No one knew what happened, but Hu Laosan took them not into the city at all, but into a hayfield outside the city.
The maze-like forage yard is stacked with hay for countless livestock to eat during the winter. One-third of the hay for the 27 Karens in the Ili area is stored here.
After finding a place with leeward, Uncle Hu said breathlessly, "Children, don't spend the night here, the Tsarist Russians are about to attack!"
"I heard from herders that there are more than 20,000 Tsarist Russian Cossack cavalry stationed on the other side of Ala Lake for more than half a year, and there are often more troops!"
"It's too cold this winter. Those Cossacks have to pay for food and fodder to feed their horses. Those poor devils have already made up their minds to capture the residence of our General Ili. You guys should leave quickly..."
"Either tonight or tomorrow, even if it snows for three consecutive days, those Cossacks won't be able to survive it!"
In Uncle Hu's mouth, a frightening Western Region appeared before people's eyes!
The strategic location of the Ili River Valley is very important. It is a triangular alluvial plain. You must know that the Tianshan Mountains are not directly east or west.
Instead, it is inserted diagonally from the southwest to the northeast. The starting point of the western section of the Tianshan Mountains and the starting point of the western section of the Kunlun Mountains are actually connected together, and they are both extensions of the Pamir Plateau.
The Tianshan Mountains extend all the way to the northwest to the Hami area and are connected to the desert wasteland!
The Tianshan Mountains also have branches, the largest of which is Mount Borokonu!
The intersection of Borokonu Mountain and Tianshan Mountain is at the northern foot of Urumqi. It was called Kulun in the Qing Dynasty!
This branch of the Tianshan Mountains extends to the northwest, directly forming an angle with the main Tianshan Mountains.
And this geographical angle is the Ili River Basin!
The two mountain ranges form a wide-mouthed triangle. The huge and gentle opening is pointed directly at the west, at Lake Balkhash, and at the ambitions of countless foreign races!
As we all know, the boundaries of ancient human borders were divided according to geographical and natural environments, which played a huge role in military affairs.
Relying on rivers, forests, deserts, mountains... a series of solid defense lines that are easy to defend and difficult to attack can be formed.
Whoever controls a strategic location can use one against a hundred to ensure the security of his homeland with a small amount of troops!
The Tianshan Mountains and Mount Borokonu are such barriers. If they fall into the hands of the Chinese, they can guard against Western aliens from a high position.
If it falls into the hands of foreigners, they will be able to spy on the entire Xinjiang region from a high position!
The Ili Valley is right at the dividing point between southern and northern Xinjiang. It is an axis on the northwest border. Whoever controls this place will gain the strategic initiative.
In the valleys impacted by such fertile rivers, it is no problem to raise millions of horses, and even five to six million immigrants can afford to raise them.
If you continue to operate it slowly, this place will become the best logistics base to provide supplies to the army!
What's even more terrible is that the gentlest opening of this triangular strategic location actually faces the west, which is the direction of the enemy's attack.
This means that the enemy's attack is a flat river, advancing directly along the river, and the dangerous places are all on the back of the Ili area!
During the Qianlong period, the Qing government put down the Xiaohezhuo Rebellion. Agui and other important officials from the Military Aircraft Department wrote to Qianlong requesting the establishment of a general mansion in the Yili area to guard the Western Regions.
In 1762, Qianlong ordered the construction of Huiyuan City in the Ili Valley and established the post of General Ili to control the entire Ili Valley area with this city as the core.
And controlling this place also controls southern and northern Xinjiang in disguise!
However, as the Qing Dynasty's national power gradually weakened, Western aliens began to prepare for trouble. First of all, Agubai's Hui tribe rebellion began to sweep the entire southern Xinjiang.
It was impossible for the Ili area not to be affected. The Ili general Mingxu who was in the fifth year of Tongzhi was surrounded by mobs from his tribe in the general's palace less than three years after he took office.
At that time, the entire Ili area was in chaos, and Agub and the local rebels began to burn, kill, and loot in preparation for occupying the Ili Valley.
General Mingxu fought until the end and was unable to save his life. He retreated to his inner house and died for his country with his whole family!
General Mingxu's deputy, Ili Counselor Rongquan, became the highest official of the Qing Dynasty in the Ili area. At that time, Mingxu appointed Rongquan to borrow troops and grain from Tsarist Russia, but unexpectedly the Tsarist Russians instead of borrowing, detained him.
It wasn't until a full-scale riot broke out in the Ili area that Rong Quan took the opportunity to escape. Since there was no soldier around him to suppress the rebellion, he could only flee to Tacheng in northern Xinjiang in a hurry.
Rongquan, who was appointed as the new general of Ili in Tacheng, was beginning to organize the training of Kazakh and Mongolian soldiers, raising military rations everywhere, and struggling to support him.
Two Ili generals, one whose whole family died tragically, and the other who retreated to a remote northern city, suddenly had a power vacuum in the entire Ili region.
"My dear relatives! Guess what?" Hu Laosan said with a grimace while smoking a dry cigarette.
"It's really strange that those Aguba rebels and rebel bandits actually retreated immediately after destroying, looting, and burning! It has been Tongzhi for ten years now!"
"No enemies came to fight in the Yili area. We, the remaining veterans of Karen, came to maintain order, and we actually maintained it for five years!"
"Why do you think it is?"
Sir Gordon suddenly said with a sullen face, "Why else? Of course they are Tsarist Russians!"
When Uncle Hu saw the big British nose, he was not very willing to speak. Doro tried to persuade him, "Uncle... this Sir Gordon is not an outsider. This is the admiral general of Long Live Lord! He was rewarded with a yellow mantle. !”
"I won't hide it from you anymore. My name is Doro, and this is Guan Lu... We are all Manchus, and we all serve as guards for the emperor in the Forbidden City!"
"What?" Uncle Hu's hand shook at that time, and a pot of red charcoal soot burned on his hand. "Oh, oh, don't catch fire, it's going to be stamped out!"
When he saw the badge of the Forbidden City, of course Uncle Hu couldn't understand it, but he could selectively believe that these relatives could come from the south.
“Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu”
"I kowtow to the adults!" After saying this, Uncle Hu was about to kowtow to Doro, Guan Lu and Admiral Gordon.
How could these people be willing to let the veterans kneel down? Now they have long lost the bad habits they had in Sijiu City back then. A group of guards helped Uncle Hu with tears in his eyes.
"Don't kowtow to us... It should be us kowtowing to you... If you want to kneel, just go to Beijing... and kowtow to Long Live Lord!"
"Long live my lord!" Uncle Hu faced Beijing and kowtowed to the ground. "Long live my lord! Why didn't you send someone here earlier... wu wu wu... we are suffering too much..."
"We are not afraid of death, but we are afraid that we will not be able to hold on until the end... We are afraid that even if we die, we will not be buried in our own soil!"
"Long live my lord... don't lose this piece of soil... wu wu wu!"
"It can be said that I have met my relatives in the Central Plains...It can be said that I have met..."
At that moment, everyone present, including Manchus, Han Chinese and Europeans, shed tears!
