Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 311 Out-of-Executive Transactions
In mid-June, the annual Wulin appreciation in the lower reaches of Heilongjiang began in Delanen, south of Qiji Lake.

Shangwulin Administrative Office faces Heilongjiang (anciently known as Manhui River), backed by the vast alluvial plain, and the endless forest not far away is like emerald emeralds dotted on the black earth.The water flow here is very gentle, and the width of the river is five to six hundred meters, which is convenient for boats to moor.

As soon as the dawn broke, there was excitement outside the administrative office.Hundreds of border residents from all over the world stepped out of their birch bark tents, stretched their waists, and walked to the river to fetch water.There are no frontier settlers here, and all the people came from all over the place.

Those Oroqen people and Daur people from the southern foot of the Outer Xing'an Mountains drove moose and carried all kinds of precious furs; while the Hezhe people and Feiyaka people from the north of Qiji Lake, Heilongjiang Estuary, and Wusuli River drove fast horses. The boat was filled with dried fish, and brought sable fur and pure white costin as a tribute.Many Hezhen people come with the whole family, young and old, even bring birch bark tents and cooking utensils, fishing all the way to this point.

Wukanbei and Serdan came out of the tent of the Zaksulu Department, set up an iron pot on the open space, poured in the washed millet, fish hair (fish floss) and bacon cubes, and boiled for a while. Bouda porridge of Hezhe people.By the time the two of them had eaten and drank enough, the sun had already risen a pole high.

The two looked at each other, went back to the tent and took more than a dozen boxes of matches, rolled them with a few pieces of animal skins, put them under their armpits, and slowly turned around outside the administrative office.

Wukanbei and Seldan arrived yesterday afternoon. The purpose of their visit to Delengen this time is to investigate the situation of the various tribes.

In May, Zhao Xin asked them to find out the settlements of the border residents in various parts of the outer northeast, so as to prepare in advance for the establishment of villages and towns along the Heilongjiang line in the future.The two of them thought that there was nothing more suitable than a visit to the Wulin Festival; so they went to Balk Village first, and then mixed with the Zaksulu team and sailed southward.

Because many tribes are located in remote places and have no information, they don't know much about Beihai Town, so they don't know about the big market outside Fuldan City.Therefore, the tasks of the two also included promoting the market in Fuldan City, so as to attract more border tribes to trade.

The Manchu Qing Dynasty had the habit of rewarding tribute minks from the period of Huang Taiji.After entering the customs, the content of rewards is constantly adjusted.

Starting from October every year, the Shengjing Ministry of Rites will prepare a material list for the next year, and at the same time consult with the Beijing Household Department.In November and December, Ningguta and Sanxing Dutong Yamen will transport the prepared Wulin (satin, cotton cloth, daily necessities) back to Ula, Jilin, and then transfer to Ningguta and Sanxing in February or March of the next year city.

As a matter of fact, the annual tribute to the marten and the Wulin required a lot of financial, material and manpower from the Qing government, and the tribute to the mink head tax collected was far lower than the various costs consumed during the period.This can be regarded as a large amount of financial subsidies given to ethnic minorities by the central government in the feudal era.

It is this kind of Wulin reward that spares no expense and is meticulous to every stitch. With the implementation of the annual tribute to Wulin policy, the dependence of the border residents on the Qing court has been continuously strengthened, and political affiliation has gradually formed.

Just like the Zaksulu tribe, Beihai Town has already treated them very preferentially. Whether it is matches, candles, or ironware and cloth, they are all traded at very favorable prices, but Sahalian still brings his tribe to Delengen every year. Pay poll tax.Because in addition to getting a lot of Ulin rewards after paying the poll tax, they also have a lot of extra income during the days of participating in Ulin rewards.

For example, during the five days of staying in the administrative office, the administrative office will set up four banquets for entertainment, and everyone can participate. In addition to wine and meat, there are also foods such as rice, sticky rice dumplings, and fried crisps (deep-fried sesame or melon seeds) .These are delicacies that are difficult for border residents to eat on weekdays.

In addition to banquets, the administrative office will also distribute corresponding accommodation rations according to the length of stay; the standard is 8 to 3 scoops of rice per person per day (ten to one liter).

The third item is the distribution of rations for the round trip, which is formulated according to the distance of each ministry; one bucket is given to those who are close, and three buckets are given to those who are far away.

In addition to the above, they can also conduct over-the-counter transactions during their stay in the administrative office.

Therefore, if Beihai Town wants to win the hearts of the people from the Qing Dynasty, especially the people's hearts in the outer northeast, there is still a long way to go.

The front of the entire administrative office is 30 meters wide, and logs are used to form a double-layer fence. The place where the tribute minks are received is inside the fence.

Seldan and Ukanbe followed Sahalian and other Zaksulu tribesmen and squeezed through the crowd, and came to the outer fence gate, and stood at a board with the words "Anyone who is five feet old gets a mink". Under the square wooden sign.

The front of the wooden fence was already extremely crowded at this time, and many border residents crowded here with their respective chiefs and surnames, waiting for the shift roll to pay the poll tax.Looking at the tribute over their shoulders, these people were still discussing loudly.

"Have you changed the match? Let me tell you, it's really a magic item, and it's so easy to use!"

"Cut~~ Matches are nothing, I changed a lantern in the morning, and no amount of wind can blow it out."

"I heard that the Zaksulu Department bought a lot of good things from the south. Look, they're here."

At this time, there were three bangs of clappers from the administrative office inside the fence, everyone stopped making noise, and looked up to the back of another square fence in the double fence wall.It was surrounded by a blue curtain, and several tax collectors in official uniform were sitting inside.

A robust official came out from behind the curtain, and shouted loudly to the outside: "Ningguta's vice capital ruled the Hezhe tribe with the surname Zaksulusa, and Saharan is here~~Tang~~"

Saharan, who was newly dressed and wearing a straw hat, responded with a drawn out voice, gestured to brush off the non-existing dust on the fish leather jacket, led a group of men, women and children from Balk Village, and filed into the double-layered fence gate, and then walked in the square Line up outside the fence gate.

Seldan and Wukanbei didn't go in, they were not on the roster of the Balk village, and there was no way to explain if the roll call and tribute were not correct.

Inside the fence, the surname Chang Sahalian saluted the three officials in the blue cloth tent, and said in his mouth: "The surname Chang Sahalian sends greetings to all the adults!"

At this time, everyone in Balk Village bowed their heads, not daring to breathe.I saw Sahalian took off his straw hat, put one hand in his bosom, knelt down on both knees, kowtowed three times, took out the roster of people whose surname was this village from his bosom, and reported in a long voice: "The Sa surname of the Hezhe people will be sent to the village this year." Long Live Lord Royal Tribute~~"

Following Sahalian's long note, the sound of reed flute and harmonica began to play in the arena. The three officials stood up respectfully, brushed off their sleeves and straightened their crowns, and knelt facing south. After three kowtows, they got up to receive the tribute .

Sahalian stood up, took the tribute from the tribe behind him one by one, and passed it to an official.At the same time, a person standing next to him read out the list of tributes in a pen-post style: "Twenty pieces of high-quality sable skins for the emperor, twenty pieces of high-quality sable skins, ten pieces of high-quality sea dongqing for the royal use, and ten pieces of high-quality sturgeon fish Two hundred catties of bones, ninety-nine pieces of high-quality alexandrite, and one hundred pickled whitefish."

After the tribute was handed over, the music stopped, and the three tax officials went back to their seats and sat down. The pentieshi just now held the roster of people surnamed Sa, and rolled their names one by one.

Anyone whose name is read must go forward and pay a mink fur. This is a tribute mink, which is different from the tribal tribute just now.

The first to be read was Sahalian, followed by the villagers, each with a piece of sable skin, and the officials in charge of inspection took it one by one, checked for damage, and the quality of the quality to determine the grade; Then put it in front of three tax officials.

After the whole clan has paid the poll tax, the next step is to reward Wulin.

As the head of the surname, what Sahalian got was a whole bolt of python satin made by Jiangning, white silk four feet and five feet, makeup satin one foot and eight inches, red silk two feet and five inches, and homemade cloth three feet and one inch; Two bolts of green cloth and four feet of white cloth; 26 taels of cotton.Four pieces of loose woolen cloth, one foot of Goryeo cloth for towels, two pieces of three-foot silk lining, two pieces of woolen cloth for hats, belts, boots, and socks, one comb and one grate, thirty needles, one headband, and three belts Pair, three locks of thread, four coins of cotton suture, eight buttons, and one small leather case.

Other villagers reward two pieces of woolen cloth, three feet and five feet of Goryeo cloth, one foot and three inches of makeup satin, two feet and five inches of red silk, one piece of woolen cloth and two feet of white cloth for shirts and trousers (required); cotton 26 two.Two pieces of loose woolen cloth, hand towels (required) five feet of Goryeo cloth, two pieces of three-foot silk lining, hat, belt, boots, and socks equivalent to two pieces of woolen cloth, one comb and one grate, thirty needles, and Baotou One piece, three pairs of belts, three strands of thread, six cash for cotton sutures, and eight buttons.

When the whole procedure entered Wulin rewarding, the original solemn atmosphere when paying tribute was swept away, replaced by people comparing each other's rewards from the court, explaining the uses, commenting on the quality of the cloth, and the noise inside and outside the fence resumed. .

The officials of the Manchu Qing Dynasty did not reprimand, they were all busy with their own business, while the three tax officials were drinking tea and watching the scene in front of them with smiles.After receiving the tribute and giving Wulin during the day, a group of officials went back to the riverside boat to rest at night; they waited until the next day to do it again.

When the people of Balk village happily returned to their camp with the reward from the Qing court, Wukanbei and Seldan had already visited other tribes and learned a lot of news.

At this moment, two frontier residents dressed as Saurons came over, smiled and hugged Saharian.He opened the mouth and said, "I heard that you have a magical wooden stick that can catch fire with one stroke. We want to change some."

Why are you here, isn't it just to do business with you?Saha even looked at the two of them, seeing that their faces and clothes were not of Hezhe people, so he asked, "Where did you two come from?"

One of them said, "We are from Sauron's department, from Rafkai."

Sahalian was surprised and said: "Oh my god! You have traveled far enough this trip!"

Rafkai is west of Yaksa, and the two of them have to walk at least a thousand miles of waterway to come from there.Sahalian thought of this, so he whispered to the two of them: "That thing is available, one piece of skin is exchanged for one box, and each box can be used a hundred times."

The two didn't even pay back the price after hearing this, and directly took two fox skins from the package they were carrying and handed them over. After they got the matches and looked them over carefully for a long time, one of them suddenly whispered to Saha. Lian asked, "Brother, where did you get this thing from?"

Sahalian frowned: "Why do you ask this? The imperial court won't let you go there."

"Can you tell us what it's like over there? I heard that there are a group of short-haired Han people living there?"

Wu Kanbei was sitting on the side smoking a pipe at this moment, and when he heard this, his heart moved, and he opened his mouth and said, "What do you call the two brothers?"

"My name is Aimorigen, and his name is Batelsang. What do you call my brother?"

"My name is Wu Kanbei. Sit down and have a rest. All the guests come from afar." Wu Kanbei said with a smile, and sat down with the two of them, served two bowls of porridge, and took fish hair pancakes for the two. people eat.

After the two had finished eating, Wukanbei added another bag of dry tobacco and said with a smile, "Where is your tribe?"

Aimorigen laughed and said, "Where are the deer herds? Where are we going? Brother Wukanbei, how do we get to the Han people's market?"

Wukanbei thought for a while before saying: "I heard that it is going south along the Songacha River, and you will arrive after crossing Xingkai Lake." The Songacha River he mentioned is actually the southern tributary of the Wusuli River.

Aimorigen said: "Thank you, Brother Wukanbei."

When the three of them were talking, Seldan leaned aside and pretended to take a nap, but he was thinking about the two Evenkis in his mind.He is an old hunter and has worked as a scout for a few years. He always likes to think about things.Seldan thought it was too far from Rafkai to Delengen!As far as he and Wukanbei found out, let alone the Ewenki people, many Hezhe people living in Sanxing City did not know that there were Han people in Fuldan City.

Before he and Wukanbei set off from Fuldan City, Zhao Xin specifically told him that the Ewenki people had their own names in Daiqing and Tsarist Russia. Tunguska.

That Aimorigen and Batelsang chatted for a while after eating and asking questions, and then left.But Seldan remembered the appearance of these two people.

Two days later in the afternoon, Serdan was in a red-haired willow grove. When he just came out of the grove, he found that Aimorigen and a Qing court official had walked near a secluded small river. Arguing about something fiercely.

Seldan looked around, turned around and went into the willow forest again, made a big circle in it, stepped on the rotten leaves mixed with stagnant water, avoided swarms of mosquitoes and flying insects, and finally circled behind the two of them About seven or eight meters away.He squatted down quietly and listened to the two talking quietly.

"Although I have friendship with Father Xie, we already had a gentleman's agreement with each other when we were in the capital. Why do you bother to entangle?"

"Before I came, the priest had confessed that you still owed him an old debt. I went to Sanxing City Mansion to pay a visit. I heard that the lord was here, so I came here on purpose."

The official suddenly stopped talking, turned his head and looked around for a while before saying: "I'm on official business, just serving the emperor."

Ai Mozhigen took out a package from his arms, opened it and said to the official: "My lord, this is a little thought that the priest asked me to bring to you. This matter is easy for you, we will not let our friends be crucified of."

The official said, "What exactly do you want?"

"I just want to ask you for a picture."

"What picture?"

Aimorigen put his mouth close to the official's ear and muttered for a while.Seldan listened intently but could not hear at all.

After a while, the official rolled up the package and stuffed it into his sleeve, sighed and said, "This is the only time, it will never be an example! I will take a step first."

　The content of Wulin in this article comes from the full document "Ninggu Pagoda Deputy Dutong Yamen Archives". In history, the Qing court has been this reward standard since the sixth year of Yongzheng, and it has been maintained until the 25th year of Guangxu. end.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)