If you don't teach him a lesson from stealing the rooster, he will steal your yak in the future.

- Lhoba proverb

Niu Zhanxiang's personality is introverted, loyal and honest, and he has followed Ma Lin to Hezhou, Lanzhou, Liangzhou and Xining for many years, and has always been a qualified guard.

Niu Zhanhai has a lively personality, observes words and feelings, can speak well, and is also a soldier in Ma Biao's team under Ma Lin. He was stationed in Yushu County in southern Qinghai, guarded the Tibetan area, paid war horses, and after fighting to defend Yushu, he was soon promoted to a junior officer.

Here's how it happened.

At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, in order to strengthen the control of Tibet, the Sichuan Special Zone was established in the Tibetan area of western Sichuan, which was administered by Sichuan Province. This is the main road for the interior to enter Tibet, with important military and strategic significance, the jurisdiction is mainly the current Ganzi Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Sichuan Province, Ya'an City, Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture, Changdu in eastern Tibet, etc., which is basically equivalent to the Kham area in Tibetan culture, so it is called Xikang.

In 1912, the Republic of China government set up the Sichuan Economic Strategy Envoy to actively plan the establishment of Xikang Province. From 1914 to 1918, the 13th Dalai Lama, instigated by the British, sent Tibetan troops to invade the western part of Kham, occupying 13 counties on the west bank of the Jinsha River, and crossing the river to capture Zhanhua (present-day Xinlong County, Sichuan Province), and besieging Ganzi.

In August 1928, the Nationalist Power decided to change the four provinces of Rehe, Chahar, Suiyuan, Ningxia, Qinghai, and Chuanbian, which stirred up the sensitive nerves of the separatists.

In June 1930, at the instigation of the British, the Tibetan army attacked Xikang for the second time and occupied Ganzi, Zhanhua and other places in Xikang.

The Tibetan army was stopped by the Sichuan army in Xikang. The two sides confronted each other on both sides of the Jinsha River. The security of Yushu County in southern Qinghai has also been threatened.

Ma Lin asked the Central Authority of the Nationalists for instructions and set up the Southern Border Garrison Command in Yushu, with Ma Qi's second son Ma Fang as the commander. The headquarters has two brigades under its command. Ma Qi's son-in-law Ma Xun served as the commander of the First Brigade, and Ma Fang's uncle Ma Biao served as the commander of the Second Brigade. Among them, Ma Biao's second brigade was stationed in Yushu.

In December 1931, the governor of Qamdo, Kampot Api, asked the Qinghai army to evacuate the large and small Surmang areas of Yushu.

At that time, there were only more than 400 Qinghai defenders near Yushu.

Ma Biao hurriedly reported the situation to the Qinghai provincial government.

The Qinghai Provincial Government sent its secretary Wang Jialin and 100 heads of households from Yushu to negotiate with the Tibetan side, advocating that the issue of Surmang and Gadan Monastery wait until the beginning of next spring to discuss and resolve it, with the aim of implementing a plan to delay the army.

The Tibetan army ignored Qinghai Province's proposals.

In January and February 1932, at the instigation of the pro-British faction, the Tibetan authorities used the Gadan Monastery incident as an excuse to hijack the remnants of the previous year's victory over the Sichuan army, and the Tibetan army's North Road Commander mobilized 4,000 officers and soldiers to enter Suermang (today's Nangqian County, Qinghai Province), which was under the jurisdiction of Yushu County.

The Tibetan army began by cutting off traffic and checking pedestrians, and then violently demolished the bridge between the big and small Surmang, and occupied Surmang and Nangchen.

The Tibetan army is the local armed forces of the pro-British forces in Tibet, and in addition to their daily equipment, they also have artillery. The soldiers were almost all Tibetans, and some British officers were also recruited.

The Qinghai Army is also a local armed force, mainly composed of Hui soldiers from Gansu and Qinghai, who are fierce and brave, and are known for their cavalry.

On March 24, Niu Zhanhai's military station was suddenly bombarded by Tibetan artillery fire. At that time, the Qinghai Army had only more than 40 cavalry stationed in Da Surmang, and only more than 30 cavalry stationed in Xiao Surmang.

Niu Zhanhai and his soldiers immediately entered the battle, and held on to the Tibetan army for 8 days and nights, with casualties on each other.

On April 3, another unit of the Tibetan army attacked Nangqian, Laxiu and other places.

Ma Biao saw that he was unable to take care of both, so he ordered Niu Zhanhai and other officers and soldiers to abandon the defensive ground, withdraw to Jiegu Town to gather, and stick to the county seat to wait for reinforcements.

After the Tibetan army occupied Nangchen, they then besieged the ancient town of Jie.

The situation in Jiegu Town was very tense for a time.

The Tibetan army crossed the Tongtian River, the source of the Yangtze River, and snatched all the ferries on the Tongtian River.

It seized the town of Xiewu and Labu Monastery on the north bank (both of which belonged to Chengduo County, Qinghai Province today), cut off the road between Xining and the ancient town of Yushu County, in an attempt to block the reinforcements from Qinghai.

The Tibetan army saw victory in sight.

Ma Lin and Ma Fang immediately telegraphed Yang Cheng, director of the Xi'an appeasement, to provide 2,000 fast guns, 200,000 rounds of ammunition, 400,000 yuan in temporary military expenses, plus five radio stations.

Ma Xun led the 1st Brigade from Xining to Yushu, and went to meet the leaders of the Tibetan army with letters from Ma Lin and Ma Fang, but was flatly refused.

Late at night on June 27, more than 1,000 Tibetan troops infiltrated the ancient temple of Zen Gu, 4 kilometers south of Jiegu Town, and launched a surprise attack on the Qinghai army. The rest of the Tibetan army troops were stationed at Batang Beach as a backup.

Ma Biao and Ma Taming's Qinghai Army fought together, routed the invading enemy, and captured 90 steel guns.

In the first battle, more than 200 people were killed and wounded.

In order to commend Niu Zhanhai's bravery, Ma Biao promoted him to be a company commander.

On July 14, Niu Zhanhai led 200 soldiers and 200 Tibetan armed forces to march to the Tongtian River overnight.

At dawn, they rushed to the banks of the Tongtian River.

At that time, the Tibetan soldiers were sleeping in their tents.

Niu Zhanhai gave an order, and the Qinghai army caught the Tibetan army by surprise and threw away their armor.

The defeated Tibetan army hurriedly retreated to the area around Xiewu Town and Labu Monastery. Tibetan armies from other places also converged in the direction of the town of Xiewu. For a time, more than 1,000 Tibetan troops gathered in the town of Xiewu.

The Qinghai coalition army divided into three routes and outflanked Xiewu Town.

After eight hours of fierce fighting, the Tibetan army began to retreat to the rear.

Ma Fang successively sent troops led by regiment commander La Pingfu and brigade commander Ma Lu from Xining to Yushu for reinforcements.

La Pingfu and Ma Xun joined forces and attacked the southern part of Jiegu Town.

The Tibetan army charged from the south to the Qinghai positions in the north.

The two sides eventually came close and engaged in hand-to-hand combat.

The Tibetan army wore heavy fur robes and big leather boots, was clumsy, and had not been trained in white-knuckle warfare in peacetime, so it was no match for the Qinghai army at all. They were soon defeated and retreated to Batangtan and Laxiu Monastery (both of which are part of present-day Yushu City, Qinghai Province).

Jiegu Town, which had been surrounded by Tibetan troops for four months, was finally relieved.

On August 22, the Qinghai army divided into three routes, occupied Batangtan, and advanced to Xiaosurmang. On the 24th, they had arrived more than 200 miles away from Jiegu Town.

The Qinghai army encountered a Tibetan defense force of more than 2,000 people. Covered by continuous artillery bombardment, they charged the Tibetan positions entrenched in Xiaosurmang with hand grenades.

Not to be outdone, the Tibetan army not only returned fire with heavy artillery fire, but also launched an attack on the positions of the Qinghai army.

The Qinghai army hurriedly suppressed the fire of the Tibetan army with mortars.

More than 1,000 Tibetan troops joined the battle.

Ma Biao arranged for Niu Zhanhai and other Qinghai troops to set up an ambush at the foot of the mountain, and then led the Qinghai army to pretend to retreat.

Seeing this, the Tibetan army rushed down from the mountain, but was surrounded by the ambushed Niu Zhanhai Qinghai army, killing and wounding more than 2,000 people.

The Qinghai army successfully occupied Xiaosurmang.

After the loss of Little Surmang, the Tibetan army immediately assembled at Big Surmang, preparing to fight the Qinghai army to the death there.

On September 2, the Qinghai Army entered Great Surmang. Lapingfu led 300 elite soldiers and strong generals to go around to the back of the high mountain and cut off the back road of the Tibetan army.

The Tibetan army, under the cover of artillery, fought a counterattack in an attempt to break through the defense line of the Qinghai army. However, due to successive defeats, the Tibetan army had lost its original fighting spirit and had no choice but to retreat to the south.

The Qinghai army triumphantly regained the Great Surmang.

On September 20, Ma Lu led the 1st Cavalry Brigade of the Qinghai Army, which supported Yushu for the second time, to Jiegu Town, further enhancing the strength of the Qinghai Army.

The Sichuan army, which was holding the Tibetan army on the east bank of the Jinsha River, made an appointment with the Qinghai army, and the two armies jointly attacked Qamdo, and then they could start their march towards the Jinsha River.

On October 2, the Qinghai army advanced south from Surmang and approached Dangtou Temple on the mountainside of Laniang.

More than 1,000 Tibetan troops held out against the odds.

Ma Lu, Ma Biao, and Ma Xun personally led the team to attack the Tibetan army, and the battle was very fierce.

Another unit of more than 2,000 troops of the Tibetan army made a detour to the north and shelled the positions of the Qinghai army.

The situation has become extremely tense.

When the rear defense units of the Qinghai Army heard the news, they each held a big sword and fought with the Tibetan army.

The Tibetan army retreated on all fronts and retreated to Qiongke Monastery.

Qiongke Temple is located in Dengke on the west bank of the Jinsha River, is a large-scale Gelugpa monastery at the junction of Tibet, Kang and Qingdao, communicates with Qamdo from east to west, is surrounded by mountains, and faces Dengke County (now belonging to Derge County and Shiqu County) across the river.

Although the base camp of the Tibetan army that invaded Xikang was located in Qamdo, Qiongke Monastery was also an important stronghold of the Tibetan army, and the fortifications were extremely strong.

The Qinghai Army and the Sichuan Army stationed in Dengke County on the east bank of the Jinsha River agreed to attack, and on the 15th, the two sides jointly attacked the Tibetan army.

On October 15, the Tibetan army gathered more than 5,000 troops at Qingke Monastery and set up three tight defensive lines.

The Qinghai Army was divided into left and right wings. Ma Xun launched an attack from the front and took the momentum of encirclement. The Sichuan army also used artillery to bombard the Tibetan army's positions across the river to support the Qinghai army's attack.

The Tibetan army gradually lost its strength and retreated to the west, all of which retreated to the west of the Jinsha River.

At the same time, the Sichuan army launched a counteroffensive against the Tibetan army, and successively recovered Ganzi, Zhanhua, Derge and other counties.

The Qinghai army occupied Qiongke Temple and achieved a victorious rendezvous with the Sichuan army. The two armies formed a comprehensive encirclement of Qamdo, the stronghold of the Tibetan army.

After the Tibetan army retreated to the west of the Jinsha River, Ma Fang sent a telegram to Jiang Jieshi and Liu Hui, suggesting that the Qing and Sichuan armies take advantage of the victory to attack and regain the important town of Qamdo in Xikang in one fell swoop. Niu Zhanhai was also eager to try, ready to go to Qamdo to drink a good Tibetan salt tea.

However, Ma Biao soon received instructions from Ma Fang: Chiang Jieshi ordered the Qing and Sichuan armies to immediately stop their attacks and wait for the results of the peace talks with the Dalai Lama.

At that time, the 13th Dalai Lama saw that the Tibetan army had been defeated in succession, and that all the Jiangdong areas it had occupied had been lost, and that the people in Tibet had been exhausted due to years of war, and the people's anti-war sentiment was very high. He then decided to propose peace talks to the Nationalist regime.

Lama Dalai wrote a letter to Ma Tao and Ma Biao, saying: "Qinghai-Tibet is a family, and military operations should be stopped immediately. Everyone lives in peace. ”

In mid-September 1932, Jiang Yousheng, the representative of the Sichuan Army, Ma Biao, the representative of Qinghai, and Sikong Daiben, the representative of Tibet, held a meeting in Dengke, and jointly agreed that Xikang and Tibet should be bounded by the Jinsha River, and that the Qinghai Army would return to Yushu to guard their own borders and not invade each other.

Ma Biao, Niu Zhanchuan, and others were very dissatisfied with this and resolutely opposed the inclusion of Qamdo and a large area under the jurisdiction of Tibet. However, the arms can't twist the thighs. After all, that was decided by the central government.

After nearly half a year of repeated wrestling, Qinghai and Tibet finally reached an agreement on April 10, 1933, and signed the Qinghai-Tibet Peace Treaty.

The preface to the Qinghai-Tibet Peace Treaty reads: "Qinghai-Tibet belongs to one family, and it has been peaceful for a long time...... On the issue of Gadan Temple, the garrisons of the two sides misunderstood, which led to disputes and vain war...... Since then, Qinghai-Tibet has been in harmony as before, the national defense of the western region has been consolidated, and the country and the border people have been very bad. ”

There are 8 articles in the Qinghai-Tibet Peace Treaty, the main contents of which are:

Article 1: The Khenpo of the Gadan Monastery in charge of the temple shall be elected by the monks of the temple and submitted to the Buddha for the commission. The Khenpo's power is still religious, and he is not allowed to interfere in politics.

Article 2: The religious rights of the two monasteries of Qingke and Dangtou shall be under the jurisdiction of Zuoba as before, but neither party shall station troops in the two places, so as not to cause disputes due to the border.

Article 3: After the conclusion of the peace treaty, the Tibetan side shall withdraw its troops first; The Qinghai side continued to withdraw its troops on the 14th day of the Tibetan retreat. Except for their original garrisons, the two sides are limited to retreat within one month. In the future, Qinghai and Tibet will defend their territories and will not be violated. For example, the Tibetan side invaded the Qinghai border, and there were 26 ethnic leaders of the Tibetan side such as Qamdo, Basu, and Wuqi. The Qinghai army's invasion of the Tibetan border was guaranteed by the leaders of the 25 ethnic groups in Yushu.

Article 4: If any Tibetan officers and soldiers change to the Qingdao side or abscond from the Qinghai side, the Qinghai side shall not take them in and protect them; If the officers and soldiers of the Qingdao side intend to return to the Tibetan side, the Tibetan side is not allowed to take them in and protect them.

Article 5: Both sides shall vigorously protect religious monasteries.

Article 6: If there are bad people in Qinghai who commit crimes and evade the Tibetan side, the Tibetan side, regardless of the military officers and the public, shall not protect and hide them; If there are bad people in Tibet who commit crimes and evade the green side, the green side will also follow the rules.

Article 7: Qinghai shall vigorously protect Tibetan businessmen; Tibet must also vigorously protect Qinghai businessmen.

Article 8: After the treaty is signed by all Tibetan officers and soldiers captured by the Qinghai side, the Qinghai side shall be completely handed over to the Tibetan side.

The dispute between Qinghai and Tibet over Yushu was a civil war between China's border provinces instigated by British imperialism. The war lasted more than a year and caused great losses to the production and livelihood of the people of Qinghai and Tibet. The peaceful end of the war bankrupted the British imperialist plot to split China, and the pro-British forces in Tibet received the blow they deserved.

During the Qinghai-Tibet War, both the Tibetan army and the Qinghai army burned, killed, and looted, causing the local Tibetan people to suffer great suffering and planting long-lasting hatred in the hearts of the people.

It should be fair to say that the Qinghai Army has made important contributions to safeguarding the integrity and unity of the country, stabilizing the southwestern borderlands, and ensuring stability in Tibet.

The ruling power of the Ma warlords thus extended from the southern part of Qinghai to the areas of Qiongke Temple, Shiqu, Dengke, and Dege in Sichuan, which not only consolidated the dominant position that had been achieved in the northwest, but also expanded the ruling power and gained great gains.

What is embarrassing is that in January 1939, Xikang Province was formally established belatedly, with 32 counties and two administrative bureaus under its jurisdiction, and the provincial capital was located in Kangding. In 1955, the Second Session of the First National People's Congress decided to abolish Xikang Province, and the areas to which Xikang Province belonged were merged into Sichuan Province and Tibet Autonomous Region, the east of the Jinsha River was merged into Sichuan Province, and the Qamdo area west of the Jinsha River was merged into Tibet.

Niu Zhanhai, who won a great victory, returned to Xining to recuperate, and met the eldest brother Ibrahim and the second brother Niu Zhanxiang, but did not see the third brother Niu Zhanchuan, nor did he get any news from him.