seven 2
"Nonsense!" Cao Mengsheng said angrily, "Dan Ying, your father died to protect you and your people, are you going to give up your life in vain? Asu, Wutan, Zai, the three of you have been to the battlefield, you know what Galdan's troops are like - can you defeat them with just a few of you? Even if you go to find people from other tribes now, do you know where Galdan is?"
The three young men were stunned by his questions. They looked at each other and then at Dan Ying. Dan Ying bit his lip and was silent for a moment, but still said, "I don't care. I don't want to wait here for the Junggars to fight us. I must tell them to go back to their Mongolian homeland!" After that, he turned around and left. Moler followed closely behind.
"Stop!" Cao Mengsheng rushed forward, grabbed Moler's shoulder with his left hand, and slapped Dan Ying's neck with his right palm, knocking her down immediately. "Qingye--" he turned around and ordered, "Take care of your sister, let's go back."
Just as Liu Qingye was about to take the Danying, the Kazakhs gathered around him, making a lot of noise and looking extremely angry. They pointed at Cao Mengsheng and said something, as if they didn't want anyone to take the Danying away. He looked at his master in confusion, then at the others, and saw Wutan stopping an angry Kazakh woman and talking a lot, and the woman's expression softened a little.
Wu Tan said: "My mother is half Kazakh, I can speak a little Kazakh - these friends thought we wanted to hurt Miss Dan Ying, so they wanted to fight us. I explained it to them clearly."
Cao Mengsheng nodded and said, "Okay, let's go." Then he picked up Moller and pushed through the crowd and walked out.
Liu Qingye supported the immobile Dan Ying and followed behind. He inadvertently glanced into Dan Ying's eyes - stubborn, with a hint of resentment. He was shocked: This... Dan Ying is going to resent me.
Several people walked towards their respective mounts, and Wutan explained to the herdsmen in Kazakh along the way, and the misunderstanding was finally resolved. Several Kazakhs also brought Dan Ying and Moler's horses over, and warmly invited them to visit often.
Cheng Anren could not understand either Uyghur or Kazakh. He just felt that both sides were talking in a gibberish, which made him feel overwhelmed. He could not help but say angrily, "Damn it, what kind of bird language is that?" After muttering for a while, he said, "Even if it is bird language, it is better than that bastard's Manchu Tartar language!"
So everyone got on their horses, Cheng Anren led Moler's horse, and Liu Qingye led Dan Ying's horse, and they turned their horses' heads and headed towards the Ale tribe.
However, when they turned around, they suddenly saw a fire rising to the sky in the distance, and a group of torches moved towards them quickly as if the grass was on fire. Cao Mengsheng and others were all shocked. Cheng Anren asked, "What's that strange?" Everyone looked over immediately, and Ah Xu suddenly screamed, "Oh no! It's the Junggars!"
When he shouted, several people were horrified. Liu Qingye looked far away. Although he could not see clearly, there were indeed hundreds of people over there. As he got closer, he heard bursts of wild animal-like howling. Zai, Wutan, Asu, and Cheng Anren had all fought with the Junggar troops before. Seeing this, they were sure that they were Junggars.
"Quick!" Cao Mengsheng reined in his horse and turned around, "Wutan, go tell the Kazakhs! Retreat with us!"
At that moment, several people turned their horses and rushed to the Kazakhs' field. Wu Tan shouted in Kazakh, and the Kazakhs were all frightened and cried and screamed. Cao Mengsheng quickly told Wu Tan to tell the Kazakhs not to pack up their belongings, but to drive the cattle, sheep and horses away if possible.
Although Wutan did as he was told, how could the Kazakhs listen? After a long period of confusion, they fled southeast with Cao Mengsheng and others. At this time, the Junggars were getting closer and closer. When Liu Qingye turned around, he could clearly see their torches.
Cao Mengsheng said, "Let's go quickly. Let the bonfire burn so that the Junggars may stay in the village for a while." As he said that, he whipped a herdsman's horse on its buttocks, causing the man and his horse to rush to the front.
Liu Qingye and Dan Ying walked beside Cao Mengsheng. Although Dan Ying could not move freely, he shouted on horseback: "Why are you running away? Put me down, I want to fight these robbers to the death!"
Cao Mengsheng glanced at her, then glared at Liu Qingye in reproach, "Why are you still standing there? Take your sister away with you!" As he spoke, he hit General Hei on the buttocks with a whip. The beast felt the pain and ran away wildly.
The group ran a short distance under the cover of darkness, and when they looked back, they saw that the Junggars had already entered the village. They thought that they could not find anyone, so they could only plunder all the property. Soon, they saw flames rising into the sky over there, and it was the Junggars burning their tents. The Kazakh herdsmen were extremely sad to see their homes destroyed, and several women and children were sobbing on horseback.
Dan Ying hissed, "Master, why are you running away? Aren't they our enemies? Why don't you just kill them?"
Cao Mengsheng just didn't answer, but asked Wutan to tell everyone to continue moving southeast and never go in the direction of Alebu, otherwise the consequences would be disastrous.
Dan Ying was furious and said, "What are you doing? Why don't you go to Alebu? Aren't uncles all heroes? Can't you even beat these Junggars? Let me down, I want to fight them!"
Liu Qingye couldn't see Dan Ying's face in the dark, but he saw that her eyes seemed to be spitting fire, so he advised: "Junior sister, we can't beat them."
"What do you mean we can't beat them?" Dan Ying said, "We haven't even started fighting yet, how do you know we can't beat them? I don't want to run away! I don't want to run away!"
Liu Qingye was stunned and wanted to persuade him again, but he knew it was futile. He heard Dan Ying repeating: "The worst that can happen is that we will die together with them, what am I afraid of!" He thought to himself: Yes, the worst that can happen is that we will die together, although I don't want you to die, but I am not afraid of dying with you!
Thinking this way, he fell behind a little, almost on par with Cao Mengsheng. Cao Mengsheng said angrily: "Qingye, your sister is ignorant, and you are also confused? Is this the time to be a hero?" He whipped General Hei again. General Hei screamed sadly, ran forward, and also pulled Danying and Yanzhima to the front of the team.
After running for a while, the fire behind them gradually caught up with them - the Junggars had burned the village and were chasing them out. The Kazakhs, with their elderly and children, were no match for the Mongols, who were strong and powerful. The distance between the two sides was shortened in a short while.
At that time, Liu Qingye pulled Danying, Cheng Anren pulled Moler, Asu, Wutan and Zai helped drive the cattle, sheep and horses, and Cao Mengsheng drove the lagging Kazakhs to the front of the team from time to time. The old people sighed, the children cried, the animals screamed, and the chaos was terrible.
The Dzungars who were chasing after them had more than a hundred people riding on tall horses. The sounds of shouting, wild laughter, and horse hooves filled the air.
"Master Cao, what should we do?" Cheng Anren shouted, "It looks like we really have to fight these bastards to the death!"
"No!" Cao Mengsheng looked at the enemy behind him and immediately ordered: "Axu, Wutan, Zai, leave the sheep behind!"
The three young men didn't know what he was up to, and were hesitating when they saw Cao Mengsheng leap up on his horse and land in the middle of the flock. He whipped the sheep with a few swishes and scattered them. The gray-white animals bleated and fled in all directions. Some ran towards the Junggar troops. The Junggars were overjoyed when they saw this, and they all dismounted from their horses to catch the sheep. This delay gradually widened the distance between the two sides.
Liu Qingye knew that Cao Mengsheng was sacrificing his livestock to buy time, but the Kazakh herdsmen were heartbroken. Dan Ying was even more angry and said, "Those are Kazakh livestock, why give them to the Junggar bandits?"
Cao Mengsheng did not answer her, but called Wutan over and asked him to ask the Kazakhs what the terrain was like nearby. Wutan agreed, went to the front and asked around, and reported back: "There is a small hill in front, and the Ajizi River is behind."
Cao Mengsheng said: "Okay, you ask the Kazakhs to lead the way and go over there!" As he spoke, he turned his head to look at the Junggar troops, which were not too far away, and then said to Asu and Zai: "If they catch up soon, leave the cattle behind. If they catch up again, leave the horses behind..."
Ah Xu nodded in agreement and asked, "What if... you catch up with me again?"
"Still catching up?" Cao Mengsheng murmured, "Let's not talk too much, let's go to the Ajizi River!"
When they reached the hill near the Ajizi River, it was the darkest moment before dawn. The cattle, sheep and horses were all scattered. Although the Junggars were robbing them all the way and the team was getting more and more scattered, there were still a large number of enemies chasing them. At this time, there was nothing left to lose. Everyone looked at Cao Mengsheng, who was only a vague shadow in the darkness. But his voice was very clear: "Go over the mountain, quickly!"
The dim morning light showed through, and Liu Qingye could vaguely see the small hill. It was not a hill at all, but a collection of jagged rocks left by the Ajizi River eroding the Gobi Desert. One side was close to the pasture, with sparse grass growing on it, while the other side was bare, with nothing but stones and yellow sand, like hell on earth. The Kazakhs explained that the water of the Ajizi River was extremely salty, and no grass grew near the river. If livestock drank the water, they would get sick and die.
Cao Mengsheng led everyone to carefully climb down the strange rocks, jumped over several gullies, and walked to a place near the Ajizi River. He then led everyone to climb a small rocky mountain and hid behind a huge rock on the top of the mountain.
"Let's hide here," he said, "and trick the Dzungars into chasing us across the Ajizi River."
The Kazakhs had fled a long distance and were exhausted. The husbands hugged their wives, the women hugged their children, and the elderly couples snuggled up to each other, huddled behind huge rocks and shivered.
Liu Qingye watched the sky gradually brighten in the east, but he didn't know what kind of day it would be. He turned his head and saw Dan Ying leaning next to him, still looking angry. He thought to himself: That Junggar man is right behind me. If everyone dies here today, at least I will be with Dan Ying... Just as he was thinking, he happened to see Moler, staring at him, as if to say, "Liu Qingye, don't forget the oath you made." He suddenly felt ashamed: Why did I think of such a depressing thing? If that Junggar man found out, I would fight to the death to protect Dan Ying's safety. He looked back at Moler deeply, which was considered an answer.
After an unknown amount of time, Liu Qingye felt the rocky mountain behind him rumble and shake, and the chaotic sound of horses' hooves made the rock seem to collapse - he knew that the Junggars were coming. He looked at Cao Mengsheng worriedly, and saw that his master's brows were twisted into a "川" shape, thinking: It seems that the master is not sure either!
But at this moment, Cao Mengsheng called out "No" in a low voice, and he rushed diagonally forward. Liu Qingye was startled and saw a Kazakh girl trying to climb down the mountain in panic.
It should be noted that although the boulder is large, it can just cover so many people. If the girl runs like this, she will be seen by the Junggars. No matter how anxious Cao Mengsheng rushed, it was still a few minutes too late. He heard the Junggars on the hill behind him screaming and saw the movement here. The Kazakhs panicked for a while and wanted to run to the Ajizi River. Cao Mengsheng kept saying no. "Clear the field!" He shouted, "Hurry up and ask Wutan to hold everyone back. I will lead the Junggars away!" After that, he jumped up from the ground and jumped out of the protection of the boulder.
Before Liu Qingye could even shout "Master", he saw Cao Mengsheng already climbing up and down on the boulders and running wildly to the west. Hearing the Junggars' strange cries behind him, someone was indeed chasing them, but there were still a group of boulders climbing towards the people's hiding places. At this time, Wutan shouted loudly in Kazakh to everyone, how could they be stopped? Some herdsmen had already fled desperately, and the Junggars shot a few arrows at them, nailing them to the ground.
