Fan Yang sat in Eric's lead car, the co-pilot's seat.

Crooked with a peaked cap, toad glasses, and camouflage short sleeves, this bearded Englishman is like a loyal entourage, no matter how Fan Yang tosses, he doesn't ask much, you can go wherever you say.

And he actually has nothing to do with him.

And no matter how you talk to him, you can't say two words, he agrees two words, and silence replaces.

He's crazy about himself, he drives the car as fast as he can, and he doesn't care how the person in your seat feels.

Sometimes Fan Yang wonders if there is something wrong with this person's head.

I just didn't care about him.

When passing through Shihezi, I passed through a large desert of Bantungus, but it was only a short section, and I didn't appreciate anything at all.

But when I arrived in Kazakhstan, I was walking through a desert, the wind was much lighter, and the temperature rose sharply.

Everyone took off their coats and opened the windows to let the dry monsoon breeze blow on their faces.

Except that the road is a little rotten, it feels pretty good.

"What kind of desert is this?" asked Fan Yang.

The car drove for more than two hours, and Ivan in the back seat was also familiar with everyone: "Sarysik Atyrau Desert, through this desert is Almaty." ”

"Is it just a desert away? It's pretty simple. Fan Yang asked.

Xiao Lu in the back row interjected: "Actually, here in Almaty, it is no different from Xinin, desert, desert, mixed with basins, and Almaty is similar to Urumqi." ”

Lu Zhengshan also echoed: "Well, that's it, Almaty is a little better than Urumqi, there is not much shortage of water over there, the Ili River was cut off by them over there, and a reservoir was built, which is similar to Turpan, and it is called Almaty Apple City, which is named after the abundance of apples." ”

"What about the rest of the world?"

"The rest of the place is poor, that is, grazing, grassland, collective farms are like our construction corps, growing cotton. ”

The road and the railway, almost side by side, are not very boring along the way, the flow of people begins to dense, and it is common to see caravans of various supplies on both sides of the road.

At noon they arrived at a small city called Taldi Kurgan, which was a desert city, everything was very old, and there was a bazaar in the city, where there were horses of mutton hung and a mill where flour could be polished, but there was no place to eat.

"There are no restaurants in this place?"

Ivan said: "This is the county town of the Kazakhs, and the rich people have fled to Almaty, so you have brought the money, right? Why don't we find a yurt house to try?"

Although there was dry food on the car, it was obvious that he saw a seller of livestock and mutton in the county town, and who would want to eat that.

"Then you can arrange it. ”

"Then let's go out of the city and go up the Ili Mountain, I know that there is a tribe in it, and we can eat some beef and mutton in it. ”

Fan Yang was taken aback: "Isn't it a primitive tribe? Don't scare me." ”

"No, it's a nomadic tribe of Kazakhs, they live at the foot of the Ili Mountains, they hide relatively deep, they haven't been sacked by the rebels, I have friends in it, and it's only half an hour's drive away. ”

Fan Yang refused, and hastily ate some dry food to settle the account.

But there was more traffic along the way.

This is the ancient Silk Road, and it is also a trade route connecting the southeastern mountains to Almaty, and the materials transported from the Alashankou need to be transferred in these places, and these means of transportation are also broken, there are camel caravans, carriages, and old liberation with a load of 10 tons.

More than 300 kilometers by car, entering Almaty around 4 pm.

Not surprisingly, another checkpoint appeared in front of it, and a barracks was stationed directly next to it, and tanks and armored vehicles were parked on the side of the road, and the vehicles were commanded to the right for inspection.

Ivan quickly got out of the car, claiming that the car was Chinese, and came over to Fan Yang and said: "Let's cooperate with the inspection, as long as there are no weapons in the car." ”

A group of people obediently got out of the car to cooperate with the inspection, which was expected.

In addition to the Apple City, there is a special place in Almaty, which is a complete military base, which was the bridgehead of the former Soviet and Central Asian strategy, and the Verny fortress opposite the port of Khorgos, built like the Macedonian defense line, full of bunkers and underground fortifications, and on the ground is a reinforced concrete fortification, and then extends to Turkmenistan, where a large number of troops were stationed when they invaded Afghanistan in the 80s.

The fortress was also a former Soviet base's road-based missile base, with mile-range SS-18 missiles deployed from which to hit Kabul directly.

At the time of independence in 92, Nazabayev ordered that all the troops, military facilities, and military institutions stationed in Kazakhstan by the Soviet Union in Kazakhstan should be transferred to Kazakhstan in situ, and the 36th-40th armies of the former Soviet Army, with seven or eight hundred thousand army troops, were all taken over.

The combat effectiveness is still very impressive.

It is also the confidence of Nazabayev to dare to take over such a country.

After taking over the troops, they reached a strategic cooperative relationship with China and received a large amount of money and materials.

As long as there are supplies, the country will not be chaotic.

Hundreds of thousands of army generals are currently guarding Almaty like iron barrels, and the Erros soldiers in Kazakhstan are treated well, although the salary is small, but at least the basic living security is still there.

The situation was dangerous, but it was maintained.

As for the security situation in Almaty, according to Ivan, as long as you don't carry weapons and don't work against the Kazakh garrison, it's still no problem.

The city has by far had one of the lowest crime rates after several crackdowns.

Robbers, no matter how much they rob, are all shot.

No one wants to enter the Kazakh iron prison.

Chinese merchants, in particular, enjoyed privileges here, and even the garrison did not dare to extort money.

A few boxes of chocolates and cigarettes in the car, those soldiers searched it, but they didn't dare to move.

Fan Yang still took the initiative to give a few packs of Marlboros, and was saluted and let go by those Eros soldiers.

This is a city at the foot of a mountain, and after half an hour into the city, it can be regarded as a big walk, Fan Yang can hardly believe it, this is the capital of a country?

Generally low buildings, rotten wood shacks, sewage-ridden alleys, uneven pavement, from the suburbs to the city centre, except for the domed halal chapels in a luxurious hue of bright golden yellow and green paint.

And this is reflected in the equally beautiful Orthodox churches (a branch of Christianity).

The beliefs here are complex, Kazakhs generally believe in *** religion, while Russians generally believe in Christianity.

In addition, there are banks one after another, entering the city of Kazakhstan, in just half an hour, you can see HSBC, Barclays, Morgan, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley.

Another feature is that the streets are full of people.

With yellow skin, but with a high nose bridge, a large face, a turban, and a wide foot and neck, the Kazakhs, who have been ruled for hundreds of years, are the most common group of people at the bottom.

The army shook his head again and again: "It's so broken, do these people have money?