Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 336 Baba Yaga and Ataman
It is more than 30 kilometers from the airport to the city of Okhotsk, and it takes a big circle to go around.It is said to be a "city", but it is actually a town. The whole town has a total of more than 3000 people.

It was noon when Zhao Xin arrived in the urban area. He first found a hotel to get a room, and then went to the local library to search for information.After finding out the specific location of the early town of Okhotsk, he left the library to find a place to eat, and did not return to the hotel until dark.

Zhao Xin's method is very simple. He intends to take a look at it at night. If Tsarist Russia is going to sail south to the mouth of Heilongjiang from here, then there must be a large area of ​​tents or wooden houses in Okhotsk in the [-]th century. Those Cossacks live, and at the same time, there will definitely be a large number of sailing ships moored in the port.

Yu Deli's suggestion is actually not difficult, it's just a toss, and only Zhao Xin is tossed.

In 1788, Okhotsk.

The night in early spring is still cold and long, the sun sets very early, and street lamps lit with whale oil can be seen everywhere in the town. Under the attack of Siberian cold wind and sea breeze, the whole town is dimly illuminated.

In the weather in March, the north wind is still bitter, and the low wind rolls up the snow, making a rustling sound.The icicles that were dyed yellow by the thatch on the eaves fell from the eaves and fell to the ground, making a crisp sound like glass.The seaside town is full of ice puddles and bare fields mixed with snow.In the frozen harbor, the masts of a dozen or so docked whalers were creaking and creaking.

A strong and handsome bay red Don horse raised its long hemp-like tail straight up, shook its shaggy mane in the wind, kicked the snow off its hooves far away.It circled a few times in the square in front of the church, ran to a low wall and stopped, smelling the bricks.The horse squinted at the approaching bridle with purple eyes, stretched its back again, turned and ran into the night, and a human shouted behind him.

At around eight o'clock in the evening, Petrol Grigoryevich, the head of customs, left a merchant's house drunk, turned and walked towards his own direction.The waiting servant was leading the bay red horse with a bridle. Seeing that the master was unsteady in his steps, he wanted to go up to help him, but Grigorievich threw him off.

"Take care of yourself, master, I will walk steadily!"

The servant was helpless, so he raised the torch and walked beside the head of the customs office holding the rein of the horse with the other hand.Grigorievich's house is not far from here, just walk through the church and walk more than 300 meters, and it is next door to the chief executive's house.

"These vipers! . . . the devil! . . . the bastards! . . . They're trying to trick my lord and me... and I've got to listen to their nonsense! . . . Merchants! Money is their thing! Money Money! A sailboat costs three thousand rubles, alas~~, what kind of Cossacks are these people! They are all a bunch of starving ghosts!"

Suddenly, the Don horse neighed, and then the light and shadow shook, and a torch rolled and fell to the ground, smashing out a canopy of sparks.

"Damn Ivan, what else can you do? Well, tell me what else you can do!"

The servant Ivan reached out and grabbed Grigorievich's arm tightly, and said in a trembling voice: "Master, sir! Look ahead!"

The head of the customs office followed Ivan's trembling hand, and saw a tall, bloated figure covered in rags from head to toe standing on the dark street.

If it was just like this, Grigorievich would at most regard the black shadow as a poor man who had drunk too much; Wake up, the scalp is numb, and the alcoholism is gone!
What kind of monster is that!

In the dim light and shadow, Grigorievich saw that there were four short and thick horns growing on the forehead of the monster, and the back was bulging high, as if it was still a hunchback; The night merged into one.The black spots on the monster's face were like the traces that had just crawled out of hell and were smoked by the fire in hell.It also held a half-human-high black iron staff in its hand, leaning on the ground.

The "devil" looked at the customs chief and his servant Ivan, tilted his head, and seemed to be thinking about whether to come over.And the poor Master Guan was stiff all over, his throat could only make a "cuckoo" sound, and he didn't even have the strength to shout.The sturdy Don horse snorted uneasily, shaking its head trying to get rid of the annoying bridle.The servant Ivan's hand holding the rein was painfully pulled by the restless horse.

The "devil" did not approach, it muttered a language that no one could understand, and stretched out its hand to wave to the head of the customs.Seeing that neither of them responded, he turned around and looked west for a long time. After a while, he suddenly disappeared from the spot.

The servant Ivan was about to pee out of fear. He held his master's arm tightly and asked in a low voice, "Master, sir, what, what is that?"

"My God!" After a long time, Grigorievich felt that his legs had regained consciousness, and then he ran back home in a frenzy.After entering the door, the head of the customs office leaned against the door and sat on the ground, sighed, and muttered to himself: "Baba Yaga"

Most of the local residents of Okhotsk came from the western Slavic region. According to the legend, the tall guy wearing a rag skirt and carrying a hump on his back was a familiar demon from childhood, Baba Yaga.

Some say she is a witch of the forest, who lives in a hut at the edge of the forest, surrounded by a fence of human bones.She lures good people and small children to her with the intention of eating them.

It is also said that Baba Yaga is a ferryman wandering on the boundary between life and death.People will see Baba Yaga's hut at the edge of the world when traveling to another world.As a ferryman, Baba Yaga gave the dying people water and food, fumigated them in bathtubs, and put them to sleep.In the end Baba Yaga would eat the person and thus bring him to hell.

No matter what kind of statement it is, Grigorievich firmly believes that what he sees is "Baba Yaga".

To be able to escape by chance is really a blessing in misfortune!

Zhao Xin didn't take it seriously when he ran into two local residents.He waved at them at that time, but it was actually a subconscious coincidence. At that time, he was dazzled by the light of the torch that suddenly appeared.

Wearing night vision goggles, he walked around in and out of the town of Okhotsk, but saw no trace of the army stationed at all.If Tsarist Russia was going to cross the sea by boat from here to reach the mouth of Heilongjiang, then there must be a large number of ships waiting to be launched around the port.

Well, it's a waste of time, and I have to go to Nerchinsk to have a look.

A few days later, outside the city of Nerchinsk, in a wooden house area near the Cossack barracks.

It got dark very early, and the blue sky blown by the north wind was dotted with countless stars. The Milky Way above was extremely bright, and the river in the sky and the river on the ground complemented each other.And the round moon also rose from the east, shedding a radiance on the field.

At this time, what could be heard in Polya's ears was not only the sound of talking in the houses, but also the wild and unrestrained laughter of the Cossack soldiers in the barracks in the distance.The girl looked at the stars in the sky and thought about the lost family members.

Polya and her uncle's family moved from Chita to Nerchinsk in October last year. The reason was that Uncle Yegor was spotted by a Cossack officer and asked him to be his groom.Yegor was often away from home, sleeping all day in the stables of the Cossack cavalry.

This 14-year-old girl has experienced hardships unimaginable to girls her age.First, she was forced to leave home from Yenisei Province and embarked on a wandering road. She, her parents, and her uncle's family were escorted to a barge by officials from the Governor's Office. It is said that they wanted to open up a "paradise" on the empty Amur River.

But before she stepped into the gate of "Paradise", both her parents died, and Polya became an orphan and had to be fostered at the home of her uncle Yegor.Ever since she arrived in Nerchinsk, she had heard the Cossacks talking enthusiastically about how they would kill the aboriginals on the Amur River and distribute the land to them immigrants.

The kind-hearted Polya and other honest farmers were deeply disturbed. The opposite side of the Ergun River is not a land of no man at all!They didn't understand, why the queen didn't let them farm and live on their own land, but why did she want to rob other people's homes?

Polya's uncle Egor once wanted to escape with the family, but it was too difficult.Once found by the sentries, they would be hanged alive; Polya had seen many such corpses hanging and swaying in the bleak wind.

They are afraid and they hate, but they can only kneel in front of the statue of the Virgin and pray every night, asking the Virgin to forgive those sinners and the crimes they are about to commit.

Others go ahead to kill people, and I follow behind to occupy other people's homes. Such behavior will make my conscience uneasy no matter what.

"Polia, it's too cold outside, go home."

Not far behind, my aunt pushed open the door and called out to Polia.There is the humble home where the little girl lives, a wooden hut with a pointed roof, where she, her aunt, and her younger brother live.

"Liar, they are all lying." The little girl rubbed the calluses on her palm and muttered to herself.

The reason why she said that was because the governor of Irkutsk made wishes to people like herself, all of which were farts.It is said that immigrants can be exempted from hard labor, but the officials are asking for fodder and firewood for the cavalry and horses all day long. Polya picks up dry branches and weeds on the wasteland from dawn to dusk, but it is still not enough.

Seeing that she didn't respond, the aunt shook her head helplessly, sighed "poor child", and was about to walk over to call Polya back, but the crying sounded in the room, and the woman had to close the door and busy to take care of the baby who was still in her swaddling arms. baby.

A gust of wind rushed in, and a cloud of loose snow on the wasteland was rolled up, swirling and blowing on Polia's face.The little girl raised her hand to block it, and then put it down again, when a tall figure suddenly appeared in front of her eyes.

Polya opened her mouth wide and wiped her eyes with the back of her hand in disbelief. She was sure no one was there when the snowflakes hit her face the last second.

Zhao Xin was still dressed in the same gray and white auspicious suit, with a pair of military night vision goggles on his head, and lines painted with oil paint on his face.In order not to be blinded by the flames in Okhotsk last time, he deliberately did not put down the night vision goggles.

Zhao Xin was also taken aback when he saw someone appearing in front of him.

"Hey"

Hearing the greeting from the other side, Zhao Xin let out a long breath, this is a little girl.He showed a smiling face, with big white teeth showing on his painted face: "Привет."

Thanks to the communication with Andrew year after year, Zhao Xin's Russian conversation level is not bad.

Hearing the other party's response, Polya felt very curious.The reason why she didn't scream loudly was probably because of loneliness and depression, or because she felt that the person in front of her was not malicious to her.

"Are you the Ataman?" Polya asked softly.

"What is an ataman?"

"Only the Ataman can be invisible. I heard it from my father before."

Zhao Xin chuckled, this little girl is not afraid of herself.Although he didn't know what "Ataman" was, he still asked, "What if I am?"

"Can you fly?"

"Uh no."

"Then do you have clairvoyance?"

"Sometimes." Zhao Xinxin said, do drones count?

"Then you are an ataman."

Zhao Xinlai was not here to chat with Russian girls. He thought about it, took out a piece of chocolate from his pocket, and handed it over.

"It's for you."

Polyya was not afraid, she took two steps forward and asked, "What is it?"

"The gift for you is edible." Zhao Xin waited for the other party to take it, and asked tentatively, "Are there many Cossacks here?"

Polia took the chocolate and sniffed it to the tip of her nose. She found that this edible gift exuded an intoxicating aroma.

"Yes, many, many."

"Is it a soldier?"

"Yes, the Transbaikal Fusiliers."

"What are they doing here?"

Polia looked at Zhao Xin, who was squatting down, and said, "Don't you know? When the ice melts in spring, they will attack the Qing Kingdom on the other side of the river. You don't even know this, where did you come from?"

Zhao Xin suddenly pointed behind Polya and whispered, "Someone is here."

"Who?" Polya turned around and saw nothing unusual, and when she turned around again, the big man had disappeared without a trace
A few hours later, Zhao Xin showed his figure again at a headland beside the river below the outpost of Nerchinsk City.He planned to capture a Cossack soldier, and asked directly how many people were in the barracks and who was the general leading the army; it would be even better if he could capture an officer.

The Tsarist Russians of this era were far less tall than those of later generations, with an average height of only 1.5 meters; Zhao Xin felt that he could easily subdue them.

It was already the middle of the night, and the Cossack sentries were walking back and forth outside the barracks on patrol, and the sound of hoofed riding boots stepping on the snow was clearly audible.

Suddenly there was a sound of horseshoes, and several lanterns flashed over.Zhao Xin quickly prostrated himself on the ground and put the gun in his hand on the safety.

Several Cossacks rode over, the leading one was well dressed and seemed to be an officer.The man reprimanded the sentry loudly, turned around and rode his horse and led two men into the camp gate 200 meters away. It seemed that he was here to check the sentry.

"Damn!" Zhao Xin cursed, thinking that he was going to sneak into the barracks to arrest people?This movement can be big!No matter how elusive he is, he can't compare with well-trained soldiers after all.Once there is a commotion, I have to get out of the way.

Suddenly, there was a clang of iron from the barracks behind the fence, and after a while, a guy in a coarse woolen overcoat came out from the barracks gate carrying a pair of buckets.The man yawned and walked towards him shaking the empty bucket.

Zhao Xin almost laughed out loud, God bless!Going down the steep slope behind him is the riverside, and there seems to be a step built with wood.Zhao Xin waited for the soldier to walk past him and walk down the steps, then he slowly got up and followed on tiptoe.

The diving soldiers had already reached the river, where there was a long springboard, one end was resting on the bank, and the other end was on two wooden stakes wedged in the river water.The soldier lazily walked up to the diving board, first opened the frozen ice hole with the shoulder pole in his hand, then hooked the pole hook to the beam of the wooden barrel, put it in the water and tilted it slightly, and it was filled up in no time. After getting into the water, he lifted it up with difficulty and put it on the diving board behind him, and then hooked the second wooden barrel.

At this moment, it was pitch black and he couldn't see anything clearly. Taking advantage of the time when the man was bending over to hit the second bucket of water, Zhao Xin rushed up to the diving board, raised his fist holding the pistol, and hit hard with all his strength. It hit the soldier on the neck.

The Cossack soldier had noticed Zhao Xin when he stepped onto the diving board, but he was bending over to fetch water, and it was too late to stand up with the heavy wooden bucket.He felt dazed on the back of his neck, and immediately fell off the diving board, leaving only his military overcoat hanging on the diving board.

Zhao Xin jumped off the diving board in a hurry, grabbed the guy who was falling into the ice hole, and dragged him back to the ice.

　Ataman, a sorcerer in ancient Cossack legends.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)