As soon as Fan Tong said this, several masked men were frightened even though they didn't say anything. Pavlov and Ragutin on the side were also uneasy after hearing the translation by the masked man named Tian.
Kyaktu has been captured by the North Navy for more than a month, and the Qing soldiers and civilians in the trading city also know what happened on the day the city was breached. It is said that the leader of the Northern Navy, who looked like the reincarnation of a bear spirit, did not even keep a single prisoner, and all the captured Cossack soldiers were shot with "muskets."
This is too cruel!
The Shanxi merchants came here simply to make money, and they did not originally want to cause trouble. But the problem is that in the past month, the Northern Navy has seized several large-scale smuggling cases on the border, confiscating large quantities of tea, cotton and rhubarb, as well as large quantities of furs, cattle and horses from Tsarist Russian merchants. Now Shanxi merchants and Tsarist Russian merchants can Annoyed.
Later, Shanxi merchants heard that the Northern Navy was supplying large quantities of tea, silk and cotton to the five families in Irkutsk, and they were immediately shocked. This is like killing people and their parents! So when Pavlov sent news through the secret channel and proposed mutual cooperation, some people gritted their teeth and agreed.
The person who agreed to cooperate was none other than Tian Tonghe, the shopkeeper of "Heyu'anji" of the Yuci Chang family, the largest businessman in the trading city. Yes, this man and Tian Tongzhou, who had met Liu Sheng before, were brothers. Both of them served as shopkeepers in the Chang family's business, but one was honest and the other was bold and sinister.
The Chang family in Yuci is the largest Shanxi merchant in the trading city. They have five shops under their name and deal in various types of goods. Their annual turnover is tens of thousands of taels. If the Beihai Navy does this, the Chang family's business in the west entrance will be completely ruined.
Tian Tonghe was a man who wanted to be the boss of the Chang family, so he traveled thousands of miles to endure hardships in such an inhospitable place. Although this person does things safely, he is arrogant and cannot bear to be wronged. The Beihai Navy cut off his thoughts, so he must take revenge.
After learning about Pavlov's plan, Tian Tonghe first bribed the local co-leader with 20,000 yuan (twenty taels. Since there were many rubles and few copper coins in the trading city), he bribed the local co-leader and obtained the military license. .
On Pavlov's side, after the high-priced tea and cotton cloth he had smuggled through the secret tunnel were transported to Irkutsk, Zhao Xin reached an agreement with the five major families and could not sell any of them. In the end, he had to sell them at a low price. Price processing and lost a lot of money.
It is said that before the border trade was closed, the five major guilds monopolized most of the tea trade, and "first guild" merchants like Pavlov could only make money through cotton cloth and rhubarb. After the shutdown, Pavlov got involved in the tea trade through smuggling.
Shanxi merchants were trading at the west entrance, but they could trade with Mongolia at the east entrance. However, if Pavlov's business collapsed, his life would plummet, which was unacceptable to him no matter what.
To explain this problem, we must briefly talk about the status level of merchants in Tsarist Russia at the end of the eighteenth century. Otherwise, no one would risk losing their head by doing such a thing for no reason.
It is said that after Catherine II launched the "Urban Reform Plan" in 1775, she reclassified industrial and commercial workers. It was divided into merchants, petty bourgeois and guild craftsmen. Merchants were divided into the first, second and third guild merchants according to the amount of their registered capital. At the same time, the minimum capital of the three guild merchants was also stipulated, that is, the conditions for inclusion.
At the beginning, the minimum capital of the three levels of guild merchants was ten thousand rubles, one thousand rubles and five hundred rubles respectively. Anyone with less capital than the above amount is classified as a petty bourgeoisie and guild craftsmen. Merchants in the first, second and third guilds are exempted from poll tax and exempted from military service.
But starting in 1785, the "Edict on City Privileges" was promulgated, which increased the minimum capital of the merchants of the first guild to 50,000 rubles, the merchants of the second guild to 20,000 rubles, and the merchants of the third guild to 8,000 rubles. Rubles, the corresponding tax amount has also increased dozens of times.
The merchants of the first guild are allowed to conduct domestic and foreign trade, wholesale and retail, the merchants of the second guild can only conduct commercial activities in domestic cities and markets, and the merchants of the third guild are only allowed to conduct commercial operations within the local area.
In addition, first- and second-level guild merchants are allowed to have factories, sea and river ships; in addition, they can also obtain the hereditary title of "famous citizen", thereby exempting them from poll taxes, military service, and corporal punishment, and enjoying the rights under the nobility.
For Pavlov, seeing that he was about to fall from the ranks of the first guild merchants, with years of hard work ruined in one fell swoop, he had to do everything possible to recover. And kidnapping a high-ranking official of the Northern Navy must be a great achievement.
So you understand how hated Zhao Xin’s attempt to control Qing-Russian trade is, right?
As for Major Ragutin, this person was actually a staff officer sent by the Russian Privy Council to learn about the situation in Yaksa. Unexpectedly, as soon as he arrived in the town of Bratsk, north of Irkutsk, he learned the news of the Russian army's defeat. Because of the mission he shouldered, Ragutin disguised himself as a businessman and took several followers south to spy on intelligence.
In these years, transportation in Eastern Siberia relied entirely on waterways and post roads built along the river. When Ragutin arrived at Ussoli-Siberia, a salt industry town north of Irkutsk, he found that the Northern Navy had already arrived here. Later, when he arrived at Kyakhta and met his old friend Pavlov, he learned that all the garrison here had been wiped out by the North Navy. His friend, the lieutenant colonel of the local garrison, was also captured and shot by the North Navy.
Ragutin originally wanted to spy on Kyakhta, do some damage, and then escape. But after some encouragement from Pavlov, he changed his mind and decided to tie a tongue and take him back to Krasnoyarsk for business.
Because Liu Sheng recently went to Irkutsk and was busy deploying military defense against Russia, Fan Tong, who often went to the grocery store to buy things and pick up girls, fell into Pavlov's sight, while Ushiha and Polya were purely This is a disaster for the fish in the pond.
Zhao Xin originally arranged a guard class for Fan Tong and others, but Fatty Fan thought that the more this happened, the more dangerous he would be. Moreover, this guy has been pursuing Polya recently. He feels that it is inconvenient to have a guard squad behind him all day long, so he often abandons the guard squad in the military camp and sneaks out on his own.
The overly peaceful environment in Beihai Town and the smooth sailing of previous battles made Fan Tong lack vigilance about his own safety in this time and space. He felt that with the strong military deterrence of the Northern Navy, the local Tsarist Russia could only be obedient citizens; little did he know that under the surface calm, the undercurrent was turbulent.
Pavlov, Ragutin and others who were about to set off thought that they had blocked the secret passage and that the Northern Navy had nothing to do with them for the time being. However, they never expected that the Northern Navy's reconnaissance methods had exceeded their imagination. .
When a horse team carrying people came out of the warehouse compound of "He Yu'an Ji" and galloped westward, it was locked by the drone of the North Navy. The Beihai Navy, who was responsible for controlling the drone, was surprised to find that it was not only Ushiha who was tied up on the horse, but also two other people.
After learning that the body lying in the shed outside the grocery store was Ushiha's guard, Lu Shoushan, the acting city defense commander, became furious. Now that Liu Sheng is away, if Wu Xiha does something bad, he will die a hundred times. After learning of the kidnappers' movements, Lu Shoushan ordered the horse-mounted infantry company that was ready at the head of the Jiehe Bridge to pursue them quickly.
Seeing the cavalry of hundreds of people crossing the wooden bridge of the boundary river and running westward along the outside of the city, the Eight Banners stationed at the top of the trading city and Secretary Wu who came after hearing the news were stunned.
"Are they going to take action?" The trembling co-leader didn't know whether it was because of the cold weather or fear, his gums were trembling. As a local garrison general, if the Beihai Navy really attacked the city, he would have no choice but to die with him. If he really ran back to Cullen, Master Song would definitely kill him.
The Beihai navy whizzing past the city were all strong, wearing thick knee-length cotton robes, and carrying shiny "guns" on their backs. They didn't even care about the Eight Banners stationed at the top of the city.
Siguan Wu next to him squinted his eyes and looked at it for a while, shook his head and said: "It doesn't look like it. If you want to attack the city, why send a cavalry? It seems like you are chasing someone."
"Who are you chasing?" After hearing this, Xie Ling felt relieved and didn't feel so cold anymore.
In fact, Wu Siguan was also worried, but the news from Cullen and the capital ordered him to stick to the trading city and report the movements of the Northern Navy to Cullen every three days. Besides, if the Beihai Navy wanted to enter the business city, they would have done so long ago. There was no need to wait until now.
"I can't tell. We are so close, and we will find out sooner or later. If we are caught up by this group of people, it will probably be a disaster!"
Pavlov and Ragutin never expected that after they had run five miles, the cavalry of the Northern Navy had already followed them. When he heard the intensive sound of horse hooves behind him, Ragugin looked back and was immediately frightened out of his wits. Only then did he notice a black "strange bird" following them in the sky behind him.
On the other horse, Fan Tong, who was tied like a rice dumpling, was overjoyed when he saw his men catching up. He was about to laugh twice, but was almost choked by the howling north wind.
Going west along the dividing line between the two countries from Buying City, there is endless wilderness and virgin forest. In order to get rid of his pursuers, Pavlov pointed towards the large pine forest to the north. Everyone understood and quickly got into the forest without caring about whether they would encounter a tiger.
Pavlov thought that he might be able to get rid of his pursuers by relying on two Qing people who were familiar with the surrounding terrain to lead the way, but Ragutin didn't see it that way.
The "black bird" above their heads was still following them relentlessly. Soon after entering the forest, Lagutin noticed another "black bird" flying in the air, while the previous one flew away eastward.
The "black bird" didn't fly very high. Ragutin estimated that the height was only more than 20 meters. If he had a rifle, he would have knocked out the "black bird" with one shot. But apart from the two short muskets, all they had on them were daggers. As for the repeating pistols seized from Fan Tong and Wu Xiha, they were so rare that he wanted to take them back and hand them over as trophies.
But the problem was that no matter how they turned around in the forest and covered up the footprints left in the snow, the pursuers behind them kept following them, getting closer and closer. An hour later, the desperate kidnappers were forced into a mountain col with no way out.
"People on the other side, listen, you are not allowed to come any closer, or I will kill this man and two women!" Seeing the looming figure behind the tree more than a hundred meters away, Pavlov hid behind Fan Tong and became furious. shouted.
After he shouted several times, he remembered that many people in the Beihai Navy did not understand Russian, so he asked the two Qing people who led the way to shout in Chinese. Sure enough, after the clerk from "He Yuan Ji" shouted a few words, the Beihai navy that gradually surrounded them stopped and hid behind the trees.
"Hand over everyone! Put down your weapons and surrender! Otherwise you will not see the sun tomorrow!"
Someone from Bei Haijun behind the tree finally spoke. He was aggressive from the moment he came up and had no intention of negotiating at all.
"Let us go, one every ten miles! You can only send two people to follow!"
The company commander of the Beihai Navy who led the team was almost angry. He said in his heart that if I don't give you some clues, you don't know that Lord Ma has three eyes. He immediately gave the order through the walkie-talkie in his hand.
"boom!"
At the moment before the gunshot, Pavlov, who was hiding behind the stone, saw the Qing man in front of him who was talking in Chinese suddenly tilted his head back, his neck almost bent to 90 degrees, and then he moved forward heavily. He fell down on the stone.
"Oh God! They're shooting!"
Pavlov looked at the blood splattering on the ground in shock and screamed in fear. When he reacted, he felt something standing on his face. He raised his hand to touch it and looked again, and found that it was a broken bone fragment.
At this time, a Cossack had a fierce look on his face. He grabbed Polya and stood up with a dagger on her neck. He was about to threaten him, but as soon as he said a word, a bullet struck him and knocked him to the ground. The trembling Polya was left standing alone, not knowing what happened.
"Polya! Hide behind the stone and come to me."
Hearing Fan Tong's cry, Polya came back to her senses, staggered to Fan Tong's side, and buried her head in his arms.
"Fan, I'm afraid..."
"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid. It will be fine soon. Our people are all here."
Only then did Ragutin become truly frightened. The nearest Beihai navy outside was more than a hundred meters away from him. When the enemy fired, he did not hear the familiar sound of flint hammers, nor did he see any white smoke after the shots were fired. It was simply killing people invisible.
Although the weapons of the North Navy are astonishingly powerful, they still do not want to give up. As the planners and culprits of this kidnapping case, they know that once they surrender, they will definitely suffer no good consequences.
The sun was already setting in the west now, and as long as he could stay up until dark, he might be able to run out.
"Guys, we can't escape! Surrender!" The one who spoke was the only remaining guy from "He Yuan Ji", who was so scared that he lost his mind. He thought that he was at best a small accomplice, and even if he surrendered, he would not be punished with death. As for Shopkeeper Tian... If your father is dead and your mother is getting married, let everyone take care of themselves!
This kidnapping farce continued until dark, and it was not until countless flashlights were lit on the Beihai Navy that Ragutin and others gave up resistance in despair and came out to surrender.
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