Chapter 18 Section VI

Ma Zhongying, who is far away in Hexi, also learned about political corruption in Xinjiang.Ma Zhongying secretly felt that the mission of him and the riders was in Xinjiang. The Badain Jaran Desert extends to Central Asia along the Hexi Corridor.The riders went out and in in the desert several times, and finally entered the affluent Hexi Corridor. No one wanted to go to the desert again.Although they know that snow-capped mountains and deserts are the cradle of riders, once they lose their guns and swords, it is difficult for them to cheer up. In those days, Ma Zhongying was very worried. He was looking forward to the attack of the national army, so that he could encourage his subordinates to go to Xinjiang. They could not beat ease and leisure.

That year, thousands of miles west of Hexi, the wind and sea were so calm that it was suspiciously quiet. There was no scene of troubled times like yellow bells destroying abandoned tiles and thundering, but it was a bit like a paradise.The galloping riders here are not real at all, the people are farming and going to the market, they have no interest in the army, and even the riders feel that they are superfluous.The riders shouted: There was a war here last year.Rivers of blood flowed from Yongchang, Minqin and Wuwei.The people said: That was a long time ago, and the National Army left.The riders were at a loss. Just half a year after the war disaster, people forgot everything.The common people said: "The common people live their lives. After today, they think about tomorrow, and when tomorrow comes, they think about the day after tomorrow. No one thinks about the past."

The riders were terrified. They discovered something sharper and harder than a sword—time.The riders said: "It's been almost a year since we left Hezhou, and the Hezhou Township Party has already forgotten about us." It was an extremely cruel season, the calm wilderness relaxed the riders' muscles, and the silent river of time swallowed the riders' minds.The riders shouted: The Hexi Township Party has forgotten us, and the Hezhou Township Party must not let us forget us.Ma Zhongying said: "Hezhou has been prepared for a long time, and we can't go back." "Going to Ningxia, Ningxia is going back to the nest, going to Ningxia, we will not be lonely ghosts."

The army is becoming more and more like a bandit. What would it be like to bring such an army to Ningxia?Commander Ga ordered the training first.Everyone thought it was time for military training, but when the trumpet sounded, it was the Badain Jaran Desert again, and Commander Ga had already entered, who would dare not follow.The big gray horse knew what its master was thinking, and led the army around in circles in the desert, bypassing all the places with springs.At the beginning, people fell, and the sun turned into a ball of fire in a blink of an eye, a red and white fire, and the flames of the sun soon turned into pure white, a flash of pure white stretched out from the sky like a tongue to lick the dewdrops on the desert.Someone screamed, Commander Ga went up with a whip, "What is it called! You want to go to Ningxia even if you can't get through the desert?" More and more people fell, even horses fell, and the flame of life rose from the corpses, melting into the sun.After death and suffering, people's eyes become more fierce and cruel.There are too many green forest heroes in the team, and these people's banditry is hard to change.If this continues, the sun and the desert will eat them all up.The sun is driving everyone crazy.

Unable to go straight to Ningxia, the army detoured through the Alxa Mongolia area and entered Ningxia from Helan Mountain.This march was done without anyone noticing, and no one believed that a large army could emerge from the desert.Commander Ga first sent people to sneak into Yinchuan to find out the truth.The garrison in the provincial capital went out for training but did not return, and only one regiment guarded Yinchuan.The provincial chairman, Men Zhizhong, is a corrupt official who only knows how to make money and ignores government affairs. This is a good opportunity to attack. When the army arrived in Yinchuan, Yinchuan was conquered. The provincial chairman Men Zhizhong led the pistol battalion to break out from the south gate of Yinchuan, and the army commander Wang Hengzhi was killed.The riders were victorious, galloping their horses and galloping with joy.Wang Hengzhi was the lieutenant general, and the main general ran away.Commander Ga couldn't be happy.What made him even more sad was that when the army entered the city, banditry resurfaced, killing and looting continued.Yinchuan fell in a hurry, and most of the military and government officials did not escape, but hid in the homes of the people, and were killed on the spot after being found out.

Yinchuan is the capital of the province. Once it fell, the northwest shook.Liu Yufen used Ji Hongchang again and ordered him to lead his troops to attack. Two months later, Ji Hongchang's troops came from Lanzhou. The riders resisted desperately. Several brigade commanders died in battle. The riders withdrew from Yinchuan and retreated to Shizuishan. At the beginning of May, Commander Ga commanded troops to besiege Ningxia for the second time. Ji Hongchang's troops rushed out from the four gates. Ma Yi, who joined Commander Ga in the army, was killed on the spot. The riders suffered heavy casualties and retreated across the board.Ji Hongchang led the Broadsword Team to search for Ma Zhongying's body on the battlefield. Someone brought Ma Yi over, and Ma Yi looked exactly like Ma Zhongying.Ji Hongchang stood beside the corpse for a long time, and said, "It's your baby's luck to die by my hands."

The riders entered the desert to get rid of the pursuers, and the desert soon ended. The riders found that the desert was so narrow. The experienced rider said: "We are too anxious, and the sky is too small." The riders ran in the desert for five days and five nights, and a boundless wilderness appeared at the end of the desert.The wilderness is flat and quiet.The riders ran to Xanadu again.There are all Mongols here. It turns out that they have arrived in the Hetao Plain. The Mongolian said: Winter is coming, you will be frozen to death.The riders were firing guns and screaming, and the wilderness was boundless, full of gray and yellow withered grass.The riders were so frustrated that they fired their guns into the sky and the ground, and they broke up after they fired their guns.

The remaining 700 or so riders were brought out from Hezhou. There were more than 10,000 of them back then. The wilderness harvested tens of thousands of sturdy heads at once, and the saber was inserted into the sand like mature ears of grain, hanging down.No one can understand that golden sand will grow golden millet.Sunshine and water alone are not enough, but the blood of the son and baby is also needed to show the strong and simple beauty of the soil.A long time ago, the Sufi teacher told us the secret inside the grain: the essence of the sun and the moon and the aura of the mountains and rivers are hidden in the grain. The grain feeds us entirely for the blood flowing in our body, because the blood is the blood of the sky and the earth. Natural extension; Allah puts His soul into the human body in order for man to keep the sky and the earth pure.It is not enough to have corn, the earth must have the garden of truth, and the roses in the garden are the blood of the son and baby.Not all men can be son dolls; some men degenerate some men pollute their souls and lose the innocence of blood.

Life is like sand, the wind blows them to flow, and they realize their own beauty in this way, so the wilderness becomes the sea. ... That winter, the riders walked out of the Badain Jaran Desert and didn't want to move.Everyone is not interested in Xinjiang, which is more desolate than Gansu. Commander Ga said: "There is the largest desert in the world, and the ocean is there." The riders were so tired that they could not imagine the sea of ​​life in the desert; they were so tired that their pupils began to dim. They were like a pack of old wolves, squatting on the big grassy beach behind them, licking their wounds while staring at Yinchuan.The rich Ningxia is too tempting for them, and they will pounce on the slightest disturbance there.

After Ji Hongchang entered Yinchuan, he had conflicts with the provincial chairman Men Zhizhong.Ji Hongchang believes that Ningxia is rich in resources, and plans should be made to develop them well, instead of blindly collecting taxes from the local government and increasing the burden on the people.Men Zhizhong is conservative in thinking and does everything according to the old rules. He is busy making arrangements to marry the second granddaughter of the former Qing Duan King. Ji Hongchang unceremoniously ridiculed Men Zhizhong, who usually only knows how to make money, but neglects defense in wartime, and will flee after losing the city, bringing disaster to the common people.Men Zhizhong was angry and resigned to sue Feng Yuxiang.

Liu Yufen had no choice but to ask Ji Hongchang to act as chairman of Ningxia, and Feng Yuxiang acquiesced when he found out. When Ji Hongchang first conquered Ningxia, the Hui people in the provincial capital almost fled.A policeman shot and killed an innocent Muslim who did not have time to escape. Ji Hongchang immediately executed the policeman and issued a notice to protect the Muslims.The Hui people gradually returned to the cities and villages, and the social order gradually stabilized.A large number of political workers went to places where the Muslims live to hold mass meetings to publicize the Huihan family.Ji Hongchang personally wrote "Hui Han Family" and hung it on the Bell and Drum Tower in the center of Yinchuan. Return to Han and reward him.The local Hui people are very grateful to Ji Hongchang and call him "Ji Huihui".He also planned to lead his troops into Xinjiang immediately after the construction of Ningxia, develop the entire Northwest, and personally draw a map of Northwest settlements.The news reached the generals of the Northwest Army, Song Zheyuan, Liu Yufen, and Sun Liangcheng, and they shouted at Ji Hongchang to "commit chaos". "Ji Hongchang turned red", they all went to Feng Yuxiang to file a complaint. What Ji Hongchang did in Ningxia was reported to Commander Ga. Commander Ga suddenly remembered that at the beginning of the uprising, when he captured Xunhua County and crossed the Yellow River Gorge, he also proposed to return to the Han family. He also killed the rich and helped the poor. The more he thought about it, the more angry he became. , "Ji Hongchang of the dog day, whether you are a human or a ghost, you can do it if you drive me away." At this time, an old imam came to deliver a letter for Ji Hongchang. He also attached a photo of Ji Hongchang. He wanted to make friends with Commander Ga and work together to build Ningxia.Commander Ga repeatedly looked at Ji Hongchang's photos, Ma Zhongying Ji Hongchang, Ji Hongchang Ma Zhongying, a horse with a steel sword, and a horse with a steel sword. The old imam thought that Commander Ga was tempted, so he said, "All Hui people in Ningxia call Ji Hongchang Ji Huihui." Commander Ga jumped up, "Is he Hui Hui? He is Hui Hui, what am I?" The old imam is also a staunch man, "What are you, you little baby? I don't welcome you in Ningxia, what good things have you done for me in Ningxia? Tell me, your baby can't open his mouth." Li snatched the photo, even the letter, and said before leaving: "General Ji respects you as a hero, so he befriends you. I was also angry. Chiang Kai-shek sent someone to send a letter of appointment. General Ji tore up the letter of appointment on the spot, and said to the people from Nanjing: "Fuck you, I only want the people to admit it. Who wants you to appoint me?" The commander dared to oppose Feng Yuxiang, General Ji didn't even look down on Chiang Kai-shek, you are young, you should think about it slowly." The old imam walked away in high spirits. After being scolded for a while, Commander Ga broke out in sweat and regained his energy.Commander Ga called everyone together for a meeting. Commander Ga said: "The only way to get things to this point is to call for security. Zhongjie and I went to the mainland to find opportunities. Everyone temporarily surrendered to Ji Hongchang and accepted his adaptation. Ji Hongchang I won’t embarrass everyone. I’ll let everyone know when Zhongjie and I get mixed up, brothers, we will make a comeback.” We sat down and had a meal, and then we broke up.The team drove to Ningxia, and the Ma Zhongying brothers walked to the Yellow River.The big river is getting wider and wider, the sky in the desert grassland is infinitely desolate and tragic, suddenly there is a sound of flowers, bloody flowers: Commander Ga, you are young, you don’t listen to what I say...