With a "bang", the driving armored vehicle heard a crisp sound of metal impact from the position where the engine was at the front of the vehicle. After driving out ten meters, it slowly stopped in the middle of the muddy road.

The commander and gunner who drove the car crawled out of the top cover and opened the engine cover with tools. The commander lowered his head and checked for a long time, but he didn't know what was wrong.

At this time, Fan Tong, who was wearing a steel helmet and sunglasses on his nose, emerged from the top of the command position, sighed helplessly, and asked, "What's going on?"

After the Battle of Outer Mongolia began, Fan Tong and Liu Sheng should be in charge of the command center in Chaktu, but this guy had to suffer from an "armored torrent", so Liu Sheng asked Fan Tong to set out with the armored troops first. The two agreed to meet at Tashartai, four hundred miles north of Kulun on July 9.

It's really strange. Since the Armored Vehicles of the Northern Navy set off from Chaktu, Fan Tong has been with him like the God of Plague. He will have problems with any car when he gets on. At present, the armored Vehicles have just crossed Kutlernarsutai, 310 miles south of Chaktu. He has changed his third car, and he has changed one per 100 miles on average.

Fortunately, Fan Tong was not on the front-end car, otherwise the convoy behind would have to stop and wait, which would affect the troops' mobility. During the maintenance period, more than a dozen armored vehicles following behind him passed by one after another. Fan Tong only left one, and the others were urged by him to continue moving south.

According to the march plan, the armored vehicle troops must arrive at the Tashartai Station 210 miles away today. The Kulun North Road Army Station from Chaktu to Kulun is a total of 12 stops, with a total length of 920 miles. The Tashartai is the eighth stop, located south of Hadama Mountain and north of the Hala River, 520 miles away from Chaktu, which is almost the middle of the entire line.

After contacting the mechanics team at the rear, the other party asked the faulty vehicle to return to the Kutlernarsu Station three kilometers away for maintenance. The North Navy armored troops set up a temporary repair site there. After more than half an hour of tossing, the faulty vehicle was dragged by the leftover armored vehicle with steel cables, and turned around and drove towards the Kutlernarsu Station.

As a temporary repair site, the Kutlernarsu Station is not large in scale. There were originally six thatched houses, four for accommodation, two for warehouses, and several cattle sheds. However, following the Kulun side’s order to “retreat the entire line, strengthen the walls and clear the fields”, the postmen used a fire to turn all the buildings and things that could not be taken away into ruins before leaving.

After the Northern Navy occupied this place, it simply cleaned the ruins; set up several tents, built simple fortifications, and surrounded the perimeter of the station with barbed wire to prevent wild animals. The most conspicuous thing in the empty field was a three-meter-high gantry made of steel pipes and logs, which was mainly used to hoist the engine.

When Fan Tong and his party arrived at the inn, it was almost dusk and saw a 10-ton high-chassis crawler transport truck parked in the yard. This thing was for the mechanics repair crew, and was bought by Zhao Xin from another time and space. It is not expensive, it is durable, and has no problem with off-road passing ability. It also has a car bucket of more than four meters long, which can accommodate both people and repair tools and parts. It is definitely a must-have artifact for Outer Mongolia travel in the 18th century.

After the faulty car was parked, several repairmen opened the cover of the front machine to expose the engine and gearbox inside. The engine was checked, the pipeline was checked, and the fire protection system was checked. When the gearbox was found, they finally found the problem.

"The edge of the gear falls off." The leader of the maintenance team is Zhao Mao, who is Maosuke among the "Seven Warriors" under Zhao Xin. He and Wan Zao were the first to join the civil affairs tractor team, driving first and then repairing. After five or six years, they have rich experience. Zhao Mao finished gnawing the armored vehicle repair manual that Zhao Xin asked someone to translate last year. Now he is the "number one" in Beihai Town for repairing armored vehicles and tractors.

"How could this happen?!" It's not a minor problem to fall off the gear edge. Fan Tong knew that the gearbox might be broken.

"It should be that the bearings were not heated in advance according to the technical manual during repairs. In order to save trouble, the cold bearings were hit hard with a sledgehammer. The gear edge of the bearing was smashed and invisible to the naked eye. After driving, the gear edge gradually fell off, causing the gearbox body to be damaged."

"What a fucking mess!"

Hearing Fan Tong's roar, the 19-year-old car captain blushed and stood aside, feeling ashamed. This was what he did, purely to save trouble.

In theory, to form an armored force, you must first start with theoretical learning, and then get on the bus for internship. However, for the North Navy, which generally has a low cultural foundation, theoretical learning is really obscure. Although each vehicle captain has issued a thick maintenance manual, most people still know it but not why, and they cannot fully master equipment management and support construction.

"Young man, please have a better memory!" Fan Tong sighed and patted the young chariot captain's shoulder to show comfort. The punishment was his superior company commander's business, and Fan Tong was more concerned about whether it could be repaired.

"Can you repair it?"

Zhao Mao said with a relaxed look: "We have to change to a new gearbox. I have two sets of spares here. Please don't worry, chief."

After hearing this, Fan Tong said relievedly: "Then you work harder, repair it today, and go on the road tomorrow morning."

The staff accompanied him to report to Chiktu and the troops in front. Fan Tong had nothing to do. He looked around the inn and took two guards to a grass-covered mound outside the barbed wire to see the scenery.

The scenery on the prairie in June is indeed extremely beautiful. Under the afterglow of the sunset, the endless green grass is like a layer of gold edges, which makes people feel trembling. The tributary of the Orkun River on the east side of the station is flowing quietly and sparkling. On the meadow of the river bank one kilometer south, dozens of sheep are being driven back to the railings by herders, a newly built yurt is emitting smoke from cooking stoves, and a child is playing with his own dog in front of the door.

Just as Agui told Qianlong, Khalkha Mongolia is not Mongolia in the south of the desert. Ninety-nine percent of the people here make a living by grazing and living by pursuing water and grass. There are only military farms in Kobudo City, and the wilderness cannot be cleared. What's more, the stations on Kulun North Road are all located in the hilly areas of the Selenge River Basin with abundant water and grass, which is a good place to graz.

The Northern Navy has been in Chikto for several years. Herders from all the alliance banners within hundreds of miles have heard of this famous army. Not only are they powerful in wars, but they are also kind to the people. Some poor herders crossed the border to hunt and grazed, but the Northern Navy patrol team did not drive them away when they encountered it. After checking, they asked them to leave on their own. Sometimes they would use dry food to exchange for prey they called from each other.

You should know that before the Northern Navy conquered East and West Siberia, the Qing and Russia punished cross-border hunting very severely. According to the provisions of the Brenschi Treaty, if anyone on both sides crossed the border to hunt, they would not only confiscate their prey, weapons, saddles and all items after being caught, but also be beaten with a hundred sticks to serve as a warning.

Faced with such a beautiful scenery, Fan Tong really wanted to recite a poem or sing a song, but as soon as he started to be emotional, he was interrupted by the buzzing sound of mosquitoes around him. The more grass and water were on the grass in summer, it meant that there were countless mosquitoes. Fortunately, he and his men were wearing mosquito hats, long clothes and trousers, and sprayed with mosquito repellent water on their bodies, otherwise they would have to be covered in their faces.

When the sunset disappeared on the horizon, Fan Tong, who had returned to the tent, received a sentry report saying that a Mongolian shepherd led a horse and two tied sheep to the outside of the station. There was a Briat soldier named Baoyinlige in the infantry squad stationed here. After asking the other party, he realized that the herder was here to pay the tax.

"Pay tax? What tax?" Fan Tong was a little surprised. The North Navy did not stipulate that herders should pay taxes.

"Chief, this is the case. The lords of Zhazak Banners would tax the herdsmen below. Now the princes and Taijis have all gone south, so the herdsmen have come to pay taxes to us."

"Oh, that's it!" Fan Tong suddenly realized that he still had some understanding of this matter.

In this era, Mongolian princes and Taiji levies were all in kind taxes, and the number of cattle and sheep was used as the basis for tax collection. The calculation ratio of cattle and sheep was one to five. For example, if there are more than five cattle or twenty sheep, one sheep should be taxed; if there are forty sheep, two sheep should be taxed; if there are not enough five cattle, one cattle will be taxed by taking corn for three pots.

The problem is where does the corn come from if herders don’t farm? Simple, sell the sheep first for money, and then buy rice with money. Inside and outside, you have to be exploited before paying taxes.

That's it, but in fact, in order to plunder more wealth, princes and nobles often increase temporary levies. These temporary levies have basically no fixed quotas and are extremely numerous. Therefore, the majority of herders are increasingly poor. Once they encounter natural disasters, they often cannot stand on their own. They either flee with flags or sell themselves as slaves.

Fan Tong immediately said to the sentry: "You go and tell that man, just say that our North Navy has no rules. We can buy a few sheep and ask him if he wants salt or food."

"yes!"

A few minutes later, Zhuangdingbulgude, who belonged to the right wing of Tushetukhan's tribe, opened his mouth in disbelief after hearing from Baoyinlige that he did not collect taxes. However, what surged in his heart was not joy, but panic, and he didn't even listen to the words of buying sheep later.

The reason why Burgud is like this can be explained by a Mongolian saying: there is no Alebatu without Nuoyan, and there is no Alebatu without Nuoyan. The so-called "Nuoyan" is the lord, and "Albatu" is the civilian.

The Mongols under the Qing Dynasty were divided into four classes: secular lords, monk lords, civilians and slaves. Among them, civilians were divided into two classes. The first was the free people, including the arcade and the divine. Among them, the arcade is the army, belonging to the Zhasak; the divine is the temple, namely the novice and the lama. The second was the people, including Suiding, Lingding, Temple, Zhuangding, etc.

Suiding bears taxes and other obligations to the princes and princes, and is exclusive to the princes and princes, and has no burden on the flag; Lingding is the person who guards the tombs for the princes and nobles; Templeding belongs to the temple and the Zazak Lama; Zhuangding refers to the farmer who works for farming and grazing for the master. Although these various "Dings" are not as easy to buy and sell and pawn by the lord, their status is low and they are almost the same as domestic slaves.

For Zhuandimpurgude, who is the right wing of Tushetukhan's army, since the Northern Navy has killed off the original lord Taiji and occupied a large area of ​​grassland on the river bank, they are the new local lords, and paying taxes is only natural.

The Northern Navy on duty at the door made the Northern Navy laugh and cry. Baoyin Lige spent another long time talking and finally made the other party understand that the Northern Navy did not collect taxes on poor herders.

“No taxes are really taken?”

"No!" Hearing the decisive words of the sentry on duty, Bulkud finally felt relieved. At this moment, he suddenly remembered that the sentry seemed to have mentioned that sheep could be exchanged for salt.

"Do you have salt? I think...I think I can exchange it with you? Don't need too much, a small bag is enough."

"Yes! Our leader said that we can buy you some sheep with food and salt."

Now, Bulkud was finally overjoyed. He said to the sentry with gratitude: "Can I change some of them? If you have tea, I want to change them too."

When a deal was concluded, both sides were very happy, and Fan Tong came out to watch the fun. When Bulkud heard that the smiling fat man in front of him was a high-ranking official of the Northern Navy, he immediately knelt down and kowtowed with gratitude. Fan Tong didn't care about the fishy smell on the other party's body, so he stepped forward to help him up. Brabra made a few words of comfort. Only then did he realize that the seemingly middle-aged Mongolian in front of him was just in his early twenties, and he had two sons, five years old and three years old.

"Why didn't you run towards Culun?"

"Everyone goes there, there are too many people, and the cattle and sheep are crowded together. They are prone to illness and have no food."

"You flag owner doesn't care?"

"The little one is not an arrow, so you don't have to listen to his grazing."

"How are your life?"

"As long as there is no corvee service, you can make a living. If you catch up with a natural disaster, the family will go hungry."

It was quite cold in the middle of summer, and the average temperature was only 0.7 degrees above the average temperature. The people in the mechanics team were still rushing to repair it. Fan Tong asked the cooks to slaughter a sheep and make soup to make a tooth sacrifice for everyone. Bulkud went over to help. He could see from the clumsy movements of the cooks that these "Bodhisattva soldiers" were not good at killing sheep.

The Mongolians had their own set of slaughtering sheep, and their techniques were very neat, which opened Fan Tong's eyes. Buergud and the cooks put the sheep down on a clean ground together, and then he used a knife to pierce a hole of more than two inches long in the lower part of his chest. Then Buergud put his hand into his abdomen, stabbed the sheep's chest diaphragm with his fingers, and then into the chest cavity. He used his fingers to fumble the aortic blood vessels in the spine, and pulled it off. At the same time, in order to allow the sheep's blood to flow into the chest cavity quickly, Buergud asked the cooks to cover the sheep's mouth with his hands to suffocate him.

Then it was to put the skin in the middle, then the upper tail. The Bulgud technique was very fast. In just over ten minutes, a complete sheepskin was peeled off. Then it was to open the limbs, take the internal organs, and then insert the limbs into the mouth of the chest and diaphragm to form a bucket-shaped chest cavity so that the sheep blood was concentrated in the chest cavity.

"Check a few pieces of meat down, you need both the sheep eggs and the waist!" Fan Tong's index finger was already moving, and the bonfire that drove away mosquitoes in the empty field also rose. He planned to grill some meat skewers.

At this point, the work in the future could be completed by the cooks. However, when Bulkud helped the cooks move the sheep into the kitchen, he was immediately attracted by the shiny cookware. He looked at the aluminum pots of different sizes on the stove and wooden shelves, and his eyes showed envy.

After a long time of busyness, until the fresh lamb and large bones began to cook and the aroma came out, Bulkud walked out of the kitchen. When he saw the burning bonfire in the yard, he frowned and found Baoyinlige by the fire. After saying a few words, he quickly walked to the door, turned over and went to the yurt with his own yurt.

The sentry on duty at the door was very surprised and shouted: "Hey? Why didn't he even take the things?"

Baoyin Lige came over and explained: "He said that we did not put hay or cow dung in the fire. The smoke was not big enough and we could not smoke it. Let's get some for us when we went back."

More than half an hour later, Bulkud came back on his horse. A cloth bag was added on the horse's back, filled with dry cow dung. He walked to the campfire with the bag and bowed to Fan Tong who was eating barbecue. Then he poured half of the cow dung into the fire. In an instant, a thick stream of white smoke rose up. Not only did the mosquitoes run away, but Fan Tong also ran away.

Later, in order to thank this simple herdsman, Fan Tong not only gave Burgude a bag of 50 kilograms of flour, a kilogram of fine salt and a bag of tea, but even asked the cooks to give him a large aluminum pot with a diameter of 40 cm.

Such a generous gift scared Bulkud and knelt on the ground excitedly. You must know that metal cookware is too precious to people on the grassland!

In the past, when they exchanged things from Shanxi merchants, even five sheep could not exchange for a small iron pot. In Bulgud's view, such a large pot, although it was not iron, had a shiny appearance, which was worth at least twenty sheep.

Speaking of another time and space, many people believe that the ancient nomadic people lived a fairy-like life. Every day, roasted lamb legs and roasted lamb chops, drink beef and goat milk, and make somersaults when riding on horseback. The per capita battle value is extremely high. Why can't you beat the Qing Dynasty and be willing to be exploited and ruled by others?

Well, Zhao Yi, who is known as the "Three Great Masters of the Spiritual Sect" together with Yuan Mei and Zhang Wentao, mentioned this in his experience-related book "Miscellaneous Notes on Eaves".

Zhao Yi once worked as Zhang Jing of the Military Affairs Office and followed Qianlong to the Summer Resort. From this, he learned about the living conditions of ordinary Mongolians.

Once a Mongolian soldier who could speak Chinese told him that only Wang Gongtai was able to eat meat. We were poor and humble. Only on holidays can we kill a sheep and have to share the food. Usually, we eat cheese and drink milk tea every day. If the conditions are good, we put some fried millet or millet into the tea.

Although Bulkud raised dozens of sheep, no matter how many sheep there were, it was just a tool of production and definitely not food. Even if he died of a natural disaster, he would not dare to eat a single bite and he had to hand it over to the owner's manager.

Fan Tong smiled and stuffed the aluminum pot into the other party's arms without saying anything, and asked Baoyinlige to help hang the grain and the bag containing salt and tea on the saddle.

Before leaving, Bulkud suddenly leaned down at Fan Tong's feet again, sobbing like a trembling sound, Brabra said a few words in a hoarse voice, and then he disappeared into the darkness with his horse.

Until the person disappeared, Fan Tong asked Baoyin Lige casually: "What did he say just now?"

"He said that no matter where he is going to graz, even if it is thousands of miles away, just use him and you will be here to work hard!"

“…”
Chapter completed!