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 was flat and wide, and the strong northwest wind blew away the snow from the ice, revealing a smooth surface. The horse stepped on it, not very reluctantly, obviously there was a horseshoe on the hoof, and it seemed that he was still a little afraid.

Du Feng is literate and hyphenated, and those who are literate will memorize a few sentences of "Jing Kang is ashamed, and it is still snowing".

The two emperors of the Song Dynasty were imprisoned near the Acropolis of Handoli, which was called the City of the Five Kingdoms in ancient times, but now it has long since disappeared, leaving only a few mounds of earth.

The Acropolis is on the south bank of the Songhua River, with the Mudanjiang River flowing from the south to the west, the Uken River to the east, and the Songhua River to the north. It is adjacent to water on three sides, easy to defend and difficult to attack.

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

It's a hodgepodge of people in the city.

The mainstream is the descendants of the Yuyuan Army in Shandong, and the rest are the descendants of officials who were relegated to the border in the struggle between Korea and China, and the forest tribesmen who did not want to hunt and wanted to live as soldiers.

There were even a few Cossacks who had fled here because they had killed their commanders because of the uneven distribution of the spoils, and taught the people here to grow rye, which is also the ability of the Russians to grow food in a ghost place like Yakutsk.

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

Outside, there are stacks of firewood, and on top of the pile are rows of frozen tofu cut into small pieces.

At the door, his sister Du Ling was playing in the snow with a few girls.

Du Ling wore a snatched, sable Kuban Cossack hat trophy. It was fashionable and did not have a Kuban Cossack military district, but this classic style of hat had already arrived here with the Cossacks who had expanded eastward.

Wearing a leather jacket and a pair of lambskin boots under his feet, the unfinished braids jumped happily with the pace of the master.

At the age of fifteen or sixteen, he was not tall enough, happy and happy, and the Kuban hat on his head fell down from time to time to block his eyes, and was pushed up by her.

I don't know how long I've been playing in the snow, and my little face is red from the cold.

Seeing Du Feng riding over, he ran over with a grin, and without saying a word, he stuffed his frozen red hand into Du Feng's sleeve.

"Brother, why did you come back? I'm waiting for you to eat. ”

warmed up, took out his hand that had some hot air, helped Du Feng rub his somewhat frozen ears, and entered the house together.

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

The hot earth dragon and the water vapor from cooking suddenly warmed up Du Feng, who was about to freeze through, and he felt that his face was wet.

Du Ling took off Du Feng's hat, took off the leather robe outside, 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 out of the back room, and her ordinary appearance was Du Feng's mother.

The family does not eat in the outhouse, but on the kang, and a small kang table is placed.

is not only because of warmth, but also because Du Feng's father Du Qian is disabled.

A few years ago, there were forest tribes who complained about the Cossacks for collecting a tax on tooth fur.

This Yasak's fur tax was originally a tribute from the Rus' countries in the Golden Horde, and Russia relied on collecting Yasak's home for the Golden Horde, and now it has learned to come here to collect the fur tax.

The role of the Acropolis here was to guard the frontier and collect mink tribute from various tribes as a sign of jurisdiction.

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

In winter, it is difficult to endure tightly, so I can only nest in the kang head and get hot, for fear of being a little cold.

The family of four sat on the kang, and Du Feng poured a bowl of wine for his father first and a small glass himself according to his usual habits.

The food is plentiful, and it makes people feel appetizing.

A plate of river fish caught during winter fishing, seven or eight catties of sinking, with the soybean sauce of hometown Shandong with tofu and pork skin stewed, it is really delicious.

Du Ling used a small sieve as a cage and sorghum as bait, and buckled some pine ducks.

Chop and crush, use radish to dip the bone stubble inside, and the delicate meat is paired with a little sorghum rice flour to make balls, which is a good pot of soup.

A plate of fried crispy beans in sauce, just in time for the sake of wine. Shandong pancakes with the taste of hometown, but a little green onion is missing.

"Feng'er, are you ready for wood?"

Du Qian swallowed a sip of wine, biting the cheeks of the pancakes and moving, he could still speak with his mouth empty, which showed that he was skillful in eating pancakes.

"It's ready. The whip was also spared. The mountain god also worshipped. ”

"That's fine. After this year, in the summer of the next year, you will go to the Jilin shipyard to prepare for the exam. Damn, if I hadn't broken my leg, why would I be here like this? There is an old saying that is good, learn to become a literary and martial artist, and sell it to the emperor's family. ”

Du Feng smiled, skillfully pinched a sauce bean and threw it into his mouth, biting it with a clattering sound, and scolded: "What the emperor said is literary and martial arts, what is literary and martial arts." Who can't get along with the official position? I don't like those Western things at all, I can't help it, I can't get into Wude Palace if I can't learn it well. ”

After complaining, he touched a pancake, rolled some loose duck balls, and said to his sister: "Bell, it's you who like those knowledge." When my brother and I were admitted to Wude Palace and became a big official, our family moved to the capital. When the time comes, I will find you a good mother-in-law, and you don't have to do any work, just sit at home and read those Western books. There are a lot of books in the capital, and it is enjoyable to keep what you read. ”

The mother smiled: "Look, this is like the words of an older brother." Bell, don't you listen, if your brother doesn't talk in the future, you will scold him. ”

As he spoke, a dog barked outside. Bell hurriedly put down the pancake and went to have a look.

With a whirl, the door was pushed open, and the cold air outside suddenly turned into a fairyland-like mist. Before I could see the person's appearance, I heard the person shouting excitedly: "Brother Feng, Brother Feng!" The deal is coming! The deal is coming! ”

As soon as he heard this, Du Feng immediately jumped off the kang and shouted, "Third child, what's the situation?" ”

As soon as the third child entered the door, Du Feng's mother hurriedly greeted: "Haven't eaten yet?" Grab a bit. ”

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

"Come on, I really can't chew my teeth. Cheek raiser hurts. ”

Du Ling also knew what this person meant by "buying and selling", and hurriedly went outside to move a stool. The two families have relatives, and the third father's is Du Feng's cousin, and he doesn't have too much politeness.

Seeing that there were no outsiders, he arched his hand at Du Qian and said, "Lord Duwei, horse manure and ruts!" Quite a bit. Not to mention seventy or eighty carts. ”

The third child couldn't hide the excitement on his face, and rubbed his hands with a smile.

This news was like an elixir, which made Du Qiandang, who had been suffering from leg disease for several years, sit up straight and said continuously: "Are you right? Seventy or eighty carts? ”

"You can't go wrong."

"Good! Good! All right! ”

The third smiled and said, "Is this unknown brother Feng going to take the exam?" If you really go to the capital, how can you do it without money? These people are interesting enough, knowing that Brother Feng wants money, so they gave us a big gift. ”

Du Qian nodded again and again, agreeing.

The soldiers and men here all have Yongye fields, they can't buy and sell, they don't have to pay taxes, they only need to serve in the military, some of them are like the government soldiers in the Tang Dynasty.

For the Songhua River basin, which has a small number of people, it is also an informal government military system; To the south of Liaodong is the standard conscription system.

The soldiers here lived a decent life, they were all small landlords, at least they were self-cultivated rich peasants, and they were exempt from paying blood tax.

Although life is acceptable, there is a lack of money.

The grain can't be transported, and it can't be sold for a few dollars, so I rely on hunting to get some skins, and exchange some money for some money to buy a flower rope, cloth, tobacco leaves, or something.

The forest tribes next to them all have officials from the imperial court, and it is not easy to rob them.

Only this smuggler or caravan is simply a bodhisattva of grace and a boy who scatters wealth.

It's also very easy to do.

Whoever finds out first will divide the spoils and take ten people's shares afterwards.

After discovering it, send a few good hands to keep an eye on it, follow it like an appendage, and take advantage of the familiar terrain to kill a few horses halfway, so that the other party can't rest and delay the speed.

After determining the number of people in the location, send someone back to report a message, and the border army will be gathered here to kill it.

If there are few people, they will kill the goods, and if there are many people, they will intimidate and threaten to divide half.

Whoever stares and who drags on, will also be divided into ten more people at that time.

A caravan of seventy or eighty carts, even if it can't kill people and sell goods, as long as it drags on and sends someone to talk, how can it be that you have to get 20% of the road money?

How can you not divide a few hundred taels when the time comes?

Du Qian clapped his hands, knocked on the table with chopsticks and said, "You and Feng'er bring three or five good hands, find them first." Kill a few horses and follow them like gadflies and flies, and make them eat and sleep. When the time comes, I will ask someone to reply to the letter, and I will take someone here. ”

The third child nodded and said, "That's what I mean." Okay, then I'll go back and get ready. ”

Du Qian didn't eat anymore and shouted, "Then what are you waiting for? Bell, hurry up and clean up for your brother and prepare some food. Gunpowder, rope, and guns were all prepared. ”

Du Ling didn't eat anymore, and hurriedly went to clean up the food, shouting, "Brother, you eat slowly first." I'm sure I've got you covered. Du Feng's mother didn't eat either, she was busy, and there were too many things to prepare when she went out in winter.

This matter, in the morality of the border army, is like the logic of relying on the mountains to eat the mountains and relying on the water to eat the water.

There is a poem in the previous dynasty: each with a sharp blade competes for each other, and the head of the letter is busy reporting to the governor and the governor. He was given gold with his arms in an uproar, and slaughtered one family and nine genera.

According to what they think, just rob a caravan, and count it as a bad thing?

These people also feel that they are better than killing good people and taking meritorious deeds, and they all feel that they are really models of morality in the border army.

Du Feng also felt that if it was done, how could it be divided into a few hundred taels, and it would not be easy to live in the capital at that time, and it would be easier to mix these hundreds of taels of silver.

I didn't want to chew it slowly, so I poured a fish soup into a bowl and tore open a few pancakes that were still in the soup. It was soaked like pig food, and I drank it with a snort.