On the sixth day of the 11th lunar month in the fiftieth year of Qianlong's reign, Zhao Xin and his party of more than 50 people set out from Karen, Mongolia on a horse-drawn sleigh and headed west along the Mongolian River. Two days later, they crossed the southern foot of Tongken Mountain and entered the Hunchun River. From then on, we headed south and arrived at the foot of a hillside twenty miles north of Amida Karen three days later.
This journey has really blown Zhao Xin off. The speed of the horse-drawn sled seemed to be forty or fifty miles, and the biting north wind blew into his body, making him "ouch" from the cold.
On a low slope near Amidakaron, several white tents stood alone, with white smoke rising from the top. In the small camp, several bonfires were burning brightly. Near the camp gate, several armored soldiers of the Qing army were wearing cotton armor and a large cloak. They stamped their feet on the ground from time to time in the heat.
It was almost noon, and as the curtain of a tent swayed, bursts of the tangy aroma of meat wafted out from inside. Several Qing troops standing guard suddenly drooled.
After about a meal, when the cook was carrying Qitai's leftover lunch and exiting the tent, there was a sound of horse hooves in the distance. A dozen armored soldiers looked at each other and hurriedly rushed over.
On two low and strong Mongolian horses, there is a man wearing a gray-white coat sitting on each side. The two of them wore large hats on their heads, with a ring of animal skin exposed on the edge of the hat; the brim of the hat was set so low that their faces could not be seen clearly.
"Stop whoever comes!" a Qing soldier shouted loudly.
"Hey~~~" The two horses stopped a dozen steps away from the Qing soldiers. "I'm from Beihai Town..." The person who came spoke Manchu, and as soon as he spoke, the Qing soldiers present were all excited. When Beihai Town troops came to Ninggu Pagoda, they were all guarding the city wall. Thinking of the power of the guns and artillery in Beihai Town, which was as powerful as the storm, all the Qing soldiers felt their backs numb and cold sweat broke out all over their bodies.
"I'm here to inform you that our people are already twenty miles away."
"You, hurry up and report to the adults." Before he finished speaking, a Qing soldier turned around quickly and ran towards the largest tent. Then, the leading military attache said very nervously: "Please come to the tent and sit down for a while."
The two men on horseback lifted their hats, and then a group of Qing soldiers discovered that the hats and jackets were connected together. Under the hat, he wore an even weirder outfit that stunned everyone present.
Both of them were seen wearing a pair of large black objects on their faces, and the lower half of their faces were covered by a fluffy scarf. At this time, one of them took off what he was wearing on his face, revealing half of a slightly immature man's face. The man said to the leading military attaché with a smile on his face: "No need, the team will be here in a moment. I'm here to stand in front and arrange the location of the camp."
"Gulu!" The military attache swallowed and said in a muffled voice: "A large group of people? How many people are you here?"
"Haha, this is such a strange question. Aren't we the fifty people you requested?"
The military attache took a long breath after hearing this, then pointed to a large open space two hundred steps away to the east and said, "That's just for you. Please help yourself."
"Thank you! Brother." The two immediately apologized and then turned their horses' heads to the open space.
"Bah! Who the hell are brothers with you group of rebels? I haven't lived enough yet!" The military attache spat at the backs of the two men and cursed fiercely in a low voice.
Several Qing soldiers noticed that after the two knights from Beihai Town arrived at the open space, they dismounted and found a place with the wind to tie their horses. Then the two of them walked back and forth in the open space, holding a branch in their hands and drawing strange lines on the snow.
"Sir, what are they doing?"
"I can't tell, the gods and gods are acting strangely. Please be alert and keep your bows and arrows on alert!"
The two Qing soldiers hurriedly went to their tents, took out a sack and tied it around their waists. Then he took out his bow, drew his arrows and nocked them, and was ready.
The two people from Beihai Town seemed to have noticed the movements of the Qing soldiers. They raised their heads and smiled at the Qing soldiers in the distance. After a while, the two of them seemed to have finished painting. They threw the branches in their hands and found a leeward spot with a cat. Soon, a puff of white smoke floated out from behind the big tree, quickly turned into blue and dissipated in the air.
"Damn it! Those two people seem to be smoking!" Several Qing soldiers with good eyes scolded angrily.
After about two more incense sticks, more intensive sound of horse hooves came from the path to the north.
"They are coming! Go and inform the Lord!"
On the gray-white mountain road, dozens of two-horse sleds formed a long black line, like a black dragon swimming in the mountain forest. When the opponent got closer and could see more and more clearly, all the Qing troops saw an eight-foot-long and five-foot-wide red flag fluttering in the wind on the leader's sled, with a large white ring gear in the center. In the middle of the gear is a white five-pointed star, and the five-pointed star and the middle of the gear are painted black.
"Sir, what's the flag of this bandit?" Outside the big tent of the Qing army camp, Na Qitai, who had already received the report, and a middle-aged man wearing a fur cloak and a plain gold-crested official hat were looking at the flag. .
Na Qitai pondered for a moment, as if reminiscing, and then said: "The clear-character flag and the general's flag that Zhao Ni had erected under Ninggu Tower City were before. I have never seen this flag before."
The two Beihai Town knights who arrived first also got on their horses at this time, galloped in front of the first sleigh, made a circle, and led the large group of people towards the open space. A long sled team made a big turn in front of the Qing army camp, splashing with snowflakes.
"I'll wipe it! It's numb!" Zhao Xin shouted in a low voice and stood up from the sled. His legs were so numb that he couldn't even move forward. Guisheng on the side didn't care that his feet were also numb. He gritted his teeth and bent down to rub Zhao Xin twice.
"Okay, okay." Zhao Xin pulled Guisheng away with his hands and walked a few steps with a grin on his face. His legs felt like they were being pricked by countless small needles. He kicked his legs a few times and walked a few more steps before he recovered a little.
"Sir, the locations in the camp have been selected. The monk and I have already drawn the locations on the ground."
"Okay. Except for the security personnel, everyone else should quickly set up tents while it's still early."
Wang Yuanfang walked over, pulled down his mask and asked, "Mr. Zhao, do you need to go over and report to the Qing army?"
Zhao Xin thought for a while and shouted: "Monk Zhou!"
"arrive!"
"Go and tell them over there that we need to set up camp first. If you have anything to do, we can talk about it later or tomorrow. Anyway, tomorrow is the day agreed upon for negotiation."
"yes!"
Monk Zhou put on his mask and hat, took his horse and climbed on it, humming a little tune in his mouth, and slowly swayed towards the Qing army camp.
"What the hell, Monk Zhou, you're still acting like this!"
Wang Yuanfang smiled and said: "The person you led. This kid was pretty good during training, but he just likes to hum a few words when he has nothing to do."
At the gate of the Qing camp, a dozen Qing soldiers saw a tall man riding a black Mongolian horse strolling over. When the other party walked more than ten steps away, he raised his hand and signaled: "Stop!"
Monk Zhou didn't dismount. He wanted to raise his chin to the sky. He clasped fists with both hands and said, "Our leader has said it. Now we have to camp and cook, so we don't have time to pay attention to you. If you have anything to do, we'll talk about it tomorrow." Before he finished speaking, he made a move with his left hand. Pull the reins of the horse, turn around and go back!
All the Qing soldiers were almost mad at Monk Zhou's actions, and they all gritted their teeth and stared at each other's backs.
"Hey! Why are you pretending to be a big-tailed wolf!"
"Huh? Why does this grandson look so familiar to me?"
"Yeah. I think I've seen him somewhere before."
Suddenly, a Qing soldier jumped to his feet and cursed: "Damn it! Isn't this the fake monk in the city back then! I even beat him up back then!"
In the camp in Beihai Town, a dozen soldiers unloaded tools from their sleds and began to clear the snow in the open space; others were busy unloading a bunch of metal shelves and fasteners from other sleds. After a while, the tie rods and turnbuckles of each tent were assembled. After a clearing was cleared, they removed the top cloth and front and rear peak cloth from the sled and began to lay it. After the installation of the pillars is completed, a large tent of 5 meters * 6 meters will be set up. The soldiers moved very skillfully, and in less than two hours, five white rectangular tents were set up.
"Chief, the tents are all set up."
"Well, you all stay outside."
"Yes!" Judging from the soldier's expression, everyone has become accustomed to this matter these days.
"Zhao Daxianren" began to appear. A few minutes later, Zhao Xin walked out of the fifth tent. A dozen Beihai Town soldiers didn't say anything and entered the tent with their heads down.
After some clanging sounds, a tin cylinder emerged from the side of the tent; after a while, a thick gray-black smoke emerged, which turned white after a few minutes.
Two hundred steps away, the alert Qing troops were stunned as they saw the large tents popping up one after another in the open space and the white smoke rising from the sides of the tents.
A Qing soldier murmured: "They came here with a stove and chimney? This, this is too extravagant!"
Another Qing soldier cursed in a low voice: "This fucking rebel, he doesn't even care about the imperial court! He's so arrogant!"
"What do you think we are here for?"
"You ask me, who should I ask?"
At this time, a Qing military attache heard the conversation between the two and came over and yelled: "You bastards! Are you allowed to discuss military and state affairs?! Shut up! If you dare to make any unreasonable comments, I will beat him to the tune of fifty troops first." stick!"
In fact, the military attache only vaguely heard that the Vice-Captain was here to discuss the return of the prisoners. However, he felt that it was better to pretend not to know about this matter to avoid getting into trouble later.
In the evening, cooking started in the camp in Beihai Town. Fortunately, the wind was blowing from the northwest and the camp in Beihai Town was downwind. Otherwise, the Qing troops upwind would have been starved to death by the aroma of Beihai Town's stew.
At dawn the next day, the Qing troops standing guard were surprised to find that there was a wall as high as a person on the outside of the camp opposite, which scared them half to death. I didn't fall asleep for the rest of the night, I was always on guard! I didn't know there was such a big movement on the opposite wall. When I woke up the Qing army who had been on duty for most of the night and asked, the other party also said that they didn't hear any movement on the other side.
Mother! Is that human being?
When the sky was bright at 7 o'clock in the morning, the Qing army officially sent a messenger. A military attache and a military attaché rode to the gate of the Beihai town camp and agreed to start negotiations in the Qing army's camp at midnight.
Without Zhao Xin having to say anything, Wang Yuanfang directly rejected the other party's request and proposed that the negotiation location be changed to the middle of the camps of both parties. After receiving the reply, Na Qitai agreed directly without bargaining; he didn't want to get entangled in such a trivial matter. However, the seventh-grade civil servant who came with him raised objections.
"Then Sir, how can we, the Brilliant Celestial Dynasty, be threatened by thieves and bandits?"
This person's name is Wu Shenglan, he is forty-seven years old, and he is currently an editor at the Hanlin Academy of the Qing Dynasty. He and his brother Wu Shengqin were Heshen's lackeys. The two men were originally Heshen's apprentices at Xian'an Palace. After Heshen became the Minister of Military and Aircraft, they turned to Heshen as their master and made suggestions.
The reason why He Shen brought Wu Shenglan with him this time was to help him get some credit for promotion. Because He Shen himself was inconvenient to come forward, he sent Wu Shenglan as deputy negotiator.
Na Qitai was annoyed with these literati. In the past few days, Wu Shenglan had come up with crooked ideas at every turn, but he had always rejected them. If it weren't for He Shen's sake, he would have been kicked away.
"Mr. Izumi, I have my own reasons. It's important for us to do business. Every day we delay, the pressure on He Zhongtang will increase."
At about 7:40, a shed that was very familiar to Na Qitai appeared in the center of the camps of both sides. The strange red-backed black-and-white flag was placed on the left side of the shed.
Soldiers from Beihai Town placed a curtain around the shed to protect it from the cold wind. When the Qing army saw it, they quickly brought out several braziers from the camp and placed them in the shed, which made them much warmer.
Just after eight o'clock, a cannon sounded in the Qing army camp, and Na Qitai and Wu Shenglan came over with five guards and a pen post style. Zhao Xin and Wang Yuanfang also took Serdan, Elu, Monk Zhou and other five people out of the camp.
After both parties sat down, Zhao Xin smiled and said to Na Qitai, "It's been a long time, sir. This is our deputy envoy Wang Yuanfang."
Na Qitai was called a Tao Tao, and he greeted Zhao Xin's family a hundred times in his heart! He put on a smile, cupped his hands and said, "Mr. Zhao, it's been a long time. This is our deputy envoy, Mr. Wu Shenglan, editor of the Hanlin Academy."
Hanlin! Bull! Zhao Xin and Wang Yuanfang looked at Wu Shenglan with admiration in their eyes. Wait! Why does this name sound so familiar?
"Mr. Wu, what is the relationship between Wu Shengqin and you?" Zhao Xin didn't know what Wu Shengqin was, so he just gave his name. The ancients were actually very taboo about calling people by their first names, and they usually used the word of address.
Wu Shenglan's forehead was throbbing with veins, a look of irritation appeared on his face, and he said, "That's my brother."
"Oh, oh!" Zhao Xin showed a look of surprise and thought, "It turns out to be your kid!" No wonder a seventh-grade official can be the deputy negotiator.
Na Qitai cleared his throat and said, "Mr. Zhao, there's no need for polite words. Let's get straight to the point."
"OK, I have no objection."
Wu Shenglan was stunned for a moment, wondering what did "OK" mean?
At this time, Na Qitai muttered: "That's what I said. I read the letter Mr. Zhao had someone bring to me before. Our condition is one hundred thousand taels of silver."
Zhao Xin stretched out his index finger and waved it, shook his head and said, "Master, we have known each other for a long time. This is not right for you. Do you think I am short of money?" After saying that, Zhao Xin took out two silver coins from his coat pocket. The article was thrown on the table with a clang.
When Na Qitai and Wu Shenglan took a look, they found that they were silver bars as long as two index fingers. They were polished so brightly that they could even reflect the silhouette of a human being. They made people fall in love with them at the first sight and wanted to put them in their arms.
"These two silver bars are considered as a meeting gift. You two can take them back and make some jewelry or something for your children to play with." Zhao Xin smiled and looked at the two people opposite him sharply.
Wu Shenglan slammed the table and said angrily: "What does Mr. Zhao mean by this? Bribing me?"
"Mr. Wu, you two brothers took refuge in Heshen just for the official position and this. Small gifts are not respectful."
"You! You!" Wu Shenglan suddenly blushed when Zhao Xin revealed the secret in her heart, and she didn't know what to say.
well! You see, I don't talk to you. Na Qitai, who had experienced Zhao Xin's methods, sighed in his heart, and then said with a serious face: "Mr. Wu, don't get into a fight of will." He turned to look at Zhao Xin and asked: "Mr. Zhao, since it is a negotiation , naturally there will be comings and goings. Since you are not satisfied with the conditions proposed by me, tell me yours."
"Look, I'll tell you the truth." Zhao Xin put his fingers together on the table and said slowly: "The eight thousand from Ning Guta last time..."
"You bastard! I won't pick up the pot, you're going to stab me in the heart!" Na Qitai almost yelled, but with a livid face, he interrupted: "Mr. Zhao, we are talking about letting go Don’t ramble on about the affairs of the imperial officers and soldiers!”
"Okay! Our conditions are that each of the soldiers will receive one tael of gold; the leader will receive 50 taels of gold; the assistant leader will receive 10 taels of gold, and the deputy will receive 50 taels of gold. As for the two of them, each will receive 50,000 taels of gold. "
"You, you are blackmailing!" Wu Shenglan slammed the table and stood up to drink.
"Mr. Wu, please speak carefully. How can this be considered blackmail? I am kidnapping! All your generals and soldiers are my flesh and blood!"
"Pfft!" Wu Shenglan's throat felt hot, and a mouthful of blood almost spurted out. It was hard for him to believe that the guy opposite him, who looked like a gangster from Beijing, could actually defeat the imperial army!
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