I

Astrakhan is known as Moscow’s “Window to the East”.

Goods from Moscow can be transported here quickly through the Volga River and its tributaries. Then, across the Caspian Sea is Persia. Similarly, goods from Persia can also be transported to Moscow very conveniently through this trade route.

Alexey served as a soldier in this city. His father, grandfather, and great-grandfather had always been soldiers here.

His great-grandfather even participated in the construction of the fortress here.

More than a hundred years ago, Ivan IV created the Shooting Army, bypassing the traditional nobility and recruiting free people to train musketeers. His great-grandfather was one of them. At that time, he was invincible in the Volga River Basin. No matter which enemy saw the shooting army, he was frightened.

Today, Alexey is still a shooter, and he must be, and his descendants must be.

Since he was stationed on the border, Alexei at least had muskets. Many of the shooting troops in the interior did not even have muskets.

Moscow has more than 20,000 shooters, a large part of whom are acting as police and firefighters. Firefighters, in particular, can only receive food rations, their weapons are just a few buckets, and they usually don’t receive wages. More than ten years ago, shooting troops across the country had to pay taxes, and they had to pay a poll tax no matter what they did.

After Alexey I took office, the Shooting Army finally no longer had to pay for its work, but...that's all.

There are three hundred standing border guards in the fortress, who are the Tsar's own sons. There is military pay, good food, no need to work, just fighting.

And a shooting army like Alexey is, to put it bluntly, similar to a military household in the Ming Dynasty. When they meet a kind commander, they can still receive rations. When they meet a mean commander, they have to work to earn money to support their families. And they also have to serve as free handymen in the fortress. They do all the hard work, and the reward is only a meal at most.

The fortress was surrounded by rebels, and Alexei was very happy.

Because as long as the enemy continues to besiege the city, they are not afraid of going hungry. In order to stabilize the morale of the army, the governor must provide food for the shooting army.

The governor's name was Yakov Bezobrazov, a great nobleman from Moscow. This position was bought. After all, it was the Window to the East. Being the governor of Astrakhan was a good job. You could earn a lot of money from passing business travelers.

They are not afraid of war or anything. Although this is the border of Russia, Persia has not moved northward for decades, and it is impossible for other forces to break through the fortress.

Two of the three rebel armies have already left.

The remaining Mongols also had to work, and it was impossible to besiege the city with a large army all the time. Only more than 2,000 horsemen remained on the east bank of the Volga River.

Governor Yakov completely relaxed and resumed his days of debauchery.

Alexey became sad. He wished that the fortress would always be surrounded by enemy troops and he could barely eat enough every day.

Why didn't the enemy continue to besiege the city?

On this day, Alexey was called to work, and the person he served was an officer in the standing army. Like his great-grandfather, these standing armies were free men recruited by the Tsar, but now they could use him as a slave.

The roof of the officer's house was hit with a hole by Racine's cannon, and the tables, chairs and benches were also smashed.

Several shooting troops were called to repair the house for free and clean the messy house. Alexei was whipped several times by the officer because he worked slowly, and he didn't even have a bite to eat from morning till night.

When he returned home hungry, his wife and children were counting on him.

He originally had four sons and three daughters, three of whom died of hunger and disease. In the past, you could work in the bazaar (big market) on the other side of the fortress, and the couple's wages could barely support their family. However, the Bazaar was looted by the rebels, many wealthy merchants were killed, and the people at the bottom followed Racine in the rebellion and went north.

Under this situation, Alexey could not find a job and completely lost his source of income.

After a few days, the whole family was so hungry that even the table was ground into powder and used to make bread with the remaining flour. Alexei went around looking for people to borrow money and food, but his friends were all shooters. Who in Kuhaha’s family had enough food?

When he returned home again, his wife was crying, but it was his youngest son who died, whether from illness or starvation.

At night, a friend from the shooting army came to visit, and Alexei's family was curled up in bed to eat.

"Egor, why are you here?" Alexey asked.

Yegor said: "There are more than two hundred shooting troops, and all of them have no food at home. We have already agreed that tomorrow we will go to the governor collectively to borrow food, otherwise we will all starve to death. The governor does not want to see this happen." .are you going?"

Alexei said: "Of course I want to go, I don't have any food at home."

The next day, more than two hundred shooting troops surrounded the Governor's Mansion.

Governor Yakov's first reaction was to bring in the standing army to suppress the attack. After learning that the shooting army only came to borrow food, Yakov laughed again: "Lend them some food, but don't starve the animals to death."

"Master is so kind." The butler praised sincerely.

Since it is a loan of food, it will of course have to be returned in the future, and interest will also be calculated.

Alexei owed the governor a lot of grain, and he had long forgotten how much he had to repay with interest. His father also owed money and food to the former governor. The former governor was very kind and didn't care about it when he left. He just took his sister to pay the debt.

But this time the governor did not borrow much, because the fortress was not really safe yet and could be surrounded again at any time. The governor must save food for defense.

Alexey happily returned home with a small bag of flour and found his wife crying while grinding the rest of the table.

His eldest daughter is also dead!

The couple didn't care about their backs and quickly ground the table into powder and mixed the flour to bake bread.

There is very little flour, so I have to eat sparingly, and I don’t know how long it will last.

Alexei not only hoped that the enemy would come again to besiege the city, but also hoped that the enemy would leave completely so that he could resume his trade and work to support his family.

After enduring this for several days, the Mongols finally withdrew.

Governor Yakov drove all the wealthy merchants and people who had fled into the castle back to the city on the other side, and ordered them to return to normal as soon as possible. But it can't be normal, this is a commercial city, Racine is still looting upstream, and business travel has long been cut off.

Alexey went to the city to find a job, but no one hired him. Because there are so many people looking for jobs, if there is a job doing laundry, women will fight in the street over it.

People starved to death every day in the city, and two of the shooting troops in the fortress also died one after another.

The shooting troops went to the governor again to borrow food, but this time they borrowed less food.

Alexey had no choice but to take his second daughter, who was only twelve years old, to the city to beg a rich man to take him as a slave. The fast rich people are very rich. They have a good relationship with the governor. They took the money and food to hide in the castle, and now they return to the city and continue to live a comfortable life.

Alexei's daughter was sallow and thin, and no one would want her even if she gave her away, let alone a sum of money from selling her daughter.

He really couldn't think of any other way, so he finally knelt down in front of the rich man's housekeeper and begged, but what he received was a big-footed man who kicked him to the ground.

Back home, Alexey took out an old matchlock gun, an antique passed down from his great-grandfather. Although it has a history of hundreds of years, it has not been fired a few times, and it is usually well maintained. It is the most valuable thing in the house, so of course it must be taken good care of.

Alexey took out the musket, not to kill or rob, but to sell it in the city.

Many of Tsarist Russia's shooting armies lost their weapons due to poverty.

Holding the matchlock gun, I walked around the city several times. I couldn't find any customers willing to buy guns, but I bumped into several shooting soldiers selling guns.

"Egor, are you here to sell guns too?" Alexey asked.

Yegor said: "If we don't sell guns, the whole family will starve to death. In the past few decades, I have lost two brothers, a sister, and three children, but I have always been reluctant to sell the guns. I won't sell them now." No, I can’t find a job at all.”

Alexey sighed: "Oh, who made us a shooting army?"

Yegor had infinite nostalgia: "It would be great if Ivan the Terrible was still around. I often heard my grandfather talk about how glorious the shooting army was at that time. There were military pay, sufficient rations, and life was like that of a nobleman." Just like a master."

"We have not caught up with the good times. There will be no more Ivan the Terrible in Russia," Alexey said. "If Ivan the Terrible is resurrected, I will be loyal to him and give up my life to fight for him."

Suddenly, a voice came from the side: "Without Ivan the Terrible, we can fight for ourselves and our families!"

Alexei turned around and looked, but it was Nikita, the small leader of the shooting army.

Yegor asked: "How can we fight? Are we going to fight the Tatars and rob the Tatars of food?"

Nikita said: "I know the Cossack leader Racine. If Racine sieges the city for a few more days, I will definitely join the shooting army as an internal response. Racine fights for the poor. He is not a rebel, but our brother." "

"Korasin has already left with the Cossacks," Alexey said.

Nikita said: "Rasin has lived in the Tatar tribe for two years, and he has a good relationship with the Tatars. We can call ourselves friends of Rasin and go east to join the Tatars. We have muskets in our hands. , is also capable of fighting, and the Tatars will definitely be willing to take us in."

Alexey was shocked: “But the Tatars are pagans!”

Nikita said: "The pagans can give us food to eat, but the governor only borrows a little bit of food each time. He doesn't let us starve to death, nor does he let us have enough to eat, let alone the life and death of our family members."

Yegor said: "Can you guarantee that the pagans will really take us in?"

Nikita said: "You can send someone to contact you first. I am a low-level officer in the shooting army. I cannot leave for too long at will. Which of you is willing to help me go and contact the Tatars in the east?"

Yegor hesitated.

Alexey gritted his teeth and said, "I'll go, but you have to take good care of my family!"

"I still have some bread at home," said Nikita, "and your family is my family."

"I won't go back to the fortress today. I will stay at the Grand Bazaar in the city," Alexey said. "When it gets dark, I will quietly go to the east to find the Tatars."