The day Liu Sheng and the others returned to Fuldan City was the morning of the ninth day of the first lunar month. When a group of them rode to the city gate, Liu Sheng saw Sheng Haizhou (Sheng Haizhou) at a glance. This guy was wearing a brand-new military uniform and was talking to several guards on duty outside the east gate.
"Master Liu is back!" A sudden shout from the top of the city attracted the attention of everyone at the city gate.
Liu Sheng was about to speak when he heard another person shout: "The tiger has been killed!"
This was a sensation, and a dozen people at the city gate came over immediately. As the loud voice continued to shout on the city wall, many people ran out from the city to watch the fun, and soon Liu Sheng and the others were surrounded three floors inside and three floors outside.
"Is this a tiger?"
"Jinpachi and his son are so pitiful! They were bitten by a tiger during the Chinese New Year."
"What is it? His surname is Jia, and his name is Jia He."
"This tiger is so big! Look at those claws, tsk tsk!"
"This leather is so good! It looks like a ball of fire."
...
Liu Sheng's guard squad all dismounted and gathered around the sledge where the tiger carcass was placed. "You can see it, but don't touch it!"
Seeing so many people running out of the city, Liu Sheng was a little strange, so he leaned down on the horse and asked Sheng Haizhou, who was standing next to the horse's head, loudly: "What day is it today? What are these people doing?"
Sheng Haizhou said loudly: "Today's fire drill!"
"What?!" There was so much noise around him that Liu Sheng couldn't hear clearly.
"fire drill!"
Liu Sheng waved his hand helplessly, forget it, he still didn't hear it clearly.
Only when the group of people finally walked back to Chen Qingsong's office in Fuldan City did Liu Sheng clearly hear what Sheng Haizhou said. It can be regarded as a festival, and all the refugees from the island country come to watch the fun.
"Fire drill? When did Lao Chen set these rules?" Liu Sheng asked in surprise.
Sheng Haizhou quickly explained: "This is actually the habit of Edo people. Every year on the ninth day of the first lunar month, the first fire drill of the beginning of the year is held. The fire brigade in the town will perform ladder climbing. We now live in wooden houses. Former Master Chen asked people from each residential area to form a fire brigade."
It is said that in towns during the Edo period, wooden houses were lined up in rows. Once a fire broke out in a house, it was difficult to put it out. Firefighting in this era is based on "destructive firefighting", that is, destroying the house located downwind of the fire source to prevent the spread of the fire. In ordinary towns, there is a town fire department, and in the town where a daimyo lives, there is a daimyo fire department.
When a fire strikes, the method of calling the police is usually to notify the fire through alarm bells located in the neighborhood, and the different rhythms of the bells are used to convey the distance and intensity of the fire location.
In this era, town fire firefighters in the island country must be equipped with tools such as team flags, dragons spitting water, large fans, ladder frames, fire hooks, steel forks, and black buckets, but those in Fuldan City are different.
Everyone has a dry powder fire extinguisher, the red kind... Of course, ladders, shovels, and hooks are also required.
By the way, the fire chiefs of the island country are all street-level people. Generally, no matter what troubles there are, as long as Huo Xiaotou comes forward, everything can be settled.
In view of this, Chen Qingsong incorporated the fire brigade into the security police force, which was temporarily under the unified command of Katayama Kanbei. By the way, Katayama Police has now changed its surname to Katabei.
Don’t doubt it, the “film surname” does indeed exist!
When Saharian and his daughter Ushiha followed him all the way on a dog-drawn sledge, they were discovered by a nearby outpost just five miles east of Fuldan City.
"Stop! What are you doing?" Two soldiers ran out of the post with guns in hand and stopped the dog-pulled sledge.
Ushiha was about to speak when she was stopped by Amma. Saharian said in unfluent Mandarin: "I, we are looking for someone!"
"Who are you looking for? Where did you come from?"
Ushiha blurted out: "We are from Zak Sulu's tribe, and this is my Ama. Let's find the big guy."
"Big guy? Zak Sulu's tribe?" the soldier said with a suspicious look on his face. "Come down here, we need to check."
"Why?!" Wu Xiha was unconvinced.
"This is the jurisdiction of Beihai Town, and everyone passing by must be inspected."
"Stop fighting. This is someone else's territory." Saharian hurriedly advised. He got off the sledge, stumbled and bowed to the two soldiers: "Did someone pass by dragging a tiger in the past two days?"
The two soldiers were stunned. Liu Sheng and his party had just passed here this morning. "What on earth do you do? Don't even think about it until you explain it clearly."
Ushiha said to the guard: "Do you have an uncle named Serdan here?"
"Seldan? How do you know him?"
Wu Xiha took out a small stainless steel wine glass given to him by Liu Sheng from his arms and explained: "We met a few days ago! Look at this, he gave it to me."
The two soldiers understood now. However, they checked the things on the sledge first and found that in addition to some animal skins and dry food, there was also a pair of bows and arrows and daggers at their waists. A soldier asked his companion to continue watching the father and daughter while he returned to the post to report.
It was normal for the soldiers in Beihai Town not to know about Serdan before, but since the father and son both received second-class merit medals a few years ago, no one in the Beihai Town army knew about it.
After a while, the soldier trotted out and said to Saharian, his daughter and their companions: "They will be here in a moment. Come in and wait."
Saharian hurriedly handed over his hands and replied: "Don't dare. We will wait here."
At this time, Saharian suddenly frowned, with a painful expression on his face, and then bent over and beat his right knee. Wu Xiha quickly supported his mother and asked with concern: "Does it hurt too much?"
"It's out of the way."
Half an hour later, Serdan arrived in a hurry on horseback with one of his men. He saw the pale yellow figure on the roadside dozens of meters away.
"Ushiha, it's really you!" Serdan laughed and jumped off his horse, walking quickly to Ushiha. He glanced at Saharian and asked with a question on his face: "Who is this?"
Ushiha quickly explained: "Uncle Serdan, this is my Amma."
Saharian looked at Serdan in front of him, secretly surprised in his heart. This is the Kurkhaqi hunter that the government once announced a reward for. At this moment, he is exuding a trace of evil aura, which is heart-stopping. In fact, Saharian didn't understand why Serdan had any evil aura, it was just the majestic aura of a soldier.
"Hello, sir." Saharian was about to hit Qian'er to salute.
Serdan supported the other party and said with a smile: "Don't! This will make you appear outside! We just came back with the front foot, and you will come with the rear foot. What do you want to do here today?"
Saharian didn't know how to explain it, so Ushiha pouted and said, "Uncle, I took it upon myself to replace Amma's 'Alchu Kuoqi' with a wine bottle that day. Amma scolded me after I returned. We came here today to find the big man to take back.”
Seldan thought that was indeed the case. On the way back that day, when he saw the six roe deer bones, he told Liu Sheng that these were not girls' playthings at all. They were probably used for divination; because the bones girls played with had to be dyed. of. Liu Sheng didn't take it seriously at the time and said that if someone came to ask for it one day, he would give it back to the little girl.
Serdan thought of this and said to Saharian: "Then come with me. Let's go to the city and rest for a while. You and your daughter must be exhausted after traveling such a long way. I will take you to eat first. Order something.”
Wu Xiha lowered his head and said with guilt: "It's all my fault. I came out too quickly, and my old cold leg broke again. Uncle, where is the big guy?"
Serdan chuckled and said, "Let's go, I'll take you to see him."
As a precaution, the post sent two soldiers to accompany him. When the group arrived outside the east gate of Fuldan, the fire brigade's ladder-climbing performance was reaching its climax, and there were probably thousands of people watching. Saharian was secretly shocked when he saw it.
Because the space inside the city was too small, the parade was arranged outside the city. I saw a straight ladder standing in the open space among the crowd, with several people supporting it below, and the guy in charge of the performance climbed to the top of the ladder with "dengdengdeng".
There aren't many tall buildings these days, and many people get dizzy when they reach high places. Only those who can climb to the top of the ladder without changing a look are qualified to enter the fire scene.
Serdan and his party also stopped to watch curiously, and saw the guy standing at the top of the ladder shouting: "Hi! Handan Dream Pillow!" After shouting, he actually put on a sleeping figure at the top of the ladder. look.
The surrounding island residents watching the performance applauded. The story of Lu Sheng's encounter with Lu Dongbin's enlightenment has long been known in the island country, but Saharian and his daughter could not understand it at all.
"Ushiha, what are they talking about?"
"I don't quite understand what Handan Dream is like." Ushiha turned around and asked Serdan again, how could Serdan understand this, and he shook his head to express his ignorance.
The group entered the city through the east gate. Saharian couldn't help but be shocked when he saw the scene in the city. The dozen or so dilapidated wooden houses in his memory have long since disappeared; the originally low-lying and uneven roads in the city have been replaced by roads paved with gravel. What surprised him most was that the city was densely packed with brand-new wooden houses, and countless people were passing through them.
"Wow! So many people!" Wu Xiha opened his mouth in surprise.
Liu Sheng was visiting the father and son who were bitten by the tiger in the ward of the medical center. The injured man named Jia He looked in disbelief when he heard that Liu Sheng said that he wanted to give the tiger skin to him.
"When the tiger skin is peeled off, I will ask you to deliver it to you to make up for the loss in your family."
"Sir, this, this is not okay! How dare a villain want something that belongs to an adult!"
"Stop being so nagging, it's settled!" Liu Sheng patted the other party's shoulder lightly, turned around and left the ward.
The eyes of the refugee from the former island country named Jia He were a little red. He looked at Liu Sheng's back until he disappeared, and then he turned his attention to his son on the bed next door.
Liu Sheng walked to the door of the medical center and was wondering if he should go back to Jurgen City when he heard someone from the other side shouting: "Big man!"
Liu Sheng looked up in surprise and saw that it was the girl he met a few days ago, still dressed in the same way. In addition to Serdan and a few soldiers, there was also an old man in his fifties.
"Little Xingxing? Why are you here?"
Wu Xiha ran up to Liu Sheng in a few steps, stretched out his hand and raised his head and said, "Give me back that Al Chukuoqi, I'll bring you the wine bottle."
Liu Sheng smiled and said: "So you came here to ask for the six roe deer bones." After that, he took out the small bag containing the six roe deer bones from his pocket...
Ushiha and her mother stayed in Fuldan City for five days.
Saharian suffered from a cold leg attack and was in so much pain that he could not walk by the afternoon of that day. At noon, Liu Sheng asked Serdan to take Saharian to the medical center.
Because Hong Tao and Liu Siting were not there, the medical staff left behind could not judge the other's condition at all. He only prescribed some antipyretics and anti-inflammatory drugs based on Saharian's fever symptoms. Unexpectedly, after taking medicine for two days, Sahar's knee pain was significantly relieved, which made Ushiha extremely happy.
Zhao Xin had told Liu Sheng and others before that we would show kindness to the border residents in the future. If they don't come to attack Beihai Town, try to be nice to them. It would be best to attract them to Fuldan City to do business in order to expand the influence of Beihai Town.
So when Saharian was discharged from the hospital, Liu Sheng gave him another box of painkillers. Tell him to take a piece if he suffers from Lao Han Leg again in the future.
The Saharians were grateful to Liu Sheng, so they gave him all the dozens of mink and badger skins they brought. After Liu Sheng learned about the value of the animal skins from Serdan, he took twenty kilograms of salt, five bags of flour, several iron pots, a pack of matches and two horses from the civil affairs warehouse and gave them to them.
This time Saharian was deeply moved! He didn't expect that his little bit of animal skin could be exchanged for so many things. Moreover, this traitor, who was said by the government to have done all kinds of evil, was so polite to his father and daughter.
When Liu Sheng saw that Saharian was about to kneel down to thank him, he quickly helped him up and said, "If you want to thank me, if Kaichun'er brings his tribe to Fuldan City to trade, just think of it as thanking me." We have everything here, including food, clothing, and supplies. You can come and take a look. Even if there is nothing to exchange for, we still need people to work here. It is good to work as casual workers for a few days and exchange some money to buy things.
Upon hearing this, Saharian hurriedly agreed.
The Zaksulu tribe where the father and daughter live has 105 households and more than 200 people. Their scale is already among the top large villages in the Northeast. According to the information provided by Saharian, the Qing government currently has more than 2,000 households in the entire outer northeast, with a total of more than 50 surnames. The largest village has nearly 300 households and a population of more than 500.
During the few days that Saharian was undergoing treatment, Ushiha sometimes accompanied Amma, and sometimes wandered around the city curiously. Liu Sheng would also take time to accompany her. Until one day, the little girl saw the "leatherneck-gearr-patrol" fixed knife that Liu Sheng carried with him, and asked to take a look. Liu Sheng handed it to him nonchalantly, and Wu Xiha couldn't put it down after playing with it. Liu Sheng took a look and said, yes, I’ll give it to you!
Wu Xiha had nothing to exchange at the moment, so he made an agreement with Liu Sheng that when spring came, he would give him a "Gilda Gun" (barrel gun) used by the Hezhe people.
On the 20th of the first lunar month, a thousand soldiers and horses carrying the ransom from Beijing finally arrived at Ninggu Pagoda; He Shen, who was stationed here, had been waiting impatiently for a long time. He hurriedly sent a messenger to the Mongolian River Military Station to inform Beihai Town.
Because he could not return to the capital to accompany Qianlong during this Spring Festival, He Zhongtang was extremely depressed. But since he boasted about Haikou, he could only wait to bring Fukang'an, Duerjia and the soldiers from the Beijing camp back to Beijing. As for the garrison Eight Banners from other provinces, let General Jilin Mingliang arrange it!
In order to be ready to receive the captured soldiers, He Shen first ordered Jilin General Mingliang to take two thousand Sauron soldiers and a large number of civilians to escort a large amount of grain and supplies to Ninggu Pagoda; then Na Qitai rushed to Hunchun City with these supplies. , make preparations for personnel placement in advance.
