The Red Mansions Across the Four Seas

Chapter 256 The Absurd City Wall

On the sixth day of March in Yuanheng's 13th year, Wei Ruolan arrived at Bukui's No.20 for three days.

After arriving here, I contacted the local garrison office, explained my purpose of coming, and submitted an official document.

Prior to this, the garrison yamen had received a joint document from the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Punishment, knowing that Jia Min's corps would take over Bu Kui.

However, Wei Ruolan found that undisguised indifference in the other party's politeness.That was a decidedly unwelcome attitude.

In August last year, there was a mob riot in Bukui.Dozens of refugees rushed into the garrison yamen and killed [-] soldiers. Qian Delu, the former garrison, was also killed by the garrison in that riot.

Later, the riot was quelled by Zhao Dahai, the current deputy of Bu Kui, who led the troops and killed 45 exiles who participated in the riot on the spot.

This incident was a major event in Bukui, and it shocked the court at the time.Surprisingly, there are few people talking about it in Bukui.

When Wei Ruolan wanted to know the details, no one was willing to talk about it with him.

Even when he mentioned the matter in shops and taverns on the street, no one spoke to him.As soon as he mentioned it, others quickly changed the subject.This seems to be kept secret.

This made Wei Ruolan faintly feel that this matter is a bit unusual, perhaps there is some hidden secret in it.

However, he still can't take care of these things now, and the most important thing is to do a good job in welcoming the Fubingtuan.As for other things, we have to wait until the Fubingtuan arrives.

Now Qingming has passed, and the severe winter in Bukui has passed. According to the season, it is already the last month of spring.In less than a month, it will be summer.

The snow on the ground has melted away, and some weeds have sprouted green leaves.The trees have also begun to sprout, and some greenery has begun to bloom.

Only the top of Mount Vendura in the distance, covered with ice and snow, glared brightly under the reflection of the eyes, proving the existence of winter.

Just judging from the scene in front of me, except that the wind here is relatively strong, it seems to be no different from the imperial capital and Zhili.

Of course, this only refers to the climate. When it comes to other aspects, the difference is still huge.

For example, the city wall around me is like this.

As soon as Wei Ruolan mentioned the city wall, she wanted to laugh, and then she wanted to cry.

This city wall in the local population is really weird and absurd.

The city gate is two doors made of wood, each door is nine feet nine high and nine feet nine wide.Two thick wooden pillars next to it fixed the city gate.

The city gate is made of logs, so rough that even the bark on the wood has not been scraped off.

On both sides of the city gate, there are no brick walls.The so-called city wall is just some logs buried in the ground and erected into sticks.Each log is about three inches thick and about six feet high.

These wooden sticks are the so-called Bukui city walls.

It is such a city wall, but it is not continuous.Extending about three feet from both sides of the city gate, it is not a stick, but a piece of wood every ten feet.It went on like this and continued, surrounding the whole Bukui.

There is nothing between these logs, and there is nothing. The connection between the logs is the city wall.

It is purely a virtual city wall.

This city wall is quite long, with four sides from east to west, north to south, and each side is three miles long.This is the "twelve-mile city wall" of Bukui City that Wei Ruolan saw in the documents of the Ministry of War.

Inside the city walls is the city of Bukui.

Rather than saying that Bukui is a city, it is better to say that it is a town.Even if it is a small town, Bu Kui is always flattered.

There is only one street in total, with seven or eight hundred families on both sides, and the population of the entire town is less than 1.

Bu Kui said that there are tens of thousands of people, but in fact, most of these tens of thousands are scattered in various places. The farthest Guanzhuang is fifty or sixty miles away.The population is very scattered.

Bukui City has east, west, north and south gates, and the one where Wei Ruolan and Jia Qin are now is the south gate.

Jia Qin arrived here last night, and he came to convey the news.

At around 3 o'clock this afternoon, Jia Min will lead the military corps to escort [-] prisoners to Bukui.

The group of people standing on the east side of the city gate are the original local officials of Bu Kui, and they are also waiting here to welcome Jia Min's arrival.

The first one is Zhao Dahai from the garrison department of the fourth rank, Bu Kui's former deputy of Qian Delu's garrison.After Qian Delu's death, he acted as the guard for Bu Kui.

According to the usual practice, when the post of guard is vacant, he can be promoted to guard.I don't know why, until now, he has not received an order for promotion.

Previously, Bu Kuicheng had rumored that he would be promoted to defense after the new year.Unexpectedly, after waiting and waiting, Jia Min was waiting.

Jia Min changed from the garrison yamen to the Dusi yamen from the capital of the third rank and the yamen of Bu Kui.The level has increased by one level, but Zhao Dahai's position and level have not changed at all.

He was Bu Kui's top officer when he was in charge of the garrison before, but now that Jia Min is here, he has turned back into the garrison department.

In the government corps, Feng Ziying, Chen Yejun, Wei Ruolan and the three battalion commanders are all four-rank guards. Compared with these people, Zhao Dahai's rank is one level lower.

In such a comparison, I don't know how he feels.

Then came the three assistant leaders under Zhao Dahai.

The first assistant leader Zhong Ding, the second assistant leader Feng Kui, and the third assistant leader Xu Mingtao.

Then there is the classic history Yang Lin.

Yang Lin is in charge of the yamen register, which is the central organization of the Dusi yamen, and is considered the most powerful civil servant in the yamen.

The remaining old man in his 60s was Wu Minqiu, the representative of Bu Kui's gentry.

These six people were divided into two groups.Zhao Dahai, Zhong Ding, and Feng Kui are considered to be a group, and Xu Mingtao, Yang Lin, and Wu Minqiu are considered to be a group if they stand together.

This is the division now, and in normal times, the two groups are basically in the same camp.In Bu Kui's senior management, two circles were faintly formed.

"Brother Zhao, do you think they really set off from the imperial capital on the eighth day of the first lunar month? Why don't I believe it? Over the years, has anyone arrived here within two months?"

After Jia Qin came yesterday, Zhao Dahai and the others did not believe that Jia Min and the others set off on the eighth day of the first lunar month and were about to arrive.Until now, they are still skeptical.

It is unbelievable that he can go so fast with more than 500 people in charge.

"It seems to be true. Otherwise, could they ask us to come out to meet them? It is said that none of the five hundred deportees and demobilized personnel died. Even I can't believe it."

What Zhao Dahai said was a bit eccentric, obviously he was in a complicated mood.

"I want to take a closer look at how they did it. It is said that the head of the regiment Jia is Wu Tanhua. He is only 16 years old this year and has been an official of the third rank. Sigh, after all, he is a descendant of an aristocratic family. We people are incomparable. .”

Feng Kui's words sounded a little jealous.

"It seems to be coming."

As Zhong Ding's words sounded, people saw a puff of dust rising from the official road in the distance, which was the dust brought by the horse team running around.

Sure enough, the dust became thicker and closer, and after a while, the outline of a team appeared.In a serpentine shape, it creeps towards Bu Kui.

"Let's go, let's go forward to greet him, no matter what, we have to do enough in terms of etiquette."

Zhao Dahai got on his horse, seemingly still not at ease, and turned around to tell Zhong Ding and Feng Kui.

"Jia Dusi is the successor of the Duke of Rong. He is a young man, and he is a new official. You all have to be careful. Be careful recently, don't let him catch you."

"Understood, Brother Zhao, we will be careful."

With that said, several people rode forward.

"Officer Min is here, let's go too."

Wei Ruolan got on his horse and rode, and the others got on their horses and followed.

Bu Kui was located on the plain and had a wide field of vision. Although he saw the team with his eyes, the distance was still very far.

The two sides walked toward each other and rode for more than 20 minutes before they met.

After Wei Ruolan introduced to both parties, she exchanged pleasantries for a while, and then continued to rush towards Bu Kui.

Zhong Ding and Feng Kui met with the Fu Bingtuan, but they were still a little skeptical.The two quietly counted the number of prisoners again, and Feng Kui even rolled up the sleeves of the two prisoners to check, and then believed Jia Qin's statement that all five hundred prisoners were alive.

Prisoners must wear uniform clothes during the escort.Whether it's tops and bottoms, underwear and outerwear, and unlined cotton clothes, they are all made of uniform red cloth.

Prisoners were also shaved before and on the way.Shave all the hair around the head, leaving only the middle section.

At the same time, the prisoners were also tattooed.Some are stabbed in the face, and some are stabbed in the arm.The specific location is above the wrist and below the elbow.

The size of the characters is one inch and five squares, and the characters are divided into two parts, one is the name of the crime, and the other is the place name of the dispatched place.

An arsonist dispatched to Bukui had the words "set fire" and "Bukui" tattooed on his face.

The tattoos of this group of criminals were all tattooed on their arms.

These measures are to distinguish prisoners from ordinary people.Once a prisoner escapes, it is also easy to arrest.

When they saw all the prisoners and their family members in the carriage, they believed Jia Min's statement that they set off from the imperial capital on the eighth day of the first lunar month.

The practice of letting all the prisoners ride in the car really surprised them a little.But it wasn't all that surprised them.

Under normal circumstances, after a long journey on the road, when the prisoners arrived at their destination, they were basically exhausted and hungry, but the faces and spirits of this group of prisoners seemed to be very good.

While feeling strange in their hearts, the two also believed in their hearts that this Captain Jia Minjia seemed to be really different.

At 13 o'clock in the afternoon on the sixth day of March in the [-]th year of Yuanheng, Jia Min led the government corps to escort [-] deported prisoners and entered the gate of Bukui Nan.

Starting from the eighth day of the first lunar month, it took 57 days to travel more than 100 miles.Of the 320 officers and soldiers of the Fubing Regiment, none were injured or left behind.All arrived.

Of the [-] criminals under escort, no one was killed or injured, and no one escaped, and all arrived safely.Created a miracle in the history of the Dade Dynasty's large-scale escort of exiles.

From this moment on, Bu Kuicheng was acting as an agent to guard Zhao Dahai, and he had a deep fear of Jia Min.

It was also from this moment that he felt an urgent sense of crisis in his heart.

In his eyes, Jia Min is no longer just a 16-year-old kid, nor is he just a son of a son who was promoted by the shadow of his ancestors.

This is a strong opponent!

Zhao Dahai led the military regiment and walked on the wide streets of Bukui.

This team led by young officers gave him a different feeling.

He still can't tell exactly where the difference is, but he can feel the murderous aura coming from behind.

(End of this chapter)