After the guards changed into light music records, Ye Zhao squinted on the sofa chair, and when he woke up and washed, it was already evening.

When I went to the restaurant to eat, I found that Natasha was also there, wearing a pink and white knitted sweater and black leather pants, she was a little more innocent, less charming, on the table, bread, cheese and beef, there was also Chinese-style pumpkin porridge, Viscount Witt and Natasha were talking happily, Natasha's blue eyes were watery and discharged, Ye Zhaoxin said that this Natasha is amazing, Waluojia is famous for her old-fashionedness, she has the reserve of a nobleman, and the dancing girl is no different from the girl in his eyes, he is disdainful, and he doesn't look at it, but he looks at Natasha differently, Mrs. Witte is even less jealous, which is remarkable.

Seeing Ye Zhao come in, Natasha stood up a little stiffly and said, "Mr. Wen, are you awake?" ”

Ye Zhao nodded, sat down at the table, and Mrs. Witt smiled and said, "Wen, pumpkin porridge, I don't know if it's to your taste." ”

Ye Zhao said: "Taste it." For example, in front of Viscount Witt, Mrs. Witt often praised Ye Zhao for being "masculine" and "mysterious" Yunyun, and even pestered Ye Zhao to teach her to play the piano, which made Ye Zhao helpless.

The pumpkin porridge is sweet and appetizing, but it is much more elaborate than the Chinese dishes that Mrs. Biwitt used to drummer, and Ye Zhao praised: "It's delicious, it's no different from what I eat in China." ”

Mrs. Witt chuckled, "The porridge was cooked by Natasha. ”

Natasha had been looking at Ye Zhao's expression nervously, and now she breathed a sigh of relief and said, "It's the first time I've done it, you can eat it if you like it." As he spoke, he asked, "Mr. and Mrs. Deputy Mayor, why doesn't Miss Zoya come down to dinner?" ”

Viscount Witt froze, and Mrs. Witt's face was somewhat unnatural.

"She had to recuperate in her bedroom and not see the wind." Viscount Witte said vaguely.

Natasha was a smart person, so she didn't ask anymore.

Ye Zhao drank porridge by himself, as if he didn't hear it.

In fact, Ye Zhao knew about "Zoya" for a long time, the red-haired woman who claimed to be Mrs. Werther's sister fled when the riots of the Free Commune broke out in Petropavlovsk a few months ago, when the mob of the Free Commune blocked the way to flee to Kurgan in the west, and at the same time liquidated the prominent nobles of Tsarist Russia in the city, and a large number of old Tsarist Russian bureaucrats fled to Omsk, because they heard that it was safer under Chinese rule.

At that time, Zoya claimed to be the sister of Mrs. Werther, and Viscount and Mrs. Werther personally went to Omsk to bring her to Novosibirsk.

However, according to the intelligence of the Internal Affairs Bureau, Mrs. Witt's two younger sisters are living well in Moscow, of course, it cannot be ruled out that the information is wrong, after all, the sources of intelligence in Moscow are limited, most of them involve the upper class, and they do not know anything about ordinary nobles.

What's more, such a trivial matter does not hinder the overall situation, and the gendarmerie command naturally turned a blind eye and did not delve into it.

Looking at the reaction of Viscount Witte and Madame Werther now, Zoya is not Madame Werther's sister, or her sister is involved in the Resistance.

But this kind of thing is not something that Ye Zhao wants to worry about, but he didn't see the difference between the two.

After a while, Mrs. Witte smiled and asked, "Wen, you seem to have said that you are going to visit the farmstead outside the city." Coincidentally, Natasha's family is in Xie Siqi, and she can be your guide. ”

Ye Zhao smiled: "Really? I think about it. Ye Zhao has seen this town on the map, not far from the city, Xie Siqi means six in Russian, at first there were only six families in this farm, but then the population gradually increased, it is said that now there are hundreds of families, and the village head is set up, which is under the jurisdiction of the Novosibirsk City Hall.

In the southeast plain, the original Tsarist regime was extremely loose in the management of migration, and it was not uncommon for a family to occupy a large area of land to reclaim farms, but since the invasion of the Chinese, the immigrants have migrated to large villages, lonely families, killed by the Chinese [***] team can be said to be quiet, and it will always be safer to live together.

This is also in line with the policy of the Chinese, which makes it much less difficult for Russian immigrants to establish effective rule in villages and towns.

After dinner, Ye Zhao went to the front yard armed police headquarters, Cheng Xiang lived in a small courtyard, demolished the original Russian building to build, just completed not long ago, compared to the domestic courtyard, the windows are very small, double glazed windows, the window lattice is pasted with thick newspaper, and the walls of the house are more than twice as thick as those in the southern part of the Central Plains.

The iron stove in the bedroom was burning red, and Chengxiang was very restrained in front of Ye Zhao, but when he heard Ye Zhao explain that he was going to Xie Siqi Village to take a look at the farm in the morning, Chengxiang resolutely objected, and he would send armed police to follow him no matter what, or send the Longxiang Infantry Brigade stationed near the left to take on the guard work.

The Royal Longxiang Infantry Brigade is subordinate to the Xiangshan Group Army, which is a heroic unit that has made great achievements in the Sino-Russian War, and was awarded the number of the Longxiang Infantry Brigade.

Under Ye Zhao's repeated corrections, Chengxiang could only call him "Imperial Brother", but he kept shaking his head against Ye Zhao going to the countryside, saying that although the Russian resistance organizations and guerrilla organizations in the southern part of the Southeast Plain were repeatedly suppressed, there were only sporadic forces, and even more than ten people were difficult to find, but the farm was not as good as the city, even if he met a member of the resistance organization, it was not appropriate to disturb the imperial brother, so why risk his life? If they must go, they will send armed police to accompany them to protect them, and the guards pretending to be merchants are bound after all, and they cannot search every Russian who approaches the emperor's brother.

With his hands roasted on the stove, Ye Zhao knew that what Chengxiang said made sense, the resistance elements did not know their identity, but they would definitely think that they were rich Chinese businessmen, and if they didn't do well, they would become the target of their attacks, and if they were attacked, the involvement would be too wide, even if their hair was not damaged, but the Russian civilians would definitely suffer, and they were afraid that the entire village would be slaughtered.

Seeing Ye Zhao's expression, Cheng Xiang hesitated and said: "Brother Huang, if you go a little later, and then leave, I will send an armed police team and security army to filter Xie Siqi and the surrounding villages, and when you get to Xie Siqi, the armed police team and the security army also happen to be there, and the Russians don't know that this investigation is for your safety." ”

Ye Zhao smiled and said, "Do you want to go to the countryside to sweep?" He added: "Chengxiang, you are very disciplined, you are not a slug when you were a child." I still like to hear you call me brother like that when you were a kid. ”

Chengxiang scratched his head, smirked twice, and said, "Huang ......" Seeing Ye Zhaoyi frowning, he hurriedly shrank his mouth, called "brother" in a low voice, and said: "The team leader sent someone who knows you, and it is convenient for you to do things." ”

Ye Zhao nodded slightly and said, "It's okay, you take him to see me." ”

Cheng Xiang smiled: "There is a ready-made candidate, you wait a minute, I'll call him." Chengxiang got up, lifted the thick curtain and walked out, and when he came back, he was followed by a thin guy with clear eyebrows.

Seeing Ye Zhao, the thin guy was startled, hurriedly called a thousand, and said loudly: "Slave Ni Mangji asks for peace to the master." ”

Ye Zhao was stunned, and suddenly saved, this is Ruisi's youngest son, who will enter the palace to kowtow to himself every Chinese New Year, and call him uncle, he didn't dare.

Yes, it is called Ni Mangji, and his hometown is named Ye Shangxue, and Ni Mangji is the meaning of snow. He doesn't look like the gills of the four-pointed monkey, and probably inherits more of his mother's genes. Not yet 20 years old, I heard that I just graduated from the police academy, but I don't want to come to Novosibirsk to become the captain of the armed police team?

Cheng Xiang smiled and said: "Brother, he's going to kick my ass when he turns around, I didn't say just now that you are here, come to Lao Maozi's territory to be a soldier, and I also picked him up." It can be seen that the relationship between the two is very good.

Ye Zhao smiled: "Okay, you have all grown up and become talents, Shang Xue, my net worth and surname will be handed over to you." ”

Ni Mangji kowtowed vigorously and said loudly: "The slave is broken to pieces, and he also protects the safety of his master." ”

Ye Zhao got up with a smile and walked out, patted him on the shoulder when he passed by Ni Mangji, and said, "Learn from Chengxiang in the future, don't listen to your father, these old rules are thrown away to me!" ”

"Wow! The slave knows! "Nimangi has a very loud voice and strong shoulders, and he really doesn't have the same style as his father.

…… On the morning of the second day, Ye Zhao went to the headquarters to inform him of his itinerary, flipped through the domestic telegrams, and a telegram from the matchmaker asked if he could rush back before the New Year and whether he wanted to postpone the Privy Council meeting.

Ye Zhao calculated for a while and said that there are still a few days before the Russians' Christmas, that is, January 7 of the Gregorian calendar, and this year's Spring Festival is January 29 of the Gregorian calendar.

After thinking about it, this year's Privy Council meeting is a small year, [***], Panchen, White Imam, etc. do not have to participate, and it can be presided over by the matchmaker.

In previous years, around the New Year, it was Ye Zhao's busiest time, a year's development data, government affairs summary, new year's plan, etc., all of which needed Ye Zhaoqin's decision. However, this year is in the second five-year plan of the empire, and the general direction of specific development has already been determined, and many economic meetings were held before Ye Zhao came to Novosibirsk, and the development plan and goals for the new year have long been set.

In the matchmaker's message, it was also mentioned that several white believers were killed in Iran.

The White Imam's White Followers had entered the kingdom controlled by the Qajars as far as the Western Regions, that is, Iran, but because the empire was not yet able to reach it, the Qur'anic teachings rewritten in the Central Plains script were regarded as heresy by the local Muslims, and several White Christians were killed, and the rest fled back to the Bukhara Khanate, which was the area of Turkmenistan that Ye Zhao knew.

After China annexed the Kokand Khanate, the Bukhara Khanate became the empire's neighbor in Central Asia, and the Russians were tired of coping with the expansion of the Chinese in Central Asia and the northern regions, and their influence on the Bukhara Khanate declined. Bahadur also sent envoys to Beijing to proclaim himself a vassal to the Central Plains.

In fact, although the teachings of the Muslim White Religion are mild, absorbing a lot of Central Plains culture, and even worshipping the Central Plains Emperor as the messenger of Allah in the teachings, Ye Zhao is not completely at ease with it, and the Muslim sect is the best to contend, and the teachings in the empire can be localized, so that the people can truly integrate into the life of the citizens of the empire.

However, it cannot be denied that the White Cultists have played the vanguard role of the empire's influence in West Asia, but the first contact ended in failure.

The slain White Christians were Bukharans, and the Council is considering whether to send an envoy or protest to the Kingdom of Qajar through the Imperial Consulate in the city of Basaro (Basra) in the Persian Gulf.

Ye Zhao replied to the matchmaker and a few messages from the Government Council, and left the headquarters after having dinner with several senior generals.

Sitting in the carriage wrapped in thick fur, there was still a little chill, Ye Zhao rubbed his hands, suddenly thought about something, and said, "Go to the white northern salmon." ”

Zheng Aqiao, who was sitting on the side, hurriedly got up and knocked on the front carriage, pulled the window, and commanded the groom, and the carriage immediately turned.

The huge signboard of the White Northern Salmon Club flashed a little red light, and it was freezing and snowy outside, but inside the club was a hot wave and full of people.

The hot air on his face made Ye Zhao want to sneeze, and he hurriedly covered his mouth and nose with a handkerchief, and then saw Leonid and Natasha sitting next to a table on the dance floor.

Ye Zhao walked over, Leonid was the first to see Ye Zhao, got up with a smile, and shouted, "Dear Wen, are you alone today?" ”

Ye Zhao nodded, walked over and shook hands with Leonid and said a few words, but in fact, Ye Zhao just said "hello", but Leonid said a bunch of affectionate nonsense.

Natasha stood up and said to Ye Zhao, "Good evening, Mr. Wen." "She changed into a sapphire blue gauze skirt and black stockings today, but she looked a little listless and her eyes were still a little red.

Ye Zhao sat down, Leonid poured a full glass of wine for Ye Zhao, and repeatedly invited Ye Zhao to his house as a guest.

Ye Zhao and Leonid clinked glasses, took a shallow sip, turned their eyes to Natasha, and said, "I'm here to find you today." ”

The absent-minded Natasha was stunned, almost unable to believe her ears, and looked at Ye Zhao in surprise.

Leonid was immediately a little embarrassed and explained: "Wen, I thought you were not interested in her, I'm really sorry. He knew that Chinese men were very exclusive and would not allow their lovers to associate with other men at the same time, and that this was only possible after he got tired of it.

Ye Zhao waved his hand and said to Natasha again: "Aren't you going to be my guide?" Haven't changed your mind yet? ”

Natasha hurriedly shook her head and said, "No, no, I won't change my mind." Then she got up and sat on Ye Zhao's side on the couch, she wanted to hold Ye Zhao's hand and show it to the men in the club, but she didn't dare after all.

Ye Zhao exchanged a few more words with Leonid, and then said to Natasha: "You rest early today, and I will send a car to pick you up tomorrow morning." Zheng Aqiao had already called the foreman, handed him a few imperial ten-yuan bills, pointed at Natasha, and the interpreter whispered a few words to the foreman, and the foreman smiled and nodded.

Leonid hurriedly said, "Mr. Wen, how can I let you break the bank?" ”

Ye Zhao waved his hand and said, "Yes." Then he got up and took his leave.

Looking at Ye Zhao's back, and then at Natasha, although Leonid was not dead in love with this beautiful niece, it was not good to entangle it at this time, so he got up and left stupidly...... The carriage galloped through the snowy fields, and the ground was white as seen from the glass window.

Ye Zhao already has a certain understanding of agricultural cultivation in the southeast plain, the latitude of Novosibirsk and the Mohe River in the Heilongjiang River basin of the empire is almost the same, and crops can only be sown with one crop a year, such as spring wheat and potatoes, etc., but in the south of the southeast and south, there are also areas that can be sown twice a year, and winter wheat and vegetables sown in summer can be grown.

But can mass migration succeed? Or is it really as some generals say, to force the Russians in the southeastern plains to migrate.

"Sir, no matter what, I appreciate you." Natasha wore a pale green cotton coat with blue jeans and a pair of brown fur heels at the hem.

Ye Zhao looked at her, it was quite strange, similar to the military coat of an imperial soldier, and the blue jeans were even more strange, the blue jeans were originally the work clothes of Chinese railway workers, and they were also worn by Russian prisoners of war coolies in the occupied areas of the Southeast Plains, but I heard that the store had begun to sell this kind of cheap labor clothing, but it was limited to the clothes of the lowest people, and it was not suitable for girls.

Natasha saw that Ye Zhao kept looking at her, and said a little crampedly: "When I go back to the farm, I want to help the family, and I am reluctant to wear leather pants." I changed it myself, it was a new dress I bought, and it was not dirty. It's cheap, and I think it's pretty good. As she spoke, Natasha stood up and took off her military coat to show Ye Zhao, and sure enough, the jeans were cut to fit perfectly, with a knitted sweater and high heels, showing her slender legs and tall hips.

Ye Zhao nodded slightly and said, "Not bad." ”

From the city of Novosibirsk to Xie Siqi, about an hour's journey, when the sun was high in the east, Ye Zhao and his party arrived at Xie Siqi.

Most of the Russian immigrant villages in Siberia were fenced off with wooden fences to prevent wild beasts from attacking and to prevent the livestock from escaping, and Xie Siqi was no exception.

Hundreds of gray wooden houses, few brick and stone buildings, it can be seen that the agricultural immigrants are actually the poorest class in Tsarist Russia itself, the southeastern plains are fine, in Central Siberia and Western Siberia, most of them are exiled prisoners, and so on.

When she got out of the car, Natasha's face turned pale, and the whole village was surrounded by Russian security officers with firearms, and Chinese military police in dark green uniforms were walking around with bright bayonets.

The Russian security army in the southeast plain is an armed force similar to the puppet army, commanded by the armed police headquarters of each city, the entire southeast plain exceeds 10,000 people, and the Novosibirsk security army has the largest number, with a total of about 3,000 people, organized into a security regiment, most of them are Caucasian foreign prisoners of war and Russian immigrants and exiles who are dissatisfied with the Tsarist regime, and there are also a small number of ruffians, which are auxiliary forces to suppress Russian resistance organizations, and their role is not small.

Seeing the Chinese horse team, several armed police officers soon greeted them, and Zheng Aqiao, who galloped at the front, dismounted, and took out his documents for the armed police to check.

Ni Mangji ended his lecture and came over to greet Zheng Aqiao, and the armed policemen saw that the captain knew someone, so they were a little more polite.

Most of the Russian villagers had frightened faces and dispersed, and Natasha hurried to an old man, and several Russians who were walking with the old man stopped, and there was an old woman, a Russian young and young woman in her thirties, and a little girl of six or seven years old.

I've seen Natasha's family background, which should be her parents, sister-in-law and little niece.

Zheng Aqiao returned to Ye Zhao's side and said in a low voice: "Master, I have caught a rebel." ”

Over there, Ni Mangji was shouting loudly that the soldiers should be checked more strictly, and that they should camp here tonight, and they must find out whether the rebels still have allies in the village, and they were ready to find an excuse to wait for the return of the "uncle" before retreating, but now it is a ready-made reason.

Ye Zhao walked towards the village, and he also knew in his heart that no matter how much he wanted to travel lightly, in fact, he would work hard every time.

Natasha's family is extremely cold to Ye Zhao, and his father is even more cold, obviously extremely dissatisfied with Natasha and the Chinese together, not to mention the identity of the Chinese invaders, in fact, his father is bankrupt, and more or less because of the Chinese invasion, his business chain is broken.

Ye Zhao only took Zheng Aqiao and Qu Nuan to follow Natasha's family into the wooden house, and used wool grass and mud paste to keep warm on the outer layer, and the inside of the wooden house was also warm, and the kitchen and two bedrooms were separated by wooden boards, but at this moment the room was in a mess, apparently the Chinese military police and security regiment had just searched it, and the bedding, plates, knives and forks were thrown to the ground.

Natasha's family silently cleaned up the messy house, and Natasha's little niece cried when she saw her rag doll being thrown on the ground and stepped on a few black footprints.

Ye Zhao squatted down, took her little hand, and asked, "Your name is Bafura, isn't it?" ”

Natasha's brother's face changed suddenly, but he was pulled by his wife and whispered something to him, apparently worried that her husband would anger the Chinese.

Little Pavra was so frightened that she didn't dare to cry, but she was very recognizant and hid back, Ye Zhao stretched out her hand, which was originally empty, clenched her fist and released it again, but there was an extra toffee in her palm, and said with a smile: "Here you go." Peel off the candy wrapper and bring it to Bavra's mouth.

Natasha walked over, pinched Bafura's little face, and said, "Don't thank you uncle?" ”

Bafra usually likes her beautiful aunt the most, so she timidly said, "Thank you, uncle." "Glycation in the mouth.

Ye Zhao rubbed her little head, stood up, turned around and walked out.

The air at the door of the wooden house was cold, Ye Zhao walked out slowly, twisted the jade wrench finger in his hand, looked at the blue sky and white clouds, and didn't know what he was thinking.

Natasha stood beside him and said, "It's not your fault. ”

Ye Zhao was stunned, and couldn't help but feel slightly ashamed, although he was sympathetic to the experience of Natasha's family or the suffering of Russian immigrants, this was not something he had to consider.

Ye Zhao smiled and said, "Maybe it's my fault." ”

Behind him, the clothes moved slightly, Ye Zhao turned around, but saw Bafra timidly grabbing his skin with his little hands, seeing Ye Zhao turn around, he was a little scared, Ye Zhao smiled at her, and little Pavra grinned, revealing a pair of teeth, very cute, "Uncle, your sugar is particularly sweet, is there anything else?" ”

Ye Zhao had already brought a bag of toffee to "bribe" the young children in the village, but the current atmosphere in the village made it impossible for him to do so.

Bafra was very happy, took the toffee and slipped aside to eat two, only to feel that what she did was wrong, so she ran to share it with her parents and grandfather, since no one wanted her, and finally she ran out again, and saw Ye Zhao sitting on the wooden pier in the courtyard, ran over with her little hands, sat down next to Ye Zhao, peeled a piece of candy and handed it to Ye Zhao's mouth, and said, "Uncle, give it to you." ”

Ye Zhao held her little hand and sent the candy back, and said, "You can eat it." He turned to Natasha and said, "Take me to see the sea buckthorn forest." ”

Sea buckthorn tree is one of the cash crops that can survive in the southeast plain, and it is a shrub that can survive in the severe cold of minus 50 degrees.

There are not many sea buckthorn trees planted in Xie Siqi Farm, and now the farmland is in a barren period, and there is a lot of snow, and the sea buckthorn trees have lost their leaves and are bare.

Natasha walked behind Ye Zhao in the snow, although it was windy and cold, she was rarely relaxed, and she liked to walk in the deep footprints of this Chinese man.

In the afternoon, Ye Zhao and Tanasha returned to the village, Ye Zhao asked Natasha to say goodbye to her family, and ordered the guards to prepare to leave, originally planned to stay for one night, the guards' cotton tents and sleeping bags were full of cars, but it seems that today is really not a good time to chat with the villagers, perhaps, there is nothing to talk about.

Natasha went for about half an hour, ran back with a red face, got into the carriage and apologized repeatedly, and said, "Mr. Wen, drink a cup of hot milk at my house before leaving, my father asked me to apologize to you on his behalf." ”

Ye Zhao smiled and said, "No need, there is nothing to apologize for, let's go." ”

Natasha didn't dare to say more, so she had to sit down obediently.

Just as the carriage was slowly starting, Natasha's father hurriedly ran out and wanted to reach out and pull the wheel, but the groom frowned, and there was already an extra six-thunder cannon in his hand, aimed at the old man's chest.

Seeing this scene, Natasha screamed in fright, Zheng Aqiao glanced at Ye Zhao, then jumped out of the carriage to drink the groom, and apologized to Natasha's father, he could say a few simple and common Russian words.

Ye Zhao also got out of the carriage, and Tanasha's father sighed deeply and said, "Mr. Wen, I heard about your help to Tanasha, I apologize to you for my bad attitude before, and if you are going to run the farm, I can give you some pertinent advice." ”

On the way to Xie Siqi, Tanasha had already carefully told Ye Zhao that her father did not know that she was a dancer in a nightclub, but thought that she had found a job as a teacher and gave the family money for debts that still needed to be repaid urgently, Tanasha said that it was a loan from the bank, after all, Tanasha had received a good education since she was a child, and she had always had a talent for painting, and the lies she weaved did not make the family suspicious.

(To be continued)