Even though Lao Wang was a hotel cook, he was a very 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 many people who don't believe it. I am telling you this. Don't take it seriously. Just listen to it as a story.
.”
The story told by Lao Wang is called General Black Burning the City and Burying Treasures. The background of the story takes place in Xixia, and the location is 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. At that time, the Mongols crossed the Yellow River and led their troops to attack for the first time. This time it was Genghis Khan himself. At that time, more than 200,000 Mongolian soldiers invaded Xingqing.
Xingqing Mansion (the capital of Xixia) was besieged 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 incredible, but a proud generation was actually 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 cooperate with each other skillfully when charging into the battle to kill the enemy. The fight is extremely powerful and 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 them, 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. Girls are born with supernatural powers. Her weapon is a sword that weighs more than 70 kilograms, and she can kill people with one blow.
After the horse's head was chopped off, the Mongols nicknamed him General Black. This is the first version of the legend.
Another theory is more 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.
Tie Yao Zihao had no sense of pain and only knew how to kill people. When he was hit with swords and arrows, he would act like a normal person. Therefore, the Mongolian soldiers could not defeat him 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 stampede the mound of earth, and finally set fire to the 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 it, old comrade? 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 this story told by our locals is true, the winding mountains are adjacent to the Tengger Gobi Desert, and the Gobi Desert is followed by the endless Alxa Desert. Where can we find Harahhot? There are yellow sand and stones everywhere.
I can't find it even if I look 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 a fortune that you can think of. It is better to give up this idea as soon as possible. It is unrealistic."
Qin Xingping changed the subject 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?"
"Hutte people?"
Lao Wang frowned and said: "Those people live in the desert, and the people who live in the county can't see each other 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 for one night. Zhao Xuanxuan liked to be clean, so she borrowed someone's bathroom to take a bath. Lao Wang's Hui daughter-in-law 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 foreman and I split up. Because there was something wrong with the car, Lao Qin's foreman, Zhao Xuanxuan, went to the local repair shop to repair the car. Dou Yazai and I went to the farmer's market. The foreman said that he would pick us up at the market after the car was repaired.
When I arrived at the Yintian Farmers Market, I asked a butcher to find the person Lao Wang had 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: "You are asking about Lao Gan, right? He sells dry goods at No. 43, West District. I saw him when I got there. Lao Gan is easy to recognize because 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 young 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 were too polite and brought meat. It happened to be that she left 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, people will get suspicious if you don't say that, 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, had eyes, was thin, and was quite beautiful.
"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 going to have for lunch? Dad."
"Let's eat potato stew. Your colleague happened to buy some meat."
"My colleague?" She then turned around and spotted Dou Sprout and me.
