New Shun 1730

Du Ling came to Du Feng with a badger oil can, and applied some badger oil on his fingers to Du Feng's face.

Every part must be carefully applied. In the cold weather, applying oil can prevent cold.

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

"Brother, you have to be careful. Those smugglers are also desperate people. You can just hit their horses and run away after hitting them."

"Also, don't stare at the snow all the time. Close your eyes more when you are on the horse, don't let the snow burn your eyes."

"When feeding the horse, you can't feed the snow for the sake of convenience. You have to cut ice and melt water..."

"Don't hit people. If there are too many people, we have to talk. If someone dies, it will be difficult to talk. If you hit their horses, their carts can't be pulled away. They either leave them there or have to stop and load them onto other carts. This It takes time. Daddy will take people over there. As long as there are more people, they will either give money or goods, and they can't run away. "

Chuckling like a little bird, Du Feng smiled and tapped his sister's head lightly, saying, "I know. Do you need me to teach me how to do things?"

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

Du Feng lowered his head and let his sister apply it for a long time. When he thought it was almost done, he took off his shoes and put on high leather boots with wool lining. He must not let his feet get frozen in winter. As long as his feet are warm, his body will not be too cold.

When he went out, his reddish-brown Muleng horse was obviously reluctant to go out in the cold weather, and was kicking his hooves in dissatisfaction.

Muleng is the same word as Mao Lian, which is a translation problem.

Mao Lian means horse in Jurchen or Mongolian. The Ming Dynasty established Mao Lian Guard, which raised horses in the area of ​​the Muleng River in later generations, and the tribute was mainly horses.

Since the middle of the Ming Dynasty, this place has been the best pasture north of the watershed between the Songhua River and the Liaohe River. Later generations called it the Wandashan Pasture. It is a good mountain pasture and the main source of horses for the various guards in the Songhua River Basin of Dashun.

The war horses here are very adaptable to the cold environment, but they are also a branch of Mongolian horses and still have shortcomings.

Unfortunately, the Luosha people on the opposite side have not yet improved the Don River horse, and there is no way to catch a few horses from the opposite side to improve it.

The saddle of the bay horse is full of pockets filled with food, gunpowder, and lead bullets. There is a knife and two spare matchlocks.

Du Feng flipped the saddle to see if there were any small things like straw sticks. Even if it is a small straw stick, if it is hidden under the saddle and not paid attention to, it is easy to wear the horse's back.

Du Ling was applying oil to the spare horseshoe nails and carefully placed them in a small cloth bag. He also checked the gunpowder and lead bullets in the short gun, and then he felt relieved.

"The Ballad of Mulan" says: Buy a fine 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.

South of Liaodong has a large population and scarce land, and there is no economic foundation for the Fubing system at all.

North of Liaodong is the Songhua River, where there are vast land and sparse population. Dashun restored the Fubing system here, but it was a bit distorted.

Fubing was required to provide a series of military equipment such as horses, stirrups, saddles, horseshoes, etc.; but armor, cannons, guns, gunpowder, etc. were provided by the court. The entire Songhua River Basin also strictly prohibited blacksmiths from making cannons, guns, and armor. Those who violated the rules would be exterminated.

Blood tax, to replace the labor tax.

Although Lingdang was not very old, she grew up in such a family since she was a child, and she still understood military equipment. After finishing the work and checking, she gave another reminder.

"Brother, be careful."

"Don't worry."

He stepped on the stirrup and climbed onto the horse. Du Ling held his knees and followed him all the way to the door, chattering all the time.

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

He turned around and waved to his mother at the door, patted his sister's head, tapped the horse's belly with his heels, and ran towards the third brother's house.

When he arrived at the third brother's house, the four young men who had a good relationship with him were already ready. After checking each other, they led a horse and hung a snow sled behind it, loaded with horse feed, etc.

After leaving the Handoriwei City, the group went up along the Woken River.

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

It was extremely cold these days, and the ice layer was frozen and cracked, squeezing out the running water below, and spread it flat on the river surface to form another layer of ice. It was really the best road in the world at this time.

The war horses under my crotch are all used to walking on the ice. They are shod and stride forward with a clattering sound, and sometimes even trot for a while.

Of course, the smugglers will not go directly to the Songhua River along the Woken River, because that will inevitably pass through the Handoliwei City. They will choose some mountain pass swamps and enter the Songhua River along the small river on the other side of the mountain.

The place where the horse manure and snow sled prints were found is about 70 or 80 miles away from the Handoliwei City, and it is a deserted place.

I can't ride the horse for too long that day. My knees are really frozen. I have to get off and run for a while to warm up my body.

After chasing for three days, I left a mark to point the way, and finally caught a piece of horse manure that was not frozen solid.

I broke the horse manure and looked at it, and poked the hardness inside.

"It's probably about ten miles away. We can't chase along the river, we have to walk on the shore. I remember there is a big bend ahead, let's leave the horses here. Lao Liu, you stay to look after the horses, and we'll go over."

Du Feng jumped off the horse and put on his gun. Several people checked the ropes, dry food, and animal fats with salt to prepare for long-term following.

This journey may take a long time. Lao Liu will stay here and report once he gets the news. Du Feng and his friends may have to stay here for three to five days.

They were half-mountain hunters. Dry food plus a can of pickled lard were enough to survive for six or seven days in the mountains. Those smugglers from the border would definitely not be able to survive them.

There was heavy snow more than half a meter deep on the shore. It took half a day to pull out the boots every step. The crotch of the pants was rubbed when walking, and it was really hard to walk fast.

But they didn't plan to walk. After passing the water melon pond, there was a pine forest.

The big pine trees, more than one person thick, had never been cut down by anyone. Some big dead woods lying on the ground for many years, or trees struck by lightning in summer, made it extremely difficult to walk here.

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

Suddenly, they were enlightened.

They were all people who lived in the mountains all year round, and they walked on the thick branches as if they were walking on flat ground. Where the branches were not connected, they used ropes to swing to the opposite branches and passed through like swings.

There was a gap more than 30 meters high under my feet. The branches of the red pine trees were trembling, but I was not afraid at all.

There was no snow under my feet, and it was very convenient and fast to swing on the trees.

Soon, I heard a few horses neighing.

When they got to the bend of the river, the five people hid in a big tree, lit the matchlock, and loaded the lead bullets.

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

"Oh my god! We're rich!"

Several people clenched their fists excitedly. How much money would be worth in so many carts?

A piece of tea cake sold to the Luosha people was a lot of money, plus Da Huang, it was at least tens of thousands of taels of silver.

Du Feng held a long matchlock gun and aimed at the horse in front.

They occupied a good position, right at the bend of the river, not far away.

No people, only horses.

Kill a few horses and leave them behind like a thorn in the flesh, so that these people can't walk fast.

If more than a dozen horses die, many carts can't be pulled. Either leave them here or stop to unload and reload. For these border troops, it's just a matter of who gets more or less.

"I'll hit the ones in the front, and you hit the ones in the middle. After that, we'll run back from the trees. They can't see the footprints and can't find us."

"Find a chance to do a few more waves, kill 20 or 30 horses, don't hit people. Otherwise, it's hard to talk."

Du Feng pointed to the horses in the middle and whispered.

He held the heavy matchlock gun, held his breath, and waited for the caravan to turn around and get within 40 or 50 steps.

Bang!

The burning matchlock ignited the primer, and before the smoke dissipated, Du Feng jumped onto the branches behind.

Gunshots rang out beside them. These people were all good at it, and five horses on the river fell down immediately.

Du Feng understood that he had to run away at this time. As long as they fired one more round of gunfire and killed five more horses, the smuggling caravan would slow down. The five of them could use the terrain like a thorn in their side, making it difficult for them to move.

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

The horse team in the river did not panic at all, but quickly surrounded the carriages loaded with goods into a circle. They were so well-trained that even the people in Handoli Guard could not do it.

A large number of people jumped out of the several large sleds surrounded inside, holding muskets in their hands.

There was also a burst of horse neighing in front, and there were people more than a hundred steps ahead and behind. The horse teams in front and behind were actually circling around to encircle them, a standard encirclement tactic.

Bang bang bang bang...

In less than a moment, the people in the car formation gathered together and fired a round of volleys, hitting the branches flying where the smoke had just come out.

Fortunately, Du Feng and his companions ran fast, or they would be finished now.

"We ran into a tough guy!"

The third brother groaned, obviously beyond his expectation.

Du Feng looked at the movement under the river and shook his head, saying, "Not only are there tough guys, these people are probably... not a caravan at all. These are all military tricks, how can ordinary caravans have such ability?"

"Who cares, run! If you don't run, you will be surrounded by dumplings." The third brother threw out a rope, tied it to the big tree opposite, and ran back on the tree.

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

Who would have thought that the other party would not only fight back, but also in an orderly manner.

Some went to the back, some outflanked on both wings, and some were covered by volleys in the car formation.

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

The outflanking troops had already deployed on both sides, so the few people had to retreat back to the pine forest.

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

The third brother slapped himself, feeling annoyed.

Du Feng hid on the branches and observed for a while, and felt more and more that something was wrong.

The people in the car formation were definitely military personnel, because they could fire in volleys, and they would fire in volleys according to orders, and there was a commander inside.

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

No matter what the other party does, if they are really caught by them, they will definitely die.

Smuggling is a serious crime, and these smugglers are not easy to deal with. They don't mind killing a few border soldiers and killing them to silence them.

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

It was really strange that the smugglers had this level. Even if they didn't panic and relied on the convoy to hold on, the stronger smugglers could be driven out.

The problem was that they didn't panic when they heard the gunshots. While holding on, they immediately sent people to encircle the two wings, and there were also riders to investigate in the rear. If all the smugglers had this level, then this world would be really interesting.

"Run?" The third brother pointed to the pine forest he had passed before, a little panicked.

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

Du Feng calmed down, took advantage of the gap in the car array, swung to a nearby pine tree, hid behind the pine tree, and shouted: "Listen, people below! We are from Handoriwei City, and we have long known that you are going to do something illegal, so we are waiting here. We are delaying you here, and the army will be here soon! Why don't you surrender quickly?"

Say it to let the other party surrender, but in fact it is telling the other party: Run quickly, let's go our separate ways. Otherwise, our people will come soon, and you will have no chance to run. If you insist on killing me, then we will both lose, and our people will be here soon, believe it or not.