Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 67
With the return of the three of Wang Yuanfang, the four generals of the security department held the Zhuge Liang meeting behind closed doors for a whole day.

After listening to the detailed process of the last battle described by Liu Sheng, the three first expressed their envy and hatred.However, considering the sudden situation that the Serdan family suddenly went to the island and the Qing soldiers followed closely, the three of them could only express their understanding and hope not to miss the next time.

Zhao Xin told Liu Sheng before leaving that according to the agreement with Daniel, the delivery of the goods would be in mid-February.In response to this situation, Liu Sheng asked to stop routine target training to reduce bullet consumption.

Meanwhile, the observation post north of Bear Island has been repaired.Currently, Lu Shoushan, Pan Xiucheng, Elu, and Sheng Haizhou are on duty in groups of four.After all, there are a lot of horses now, so once there is a situation, it is very convenient to pass the news.

Liu Sheng said: "The four of us also have to be on duty at the observation post. Before Zhao Xin comes back, we will take turns to arrange shifts, one day each."

The other three nodded in agreement.

Wu Siyu proposed to organize personnel to start a comprehensive investigation of the southern part of Xiong Island, and pay attention to the freezing of the ocean.After all, it is almost the end of February in the Gregorian calendar, and in fifteen to twenty days, the seawater freezing period will end.Liu Sheng decided to transfer Lu Shoushan and let him and Heng Ji, who is familiar with the local situation, take charge of this matter.

"Hey? Liu Sheng, what are you going to do with the dozen Qing soldiers you captured last time?" Zhao Liang suddenly remembered that there were still more than a dozen Qing soldiers locked in a corner of the camp.

"Zhao Xin said that Kaichun'er brought it there, oh, go to Solenji Island to dig gold and do coolies." Liu Sheng said.

Speaking of the dozen or so Qing soldiers captured after the last battle, they are currently locked in wooden cages on the northwest side of the camp, one for each person.Due to the abundance of wood, carpenters in the camp made more than a dozen wooden cages with a height of only 1.5 meters in one day.This height makes those armored soldiers just bow their heads and bend over if they want to stand up inside. It will be very uncomfortable to stand for a long time, so they can only sit.

A dozen wooden cages formed a circle with a bonfire in the middle to prevent the captives from freezing to death.However, a bonfire can only guarantee that these people will not freeze to death. The so-called "fire warms the chest, and the wind blows cold behind." After a few days, most of the prisoners suffered from frostbite.

Seeing this situation, Liu Sheng asked Li Ji to take the cotton-padded clothes and send them to them.

As a result, the captives, who were well fed and clothed, saw in the following days that the refugees guarding them were short, weak, and honest.So from the beginning, the fear slowly became arrogant, and from time to time, he shouted and scolded those island refugees.

The problem is that apart from Lu Shoushan and Pan Xiucheng, none of the refugees understand Manchu.At first, everyone watched with great interest, but then no one paid any attention.

Pan Xiucheng came back from duty at the observation post one day, just in time to hear the prisoners scolding again.

He and Lu Shoushan have been enslaved by these armored people in Ningguta for many years, and they have long gritted their teeth with hatred.So he walked to the wooden cage and glanced coldly at the prisoners who were still cursing.Without saying a word, he took a wooden spear from the hand of a refugee who was in charge of guarding it, and stabbed it hard through the wooden cage with the unsharp end.

Before Zhao Xin left, he told everyone that since these people have been captured, they should not kill them arbitrarily.They are all strong, and it is always good to keep them for gold digging.

Pan Xiucheng thought about the suffering and torment he had suffered over the years, and his actions became less important.The space in the wooden cage was originally not that big, so the prisoners who scolded the streets were miserable. They soon broke blood, and several of their front teeth were knocked out.In the end, he could only hold his head and shrink into the cage, using his back to bear Pan Xiucheng's anger.

Liu Sheng and Sheng Haizhou, who had heard the news, did not immediately step forward to stop them, but after watching for a while, they walked over slowly and stopped Pan Xiucheng.

The one the beaten prisoners saw was one of the two big leaders present after the surrender that day.And next to the big boss was the little man who chopped off his partner's arm.In line with the principle that a hero does not suffer immediate losses, they all kowtowed and begged for mercy.

Liu Sheng asked Sheng Haizhou to ask several refugees in charge of the guards, who was the troublemaker.The guard didn't understand Manchu, so how could he know who was swearing, so he identified all the prisoners who had shouted loudly.

Liu Sheng ordered that since these people have the strength to scold the street, they should go hungry for two days before talking about it.When they are honest, give them something to eat.

Two days later, when Liu Sheng saw that the captives who had been stripped of their cotton armor were starving and freezing, it was really hard to bear, so that the women in the kitchen brought some rice balls with salt.

After Liu Siting, Director Liu Da arrived, she felt sympathy when she saw these Qing soldiers and prisoners with bruised nose and swollen face, full of frostbite.So he took Hong Tao to find Zhao Xin and asked for the release of these people and treatment.

Zhao Xin didn't give in at all on this matter. He sneered and told the two of them at the time that these people were afraid of power but not moral, they only believed in violence and coercion, and didn't know how to appreciate favors; Face.The angry Liu Siting continued to argue, but was dragged away by Hong Tao.

Therefore, these Qing soldiers and prisoners continued to live in cages without knowing the way forward, hoping that Hunchun's co-leader would send troops to save them.

On the other side of Hunchun, since the more than 100 armored soldiers led by Tomohoguo disappeared without a trace, the Hunchun co-leader Watt Mountain went to Ninggu Tower, six hundred miles away, again on the 22nd and 27th of the first lunar month. Send out an emergency report, report the situation and ask for military support from Ningguta.

There are only three flags garrisoned in Hunchun City, which are inlaid yellow, positive yellow and positive white.Most of the troops of the Inlaid Yellow Banner were taken away by Tomo Huoguo and have not returned.The whereabouts of more than a quarter of the garrisoned troops are unknown, leaving the Ute Mountains on pins and needles all day long.

At this time, he couldn't care about the family members of Xianghuangqi who came to the house every day to make noise.

On the 22nd of the first lunar month, he sent four teams of ten from Zhenghuang Banner to search the northeast area in different directions.Five days later, still no news.

What Uteshan can foresee is that if something goes wrong with Tomohoguo and his party, as the direct supervisor, he will inevitably be blamed.Under such pressure, Uteshan no longer dared to send a large team to look for it. He could only ask Anlin, the deputy capital of Ningguta, for support.

Ninggu Pagoda, which is 630 miles away from Hunchun City, received urgent reports from Hunchun one after another. At this time, Vice Governor Anlin also felt that something was wrong with Hunchun, and something big might happen.He immediately sent an urgent report to the Jilin General's Mansion 300 miles away, requesting to send 1 cavalry soldiers from Ningguta to Hunchun (Note [-]) to find out the truth of the matter.

Two days later, Qinggui, who was in Jilin Wula (Jilin General's Mansion), also had a premonition of the seriousness of the situation after listening to his staff's report to Ning Guta. In response to the request of Ning Guta, Wenning Ancient Pagoda and Hunchun were ordered to report the progress of the investigation of the whereabouts of Hunchun Xianghuang Banner at any time.

Afterwards, Jilin General Qinggui activated the "Flying 2-mile Express" (Note [-]), and reported the situation to the military department of the capital [-] miles away through the Northeast Road post station system.

Therefore, since the 25th of the first lunar month, the exchanges of petitions, Zhawen, and Lianwen among Jilin Ula, Ningguta, and Hunchun have become more frequent. Discuss this matter in private (Note 3).

At the beginning of February in the 49th year of Qianlong, a sentry cavalry team responsible for searching for the whereabouts of Tomohoguo finally arrived at the small fishing village across the Xiongdao Strait.

At this time, two of the several villagers in the fishing village had already guessed some clues before, and they had already been frightened and moved away.The remaining three families have elderly and children, and it is inconvenient to leave in winter.

No matter how the armored soldiers asked, the three fishermen only said that since the night after Mr. Zuo Ling went to the Bear Island, he heard people from the barracks outside the village shouting horses, and no one from each family dared to come out.But early the next morning, Master Zuo Ling led the team to set off.As for where it went, who knows?

Two days later, another sentry team also arrived at the fishing village under the guidance of the clues.

The leaders of the two sentry squads, after exchanging the clues they had obtained, both believed that there was something strange on the Bear Island across the strait.The inquiries from the fishermen showed that no one had seen Tomohogo return from Bear Island with their own eyes, and the so-called brigade was all guessed by the fishermen from the movement at night.

The two did not dare to slack off, and took their hands to the southernmost position of the cape, looking at the situation on Bear Island across the ice.After looking at it for a long time and there was no sign, one of the leaders suggested that he lead the team to investigate on Bear Island and return within half a day; if nothing is found, then he has to look elsewhere.

As a result, after the ten-man team went to Bear Island, there was no news.

Another leader who had been waiting for a day across the strait finally decided that the strangeness was on Bear Island after seeing his companions come back for a long time.Looking at the deserted island, which was densely covered with forests and once uninhabited, except for bears, the leader of the team felt chills all over and his heart beat faster.It seems that there is a man-eating beast lurking on the island, or a devil, with its mouth open, waiting for him to come to the door.

The more he thought about it, the more frightened he became, and he didn't dare to stay for a second longer.Immediately, he led the team away from here overnight, and hurried back to Hunchun, ready to report to the leader.

In the woods in the northern part of Bear Island, Wang Yuanfang commanded Pan Xiucheng, Elu and a group of people from the island nation. They had already cleaned the battlefield and were now arranging to transfer the captured horses and the bodies of the soldiers.Zhao Liang and Wu Siyu were holding the standard weapons of the Qing army to see something strange.In this small-scale battle, the three finally caught up.

And Liu Sheng, who came later, was relieved after asking about the bullet consumption this time.However, he was worried that if there were another 80 or [-] Qing soldiers, the four generals in the security department would change to archers.

(Note 1: In the 49th year of Qianlong’s Ningguta Eight Banners, the garrison strength of the Ningguta Eight Banners was as follows: vice capital unified, 13 coordinators, 12 coordinators, 12 defenders, 22 Xiaoqi schools, 250 Xiaoqi schools appointed, written and posted Four people, four people in charge of writing posts, four chiefs in charge, one officer in charge of warehouses, two people in writing posts in warehouses, two assistant instructors, three people in writing posts in station stations, and one hundred and one reminders from Eight Banners Manchuria Four, 24 forwards, [-] Xiaoqi [-], [-] bowsmiths and blacksmiths, and one officer from Guantun.)
(Note 2: When it comes to "flying", then the postal system of the Qing Dynasty must be mentioned first. The Qing court's military department set up the Qingli Division, which oversees the national horse administration and postal system, and appoints seven officials to be in charge of the country's post roads. Post Station. At the same time, two specialized agencies were set up near the Donghua Gate of the imperial palace. The Manchu and Han ministers jointly managed the capital and communicated with local post offices, and also set up postmen, post horses and good news offices to send and receive official documents and military intelligence.

Before the Qing Dynasty, the post station system of each dynasties could run up to [-] or [-] miles a day and night; while in the Qing Dynasty, the express delivery of official documents could reach [-] to [-] miles a day and night at the fastest.

When Kangxi quelled the San Francisco rebellion, the distance from the northwest to the capital was more than 800 miles, and it only took nine days to reach the capital by fast horse communication.Later, when Kangxi sent Shi Lang to recover Taiwan, the land journey also reached more than [-] miles, and the news could be delivered to Kangxi's case within nine days. )
(Note 3: Shengjing was the final hub of the Northeast Road post station system in the Qing Dynasty. All memorials and messages sent to the capital in the north of Shengjing had to pass through here.)
(End of this chapter)