Xinshun 1730

Chapter 35
Du Ling carried a jar of badger seed oil, walked up to Du Feng, stuck some badger seed oil on his fingers, and smeared it on Du Feng's face.

Every place should be carefully smeared. In cold weather, touch the oil to prevent cold.

Otherwise, it will be cracked if it is frozen outside for a long time.

"Brother, be careful. Those smugglers are also outlaws. Just beat their horses and run away after you beat them."

"Also, don't keep staring at Xue. Close your eyes more when you are riding, and don't let Xue burn your eyes."

"When feeding horses, you can't save trouble and feed snow, you have to dig ice to melt water..."

"Don't beat people. If there are too many people, we have to talk. If someone is dead, it's hard to talk. If you beat their horses, their carts can't be pulled away. They must be left there or they have to stop. It will take time to get it down and load it on another car. Dad will take people over there, as long as there are more people, they will either give money or goods, and they will not be able to escape."

Chirping like a bird, Du Feng smiled and patted his sister's head lightly and said, "Got it. Do you teach me how to do things?"

"Brother, bow your head. I'll rub some badger oil on the back of your neck."

Du Feng lowered his head and asked his sister to paint it for a long time. After guessing that it was about the same, he took off his shoes and put on tall leather boots with wool linings, so that his feet must not be cold in winter.As long as the feet are warm, the body will not be too cold.

When he went out, his maroon Muling horse was obviously a little reluctant to go out in the cold, and was kicking its hooves in dissatisfaction.

Mu Leng, the same word as Mao Lian, is a translation problem.

Mao Lian means horse in Jurchen language or Mongolian. The Ming Dynasty established Mao Lianwei to raise horses in the Muling River area in later generations, and the tributes were mainly horses.

Since the mid-Ming Dynasty, this has been the best pasture north of the watershed between the Songhua River and the Liaohe River system. Later generations called it the Wanda Mountain Pasture. It is the best mountain pasture, and it is also the main source of horses for Dashun's guards in the Songhua River Basin.

The war horses here are very suitable for the severe cold environment, but they also belong to the branch of Mongolian horses and still have shortcomings.

It's a pity that the Raksha people on the opposite side have not yet improved the Don horse, and there is no way to catch a few horses from the opposite side to improve it.

The saddle of the bay red horse is covered with several pockets, which contain food, gunpowder, and lead bullets.Hanging a knife, two spare matchlocks.

Du Feng turned over the saddle to see if there were any small things like straw sticks.Even a small straw stick can easily damage the horse's back if it is hidden under the saddle and not noticed.

Du Ling was anointing the spare horseshoe nails with oil, carefully putting them in a small cloth bag, and checked the gunpowder and lead bullets in the short blunderbuss, so he was relieved.

"Mulan Song" says: "Buy a horse in the east market, buy a saddle in the west market, buy a bridle in the south market, and buy a long whip in the north market."

The population in the south of Liaodong is large, the land is scarce, and there is no economic foundation for the soldiers at all.

The Songhua River to the north of Liaodong is vast and sparsely populated. Dashun restored the military system here, but it was a bit distorted.

The government soldiers are required to prepare a series of armaments such as horses, stirrups, saddles, horseshoes, etc.; but armor, artillery, guns, gunpowder, etc. are provided by the imperial court. The entire Songhua River Basin is also strictly prohibited from making guns and armor by blacksmiths. Yi tribe.

With the blood tax, the top service tax.

Ling Dang is not very old, but he grew up in this kind of family, so he knows a lot about ordnance.After all the busy work and inspection, I gave another warning.

"Brother, be careful."

"Do not worry."

After stepping on the stirrups and getting on the horse, Du Ling supported his knees and followed him all the way to the door, chattering all the time.

"Okay, it's so cold, you go back."

Turning around, he waved at his mother at the door, patted his younger sister on the head, tapped the horse's belly with his heel, and ran towards the third child's house.

When he arrived at the door of the third son's house, the four young people who had a good relationship with him were already ready.After checking each other, they took another horse and hung the snow sledge behind it, loaded the horse feed and so on.

A group of people left the Acropolis of Handoli and went up the Woken River.

The northwest wind was strong a few days ago, and the snow that fell on the river was blown away by the wind.

It has also caught up with the extreme cold these days, which cracked the ice layer, squeezed out the living water below, and formed a layer of ice on the river. It is really the best road in the world at this time.

The war horses under the crotch were all used to walking on the ice, and they got on the horseshoes again, striding forward, trotting from time to time.

Of course, the smugglers would not follow the Woken River directly to the Songhua River, because they would have to pass through the Acropolis of Handoli.They will choose some mountain pass swamps and enter the Songhua River along the small river at the other end of the mountain.

The place where the horse manure and snow sledge marks were found was about seventy or eighty miles away from the Acropolis of Handoli, and it was a deserted place.

I can't ride a horse for too long this day, and my knees are really cold. After riding for a while, I have to get down and run for a while to warm my body.

After chasing for three days, leaving a guide mark, I finally caught up with a piece of unfrozen horse manure.

He smashed open the horse manure, looked at it, and poked the hardness inside.

"It's estimated to be about ten miles away. We can't chase along the river, we have to walk on the bank. I remember there is a big turn ahead, so let's leave the horse here. Sixth, you stay and watch the horse. Let's go over .”

Du Feng jumped off the horse and put his gun on his back. Several people checked the rope, dry food, and salted animal fat to prepare for a long-term follow-up.

This journey may take a long time. Once the sixth child stays here, he will go back to report the news. Du Feng and the others may have to stay here for three to five days.

They were also considered half forest hunters, with dry food and a can of pickled lard, enough to survive in the forest for six or seven days, and it was not a problem.Those smugglers from the pass will not survive them.

The snow on the shore was more than half a meter deep, and it took a long time to pull out the boots with every step, and the crotch was rubbed when walking, which was really uncomfortable.

But they are not going to walk, they drilled through the water melon tree pond, and there is a pine forest.

No one has ever cut down a big pine tree as thick as a person.Some old and dead logs lying on the ground, or trees that were struck down by lightning in summer, made it extremely difficult to walk here.

The five people chose a thick pine tree with many branches, climbed to the tree, and got rid of the snow that was more than one meter deep.

Immediately brightened up.

They are all people who have been in the mountains and forests all year round, walking on the thick branches like walking on the ground.Where the branches are not connected, use the rope to throw it to the opposite branch, and swing it like a swing.

There is a space more than 30 meters high under your feet, and the branches of red pine tremble, but you are not afraid at all.

There is no snow under the feet, and it is extremely convenient and quick to swing around in the trees.

Not long after, I heard a few horses neighing.

Around the bend of the river, five people hid in a big tree, lit the match, and loaded the lead bullet.

Soon, a team of dozens of carts appeared on the river.The hot air exhaled by the horses was so dense that it could be seen from a long distance away.

"I'll go! Get rich!"

Several people clenched their fists excitedly. How much is the value of so many carts?

A piece of tea cake can be sold to the Raksha people for a lot of money, and if rhubarb is added, it is at least tens of thousands of taels of silver.

Du Feng pointed his long matchlock gun at the front horse.

They occupy a good position, just at the bend of the river, not far away.

Don't kill people, just kill horses.

Kill a few horses and attach them to the back like gangrene, so that these people can't walk fast.

If more than a dozen horses die, many carts cannot be pulled.Either throw it here and don't want it, or stop to unload and reload. For these frontier soldiers, it is nothing more than getting more and getting less.

"I'll hit the front one, and you'll hit the middle one. When we're done, we'll run back up the tree. They won't see footprints, they won't find us."

"Find a chance to do a few more rounds, kill twenty or thirty horses, and don't beat people. Otherwise, it's hard to talk."

Du Feng pointed to the horse in the middle and whispered instructions.

He picked up the heavy matchlock gun, held his breath, and waited for the caravan to turn within forty or fifty paces.

boom!
The burning match ignited the primer, and before the smoke cleared, Du Feng jumped onto the branch behind him.

Gunshots also rang out from the side. These people were all good players, and five horses on the river fell down immediately.

Du Feng understood that he had to slip away first.As long as another round of gunfire is fired and five more horses are killed, the smuggling caravan will slow down, and the five of them can use the terrain like a gangrene, making it difficult for them to move an inch.

But after jumping to the tree behind, looking at the movement in the river, Du Feng was stunned, and so were the others.

The cavalry in the river didn't panic at all, but quickly formed a circle around the carriages loaded with goods. They were so well-trained that even the people in Handoli Guard could not do it.

Surrounded by several large sledges, a large group of people jumped out with a clatter, all holding muskets in their hands.

There was also the neighing sound of horses in front, and there were people more than a hundred paces away, and the cavalry surrounded them in circles, a standard outflanking tactic.

bang bang bang...

In less than a moment, the people in the car formation gathered together and fired a volley, which caused the branches to fly wildly in the place where the gunpowder smoke was coming out just now.

Fortunately, Du Feng and others ran fast, otherwise it would be over at this time.

"I have encountered a hard stubble!"

The third child let out a hey, obviously unexpected.

Du Feng looked at the movement under the river, shook his head and said: "Not only hard stubble, I'm afraid these people... are not caravans at all. These are all methods in the army. How can ordinary caravans have such abilities?"

"Whatever, slip! If you don't slip, you will be made dumplings." The third child threw out a rope, tied it to the big tree opposite, and ran back stepping on the tree.

But after all, it was still a step too late. They thought it was just a group of ordinary caravans, and they would not fight back under the surprise attack.

Unexpectedly, the opponent not only counterattacked, but also organized.

There are those who are in the backward state, those who are divided into two wings, and those who are covered by salvos in the car formation.

This pine forest is not big, and behind it is the exposed willow pond.These willows are not tall, and part of them will be submerged every year when the water comes out. They are all short trees, and they have to walk through the snow.

The outflanking people on the two wings had already spread out on both sides, and they had no choice but to retreat back into the pine forest.

"It's over, I'm careless. I thought that if I fired a shot, they would be in chaos. I've never seen such a caravan before."

The third child slapped himself, very annoyed.

Du Feng hid on the branch and observed for a while, feeling more and more wrong.

The people in the car formation are definitely from the army, because they can shoot salvos, and they will follow orders to shoot salvos, and there are commanders inside.

Seeing that the back has been surrounded, it would be easy to run if there were all pine forests like this, but they were too contemptuous before and didn't notice the exposed willow pond behind.

No matter what the other party is doing, if they really catch them, they will definitely die.

Smuggling is a serious crime, and these smugglers are not good at it. They don't mind killing a few frontier soldiers and killing them.

Du Feng stared at the convoy below, feeling more and more that something was wrong.

It would be crazy for smugglers to have this level.Even if you don't panic and rely on the car formation to stick to it, it can be considered that stronger smugglers can be driven out.

The problem is that when you hear the sound of gunshots, you will not be disturbed, and when you stand firm, you will immediately spread out two wings to outflank, and riders will go to the rear to scout. If the smugglers are at this level, then this world will be really interesting.

"Run?" The youngest pointed to the pine forest that he had walked through before, a little panicked.

"Run fart. Can you run? Don't talk, listen to me."

Du Feng calmed down, took advantage of the gap in the car formation, swung to the nearby pine tree, hid behind the pine tree, and shouted: "Listen up, people below! We are from the Acropolis of Handoli, we have long been I know you are going to do illegal things, so I am waiting here. We are here to delay you, the army will arrive soon! Why don’t you hurry up and catch them?”

It is said to let the other party be caught without a fight, but in fact it is telling the other party: Run quickly, let's shoot and break up.Otherwise, our people will come in a while, and you will have no chance to run away.If you insist on killing me, then both of us will suffer. Our people will arrive soon, believe it or not.

(End of this chapter)