twelve 1
The Uyghur warriors rode their horses to Naksu City. What Dan Ying and Reyiza were most worried about was the replacement of generals at the last minute. Heya was not as familiar with the strategy of attacking Naksu as Menghu, and was not as flexible as Menghu. Even if he brought twice as many warriors from the Kyakhta tribe as the participants of the Lantern Festival, there would still be some mistakes.
Everyone kept on riding. Liu Qingye saw Dan Ying staggering on his horse several times, as if he was about to fall off. But every time he tried to help him up, Dan Ying would hold the reins steady. The half-broken arrow was still stuck in Dan Ying's body, just like it was stuck in Liu Qingye's heart.
At dusk, everyone was hungry and thirsty, and finally arrived at the valley where they had cut red willow branches last night. As soon as they stepped into the valley, they were immediately stunned by the scene in front of them - when did a large camp set up here, with horses, soldiers, and food in order. Although most Uyghurs had never seen soldiers in such strange costumes, Liu Qingye could tell at a glance that they were Qing soldiers!
His heart was tense at first: Didn't Zhong Rui say that this was the army led by Mangkeshan? Mangkeshan was extremely cruel, was he fighting the Dzungars or slaughtering the Uyghurs? But then he thought: No, since Zhong Rui was a spy, then this army might not belong to Mangkeshan... Then whose army did it belong to?
As he was thinking about it, he heard someone shouting, "Hey, you are here!" It was Heya from the Kyakhta tribe, followed by a group of wounded Uyghurs.
Dan Ying rode forward and asked, "Uncle Heya, what's going on?"
Heya said: "These Junggars are really powerful. There were tens of thousands of soldiers stationed in the city. The group you led away was just a small fraction. As soon as we arrived here, the Junggars opened the city to attack. More than 10,000 people rushed out at the same time. How could we be their opponent? Fortunately, these Qing soldiers arrived and drove the Junggars back to the city."
After Dan Ying heard this, he rode up the hillside. Liu Qingye followed him and saw the Qing soldiers under the city of Naksu lined up to attack the city, with ten Western cannons in the lead. When the two of them climbed up the hillside, the Qing general ordered the cannons to fire. After a few loud bangs, several gaps appeared in the Naksu tower.
Liu Qingye followed the red eagle all the way to the front of the battle and heard a messenger say, "Master, Uighurs."
The Qing army general who was called Young Master turned around, but who else could it be but Fu Cha Tao?
"Liu Qingye! Miss Dan Ying!" Fu Chatao strode forward when he saw the two of them. When he saw the wound on Dan Ying's shoulder, he ordered the messenger to call a doctor.
Dan Ying, Liu Qingye, Reyiza and the others all jumped off their horses in front of the battle. Fu Chatao was not familiar with most of them, so he just stepped forward and patted Liu Qingye on the shoulder and said, "Is your wound healed? Or did you hurt your leg when you saved me that day? Is it serious?"
Liu Qingye had heard that he was captured by the Dragon Slayer Society. Later, he knew that Zhong Rui was a spy and hoped that he was safe. Now that he saw that he was the same as before, a stone in his heart fell to the ground and he replied, "I'm fine. You saved us again."
Fu Cha Tao laughed loudly and said, "No, no." He then ordered a deputy beside him to continue the artillery attack on the city, and he led Dan Ying and other clan leaders and Liu Qingye to sit in the military tent in the valley behind.
The Qing soldiers received Fu Chatao's order and immediately prepared food and water for the Uyghur warriors. The doctor in the army also came upon call and took Dan Ying and other injured Uyghurs to the nearby tent for treatment. Liu Qingye wanted to accompany Dan Ying, but Fu Chatao smiled and held him back, saying, "You really can't leave her for a moment! No wonder Miss Li was so sad when she saw her."
Liu Qingye felt a little embarrassed and didn't know how to respond.
At this time, the person who was originally escorting Li Mingxin at the end of the team arrived and was led into the tent by a messenger. Although Li Mingxin was injured, he was still conscious and shouted, "Get out! I would rather die than stay in the Tartar's tent!"
Fu Chatao was stunned and said, "Speak of the devil, and he will appear!" He immediately went forward to greet her, but when he saw Li Mingxin's pale face, he was stunned: "Miss Li...you...what's wrong with you?"
Li Mingxin glared at him and said, "What's wrong with me? What does it have to do with you, a Tartar? Wouldn't you be very happy if I died? You - you guys -" He couldn't catch his breath and fainted.
Fu Chatao was shocked. He took her wrist and checked her. He found that her pulse was disordered, sometimes fast and sometimes slow. It was a sign of severe internal injury. He hurriedly asked someone to help her into the tent next to him and asked Liu Qingye, "Why did Miss Li get injured?"
Liu Qingye shook his head and said, "I don't know either. A spy named Zhong Rui sneaked into the Lantern Festival and injured her. This Zhong Rui might be your father's subordinate."
Fu Chatao was stunned for a moment and said, "My father's men? How is that possible! Although my father has many Han people under his command, there is no one named Zhong Rui."
Liu Qingye said: "This Zhong Rui came to tell my master and the others that you and Mr. Li were captured by them, and he also said that Mang Keshan brought troops to the northern border for support. He even knew Mr. Li's name..."
Fu Chatao frowned: "This is really strange..." He paced a few steps and said: "But the most urgent thing is to heal Miss Li. I will go find Mr. Li now."
Liu Qingye asked: "Mr. Li is here too?"
Fu Cha Tao said: "This is my first time leading troops on an expedition, so naturally I need Mr. Li to teach me. Mr. Li is the person my father trusts the most." As he spoke, he walked out of the military tent.
Liu Qingye was stunned for a moment - he suddenly arrived in a safe place, and felt as if his whole body was about to fall apart - but he was only stunned for a short moment, and then he heard Li Mingxin's shouting outside: "Get out of here! I don't have a father like you! Get out!"
He ran out immediately and followed the sound into Li Mingxin's tent, where he saw Fu Chatao and Li Yunsheng, as well as one or two people doing odd jobs. Li Yunsheng had obviously just resuscitated his daughter, and as expected, she scolded him.
Li Mingxin sat on the bed, staring at his father, pointing a trembling finger at him and saying, "Get out, you traitor!"
Li Yunsheng lowered his head and sighed, then turned and left without saying a word. Fu Chatao reached out to stop him: "Miss Li is just a little bit bad tempered because of the serious injury--" He turned to Li Mingxin and said: "You should have a good rest. Mr. Li loves you very much. He heard that you were injured and rushed here immediately..."
"Bah!" Li Mingxin spat, "This traitor is in cahoots with you Tartars... You asked Zhong Rui, the dog thief, to deceive everyone... You... You persecute the heroes of the Dragon Slayer Society..."
Fu Chatao and Li Yunsheng looked at each other and replied, "Miss Li, what are you talking about? My father has never had anyone named Zhong Rui under his command, and we have never arrested anyone from the Dragon Slayer Society..."
Li Ming thought to himself, "You are still trying to deny your sweet talk? Zhong Rui is not your father's man. He is a traitor to the Dragon Slayer Society bribed by your father. He sold out all his brothers to your father, and then came to our Lantern Society to trick us so that we could be caught by your father in Shanshan... Humph, the betrayed heroes of the Dragon Slayer Society were lucky enough to escape... His conspiracy was exposed... He... He hit me, but I didn't die. I had to deal with you dogs... He wanted to trick Uncle Wang and his men into going to Shanshan to die, but Uncle Wang and his men were not afraid of death... He had to flatten your old nest in Shanshan..." At this point, he overexerted himself and started coughing violently. Fu Chatao came up to feel her pulse, but she pushed him away.
After hearing her words, Liu Qingye recalled the description of the Reiza tribe leader and immediately understood that the members of the Lantern Festival were the heroes who rushed to Shanshan to rescue the Dragon Slayers. There was a difficult enemy like Mangkeshan there, which was really dangerous; however, fortunately, the army was not in Shanshan, so Mangkeshan could not play the trick of using the majority to defeat the minority.
After Li Mingxin pushed Fu Chatao away, she was exhausted and could only lean on the bed to catch her breath. Fu Chatao also knew that Li Mingxin had a strong temper and it was useless to persuade her at this time, so he had to shake his head and said, "Let's all go out."
At this time, a lieutenant came in to report the military situation and said, "Master, Mr. Li, the situation in Naksu City has changed."
The young lieutenant seemed to have just come from the front line, not even wearing a hat, and when he met Liu Qingye, he seemed familiar. However, he bowed as soon as he entered the room, so Liu Qingye did not see his face clearly. However, Li Mingxin leaned against the head of the bed and saw it clearly, and suddenly shouted: "Stop, little Tartar, raise your head!"
Everyone in the tent was stunned. The young captain didn't know what was going on for a moment and raised his face tremblingly. When Liu Qingye saw him, he couldn't help but be shocked - this man was one of the two disciples beside Zhong Rui at that time!
He immediately rushed forward, grabbed the young lieutenant's chest acupoint, and shouted, "You are indeed a spy! Tell me, where is Zhong Rui?"
The young lieutenant was so frightened that his legs shook like sieves. He said, "I... I... I don't know..."
Fu Chatao saw something fishy going on and slapped the two men apart with his right palm. At the same time, he grabbed the young lieutenant's shoulder with his left palm and said, "Sunada, tell me the truth. Who is Zhong Rui? Who is the spy? When did we have a person like Zhong Rui in our army?"
Sunada knelt down, kowtowed, and said, "My lord, I dare not say it... I will lose my head if I say it... Please forgive me!"
Fu Chatao said angrily: "If you don't tell me, aren't you afraid that I will take your head?" As he said that, he put more strength in his hands and almost crushed Sunada's shoulder blade.
Sunada was sweating profusely from the pain and said, "Yes, yes... I said... I said... Zhong Rui is... is Baturu under the general's command... Lord Furui..."
"Fu Rui?" Fu Cha Tao asked in surprise, "Isn't he from the Plain White Banner and surnamed Xitala? He was also named Baturu by the late emperor... How could he be called Zhong Rui?"
Sunada said, "This... this I don't know... I heard... I heard the conversation between Lord Furui and the general, and it seemed... it seemed that Lord Furui was from some academy that... suppressed the rebels, and made great contributions... Later he recognized Lord Xitala, the commander-in-chief of the Plain White Banner, as his adoptive father... and then... he took up the banner..."
"Academy?" Liu Qingye asked in surprise, "Is it Songqiao Academy?"
Sunada said: "Yes...it seems to be this..."
Fu Chatao's voice was trembling slightly as he asked, "Then... then what did you and Lord Fu Rui do? You... you went to frame the Dragon Slayer Society? Or the Lantern Transmission Society? Are you so bold?"
Sunada begged for mercy, “I dare not…I dare not…it was…it was Lord Furui who wanted to find two people to pretend to be his disciples…he said they were going to pass on a message for him…he picked two people at random…and he picked me…I was extremely unwilling to help Lord Furui to…to deal with the rebels, so after delivering the message, I parted ways with the other brother who pretended to be his disciple…and came back to fight for you, young master…”
"Send a message?" Liu Qingye picked up Sunada from the ground and asked, "Are you sending a message to Mang Keshan, asking him to lead his men to attack my master and his men halfway?"
"No... no..." Sunada said in a trembling voice, "I went to tell the other brothers that Lord Furui had brought... They... They all dressed up as Han Chinese... Lord Furui asked me to tell them... that the Han Chinese from the Lantern Festival did not believe Lord Furui's words, and asked them to find the people from the Lantern Festival the next day and act according to Lord Furui's plan..."
"What else?" Liu Qingye pressed.
"And... and... Lord Fury said that if he wasn't in the village of the Xiasak tribe, he would leave marks along the way... so that they could find him..."
"How many people are there?" Li Mingxin suddenly asked.
“Five…five…” Sunada replied.
"Is it that one is very tall, one is very fat..." Li Mingxin asked, "One has a scar on his face... and the other two look like they have been ill for many years?"
"Yes... yes..." Sunada said, "I don't know why Lord Furui chose these people to work for him... These people look like they have just been beaten up..."
Li Mingxin's lips turned pale when she heard this. She struggled to get out of bed, but she stumbled and fell. Fu Chatao hurriedly supported her, but she still tried to stand up, muttering, "Oh no! Oh no!"
When Liu Qingye heard what Sunada said, his heart skipped a beat. Seeing Li Mingxin's reaction, he guessed most of it.
Li Ming thought to himself: "Brother... what should I do? Those people from the Dragon Slayer Society are also fake... Mother and Uncle Wang must have... must have fallen into the Tartars' evil plan..."
Liu Qingye never expected that Fu Chakang would be so treacherous. He used one trick after another and even fooled Meng Hu... He was extremely worried when he thought about his master being in danger.
Fu Chatao shook his head and said, "No... This can't be what Father meant... He promised me... He promised me... Mr. Li, you heard it. When we went back together last time, he promised me personally... This... This must be Fu Rui's doing... It must be Mang Keshan's doing..."
Li Yunsheng had a gloomy face and said nothing.
Liu Qingye didn't bother to argue with them. He clenched his fist and said, "No matter who did it, I'm going to Shanshan to save my master!" After that, he turned around and rushed out of the military tent.
Without even going to check on Dan Ying's injuries, Liu Qingye mounted on Black General, and the two men and their horse headed straight for the south, without stopping at all night, and not being stopped by wind and rain. When he was hungry, he ate sea buckthorn and sand dates, when he was thirsty, he drank water from any small puddle, and when he was tired, he just closed his eyes on the horse's back - he didn't care how capable he was, he only knew that the master who raised him was in danger, and if he could catch up and stop them, there might still be hope, but if he couldn't, he would most likely have no choice but to fight to his death.
"Dan Ying, oh Dan Ying, perhaps we will be separated forever!" he thought.
After running for three days, even General Hei couldn't take it anymore, and his four hooves softened and he fell down. Liu Qingye had no choice but to stop and rest for a while. He was hungry and thirsty, his head was dizzy, and his eyelids were drooping. As soon as he got off the horse, he immediately lay down on the grassland and fell asleep in a daze.
He slept till midnight when he suddenly felt the ground beneath him shaking. He woke up with horror - the ground was indeed shaking, sometimes up and down, sometimes left and right, and several large rocks not far away were trembling. When the ground shook most severely, several rocks rolled towards him with a rumble.
Liu Qingye quickly turned over and jumped up, trying to dodge, but the grass under his feet was shaking, and he was tired for many days, so he stumbled and fell. Seeing the boulder rolling to his side, he could only cry out inwardly: "It's over!" He rolled to the side in vain, but he could no longer dodge.
At this moment, his collar suddenly tightened, and he heard a "bang". Someone stepped on a big rock, and he was already flying up into the air, landing steadily several feet away. He turned around to see the person who saved him, and it was Li Yunsheng.
Li Yunsheng said, "It's an earthquake, jump into that pond quickly!" As he spoke, he pulled Liu Qingye's sleeve, and the two of them jumped into a turbid pond a few feet away at the same time.
Liu Qingye only felt that the tangled waterweed in the pond was like countless ghost claws grabbing his feet, and the turbulent water waves were like a raging storm. He looked at the huge rocks on the shore, which moved to the east and then to the west, and in the distance, even the mountains were shaking.
After about an incense stick of time, everything gradually calmed down, and Li Yunsheng pulled him up the bank. Liu Qingye looked around in shock, as if the world had changed in an instant - the mountains in the distance were flattened, and the ground nearby was full of gullies, and the red willows were lying down in patches, like piles of corpses.
He was stunned for a long while before asking, "Mr. Li...Mr. Li, what are you doing here?"
Li Yunsheng said, "I will go to Shanshan with you."
Liu Qingye was stunned and asked, "You...you go save my master?"
Li Yunsheng sighed and said, "You can say that."
Liu Qingye said: "But...but my master and the others want to kill you...you are not on the same path as us...you surrendered to the Qing Dynasty."
Li Yunsheng did not answer his question immediately. Instead, he looked at his face in the moonlight and said, "You...you are the son of Wensheng and Xiaomei? Junior Brother Cao raised you...he raised you to be almost like himself..."
Liu Qingye was just puzzled when suddenly the ground began to shake violently again. The two of them quickly turned around and jumped into the pond again.
Although the vibration this time was not as violent as before, Liu Qingye felt that the mud at the bottom of the pond was floating up, as if to pull him down. He was terrified and wanted to use the force to jump to the surface of the water, but the more he struggled, the deeper he sank. Just when he was terrified, Li Yunsheng beside him suddenly grabbed his wrist and lifted him up and out of the quagmire.
"Do you know what kind of people your parents are?" Li Yunsheng suddenly asked.
Liu Qingye was stunned for a moment, and said, "My parents were both great heroes, but they were killed by the Tartars while trying to drive them out."
Li Yunsheng smiled slightly: "This is what your master taught you, right? Do you also want to be like your parents?"
Liu Qingye was stunned: Cao Mengsheng had taught him for eighteen years, wanting him to become an anti-Qing patriot like his parents. He also thought his parents were great heroes, but after experiencing these changes in the past few months, he didn't want to follow his parents' path at all. He didn't dare to say this. He just wanted to stay with Dan Ying, but his master was in danger.
Li Yunsheng did not force him to answer, and said, "Your parents don't want you to become like them."
"Why?" Liu Qingye was surprised.
Li Yunsheng said, "I am also a father. Although Mingxin refuses to acknowledge me, I don't want Mingxin to be like me, an assassin who breaks into the Forbidden Palace at night, or a staff member under a general's tent. I hope my daughter can be carefree, study, do needlework, get married, have children, and finally die peacefully in her bed at home - this is the wish of every parent. Including your master, if... if there hadn't been the battle at Songqiao Academy, your master would have married your junior uncle and had children around him. He would definitely not want his children to go through life and death."
When the two talked about this, the second earthquake stopped. Li Yunsheng held Liu Qingye's arm and helped him to the shore. But just as they stepped onto the shore, the third earthquake came again. The two had to go into the water again.
Liu Qingye said: "Master treated me like his own son, but he taught me to kill all the Tartars. He said that if the Tartars are not eliminated, there will be no home."
Li Yunsheng was slightly startled and sighed, "That's because your master has no home anymore. In the battle of Songqiao Academy, all of his fellow disciples were killed or injured, and your junior uncle is also missing..."
"My junior uncle came to the Ale tribe and married the chief of the Tashan tribe." Liu Qingye interrupted, "Dan Ying is their daughter."
"Ah...she...she's married..." Li Yunsheng murmured, "Dan Ying...well, she really looks a bit like her...very good...very good...then your junior uncle is now..."
"She has passed away." Liu Qingye said.
Li Yunsheng was stunned for a moment. There was no sound for a while. The only sound was the roar of the earth. After a long time, he said, "She passed away... She was a miserable person. Your master must be very sad."
Liu Qingye nodded and said, "Yes, Master is very sad. The Tashan tribe leader is also very sad. They said that the Tartars killed Junior Master Uncle..." He paused, hesitated for a moment, and said, "Junior Master Uncle died of illness."
Li Yunsheng sighed deeply, returned to the original topic, and said: "If a person has a family and something to worry about, he would not want the world to be in chaos. If the world is really in chaos, then we can only stand up to protect our families. Therefore, when the Qing army entered the pass, we should all protect our families... People who learn martial arts should protect the people of the world and prevent them from being killed... However, now that the world has been settled, to protect our families and the people of the world, we should make the world more stable, not more chaotic... If the officials don't force them, why should the people rebel? The people don't want to rebel... Your master and his people have no worries. They are naked and alone. Whether they win or lose, they will die at most. But what about others? You lost your parents, and your parents lost their lives... Is it worth it? Will you regret it later?"
Liu Qingye was speechless for a moment: Dan Ying fought so hard because the Junggars had come to his home. If he did not resist, he would be killed. However, the master and the people of the Chuan Deng Society were rebelling against the Qing Dynasty, but what they were rebelling against was a stable world and a peaceful and prosperous era! What on earth was this...
As we were talking, the third and fourth earthquakes came one after another. Although the intervals between each earthquake were shorter, the duration was also getting shorter and shorter, and none of them was as violent as the first one. It took about an hour in total before the wind and the sea finally calmed down.
Liu Qingye had been soaking in the pond for a long time, and had been fed with a lot of smelly mud, which made him feel nauseous. Li Yunsheng gently held his hand. He felt a warm current coming from his palm, which spread to his limbs without him having to use his own energy. He felt extremely comfortable and refreshed. Just when he wanted to thank Li Yunsheng, Li Yunsheng walked southward: "There is no time to waste, let's go find out where the two horses are."
Liu Qingye walked with him silently for more than a mile, but when he saw no trace of the horse, he turned back to look for it. Seeing Li Yunsheng's worried expression, he couldn't help but ask, "Mr. Li, since you knew that Master was determined to rebel against the Qing Dynasty, why did you save him?"
Li Yunsheng walked very fast and walked a long way before answering: "Whether he recognizes me or not, he is my junior brother... I also know that I can't persuade him, but how did Emperor Taizu think of persuading me? Let's do it even if we know it's impossible!" As he said this, he whistled, and this time he really heard the sound of a horse neighing.
Liu Qingye also whistled, and General Hei responded to his master from a distance. Not long after, two horses ran over. These beasts knew how to protect themselves and were unharmed.
The two men mounted their horses and headed south. Li Yunsheng raised his whip and said one last sentence: "You say I served the Qing court, but I only served the people of the world." Then he said nothing more and urged his horse to go.
After the earthquake, the grassland and Gobi terrain changed drastically, becoming even more difficult to identify than before. Therefore, Liu Qingye and Li Yunsheng traveled for another three days before they saw the poplar forest in the Shanshan Oasis.
After several months of absence, Shanshan seemed to be as peaceful and tranquil as before, and even the sentinels in the distance seemed to have not changed. If it weren't for the large trees that fell in the poplar forest after the earthquake, Liu Qingye would have doubted whether he was still riding with Cao Mengsheng to Shanshan to save people - and everything after that was just a dream.
