At the end of May, after receiving a memorial from Agui and Fukangan requesting for more troops, Qianlong severely reprimanded Agui and Fukangan for their poor performance in the edict. However, he finally agreed to mobilize five thousand banner battalions from the northwest. Support Ning Guta; at the same time, he urged the two of them in the edict to complete the expedition before winter this year.
Because it was not yet the harvest season in the Pass, the grain reserves in Changping warehouses in the southern provinces, states, and counties began to be transported north in large quantities. In addition to providing disaster relief in Henan and Shandong, most of them were transferred outside the Pass as military rations. Qianlong also issued an order to order Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Fujian, and Guangdong The governments of the four provinces mobilized businessmen to go overseas to purchase rice and encouraged wealthy households in each province to donate.
(Since the Kangxi period in the Qing Dynasty, although the export of grain has been banned, the import of grain has not been excluded. In the 61st year of Kangxi, because he heard that the price of rice in Siam was extremely cheap, Kangxi proposed that Siamese merchants divide the rice into 300,000 shi. It was shipped to Fujian, Guangdong, Ningbo and other places for sale without paying taxes. In the early years of Yongzheng, rice was imported from Siam twice, and both were given tax-free treatment. In the sixth year of Yongzheng's reign, it was finally determined that "rice does not need to be taxed, as an example" ”, the case has become the norm.
The initial grain import was only a special policy given to Fujian. When Li Wei was the governor of Zhejiang, this policy benefited Zhejiang. By the Qianlong period, Fujian, Guangdong, and Zhejiang were the main importing provinces for imported rice. From Southeast Asia, Not only can rice be freely sold as the market goes, but if the market is not booming, foreign businessmen can also enjoy the benefits of unified government purchase.)
Agui, who was in Jilin, was also well prepared. As early as April, he sent a group of troops north to Ningguta to farm, and at the same time, he sent troops to reclaim unclaimed wasteland outside Wula City in Jilin. This eased some of the transportation of grain and grass to the rear. pressure.
A large amount of silver used as military pay suddenly poured into the market of Jilin Wula and Ningguta, causing local prices to skyrocket, and the situation of silver being cheap and copper being expensive became even worse. At this time, the official price of 1 tael of silver was equivalent to 1,200 copper coins, but Jilin Wula and Ninggu In Ta's market, one tael of silver can only be exchanged for 800 copper coins.
The common people used to make money to pay taxes on a daily basis, and only 1,200 Wen was equivalent to one tael of tax, but officials could exchange it for one and a half taels of silver. As a result, the local banner people complained endlessly; and the exiles who were assigned as slaves were even more unlucky and desperately tried their best to He works so hard that he can't even afford an old sheepskin coat.
The Suifen River in summer is beautiful and moving. The clear water flows alone, reflecting the mountain peaks and the tall woods like green walls. The white clouds in the sky are reflected on the river, and water birds are playing and flying on the river.
At the end of the raised horizon in the middle reaches of the Suifen River, two official ships flashed out. The black and red hulls sailed in the clear river water. On the bow of the first ship, a yellow dragon flag was particularly eye-catching.
These two boats are both "lu boats", with sails set when the wind blows and oars used when there is no wind. The hull is nearly 17 meters long, with a single mast and gunwales on both sides (walls installed along the edge of the open deck to protect personnel). Safety and prevent goods from rolling down.)
The upper half of the ship is painted with vermilion paint, and the lower half is painted with black paint. On the front deck is a musket with a dark red gun jacket. The stern is very high, and a reed mat is used to cover the deck with a porthole. The cabin was covered with red felt and contained a square table and two seats.
Probably because they were eager to go on the road, at this time, in addition to setting sails, the two boats were sailing at a fast pace, and there were eight soldiers on both sides of each boat vigorously rowing the oars.
This kind of Luchuan is an official ship usually used for border inspections, but now it carries envoys from the Qing court to persuade them to surrender.
The tall and thin priest Anthony walked up from the cabin with his head lowered, stretched his arms lazily, and took a deep breath of fresh air. He looked around at the picturesque scenery along both sides of the river, but his eyes inadvertently revealed
There was a hint of envy and greed.
Anthony knew that 4,800 miles from here to the north was the boundary between the Qing and Russia; and that there were thousands of miles of territory to the south and west of Beijing.
This country is vast, comparable to his motherland. But the most enviable thing is that the Qing Dynasty not only has a vast land area, but also has a long coastline, from the hot and humid south to the icy-cold Tartar Strait.
It's hard not to be fascinated by such a vast and fertile land.
Before he came to the Qing Dynasty, he had heard that Her Majesty the Queen had made many plans to invade the Qing Dynasty, but in the end they were always temporarily suspended because she was reluctant to part with the Kyakhta trade; and in recent years, she has been too busy due to the Fifth Russo-Turkish War.
Visit east.
However, when Priest Anthony thought about the members of the clergy who were under house arrest in Beijing, the hundreds of cannons waiting to be shipped outside Wula City in Jilin, and even the thousands of capable musketeers outside Ningguta City, all his desires came to an end.
The smoke disappeared. At this moment, he could only serve as a member of the mission and go thousands of miles away to persuade his "comatriots" to evacuate.
At this time, an official with a broad mouth and a mustache on his upper lip walked out of the cabin, followed by three burly personal guards. This man was in his forties, and his coral top was decorated with a ruby.
There is a single-eyed peacock feather stuck on the back of the straw hat, and he wears a black moose skin sleeveless short coat, with a golden suanni (which is a lion) embroidered on the chest of the official robe.
The official smiled and asked Anthony: "Priest An, is the scenery of the inland rivers in my country still pleasing to the eye?"
Anthony first bowed in greeting, and then replied with a smile: "Your Excellency, Deputy Governor, this is really a beautiful and rich place."
The official smiled slightly after hearing this, and a gleam of light flashed in his eyes.
This man's name was Na Qitai, whose surname was Wanyan, and he was from the Zhenglan Banner of Manchuria. His father had successively served as General of Heilongjiang, General of Jilin, and General of Xi'an. In the 29th year of Qianlong's reign, Na Qitai came to Tang'a (deacon officer) from the sticky pole.
) was awarded Lan Ling Guard, and served successively as a second-class guard and a first-class guard. In the forty-third year of Qianlong's reign, he was awarded the deputy general of the Hangzhou Navy Association. In the forty-ninth year of Qianlong's reign, Ding's mother was worried, but he still served as a first-class guard. In the fifth year of Qianlong's reign, Ding Mu was worried.
In the first month of the tenth year, he was granted the title of Deputy Capital Commander of Ninggu Pagoda.
Spanning the Yongzheng and Qianlong dynasties of the Qing Dynasty, the official name of Niangan Office was "Shangyu Reserve Office", with a capacity of forty people. It was affiliated to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but the administrative office was located in Yonghe Palace. In the Imperial Garden of Ouchi
, there is another stronghold at the stick-sticking place, which is the Duixiu Mountain Yujing Pavilion on the east side of the imperial garden. In front of the doorway under the rockery, there are four black lacquered stools; no matter day or night, there are four stick-sticking guards and
Four sticky pole worshipers sat on it, waiting for the emperor's orders at any time in order to carry out the orders.
If the establishment of the "Factory Guard" in the Ming Dynasty was a spy organization established by the emperor to supervise officials in order to strengthen the imperial power, then the sticking point that has many similarities with the Factory Guard in the Ming Dynasty was the spy organization of the Qing Dynasty emperor.
After Qianlong succeeded to the throne, he took over the sticky pole left by Yongzheng and continued to use it to monitor all officials in the court, including frontier officials from other provinces and generals on expeditions.
The intention of a person like Na Qitai being sent to Ninggu Pagoda by Qianlong at this time is self-evident. The purpose of leading his team eastward this time was also to obtain first-hand information from the Hubei people.
The two chatted for a while, and Na Qitai invited Anthony to take a seat in the canopy of the boat. When his men brought tea, he and Anthony sat drinking tea and chatting while admiring the surrounding mountains and forests. His three soldiers
Then stand on guard all around.
Suddenly, a sharp roar came from the dense forest on the left side in front, and a loud arrow flew out of the forest and landed on the river in front. This was followed by a burst of people shouting and horses shouting.
"There he is!" Another roar came from the dense forest, followed by the sound of whizzing arrows and the sound of "Boom!" a shotgun.
Na Qitai's expression changed, and before he could ask a question, a soldier named Geshiha standing under the mast took off his bow from his back and put an arrow on it. He ducked behind the gunwale in two steps and shouted loudly to the shore: "
who!"
The channel of Suifen River is not very wide. The narrowest part is only five or six meters, and the widest part is only eleven or twelve meters. Nagoshha watched the situation on the river bank nervously, and suddenly a black shadow flew out of the forest like lightning.
A long black arrow hit him right in the face. Nagoshha didn't even let out a scream and fell to the sky on the deck.
"Sir!" Two soldiers rushed over to protect Qitai.
At this time, a loud shout came from the shore: "Protect your lord!"
Priest Anthony was also startled. He slid down from the stool and lay on the deck unconsciously. He felt that it was best to return to the cabin now, so he used his hands and feet and was about to go out, only to hear a Ghosh
Ha whispered: "Sir, please go back to the cabin for a while."
Na Qitai stood up and pushed away one of the guards, and said with an angry look: "Why are you panicking!" After saying that, he moved his two guards behind the gunwale while holding his belt, and shouted to the frightened rowing soldiers around him:
"Paddle quickly! Get out of here!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a "boom" sound of a musket was heard in the woods, followed immediately by the "boom boom" sound of a bowstring.
Everyone on the boat felt that time passed extremely long, and they didn't know how long it had passed. "Ah!" A heart-rending scream came from afar, and not long after, there was another shot.
Another Geshiha couldn't figure out what was going on. He looked at Na Qitai and said: "Sir, it seems that there are our own people on the shore, and the sounding arrows are the same as those in the army. Should we stop the boat and help them?"
As a man with many years of military career, Na Qitai could tell from the moment the arrow roared that it was the military's standard weapon.
"Don't be too fussy. We don't have to worry about things on the shore. Row quickly and get out of here!"
As the sailors on the two boats rowed hard, the boat sailed down the river quickly, and the shouts of death on the shore gradually faded away. A quarter of an hour later, after the boat had traveled more than two miles, everyone on the boat felt relieved.
Come.
Na Qitai, who returned to the cabin, frowned and felt uneasy. What happened just now?
The time has to go back half an hour.
Because of his outstanding archery skills and familiarity with the local mountains and forests, Funiyang'a, who was the leader of Ninggu Tower, was selected by Agui and led ten of his men eastward along the Suifen River to explore the road for the future eastward march of the army.
Agui has been fighting for many years and has strict military management. No one under him dares to slack off in military orders. Funiyanga and his men carefully inspected the situation along the way and recorded it in detail. He wanted to get to Fuldan City as soon as possible.
, and then return to Ninggu Pagoda to report.
The reason for being so anxious is that Agui Zhongtang only gave a deadline of twenty days; the other is that there are too many mosquitoes in the forest. In summer, the weather in the Northeast is hot during the day, and at night there are swarms of hungry mosquitoes.
Even though everyone brought enough mint, patchouli, star anise and other mosquito repellents, their faces were still bitten and they complained endlessly. They all wanted to finish this painful task quickly.
After leaving the campsite early this morning, the group of them worked hard, hoping to arrive as soon as possible. Unexpectedly, something happened just an hour after they left. They were attacked by an unknown person.
At that time, a scout who was running at the front suddenly felt something was wrong. He reined in his horse, slowed down and stopped with a "soo" sound. At this time, a soldier behind him asked strangely: "Irahan, what's wrong?"
I saw the armored soldier named Irahan raising his arm to signal everyone to be quiet. After Funiyanga and others stopped their horses, they looked around.
There used to be a few birds chirping in the mountains and forests from time to time, but now there was no sound. The mountain wind blew gently on everyone's faces. A few dozen steps away on the right, the water of the Suifen River was quietly scouring the river bank, making a "whew" sound.
"The sound of water.
There's something wrong with how quiet it is here!
At this time, the horse under everyone also became a little restless, its ears were raised forward, its nose was snoring, and its hooves were pawing.
"Dismount and be on guard." Funyanga said softly, turned over and dismounted, and then took out a hard bow and a hazelnut whistle arrow from the bag. This whistle arrow is named because it has an iron head and is shaped like a hazelnut; generally
Used to shoot deer, it can also be used to guide others in the direction of attack.
Several armored soldiers looked solemn and took out their swords or hard bows on their horses. Two others reached out and took out the shotguns in their saddlebags, took off the gunpowder pot from their waists, poured in two coins of gunpowder, and then
Put an iron bullet weighing three cents and one cent into the muzzle of the gun, and then pull out the wooden stick under the barrel to compact it; finally, he took out the matchstick and ignited the match, and then clamped the match to the metal hook above the gun.
superior.
There was a soft sound from the bow string, and a sharp black arrow shot out from a big tree on the right front like a ghost, and pierced the neck of an armored soldier with a bow. The armored soldier's eyes widened.
, the bow in his hand fell to the ground, and he stretched out his hand to pull at the arrow shaft, trying to pull out the arrow. After shaking for a few times, he finally fell to the ground, spitting blood from his mouth.
More than a dozen horses were frightened and immediately neighed and scattered in all directions.
Funiyang didn't have time to observe, so he habitually raised his hand and shot an arrow at the big tree on the upper right. The sharp whistle cut through the silent forest. The leaves swayed, and a figure quickly slipped from the tree, turning over several times.
It disappeared into the bushes.
There was a "crash", and twenty cloths away from the left, a figure jumped out of the bushes quickly. This man's head was covered with grass and branches, and his body was also gaudy. He was holding a strange thing in his hand and shining it.
The position of the soldiers is to raise their hands.
There was a soft sound of "Pa!", and several sawdust burst out from the tree trunk beside an armored soldier.
"There he is!" Several armored soldiers ducked and hid behind the trees, stretched their bows and shot arrows.
"Boom!" A soldier holding a shotgun fired at the position where the figure disappeared.
At this time, Funiya also ducked behind a big tree, took out a plum needle arrow from his bag and set it on it. He stared at the position where the man jumped out, and he already knew in his heart that there were at least two people on the other side.
The armored soldier who had been shot in the neck had fallen to the ground, and Funiya finally saw the opponent's black arrow clearly. The straight arrow shaft was completely black, and even the arrow feathers were black.
"Be careful! There are at least two of them!" Funyanga shouted to his subordinates in a low voice.
At this time, everyone heard an angry shout from the river not far away: "Who is it!" As soon as the voice fell, there was another soft sound in the bushes, and there was no more noise on the river.
Funiya found the right position and hid behind a stone half a man tall. At this time, he could see the scene on the river very clearly. The boat with the yellow dragon flag at the head seemed to be the seat of the Vice-Capital Commander.
Boat.
"Protect your lord!"
Funyanga shouted loudly, and one of the armored soldiers immediately fired the shotgun in his hand. He and several armored soldiers beside him raised their bows and shot at the place where the noise had just been made.
After a while, the opposite side became quiet. At this time, two armored soldiers holding knives flashed out from behind the tree, intending to bend down and outflank them. Unexpectedly, as soon as they showed their heads, the ghost appeared again, the bowstring rang softly, and a long black arrow shot in.
into the abdomen of a sword-wielding soldier.
The injured soldier screamed, clutching his stomach and kneeling on the ground.
A large amount of sweat dripped down Funiya's cheeks. He knew that he would encounter a life-and-death enemy today! The opponent was a master of bows and could shoot arrows quickly and accurately. He was probably no match for him.
The few surviving armored soldiers were also extremely nervous. The two people on the opposite side were like ghosts, and they were hit hard at random. Now it was troublesome! If the other side didn't show their heads, they could neither advance nor retreat.
The horses have all run away, and it seems that this is the only way to go.
At this time, a shotgunner hiding behind a tree finally loaded the bullet and lit the match. At this moment, he regretted extremely. He had taken out the throwing bag if he had known better. The shotgun seemed to have fierce firepower, but the reloading was too slow.
!While thinking about it, he saw the trees in front of him on the left shaking slightly from the corner of his eye. Without thinking, he raised his gun and pulled the trigger.
There was a muffled groan from the trees opposite, and all the armored soldiers were ecstatic, they had hit!
But before the ecstasy had passed, they immediately fell into the abyss. Behind the surrounding rocks and among the trees, there was a sudden "pop, pop, pop" sound like exploding beans, and five or six armored soldiers were shot to death immediately. See
At this scene, Funyan'a's eyes widened and his eyes were about to burst!