The winter of the Beijing division is cold and severe, but if you go all the way north, out of the Shanhaiguan, cross the Liao River, the more Changbai, wade through the pine flowers, and go north for more than 3,000 miles, the winter cold of the Beijing division is not worth mentioning. Compared to the Kannai, this is a bitter cold place shrouded in ice and snow.

This almost barbaric place, which reigns for the Ice and Snow Newspaper every August, is Ningguta. Since the entry of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, for the Han people, this is an ominous place that makes people talk about the tiger. "Assign Ningguta to be enslaved with the armored people", but it is said to be the most cruel punishment of the Manchu Qing Dynasty, and being assigned here not only means unbearable cold, but also means death and embarrassment as a slave at any time.

At this time, there were only 300 households inside and outside the city in Ningguta, and these 300 households were all so-called "armor people", according to the Manchu Qing Dynasty's Eight Banners system, "to unify the army with the flag, to unify the people with the flag", usually ploughing the fields and hunting, and going into battle in armor during wartime. According to their status, they are divided into three types: "Aha", "Armored Man", and "Bannerman". Aha is a slave, mostly Han and Koreans, while the armor people are descendants, different nationalities, higher status than Ahha, and Qiding is a Jurchen. After the entry of the Eight Banners, those people in armor lived in the frontier for generations, guarding the so-called "Manchurian hometown" for them, and in order to appease the "people in armor", the Manchus would often send some prisoners or their families to these people as slaves to stabilize their hearts.

In addition to these 300 families of armored people, there are also thousands of Han people living in Ningguta, most of them are distributed here, most of them are slaves of armored people, not only themselves will be bullied by the so-called "master", their wives and daughters will be bullied for them, for the slaves, the main task of the day is to farm the land, wait for the master of the house, and young women also have to serve these armored people, and they are humiliated in every way.

Of course, not everyone is like this, in order to live a peaceful life, often some people who are slaves with armor people are always "bribed" with money, so as to barely maintain some face. However, not all the exiles are like this, some of them are deliberately cared for, so that they will not really be sent to the people in armor as slaves, compared to those who are slaves, these exiles are finally barely free, and will not be bullied by the armor people, but even so, the bitter cold outside the pass is still unbearable torture for them.

Although there was a warm kang burning in the house, the biting cold wind still continued to blow into the house from the cracks in the window, and Wu Zhaoqian, who was lying on the bookcase, felt that his hands were cold, so he took a breath of heat into his palm, and then continued to write.

“…… Ninggu cold bitter world unprecedented, from the beginning of spring to the middle of April, the wind is like thunder and lightning are close at hand, from May to July rain one after another, in the middle of August that is heavy snow, the beginning of September the river is frozen. When the snow reaches the ground, it becomes ice, and there is a vast white snow for thousands of miles......"

In the letter to his family, Wu Zhaoqian did not hide the bitter cold of Ningguta, and in the past few years, in the letter, in addition to the thoughts of his family and Jiangnan, he has also been inexhaustible suffering. After writing a letter, he couldn't help but sigh as he looked at the letter on the table.

"It's been two years......"

Thinking about this day, Wu Zhaoqian's eyes closed, and the tears almost slipped down.

"I regret not listening to the advice of my friends, I have to go to the Manchu Qing Dynasty to take the exam......"

Again, Wu Zhaoqian's heart was full of remorse, in August of the 14th year of Shunzhi, he participated in the Jiangnan Township Examination, and the Chinese style was lifted. In November, he was framed by his enemies and ordered to enter Beijing to participate in the re-examination. In April, the re-examination was held in Yingtai, where there were many samurai, holding swords on both sides, and naturally failed to complete the paper under the trembling, so he was expelled from the list, punished forty boards, confiscated his family property, and his parents, brothers and wives were exiled to Ningguta.

In March of the sixteenth year, since the Beijing division went out of the fortress, the work sent by friends out of the customs is all over the world, although the gift of friends made him moved, but it can not change the reality of Ningguta's heavy ice and snow, not the world. And the only thing that made him feel fortunate was that a few months later, with Zheng Chenggong's Northern Expedition, Jiangnan was occupied by the Ming court, so that his parents, brothers, and wives naturally did not need to be exiled and Ningguta, and even with the help of friends, they were returned to the Wu family by the Ming officials with the help of friends.

Although all this made Wu Zhaoqian feel a little at ease, as a native of Jiangnan, he was tormented in a bitter cold place like Ningguta, which still made him torment his spirit every time.

A weak Jiangnan literati was assigned to this, and what basically awaited him was the fate of being tortured to death. Fortunately, on the way he was sent to Ningguta, he went with Ba Hai, the new head of Ningguta, and Bahai was the ninth year of Shunzhi Manchurian list to explore flowers, Ba Hai, who regarded himself as a scholar, admired Wu Zhaoqian's talent very much, and gave him natural preferential treatment, not only did not send it to the armored man, but also arranged a house with a hot kang for him, and also gave him a mink coat and other cold items, and even gave him a few slaves for his errands, which made him live a relatively comfortable life here.

But despite this, almost every day, he would be immersed in pain, and just as he was feeling homesick, there was a sudden knock on the door, and then someone pushed the door open and said urgently.

"Hancha, Hancha ......"

Pushing the door in was Fang Zhangyue, who was also imprisoned in Ningguta because of the imperial examination case, and compared to Wu Zhaoqian, dozens of his father, brother and relatives were exiled here, and after being exiled here with his father Fang Gongqian, he offered thousands of taels of silver to avoid being issued to the people in armor, and built a house in Ningguta City. He planted flowers, fruits and vegetables outside the house, and followed the example of Wang Shouren in the Ming Dynasty when he lived in Longchangyi, Guizhou, and named his residence "He Burrow", and cultivated the wasteland outside the city to make a living. As for Fang Zhangyue, the fifth son of the Tongcheng Fang clan, he is also dressed in coarse cloth now, and he seems to be no different from a farmer in the countryside.

"Stop thinking, what the hell is going on, actually letting you come to me in the middle of the night?"

Looking at Fang Zhangyue, who hurriedly entered the door, Wu Zhaoqian asked with a smile.

"Hancha, Northern Expedition, Northern Expedition......"

Fang Zhangyue's words were not loud, but he was very excited.

"The younger brother just learned that the Ming army has gone on a northern expedition, and now it has arrived in Henan, and the Qing officials from all over Henan have heard the wind and surrendered!"

"Seriously!"

Wu Zhaoqian immediately stood up in shock and asked again and again.

"Is this news true?"

Since the end of the previous year, when he learned that Zheng Chenggong had conquered Jiangnan, like all Han people who were exiled here, Wu Zhaoqian had been paying attention to the news in the south, and even more concerned about his every move there than others, because his family was not exiled here like the Fang family, and his biggest worry every day was that the Qing army would go south, and he was worried that his parents and relatives would be exiled again in the bitter cold land of Ningguta.

"It's true, if the younger brother expects it to be true, now I'm afraid that the Northern Expedition of the Ming Dynasty has entered Shanxi and threatened Gyeonggi, I think next year, I may return to Jiangnan next year......"

Fang Zhangyue's tone seemed a little excited, the Fang family in Tongcheng is a big family in Tongcheng, and it can be said that there are many talents in the past hundred years, and his father Fang Gongqian is a remnant of the previous dynasty, as for himself, he has been quite famous since he was a teenager, but because of the slander of others and the official "joint sect" of the main examination, he was exiled here.

Although his family would not be humiliated by the armored man by relying on bribes, how could he not be secretly sad when he saw his father and brother endure the bitter cold of the Northland. Especially when I saw my father's writing, "Sixty years of barrenness and fullness, the white head only knew how to distinguish wheat and grass", I was even more sad about my unfilial piety.

Therefore, when he learned that Jiangnan was recaptured by the Ming army, and Jiangbei had been recaptured by the Ming army, Fang Zhangyue always imagined the day of the Ming army's Northern Expedition in his dreams, and even in the past few years, he has inquired about the news in the chief yamen every day, and every newspaper of the Qing court has been repeatedly studied by him, and then he has obtained news about the south. And now the Ming Court is gaining an advantage little by little.

And the news of the Northern Expedition was only a vague mention in the newspaper, but he still saw the Northern Expedition and the passivity of the Qing court everywhere.

"I can return to Jiangnan ...... next year"

Looking at Nan in astonishment, although he dreamed of leaving this place day and night, Wu Zhaoqian was still a little distracted when he heard this, so much so that he said it for a while.

"I'm afraid that if I want to go back to Jiangnan, it's not so easy, after all, it's ......"

With a long sigh, Wu Zhaoqian's eyes were full of longing when he looked at the south.

"Or the Qing army is defeated, they will definitely abandon Beijing and return to Liaodong, when the time comes, I am afraid that they will be like the first emperor, according to Liaodong and my Ming Dynasty, and we are in Ningguta, how can we easily return to Jiangnan, unless the imperial court can attack and occupy Liaodong, so that we can return to Jiangnan......"

Wu Zhaoqian's words made Fang Zhangyue, who was originally excited, stunned, originally he just thought that if the Qing court lost the world, they would definitely be able to regain their freedom, but now it seems that it is indeed not that simple.

"But, Ke Hancha, I, we can leave here, when the Qing court flees back to Liaodong, it will definitely be chaotic, we can naturally escape from here, as long as we flee to Guannei, how can we still be afraid of the Qing court's investigation?"

Fang Zhangyue's suggestion made Wu Zhaoqian frown and think for a moment, and then said.

"This matter still needs to be carefully discussed, and the matter in the south is still unclear, so I'm afraid we still need to be careful,"

After experiencing the scientific research case, Wu Zhaoqian became more cautious and cautious than in the past, and escaped from Ningguta, he didn't think about it, but this way is three thousand miles, how can it be easy to escape from here?

After Fang Zhangyue left, Wu Zhaoqian's whole person fell into the longing for his hometown in Jiangnan, and that thought was naturally difficult to calm down for a long time......