Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 582 The New Year With Heavy Snow

When Quan Baocai happily arrived in Ishinomaki Town with Ah Bin and more than 100 fellow villagers, he didn't know how much trouble he had caused.This matter was quickly reported back to Beihai Town, and Li Ji's nose was crooked when he learned about it.

When Li Ji received the order from Xu Shounan a few days ago, he was so shocked that he couldn't believe it. He immediately went to Zhao Xin to confirm, and then he stayed up all night.He really wanted to ask Pingtai immediately, why did he tell lies?
You must know that Pingtai was picked out of the dead by Zhao Xin!If Zhao Xin hadn't heard the groan he uttered, Pingtai would have turned into a starving corpse on the side of the road just like his father and sister.

These years, Pingtai has been in the island country and has no family. He comes back twice a year at most to report to Zhao Xin and Shen Jingdan.Others thought that he was doing business in the island country to help Beihai Town earn money, but Liji later learned that Pingtai was doing a very secret and important matter through the successive situations in the capital.

Although the Wanshi family is not a human being in the eyes of ordinary people, but a fearsome "god" from above, how many people have seen real people?Not to mention seeing any "miracles".And Zhao Xin, the "Great God", is the real deal, not to mention Li Ji, many people in the early days of Beihai Town have seen his "supernatural powers" created out of nothing.

In Liji's view, whether it is the emperor, the general, or even the big names of the public officials, they never care about the lives of the common people, and it is better to die!Through the years of living in Beihai Town, many early naturalized citizens of the island country have realized that if they want to change the miserable situation of the island country farmers, they must completely overthrow the shogunate, eliminate the strict hierarchical feudal system, and establish a town like Beihai Town. A society where everyone is equal, or simply merged into Beihai Town—the future Chinese territory.

Betraying Zhao Xin when he was in full swing, what was Pingtai thinking? !

However, one of the key reasons why Li Ji has been reused by Zhao Xin in recent years is that he is obedient, and he will do whatever he is asked to do. Even if he has doubts, he will put it aside first, and honestly do it in advance.What he is most worried about now is that Quan Baocai's identity in the Intelligence Bureau will be exposed. The island country doesn't know the truth inside, but if Pingtai finds out, he may be exposed by sending someone to investigate him.

You must know that no matter whether it is to go back to visit relatives or have a mission, as long as people from the Intelligence Bureau go to the island country, they will always notify Liu Zheng or Pingtai in advance and cooperate.The main purpose is to prevent accidents. If they are really caught by the local government, they have to find a way to rescue them.Although such a thing has never happened before, rules are rules and must be followed.

Quan Baocai's trip was a secret operation, and he did not report to Liu Zheng and Taiping's two lines at all.It's a good thing now, returning to the hometown to avenge and kill people, and even brought more than 100 peasants out to escape the feudal clan!
On the other side, Xu Shounan, who also received the news, immediately contacted Wang Changsheng, the head of the Intelligence Bureau, and asked him to immediately destroy all of Quan Baocai's training materials, and asked the Military and Political Department to transfer Quan Baocai's personnel relations back to the Beihai Navy.In this way, Quan Bao became a squad leader of the Heilongjiang City Defense Battalion again, and this time he returned to the island country just to ask for leave to go home and visit relatives.

As for the more than 100 people he brought out, Xu Shounan decided to arrange them to the new immigration point on the east side of "Tuoli Hada Village" after talking with the immigration bureau.That place is on the other side of Heilongjiang City, and the fifty mu of land under Quan Baocai's name is also there.By the way, Tuoliha Datun is one of the famous "64 Jiangdong villages" in another time and space.

That night, a captain of the Beihai Navy stationed in Ishinomaki Port came to the courtyard where Quan Baocai and the others rented, and called him out alone for more than an hour. Only then did Quan Baocai realize how much he had done.But he didn't care, although going back to serve as a soldier would be a lot worse than his income in the intelligence bureau, but as long as A Bin was by his side, even if he was a farmer, he would be fine.

Because he was rushing with more than 100 people, Quan Baocai still missed the last boat back to Beihai Town.Fortunately, before leaving Udodu Village, he dug out a lot of gold and silver from the shop of Kiso House, and Abin and a group of prostitutes also took away a lot of property from the brothel, so they rented a lot of gold and silver in Ishinomaki Town. After getting off a few large courtyards, I bought a lot of food, clothing and daily necessities from the Beihai Trading Company to distribute to each family, and prepared to leave when the sailing started in February.

The so-called "big courtyard" in the island country is actually a cheap long house composed of one-story houses divided into several rooms; there are ones on the first floor, and there are also shops on the ground floor and residences on the second floor. There are many levels.Generally, the room size of this kind of courtyard is [-]-foot-[-], which is the size of six tatami mats. In addition, there are also rooms of [-]-foot-[-] and [-]-foot-[-].

The people who live in such places are all urban commoners, small traders, handicraftsmen, shop assistants, bookkeepers, poor scholars and wanderers, and the peasants who go to work in the city cannot afford to live there.For the villagers of Niudu Village who came to the "big city" for the first time, the courtyard is no less than a mansion.

Based on the idea that beating the children in rainy days is also idleness, Quan Baocai discussed with A Bin and decided to get married.Ah Bin was naturally happy. When the news got out, other villagers also helped to make arrangements.

Civilian weddings in the Edo period did not have specific forms of marriage contract documents like samurai families, nor did they require a large banquet.For the poor people with four walls, marriage has nothing to do with Shinto or Buddhism, and even the wedding day is no different from usual.The main purpose of the wedding is to let acquaintances and neighbors know that they will be husband and wife in the future. Generally, both men and women just celebrate briefly with the neighbors who live in the courtyard. There is a pot of tea for guests and a few grilled squids for snacks. Dry is enough.

The matchmaker can be the landlord or a neighbor. The bride usually wears ordinary clothes. If the groom wants to wear a kimono with family crests, he can borrow one from the landlord.People who come to the wedding will bring their own wine and food as gifts, and everyone will have a lot of fun.

Although Ah Bin's idea is to "drink water with affection", simple and warm is good, but Quan Baocai doesn't want to treat his woman badly.Today, he is no longer the peasant Quan San of the past. Even if the harvest of 300 mu of land is deducted from the [-]% of the trusteeship of the village cooperative, plus the annual income of [-] yuan of Beihai silver dollars, whether it is placed in the island country or taken away next door, it is appropriate. rich people.

So he decided to hold a decent wedding, and like Beihai Town's habit, treat everyone to a good meal and drink.

Because there are all kinds of people living in the courtyard, as long as you are not afraid of spending money, many things will be delivered to your door if you say hello, and it is still the kind of shopping around.

For example, ask the clerk of the kimono shop to bring two sets of dresses, let the clerk of the wine shop send a few jars of good wine, let the clerk of the Chinese paper shop bring beautiful Chinese paper to make the house look brand new, and let the clerk of the incense and candle shop deliver the best Incense and red candles, and the clerk in the grocery store sent some women's cosmetics, combs, hairpins, hairpins, mirrors, sewing boxes and the like.Even for things like shaving, haircut, hair comb, and makeup, as long as you say hello in advance, someone will come to serve you with tools on the morning of the wedding day, so there is no need to worry.

In addition, a set of dowry had to be bought for A Bin. The dowry of women these days must be at least a "three-piece set".The first was a dye iron paste utensil for tinting teeth, the second was a dressing table in the form of a handbag, and the third was a sewing box.

That's right!If a woman in the Edo period was engaged or married, she had to dye her teeth the color of iron paste, and the grin was dark, which looked like the "sadako" of later generations.

In addition to the above mentioned, it is also necessary to find a restaurant buddy to order a sumptuous wedding banquet.Because the trade with Beihai Town is getting higher and higher every year, the business of Ishinomaki Town is also more and more prosperous; as long as you are willing to spend money, you can buy any kind of banquet.

At the suggestion of the enthusiastic landlord and neighbors, Quan Bao ordered the "Chicken and Seafood Dinner" for 150 people; in fact, there were only three dishes in total, including dried squid slices, salted sea cucumber soup, and braised salted fish and chicken in sauce.In addition, let people cook two large pots of white rice and open them to eat.

For the restaurant, although this is a big business, but because of the rush of time, the owner and his family led the staff to the battle, and after a whole day and night, they finally got all the materials ready.

In the early morning of the [-]th day of the twelfth lunar month, a heavy snow fell on the entire Mutsu area.The snowflakes falling from the sky turned Ishinomaki Town into a silver-white world, and the snow that fell on the sea was blown and swirled by the wind like smoke, as if announcing that the old past would be erased and a new one would be ushered in soon. year.

Because Quan Bao sent the invitations yesterday, so in the morning, the officers from the Beihai Navy stationed here and people from the Beihai Trading Company all came.After hearing about it, the acting official of the Ishijuan Enforcement Office immediately sent someone to bring a gift.After hearing about this incident, many local people came to watch the excitement.

At about ten o'clock in the morning, Quan Bao, who had changed into a "Shengse" (dark blue) dress, walked into the newly renovated house under the guidance of the landlord.The other Niudu villagers who were watching the excitement wanted to look into the house, but the landlord raised his arm and blocked them back.

"Wait outside! Can't go in!"

Several villagers smiled and said, "We want to see the bride!"

"Hehe, you'll see it after the ceremony is over, what's the hurry?"

Unlike Chinese people who are surrounded by relatives and friends when they worship, only the bride, groom, and master of ceremonies are present at the wedding ceremony of common people in island countries in the Edo period, and relatives will not attend.Because none of the people in Niudu Village understand the complicated procedures of urban weddings, they can only invite the landlord's wife to act as the master of ceremonies.

By the way, if it is an ordinary samurai wedding, the attendees will also include the nobles of the man and woman and the maid who pours the wine; as for the wedding of the upper-class samurai, the woman's wet nurse will also be present and will be responsible for guiding the bride's etiquette on the spot.

According to the landlord's wife's instructions, Quan Baocai sat in the upper seat opposite A Bin, and A Bin, who was wearing a white dress, was already sitting in the lower seat on the left front of the alcove, and the smiling landlord sat behind him. wife.

When the landlady's wife was about to announce the "three offerings" of exchanging cups -- that is, three cups for every three cups, Quan Bao suddenly raised his hand to signal the other party to wait a moment, and then turned his face Seriously and sincerely said to A Bin: "A Bin, I, Quan San, am the luckiest man in the world to be able to marry you! But you and I can have this day thanks to Zhao Wang and his old man, if it weren't for him Rescued me on the boat at the seaside."

With tears of happiness in A Bin's eyes, he nodded and said, "Yes! You must do good work for King Zhao in the future."

"No, what I mean is," Quan Baocai turned his body to face north and west, and said to A Bin and the master of ceremonies who looked surprised, "Let's kowtow to King Zhao who is far away in Beihai Town. , I wish King Zhao a long life! If there are gods and Buddhas who save the suffering in this world, he is the only one!"

Ah Bin nodded when he heard the words, and smiled slightly with his dark teeth showing. The husband and wife knocked down heavily in the direction of Beihai Town together.
Zhao Xin doesn't know how others are doing this year, anyway, he's been very tired this Spring Festival.But this is no one else's fault, it's all my own doing.

He first went to Chiyan City on the 28th of the New Year, appeased A Miao and Wang Zhenyi, and had a deep talk with Wang Zhong; then he rushed back to Beihai Town on the [-]th of the New Year, and had a meal with his parents, Shen Xuan and his son For the reunion dinner, on the first day of the new year, I received those who came to pay New Year's greetings at home.On the third day of junior high school, this fellow went to Fuldan City and stayed with Tang Xiao for two full days, then he returned to Chiyan City on the fifth day of junior high school, until the eighth day of junior high school, he appeared at his home in Beihai Town again in the study.

"Ouch! It can't be like this next year, it's killing me!"

Wu Siyu, who was sitting opposite him, looked at Zhao Xin drinking ginseng tea while beating his lower back, and couldn't help laughing: "It deserves it! The days are still long, let's see what you will do in the future."

"Ah~~" Zhao Xin sighed, thinking that if he didn't wait for spring, he could just build another yard in Whale Town, at least he wouldn't have to run thousands of kilometers back and forth.

"Oh, I forgot to congratulate you, the millennium iron tree is finally about to bloom. How many months?"

"Just two months." Wu Siyu smiled proudly.After a year of recuperation with traditional Chinese medicine, his wife was finally pregnant.The depression of the couple for many years was swept away, and Chen Yin'er kept urging him to marry a small matter, but nothing happened.So this Spring Festival, Wu Siyu stayed in Beihai Town, happily accompanying his wife.

"Okay, let's get down to business first." Zhao Xin took another sip of ginseng tea, brushed away his previous joking expression, and said to Wu Siyu, "I plan to retire both regiments from active service this year. You are now in charge of the military and political department. What's the matter?" Is it difficult?"

"What about the time? When are you going to start?"

"April, too early or too late is inappropriate. It takes time for recruits to go north, and then hand over and change defenses. It may take July or August to come back."

Wu Siyu took out a small notebook from his pocket, opened it, flipped through it and said, "There is no problem with recruiting personnel. We recruited 3000 new recruits last year, of which more than [-] were from Outer Mongolia. What do you plan to do with the retired veterans?" Arrangement? Go home to farm or go to the factory?"

"Just kidding, how is it possible to let them farm!" Zhao Xin also picked up a pen and kept writing on a piece of white paper, and then said: "Choose 2000 people to form a Shandong detachment, and go to Jiaodong with Kong Shaoan to open up a base area, and the rest all go to the factory."

Zhao Xin then briefly explained his plan to Wu Siyu. His idea was that as long as the number of new immigrants from the Jiaodong area could exceed 50, and there were two years of preparation time, the Beihai Navy would enter the customs!

Wu Siyu nodded and said, "It's really not easy! It's been eight years, and I'm finally going to enter the customs!"

Zhao Xindao: "In the past few years, our territory in the outer northeast and Siberia has almost expanded. The next step is to immigrate to the real border, while building roads, so that the common people have enough to eat, so that the 'man-land conflict' in the customs will not be so serious. Sharp, when we go south and enter the customs, the food pressure will be much less.”

Wu Siyu wrote down a few notes in his notebook, and then asked: "What do you think about the Russians?"

"The news was sent back before that Admiral Potemkin still didn't survive this winter and died in Kazan. I heard that Catherine II was seriously injured because of the loss of her old lover. The prince didn’t agree to go to war with us until the Senate, just wait, it’s estimated that by the end of March, their mission will arrive in Chiyan City.”

"what do you think?"

"Me, let's talk first. If the conditions don't satisfy me, let the guys from the Cossack Emirate continue to fight west."

Wu Siyu shook his head helplessly and said: "I really don't understand, why do you have to compete with Tsarist Russia? The northern part of Siberia is so desolate, even if it is occupied, who wants to live there."

Zhao Xin lit a cigarette and said to Wu Siyu with a smile: "Old Comrade Wu, let me ask you a question. What do you think is the foundation of a powerful country?"

Wu Siyu thought about it for a while, and successively gave many answers such as industry, military, and population, but Zhao Xin shook his head in denial.

"Okay, don't keep it up, just say it!"

"A huge territory." Zhao Xin said indifferently: "What is there to be afraid of in desolation? The most important thing is to have resources and strategic depth. Even if such a country occasionally declines, it will rise after a hundred years! The so-called not looking for the overall situation Those who don’t plan for the whole world are not enough to plan for a while. Don’t talk about Siberia, I plan to send people to North America to build a stronghold, first occupy it and then talk about it!”

"Huh?" Wu Siyu rolled his eyes, and asked tentatively, "When you asked Deng Fei and the others to go to Europe, apart from wanting to engage the British, did you also think about the French colonies in America?"

"Hey!" Zhao Xin stretched out his thumb and said with a smile, "Let me just say, as long as you old Comrade Wu is not lazy and willing to use his brain, he is no worse than others. The lonely king has exactly this intention!"

　"Jiangdong 64 villages" is just a geographical concept, not really 64 villages. In 1883, the Tsarist Russians counted 37 villages and 26 settlements, and later added a village, which is how the name came about.However, according to the statistical results of the investigation department of the Qing court and the Manchurian Railway, the former has 48 villages and the latter has 44 villages.The local people followed the statistics of the Qing court, commonly known as "Jiangdong 48 villages".

　　
　
(End of this chapter)