin Shipyard to prepare for the exam. Damn, if I didn't break my leg, how could I get to this point? There is an old saying that is good, learn to write." Martial arts, selling and the emperor's family."

Du Feng smiled, skillfully pinched a soy bean and threw it into his mouth, biting it loudly, and scolded: "What the emperor said is civil and martial arts, and what is civil and martial arts. Who can't get along with an official position? I don't care about it at all." If you don’t like those Western things, you can’t help it, if you don’t learn well, you won’t be able to enter Wude Palace.”

After complaining, I touched a pancake, rolled some loose duck balls, and said to my sister: "Ling Dang, it's you who likes those knowledge. When my brother is admitted to Wude Palace and becomes a high-ranking official, our family They all moved to the capital. When the time comes, I will find you a good in-law’s house, and you don’t have to do any work, just sit at home and read those Western books. There are so many books in the capital, and it’s fun to keep them.”

The mother laughed and said, "Look, this sounds like a saying about being a brother. Ling Dang, are you listening? If your brother doesn't mean what he says in the future, you can scold him."

While speaking, a dog barked outside.Bell hurriedly put down the pancakes and went to have a look.

With a huff, the door was pushed open, and the air-conditioning outside suddenly turned into a fairyland-like mist.Before he could clearly see the person's appearance, he heard that person shouting excitedly: "Brother Feng, Brother Feng! The business is here! The business is here!"

Upon hearing this, Du Feng immediately jumped off the kang and shouted, "Third brother, what's the matter?"

As soon as the so-called third child entered the door, Du Feng's mother hurriedly greeted him: "Haven't eaten yet? Have some."

The third child was not from Shandong. He looked at the pancakes on the table and frowned.

"Come on, I really can't chew. My cheek hurts."

Du Ling also knew what this person meant by "buying and selling", so he hurried to move a stool outside.The two families have relatives, and the third child's father is Du Feng's cousin, so he doesn't have too many formalities.

Seeing that there were no outsiders, he cupped his hands at Du Qian and said, "My lord, horse dung and ruts! There are quite a few. At least seventy or eighty carts."

The third child couldn't hide the excitement on his face, he smiled and rubbed his hands together.

This news was like an elixir, which made Du Qian, who had been suffering from leg problems for several years, sit up straight, and said repeatedly: "I read that right? Seventy or eighty carts?"

"Can't be wrong."

"Good! Good! Good!"

The third child smiled and said, "Isn't Brother Feng going to take the exam next year? If we really go to the capital, what can we do if we don't have money? These people are quite interesting, knowing that Brother Feng needs money, they gave us a big gift."

Du Qian nodded again and again in agreement.

The soldiers and men here have Yongye land, they can't buy or sell, and they don't have to pay taxes. They only need to perform military service, some of them are like the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty.

For the sparsely populated Songhua River Basin, there is also a nondescript informal military system; in the south of Liaodong, there is a standard recruitment system.

The government soldiers here live a decent life. They are all small landlords, at least they are also self-cultivating rich peasants, and they are exempt from paying blood tax.

Although the life is fair, it is short of money.

The food can’t be transported, and it can’t be sold for a little money, so I rely on hunting to get some leather, and exchange some money to buy colorful rope cloth, tobacco leaves and so on.

The nearby tribes in the forest all have officials appointed by the imperial court, so it is not easy to rob them. If they are robbed, their ass will be ruined, and they may even sue.

Only the smugglers or caravans are simply bodhisattvas who show mercy and boys who spread wealth.

It is also simple to operate.

Whoever discovers it first will share the spoils with ten people afterwards.

After discovering it, send a few good men to stare at it, follow like a gangrene, take advantage of the familiar terrain, kill a few horses halfway, so that the opponent can't rest and delay the speed.

After determining the number of people at the location, send someone back to report a letter, and the frontier army will be assembled here to kill them.

If there are few people, they will kill their mouths, and if there are too many people, they will intimidate and threaten to divide them in half.

Whoever stares at or delays, will be divided into ten more people at that time.

Even if a caravan of [-] or [-] carts can't kill people and sell goods, as long as they are delayed and send someone to talk, they will still have to pay [-]% of the road money, right?
At that time, how not to divide a few hundred taels?
Du Qian clapped his hands, knocked on the table with chopsticks and said, "You and Feng'er bring three or five good hands and find them first. Kill a few horses and follow them like gadflies and horseflies, so that they can't eat or sleep well." When the time comes to bite, ask someone to write back, and I will take someone there."

The third child nodded and said, "That's what I mean too. Okay, then I'll go back and prepare first."

Du Qian stopped eating, and shouted: "Then what are you waiting for? Ling Dang, quickly pack up your brother and prepare some food. The gunpowder, rope, and gun are all ready."

Du Ling didn't eat the rice anymore, so he hurried to pack up the food, and shouted: "Brother, eat slowly first. I'm sure I'll prepare well for you here." Du Feng's mother didn't eat anymore, and Going busy, there are too many things to prepare for going out in winter.

This matter, in the moral view of the frontier army, is like the logic of relying on mountains to eat mountains and relying on water to eat water.

There is a poem in the previous dynasty: Each of them is fighting with their sharp blades, and the first letter is busy reporting to the general and the governor.Hurry up and receive the gold, and slaughter one family and nine genus.

According to what they think, just rob a caravan, is it a shameful thing?
These people feel that they are better than killing good people and taking meritorious service, and they all feel that they are really a model of morality in the frontier army.

Du Feng also felt that if it was done well, it would be a few hundred taels, and it would be difficult to live in the capital, so the extra few hundred taels would make it easier to mix.

I didn't want to chew slowly anymore, so I poured a fish soup into a bowl, tore open a few pancakes and remained in the soup.It was soaked like pig food, and I drank it snortingly.

(End of this chapter)