ten 2
The dawn of that day was strangely tragic. At the Tal Pass in Chelegou, Reiza led the warriors of the Kyakhta tribe to fight hard and wiped out most of the Junggar soldiers who had fled there. When the sun slowly rose, it shone on the red willows in Chelegou, which were full of corpses. The smell of blood filled the air, making everyone's eyes seem foggy.
However, Liu Qingye was sure that the mist in his eyes was not because of the choking blood, but because of Moller, because of the happy smile on Moller's face. Dan Ying knelt beside him like a wooden man.
The people of the Lantern Festival were busy interrogating a Dzungarian who could speak Chinese. Uyghurs and Kazakhs were lying or sitting around, resting. Wutan, Asu, Zai and others were digging shallow graves in the sand with sabers.
Liu Qingye felt something stuck in his throat, choking him to death, it was very painful. This pain was even worse than his wound that had opened again. He felt a little dizzy, so he used the long knife with a curled blade to support himself and stood up. He walked to Wu Tan and others and began to dig the soil fiercely.
Wutan, Asu and Zai were all stunned for a moment, and then burst into tears. They asked, "Liu Qingye, how could Moler die?"
Liu Qingye said nothing, but dug the soil vigorously - yes, how could Moler die? The boy who jumped down from the poplar tree, the boy who said "good brothers are loyal", the boy who warned himself not to take the red eagle away, the boy who forced himself to swear to protect the red eagle forever - how could he die? The boy who died to save the red eagle!
Liu Qingye didn't realize that he was holding the blade instead of the handle of the knife, and drops of blood fell onto the dry sand.
Moller finally fulfilled the oath he made at the age of eighteen and spent his entire life protecting the Dan Eagle and serving the Dan Eagle.
"If you don't say anything, I'll take it as your consent!"
When the mud covered Moller's last smile, Liu Qingye stared at him deeply, imprinting his love rival and good brother in his heart. At the same time, he silently repeated over and over again: "I promise you, Moller."
Dan Ying remained silent. Li Mingxin quietly came over and patted her on the shoulder, also speechless. Cheng Anren carried a big knife and bowed three times to Moler's grave, saying, "Damn it, Moler, I will definitely avenge you!"
When Liu Qingye heard him say "revenge", he thought Dan Ying would jump up impulsively again. Just as he was about to stop him, he saw Dan Ying clench his fist, stand up, and walk towards the people of the Chuan Deng Society.
Liu Qingye called out "Dan Ying", but she seemed not to hear him and just knelt down in front of Meng Hu. "Uncle Meng..." she said, "I was wrong...about the war...I...I was wrong..."
Everyone was stunned. No one expected that such a fierce Dan Ying, who had killed people with wounds all over his body but never bowed his head, would now admit his mistake. They all looked at her, and Liu Qingye also looked at her. Dan Ying's expression was unexpectedly calm, with only a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth.
Meng Hu helped Dan Ying up with both hands, without blaming or praising him, he just said, "Take a good rest, we are going to fight again."
Dan Ying raised his face and asked: "Where are you going to hit again?"
Meng Hu said, "The ancient city of Hatai is located in the north of Dachelgou." He pointed to the captured Junggar and said, "This guy is the military advisor of the Junggar army. He said that the ruins of the ancient city of Hatai are now a Junggar fortress used to store food and grass. Those who escaped from here all ran to Hatai. We must pursue them while we are victorious."
Dan Ying's expression immediately changed, and his tone became higher: "Okay, Uncle Meng, how do you say we should fight?"
Her words made Meng Hu even more surprised, but after a moment of shock, he smiled and said, "Come here, I'll tell you." Then he started drawing on the sand with a red willow branch.
When Liu Qingye saw such a complicated map, he couldn't help but want to avoid it, but this time he thought: "I promised Moller to protect Dan Ying. It's not enough to just side with Dan Ying. I must be like Uncle Meng, who is proficient in military tactics and never let Dan Ying fall into danger again!" Then, he also walked forward and listened carefully.
Meng Hu said: "The ancient city of Hatai has a history of hundreds of years. It was originally a strategic location, but it has long been abandoned. I think that even if the Junggars had prepared in advance, they would not be able to rebuild the city in a short time. Moreover, in this rush, they probably relied on the sufficient food and grass inside, closed the gates, and planned to defend it to the death."
Yan Tiebi said, "If they really insist on defending, we can't continue to waste time with them now."
Meng Hu said: "Of course, everyone is tired, who has the energy to guard slowly - but I don't think these Junggars can hold out for long in there."
Yan Tiebi asked, "What do you mean?"
Meng Hu said: "The most common reason why ancient desert cities are abandoned is drought - perhaps the river flowing through the city suddenly changed its course."
"That's right!" Reiza interrupted, "When I was a child, there was a Zhuoerle River near Hatai City. When I was a teenager, the Zhuoerle River changed its course and moved a mile away. When I went there last year, the river had disappeared - Hatai City was a desert, and the Junggar people would have died of thirst in it."
Meng Hu took a look at the captured Junggar military advisor and saw that he had a gloomy face. He guessed that what Reiza said was true, so he said: "Chief Reiza confirmed my guess, that's even better. Let's fill the leather bags nearby with water and take turns to guard Hatai City. When the Junggars are half dead from thirst, we will kill them one by one." He pointed to several places on the map and said: "Heya said that there are some rocky mountains and piles of rocks in these places. Everyone, be careful and don't let the Junggars escape to these places. It will be difficult to track them down."
Everyone nodded to show that they understood. Chen Luohui smiled and said, "Okay, okay, these places are easy to defend. It seems that we will go to Hatai City to eat the Junggar people's food and grass as early as noon or as late as dusk."
Cheng Anren was also full of confidence: "Hey, it's a pity that Hatai is not the lair of that old guy Galdan, otherwise his grandfather, I would also go in and give him the 'Ten Days of Hatai' and the 'Three Massacres of Junggar', haha!"
Wang Chunshan was very unhappy with this: "We can't do what the Manchus did, otherwise we will be no different from beasts."
Cheng Anren was stunned for a moment, then laughed, "Hehe, just a joke... just a joke... ha, it's that son of a bitch Galdan is so abominable, his grandfather wants to tear him into pieces!"
"Wow——" Chen Luohui said, "This son of a bitch is your grandson, you are so awesome!"
Everyone was stunned, and then they realized that Cheng Anren used too many foul language, and Chen Luohui caught him, and they all laughed. Although Cheng Anren was angry, he knew that he would never be able to win a quarrel with Chen Luohui, so he could only scratch his head and cursed twice.
Liu Qingye couldn't laugh. He knew Dan Ying couldn't laugh either - he glanced at Dan Ying and felt that she had...couldn't tell, had she grown up overnight?
As the sun rose higher, the ancient city of Hatai shone brightly in the Gobi Desert.Located on a small earthen slope, the wind and sand have long wiped out the traces of the ancient prosperity, and of course, also wiped out the footprints of the Junggar people's hasty escape. Everyone looked from a distance and saw that the city gate was closed and a few Junggar people were looking out from the city.
Meng Hu saw that the terrain of Hatai City was almost exactly the same as the description of the Junggar military advisor. He smiled slightly and said, "Let's rest under the city and find a shady place to sit."
Seeing that he was so confident, everyone became more confident. According to the previous arrangement, they sat down on the hills, piles of rocks and other dangerous places around the city, some standing guard, some resting. Compared with the hard battle in Chelegou last night, the siege was much easier at this time.
The Junggars probably stored some water before entering the city, so there was still no movement in the city at noon. Meng Hu and others did not take it seriously, because they were outside the siege and could go to replenish dry food and water at any time. He even asked Wu Tan, Asu and others to kill the Junggar war horses captured in Chelegou last night, and barbecued them under the city. Everyone gathered around and ate them, drinking water instead of wine, looking carefree.
However, at dusk, there was still no movement in the city. Everyone was a little suspicious. Cheng Anren was the first to lose his temper. He grabbed the collar of the Junggar military advisor and said, "Damn it, how much food and drink do you have?"
The military advisor said coldly: "Our Khan is very smart. You can never dream of trapping our Junggar warriors to death."
Cheng Anren immediately got angry and was about to slap the military advisor in the face, but Meng Hu came up to stop him. Cheng Anren angrily said, "How long are we going to waste here? Didn't you hear what this bastard said, that they have plenty of food and grass?"
Meng Hu said calmly, "Even if there are too many, they will eventually run out. Besides, the weather in the Gobi Desert is so dry that it is easy to store food and grass, but it is difficult to store clean water. There is no water source in the city, so they will leave sooner or later."
Cheng Anren said, "Kill them when they come out, kill them when they go in, isn't it the same? I can't stand this rage, I'm going to charge into the city, chop these bastards to death, and avenge Moler!" As he spoke, he turned around and said to Dan Ying, "Dan Ying girl, let's charge in!"
At this time, the people from the Ale tribe and the Kazakhs were also getting anxious. They all looked at Dan Ying, waiting for her order - Liu Qingye also looked at Dan Ying.
But Dan Ying was quiet, leaning against a rock. "Wait here," she said, "Uncle Meng knows a lot, and everyone should listen to him."
Cheng Anren was speechless, and after a while he cursed and moved aside. Meng Hu nodded slightly, and stared at the ancient city of Hatai again, muttering to himself: "What's so strange?"
"Or... there really is something strange..." This time it was an old Kazakh man who spoke. No one knew what he was mumbling at first. Until Wutan translated his words, everyone looked at him.
The old man went on thoughtfully, "When I was young, I went to the vicinity of Kunlun Mountain. There are two ruins of ancient cities there, one called Asha Qiaok Turushi and the other called Asinuk Turushi. It is said that they were built by two brothers Qiaok Turushi and Nuk Turushi six hundred years ago. According to local legend, these two were generals of the Yutian Kingdom. Six hundred years ago, the people of Yutian did not believe in Allah, but only in Bodhisattva. The King of Karakhan sent troops from Kashgar to attack Yutian and asked them to worship Allah. The war lasted for a total of twenty-four years."
Uyghurs and Kazakhs believe in Allah, so they nodded their heads when they heard this; but the Han people were secretly surprised: "Whether they believe in Buddhism or Allah, what does it have to do with you?" However, although they thought so, they did not say it out loud.
Dad went on to say, "In the end, the Karakhan King had a strong army and was protected by Allah, so he defeated the Yutian King. From then on, the Yutian Kingdom worshipped Allah. However, Qiaokturusi and Nukturusi were stubborn and insisted on fighting the Karakhan King to the end. When the situation was hopeless, the two retreated to Chaha along the steep Cele River Valley and built castles on the hilltops of the Asha and Asi villages to guard the canyons. These castles were the Asha Qiaokturusi and Asi Nukturusi.
"Although the two castles were strategically located and easy to defend but difficult to attack, there was no water source in the city. I don't know who came up with the idea of the two brothers, but they built a wonderful project. They used copper water pipes to pass through secret stone caves, deep into the river, and bring the river water into the castle..."
When the old man said this, Wu Tan, who was acting as the translator, could not help but exclaimed, "Oh!" After he translated the words, Meng Hu slapped his thigh and said, "Could it be that, old man, you are saying that there is also such a project in the ancient city of Hatai?"
Dad said, "I don't know what kind of engineering the water diversion project of Asha City is. From what I saw at that time, the city wall was built of pebbles and mud. There was a cave on the cliff on the west side leading to the bottom of the mountain. There was also a stone cave below connected to the top. The upper and lower connected caves extended all the way to the river beach below the castle. I think this is the secret passage for diverting water into Cheng. As for how the water was diverted from the bottom of the mountain to the top of the mountain, I don't know."
Those who had been in the Central Plains for a long time knew that it could be done with a simple water wheel. The Central Plains and the Western Regions had good trade relations, so it was not surprising that the water wheel was brought here. However, the city of Asha was above the Cele River Valley and had a water source below, while the city of Hatai in front of them was located in the Gobi Desert, with a vast sea of sand and rugged rocks. The Zhuoerle River had long disappeared. Even if they wanted to divert water, where could they get it?
Meng Hu glanced at the Junggar military advisor and saw that his face was full of sarcasm. He knew that although the issue of the water source in the city might not be what his father guessed, they must be prepared for any eventuality. If everyone continued to defend here, it would take too long and the enemy would inevitably be given an opportunity to take advantage, or reinforcements might arrive.
Thinking of this, he thought for a moment and immediately ordered: "Wutan, you and the Kazakhs continue to grill meat in front of the city and light a bonfire to attract the attention of the Dzungars. The rest of us will go to the back of the city to take a look after it gets dark."
Wu Tan said, "Okay." He was about to turn around to greet everyone, but suddenly he heard a "whoosh" sound, and saw a feather arrow grazing over his head. Wu Tan was so shocked that he fell to the ground. When everyone looked, they saw that it was from the Hatai city, and the Junggar soldiers were shooting arrows upwards, the arrows were whizzing like rain, but because the pile of rocks where everyone was was far away from the Hatai city tower, only a few arrows could reach here.
Fortunately, the arrow that shot Wutan was a spent force, so it only tore off some of his hair. Ah Xu was furious when he saw his friend injured, so he bent his bow and shot an arrow in return. He was so skilled in shooting arrows from a hundred steps away that he immediately shot a Junggar down from the city. At this moment, several more stray arrows whizzed in, and for safety reasons, everyone retreated a few feet.
Seeing this situation, Cheng Anren could no longer hold back and yelled, "Meng Hu, I told you that you should rush in and kill these bastards early, but you didn't listen and now you're using them as targets! Damn it, I won't stand this!"
The Ale tribesmen and the Kazakhs also said, "Miss Danying, let's attack the city. At worst, we can dress up as monsters to scare them after dark..."
