Even though Lao Wang was a restaurant cook, he was a shrewd person. Lao Qin pointed to the ground with his chopsticks and he understood.
He thought for a while and whispered: "Old comrade, there is a legend that has been passed down here for hundreds of years. There are many people who believe it and there are many people who don't believe it. I am telling it to you. Don't take it seriously. Just listen to it as a story. .”
The story Lao Wang told was called General Black Burning the City and Burying Treasures. The background of the story took place in Xixia, in Harahhot.
Harahhot cannot be found on the map. The word translated from the ancient Hui language means, "black water, pitch black water," so Harahhot has another famous name.
"Blackwater City."
Lao Wang said that Heishui City used to be on the ancient Silk Road, in the deepest part of the Helan Mountains. That year, the Mongols crossed the Yellow River and led troops to attack for the sixth time. This time it was Genghis Khan himself. At that time, more than 200,000 Mongolian soldiers besieged Xingqing Mansion (the capital of Xixia) for more than three months. Xingqing Mansion was short of soldiers and food. The soldiers were so hungry that they could only wait to die.
The reason why we only besieged but not attacked at that time is that Genghis Khan was afraid of Xixia's Iron Harrier Women's Army. It sounds unbelievable that a great genius is afraid of female soldiers. Why is this?
According to local legends, there are two versions of the iron kite.
One theory is that the Iron Harriers are all female soldiers. Four horses are tied together with iron chains. The four female soldiers on the horses each hold weapons of different lengths. They coordinate with each other skillfully when charging into the battle to kill the enemy. They fight extremely powerfully and are invincible. Unbeatable.
Genghis Khan's army was defeated in all five previous encounters with Iron Harrier. Judging from his age and physical condition at the time, this was the last time he attacked Xixia. If he failed to defeat it, it would create hidden dangers for his descendants, so he decided to be sure. Use siege tactics to force Xixia to surrender.
The commander of the Iron Kites Army is a female general in her forties. Legend has it that this female general has dark skin and a mole on her right eye. She is born with supernatural powers. Her weapon is a horse-cutting knife weighing more than 70 kilograms. She can chop off a horse's head with one blow. The Mongolians gave her a nickname. Black General. This is the first version of the legend.
Another theory is mysterious. It is said that the iron kites are not actually people, but are specially refined corpses. Because the corpses cannot ride horses, four horses are tied together with iron chains to prevent the horses from running around. . The person who smelted the iron kite corpse was the Xixia Imperial Master. This person's name is unknown. He was nicknamed Qiyue Cang. As for why he was called Qiyue Cang, no one can explain clearly.
The iron kite felt no pain and only knew how to kill people. Generally, when the sword and arrow hit its body, it was as if it was nothing. Therefore, the Mongolian soldiers could not defeat it and suffered heavy losses several times.
The Mongols besieged Xingqing Mansion. At that time, Tie Yaozi happened to be stationed in Harahot. General Black knew that the situation was over, so he let all the people in the city escape. General Black collected the treasures of Harahot in order not to fall into the Mongols. He secretly buried the treasure in the hands of others, then ordered the iron kites and thousands of horses to gallop to level the mound of earth, and finally set fire to Blackwater City. Genghis Khan was left with a worthless dead city.
After telling the story, Lao Wang put down his wine glass and said with a smile: "How about old comrades, all the elderly people in the Helan Mountain area grew up listening to the stories of General Black. Halahot has long been buried under the yellow sand. Well, even if the story told by our locals is true, Liupan Mountain is adjacent to the Tengger Gobi Desert, and the Gobi Desert is followed by the endless Alxa Desert. Where can I find Harahhot? There are yellow sand and stones everywhere. I guess I won’t be able to find it for hundreds of years.”
Seeing that Qin Xingping was unmoved, Lao Wang said again: "Old Qin, if you are not an old comrade, I will attack you. Others must have thought of the ways to make money you can think of. It is better to give up this idea as soon as possible. It is unrealistic."
Qin Xingping changed the topic and said: "Let's not mention this for now. Let me tell you the truth, old comrade. I came here mainly to find the Hute tribe. Do you have any ideas?"
"Kute people?"
Lao Wang frowned and said: "Those people live in the desert, and you can't see anyone living in the county once a year. I can't help you with this matter, but if you really want to find the Hute people, you can go to Helan County." I asked around at Yintian Farmers Market, and I heard that a boss there has a little daughter. His little daughter works as a reporter at Yinchuan Daily. She seems to have interviewed the leader of the Hute people. Find that person and ask."
"Okay, come on, fill it up, old comrade, you see we have eaten so much, it doesn't mean anything," Qin Xingping took out two hundred yuan as he spoke.
"What are you doing!" Lao Wang said angrily, "Don't treat me like a brother. If you give me any money, just put it away quickly. If you give it to me, I will be jealous of you."
After eating and drinking, we stayed overnight. Zhao Xuanxuan loves to be clean, so she borrowed someone's bathroom to take a bath. Lao Wang's Hui wife also gave Zhao Xuanxuan a small vest worn by Hui women as a gift.
At dawn, a few of us got up early to say goodbye to Lao Wang and his family, and drove to Helan County.
When we arrived at the county town, the leading soldier and I split up. Because there was something wrong with the car, Lao Qin's leading soldier, Zhao Xuanxuan, went to the local repair shop to repair the car. Bean sprouts and I went to the farmer's market. The boss said that after the car was repaired, he would come to the market to pick us up.
When I arrived at the Yintian Farmers Market, I asked a butcher to find the person Lao Wang mentioned.
The meat seller at the market didn't want to talk to me at first, but his attitude immediately changed after I bought two kilograms of beef.
The butcher said: "The person you are asking about is Lao Gan. He sells dry goods at No. 43, West District. I saw him when I got there. Lao Gan is easy to recognize. He has a scar on his forehead."
Carrying the meat and walking around the market, Bean Sprout suddenly touched me and motioned me to look east.
There was a dry goods store there. There were a lot of dried white fungus mushrooms piled outside the store. A middle-aged man with a scar on his face was sitting on a chair and concentrating on reading a newspaper.
Dou Sprouts and I walked over together.
"Hello Uncle Gan, I brought you two kilograms of beef." I smiled and put the meat aside.
He put down the newspaper and looked at me and Dou Sprout in confusion, "Are you...?"
"We are your daughter's colleagues. We have some work-related matters and we want to talk to her."
"Are you also from a newspaper?"
I lied and said yes.
"Xiaoxuan just informed me that she brought her friends back for lunch. You guys are too polite and brought meat. It just so happened that you didn't leave at noon and stayed for lunch."
At this time, Douyazai pulled me aside and whispered: "Yunfeng, why did you say that we are from the newspaper? When her little daughter comes back later, she will ask if we will reveal our secrets. How will it end then?"
I said Yazai, don't panic, otherwise people will become suspicious, just look at me then.
Lao Gan's youngest daughter came back at 11:30 p.m., and there was a short-haired girl with her. Her youngest daughter was in her early twenties and wore glasses. She was very thin and pretty.
"Dad, I'm back. I'm going to the breeding base in the afternoon for an interview. I'll bring my colleagues over for a meal on the way. What are you planning to eat for lunch?"
"Let's eat potato stew. Your colleague happened to buy some meat."
"My colleague?" She then turned around and spotted Dou Sprout and me.
"Are you two...?"
"Hello." I reached out.
"I am Xiang Yunfeng, our youth geography student."
"Hello, I'm Dou... No, just call me Lu Ziming."
