In the high mountains southeast of Ninggu Pagoda, two men in their thirties, each carrying a child on their backs, were walking with difficulty in the howling wind and snow.
"Uncle Lu, are you tired? Let's take a break before leaving." A child behind the man asked.
"Master, we can't rest. Let's leave quickly while the wind is light. Otherwise, we won't be able to leave until the wind gets stronger." The man named Lu turned his head and responded in a low voice, without stopping at all.
These two adults were Lu Shoushan and Pan Xiucheng who escaped from Ninggu Pagoda, and the two children on their backs were the two children who attracted Qianlong's attention, brothers Xu Shounan and Xu Funan.
"Uncle Pan, let me come down and walk by myself." Xu Shounan, who was slightly older, said quickly when he saw Pan Xiucheng carrying him on his back and was panting from exhaustion.
"Shoushan, let's find a place to rest for a while." Pan Xiucheng ignored Xu Shounan and asked Lu Shoushan who was walking in front.
"After passing the mountain col ahead, let's find a place with leeward wind." Lu Shoushan said without looking back.
Although Pan Xiucheng was very tired, he didn't say anything after hearing Lu Shoushan's words. Instead, he lifted Xu Shounan on his back and accelerated his pace a little.
Since they escaped from Ninggu Pagoda twenty days ago, these four people, one big and two small, have been walking eastward along the mountain pass between Hualan River and Shangjian River. By this time, they had crossed the big ridge. Further east is Suifenhe.
The original plan of the two was to go south after crossing the Shangjian River, but when they arrived near the Taketonka River, they discovered a patrol of flag soldiers, so they had to go east over the ridge. As for where to go all the way east, Lu Shoushan didn't think clearly at this time.
As servants who had been greatly favored by the Xu family, Lu and Pan's purpose was to rescue the two remaining boys of the Xu family and leave this bloodline for the Xu family.
For this reason, starting from three years ago, the two began to quietly prepare and please the flag soldiers guarding them so that they would continue to relax their vigilance.
After more than an hour, Lu and Pan, carrying their children on their backs, finally crossed the mountain col ahead and came to a rock leeward.
Pan Xiucheng put Xu Funan down on his back and sat down on the ground, wheezing. Lu Shoushan took out a water bag made of rabbit skin from his arms and handed it to him.
The water in the water bag is still slightly warm. Pan Xiucheng pulled out the cork, raised his head and took a big sip.
"Slow down, don't drink so much."
Pan Xiucheng drank a sip of water, raised his sleeve and wiped his mouth, then handed the water bag to the youngest Xu Funan.
"Uncle Pan, I, I'm not thirsty, you can drink." Six-year-old Xu Funan is very sensible.
Pan Xiucheng smiled softly when he heard this, rubbed Xu Funan's head and comforted him: "Drink, Uncle Pan is not thirsty anymore."
After hearing this, Xu Funan picked up the water bag with both hands, raised his head and drank a few sips, and then handed it to his brother's hand.
Pan Xiucheng looked at the two children, raised his head and asked Lu Shoushan: "Shoushan, the road to the south is blocked now, where do you think we should go? Escape like this is not an option."
"It's such a bad weather." Lu Shoushan looked at the falling snowflakes in front of him and cursed fiercely. Then he squatted down, leaned on a big rock, and put his hands in his sleeves.
The four people's tattered clothes and shoes were stuffed with urala grass, which kept them warm. This bit of grass was stolen by Pan Xiucheng from the bannerman's house before he fled. Many felons who were exiled to Ningguta sometimes couldn't even get a piece of urala grass in winter, and even wailed bitterly in the cold wind of winter until they finally froze to death.
"Looking at the current situation, it's impossible to go south, and it's even more impossible to go back. We have to go east and follow the river in front of us."
"Ah, where are we going all the way?"
Lu Shoushan said nothing. He looked at the two children who were as thin as big-headed dolls in front of him and said to Pan Xiucheng: "Take two whiskers."
Upon hearing this, Pan Xiucheng reached into his arms, rubbed it for a long time, and pinched out two ginseng whiskers with his fingers. Then Rang cut off the two whiskers, divided them into four parts, and handed them to Lu Shoushan and the two children respectively.
Pan Xiucheng put the ginseng roots into his mouth, chewed it, and said to Lu Shoushan: "You said we are going to Hunchun City...?"
Lu Shoushandao interrupted before the other party finished speaking: "No. We have been escaping for more than 20 days. Hunchun must have received the letter. If you go there now, you will definitely be caught by the flag soldiers."
"Then what do you think we should do?"
"Last year, when we went to Hunchun to harvest sorghum, I heard from the Kurkaqi people (Hezhe ethnic group) who were transporting grain that if you go eastward along the Suifen River, you will reach the seaside. There is a fishing village there. The Kurkhachi people have no bannermen.”
"How long do we have to go?"
"I think it will take more than half a month. When we get to the fishing village, we can find a boat. After next spring, we will go by sea. At the worst, we will go to North Korea."
"North Korea?" Pan Xiucheng, who grew up in the south, had never even heard of this place.
"Well. Eat, eat. Let's continue walking after eating. We need to find a place to stay before it gets dark." Lu Shoushan chewed the ginseng whiskers and said to the three people in front of him.
The two children nodded and chewed the ginseng tendrils in their mouths.
Pan Xiucheng was speechless and sighed deeply in his heart.
Hunchun City, inside the government office.
At this time, Yongde, the co-leader of Hunchun City, had received the document sent by Ning Guta on horseback, and was arranging manpower to strictly guard the road checkpoints and the South China Sea (the Qing Dynasty called the ocean north of Korea Bay and south of Vladivostok the South China Sea) All along the coast.
"Tomo Huoguo, you lead eighty armored soldiers to patrol westward along both sides of the Zhanmi River."
"As commanded."
"Teying, you lead eighty armored soldiers to the north to inspect both sides of the Lat River."
"As commanded."
"You two will set off tomorrow with your troops and horses, and return to camp within fifteen days."
The two assistant leaders took the token from Yongde's hand and went down separately.
"Damn it, you'll find trouble for me in the cold weather!" Yongde, the leader of the Hunchun Association, cursed. It's not clear whether he was dissatisfied with Ning Guta's deputy commander or with these escaped banner slaves.
Yongde, the co-leader, usually leads a very relaxed life. Except for the routine preparation of grain, grass and weapons and the inspection of mountains, forests and islands, there is nothing major happening throughout the year. Nothing major has happened in Hunchun since he became the co-leader.
In the 49th year of Kangxi (1710), Li Wanzhi, a border resident of Weiyuan County, Pingan Road, North Korea, and others illegally crossed the border and killed five border residents and looted ginseng goods. This incident aroused Kangxi's anger, so he specially appointed Mu Keden, the general manager of Jilin's animal hunting Ula, as an imperial envoy to go to Phoenix City to handle the incident. At the same time, he ordered him to inspect the entire border between China and North Korea. Then the DPRK arrested five people, including Li Wancheng and Li Wanzhi, and sent them to the Qing court to be beheaded. Their wives and children were punished as slaves, and their family property was completely confiscated. North Korea's Ping'an Road observation envoys, Jiedu envoys, county guards, Qian envoys, Wanhu, etc. were all dismissed from their posts.
Mukeden personally surveyed the border with representatives sent by North Korea, erected a demarcation monument in Changbai Mountain, determined that the Yalu River and Tumen River were the borders between the two countries, and tightened the closure of the Changbai Mountain area.
Therefore, starting from the 53rd year of Kangxi, in order to protect the "Longxing Land" from intrusion and manage the local banner people, the Qing government set up a government office on the north bank of the Hunchun River and set up three banners: Xianghuang, Zhengbai and Zhenghuang to manage Hunchun. The flag affairs in the area and the border defense affairs of the fourteen islands in the South China Sea are under the jurisdiction of the Deputy Governor of Ningguta.
At that time, Hunchun's establishment was composed of one assistant leader, three assistant leaders and three Xiaoqi cadets, and two defenders. One hundred and fifty Hezhe soldiers (the so-called fish-skin Tatars) who caught otter were called Hunchun's front soldiers. Later, because the Hezhe tribe was located in a remote area and did not accept the king's rule, resulting in poor troop training results, 40 Manchu Eight Banners soldiers were transferred from Ninggu Pagoda, a total of 190 people, including 19 leaders and 171 armored soldiers. people.
In the seventeenth year of Qianlong's reign, due to the addition of Karen (outpost) in Hunchun and the lack of garrison soldiers, Hezhe soldiers were transferred from the garrison of Sanxing (name of place, today's Yilan, Heilongjiang).
In the years that followed, the number of flag soldiers stationed there was reduced. By the forty-eighth year of Qianlong's reign, Hunchun City had thirteen Karen towers, and a total of 450 soldiers were stationed there, including 27 leaders and 363 armored soldiers.
There are four city gates in Hunchun City. After continuous renovation and expansion during the Yongzong and Qianlong dynasties, there are now 3 office rooms, 1 archives room, 1 bank room, 2 Sanqi duiping rooms, 2 guard warehouses, and the government office gate. There are 2 rooms, 1 second room, 10 warehouse rooms, 3 teaching rooms, and 1 official school room.
Yongde came out of the office and returned to his residence in the backyard of the government office. After sitting down, he said to Geshiha beside him: "I asked you to investigate the banner slaves in the city. What is the result?"
In February this year, a domestic slave escaped from the home of a flag soldier in the Xianghuang Banner. Although he was eventually captured, Yongde lied in the report sent to Ningguta that the domestic slave had escaped. Desperate, he surrendered himself. The Deputy Dutong Yamen did not pursue the case. But from then on, Yongde asked his soldiers to lead a team every month to inspect every house in the city to check whether any slaves had escaped.
Nagoshha replied: "Sir, all inspections were completed yesterday. All the slaves in the city are here, and no one has escaped."
"Yes." Yongde nodded with satisfaction, and then told the clerk who was waiting on the side: "Then help me write a report to the Deputy Dutong Yamen."
The clerk nodded and obeyed, and was about to leave when Yongde stopped him again.
"Have you arranged all the deer tails prepared for the Emperor this year?"
"My servant has inspected and prepared everything. This year's deer tails are slightly better than previous years." This clerk was actually a prisoner assigned to Ning Guta. In the first few years, Yongde happened to lack a pen and ink to serve him, so he transferred it to his own name.
"Okay. Then you will write two more reports, just like in previous years."
"My servant knows. I will give one copy to the General Yamen and the other to the Ning Guta Dutong Yamen. Tell them the preparations for the tribute deer tail and the date of delivery. Does the master have any other instructions?"
Yongde waved his hand and asked the book office and Goshiha to go down.
At this time, the servant at home brought tea. Yongde drank the hot tea and cursed in a low voice: "You damn escaped slave! Your Majesty, the Emperor, spared you from waiting until you die, but you don't even think about repenting. If you are caught by me, you will definitely I’ll tie you up and freeze you all night in the teaching field. Let’s see who dares to escape again!”
