New Shun 1730

After going down the mountain, there 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. The fierce northwest wind blows away the snow on the ice surface, revealing a smooth ice surface. The horse is not very willing to step on it. Although there are horseshoes on the hooves, it seems to be a little afraid.

Du Feng can read and write, and those who can read can recite a few sentences of "The shame of Jingkang has not yet been avenged."

The two emperors of the Song Dynasty were imprisoned near the Handoliwei City, which was called the Five Kingdoms City in ancient times. Now it has disappeared and only a few mounds of earth are left.

The Handoliwei City is on the south bank of the Songhua River. To the west is the Mudan River flowing from the south, to the east is the Woken River, and to the north is the Songhua River. It is surrounded by water on three sides, which is easy to defend and difficult to attack.

From a distance, you can see the smoke coming out of the fortress, and you can smell the smell of meat and fish from afar. Du Feng kicked the horse's belly and quickened his pace.

The city is simply a hodgepodge, with all kinds of people.

The majority of them are descendants of the Shandong Yuyuan Army, and the rest are descendants of officials who were demoted to guard the border due to the struggle in the court, and forest tribesmen who did not want to hunt and wanted to live as soldiers.

There were even a few Cossacks who fled here because of unfair distribution of spoils and killed their superiors, and taught the people here to grow rye - the Russians can grow food in a place like Yakutsk, which is also a skill.

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

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

At the door, his sister Du Ling is playing in the snow with several girls.

Du Ling is wearing a sable Kuban Cossack hat trophy that she robbed. At this time, there was no Kuban Cossack Military District, but this classic hat style had come here with the Cossacks expanding eastward.

She wore a fur coat and a pair of lambskin boots, and her unmarried braids danced happily with the steps of her owner.

At the age of fifteen or sixteen, she was not yet big, but she was cheerful and happy. The Cuban hat on her head would fall down from time to time to block her eyes, and she would push it up again.

I don’t know how long she played in the snow, her face was red from the cold.

Seeing Du Feng riding a horse, she ran over with a smile, and without saying a word, she stuffed her red hands into Du Feng’s sleeves.

“Brother, why did you come back just now? I’m waiting for you to eat.”

After warming up, she took out her hands that had some heat, helped Du Feng rub his ears that were a little frozen, and went into the house together.

As soon as she entered the house, the heat came over.

The hot ground dragon and the steam from cooking warmed up Du Feng, who was almost frozen, and his face felt wet.

Du Ling took off Du Feng's hat, and took off his fur coat, hung it aside, and shouted: "Mom, mom, let's eat. My brother is back."

As she spoke, a middle-aged woman in her forties pushed the door open from the inner room. She looked ordinary, and was Du Feng's mother.

The family did not eat in the outer room, but on the kang, with a small kang table.

It was because it was warm, and also because Du Feng's father Du Qian was disabled.

A few years ago, a tribe in the forest complained that the Cossacks collected Yasak fur tax.

This Yasak fur tax was originally a tribute collected by the Golden Horde from the Russian countries. Russia made its fortune by collecting Yasak for the Golden Horde, and now it has followed suit and come here to collect fur tax.

The role of the Handori Castle here is to guard the border and collect mink tribute from various tribes to show jurisdiction.

The tribe in the forest came to complain, and Du Qian led people to fight. As a result, he was shot in the leg in the chaos and his bones were broken.

Winter is so unbearable that we can only stay at the head of the kang to keep warm, fearing a little cold.

The family of four sat on the kang. Du Feng, as usual, poured a bowl of wine for his father and a small cup for himself.

The food was rich and appetizing.

A plate of river fish caught during winter fishing weighed seven or eight pounds. It was stewed with tofu and pig skin in Shandong, which was really tasty.

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

Chop it into pieces, use radish to remove the bones inside, and simmer the delicate meat with a little sorghum rice flour into meatballs, which is a good pot of soup.

A plate of crispy fried soybeans, just right for drinking. It was paired with Shandong pancakes with the taste of hometown, but it was just missing some green onions.

"Feng'er, have you prepared all the wood?"

Du Qian swallowed a mouthful of wine, biting the pancake with his cheeks moving, and he was able to talk, which showed that he was very skilled in eating pancakes.

"I have prepared all the wood. I have also let go of the whip. I have also worshipped the mountain god."

"That's it. After this year's busy work, you will go to Jilin Shipyard in the summer of next year to prepare for the exam. Damn, if I hadn't broken my leg, how could I have ended up like this? There is an old saying that goes, learn civil and martial arts, and sell them to the emperor's family."

Du Feng smiled, pinched a bean skillfully and threw it into his mouth, biting it with a crackling sound, and cursed: "Whatever the emperor says is civil and martial arts, it is civil and martial arts. Who can't live with official positions? Go? I don't like those Western things at all. There's nothing I can do. If I don't learn well, I can't enter the Wude Palace. "

After complaining, he took a pancake and rolled some duck meatballs, and said to his sister: "Lingdang, it's you who likes those studies. When I pass the exam to the Wude Palace and become a high-ranking official, our family will move to the capital. Then I will find you a good in-law. You don't have to do any work, just sit at home and read those Western books. There are many books in the capital, I guarantee you will enjoy reading them."

The mother smiled and said: "Look, this sounds like a saying for an elder brother. Lingdang, do you listen? From now on, if your brother doesn't keep his words, you will scold him."

While talking, a dog barked outside. Ling Ding quickly put down the pancakes and went to take a look.

With a hula, the door was pushed open, and the air-conditioning outside suddenly turned into a fairyland-like mist. Before I could see the person clearly, I heard the person yelling at the top of his lungs with excitement: "Brother Feng, Brother Feng! The deal is coming! The deal is coming!"

Upon hearing this, Du Feng immediately jumped off the kang and shouted: "Lao San, what's going on?"

As soon as the third child, who was called the third child, entered the door, Du Feng's mother hurriedly greeted him: "You haven't eaten yet? Eat some."

The third child, who is not from Shandong, looked at the pancakes on the table and twisted his mouth.

"Come on, I really can't chew with my teeth. My cheeks hurt."

Du Ling also knew what this man meant by "buying and selling" and hurriedly moved a stool outside. The two families are related. The third child's father is Du Feng's cousin, so he doesn't treat them too politely.

Seeing that there were no outsiders, he raised his hands to Du Qiangong and said, "Master Duwei, horse manure 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.

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

"It can't be wrong."

"Okay! Okay! Okay!"

The third child smiled and said: "Isn't Brother Feng going to take the exam next year? What if we really go to the capital and have no money? These people are quite interesting. They knew that Brother Feng needed money, so they gave us a big gift."

Du Qian nodded his head in agreement.

The military men here have Yongye fields. They cannot buy or sell, and they do not have to pay taxes. They only need to perform military service. Some of them are like the soldiers of the Tang Dynasty.

For the Songhua River Basin, where the population is sparse, a nondescript and informal military system was implemented; south of Liaodong, a standard recruitment system was adopted.

The life of the soldiers here is pretty good, they are all small landowners, at least they are rich farmers who work on their own land, and they are exempt from paying blood tax.

Although life is okay, I am short of money.

The food couldn't be transported, and it couldn't be sold for much money, so I relied on hunting to get some skins, and exchanged some money to buy flower ropes, cloth, tobacco leaves, etc.

The nearby tribes in the forest all had officials appointed by the imperial court, so it was not easy to rob them. If they were robbed, they would get into trouble, and they might even file a lawsuit.

Only this smuggler or caravan is simply a bodhisattva who shows mercy and a boy who spreads wealth.

This is also simple to do.

Whoever discovers it first will divide the spoils among ten people.

After discovering it, he sent a few good men to keep an eye on them and follow them like gangrene. They took advantage of the familiarity of the terrain and killed a few horses halfway, leaving the opponent unable to rest and slowing down their speed.

After confirming the number of people in the position, send someone back to report a message, and then gather the border troops to kill them.

If there are few people, they will silence and extort money. If there are many people, they will intimidate and threaten them.

Whoever stares or holds back will be divided among ten more people when the time comes.

Even if a caravan of seventy or eighty carts cannot kill people and steal goods, as long as they are delayed and someone is sent to negotiate, they still have to get 20% of the road money, right?

Why not divide it into several hundred taels when the time comes?

Du Qian clapped his hands, knocked on the table with his chopsticks and said: "You and Feng'er bring three or five good people and find them first. Kill a few horses and follow them like gadflies and horseflies, making them restless. When the time comes, I’ll send someone a message and I’ll take them over.”

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

Du Qian stopped eating and shouted, "Then what are you waiting for? Lingdang, hurry up and clean up for your brother and prepare some food. The gunpowder, rope, and gun are all ready."

Du Ling stopped eating and hurriedly went to pack the food and shouted: "Brother, you eat slowly first. I will definitely prepare something good for you here." Du Feng's mother didn't eat either. Go busy, there are too many things to prepare when going out in winter.

In the moral view of the border army, this matter is as logical as relying on the mountain to rely on the mountain and the water.

There is a poem from the previous dynasty that states: Everyone is fighting against each other with their sharp swords, and they rush to report to the generals and governors at the beginning of the letter. He rushed to receive the gold and slaughtered his entire family and nine relatives.

According to what they thought, they just robbed a caravan and considered it a shameful thing?

These people feel that they are better than killing good people and taking credit for their merits, and they all feel that they are actually moral models for the border troops.

Du Feng also felt that if he succeeded, he would not be able to divide it into a few hundred taels. It would be very difficult to live in the capital, and it would be easier to get along with a few hundred taels more.

Not wanting to chew slowly, I poured the fish soup into a bowl and tore a few pancakes still in the soup. It was soaked like pig food, and he drank it in a slurping manner.