On September 12, the Russian prisoners of war who surrendered in Cheremhovo were successively escorted to a wasteland east of Usolier. This place is located on the opposite bank of the Angara River, and the straight-line distance from Usolier is about three kilometers.

In this field, originally covered with weeds and shrubs, thousands of temporary workers from Irkutsk have been busy for several days. Only a few of them are former settlers, most of the others are island countries and new immigrants who were transported last year and this year.

Because there were too many Russian troops captured, the Northern Navy could not provide enough prisoners of war camps in a short period of time. So when the prisoners arrived one after another, they built their own under the custody of the Northern Navy.

According to the requirements of the Beihai Special District Public Security Police Station, after the cut down logs are removed, they will be processed into wooden piles with a length of three meters and a diameter of twenty centimeters on a simple woodworking bed. Then, they are buried one meter deep underground at a distance of two meters, forming horizontal, vertical and square grids on the ground.

The wooden stakes are connected by iron wire with butterfly blades, starting from a height of thirty centimeters from the ground, and separated in sequence, blocking six paths in total. In this way, a square area of ​​10,000 square meters is formed, which is slightly larger than a standard football field.

After all, there are many people and strong forces, and the cold wind at night is already bit biting, so the Tsarist Russian prisoners worked very hard. Since early September, more than a dozen prisoner camps have been surrounded.

The Russian military supplies seized from the battlefield were also transported here after preliminary inspections. Items such as tents and blankets were sprinkled with a large amount of quicklime powder and were distributed one after another, which also ensured that the prisoners of war had a minimum residence.

The first thing the prisoners did after entering the camp was to dig a toilet. This order caused great dissatisfaction among the prisoners. The first thing they had to do was to build a house to shelter from the wind and rain! However, a citizen of Irkutsk who was working on the scene couldn't help but persuade him to speak kindly.

"Guys, it's right for the Chinese to let you do this. You must know that public health is very important, otherwise there will be a plague inside you."

"Public...hygiene?" The Russian officer who heard the explanation showed a shocked expression, but he was still shocked by the word "plague".

You should know that in this year, there was no toilet in the palace of Tsar Village, and people who went out would just find a secluded place to solve the problem. In other words, Irkutsk had few people and the weather was cold, so there was never a plague. However, tens of thousands of prisoners gathered together and had many injuries. If forced management was not carried out, the plague would definitely not run away.

By the way, why didn't the old lady and queen stay in the Tsarist village outside St. Petersburg for many years? Nothing else, Moscow in the 18th century was extremely dirty and messy.

Since the time of Peter the Great, after the Tsarist Russia's power center was transferred from Moscow to St. Petersburg, the abandoned Moscow and its suburbs attracted a large number of serfs and deserters. The growing population has created mountains of garbage and feces, including people and livestock, wastewater and dirt from the slaughter industry and leather factories.

In early 1770, a plague broke out among the Tsarist Russian troops stationed in Moldova. The main transmission route was prisoners of war and spoils. Because the garrison generals concealed the illness from the then superior Rumentsev, the local garrison almost "destroyed". At the end of that year, the plague spread to Moscow and reached the peak of the epidemic in September of the following year, which led to a large number of people fleeing, and the entire city was like a ghost.

At present, the Secretary, who is named as the mayor, Markovic, whose actual power is equivalent to that of the mayor, was exiled to Siberia because of the plague.

After the city declared a state of emergency, shops, hotels, taverns, factories and even churches were ordered to close, and the entire Moscow was surrounded. The residents of the city had no food and clothing, and eventually began to resist. The thugs regarded any emergency measures of the country as a conspiracy to spread the disease, and even killed the Archbishop.

Markovic robbed a church because of hunger. So when the riots subsided and the plague ended, he was still young and sent to Irkutsk.

Although Catherine II later took many measures, the plague continued until 1772. The death toll in Moscow alone was estimated to be 300,000. Despite this, the Tsarist Russian Empire did not improve the level of public health management in the city later, and the dirt and mess in Moscow continued until the second half of the 19th century.

Since Zhang Jingxuan took office, the most public buildings built in Irkutsk City are toilets and septic tanks, and thus they have been nicknamed "Governor of the Toilet".

In the past two years since its governance by Beihai Town, relying on the efforts of the public security police station and the new medical system, public health regulations have become the most stringent law in Irkutsk. Anyone who dares to urinate and defecate on the streets, dumps feces, wastes, or even washes toilets will be fined five silver rubles, plus working as a coolie for three days, responsible for cleaning the streets.

Although these regulations have been agreed upon in Beihai Town and Furdan City, the Russians and Yakuts did not understand this. In the first half of the year of Beihai Town's rule, people were escorted to sweep the streets every day, even including the five people.

Shishkin, a Cossack soldier from the Don River, walked into a large tent in a daze. After entering, he found that the tent was connected in front and behind. A man in a white coat and a white mask ordered him to take off his clothes and shoes, and even let his underwear go. Shishkin saw that he was scanning his North Navy soldier coldly, and he was immediately shocked and stripped himself naked in every possible way.

After he raised his arms barely and turned around slowly, he was then splashed with white powder on his face. Just as Shishkin was at a loss and finally opened his eyes, he immediately stuffed a ball of clothes and a pair of shoes into his arms.

This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! Then, he and nineteen other prisoners with naked butts holding clothes exited from the other side, and quickly stood in two rows under the command of a man wearing a mask and a hoarse voice.

"I only said it once! I heard it clearly! Keep your license plates and clothes! Remember, if you don't have a license plate, you won't have food to eat!"

Only then did Shishkin notice that on the top of the clothes in his arms was a wooden sign with a rope on the top, about half a palm-sized size, and a row of numbers on it.

"151739?" Before Shishkin could figure out what it meant, he was immediately bombarded by someone to wear clothes.

The clothes and shoes of prisoners of war were made by Beihai Town themselves, and the styles were imitated by the dark blue upper and lower cotton jackets in another time and space. The shoes were also the kind of lace-up cotton shoes from later generations. This outfit is easy to distinguish in the Siberian wilderness, and even if someone escapes, he can recognize them at a glance.

After dark, Shishkin, who had dug up the foundation for a afternoon, received his dinner with his license plate, two potatoes and half a bowl of beet soup. Shishkin was not full at all, but he could not starve to death. However, all he could do was pray to God and hope that the war would end soon.

After two consecutive days, more and more Russian prisoners of war were transported from the west bank of the Angara River, and the "cage lattices" that imprisoned them were covered with desolate fields like chessboards. From the Yakut people who were responsible for delivering food to them, Shishkin learned that the Chinese called these squares with barbed wire "camps", and he was in the 15th battalion.

Between each camp, there is a passage of six meters wide. In addition to the wooden wardrobe towers located at the four corners of the camp and more than three meters high, the wire mesh is also covered with glass bottles, canned boxes, and even bells on horses' necks; it sounds loudly as soon as it is touched. At night, the snow light from the four corners of the camp shaking back and forth on the tents of each camp, and the prisoners of war were shaken so hard that they could not sleep well, both worried and afraid.

In Shishkin's view, the Chinese are all magicians. They can move the light like the moon to the human world, so it is difficult for such an opponent to defeat. Perhaps the Queen should have sent a group of monks instead of soldiers before.

On the fourth day of Shishkin's arrival, he had just finished eating a potato for breakfast, and then lined up in the camp to collect tools and work as before. Unlike the previous two days, there was a sudden commotion in front of the team. When Shishkin was about to arrive, he realized that the guard had changed people.

"What's the name?"

"Sishkin Rechkov." Shishkin was surprised to find that the guard who was asking was actually a Russian in an enemy uniform, and the other party's accent was from his hometown.

"Where is from the Don River? Which village?"

Shishkin talked about the village where he was, and the guard laughed when he heard it: "My family is from Kalkin Village, and it is only thirty miles away from you."

"Then why, why...will you... be here?" Shishkin almost blurted out. He actually wanted to ask, "Why are you a traitor?"

The guard smiled, instead of answering the question, patted Shishkin on the shoulder and said, "Go to work hard."

After a day of fatigue, Shishkin dragged his tired body back to the tent and was about to go to dinner when he heard someone outside shouting: "Sishkin Rechkov!"

Shishkin quickly came out and stood attentively and said loudly: "Yes!" The reason he did this was not because of his identity as a soldier, but because of the request in the prisoner-of-war camp.

It was already dark outside, but the pine oil torches inserted on the ground were burning strongly. Only then did he see clearly that the person who called him was the guard he met in the morning.

"Relax, man." The man grinned and walked up to him and whispered, "Have you had dinner yet? Come with me and take you to a good place." The man turned around and left after he said that, and then suddenly stopped and said, "By the way, my name is Mikhail."

The confused Shishkin was taken to the gate of Camp No. 15 by Mikhail. When he arrived here, he found that Mikhail had not only found him, but also had more than twenty other Cossacks.

After registering with the guards of the camp, a group of people left the camp, and then carefully followed Mikhail under the light of pine oil torches on the side of the road. After more than twenty minutes, they finally arrived outside a tall wooden house outside the camp. Along the way, Shishkin noticed that about five or six North Navy soldiers were following them. I guess anyone who wanted to escape would definitely be shot to death.

"Please come in, guys!" Mikhail opened the door and greeted more than 20 Cossack prisoners with a smile.

However, when a group of prisoners walked into the house uneasy, they were immediately blinded by the scene in front of them. There were more than a dozen long tables and benches in the house, and some prisoners of war had already sat there in advance. The table was covered with snow-white tablecloths and bright oil lamps. What made Shishkin and others salivate the most was that the plates on the table were filled with fragrant bread and various meat, and even a few bottles of wine.

At this time, a medium-sized and very strong man in the room shouted loudly: "Brothers, please sit down quickly, don't be polite."

Like Mikhail, this man is also a Russian. He is wearing a dark green North Navy uniform, with a wide leather belt around his waist, and the copper buckles on it are shiny. He has a pair of broad shoulders, a big black beard, and a few white silks in the middle; his big eyes are bright and energetic. The expression on his face makes people feel inexplicably at ease.

Shishkin and others sat down tremblingly, looked at me with others, and looked at you, swallowing saliva one by one, his eyes dripping, but he didn't dare to speak. The Chinese people are strict, and many people have been punished for violating the regulations in the past two days. In addition to being whipped, the most unacceptable thing is hunger.

At this moment, the strong man walked to the middle of the crowd and shouted: "I will introduce myself. My name is Ivan. Like you, they are all Cossacks from the Don."

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content behind! Suddenly, someone among the Cossack prisoners present said coldly: "Then why are you wearing the enemy's clothes? Are you working for them now?"

Ivan ignored the man and grinned, "Everyone is hungry, eat something first." After that, he took the bottle and cup on the table, poured himself a glass of wine, and drank it down.

Shishkin was tired for a day and was already hungry. When he saw someone reaching out to get the bread, he also stuffed it into his mouth. The newly-made rye bread was so delicious!

As more and more people started, after a while, everyone swept the clouds and swept away all the food on the table.

After everyone finished their meals satisfied and drank two more glasses of wine, the man named Ivan said loudly: "Cossack brothers! The brutal Romanov dynasty made you fight a war to invade other countries' territory. Suvorov failed, and now Rumentsev failed! I was commissioned by the Cossack Congress and the Military Amanta (the supreme military leader) and called on everyone to unite, defeat the rule of the vicious old woman, and establish our own Cossack kingdom in the vast land east of the Ural Mountains!

The Chinese are not our enemies, Lake Baikal is their inherent territory, and they had already grazed here more than a thousand years ago. Now they entrusted me to send warm greetings and salutes to you. They are not willing to fight with you, but are willing to form an alliance with us..."

My God! Did I drink too much and my ears are not working well? This guy actually called Vicious Old Woman?!

The Cossack prisoners present, including Shishkin, were stunned by these rebellious remarks.

When Ivan finished his long speech, the house fell into silence. After a while, someone finally woke up and said angrily: "What are you talking nonsense! We have our own military leader."

Mikhail, who had not spoken, suddenly said, "Is it so? Are they elected by the Cossack Congress? Since the death of Romazanov Peter Emelianovich seventy years ago, all military Atamans were appointed by the Tsar. They were in love with the nobles. The Cossack Congress has long ceased to exist and our power has been deprived!"

The so-called "Cossack Congress", also known as the General Military Commission of the Cossack, covers military, economic, administrative, political, legal, social and all other affairs. According to the traditions of the various Cossack ministries, the Cossack Congress generally holds meetings every year or every few years to discuss all the issues accumulated during this period. In the time between the two convenings, the "Military Ataman" - that is, the supreme military leader, is solely responsible.

For example, after Pugachev was defeated and fled by Suvorov, people turned against him, and he was tied up by his accomplices. After that, other rebels convened a Cossack meeting, and in the end, most voted in favor and sent Ataman, Pugachev, to Kazan. Only 32 of the 186 people present at that time voted against and one abstained.

After 1718, the Cossack Congress was abolished, and all the highest military leaders after that were appointed by the Tsar, which made the Cossack nobles and the Tsarist Russian powerful people closely connected. The reason why the Pugachev riots joined the group was due to the long-term dissatisfaction with these powerful people.

Seeing that everyone could not answer, Mikhail said again: "In the real Cossack Conference, everyone should be able to speak freely, and everyone can express their opinions on the future of Cossacks, regardless of high or low. But since Pugachev was sent to the hands of evil enemies by those traitors, our right to speak has been deprived of by those nobles!"

Having said that, Shishkin suddenly raised his hand and asked, "Who is the supreme military leader you just mentioned? Which congress was he elected?"

Mikhail walked up to Shishkin, patted the other party on the shoulder, and praised: "Brother, you have asked the point!"

After saying that, he looked around the prisoners present, then walked to Ivan, showed a serious expression on his face, and said in a deep voice: "Please allow me to introduce--Alexander Ivanovic Pugachev, he is the supreme military leader elected by our Don Cossack Congress, and he is also the eldest son of the Cossack hero Yemelyan Ivanovic Pugachev."
Chapter completed!