Tacheng was also known as Appeasement City in the Qing Dynasty!
This name was built under the order of General Agui under Emperor Qianlong. The city was not big but very strong and could annex about three thousand people.
When the Aguba rebellion was at its most arrogant, a large number of bandits and rioters were encouraged to rebel, and the city was once destroyed. However, five years after Tongzhi, as the situation in northern Xinjiang stabilized, the city gradually began to be repaired and restored. expansion.
After all, Northern Xinjiang is still a region with great integration of religions, and it is not like Southern Xinjiang where one family is the dominant one!
In this turmoil, Northern Xinjiang was the trump card that the Qing government always controlled. Although there were also rebellions among the tribes, the nomads in the north were the natural allies of the Manchus.
Nomadic tribes such as Kazakhs and Mongolians mostly believe in shamanism and Tibetan Buddhism. They are definitely not the same as the people in southern Xinjiang. It is very wise for the current Ili general Rongquan to choose to endure hardships in Tacheng in northern Xinjiang.
Northern Xinjiang and the Ili Valley are separated by the towering Borokonu Mountain, the remnant of the Tianshan Mountains. Now it is the gathering of mountains blocked by heavy snow. Information from the north to the south has been completely cut off. General Rongquan has no idea what is happening in the Ili Valley.
He just recruited soldiers, trained soldiers, accumulated food and military supplies, day after day, year after year, and waited for the arrival of Zuo Zongtang's army with due diligence.
It was his duty to hold on, and there was no way to retreat at this moment. If Northern Xinjiang was lost, the Qing Dynasty would not have any base to advance. It would be a dream to regain Xinjiang.
But Rongquan himself is not sure whether Northern Xinjiang can be defended!
Ever since the first snow began to fall in northern Xinjiang, Rong Quan had always had a bad feeling. He often stood alone at the top of the city and looked toward the Ili River Valley in the south. He often stood there for half an hour.
Whenever caravans or migrating herdsmen came from the south, he would personally inquire about them and carefully collect every piece of information about the Ili Valley.
"I heard that the Rakshasa ghosts have increased their troops to 40,000... Can't 40,000 cavalry be matched with 50,000 horses? How much supplies will it cost to eat horses and feed them..."
"There will definitely be some action this winter. Rakshasa ghosts simply don't have that much food to consume..."
"What happened, what happened... It would be great if there was a telegram like that from foreigners, how great it would be!"
Telegraph was still a new thing in the Qing Dynasty. Although the Chinese Telegraph Company had successfully laid a telegraph line from Shanghai to Beijing, it would have to wait a long time if it wanted to extend it to Xinjiang!
General Rongquan did not know that at this moment, in the cold sky of Borokonu Mountain, a homing pigeon that was desperately trying to lose weight was flying towards its hometown against the strong wind.
Small animals like carrier pigeons are really magical. They will always remember the place where they were born and their home. People who need carrier pigeons to convey messages can fly back to their hometown by instinct as long as they release the carrier pigeons in a distant place. .
The black spot is the homing pigeon raised by Uncle Hu Sanshu and the others. It was hatched in the Tacheng Pigeon Camp and brought to the Ili Valley by a caravan, where it has been raised for five years.
It has been five years since he left his hometown, but Pigeon's natural spirituality has not been erased. He actually still remembers the way home!
The carrier pigeon flies in the valleys of the Tianshan Mountains in the wind and snow. On cold nights when the wind and snow are particularly strong, he hides in the crevices of the rocks and relies on his feathers to resist.
When the wind and snow subsided a little, he flapped his wings and flew high, carefully avoiding the sharp searching eyes of the raptors!
Thanks to five years of good food and good drinks that kept him energetic, Black Spot survived the wind and snow in the Tianshan winter night and finally saw the familiar Zhungeer Basin.
Tacheng gradually appeared in Black Dot's eyes, and the feeling of returning home was so warm and exciting that he continued to flap his wings, and the fluttering homing pigeons circled and landed in the pigeon camp in the dark night.
Gugugu...gugu...
A strange guy broke into the camp, and the pigeons who didn't recognize Black Spot were obviously a little xenophobic. They began to coo and protest against the stranger's bad behavior of stealing food.
The chaos woke up the pigeon farmer. He walked out sleepily wearing a cotton coat, "What time is it...A rat came in or something..."
"Ouch! This, this, this...this...isn't this a black idea of mine!"
ah! A scream pierced the sky above Tacheng, almost waking up half the soldiers in the city.
"General...General...Ili has received a letter...Kapchagai's black spots are back..."
Rong Quan jumped out of bed with a roar, and his soldiers dragged the pigeon farmer to see the general, and finally read the intelligence sent by Nian Culun's veterans.
"Ah..." After Rong Quan took a glance, his vision suddenly went dark, he stumbled and fell to the ground. The soldiers next to him rushed over to help him.
"Quickly...order the troops...order all the cavalry...bring enough food and water...go to Alashankou..."
"The Emperor has sent someone to see us... The Emperor has sent a special envoy... and the British... hurry up and prepare..."
Tacheng suddenly fell into chaos. There was still more than 400 miles from here to Alashankou. There were too many things that needed to be prepared. Rongquan ordered 900 cavalry, which was not enough. He also brought more than 700 horses to transport supplies.
The entire Tacheng area was in a commotion, and countless herdsmen couldn't believe their ears. It wouldn't be surprising if the Rakshasa ghosts invaded the Ili Valley sooner or later, but the Long Live Lord sent a special envoy and the British came here, it was really Something unexpected happened.
Countless herdsmen and local garrison watched eagerly as the nine hundred cavalry stepped on the snow that covered their feet and moved towards the south!
This walk is staggering, the heavy snow has completely covered the commercial roads on the grassland, and without a good guide you will not be able to find the way.
The horse's hooves got stuck in the snow and often tripped over hay, but Rongquan didn't care about the horse power at all and just kept pushing forward!
At this moment, the expedition team near Alashan Pass has reached the point of struggling to survive. No one can ride horses, and the horses can only be used to carry supplies.
The snow on the ground is already up to my knees, and it keeps falling like salt from the sky!
Doro and Guan Lu finally knew what the ancestors of Baishan and Heishui suffered, and the snow actually fell in all kinds of ways.
There are big snowflakes like goose feathers, cold snow slag like icebergs, and overwhelming wind-blown snow. Even after the cyclone comes, the snow will rush up from the ground.
Endless, endless, once it snows it lasts for three days and three nights!
At this moment, no one cares about anyone else. Even if you have a kind heart like a Bodhisattva, it will be of no use. An old man falls to the ground ten meters away, and you have to spend more than ten minutes struggling to cross the snow.
When you get there, you realize that people are already freezing!
Death happens in front of people's eyes anytime and anywhere. One by one they fall down on the snow and die while walking during the day. No one around them can save them, and no one can save them.
It's even worse at night. The tents of the expedition team can still withstand the cold to some extent, but the tents of ordinary herders and merchants are not of such good quality.
Often early the next morning, there would be more than a hundred dead bodies in the campsite!
Although Doluo and Guan Lu are Manchus, they are Manchus who grew up in Guan. They have not known for a long time how cruel the life in Baishan and Heishui is!
Today’s great adventure in Central Asia will be something these two will remember for the rest of their lives!
