In the mountainous areas of northern North Korea in the tenth month of the lunar calendar, the climate has been extremely cold, and the humid North Korea is no better than the North China Plain, and the temperature has reached below zero since the ninth month of the lunar calendar. The climate here is cold, the snow falls early, and it is only the first heavy snowfall, and the mountains and rivers are covered with a thin layer www.biquge.info of ice.

Farmers in northern North Korea have long since stopped farming, and every household has prepared firewood for the winter, and bunches of dried red peppers that have dried in autumn have been hung in front of their homes.

Speaking of this red pepper, it is indeed a good thing. In the past, when there were no chili peppers, the kimchi I made didn't taste so good. Later, it was the Nanyang Company that sold the red peppers to the Koreans, and the Koreans learned to grow them, and in the fall, they would dry them to make dried red peppers. With this thing, you don't feel cold in the cold winter. Nowadays, chili peppers have become a must-have item for North Koreans, and they are embarrassed to say that they can make kimchi without putting chili peppers when making kimchi.

Although the farm work has stopped because of the arrival of winter, the farmers in the north of North Korea are not idle at all, and the season of ice and snow is a good season for North Koreans to go into the mountains and forests to hunt bears, deer and ginseng. Bear bile bear skin bear paws, deer antler venison tendon, those are all good things, not to mention wild ginseng, to be able to dig up a thousand-year-old wild ginseng, it is simply a blessing that has been cultivated for several lifetimes, although it can only be sold to the government, but you can get a lot of reward.

Kim Gen-bo is such a farmer who wants to hunt in the snow and improve his family's life.

Ever since the Eight Banners entered Korea, abolished Korea's status as a vassal state, and turned Korea into a province of the Qing Dynasty, the Eight Banners stationed in Korea have implemented the law of scraping the ground and fishing for money in Korea, not only looting the Korean treasury to the point that they can run away from rats, but also the peasants in North Korea have also borne heavier taxes.

Some officials and wealthy people with status in the DPRK have all entered the flag and turned into the Eight Banners of the DPRK, although their status is far inferior to the Eight Banners of Manchuria, the Eight Banners of Mongolia, and even the Eight Banners of the Han Dynasty, but they can still drink a mouthful of soup after following the buttocks of the Eight Banners of Manchuria, Mongolia and Han. It's just that the peasants of North Korea have suffered, and almost eighty percent of the grain and crops they have grown with hard work in a year will be handed over to the master of the Eight Banners of North Korea, and then the master of the Eight Banners of North Korea will be handed over to the Eight Banners of Manchuria, Mongolia and Han.

The Eight Banners of Korea were more greedy and brutal than the Manchu, Mongolian and Han Eight Banners from the Great Qing Dynasty, and they not only set extremely high taxes, but also paid taxes on water and cloth and other necessities for life.

Pressed by heavy taxes, farmers in southern Korea farm on weekdays and fish in the winter. Farmers in northern Korea go into the mountains in winter to earn a little living expenses for their families.

In addition to small prey such as hares and pheasants, which can be taken back to their homes to improve their families' lives, the hunted high-end prey such as bear skins, bear paws, bear bile, deer antlers, venison, and deer tendons can only be sold to the North Korean Eight Banners government, because ordinary merchants do not dare to accept these goods.

However, if you hunt high-end prey, or dig up wild ginseng for more than 100 years, you can still get a sum of silver, and the life of the family will be settled in the coming year, at least you will not starve.

By the time the snow was falling, it had slowly stopped. The moonlight is bright, reflecting the snow all over the ground, illuminating the surrounding mountains and rivers in a gloomy and floating world.

Hiding in the snow, Kim Geun-bo didn't dare to move, he held a flintlock pistol tightly in his hand, which was a good thing exported to North Korea by Nanyang Company, this thing was powerful, as long as a shot hit the vital point of the prey, even a fierce black bear, it could knock over on the ground. Of course, when it comes to brown bears and tigers, the power of a musket is still insufficient. Another advantage of flintlock pistols is that they don't need to light the arquebus like a bird's gun, so they won't reveal their whereabouts.

This flintlock pistol was left to him by Kim Geun-bo's father, who bought a flintlock pistol three years ago when he hunted a black bear and went to Pyongyang to exchange it for silver. Later, while hunting, my father died under the paws of a brown bear, leaving only this musket.

In the snow, a yellow-white shadow suddenly appeared, the thing had a soft fur, the background color of the body was yellow, with a little white spots, the head had a large horn like a branch, and a pair of beautiful big eyes vigilantly watched the movement in the snow. It's a male sika deer, and that's a good thing.

Ambushed in the snow, Kim Geun-bo held his breath and waited for his prey to approach. Behind him, there were two companions. They had been in the mountains for several days, and had only hunted a few small game species such as hares. As long as you hunt this sika deer this time, then the hard work of the past few days will be worth it.

Jin Genbao's luck was very good, the sika deer did not find the hunter in ambush in the snow, and slowly walked towards the snowdrift where Jin Genbao and their ambush were ambushed.

"Bang" A gunshot sounded, and a blood mist erupted from the sika deer's head, and it fell down unwillingly with big eyes.

Two days later, inside the city of Pyongyang.

Kim Geun-bo and three farmers from the same village carried sika deer into Pyongyang City. At the gates of the city, a Korean green battalion commander wearing a hat and a trumpet uniform collected a gate tax of twenty copper plates from them.

In the city, there is a trading house opened by the Eight Banners of North Korea, which is the only legal official merchant in North Korea, and some precious goods can only be sold to them, and other merchants have no right to receive them.

When Jin Genbao and his companions carried the sika deer to the door of the Eight Banners Trading House, there were already many people in front of them queuing, waiting to sell the mountain treasures in their hands. It seems that they still have a lot of goods on hand, including black bear skin, black bear paw, century-old wild ginseng, sable skin and other goods. Not long after, the door of the trading house opened, and the people in front of him walked into the trading house with the mountain treasures they had worked so hard to hunt. But after a while, Jin Genbao heard a commotion in front of him.

"It's the people in front of you who quarreled with the people from the trading house, what the hell is going on?" Kim Gen Bao was very puzzled, so he pricked up his ears curiously, trying to hear what was going on.

I only heard someone vaguely say that they would not accept paper money, but the people in the trading house said that there were only paper money, no cash.

The North Korean who was the first to line up in front of him got angry, and the man turned to his companion and said, "Let's go, we're not selling!" Here only paper money is given, not silver! Isn't that bullying? Let's go sell somewhere else! If it really doesn't work, I'll go to Seoul and sell it! There will always be silver there! ”

The shopkeeper sneered: "Don't dream! This is a Qing Dynasty dragon banknote! Now the imperial court is implementing the Great Qing dragon banknotes all over Korea! If you resist using it, it's like resisting the will! This Daqing dragon banknote, but it is also used on the Daqing territory! Not to mention going to Seoul, even if you go to Yanjing, you still get paper money! ”

"Is there any royal law left?" Jin Genbao said angrily, "We won't sell it!" It's a big deal to go back and eat it yourself! ”