Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 384 The Monster That Eats Two Eggs in One Meal
Tuijiao Station, also called Angbang Duohong Station in Manchu, means Jiaohe Ferry.This is the fourth stop of the "seven stops and six cards" on the post road from Jilin Wula to Ningguta.

It is located at the Xingkou of Zhangguangcai Mountain - the intersection of Saiqiwoji and Namuwoji. It is the only channel from the Mudanjiang River Basin to the Songnen Plain.Tracing back to Bohai state-run state road, Khitan Road, Xixiangzhou to Yongming City in Yuan Dynasty, and the northeast land road of Nadanfu in Ming Dynasty.

The traffic roads of different eras intersect and overlap here, and the time and space span more than a thousand years.The hereditary replacement of place names bears in mind the vicissitudes of the ancient road.

The reason why Nachitai chose this place for negotiation is that this place is only 65 miles away from the Rafah Station behind it, and eight miles away from the Omohe Suoluo Post Station (Manchu, relaxed) occupied by the Northern Navy. ten miles.Comparing the hatchback, if there is any accident, the Qing army's reinforcements can arrive faster than the Beihai Navy.

With a post road of 230 miles, the distance from the Qing side is only 470 miles, and Zhao Xin has to walk [-] miles from Ningguta.

On the post road of more than 400 miles, the North Navy has a platoon of garrisons at Shalan Station, Bierhanhe Station, and Omohe Suo Luo Station. radio station.As for the other three stations, messages are delivered by horse or horse-drawn sleigh.When the road is repaired in the spring of next year, telephone lines will be erected between the stations.

Up to now, that is, in the 53rd year of Qianlong, the Manchu and Qing Dynasties have set up 23 post stations in the area under the jurisdiction of the General’s Mansion in Jilin, and 81 post stations in the entire Northeast region north of Shanhaiguan.

Compared with the rough border management of the Ming Dynasty, the Manchu emperors in Beijing relied on these post stations and cobweb-like rivers to firmly control the entire Northeast land.

Right now, this net has been broken, and the Qing government's rule in the vast areas of the middle and lower reaches of Heilongjiang has been fragmented by Beihai Town, and it can no longer form effective rule.

The day when Liu Yong and his party departed from Ula, Jilin arrived at the Tujiao Post Station, it was a rare sunny day.In the harsh north wind, the sun in the sky casts hazy rainbow-like beams of light all around.

On the hills, the low wind whipped up the soft snow, which rustled in the bare forest.The vast snow field bordered by the horizon is very clear, only in the east at the foot of the mountain, the snow field at the end of the horizon is full of smoke, shrouded in a purple mirage.

Several low-level officials on horseback sighed in admiration at the scene before them, commenting that this was a good omen, and it seemed that the trip would go well.

But Liu Yong, who was sitting in the carriage and opened the curtains, looked at the dense purple, but frowned.As a well-known university scholar in the Qing Dynasty, Liu Yong was naturally well-read and memorized.He remembered the saying in "Rites and Fighting Prestige" that a ruler rides on water to become a king, and his government is peaceful, and he can see it in the sky.

What is Jingyun?To put it bluntly, it is four words, the cloud is bright.According to historical records, after the second monarch of the Western Zhou Dynasty, King Cheng of Zhou, put down the Sanjian Rebellion (killed Guan Shu, released Cai Shu, and abolished Huo Shu as a commoner), he saw blue clouds emerging on the river bank, which was Jing Yun.

Liu Yong lowered the curtain, recalling the news from Qitai that since Zhao Xin's victory over Rakshasa, there has been a lot of support from Zhao Xin's subordinates.But this person was unmoved at all, and continued to focus on building water conservancy farmland and expanding roads, just like the posture of Ming Taizu "building high walls and accumulating grain".

Moreover, according to the information obtained by the spies, Li Chao even sent envoys to communicate with him in private, but Zhao Xin asked Li Chao for the land of Jiangyuan, posing as if he would not give up the land.

No matter how he looked at it, Liu Yong felt that Zhao Xin's behavior was inconsistent with the etiquette system, and it was very strange.If it was someone else, he would have hooked up with Li Chaogou long ago.

"He doesn't have that much population, what does he need so much land for? Can he hold it?"

After tossing and thinking, I only heard someone outside the car say in a deep voice: "My lord, the Tujiao station has arrived."

Hearing this, Liu Yong stopped his various thoughts, opened the car curtain and looked out, a gust of icy cold wind hit his cheeks along the gap, and Liu Yong gritted his teeth.

At the estuary of Baishibu ahead, a house built of bricks and stones was clearly visible, and a group of walls built with wooden fences formed a courtyard with a radius of [-] feet.

At this time, the two co-leaders who led the vanguard of the Qing army to arrive early led their subordinates, as well as the local Bitieshi, Lingxuan, Wailang and Matou (the former was in charge of paperwork, and the latter was in charge of cattle and horses, etc.) all went out to greet the imperial envoy on their knees. .

Because Liu Yong had been sitting in a sedan chair for too long, when he got out of the carriage with the help of his servants, his two slightly ringed legs moved heavily on the ground for two steps, and he said to a co-leader with a confused expression: "Zhao Ni's Is the person here? Why didn't you see the adults?"

"Return to your lord," the co-leader who was asked knelt on one knee and cupped his fists and said, "The lord arrived yesterday afternoon, and he took people to the northeast early this morning. General Mo has been stationed in the northwest all these years. I am not familiar with the mountains, rivers and rivers, so at the end of my life, my lord will stay here to meet my lord."

"What about the defense situation?" Liu Yong has recovered a lot after a while, and the triangular eyes that were originally confused gradually regained their spirits.

"500 people from the Qianfeng Battalion have deployed defenses on the hillside to the west, and a thousand cavalry have also been deployed in the woods south of the post station. If there is any movement, they will be able to cross the river to help if there is no incense stick."

Liu Yong said solemnly: "Although we are not here to fight, we still can't be careless. Zhao Ni's treachery is unusual, and we must be released more."

"Hey! The final general will obey the orders of the adults!"

At this time, Zhao Xin and a battalion of troops had already set off from the Emohe Suoluo post station. In addition to the troops walking on the post road, the two scouting teams led by Erlu were also going forward to scout on the forests and hills on both sides. .

Cao Peng had been riding a horse for several days, and his thighs and buttocks were so painful from the saddle. When he set out to mount the horse in the morning, the fellow had an expression of pain, and muttered, "You know that riding a horse is so tiring. coming" and so on.

Zhao Xin is actually not much better than Cao Peng, and he rarely rides a horse.It's just that in front of all the subordinates, I have to bear it no matter what, and I admit the pain to death.

The eighty-mile mountain road is not far on paper, but it is actually very difficult to walk.A group of people had only traveled forty miles until it was almost dark.The next day, after the sun came out, we continued our journey, and it was almost ten o'clock before we met the sentry of the Qing army.

After the two sides contacted, the Qing army team led in the front, and the Beihai Navy advanced along the post road in the back. It was only after two noon that they arrived near the post station at the mouth of Tuijiao River.

Zhao Xin didn't agree to go to the post station to rest, who knows what kind of tricks Liu Yong and Na Qitai will play.It is not uncommon to be defeated on the battlefield, and it is not uncommon to play tricks on the ground.So he led the team across the frozen river and camped in a field east of the inn.

It was still the same, first cleared out an open space to set up a big tent, then Zhao Xin went in and wandered around, and the inside was full of materials for setting up the camp.

This time, Na Qitai finally knew why the North Navy's camp was set up so quickly.

This guy was standing on a high platform inside the walls of the station group, holding a single-lens telescope in his hand to look carefully.I saw a guy in a dark blue coat and a few people digging for something in the field hundreds of steps away from the North Navy camp.

After a while, an officer of the Beihai Navy crossed the Tuijiao River and said a few words to a Qing army general on his side. After that, Na Qitai saw his men running away and ran towards the station.

"My lord! Those guys said that they will blow up the soil later!"

"What? Exploding soil?" Na Qitai didn't react, and stared blankly at his subordinates.

"They said it was too cold, and the ground was too frozen to be dug, and they had to use gunpowder to explode it."

As soon as Na Qitai heard that he was going to use gunpowder to explode, he quickly said to the soldiers beside him: "Go and tell Mr. Liu, don't surprise him!"

At this time, Liu Yong had a clean and honest official voice, and the folks had spread him as a figure similar to Bao Qingtian.These Eight Banners soldiers outside the customs are also familiar, so the accompanying officers and soldiers respect Liu Yong from top to bottom.If Liu Yong was really frightened by those rebels firing cannons, then Qitai could hardly escape the blame.

After the soldiers had left for a while, Liu Yong, who had heard the news, arrived.He walked up to the high platform, took the binoculars that Qitai handed over, and said in his mouth: "What are these guys doing?"

"Master Liu, they are going to dig the ground and set up camp."

Liu Yong was surprised and said, "Isn't the wood all over the mountains not enough?"

Na Qitai said: "Judging from the few contacts I have had with Zhao Ni, this person will always do something unexpected."

Liu Yong said "oh", then stopped talking, and looked at the opposite side intently.

After about a while, Liu, Na and others on the high platform heard a long whistle from the other side of the river. Some officers and soldiers of the Beihai Navy who were standing suddenly fell to the ground, followed by a loud bang. Long's voice sounded like muffled thunder on the ground.

"Not good!" Na Qitai hurriedly pulled Liu Yong down, in his opinion, the next second must be the flames accompanied by earth and rocks flying into the sky, maybe it will hit the post station.

But who would have thought that there was no movement after a while, and the two looked up again, only to see that the field was filled with smoke and dust, and they couldn't see what happened at all.When the smoke and dust gradually dissipated, I saw that in a small field of two acres, the frozen ground was as hard as iron plates, as if it had been plowed by a huge iron plow, and it turned into pieces of soil.

Next, the scene that made Liu and the two even more dumbfounded appeared!

Next to a group of busy soldiers of the Northern Navy, two rumbling monsters stretched out their one-foot-long yellow giant arms, scooped up the soil on the ground through the bucket in front of the giant arms, and then walked for a while After the road, they were poured into square baskets woven of unknown materials.

Those square baskets have been arranged in a straight line for more than ten feet, about two feet high, and there seems to be a bag inside, and all the soil scooped up is packed in these bags.

When the soil in a square basket was almost full, Na Qitai finally realized that it turned out that the camp of the Beihai Navy was built in this way, which is really unimaginable.No wonder a camp was erected after only one night!

At this time, the west bank of the Tuijiao River was full of Qing troops watching the excitement, everyone was stunned.Some people even forgot that the two sides were in a hostile relationship, and wanted to walk across the ice to take a closer look, but they were driven back by the Beihai Navy, who was in charge of security on the other side.

A few sharp-eyed soldiers of the Eight Banners shouted, "There is a man in that monster!"

"God! Could this thing be manipulated by someone?"

"Good guy, with such great strength, a shovel might weigh dozens of catties! How much food do you usually have to feed?!"

A veteran of the Eight Banners seemed to be quite experienced. After thinking about it, he said, "I guess eating grass is not going to work. I have to feed black beans, and I have to add two raw eggs every day!"

Several flag soldiers around were dumbfounded: "I still have to eat eggs?! Who can afford it! With this money, it would be better to raise two more cows."

"Raising cattle? Can your cattle have this strength?"

Liu Yong blankly pointed at the two yellow and black monsters with huge arms constantly stretching out, and he was stunned: "These rebels are really good at strange skills, but they can be called amazing. Farmers have this tool, how much labor can be saved in opening up wasteland and cultivating land?"

The noisy Qing army watched on the river bank for a long time, until Na Qitai saw that it was getting worse and worse, ordered someone to take some of them back to the post station and beat them with army sticks, and then the group of people dispersed angrily.

After dark, the Beihai Navy's camp was still brightly lit and noisy with people.Liu Yong was curious about how the lights could be so bright, so Na Qitai explained the electric lights he saw in Beihai Town, which shocked Liu Yong.Even the thunder and lightning in the sky can be used as usual, this is not like a mortal but a demon!
After all the camp walls of the Beihai Navy were built, the "two-headed" monsters disappeared into the opponent's camp.

After nightfall, Bei Haijun had dinner here, except for the guard post and the swimming post, everyone else fell asleep peacefully.But the Qing army was so disturbed by the scene during the day that they couldn't sleep all night. Many people, including Liu Yong, didn't fall asleep until the early morning.

In the early morning of the next day, the two sides had breakfast, and the officers in charge of the contact met again by the river to communicate and negotiate matters.

Still the same, Beihai set up a tent on the east bank of the Tuijiao River, which was exposed to the wind on all sides, and surrounded it with a curtain.The Qing army sent people to place seven or eight braziers around them as a place for negotiations.

After ten o'clock in the morning, Liu Yong, Na Qitai and several Eight Banners generals led more than 20 forward battalion armored soldiers across the river to negotiate.At this point, Liu Yong finally met Zhao Xin whom he had been waiting for for several months.

Liu Yong, who is over 60 years old this year, is solid and of medium build. He has a dark and red rectangular face, and a pair of piercing triangular eyes under thick broom eyebrows.There is a thick beard on his lips, a goatee on his chin, and not many wrinkles on his face.He was wearing a winter hat with a ruby ​​top, a yellow mandarin jacket over the eight-python five-claw robe, and a pair of black high-top white thick-soled soap boots on his feet.

Zhao Xin, who is just over 31 years old, is tall and tall, with a neatly manicured face in Chinese characters, without even a stubble.Under the thick eyebrows are bright eyes, under the strong nose, the corners of the mouth are slightly raised, and there is a smile on the surface.Both he and Cao Peng were wearing winter camouflage uniforms of the Beihai Navy, and they looked extraordinarily strong under the thick coat.

"Your Excellency is the Zhao Xin after falsely calling Zhu Ming?"

"Hehe, you are Mr. Liu Chongru, right? You are indeed Qianlong's humerus minister! Sorry, I have been repairing the Rakshasa and kept you waiting for a few months."

Zhao Xin looked at the opposite person who was famous for being law-abiding, upright and honest, and was praised by many film and television works in later generations. At the same time, he was also the biggest culprit in the "Dongtai Yizhulou Case", and his heart was quite complicated.

And Liu Yong looked at the No. [-] rebel in Tianzi, who made the Manchu court restless all night, and was said by the people of Beijing City Banner to be the No. [-] rebel in Tianzi with his fangs and three heads and six arms, and an ominous premonition arose spontaneously!

　"Woji" means dense forest.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)