eleven 2
"The grievances of the country are nothing compared to the common people." Liu Qingye was surprised when he first heard this sentence, and he almost believed it immediately. However, he now feels more and more that this sentence may never come true - because it seems that no one in the world believes this sentence except Fu Chatao and Mr. Li. Just like Liu Qingye, he cannot deny that the Junggar people are common people - perhaps, there are a few kind-hearted young people like Fu Chatao among the Junggar people - but if they are robbers and invaders, they must be buried. Therefore, it is probably the same to treat the Manchu Tartars... Alas, the same? Is Fu Chatao just a pawn to restore his homeland?
He turned over and sat up, looking at the gradually rounding moon outside through the window. "Whatever, why should I think about these things?" He thought, "I have lived for eighteen years. Master has raised me, so I should obey him and repay him. Moller is a brother to me, so I must not let him down. And my feelings for Dan Ying are self-evident. Fu Chatao once risked his life to save me, so I will never kill him. As for other things, I will just listen to Master's orders! I, Liu Qingye, have no ambitions, but I just want to have a clear conscience."
While he was thinking, he heard someone talking outside. It was vaguely the voices of Meng Hu and Wang Chunshan. Meng Hu said, "Brother, I always feel that Zhong Rui is a little weird."
Wang Chunshan asked: "How do you know that?"
Meng Hu said: "The Dragon Slayer's hero Weng Jihai is a skilled martial artist. If he has the ability to capture Li Yunsheng, then there is no need to be afraid of Mang Keshan. Why do they have to wait for Mang Keshan to send troops before taking action? Moreover, if Mang Keshan is not in Shanshan City, wouldn't it be easy for the Dragon Slayer to kill Fu Chakang? Why do they have to come all the way to seek our help?"
Wang Chunshan pondered and said, "It is indeed a bit strange... However, we will get rid of Fu Chakang sooner or later, no matter whether Zhong Rui is strange or not. After we take down Na Kesu, we will go to Shanshan."
Meng Hu said, "Fu Cha Kang must be eliminated, and Zhong Rui's plan to sow discord is also a very good one. However, I am worried that if Zhong Rui is not a righteous man of the Dragon Slayer Society, but a subordinate of the Tartars, then if we rashly go to Shanshan, won't we fall into the Tartars' evil plan?"
Wang Chunshan said, "Humph, what evil plots can these dogs have? We are not going to Shanshan for now. Once we capture Naksu, we will bring the troops of the thirteen tribes to Shanshan together. No matter what evil plots they have, we will catch these dogs in one fell swoop."
Meng Hu seemed to have something else to say, but after thinking for a moment, he did not say anything. He said, "That's fine. Let's capture Naksu first. But Zhong Rui sent his two disciples back. If he is really a spy of the Tartars, this will be troublesome."
Wang Chunshan asked, "What should we do? Should we capture these two people?"
Meng Hu said: "Catching him back would alert the enemy. For now, we should quickly capture Naksu to prevent any changes."
Wang Chunshan replied, "That's right." Then, he suddenly shouted, "Who?"
Liu Qingye saw him and Meng Hu rushing towards the side of the house at the same time, obviously catching the eavesdropper.
"It's me," the man answered. It was Wu Shuiqing's voice. "Why are you still awake at this hour? Are you still suspecting that I am also a spy of the Tartars?"
Wang Chunshan and Meng Hu were both startled. Then Meng Hu smiled and said, "Fourth sister, aren't you also up in the middle of the night? Are you worried that big brother might catch a cold at night, so you sent him some clothes?"
Wu Shuiqing spat and said, "Bah, you are already old, how come you are even more unruly than Mingxin?"
Meng Hu chuckled and said, "Oh, Fourth Sister finds me annoying, so I have to leave - Brother, Fourth Sister, please don't chat too late!" After saying that, he turned and left.
At this time, the only figures reflected in Liu Qingye's window were Wang Chunshan and Wu Shuiqing. Liu Qingye learned from Li Mingxin that Wang Chunshan had a deep friendship with Wu Shuiqing. He thought, these two seniors have supported each other for many years, and the uncle even brought clothes for Senior Wang to put on late at night. I wonder if I can have Dan Ying by my side when I grow old?
He guessed that the two might have something to say, and it would be bad if he didn't listen, so he lay down and covered his head with the quilt. But suddenly he heard a noise outside, as if someone had knocked on the door, and then he heard Wang Chunshan say, "Fourth sister, wait a minute."
Wu Shuiqing said, "It's late, I should go back. Big brother should also go to bed early."
Wang Chunshan said, "Fourth sister, you...you have changed...We have been together for more than ten years, why have you been avoiding me for the past two months?"
Wu Shuiqing said: "Brother, you drank a few more glasses tonight and got drunk, didn't you?"
Wang Chunshan said: "No, I am very sober - Fourth sister, I must ask you today, is it because of that bastard Li Yunsheng..."
"Brother, what are you talking about!" Wu Shuiqing's voice suddenly changed, "Why did you suddenly mention him...he is a traitor..."
"You know... you know..." Wang Chunshan was a little excited. "Before, he predicted life and death. In your mind, he was your senior brother and a hero. I am not as good as him, and I will not compete with him. But now, you can see that he has surrendered to the Tartar court. He is a traitor and a running dog, and our enemy... Why are you still..."
"What's wrong with me?" Wu Shuiqing said, "What's wrong with me? My husband Li Yunsheng died a long time ago, in the battle of Songqiao Academy. Even if he is not dead, his insignificant deeds cannot be compared with your efforts in expelling the Tartars and restoring the Han Dynasty for more than ten years!"
Wang Chunshan was silent for a moment, then said, "Then...then Fourth Sister, you..."
Wu Shuiqing sighed quietly and said, "Brother, you also said that we have no home until the Tartars are eliminated. You and I are both old people...so let it be." After that, he left, leaving Wang Chunshan who was still in a daze.
Liu Qingye lay quietly on the bed for a long while before he heard Wang Chunshan sigh outside and leave sadly. He slowly stuck his head out from under the quilt and felt the moonlight shining all over the ground - love is a thing. Even though Wang Chunshan has been a leader for half his life, he ended up alone in the cold moonlit night, feeling sad. Alas, Dan Ying... Dan Ying must be thinking about attacking Naksu at this moment!
No one mentioned the late night conversation again, whether it was Wang Chunshan and Meng Hu's suspicion of Zhong Rui or the unresolved conversation between Wang Chunshan and Wu Shuiqing, by the next morning, it was as if nothing had happened. The thirteen tribes and the Lantern Festival went to the Gamutagou near Naksu City according to the original plan.
The shape of the Jiamuta ditch is like a wooden wedge. It is narrow near the Satamong tribe and wide near the city of Naksu. The mountains on both sides are steep and the ditch is rugged and difficult to walk. According to the plan, four tribes including the Kyakhtu tribe among the thirteen tribes occupied the mountain ridge on the northwest side; three tribes including the Xiasak tribe and the remaining personnel of Jiajimu were ambushed on the mountain ridge on the southeast side; the Satamong tribe, the Ale tribe and the Bakhai tribe went straight to the city of Naksu, invited people to fight and pretended to retreat, leading the Junggars to the Jiamuta ditch and annihilating them; the Wagmu tribe, the Yugusa tribe and the Chuan Deng Society took advantage of the Junggar army being trapped in the Jiamuta ditch to capture the city of Naksu in one fell swoop.
Dan Ying, Liu Qingye, Cheng Anren, Daheya, the chief of the Satamon tribe, and Korla, the chief of the Bakhai tribe, led 500 warriors across the Gamuta Valley and arrived at the city of Naksu at dusk. They saw that the city gates were closed, the watchtowers outside the city had been abandoned, and the Junggar soldiers on the tower had their arrows ready, obviously ready to defend to the death.
A group of people set up camp a hundred feet away from the city and watched from afar.
"Damn it, these cowards!" Cheng Anren spat, "They didn't even bother to shoot an arrow at us. It seems they are scared of us."
Daheya said: "It's not good to be afraid of fighting. They are determined to defend the city behind closed doors. This place is not like Hatai City. It's not that easy for us to break in. Besides, Naksu has been occupied by the Junggars for a long time. There are plenty of food, water, and soldiers. They are not afraid of our siege."
"Then...what should we do?" Cheng Anren asked, "We can't just run away if they don't fight, right?"
"We are not here to go for a walk!" Dan Ying said, "Since they are afraid, we should continue to scare them and let them know that if they insist on defending, we will definitely take them down. Maybe they will go out to fight."
Everyone looked at Dan Ying in confusion, but Dan Ying looked up at the sky. It was sunset and moonrise, a bright moon hung above the Naksu Tower, but the northwest corner of the sky was covered with dark clouds, it seemed that there would be a heavy rain that night.
Cheng Anren was anxious and said, "Danying girl, why don't you say something! If you want to fight, let's rush over and fight now!"
Dan Ying smiled, turned his horse's head and said, "Let's go, everyone go back!" As he said that, he whipped the whip and the Rouge Horse galloped back.
Everyone looked at each other, not knowing what the Red Eagle was up to. However, these Uyghur warriors had a certain respect for the Red Eagle leader, who had led his people to many victories at a young age, so they didn't ask any more questions and followed him on horseback.
Liu Qingye followed Dan Ying closely, running in the front. Soon they returned to a valley on the way back, where red willows grew all over the mountain. Dan Ying reined in his horse and smiled at him cunningly: "Liu Qingye, do you still remember the stories from the Three Kingdoms that Uncle Meng told us? There were stories like borrowing arrows with straw boats and the empty city plan?"
Liu Qingye was stunned: At that time, I was accompanying Dan Ying to study and practice martial arts. How could I have any thoughts on the main business? All I saw and heard was Dan Ying. He shook his head.
"Oh, I know that!" Cheng Anren rode up from behind, "I've heard the opera before!"
Dan Ying said: "Uncle Meng said that when fighting, one should use the empty to make the real, and the real to make the empty. Let's perform these two tricks for the son of a bitch from Junggar today!"
When Cheng Anren heard Dan Ying learn his catchphrase, he laughed and said, "Hey, girl, you are learning my words too! But you are better than--" He suddenly remembered that the first person who learned to curse "turtle son of a bitch" was Moler, so he laughed it off and said, "Damn it, how can these turtle sons understand if I sing for them? Unless they pretend to be ghosts like they did last time in Chelegou, haha!"
Dan Ying said, "Don't pretend to be a ghost, pretend to be a human!" Then he jumped off his horse and shouted to the five hundred warriors behind him, "Cut down all these red willow branches for me!"
This order was really strange. The five hundred warriors looked at each other in bewilderment. But seeing that Dan Ying had no intention of joking, they had no choice but to draw their swords and pick a clump of red willows to cut down. In a moment, it was like shaving the mountain, and the red branches fell one by one. After just half an hour, the one-mile square red willow field had been chopped down into a bald mountain .
Daheya and Korla were filled with doubts and asked, "Dan Ying, what exactly are you going to do?"
Dan Ying did not answer, but ordered the warriors to stop, saying: "Everyone, make targets with red willow branches as high as a person, and each person should make twenty." Seeing that everyone was sticking targets with puzzled faces, she smiled and said: "Let's conjure up 10,000 soldiers and horses to scare the Junggar people to death."
Korla was puzzled and asked, "Ten thousand soldiers? What do we need so many for? Aren't we just trying to lure the Dzungars out?"
Dan Ying said, "Without 10,000 soldiers, how could the Junggars come out?" She looked at Korla and then at Daheya, and said with a smile, "Uncles, let Dan Ying handle it this time. In the name of Allah, Dan Ying will definitely capture Naksu!"
Daheya and Korla wanted to ask more questions, but Danying had already picked up a bunch of red willow branches and started to poke the target. The two looked at each other, sighed, and sat down to help poke the target.
After about half an hour, when it was completely dark, the five hundred warriors had made more than 10,000 red willow targets, which were piled up in the mountains. Dan Ying ordered everyone to tie the targets into bundles and drag them behind the horses to head back to Naksu.
At this time, Daheya could no longer hold back and said, "Dan Ying, what on earth are you trying to do? You got so many red willow targets and pretended they were 10,000 soldiers. Can the Junggars believe it?"
Dan Ying said, "Uncle Daheya, Naksu is an important town in the northern border. The Junggars have 10,000 soldiers stationed here, and there are plenty of food, grass and water. Tell me, if we attack this city head-on, how many troops will we need?"
Da Heya said: "This... that Han Chinese Meng Hu often said that if there are ten of them, we should surround them, and if there are five, we should attack them. If we want to attack, we need 50,000 troops - but we don't have 50,000 troops in total from the thirteen Uyghur tribes!"
Dan Ying said, "Yes, although we don't have 50,000 men, we still have 10,000 men. The Junggars have fought with us for such a long time, how could they believe that we only brought 500 men to attack the city? Isn't this obviously a trick?"
Daheya and Korla suddenly realized, "So that's how it is. You want to use these ten thousand targets as soldiers!"
Dan Ying said, "That's right. If we only had 500 people, we might not only fail to lure out the Junggars, but also let them see through our weakness and rush out of the city to kill us. Now we have 10,000 people, and even if they rush out, they will be cautious and dare not act rashly!"
After hearing this, Daheya and Korla couldn't help but exclaimed: "Ah, it really is the world of the young, we are all old!"
Cheng Anren also came up from the side and said, "Haha, girl, this is your empty city plan. Then what is this straw boat borrowing arrows plan?"
Before he could finish his words, there was a sudden thunder in the sky and raindrops as big as soybeans crackled down. The world that was originally bright and clear under the moonlight suddenly became pitch black. It was pitch dark and you couldn't see your hand in front of you. There was no one on the opposite side. Only the city of Naxu could be seen in the distance in the rain net. The lights on the city walls looked like the eyes of wild beasts in the darkness.
Cheng Anren was soaked through and cried out, "Bad luck! Bad luck! It's damn bad luck. In this weather, I can't even see a fart."
Dan Ying laughed and said, "It's good that you can't see. Uncle Cheng has seen a play. Don't you know that when the straw boat was borrowing arrows, there was a thick fog and no one could be seen on the other side? You can't see a shit, and the Junggars can't see a shit either!"
Although Cheng Anren didn't quite understand what Dan Ying was thinking, he was very happy to hear her imitating his words. He said, "Damn it, you are such a smart kid. I admire you. I'll do whatever you say!"
While they were talking, they had already arrived at the place where they would set up camp at dusk. Dan Ying ordered them to stop and told the five hundred warriors to put the red willow targets under the city in the dark, and to line up from ten feet away from the city, with twenty people in each row, with one person hiding in the middle of each square formation of four horizontally and five vertically, and to act according to her horn.
It was raining heavily and the sky was dark. Although the Dzungars on the city had many torches, they could only illuminate a small area of several feet in front of them. How could they know what was going on below? The Uyghurs moved back and forth on the muddy grassland to set up their formations. Except for the strong wind and heavy rain, there was no obstacle. In a short while, 10,000 red willow targets were set up and 500 warriors were in their positions.
Dan Ying, Liu Qingye, Da Heya, Korla, Asu and Cheng Anren stood on the hillside behind the ten thousand targets. Dan Ying said to Cheng Anren, "Uncle Cheng, I know you like attacking the city the most. When I blow the horn later, you will take people to tear down the abandoned watchtower and use it as a ladder to attack the city."
Cheng Anren was overjoyed when he heard this and said, "Okay, okay, darling, just wait and see, Danying girl, I will bring back all the heads of those bastards in the city for you."
Dan Ying said, "Uncle Cheng, I haven't finished yet - you just need to attack, and when I blow the horn twice, you can quickly escape and wait for my order. "
Cheng Anren was puzzled and asked, "Ah? What is this? Attack up and then come down? Then can we still go up?"
Dan Ying said, "When I blow the horn again, you will attack from the same route - the same thing this time, retreat after hearing my horn blow twice."
Cheng Anren said, "Oh, you want me to run away from the battlefield? I won't do it."
Dan Ying's face turned serious and he said, "You just said you would listen to me, how come you changed your mind in the blink of an eye? If you don't want to go, then - Liu Qingye, you come!"
Liu Qingye was about to agree when Cheng Anren rushed forward and said, "Let's go! Damn it, I'll listen to you. I believe you can win the battle! I'm going!" As he said that, he took a breath and jumped a few times, and went to the watchtower.
Dan Ying turned to Daheya and Korla and said, "Uncles, Dan Ying always rushes to the front in battle, but this time I have to be on this hillside to see clearly and give orders. I'll trouble you two uncles with the matters on the battlefield."
Korla said: "You are the leader of the alliance, your plan is good, we will listen to you." Daheya also said: "Leave this matter to uncle!" After the two of them said this, they crouched down and ran into the dark mass of targets.
Dan Ying saw that the two clan leaders were well hidden, so he pointed at the tower and said, "A Xu, shoot down that flag for me!"
Asu looked up and saw the big Dzungar flag on the tower, which was drooping in the rain, but was in the light. As a sharpshooter of the Ale tribe, he could easily shoot a hemp rope a hundred feet away, let alone a flagpole several dozen feet away. He immediately fired an arrow with his strong bow and crossbow.
In the heavy rain, Liu Qingye didn't even hear the sound of the arrows flying, but saw the big flag swaying, the flagpole breaking, and falling from the tower. Then, the lights on the top of the city became chaotic, and people were crowded, and the soldiers on duty were probably awakened.
Without stopping for a moment, Dan Ying pointed to another flag on the battlement and said, "Axu, shoot this one down too! And this one—" She pointed at the flags one by one, and Axu shot one at each one she pointed at. The arrows flew off the bowstring, and the flags on the other side fell down. In the blink of an eye, all the eighteen flags on the top of the city were broken.
At this time, on the Naksu city wall, the Dzungar defenders were in chaos, and shouts and curses could be heard through the rain.
Dan Ying whistled, and the horses hidden at the foot of the mountain behind neighed in unison. When the neighing sounded, three hundred warriors hidden in the red willow formation facing the city wall shot arrows at the city wall at the same time.
It was pitch black below the city, but brightly lit on top. The warriors could see it very clearly and fired arrows at once, killing more than a dozen defenders in an instant.
