New Shun 1730

What caught his eyes was a very characteristic pockmarked face after suffering from smallpox.

It had only been a few days since the hot air balloon took off, and Liu Yu recognized him at a glance. This was the naturalized Solon man whose Chinese name was Shu Tu.

Jiao Laobutu on the opposite side also recognized Liu Yu at a glance, and they both called out at the same time.

Thinking about what happened that day, which had nothing to do with him, Liu Yu smiled and said, "It turns out that you are an acquaintance? That's good. Lord Shu, do you still remember me?"

Jiao Laobutu looked at Liu Yu, who was wearing a military uniform and had an embroidered spring knife hanging around his waist, and smiled and said, "Of course I recognize him. I was wondering which family of military guards would come here, but it turned out to be the son of the Yiguo Duke."

He smiled, but he was quite unhappy in his heart.

Jiao Laobutu looked at the young Liu Yu and thought to himself that when I was your age, I had already killed seven or eight people in the northwest.

He risked half his life and had a piece of his scalp cut off, and only then did he get the honor of a light chariot captain.

You guys who have a good father, who have never killed anyone, actually climbed directly to my head?

Look at your delicate skin and tender flesh, don't pee your pants when you see a dead person!

He muttered a few times in his heart, resentful.

But he could only bury this thought in his heart, thinking that although he had the honor of the fourth rank of the Qingche Duwei, the person opposite him was a guard awarded by His Majesty, so he immediately greeted him first.

Liu Yu knew that those who had honors had crawled out of the pile of dead bodies, so he didn't dare to be arrogant. According to the etiquette of the country, this guard was actually equivalent to the treatment of the fifth rank, so he hurriedly returned the greeting.

He looked up at the military camp. There were about 200 people in the camp, and they all looked brave. They should have been selected from the children's army, but the military discipline did not look very good.

A group of people gathered together, smoking pipes around a fire on the ground.

Two people were wrestling there, and a group of people were watching the excitement.

The clothes were all dirty. A group of people squatted in the sun to catch lice, biting them in their mouths and making a crunching sound, competing with each other to see who could make the loudest noise.

The chaos made Liu Yu, who was used to seeing the military appearance of his previous life on TV, quite uncomfortable. He thought, this is the elite troops?

What is the average level of the Beijing Camp?

Thinking that he had just arrived and needed to get familiar with the place before talking, he invited Jiao Laobutu to enter the tent together.

"Does Lord Shu know what you are going to do this time?"

"Yes, I just found out not long ago. Since there is a military order, Lord Liu will arrange all major matters, and I will listen to Lord Liu."

Liu Yu thought to himself, are you going to beat me with a stick?

He had just arrived and had been exposed to it before, but how could he know how to set up camp and how to march on the first day?

Thinking about the conversation between Jiao Laobutu and Tian Ping that day, he roughly guessed what kind of person he was.

You bowed and said, "It's really awkward for you and me to call each other adults. I think when there's no one around, let's just talk about seniority. Brother Shu, don't laugh at me. I'm still young and have never been to the battlefield. I need you to take care of me on this march."

"Brother Shu is a light chariot captain who got promoted by chopping people, which is much better than me, a guard who got the title by relying on the influence of my family."

Showing weakness first can avoid any trouble in the future.

Liu Yu felt that he needed to see the situation again before considering establishing his prestige. If he talked nonsense before he even figured out the situation, he might not be able to establish his prestige and would be ridiculed.

Jiao Laobutu felt comfortable listening to the deliberate weakness.

After all, the person on the other side was a duke's son. It was rare for him to say so much. He was better than the duke of Qi that day. That kid didn't know how to speak like a human being.

Liu Yu deliberately asked Jiao Lao Butu a few more times about where he got the title of Light Cavalry Commander, which hit the spot.

Jiao Lao Butu then told how he got the title of Light Cavalry Commander in a tone that seemed casual but actually wanted to let everyone know.

After talking for most of the time, he finally got down to business.

"Brother Liu, our mission is not difficult, but it is not simple either. We need to pretend to be a vendor selling rhubarb and tea cakes and go to the city of the Luosha people to check. Because my father was a Zhechou Duwei in Handoliwei, he is familiar with the place. When we get there, we need to contact some deer hunting tribes and send some people to follow the tribe to explore the depths of the wild forest."

"This Nuergan land is different from other places. Brother Liu has never been there, but I grew up there. It is really bitter and cold. There are many risks. It is also a good idea to tell Brother Liu in advance so that he will not be unable to bear it."

Liu Yu smiled secretly, thinking that my grandfather in my previous life was also the first generation of forest workers. I may not be less familiar with the Northeast than you, and I am afraid that I grew up in a place further north than you.

But he said politely: "Yes. Brother Shu will have to take care of me along the way."

After the flattery, he called several key figures in the team over and introduced them to each other.

Since they were going to pretend to be a caravan heading to the fortress of the Rakshasa Kingdom, they naturally had to find some knowledgeable people. The knowledgeable old man was about fifty years old, with a face like orange peel, and he was exposed to the wind and sun. He was a spy of the Children's Army.

He often went to Mongolia with some caravans, and sometimes went deep into the Russian border. He knew Mongolian, Jurchen, Russian and Korean. Although he looked insignificant, he actually had the merit of a cavalry lieutenant, but his life was over.

Since they had to pretend to be a caravan, they also got some goods, so there were knowledgeable people to handle it.

Since Peter's reforms, Russia has vigorously expanded its military, monopolized the rhubarb trade, and turned it into an official camp.

The medical effects of rhubarb were also hyped. In addition, European nobles often ate meat and it was common for them to be dry and unable to poop. This herb with laxative effects became a hot commodity.

The Russians are hyping the magical medicinal effects of rhubarb in Western Europe, and Western Europeans have come up with all kinds of weird ways to eat it: rhubarb soup, rhubarb wine, rhubarb cheese, rhubarb pudding...

One pood of rhubarb, which is about thirty pounds of rhubarb, has a smuggled price of forty rubles in border areas.

Peter I minted silver coins. One silver coin was about twenty-five grams, about half a tael of silver, and forty rubles was equivalent to twenty taels of silver.

When shipped to Western Europe, the price rises to 180 to 300 rubles.

The heroine Sonia in Dostoyevsky's "Crime and Punishment" later sold her virginity for thirty rubles, which in Western Europe would only cost two pounds of rhubarb.

However, since the Ming Dynasty, China's shipbuilding and navigation levels have been greatly separated by Europe.

Now the British are almost ready to make a nautical clock, and even the first naval fleet voyage around the world is about to begin.

Such high profits would be impossible to obtain without the support of navigation, geometry, and astronomy.

Everyone knows that it is best if there are no middlemen to make the difference.

This is true for taxation and trade, and money is made by second-rate dealers.

Even so, the selling price of one pood in border areas was nearly twenty taels of silver, which was a huge profit for traders.

Matteo Ricci once recorded that the price of a pound of rhubarb in China was one-tenth of a silver coin.

For military expenses, Peter took Rhubarb as an official camp and kept the purchase price down.

However, even if the pressure is to this extent, local businessmen still have 200% profit, and they can be said to be flocking to it.

Formal channels will still have to pay taxes after all, or they may have very strong connections.

If you smuggle, you will save a lot of taxes, and you can't help but smuggle secretly.

Overall, there are basically two routes.

One is a merchant from Shanxi who travels to Mongolia and delivers goods to the Russian fortress near Lake Baikal. By the way, he can also sell tea cakes among the Mongolian tribes.

The other is for Liaodong merchants and military officers to take the North Korean border to Mudanjiang. Taking advantage of the frozen river surface in winter, they walked from the Mudanjiang River to the Songhua River, and then smuggled rhubarb to the Russian castle on the bank of the Heilongjiang River.

Liu Yu was going to the Songhua River this time, and the businessman he was pretending to be was from Liaodong.

Lao Bashi has never walked this line, but has only heard of it.

Fortunately, Jiao Laobutu was born and raised by the Songhua River and knew all about these tricks - when his father was the captain of the Zhechong in Handoliwei, the big shots involved in smuggling would say hello and the little guys would pay tribute.

There are many tasks this time, and they are also very complicated. Disguising themselves as businessmen, or pretending to be a deer hunting tribe after arriving, all have different purposes, so they can do it easily when the time comes.

In addition to inspecting Russian fortresses, we also need to expand the inscriptions of Yongning Temple, check the roads along the way, and draw maps of hydrology, mountains, and rivers. These require some professionals.

More than 20 minor officials affiliated with the military government's official affairs department also followed the team. Most of them were Catholics and had studied with missionaries. Some of the older ones had participated in the surveying and mapping of inland maps that year.

Now that chaos is about to break out in the DPRK, asking them to follow can be regarded as protecting them.

Adding all kinds of people together, there were about 340 people.

Except for more than forty people who had never been to the battlefield, the rest were elite soldiers from the Beijing camp or the Boy's Army. In order to facilitate the disguise as a deer hunting tribe, the naturalized Sauron people accounted for less than half.

This group of people is not easy to lead. Many of them have meritorious service and have killed people and seen blood.

Liu Yu also knew that with his white and hairless mouth, it was impossible for this group of people to convince him, so he had to find a way.

It's only mid-August now, and they won't set off until mid-September or almost October. I have to prepare here before and get used to it.

After thinking about it, Liu Yu knew what his advantages were, and he knew in his heart that if he wanted to convince everyone, he would not be in a hurry and have his own plan.

After checking the various equipment distributed, it was really a bit shabby. The only thing I needed to keep out the cold was a cotton-padded jacket and a pair of cotton trousers. Because I had to camouflage, I couldn't wear armor.

There were quite a few horses, and there was no shortage of carts, which contained rhubarb, tea cakes, and some miscellaneous goods. There were also civil servants responsible for keeping accounts.

After thinking about his own strengths and making some calculations in his mind, Liu Yu settled down and did things his own way.

In the afternoon, I carefully wrote a long list and gave it to Mantou, asking him to go back and prepare it.

Part of it is the standard equipment of the imperial court, which can be provided by the Duke of Qi. This is simple.

The other part was no longer the standard equipment of the imperial court, so he asked Mantou to go back and pawn the gadgets in his yard.

Put together a sum of money, such as a hundred-year-old gold lock from childhood, silverware for cooking cocoa, gold locks from private money, etc. Then borrow some money from a friend.

I specifically asked the steamed buns to be packed in the box when they were brought back so that no one else could see what was inside.

After giving the order, the steamed buns left the military camp, and Liu Yu made a gesture, mingling with the soldiers during the meal, chatting and bragging, and eating with them.

The officers looked at him in surprise, and someone laughed and said, "This young man is a bit interesting."

Jiao Laobutu snorted and spat out a mouthful of phlegm, quite disdainfully.

"I want to see how long he can pretend. Has he read too much "Biography of General Li" and "Biography of Sun Wu" and his brain is broken? Tomorrow you say you have hemorrhoids on your buttocks, and see if he will learn from Wu Qi to suck it for you and suck out the pus."