Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 52 The Seldan Father and Son

In the 49th year of Qianlong, the eleventh day of the first lunar month.

The Hunchun Association leads the yamen.

In the morning, the co-leader Wuteshan first received a report from Hadama Karen, 48 miles northeast of Hunchun City ("Karen" in Manchu means outpost. According to the Qing Dynasty, as of the 12th year of Qianlong, the surrounding areas of Hunchun There are fifteen Karen seats in total, and each seat must be stationed with a leader and ten armored soldiers).According to the leader in charge of Karen, on the seventh day of the first lunar month, the 12-member team that passed by Karen has not yet returned.Due to the heavy snowfall on the eighth and ninth day of the lunar new year, the mountain road would be difficult to travel.It is estimated that the 45-man team has been trapped on the mountain road.Before sending people to report, Hadama Karen's leader sent five people to investigate all the way to Amida Karen ([-] miles northeast of Hunchun City) five miles to the east.

(The reason why a Karen made such a report is that the Qing court's policy that "the Eight Banners of Manchuria belong to soldiers", the management of the banner people is very strict.

In the 24th year of Qianlong's request from the Military Plane Office, the Ministry of War, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs: For all the soldiers and idlers stationed in various provinces who escaped for the first time, no matter whether they were surrendered, they will be whipped with a [-]-flag number for one month and handed over to the leading officials of the banner. Strictly control and act as a drudgery, after half a year, you will be able to settle down, and you will still be allowed to work as a errand.If he fled for the second time, no matter if he was surrendered, he would be sent to Heilongjiang and other places to torture and serve as servants. ……Those who have escaped to three soldiers will be fined for one year in charge of the assistant leader, defense, and cavalry school.If there are no more than five, the management association will receive a fine of six months. )
So when Wu Teshan saw this report, he felt bad.The 12-member team he sent out had been away for five days, and it was supposed to be back yesterday.

Sure enough, in the afternoon, Watt Mountain received a report from Hadama Karen.The five-member team sent out has found the 12-member team trapped in the mountain road.All 12 members of the team died. It has been found that the leader and a soldier in the team were stabbed to death, and the rest of the soldiers and horses seemed to be frozen to death.

This news shocked Wote Shan.

Since the addition of Karen in Qianlong's 17th year in Hunchun City, there has never been a leader who was killed. Who is so bold!
Wu Teshan immediately ordered his master to write a report, and prepared to report it to the Ningguta Dutong Yamen.At the same time, he ordered Zuo Ling Tomohoguo to take 100 armored soldiers to the scene of the incident for detailed investigation, and regularly reported the inspection results to Hunchun City.

After that, with the continuous delivery of flying reports, Walter Hill also had a rough judgment on the death of 12 people.The armored soldiers found the bodies of a man and two women buried under the snow at the scene of the incident, as well as the body of an elderly woman buried in the soil next to them.

After careful identification by the officers and soldiers of Amida Karen present, it was determined that the men and three women were the Yalha family members who had passed by the day before the incident.

Yalha's body was never found.

Uteshan was furious. He ignored the snowy road and sent people to call Hadama and Amida to search the surrounding mountains and forests to find traces of Yalha's escape. Fifty armored soldiers immediately rushed to the village on the south bank of the Hajimi River to check the villagers to prevent the suspect from escaping home.

Dahe River is a tributary of Suifenhe River.

At noon, outside a dilapidated grass hut by the river, Seldan squatted in front of the fire, looking a little anxious.

On the way back to the village with Yalha that day, because he wanted to avoid Amida Karen, Seldan led his horse through the rugged mountains and forests, and only turned back to the main road after walking ten miles.As a result, the journey was delayed, and Yalha's frostbite aggravated a bit.

After returning home after dark, Seldan discovered that Yalha's frostbite was very serious, and his feet and fingers had turned black.

As soon as he entered the door, he asked his son Elu to set the stove in the house on fire, and he and his wife cut open the robe and leather pants of Yalha with a knife.

Under the clothes, Yalha's arms and legs were covered with ice.Seldan's wife quickly made her daughter boil a pot of water. After the couple waited for the water temperature to come up, they began to melt the ice on Yalha's body little by little with a cloth dipped in warm water; then Seldan began to use snow He rubbed Yalha's frostbitten legs and hands repeatedly until it started to turn red before stopping.

Then, Seldan cut open his two old and new cotton robes, took out the cotton wool inside and tightly wrapped Yalha's legs, arms and even his fingers and toes, and then tied them with cloth strips, and then put the house in the house. quilts and hides covered him.

After the bandage is completed, no matter how painful Yalha is for seven days, he cannot untie it.

At this point, everything Cerdan could do had been done; and the rest, it was up to Yalha to handle it himself.

The next day, Yalha woke up.When he saw Cerdan, he just shed tears and couldn't say anything; then, Yaerha was tortured and trembling because of the pain of the wound, trying to break free.However, Cerdan, who had been guarding him, was tightly pressed on the bed and could not move.

When Yalha finished tossing and fell asleep, Seldan was a little worried.He worried that if the officers and soldiers pursued them all the way, nine out of ten, they would come to the village to look for them from house to house.

So in the early morning of the next day, Seldan carefully put the family horse on the sledge before dawn, and together with his son, he carried Yalha onto the sledge, and wrapped it tightly with animal skins.

After everything was tidy up, Elu stood at the gate of the courtyard and listened carefully to the movements around him.After a while, he led the horse and left with Seldan, walking towards the northeast outside the village.

"Ama, how shall we go in a while?"

Outside the grass hut on the bank of the Da River, Eru sat beside Cerdan with his buttocks, stretched out his hand to bake the fire, and asked softly.

"Continue to the east and send you Uncle Yarha to the fishing village by the sea to hide for a while." Seldan said while smoking a dry cigarette.

In the fishing village across the Strait of Bear Island, Seldan has a good friend named Hengji (Manchu, seal), and Yalha also knows him.

"Then what?" Erlu continued to ask.

"Let's go back first when your Uncle Yarha's injury is healed."

In the evening, Seldan and his son finally took Yalha to the home of a friend in the fishing village.

The fishing village is not big, with only a dozen households in total.

After arriving at the friend's house named Hengji, several people were busy, and Hengji arranged to place Yalha in an east-facing adobe house in his home.He helped Cerdan to light the fire in the house, and brought some food from the house to Cerdan and his son.

After the temperature in the room gradually came up, it was very warm.

Only at this moment did Seldan tell Hengji, who had been busy doing things, about Yaerha, which surprised the other party.

"Then what are you going to do?" Hengji asked.

"Alas, one step is one step, and you can't watch him die there." Seldan said lightly.He didn't care so much at first, he just thought about saving people first.

Hengji is also helpless, seeing his friend fall to this point, he always has to help if he can.

As a result, when it was time to sleep at night, Elu suddenly opened his mind.He told his Amma that since they were all here, why don't you take some skins to Bear Island tomorrow morning to see those "Kurefei Yakas" that Yalha said.

After listening to his son's words, Seldan was also a little moved, and the salt at home was running out.Yalha had told himself before that it was very cost-effective to exchange salt with those people on Bear Island.

Although he only brought a few skins with him this time, he could borrow a few from Hengji first, and then return them with his own skins after returning home.

"Okay. I'll go to Hengji and tell him, and let him help take care of your Uncle Yarha. Let's leave early tomorrow, go early and return early." Seldan said to his son who was going to sleep.

Early the next morning, at the camp on Bear Island.

After running early in the morning, Liu Sheng asked Lu Shoushan to accompany him to fish in the river on the island.

Really catch!This fellow found out while hunting wild boars a few days ago that there are a lot of fish in the river on Bear Island.It seems that no one has been caught for a long time.But at that time, he looked through the ice for a long time, and only recognized carp, crucian carp and grass carp, and had never seen other fish at all.

He was also really bored.Zhao Xin and the others are away, and there is nothing to do in the camp.After routinely shooting the gun every morning, Liu Sheng didn't know what to do.

When Zhao Xin suddenly came back a few days ago, Sheng Haizhou and the others were all scolded, and recently they have become more honest and no longer practice guns with Liu Sheng.After running in the morning, I started the routine swordsmanship practice, and then continued to work according to the division of labor.

Lu Shoushan was going to cut wood today.The severe cold these days have caused a sharp rise in firewood consumption.And Zhao Xin once ordered that the trunk of fir or cedar should not be used as firewood, so the logging team could only cut down white birch every day.Now the birch trees closest to the west side of the camp have been cut down.

But Liu Sheng felt that Lu Shoushan and Pan Xiucheng could at least have a chat with him, and it was too laborious to communicate with Sheng Haizhou and the others.

Therefore, Liu Sheng carried the plastic bucket brought from the kitchen in one hand, Xu Funan in the other, and Lu Shoushan and Pan Xiucheng with tools behind him.These three big and one small, wandered to the river near the mouth of the sea.

As for Xu Shonan, that was the follower of A Miao and Doofu.

As a result, as soon as he reached the river, the sharp-eyed Lu Shoushan saw not far away, two tightly wrapped people sitting on a horse-drawn sledge, coming towards the camp.

"Master Liu, look over there." Lu Shoushan pulled Liu Sheng in front of him.

Liu Sheng turned around and looked, yes, this time the fish can't be caught.

He asked Pan Xiucheng to take Xu Funan back quickly, and after checking the pistol and magazine, he took Lu Shoushan to meet him.

Lu Shoushan was apprehensive. Since he left the fishing village across the strait, he has never seen other natives.He had heard from Zhao Xin before that there were natives from nearby who came to the camp to change things, but he had just come here and it was not suitable for him to show up.

But when he saw Liu Sheng put the bursting firecracker in his hand into his coat pocket, he gradually became more at ease.It is said that when Liu Sheng was practicing the gun, he also watched it from a distance. The sound of continuous shooting of the pistol scared Lu Shoushan half to death.After living for more than 30 years, Lu Shoushan has only seen shotguns in the hands of officers and soldiers, but he has never seen a shotgun fired.

(In the 24th year and [-]th year of Qianlong, the emperor ordered the Minister of Military Affairs twice to strictly investigate the use and sale of privately made bird guns, and required all provinces to register and number the folk bird guns and confiscate them.

But the people have their own wisdom.In some villagers in Shandong fighting, some people used a sturdy bamboo tube, opened it, then wrapped the old rattan, and finally hooped it with an iron ring, and stuffed it with gunpowder and iron sand. for a headache.

It is not surprising that Lu Shoushan, who grew up in a wealthy land in the south of the Yangtze River, has never seen a bird shoot. )
As an excellent hunter, Seldan's eyesight is naturally very good.Sitting on the sledge, he saw a few people not far away, and hurriedly asked his son Elu to lower the horse quickly.

Seeing the other party getting closer, Liu Sheng put his hand in his coat pocket, grabbed the pistol, and alluded to the other party.

"You are Yaerha?" Liu Sheng knew that Lu Shoushan knew Manchu and motioned for him to translate.

Lu Shoushan waited for the other party to stop the horse, and after getting off the sledge, he asked.

Seldan was both happy and surprised when he heard that someone on the other side could understand Manchu.

The happy thing is that since someone can speak Manchu, it will be much easier to communicate; what is surprising is that Yalha once told him that the group of people on Bear Island did not understand Manchu and could only make gestures.How come a man who speaks Manchu suddenly appears now?
Moreover, in the eyes of Cerdan, the two of them have determined that the other party is not a "Sakhalin Feyaka" at all.Especially the one next to the man who spoke Manchu, who was terrifyingly tall and looked like a strong bear.He had never seen someone so tall before.

"No." Seldan shook his head. "I'm Yalha's friend."

"Huh?" Liu Sheng was very strange after listening to Lu Shoushan's translation. Wasn't it always a person named "Yalha" who came here before?

"Why didn't Yalha come?" Liu Sheng keenly felt that something was wrong.

"Uncle Yarha is ill." Erlu said loudly. "We're here for fine salt."

Liu Sheng looked at the two natives in front of him, thought about it, and said, "There is salt. Shoushan, you lead the way, and I will follow."

Lu Shoushan, who was leaning on a steel drill (used for chiseling ice) in his hand, listened to Liu Sheng's instructions, so he asked the two people on the opposite side to lead the horse and go to the camp gate with him.

Elu just saw the black stick in Lu Shoushan's hand, he originally thought it was a wooden stick.As a result, when Lu Shoushan was walking, he used a steel rod that rose and fell on the ground, and Elu discovered that the rod in the opponent's hand was actually made of iron.

"Brother, can you show me the iron rod in your hand?" Elu asked Lu Shoushan, who was leading the way.He felt that the iron rod in the other's hand was heavy, so he wanted to borrow it to take a look.

Lu Shoushan pretended not to hear and continued to walk forward.

Seldan glared at his son and reprimanded: "Elu, don't be too busy."

At the entrance of the camp, Sheng Haizhou, who heard the news, was already waiting there, and he had already sent someone to find Pingtai.

When Seldan and his son walked to the gate of the camp, they were stopped by Lu Shoushan, and they were not allowed to enter.

At this time, in the east gate of the camp, there were seven or eight refugees from the island country, and Pan Xiucheng also came over, also holding a steel drill in his hand.

(End of this chapter)