"Master, shall we camp here tonight?" Xiao Niangpi asked.
By this time, the army had already arrived on the Songhua River. The river in this era was very wide, with three feet of ice, and could carry a base RV weighing thirty tons.
Yang Fan looked at the map and said: "Yes, we are camping to the north of Qiqihar Bin. This place is called, um, called Hulan."
"Sir, what does Hulan mean?" Lin Yueru asked, blinking her big eyes.
"Hulan is a Manchu language, and Hulan means an independent chimney. According to Jurchen custom, the chimney is not inside the house. It is a separate building that stands a few meters away from the house." Yang Fan explained.
"Master, how do you remove the smoke?" Mei Xiang asked puzzledly.
"Well, it's simple. The Jurchens' house has fire pits on the south, north, and west sides, and they are all connected. The Western Kang is not for people to live in, but is used for gods. When a fire is burned in the stove pit, the smoke will circle around the three sides of the Kang and then go down the underground flue.
, or the low wall flue is connected to an independent chimney five or six meters away next to the house.”
Until the 1970s and 1980s, traditional residential chimneys in the Northeast were not built on the roof above the gable. Nor did they protrude from the middle of the roof. Instead, they stood on the ground three or four feet away from the gable.
The chimney stands independently, either round or square, thick at the bottom and thin at the top, gradually converging upward. It looks like a small tower, about a few feet higher than the eaves. This kind of chimney erected on the outside of the house is called "floor chimney" among the people.
"Cross-sea chimney" is called "Hulan" in Manchu.
This kind of floor-to-ceiling chimney, which is rare in other places, originated from the residences of the Manchu people in the mountains and forests.
Because the roofs of their houses are covered with birch bark or thatch, and the northeast winter wind is particularly strong, people often use thatch and branches to cook on the kang, which often cannot be burned.
If the chimney is attached to the wall or placed on the roof, once the fireworks are blown out by strong winds and fall on the roof, it is easy to cause a fire and cause great harm.
Therefore, the chimney is placed on the ground a little further away from the house, which is safer and more durable, and has become a major feature of Northeastern house construction.
A floor-to-ceiling chimney builds a kang hole connected to the indoor fire kang through a low wall with a flue inside, commonly known as the "chimney bridge". The fireworks circulate through the kang hole and then pass through the chimney bridge. When they reach the chimney mouth, there is no flame or spark.
If children exist, fires will rarely occur.
"Sir, is this place named Hulan because of the big chimney?" Xiao Niangpi asked.
"It should be like this. There are few people here and there is a nice big chimney here, so it is used as a place name. But to the south of here, across the Songhua River, there is the ruins of an ancient city, which was Huining, the capital of the Jin Kingdom.
Mansion (today’s Acheng District, Harbin City)”
Lin Yueru asked: "Sir, Grandpa Yue said he would go straight to Huanglong Mansion and have a drink with all the kings. Is this right here? Isn't this where the second Emperor Qinhui of the Song Dynasty was imprisoned?"
"This is really not true. Huanglong Mansion is not far from here. After passing the Songhua River, there is Fuyu City. After passing Fuyu City, not far away is Huanglong Mansion, but it should be in ruins now." Yang Fan explained:
"And Emperor Qinhui was imprisoned in Five Kingdoms City. That place is not here. Walking five or six hundred miles northeast along the Songhua River, there is the ruins of Yilan City, right there."
There is no city in Harbin, just a small village, but there is an earthen fort in Hulan. A Niulu of Jiannu is stationed here. This is the northernmost stronghold of the Qing Dynasty.
In fact, the Qing Dynasty was also on guard against the Jurchens in the north.
After the Jianzhou Jurchens annexed various tribes in Liaodong, they also annexed four Jurchen tribes in Haixi, namely Yehe, Hada, Huifa, and Wula. These people formed the current Eight Banners of Manchuria.
The Jurchens of the East China Sea, the Sauron people, and the Jurchens of the Northern Mountains are always in a state of canonization. These people may attack the towns of Jianzhou at any time.
After the establishment of the Qing Dynasty, it spent a lot of effort to exploit the conflicts between them to break them up one by one, and to bring them closer through marriage. It took a hundred years to finally conquer them.
Niulu Erzhen Gule Zhanbutai in the earthen fort looked at the endless Jurchen brigade in the East China Sea and screamed in fright.
"Close the city gate and hurry up, you pigs."
"Gather everyone together and go to the city."
There was a lot of chaos in the castle, with three hundred bannermen wearing armor and looking for weapons. It was a chaotic mess.
There are about 700 to 800 Manchu households in this city, as well as 200 to 300 households of some random ethnic groups, which is roughly equivalent to a guardhouse with 1,000 households. There are blacksmith shops, tanner shops, mills, fur shops, pawn shops, etc. in the city.
.It can be regarded as a small commercial stronghold on the north bank of Songhua River.
This was the first time that Yang Fan saw the soldiers and horses of the slaves since his southern expedition.
Yang Fan held his arms and stood below to watch with great interest. The ladies also used telescopes to observe, but in fact, none of them had seen Jian Nu. Xiao Niangpi and Lin Yueru were mainly on a business trip to Mongolia.
The various leaders of the Jurchens in the East China Sea and the Jurchens in the North Mountains were all talking and laughing, pointing at this earthen fort without taking it seriously. Such a small city was just an earthen fortress. When they blew their horns, the warriors in the tribe would
Rushed in.
From here on, it enters Jiannu's sphere of influence. The news of Yang Fan's dispatch will soon spread to Shenyang. Yang Fan has already received the information, and Amin has returned with the cavalry with the blue flag.
When they attacked Maoming Anshan City, the news had already reached Shenyang.
When Huang Taiji got the news, he took defensive measures in advance and asked Amin to come back to host.
The Eight Banners is an organization that combines soldiers with the people. A Niulu has 300 soldiers, but not only 300 households. It refers to 300 soldiers serving. Generally, the Eight Banners draw one from every third. Now with the population of the Eight Banners
The expansion of the base number sometimes means drawing one out of five.
Han military flags are generally drawn one out of ten according to the number of households. Because the number of Han people is relatively large, in order to maintain the advantage of the Eight Banners, fewer dice are drawn.
This time, the Eight Banners will draw one out of five soldiers and send out 50,000 soldiers. There are still 200,000 soldiers in the headquarters area. The Eight Banners have the same problem of hiding people as the Han people, and it is quite serious.
The main problem is the issue of coated slaves. coated slaves are the private household slaves of high-ranking officials and nobles. Their number is very large, accounting for about one-fifth of the Eight Banners. These are those who evade conscription.
Just like the Han people's domestic slaves do not pay taxes or do corvee labor.
No matter where there is a privileged class, the Manchus are no exception.
Yang Fan estimated that if he really hits Shenyang, the Eight Banners will have at least 200,000 strong men, and the Han Army Banners will also have 200,000 to 300,000 strong men.
It’s unclear how many strong men a slave in clothes can have. This is a confusing account. I guess Huang Taiji can’t tell clearly.
This is the taboo of the Manchu nobles, and no one dares to touch it.
Just like in the Han area, you have to check the actual number of acres of farmland. Whoever dares to touch it will be in bad luck. Isn't Zhang Juzheng an example?
In addition, the Mongolians who have fled in the past two years and the strong men of the Eight Banners of Mongolia who have not gone out to fight. In the entire Liaodong region, there are no less than 500,000 fighting men. Of course, they are all scattered over a vast area. And this is all combined The maximum number of conscripts that would stop production and life.
This is also the reason why Yang Fan has never touched Liaodong.
This time, he plans to use the Jurchens to fight against the Manchus. Next time, after completing the unification of the Eurasian steppe belt, he will use the grassland peoples to fight against the Manchus.
"Master, look, these cowards actually surrendered." The little girl put her hands on her waist and said disdainfully.
Yang Fan looked up. Before the Donghai people attacked the city, a white flag was already flying on top of the city. Some people were shouting not to shoot arrows. They let people down to discuss surrender.