Three days later.

Boyar, the clerk from Omsk, left from the south of the highlands with several Cossacks and a sledge full of gifts given to him.

From here, from Omsk in the east to Kurgan in the west, there are Dulbert's herders, and it is Russian land, so he has no risk of safety at all.

Although the Zhongyuzi Kazakhs in the south are also very hostile to the Russians, their most important thing at the moment is to drive away the Dzungars, so they do not dare to offend the Russians easily.

As a result, Boyar and his party could easily ride back to Omsk.

In the order of official positions in Russian border cities, the clerk is the third-ranking figure after the governor and the army commander. He can come here in person, which can be regarded as giving Celing face.

At this time, the ground was frozen solid, and there was no risk of falling into the swamp. We headed straight east, letting two tall and powerful Don horses pull the sledge to clear the way. After passing through, the snow layer would compact, and then the Cossacks would ride on

It will save a lot of energy if the horse keeps up.

In this way, they arrived in Karachinsk in less than three days. There was a Cossack winter camp there, and Boyar planned to rest there for a day before setting off.

From Karachinsk to Omsk, it takes two days.

Once here, there were more Cossacks in the nearby Cossack Cat Winter Land. Boyar no longer needed to bring so many Cossacks back, so he kept the Cossacks who were here and returned with only two Cossacks from Omsk.

.

The next day, three people, four horses, and two sledges continued eastward.

When they walked to the midway between Karachinsk and Omsk, they met Ichana and his party dressed as Kazakh herders!

It turned out that Yi Chang'a and Ce Ling were not prepared to stay any longer after they completed the task of responding from behind once the Qing Dynasty sent out its army to attack the Junggar tribe.

Yichang'a is the commander of the Xibo Battalion, and in addition to the Saurons, the people commanded by the Xibo Battalion also include a large number of Junggars and Kazakhs who have defected to the Qing Dynasty. He took such a big risk to come to meet Celing this time, and naturally he has these familiar people around him.

People in local situations.

And if they want to pass the Russian place smoothly, even if there are only more than ten people, they will attract the attention of others, so they can only pretend to be Kazakh herders going to Omsk to trade.

So, they also used sledges to load a large amount of furs and mountain goods, plus a few people, and moved forward in the snow like Boyar.

Yichang'a was from the Qing Dynasty, so he was naturally more eager to rush to the Sayan Mountains and Altai Mountains as soon as possible than Boyar, who was walking in his own land.

Therefore, although Yi Chang'a and his party deliberately left one day late, they still caught up with Boyar and his party.

Also, there are naturally many roads to the east, but there is only one ready-made road. This road was taken by the Cossacks, so it is naturally the most convenient, nearest and most suitable road.

The vast northern Kazakh prairie is too vast. Once you lose your way, it is still snow-covered winter, and it is not easy to return to the original direction.

So, since Boyar is walking in front, Yi Chang'a and others can just follow.

In addition, after Celing saw off Boyar and his party on the first day, he asked Yi Changa and Norbu to leave the next day. Apparently, he had reached some kind of secret agreement with the Russians.

Otherwise, he would not dare to risk offending the Qing Dynasty and take the initiative to let Yi Chang'a leave.

After these three groups left, Ce Ling sent cavalry to escort them. Naturally, they couldn't escort them too far.

After seeing Boyar's sledge and horses, Yi Chang'a was a little worried, but it was just worry. The Qing Dynasty and Russia currently have very frequent trade exchanges and have demarcated their borders. Even if they are caught by the Russians, they must make it clear.

From now on, the Russians will not make things difficult for them.

Therefore, although they were a little worried, they did not stop near Karachinsk, but continued on their way.

When they arrive in Omsk, they will naturally not go to the market outside the city to trade, but will continue to drive southeast along the Irtysh River.

The southeast area was originally Ce Ling's pasture. After they were forced to leave, winter came soon and the Junggar people did not occupy it immediately. It was equivalent to a vacuum zone. Of course, there were also sporadic herdsmen there, except for the Mongols.

, as well as the Kyrgyz and Evenki, whose faces are similar to them, so I won’t doubt them.

Even if you have any doubts, Yi Chang'a will be able to pass easily with all the proud soldiers he has brought with him.

The reason why Yichang'a dared to cross the mountain pass between the Altai Mountains and the Sayan Mountains to meet Ce Ling must have been taking this into consideration.

Therefore, after arriving in Karachinsk, they continued on their way without stopping.

Boyar and his party rested in Karachinsk for a day before leaving. At this time, Omsk had become a large city where the Russians controlled the entire Central Siberian steppe. It had a Siberian governor, a lieutenant general and a

The strength of the division is there, so everything should be fine once we get here.

But Boyar and others had an accident not long after leaving Karachinsk!

All three people, including Boyar, were killed!

In this world, who dares to have trouble with the Russians?

No, not at all.

Needless to say, the Dulbert people, the neighboring Kazakhs and Junggars will not take the initiative to provoke them.

It was not like they encountered a pack of wolves and had stab wounds on their bodies, but they were discovered by the Karachinsk Cossack Tenth Husband who went to Omsk for business a few days later.

Of course, in the past ten years, due to the constant wars within the Junggar people and between the Junggar people and the Kazakhs, a large number of herders have been displaced, and the promising profession of horse thieves has also flourished. The number of boyars and others is very small.

, and with the gift from Ce Ling, it is not impossible that the horse thief will take notice.

Ce Ling was shocked when he learned about this.

He didn't believe that it was a horse thief who did it.

This is because when they fled from the upper reaches of the Irtysh River to the northwest, there were 20,000 to 30,000 tents. The 20,000 to 30,000 tents did not gather together and walk in a swarm when it was impossible. Instead, they were organized according to tribes. Small tribes covered a large area.

People walking on both sides of the Irtysh River.

When they were walking, if they happened to encounter horse thieves, they would naturally kill them. Those who were lucky enough to escape would run as far as they could, and it was impossible to stay here and drink from the northwest wind.

"Did Yi Chang'a and the others do it?"

Ce Ling couldn't help but suspect Yi Chang'a.

Also, because the Torgut tribe where Norbu is located is still a vassal khanate of Russia, at least on the surface, and is heading west, it is impossible to get ahead of Boyar and others in the ice and snow.

The problem is that in order to accommodate the Celing tribe, the Russians gave up almost the entire grassland on the south bank of the Irtysh River. The small number of Kyrgyz and Kazakhs who had previously relied on them moved to the north bank. In this way, Boyar

Waiting for others to die on his ranch!

Ce Ling couldn't help but break into a cold sweat when he thought of this.

"What if the Russians start to blame?"

Only his three brothers and Boyar knew about his secret agreement with Boyar. Although there were Cossacks from Karachinsk who could testify, he could not escape the involvement after all.

He must go to Omsk in person and explain the situation to the governor there. Otherwise, if he just sits back and does nothing, it will definitely arouse their suspicion - although it does not make sense at all logically.

He asked his second brother Ubash, who knew some Russian and was eloquent, to go to Omsk.

At this time, Ubash no longer cared about keeping secrets, so he had to tell the Russians everything about the presence of Turguts and Qing people in the king's tent.

At this time, the Russians had already launched an investigation. Naturally, they did not believe that it was the Dulberts who did it, but in order to investigate clearly, they had already scattered hundreds of Cossacks.

After hearing that Qing people had arrived, the governor adjusted the direction of the investigation and sent a large number of Cossacks along the Irtysh River to the pass of the Altai Mountains.

It is said that Yi Changa has relaxed since he passed Omsk smoothly. Boyar must be going back to Omsk anyway. Without the embarrassment of meeting, naturally he no longer has to travel hard.

Even if there is heavy snow on both sides of the Irtysh River in winter, there are still many animals. Rabbits, foxes, and wolves will appear from time to time. What's more, although the Irtysh River is frozen, Yichang Ako, a Sauron, can use the ice to

They were good at hole fishing, so they had no shortage of food along the way.

As a result, they were surrounded by Cossacks just as they were about to reach the pass of the Altai Mountains.

Although Yichanga was brave, he did not dare to make a mistake in front of the Cossacks who had the superior numbers, so he had to follow them back to Omsk obediently.

This time he was really worried. Naturally, he was not worried about his own life, but worried that he would not be able to get back to Uliasutai in time to report to the garrison general there.

"If the worst happens, just show your identity openly"

Along the way, he slowly calmed down and comforted himself like this.

However, when they returned to Omsk, the weapons they carried were taken away by the Cossacks. After comparing them, they found that the arrow wounds on the bodies of Boyar and others happened to be consistent with the saber and arrows carried by Yichana!

Now they were at a loss for words.

Of course, the Russians will definitely not kill them immediately, but will negotiate with the Qing Dynasty through Kyakhta, so they don’t know how long they will have to wait.

After getting the news, Ubash, who had been lingering in Omsk for a long time, could not sit still.

Even if it is finally determined that Yi Chang'a and others did it, the two cases of privately accepting the Qing people and the fact that the people died on their own ranch cannot be avoided.

Even if the Russians accept me from now on, they will still have grudges after all.

There are terrible Dzungars in the south of me, Zhongyuzi Abulihan. If there is another Russian, will I still have a way to survive?

So, Ce Ling finally thought of the Turghut people.

Although the journey is long, it is still a choice, right?

What's more, it's winter now, and all the rivers all over the Central Siberian steppe are frozen solid, and the obstacles to walking are much smaller at this time. Although the herders suffer a lot when changing places in winter, it is nothing compared with the survival of the tribe.

Mentioned.

Historically, Wobasi also began to return eastward in winter, also considering that he could quickly cross a large number of rivers.
Chapter completed!