"Franz Bekov, the 'son of a German mother-in-law', he even believes in Protestantism now! He's not really an Orthodox Christian, and I don't know what you guys think, shouldn't have allowed this greedy fool into the church. If even a heretic like him could enter the church, the world would only be dark...... "Yuri. Petrov sat in a small mixed civil castle outside Albazin, looking out and complaining.

Petrov was a Cossack with relatively old seniority, having followed Vasily a few years ago. Poyarkov went on an expedition to the lower reaches of the Amur River and the Sea of Okhotsk, and after many hardships and dangers, he finally returned to Yakutsk. And during that expedition, he and a dozen other Cossacks, even attacked by the Daurs near the city of Moldkidchi, and for a time had to eat the corpses of the dead for a living, which was the darkest memory of his life.

This time they followed Ye Luofei. Pavlovich. Khabarov went to the lower reaches of the Amur River to "make a fortune", because several castles here have always been famous for their gold and silver, and even in local legends, there are gold and silver mines secretly mined by the Daurs in the vicinity, which prompted the Yakutsk overseer Dmitry. Andreevich. The direct reason why Franzbekov, a Livonian (in fact, a German living in Livonia, who had served in Moscow many years earlier), sent their tax-collecting contingent.

As for the members of their expedition (70 Cossacks), it was more miserable, because they were already saddled with a lot of debts at the moment of leaving Yakutsk: 15-30 rubles each. The money was lent to them by the newcomer Overseer Franz Bekov, and it was usury, i.e. Franz Bekov lent them 10 rubles. The IOU said 15 rubles. And so on. Everyone is saddled with a certain amount of debt. This requires them to find a way to profit for themselves in this expedition, otherwise they will not even think about paying back the money.

Of course, the one who bears the most debt of them is their leader, Khabarov, who is now temporarily back in Yakutsk to recruit new soldiers. This once Yakutsk tycoon (who had his property confiscated and became penniless for offending the former overseer Golovin) is now in debt of more than 7,000 rubles - because the Yakutsk overseer Franzbekov lent to Khabarov all the weapons and ammunition, woolen coats, iron pots, farm tools, horses, etc., in the treasury, and at the same time gave his personal property to Khabarov to manage on his behalf, so that he could use these "capitals" to go to the lower reaches of the Amur River. Taxes in kind (mainly high-class furs) were levied on the natives to reap huge profits.

Obviously, they can't do much with their current size of 70 people. It was therefore necessary to recruit more men - at least 200 - in order to collect taxes from the natives. Of course, 70 people can't attack the natives, but it's okay to do something else to make up for your shortfall. On their way out, for example, they plundered the Yakuts, who had returned to Muscovy, and killed and wounded many people, but also stole all the livestock; Then they robbed a hunting party of Russians at a hunting ground (Paul. led by Bikimov); Finally, they are still in Andrey. Volybayev was a bunch of scoundrels who looted all his goods and food reserves while living in the winter camp and beat him severely.

But if there is a little bit of proportion to robbing your own people on the road. Then there is no scruple in plundering the Daur people who are attached to the Manchurian Bogd Khan. For example, when Khabarov returned to Yakutsk to recruit men, the seventy Cossacks (led by Stepanov) who remained in the cities of Lavkai and Albazin almost turned the neighborhood upside down.

They rode warhorses and ships. Hunting down the villages and tribes of the Daur tribe, there was a great deal of killing and crime in the places they passed. Even the Tsars, who went to Peking decades later, were quite embarrassed when he wrote the book, because it really did not look like the behavior of a civilized country - these people were no different from the Mongol bandits.

And because the city of Lavkai and others was empty, the Cossacks who remained nearby to wait for Khabarov, led by Stepanov, took full vent of their anger on Sheikh Albasi (the son-in-law of Sheikh Lavke's brother) and his people. After their unsuccessful attack on the city of Albazin, they were counterattacked by the inhabitants of the city, resulting in four dead and many wounded, which made the bandits even more angry and began to massacre in the wilderness, and soon killed and drove away the few remaining Daurs (most of the Daurs had already withdrawn with the chieftain last year to seek protection from the Manchurians, and their property had been transported through more than 2,500 horses).

However, the oil and water in the field were limited, so they eventually returned to the outskirts of Albazin, where they built a small fortress and awaited the return of Khabarov's large army. It had only been a few months since the departure in the spring, and they had not caught any oil or water at all, so they naturally did not dare to return to Yakutsk, so they had to wait for Khabarov to arrive here with a large number of men, and then march downstream from here to loot a fortune along the way.

"Stop complaining, Yuri." Stepanov, who was arranging his saddlebags, paused, and then continued: "I think you should study the latest news from the east that the children have brought back. I have heard that the Akgun people (Hezhe people) in the lower reaches of the Amur River have been very active recently, and have repeatedly sent spies to the upper reaches and even the interior of Manchuria to spy on the situation, and this deserves our attention. Boris was holding a gun scout a while ago, but he accidentally killed him before we could find out useful information, which is terrible! In the past two days, there have been more Manchurians and Agun scouts in the field, Yuri, you are a veteran, take the children to catch a few back, we need to know what is happening in the outside world. ”

"The children told me that a powerful force had risen in the east, and they came from the mouth of the Amur River, and God, I never knew that the Amur River could communicate with the sea, and this was a great discovery!" Yuri. Petrov put down a few pearls in his hand, and then began to pack up his equipment, and said in a rambling voice: "Your Majesty must be excited about this, a river that connects to the sea, and the banks of this river are so rich, that I have dreamed more than once that I can give this wealth to His Majesty in exchange for His Majesty giving me some of the rich villages and towns of Rus." ”

"The arrest warrant for the Yakutsk Overseers was on the way before you received His Majesty's reward, you idiot." Stepanov scolded Yuri with a smile, "Okay, let's go, I hope to get the news I want." ”

Yuri. Petrov smiled at Stepanov, and then selected seven or eight Cossacks with good skill - in fact, they were very good at skill and horsemanship, and quite tenacious in fighting - and headed east. And this was four days, and when the morning sun rose over the eastern horizon on August 15, Petrov and his party finally ran back.

"Victor is dead, dead at the hands of a gun scout. I'm sorry, but the scout was stubborn, and it took us a lot of effort to catch him, but by then he had already died of blood loss. Yuri took off his hat and said with a depressed expression: "But I brought back a Manchurian, there are dozens of Manchurian cavalry wandering in that area, they did not harm us, and sent an envoy to ask for a conversation with us, look, this is this guy." ”

The "Manchurian envoy" took off the hat on his head, showed the hairstyle of the money rat's tail, and then said something out loud.

A Buryats who knew their language immediately translated softly from Stepanov's side, and Stepanov listened for only a short moment, then looked at the Manchurian in amazement and said in an incredulous tone: "You said that you are willing to pay us 30,000 roubles just to invite us to attack a group of 'robbers in yellow'?" And also allow us to legally take possession of the wealth that has been acquired in the vicinity of the city of Lovekai? Hehe, that's fun! Now, Manchurians, tell me about the situation of this bandit in yellow, which I am very concerned about......"

The Buryats did not translate very well and intermittently, but this did not prevent Stepanov and others from figuring out the intentions of this Manchurian. In fact, they had already understood many things after hearing this, such as that the yellow-clothed thieves had indeed integrated the Akgun and Oroqen people in the lower reaches of the Amur River, and the force was likely to be as many as 500 people. Of course, this was the optimistic estimate of the Manchurians, and Stepanov did not believe it, he thought that there might be more of them, but these were not the point, the point was that the Manchurians actually said that the yellow-clothed thieves had a huge number of muskets and cannons - more powerful and portable artillery than the Manchurians and even the Russians used!

"There are muskets and cannons, is this still a bandit?" Stepanov was a little displeased, he glared at the Manchurian in front of him with fierce eyes, and his right hand kept rubbing the scabbard at his waist. He was tempted to split the Manchurian who had fooled him in half, but reason told him that he could not do so, because that would perhaps lose something to the great Moscow Congress, after all, the Manchurian, pale under his oppression, was the emissary of Shahrhuda, an important general under Bogd Khan.

"Lock him up first, and wait for Yerofei (Khabarov) to come back. Also, send someone to inform the Manchurians in the east, and ask them to send us some supplies, gold and silver, and see how they react. Stepanov commanded.

"Stupid Manchurians, who want to drive the loyal servants of the great Rus' monarchs to fight for you! Sooner or later you will taste the Cossack sharp saber, so I'll play with you now. Stepanov thought to himself, and he decided to wait for Khabarov's large forces to come and join him. (To be continued......)