It is more than 30 kilometers from the airport to the city of Okhotsk, and it takes a long circle. It is said to be a "city", but in fact it is a town, with a total of only more than 3,000 people in the whole town.
Zhao Xin arrived in the city at noon. He first found a hotel and got a room, and then went to the local library to search for information. After finding out the specific location of the early Okhotsk town, he published the book
We looked for a place to eat in the hotel and didn't return to the hotel until dark.
Zhao Xin's approach was very simple. He planned to take advantage of the night to cross over and take a look. If Tsarist Russia planned to take a boat from here to the Heilongjiang Estuary, then there must have been a large area of tents or wooden houses in Okhotsk in the 18th century.
Those Cossacks live there, and there will certainly be a large number of sailing ships moored in the harbor.
Yu Deli's suggestion is actually not difficult, it is just a toss-up, and it only involves Zhao Xin.
...
1788, Okhotsk.
The nights in early spring are still cold and long, and the sun sets very early. Street lamps lit with whale oil can be seen everywhere in the town. Under the attack of the cold Siberian wind and sea breeze, the whole town is illuminated.
In the weather in March, the north wind was still biting, and the low wind blew up the snow, making a rustling sound. The icicles dyed yellow by the thatch on the eaves fell from the eaves and fell to the ground, making a crisp sound like glass. This
This seaside town is full of ice puddles and bare fields mixed with snow. On the frozen harbor, the masts of a dozen docked whalers creaked in the wind.
A strong and handsome maroon-red Don hippopotamus raised its long tail like a bundle of flax straightly, swaying its shaggy mane in the wind, kicking its feet, and kicking the snow on its hooves far away. It was in
They circled a few times in the square in front of the church, stopped at a low wall, and smelled the bricks. The horse looked sideways at the approaching bridle with its purple eyes, stretched its back, turned around and ran into the night.
A human yell sounded from behind.
At around eight o'clock in the evening, Customs Commissioner Petrolo Grigorievich said goodbye to a merchant's house in a drunken state, turned around and walked in the direction of his own home. The waiting servant was holding the harnessed bay horse and saw
The master was unsteady in his steps and wanted to help him, but Grigorievich threw him away.
"Take care of yourself, sir, I'm walking steadily!"
The servant was helpless, so he raised the torch and held the horse's reins with his other hand as he walked beside the customs commissioner. Grigorievich's home was not far from here. He walked through the church and walked more than three hundred meters.
Here we are, right next door to the Chief Executive's house.
"These poisonous snakes!... Devils!... Bastards!... They are trying to trick me like slave girls... But I still have to listen to their nonsense!... Businessmen! All they think about is money! Money.
!Money! A sailboat actually costs three thousand rubles. Oh~~, what kind of Cossacks are these people? They are all a bunch of starving ghosts!"
Suddenly, the Don hippopotamus neighed, and then the light and shadow shook, and a torch rolled and fell to the ground, throwing out a cloud of sparks.
"Damn it Ivan, what else can you do? Well, you said what else can you do!"
The servant Ivan stretched out his hand and grabbed Grigorievich's arm tightly, and said in a trembling voice: "Master! Look ahead!"
The customs commissioner looked along Ivan's trembling hand and saw a tall, fat black figure covered from head to toe in rags standing on the dark street.
If it was just like this, Grigorievich would at best regard the shadow as a poor man who drank too much; but when the shadow turned to look at him, Grigorievich suddenly felt the hair on his body stand up.
I woke up, my scalp was numb, and all the alcoholism was gone!
What kind of monster is that!
In the hazy light and shadow, Grigorievich saw that the demon actually had four stubby horns on its forehead and bulged high on its back, making it look like it was a hunchback; its rag-like coat and
The night merged into one. The monster's face was streaked with black marks, just like the traces that had just crawled out of hell and been smoked by the fire in hell. It also held a black half-person-high stick in its hand.
The iron staff was propped on the ground with one end.
The "devil" looked at the customs commissioner and his servant Ivan, tilted his head, as if he was thinking about coming over. But the poor customs commissioner was stiff all over, and his throat could only make a "gurgling" sound.
He didn't even have the strength to shout. The strong Don hippo snorted uneasily and shook its head in an attempt to shake off the annoying bridle. The hand of the servant Ivan, who was holding the reins, was in pain from the restless horse.
The "devil" did not come close. It muttered something in a language that no one could understand, stretched out its hand and waved to the customs director. Seeing that neither of them responded, it immediately turned and looked west for a long time, and then passed
After a while, he suddenly disappeared from where he was.
The servant Ivan was so frightened that he almost peed. He held his master's arm tightly and asked in a low voice: "Master, what is that?"
"Oh my God!" After a long time, Grigorievich felt that his legs had regained consciousness, and then he ran home in a mess. After entering the door, the customs director sat down on the ground leaning against the door of his house, lamenting.
With a sound, he murmured to himself: "Baba Yaga..."
Most of the local residents of Okhotsk came from the western Slavic region. In the legend, the tall guy wearing a rag skirt and carrying a hump was the demon they had been familiar with since childhood, Baba Yaga.
Some say she is a forest witch who lives in a hut on the edge of the forest, surrounded by fences made of human bones. She lures good people and children to her in order to eat them.
Some people also say that Baba Yaga is a ferryman who wanders on the boundary between life and death. When people go to another world, they will see Baba Yaga’s hut on the edge of the world. As a ferryman, Baba Yaga will give the dying person
He gave people water and food, fumigated them in a bathtub, and made them sleep. Finally, Baba Yaga would eat the people and take them to hell.
No matter which version he said, Grigorievich firmly believed that what he saw was "Baba Yaga".
Being able to escape by chance is truly a blessing among misfortunes!
Zhao Xin didn't take his encounter with two local residents seriously. He waved to them at the time, but it was actually a subconscious mistake. At that time, his eyes were dazzled by the sudden light of a torch.
Wearing night vision goggles, he walked around the town of Okhotsk and saw no trace of military garrison. If Tsarist Russia wanted to cross the sea by boat from here to the Heilongjiang estuary, then there must be many places around the port.
There will be a large number of boats waiting to be launched.
Well, it was a waste of time, I have to go to Nerchinsk to have another look.
...
A few days later, outside the city of Nerchinsk, in an area of wooden houses near the Cossack military camp.
It got dark very early. The blue sky blown by the north wind was dotted with countless stars. The Milky Way overhead was exceptionally bright. The river in the sky and the river on the ground complemented each other. The round moon also rose from the east.
rise, spreading a ray of light over the wilderness.
At this time, what came to Polya's ears was not only the sounds of voices in various houses, but also the wild and uninhibited laughter of the Cossack soldiers in the distant barracks. The girl looked at the stars in the sky and missed her family members who had passed away.
Polya and her uncle's family moved from Chita to Nerchinsk in October last year. The reason was that her uncle Yegor was spotted by a Cossack officer and asked him to be his groom. Yegor was often away from home and spent all day.
He slept in the stables of the Cossack cavalry.
This fourteen-year-old girl experienced unimaginable hardships for girls of the same age. First she was forced to leave her home in Yenisei Province and embarked on a wandering road. She, her parents, uncle and her family were escorted to a barge by officials from the Governor's Palace.
It is said that they are going to open a "paradise" on the deserted Amur River.
But before she entered the gate of "Paradise", both her parents died, and Polya became an orphan and had to be fostered in her uncle Yegor's house. Since arriving in Nerchinsk, she has listened to the Cossacks talking excitedly.
How to kill the indigenous people on the Amur River and then give the land to them, the immigrants.
The kind-hearted Polya and other honest farmers were deeply disturbed. The other side of the Ergun River was not a terra incognita at all! They did not understand why the Queen did not allow them to farm and live on their own land, but she insisted on doing so.
To rob other people’s homes?
Polya's uncle Yegor once wanted to escape with his family, but it was too difficult. Once discovered by the sentry, he would be hanged alive; Polya had seen with her own eyes how many such corpses were hung in the wind.
Zhongshaoyi.
They are afraid and they hate it, but they can only kneel in front of the statue of Our Lady every night to pray, asking her to forgive those sinners, and asking her to forgive the crimes they are about to commit.
Others want to go ahead and kill people, while you follow behind and occupy their homes. Such behavior will make your conscience uneasy no matter what.
"Polya, it's too cold outside, go home."
Not far behind her, her aunt opened the door and shouted to Polya. There was the little girl's humble home, a steeple-roofed wooden house, where she, her aunt, and her little brother lived.
"Liar, they are all lying." The little girl rubbed the calluses on her palms and muttered to herself.
The reason why she said this was because all the wishes that the Governor of Irkutsk made to people like her were nonsense. He said that immigrants would be exempted from hard labor, but the officials were asking for fodder and firewood for the cavalry and horses for the winter all day long.
Polya worked from dawn to dusk to pick up dry branches and weeds in the wilderness, but it was still not enough.
Seeing that she didn't respond, her aunt shook her head helplessly and sighed, "Poor child." She was about to go over and call Polya back, but cries rang out in the room, so the woman had to close the door and go to take care of the infant child.
baby.
A gust of wind came in a hurry, picking up a loose blanket of snow on the wasteland, and swirling it on Polya's face. The little girl raised her hand to block it, and when she put it down again, a tall man suddenly appeared in front of her eyes.
figure.
Polya opened her mouth wide and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand in disbelief. She was sure that there was no one there when the snowflakes hit her face just a second ago.
Zhao Xin was still dressed in the same gray-white ghillie suit, with a pair of military night vision goggles on his head, and his face was painted with oil paint. In order not to be blinded by the fire last time in Okhotsk, he deliberately
Didn't put down the night vision goggles.
Zhao Xin was also startled when he saw someone appear in front of him.
“Пpnвet…”
Hearing the voice greeting from the other side, Zhao Xin let out a long breath. This was a little girl. He showed a smile with big white teeth on his painted face: "Пpnвet."
Thanks to the exchanges with Andrew year after year, Zhao Xin’s Russian conversational level is pretty good.
After hearing the other party's response, Polya felt very curious. The reason why she did not scream loudly may be because she was lonely and depressed, or she felt that the person in front of her had no ill intentions towards her.
"Are you...Ataman?" Polya asked softly.
"What is Ataman?"
"Only Ataman can become invisible...I heard my father say that before."
Zhao Xin laughed, this little girl was not afraid of him. Although he didn't know what "Ataman" was, he still asked: "What if I am?"
"Can you fly?"
"Uh... no."
"Then are you clairvoyant?"
"Sometimes, yes." Zhao Xinxin said, does drone count?
"Then you are an Ataman."
Zhao Xinlai was not here to chat with a Russian girl. He thought about it, took out a piece of chocolate from his inner pocket, and handed it to her.
"It's for you."
Polya was not afraid at all. She took two steps closer and asked, "What is it?"
"The gift I gave you is edible." Zhao Xin waited for the other party to take it and asked tentatively: "Are there many Cossacks here?"
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! Polya took the chocolate, brought it to the tip of her nose and smelled it. She found that this edible gift exuded an intoxicating aroma.
"Yes, many, many."
"Are you a soldier?"
"Yes, Transbaikal Fusiliers."
"What are they doing here?"
Polya looked at Zhao Xin who was crouching down and said, "Don't you know? When the ice melts in the spring, they will attack the Qing Dynasty on the other side of the river. You don't even know this, where did you come from?"
Zhao Xin suddenly pointed behind Polya and whispered: "Someone is coming."
"Who?" Polya turned around and found nothing unusual. When she turned around again, the big man had disappeared...
A few hours later, Zhao Xin showed up again on a promontory by the river below the outpost of Nerchinsk City. He planned to capture a Cossack soldier and directly inquire how many people were in the barracks and who was the general leading the army.
;It would be better if an officer could be caught.
The Tsarist Russians of this era were far less tall than those of later generations, with an average height of only a little over 1.5 meters; Zhao Xin felt that he could easily subdue them.
It was already late at night, and the Cossack sentries were patrolling back and forth outside the military camp. The sound of spiked riding boots on the snow could be clearly heard.
Suddenly there was a sound of horse hooves, and several lanterns flashed over. Zhao Xin quickly knelt on the ground and turned on the safety of the gun in his hand.
There were several Cossacks riding over. The leader was well-dressed and seemed to be an officer. The man scolded the sentry loudly, then turned around and rode his horse with two of his men through the camp gate 200 meters away. See
He looked like he was here for a sentry check.
"Damn!" Zhao Xin cursed, wondering if he was going to sneak into the military camp to arrest people? The noise would be huge! No matter how elusive he was, he couldn't compare with well-trained soldiers. Once there was any noise, he would
You still have to dodge people.
Suddenly, there was a clanking sound of iron from the military camp behind the fence. After a while, a guy wearing a tweed army coat walked out of the camp gate carrying a pair of buckets. The man yawned and swayed all the way.
Walking towards him with the empty bucket.
Zhao Xin almost laughed out loud. God had blessed him! Going down the steep slope behind him was the riverside. There seemed to be a wooden step built there. Zhao Xin waited for the soldier to pass by him and walked down the step. He then slowly
He stood up slowly and followed him on tiptoe.
The diving soldier had already reached the riverside. There was a long springboard there, with one end on the shore and the other end on two wooden stakes wedged in the river. The soldier lazily stepped onto the springboard, first using his
The pole opened the hole in the frozen ice, and then he hooked the pole's hook on the beam of the barrel. He tilted it slightly in the water and it was filled with water. He lifted it up with difficulty and put it on the springboard behind him.
, and then hooked the second barrel.
It was pitch dark all around and he couldn't see anything clearly. Zhao Xin took advantage of the man bending down to fetch the second bucket of water, quickly rushed onto the springboard, raised the fist holding the pistol, and used all his strength to hit the gangplank.
It hit the soldier on the neck.
The Cossack soldier noticed it when Zhao Xin stepped onto the springboard. However, he was bending down to fetch water, and it was too late to get up with the heavy bucket and say anything. He felt a shock on the back of his neck, and he immediately fell off the springboard.
After going down, only a military coat was left hanging on the gangplank.
Zhao Xin hurriedly jumped off the springboard, grabbed the guy who was falling into the hole in the ice, and dragged him back to the ice with all his strength.