In the late autumn of the fifty-sixth year of Qianlong's reign, the Khalkha grassland was once again a colorful day. The sun shone on the golden branches swayed by the wind, and the air was filled with the fragrance of pine. If you are riding a horse and standing on the hill and looking into the distance, you will see the overwhelming autumn colors of Hangai Mountain. From the grassland to the forest, from the distant mountains to the horizon, the surroundings are quiet, and it is as if you can hear the sound of thousands of trees growing.
On such a morning that looked like an oil painting, more than thirty horseback riders wearing dark green spotted clothes came from the northeast of the Sabra River. When they came to a hill, they reined in their horses and looked to the southwest. At the foot of the hill on the north bank of the confluence of the Sabra River and the Uliasutai River, there are five snow-white, brand-new yurts as the center, and a dozen black-looking yurts of different sizes scattered around.
"Company commander, look, that's my home!" Temur, a new Mongolian soldier, pointed at the yurt in the distance with his riding crop and excitedly introduced it to a few people around him. "Let Abu make milk tea when you get home, it will be delicious!"
"Haha, let's go!" Captain Wang, who was leading the team, saw that they were about to arrive, and then he laughed, waved his horse whip, and the group of people immediately rode down the hillside.
The grassland is extremely quiet in the early morning, and wild birds are walking back and forth in the wilderness, as if the grassland has not yet awakened from a dream. ． ． ． ． ．
As the horse team passed through a sparse birch forest, the creaking sound of oxcarts slowly came from the distance. Hearing this sound, everyone couldn't help but slow down their horses. Timur explained: "It's probably an ox cart pulling water." After that, a smile appeared on his face. To him, all the sights and sounds of his hometown were so dear.
Sure enough, a ragged woman drove a water truck from the south bank of the river. Timur hurriedly walked forward to greet him. He was confident that everyone here knew him.
"hello!"
"Well, hello?"
The woman driving the carriage stopped like a frightened bird and covered her face with the corners of her kerchief, revealing only her two large, deep-set eyes.
Timur didn't recognize who the other party was. He thought he might have moved here after he was drafted to fight.
"Let me ask, does Siqin's family still live near here?"
"What did you say? Who?" The woman raised her head carefully and fearfully, staring at Timur's face intently.
"Siqin is the girl nicknamed 'Swallow'."
The woman's hand was holding the cow's bit, motionless, and she stared blankly at Timur's face, never moving away. Timur felt strange and couldn't help but push up the dark green felt military cap with ear protection on his head. Wisps of heat came straight up from his broad forehead.
Suddenly, the woman's shoulders and the corners of her eyes twitched violently, and tears suddenly obscured her eyes. She tried her best to suppress her voice and muttered indistinctly: "Oh my god! It's... it's him... Timur!"
The woman yelled "Ah", dropped the waterwheel, and ran wildly towards the hill in the distance. She fell down not long after running, but she quickly got up and ran again...
On the grass where she fell, a few rags were torn from her gown, swaying gently in the wind. ． ． ． ． ．
Timur scratched his head and thought, who is this? He wanted to chase her, but then he thought the other person might be a madman. Besides, I didn’t come back alone, I had dozens of companions. It would be outrageous if people saw dozens of grown men chasing a woman all over the country. So he rode back and explained a few words to Company Commander Wang, but no one took him seriously and continued on their way.
After walking for about a mile, I saw a dilapidated yurt standing not far ahead. In front of the door stood an emaciated old lady with a cane in her hand. Her lips, shrunken by missing teeth, were moving incessantly, as if she was praying. After a while, she used all her strength to finally move her steps and walked around the yurt from left to right.
Company Commander Wang on the side asked in a deep voice: "Who is this?"
Timur explained in stammering Mandarin: "Company Commander, this is Grandma Ganggai. She can't see. She used to beg for food for half her life and can no longer walk. She stayed with us a few years ago. She, In the past, when I married off my daughter and sold her daughter, I took some betrothal gifts and just chanted sutras and walked around in circles every day."
Looking at the scene in front of him, Timur suddenly felt heartache. He remembered what deputy detachment leader Mi Shilang had said at the "complaint meeting": "Those lamas asked you to pray, to accept the hardships and to seek relief in the afterlife, but can this save the poor people on the grassland?"
"No!" Timur suddenly shouted unconsciously, like a ignited cannonball bursting out of the barrel! So much so that he and his companions were startled, and the horse under his crotch also raised its ears straight up like sheep's horns and snorted non-stop.
"Gangaiji, hello!"
When the old lady heard someone speaking, she immediately stopped and answered in a very soft voice. But Timur didn't hear it. When he asked again, the old man muttered a curse again and continued to circle. Every time she took a step, she used a birch cane to explore the way.
As soon as he returned to his hometown, he met these two people first. Timur was a little surprised. The shadows of the crazy woman and the old lady in front of him alternately appeared in his mind.
In fact, in his heart, there was a girl standing on the bank of the Ulia Sutai River, wearing a pink headscarf, always shining brightly. That was Siqin whom he missed day and night. ． ． ． ． ．
At this moment, the horse Captain Wang was riding suddenly frightened, neighed and jumped sharply to the side of the road, almost throwing him off. Timur came back to his senses, stepped back and looked carefully, and saw the body of a child lying on the road, half buried in the soil, half exposed.
After everyone dismounted and buried the child's body again, and marked it with branches, the joy of galloping away was gone. The group simply led their horses and walked, and in less than twenty minutes they arrived at a yurt with gray smoke rising from the kitchen.
Before Timur could even reach the door, he shouted loudly: "Abu! Erji! I'm back!"
A wrinkled old man opened the shabby door curtain and walked out. He was holding a tea bucket in his hand. He had obviously just boiled tea and poured the tea into the bucket. When he saw Timur, there was a tea bucket in his hand. The tea bucket fell to the ground with a bang, and the hot tea spilled all over the floor.
"Ah! Timur..."
Immediately afterwards, a wrinkled woman rushed out of the yurt. When she saw Timur, her legs collapsed and she sat on the ground. She covered her mouth and cried: "They, they said you died in the battle... ...God bless you!"
Timur's father came forward and touched Timur's strong shoulders with trembling hands, then his red face, and tears immediately flowed from his dry eye sockets. ． ． ． ． ．
An hour later, there was laughter and joy inside and outside the yurt. Because there were too many people to sit down, Captain Wang simply suggested to sit outside, so everyone sat on the floor outside Timur's house. Timur's parents were very busy pouring bucket after bucket of brewed milk tea to everyone. Because the tea was boiling hot and they were sweating profusely, everyone took off their military uniforms and wore only grass-green sweaters. They also wiped their sweat while drinking.
Timur drank a hearty meal of milk tea at home and told his parents about his experiences over the past year. The two old people were speechless. Just when he was about to ask Siqin about it, he heard the sound of horse hooves behind him, and saw a guy wearing a dark blue satin robe more than ten steps away looking at him and the others in surprise. Behind him, there were also Followed by seven or eight servants also riding horses.
"Goncourt?"
"Temur? You're not dead? Oops! Ever since you went out with the general, we have all been looking forward to your early return, and you did come back today. This is really happy! Timur, you know it's so windy In rainy years, people hope that heroes and heroes will stay by their side. Don't you?"
Timur really couldn't adapt to Mr. Gongur's unusual courtesy and compliments. You must know that Mr. Goncourt, who usually covers the sky with one hand on this grassland, has never been so gentle and approachable to the poor.
The comrades beside him came over and asked: "Temur, who is this?"
"Master Gongur, the nephew of the local lama flag merchant Zhuo Teba."
In the Qing Dynasty, there were a total of seven Lama banners in the Khalkha Mongolian region, occupying large areas of fertile pasture. Specifically, in the Saiyinnoyan tribe where Ulia Sutai was located, there were five Lama banners. Timur's home belongs to the "Naru Panchen Hutuktu Banner", but this banner is the poorest among all lama banners.
"Master Goncourt, I just came home. What do you mean by calling me a 'hero'? What kind of hero am I? I just asked you to be sent to be an archer and suffer the consequences of a year!"
After hearing this, Goncourt smiled slyly. Just like a hunter standing on guard looking for clues about wild animals, he believed that with his alert eyes, he could see the opponent's bones in just a few glances. But when he glanced at Timur and the people around him, a chill suddenly appeared on the back of his neck, because he suddenly felt more like a prey being targeted by a hunter.
When he took a closer look, he broke out in cold sweat. He suddenly noticed that except for Timur's father, everyone present had almost bald hair and no braids at all!
"You, you, have you joined the rebellion?" Gong Gour bravely spoke out with his teeth chattering.
"You're talking nonsense! They are not rebels, they are the Northern Navy!" Temur stared at the other party and said word by word.
"Yes, yes! It's the Beihai Navy! The Beihai Navy!" Gong Gur suddenly smiled and bowed to Captain Wang. He had already seen that this person was the leader.
"May I ask, Master Jun, what is the purpose of coming here?"
Company Commander Wang walked a few steps in front of Gong Gur and said with a straight face: "We are a work team sent by the 'Southward Detachment' of the Northern Navy. This time, we are here to make friends with the Mongolian fellow villagers."
"Make friends?" Gong Gour didn't think about it for a long time.
"Yes, we visit the herdsmen and have heart-to-heart talks with them. Our Beihai Navy is not the monsters and monsters the Manchus say. We are here to reduce the burden on the herdsmen. There will no longer be assigned servants."
Timur added smoothly, saying: "From now on, everyone in the world will be equal!"
"Oh! That's good, that's a good thing! What a great thing!"
Gong Guoer was stunned for a moment, then suddenly smiled and stroked his mustache. To him, Captain Wang's sudden appearance and his aggressive attitude seemed to constitute an unsolvable mystery!
It seems that Timur is no longer the silly boy he was a year ago! As the saying goes, if you don't know how deep the river is, you can't get into it easily. So Gong Gur said kindly: "Oh! I'm sorry, I made a mistake just now. Mr. Wang, you and your men should have a good rest. I'll treat you to dinner tonight. I'd really like to hear about the Beihai Navy." situation."
After that, he led a few servants away.
During their conversation, their parents, who were so worried that they broke into cold sweats because of Timur's rude and impolite words, turned back to Timur and shook their heads somewhat reproachfully.
The dejected Siqin finally pulled the water tanker back. She seemed to be suffering from a serious illness and her whole body was exhausted. As soon as she unloaded the cattle pulling the tanker, she walked towards her broken and black yurt with heavy steps. , walked two steps, and suddenly heard someone shouting from the owner's house: "Take the dust and pour it out."
She had no choice but to turn back and walk into the snow-white bag. Goncourt's eldest wife scolded: "Why does it take so long to pull a load of water? Did the wolf bite your heel, or did the bull flirt with you? You stinky woman, don't even look at your poor appearance!"
Siqin, who was accustomed to hearing abuse day and night, bent down and took out the dust box and poured it on the dust pile not far from the yurt. At this time, I saw Goncourt and his servant who had just gone hunting, but for some reason they had returned midway. Goncourt's face was as gloomy and terrifying as the sky before the heavy rain! After dismounting, he threw the horse's reins into the servant's hands and quickly walked into the yurt where his father lived.
"Abu! Abu! The pirates are here! Timur is back!"
Siqin, who was outside the yurt, felt her heart beat suddenly when she heard this. She got the courage from nowhere, which prompted her to approach the yurt and eavesdrop.
"What? What's the rush? Speak slowly."
"It's something serious! I think he doesn't know about Siqin yet... We'd better... How about we run away?"
Due to excessive fear and nervousness, just hearing these words intermittently made Siqin's head feel dizzy, his whole body shivered, and he almost fell down! She gritted her teeth and held herself together, and as soon as she walked through the door of her apartment, she fell down on the hay-covered ground. She grabbed a handful of hay with both hands convulsively, sparks appeared in front of her eyes, and her chest seemed to be burning with fire. Her mouth was dry and she wanted to drink water. ． ． ． ． ．
"Timur, why did you come back? Why did you come back?!...Now that I have become like this, how can I face you?...No! I can't see you even if I die, I can't see you!... ..."
