In Yalha's view, Serdan and his son in the village were very lucky a few days ago. After going out for seven days, I hunted two big bears in one go and captured two smaller ones.
When the father and son came back, there was a sensation in the whole village. People of all ages, including men, women and children, came out to watch. After that, the father and son went to Hunchun and Ningguta to sell leather goods. They made a fortune and bought a lot of new year's goods to go home, making the villagers envious.
After Yalha heard about it, he went to Serdan's house to see it. Serdan bought his mother a new cotton robe, which was nice and warm. Even Serdan, who was usually very picky with him, changed into an old cotton robe for himself.
In addition, Serdan also bought new iron pots and tobacco leaves; the new pair of boots on his son Erlu's feet blinded many villagers.
He heard Serdan say that the sales of fur goods were good this time and that his son Erlu would have enough money for the bride price next year, which made him very envious.
Yalha also wants to buy a new cotton robe for his mother-in-law; and his son will get married next year, and he is still worried about the bride price.
Later, while chatting with Elu, I heard Elu say that when he was hunting bears on Bear Island that day, he saw a strange black bird with six wings passing over his head and quickly flew away.
Yalha asked about the location where the strange bird was found and decided to take a look. He had never seen a black bird with six wings, and he thought that if he could catch it, he might be able to sell it for a good price in Ninggu Pagoda, and then buy a new cotton robe for his family.
With this thought in mind, Yalha set off before dawn the next day. He led the horse, took his bow, arrows, dagger, water and dry food, and walked eastward for more than forty miles before arriving at a small fishing village by the sea. From here he could take a boat to the island.
Because Bear Island does not produce mink, people usually come to the island either to hunt deer or to hunt bears.
At this time, the fourteen islands in the South China Sea were sparsely populated. The Kurkhachi people who once lived on the islands were driven ashore to live together.
It is said that since the Nurhaci era, troops have been sent many times to plunder the Kurkhaqis living along the coast and on the islands. If any of the indigenous people on the island dare to resist, they will all be taken back to the mainland. ("If there are any islanders who refuse to accept the risk, take all they can and return them in a small boat.")
In the fourth year of Emperor Taiji's Chongde reign (1639), the Kurkhaqi people of the East China Sea who were transporting tribute defected to Bear Island under the leadership of their leader Jia Hachan. Because Bear Island is very close to Qingxingfu in North Korea, there are frequent transactions between the two places. So Huang Taiji immediately issued a notice to North Korea after learning about it, ordering North Korea to send a thousand troops to capture Bear Island.
Emperor Renzong of North Korea had no choice but to send his generals 400 gunners, 100 shooters, and 112 boats to cross the sea from Seosu Nacheonpo, and finally captured the people on Zhangdao Island.
After the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, because the price of ginseng outside the customs kept rising, people broke into forbidden areas and sneaked into ginseng mountains to steal ginseng. Many of these refugees and escaped slaves who illegally harvested ginseng lived quietly on the fourteen islands in the South China Sea, and some even started farming to make a living.
In the tenth year of Qianlong's reign (1745), in response to the above situation, Qianlong personally selected Ku Chu, the second-class guard of the Qianqing sect who was familiar with the situation in Hunchun, to participate in the inspection, and ordered Fengtian General Dal Dang'a, together with Jilin General Baling'a and others, to inspect the "South China Sea" for ten years. A large-scale cleanup was carried out in the Four Islands, Ussuri and other places. This campaign of suppression lasted until the twelfth year of Qianlong's reign.
Yalha usually goes to Bear Island to hunt every autumn, so he is very familiar with the Kurkachi fishermen here. He gave a small bag of sorghum to a fisherman he knew, and under the other's guidance, he led the horse carefully across the frozen water of the strait. Fortunately, the distance between the two places was not far, and the ice surface was only about a mile.
When we arrived on the island, it was just getting dark. Yalha headed east and then south, looking for the place where Elu said he found the strange bird.
"Did you see it wrong?" Yalha was a little frustrated. He felt that maybe the strange bird that Erlu mentioned had flown away long ago. It was already noon, and he estimated that he had walked almost thirty miles.
After eating some dry food, he planned to go west to look for it. If he couldn't find it, he would have no choice but to go back. This way he could get back to the village before dark, or at worst, he could spend the night in a fishing village.
And when Yalha rode over a hill in the southwest of Bear Island, he saw the smoke rising in front of him.
After discovering someone in front of him, Yalha turned around, found a tree, tied his horse, and quietly moved along the bushes in the direction of the smoke.
He recently heard from people in the village that Hunchun City was catching escaped slaves. If there were escaped slaves in front of them, they could get a reward in exchange for them. But when he quietly came closer to observe, he couldn't help but be surprised.
The place where the smoke was coming out in front was surrounded by something unknown. There were dozens of green houses in the circle, and white smoke was floating out from a tube on the roof of each house.
Yalha decided that those tubes should be chimneys. But this chimney is too thin, and it clearly shines like iron under the sun.
Iron chimney? This is too wasteful. Yalha thought so. Not to mention Hunchun City, even the ironware at Ninggu Pagoda is very expensive. An iron pot costs at least one and a half.
And when he moved a few dozen steps forward, he finally saw clearly that those surrounding the camp were actually iron baskets! !
This is obviously not something that escaped slaves could do.
Yarha saw about dozens of people in the camp. Some were standing by the iron baskets and swimming around quickly, holding sharpened sticks in their hands. There were also two people who were talking, each holding a small stick in their hands. A long knife, the scabbard also shines.
There were some women in the camp who were busy talking at the same time. Their voices were so low that Yalha couldn't hear them clearly. Occasionally, he could see a few children running around, shouting, but he couldn't understand a word.
However, these people are all short in stature, and the tallest one seems to be not as tall as himself.
Is this a person from Kaphyryaka? How did they get here?
He heard that the Gasanda (headman) in the village said that far to the northeast of the village, there were Hezhe Feyaka and Kuye Feyaka. He heard that the Kuye Feyaka were very tall. short.
Yalha noticed that everyone in the camp was wearing thick dark cotton robes, which looked very warm; and these people all wore black short boots on their feet. He counted carefully and found that everyone had one, regardless of gender.
This was so rich that Jalha was dumbfounded.
And this made him tempted, wondering if he could change into a cotton robe from here and go back.
With these thoughts in his mind, Yalha turned back to find the horse. He planned to go home and see if there were any other skins so that he could trade them with these people.
After he got home before dark, he ignored his wife's call for him to eat. After rummaging around the house alone for a long time, I found a piece of broken otter skin and a piece of deer skin with its hair removed. This is not enough...
So in the next few days, Yarha took his horse into the forest early every morning and began to search for prey. After running around for two days, he finally shot a red deer that came out to feed.
Then, Yalha carried the red deer to the camp to change into cotton robes.
The results of the transaction were unexpectedly satisfying. Yalha felt that the cotton robe in his hand was not a bit better than the two pieces sold by Serdan, and even better than the cotton robe he had seen worn by Lord Zuoling before. As for the slight fraying on the cuffs and a stain on the front of the clothes, he didn't care at all.
I saw Yalha holding the cotton coat tightly in his arms with one hand, and grabbing the deer leg on the horse with the other hand. With a little force, he lifted it off, walked two steps, and threw it to Pingtai. underfoot.
Heita looked at the dead deer on the ground and swallowed involuntarily.
This is meat! Heita couldn't remember how long it had been since he had eaten meat. People in the camp who go to the river to fetch water sometimes catch a few fish from the cold river, but they just make fish soup and drink it together to satisfy their cravings.
He tried to reach out and grab the deer's leg and lift it hard, but the dead deer didn't move at all.
Helpless, he had no choice but to shout to the people behind him: "Come here and help me, this deer is too big."
Katsu Kaishu, who was standing inside the camp wall and had been watching the situation on Pingtai's side, nodded, so the five refugees ran over the gap excitedly, still holding wooden spears in their hands.
The four of them grabbed the deer's legs respectively, while the other person lifted the deer's head, carried the dead deer back to the camp and placed it in front of Sheng Haizhou.
Looking at the huge deer, the five of them couldn't help but swallow their saliva and looked at Sheng Haizhou.
"Leave the deer skin and antlers to your lord. Cut off the antlers and skin them later, and give them to Rikichi." Katsu Kaishu ordered to Kokichi who was also swallowing his saliva.
Yarha over there saw that everyone had carried the deer away, and then said to Heita with a smile on his face: "HEITA, GUCU."
In Manchu, GUCU means friend.
In Yalha's view, these "Kukhayakas" still have many good things. For example, they have short boots on their feet, or you can ask them if they have an iron pot when you come next time.
He plans to continue hunting when he goes back, and then come back here to exchange.
Heita looked at Yaarha confused, not understanding what the "GUCU" in the other person's mouth meant.
Seeing Pingtai's puzzled expression, Yalha bent down and hugged Pingtai's shoulders, patted him hard and said: "GUCU, GUCU."
Heita guessed that the other person was probably praising him, so he smiled and said: "GUCU."
In the camp on the other side. Five refugees carried the dead deer, while Li Ji followed. Soon we reached the "kitchen" location.
What is called a "kitchen" here is actually a grass shed made of slightly thicker branches surrounding a circle and covered with pine branches.
Rice is being cooked in iron pots on two large stoves. Shino, who was leading a group of women who were busy, heard the noise outside and walked out quickly.
"Ah, what a big deer." Shino exclaimed in surprise. This caused all the women who were busy in the straw shed to run out with a roar.
"Where did it come from?" Wan Zao's wife asked quickly.
"I exchanged it with the local natives for an old cotton coat." Liji replied, then waved his hand and said, "You can go ask Pingtai later, he was the one who came forward to exchange it."
"That's amazing." A group of women exclaimed.
At this time, except for those who were standing guard in the camp, other refugees in the camp came over to watch the excitement. Wan Zao's son stood in the crowd and curiously stabbed the dead deer with a branch.
"Go! Let's play. If I break the leather, I'll beat your butt." Wan Zao's wife grabbed the boy and slapped him on the butt. The little guy didn't take it seriously and ran to the other side happily.
Li Ji looked at the deer on the ground and touched his head worriedly. He looked at the refugees around him and said, "Who knows how to take the antlers? Who knows how to skin it?"
"I'll do it." An old man stood up. "When I was in the village, I helped the feudal lord skinned a deer."
Rikichi took a look and found out that it was one of the latter batch of refugees who came here, named Suju, who had fled from Azuma County in Ueno Province.
"We'll have venison stew for lunch today!" Liji proudly looked around at the onlookers and announced happily.
When everyone heard this, they burst into cheers.
Since the eighth century AD, the emperor of the island country has issued a ban on eating meat because of his firm belief in Buddhism. Later Shintoism also believed that eating the meat of four-legged animals was not only an unclean act, but also a sin.
Although for hundreds of years only nobles and warriors strictly observed it and were ashamed to eat meat. But for ordinary civilians who don't need to worry about their image, even if they can do their own thing, the island country is short of products, even rice is seriously insufficient, and the animal husbandry is even less developed. Where is the meat to eat?
It is said that Oda Nobunaga set fire to Mount Hiei and killed more than 3,000 people because he hated the monks of Hiei Temple for supporting his enemies. One of the crimes was eating meat.
Since the refugees came to Bear Island, although they eat rice and gnaw on radishes and pickles every day, they haven't smelled the smell of meat for a long time. Even the few fish soups I drank occasionally, with a few fish thrown into a big pot and boiled, were bland and tasteless.
(Zhao Xin, do you blame me for not having any meat?)
On the night after Yalha arrived, all the refugees were given a piece of fragrant stewed venison.
Five days later, Yalha came to the camp again. This time he exchanged two pairs of otter skins and two fox skins for two pairs of shoes.
Sheng Haizhou saw that Yalha was generous and forthright, and couldn't bear to take advantage of him. The deer that was exchanged last time gave more than 300 people in the camp two meals of venison, and the bones also made a large pot of soup. Not to mention a large deer hide and huge antlers.
So he asked Li Ji to take a small used steel basin and give it to the other party.
Unexpectedly, this small steel basin, which seemed inconspicuous to Sheng Haizhou, completely shocked Yalha!
By the way, the pots and pans that Zhao Xin brought, except for a few large iron pots for cooking and making soup, were all stainless steel and aluminum products purchased from the wholesale market.
At this time, no one has ever seen the shiny 304 stainless steel.
After Yalha took it from Pingtai, he didn't care that the two pairs of shoes in his hand fell to the ground. He wiped the small steel basin with his sleeves a few times, then stuck out his tongue and licked them.
What a treasure! Everything that shines can reflect your own look.
So, after Yalha put the stainless steel basin in his arms, he made gestures with Pingtai for a long time, meaning that he would bring a large number of animal skins to exchange for things next time.
Seeing Yalha's cheerful look, Sheng Haizhou felt a little uneasy in his heart. However, before he could think clearly about the uneasiness in his heart, Zhao Xin came back.
