Gold Zhangye, silver Wuwei, gold and silver are not exchanged for Tianshui.

- Han proverb

After Han Gong lost Linxia, he fled with his team in the direction of Dahejia, Xunhua, and Hualong.

After August 28, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) marched westward and was invincible, crossing the Yellow River in Yongjing in Gansu and Xunhua in Qinghai, and liberating Minhe and Hualong counties one after another. Han Gong's army, which had suffered a major defeat, collapsed and scattered in all directions.

Han Gong fled to Xining in a hurry with his men.

He planned to flee to Zhangye with his family and subordinates. He ruled Zhangye from 1931 to 1941, thinking that he had laid some foundations here and might be able to hide for a while. In fact, he did a lot of evil deeds in Zhangye back then, and was known as the king of Zhangye. The local people hated him.

Han Gong returned to the Han Mansion and instructed his subordinates to hurry up and pack their things, and prepare to send their families and money to Zhangye quickly.

Althea, Aisha, and Minael are unaware of these changes in the outside world. They just found that the people of the Han family had been unusually recently, and they were unsettled, rummaging through boxes and cabinets, as if they were going to go far away.

One day, the housekeeper came running over in a panic and asked them to pack their clothes and pack their bags and get ready to go out.

Just go out. Butler, what are you flustered about? It's not the first time they've gone out with the Han family. In the past, they followed the Han family to the city to watch movies, go to the countryside to play, and escape the heat in the forest.

They happily packed their clothes and walked to the compound to prepare for departure, only to find that everyone in the Han family was running outside.

When they walked into the compound, they saw that the family members had packed the Han family's gold and silver treasures and brocade silk into more than a dozen large boxes and loaded them into the car in a panic. The housekeeper arranged for the Han family to scramble to get into the car, and then asked the girl and the family to quickly climb into an open-top truck.

Althea and the others were pushed onto the truck by the housekeeper in a daze. They put their baggage on the planks of the carriage and sat on it. Before they could sit down, the car buzzed and set off.

Under the cover of the night on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, a team of trucks crossed the Huangshui River Bridge and escaped from Xining City.

The car scurried along the potholed road.

After not driving for long, Althea and the others didn't know whether it was because of the bumps in the car or because they couldn't get used to the pungent smell of gasoline, and they felt nauseous one by one, and their stomachs began to turn over and overturn, and they vomited all the food they had eaten in the morning.

At noon, the convoy arrived at Datong, and the housekeeper did not allow them to get out of the car. After a while, the butler brought them a pot of tea and a few pots of helmet steamed buns, and told them to eat quickly.

The convoy continued to speed northwest.

Althea was dizzy and nauseous, and she didn't want to eat, so she drank a bowl of tea. In a trance, she felt that this time she was going out with more luck and less luck. In the past, when I went out, I yelled and drank and swaggered through the city, but this time I didn't go through the city, I didn't look at the scenery, and I ran into the distance. Where is this going?

In the evening, the convoy came to the Qilian Mountains, and after passing through the passes of Datong Mountain and Daban Mountain, they came to Qingshizui in the ravine.

The housekeeper informed everyone that they would spend the night here tonight.

A dozen soldiers jumped out of the car and went with the butler to find a place to stay.

After a while, the housekeeper came back and beckoned everyone to rest and stay in a landlord's manor.

After Althea, Aisha and Mina'er waited for the Han family's wife, young master, and young lady to rest, they came to sleep in the west wing. Although it is still autumn, the temperature in the mountains is very low. They were so cold that they couldn't sleep, so they huddled together and chatted.

Ayixia Pingsu is bold and dares to speak. She said sadly: "I just heard the soldier say that the communist army is coming. Nau people are fleeing to Zhangye. If Zhangye can't hide, he will have to run to Xinjiang and the outer rail (country). ”

Althea and Minaer were embarrassed when they heard this, and said, "I heard that the communist army is the king of murder. I don't know what to do with my parents and my younger siblings? ”

At this time, gunshots and shouts were heard outside. Althea was so frightened that she blew out the oil lamp and got into the quilt, not daring to make a sound.

After a while, the butler said in the courtyard, "Madam, it's a few thieves, and they've run away." Please rest assured. ”

The next morning, Althea found that the tires of the car had been burned, leaving only the black wheels and a few puddles of blood on the ground.

The soldiers requisitioned dozens of wagons and mule carts from the homes of wealthy people in the neighborhood to carry the treasurers and their wives and children. Althea, Ayisha, and Minar were also arranged to sit in the car.

Horse-drawn carts and mule carts are much slower than those on bicycles.

The steward ordered the driver to hurry up and walk towards the depths of Qilian Mountain.

The Qilian Mountains are located in the northeast of Qinghai Province and the western border of Gansu Province, composed of a number of northwest-southeast parallel mountains and wide valleys, because it is located on the south side of the Hexi Corridor, it is also called Nanshan by Gansu people, it is 800 kilometers long from east to west, 200-400 kilometers wide from north to south, 4000-6000 meters above sea level, and the top of the mountain is covered with snow all year round.

After two or three days of traveling, the convoy was brought to the fortress of Biandukou in Gansu.

Biandukou was called Dadou Ba Valley in ancient times, in the middle section of Qilian Mountain, 28 kilometers long, about 10 meters wide, Ebao Town of Qilian County, Qinghai Province in the south, Chow Noodle Village in Minle County of Gansu Province in the north, the terrain is dangerous, the mountain is steep, the cliff is abrupt, and the strange stone is forested. A small river runs through the middle of the gorge. The shore path winds along the river, connecting the Qinghai Ancient Road with the Hexi Corridor. It has been a battleground for soldiers since ancient times, and it is also one of the important passages for the Shang people. The ancient South Silk Road thus entered Gansu from Qinghai and then to the Western Regions.

In April 1931, the Qinghai Ma Army rushed out of Qilian Mountain from Biandukou and fought fiercely with Commander Ma Ying in Sanbao Town, Minle County, and defeated Ma Ying and left Suzhou. In March 1937, after the defeat of the Western Route Army in the Hexi Corridor, the Ma Army once again entered Gansu from Biandukou and searched for and killed the scattered Red Army in the name of Qingxiang in Minle.

The convoy left the mouth of the Biandu and met Han Gong's army, which had come to greet him. The relatives and belongings of the Han family arrived safely in Zhangye and lived in the Han family's mansion that night.

After serving the Han family and resting, Althea and the others simply washed up, lay down on the wooden bed and slept peacefully.

Zhangye is also a historic city on the Hexi Corridor.

In the early days, Zhangye was successively the territory of the Rong people, the Di people, the Wusun people, the Yueshi people, and the Xiongnu people. During the Western Han Dynasty, the hussar general Huo Qubing marched into Hexi and defeated the Xiongnu. In 111 B.C., Zhangye County was set up as one of the four ancient counties in Hexi.

During the period of the two Jin and Northern Dynasties, Zhangye established the Northern Liang Kingdom, and the culture here showed an unprecedented prosperity, becoming the center of Buddhism in the north, and at the same time, Zhangye became an intermediary between the mainland and the Western Regions.

During the Western Wei Dynasty in 554, Zhangye was changed to Ganzhou because of the Ganquan in the territory.

During the Tang Dynasty, the music of Ganzhou had a great influence on the music of the Central Plains. During the Five Dynasties, Ganzhou belonged to the Uighurs and was called the Ganzhou Uighurs.

During the Northern Song Dynasty, the Dangxiang people defeated the Ganzhou Uighurs and established Western Xia.

Dayuan set up Gansu Province, with Ganzhou as the provincial capital. The Italian traveler Marco Polo stopped in Ganzhou for a year on his way to Shangdu, describing the richness of Ganzhou, the size of the city, and the grandeur of its religious temples.

During the Qing Dynasty, Ganzhou was the seat of Ganzhou Prefecture, and the commander of Gansu was stationed in the army, and the general army of the four towns of Liangzhou, Suzhou, Xining and Ningxia was controlled.

The Qing Dynasty's military operations in the west used Ganzhou as the military dispatch center and logistics supply base.

In 1927, the Nationalist regime renamed Ganzhou Zhangye County.

The Zhangye region is bordered by Qilian Mountain in the south, Heli Mountain and Longshou Mountain in the north, and the Heihe River runs through the whole territory, forming a unique desert oasis scene. The terrain in the territory is flat, the land is fertile, the snow mountains, grasslands, clear water, and deserts contrast with each other, which not only has the charm of the south, but also has the style of plugging up, so there is a good sentence like "not looking at the snow on the top of Qilian Mountain, and mistakenly taking Ganzhou as the south of the Yangtze River".

Althea and the Han family didn't stay in Zhangye for a few days when they heard rumors in the city that the People's Liberation Army was coming.

Han Gong stayed closed all day and sent a housekeeper to inquire about the news on the street.

Every message that the housekeeper brought back made everyone tremble:

Xining is lost!

Wuwei is lost!

Hercy is lost!

On September 12, the 5th Division of the 1st Corps of the 1st Field Army of the People's Liberation Army set off from Xining, passed through the Biandukou Gorge, crossed the Qilian Mountains, and marched to Minle.

The 14th avant-garde regiment braved the wind and snow and rushed into the Ebao Pass lightly. 153 soldiers dressed in single clothes froze to death on the mountain road.

The People's Liberation Army suddenly rushed out of Biandukou like a heavenly soldier and a general, passed through Chow Mein Village, Zhanglianzhuang and He Zhuang, and attacked Honghong City that night and captured the whole county of Minle.

The People's Liberation Army soldiers are coming to Zhangye City!

Han Gong couldn't sit still anymore. He ordered his subordinates to prepare cattle and horses, roll up valuable items, and hurriedly took his newly married little wife, the granddaughter of Zhang Chengren, the leader of the militia in Damanbao, and others, and fled to the depths of Qilian Mountain, hoping to survive and make a comeback. Althea and the others were also coerced into the mountain together.

In a panic, they fled into the Grey Strip Gully.

There are several families digging coal in the gray ditch. The male owner of one of the houses is called Ren Tingdong.

Ren Tingdong was born in a poor peasant family in Huoshan County, Dabie Mountain, Anhui Province, and joined the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army in 1930 and participated in the world-famous Long March. In late October 1936, the Red Fourth Front Army crossed the Yellow River and began its westward expedition, and after the battle of Jingtai, the troops were reorganized into the West Route Army to enter the Hexi Corridor, and Ren Tingdong experienced the whole process of the West Route Army's bloody battle in Hexi.

In the spring of 1937, Ren Tingdong and more than 160 Red Army soldiers were unfortunately captured, and after being detained for seven days in Anxi County, they were escorted to Zhangye.

After arriving in Zhangye, they were imprisoned in a dilapidated camel shop on North Street. Ren Tingdong was in a cage, thinking about the Red Army troops, and thinking that he must find an opportunity to escape. He took the opportunity to bask in the wind and sun, carefully observed the surrounding environment, and found that a section of the courtyard wall was made of wooden stakes driven into the ground with a hammer, so he secretly discussed with a comrade-in-arms how to escape.

In the middle of the night, they removed the wooden window and crept to the wall, and together they pulled out a wooden stake, escaped from the camel shop by night, and then pretended to be a countryman who pulled dung, and mixed out of the city with the dung cart.

At dawn, they met a sister-in-law pulling weeds in a crop field next to a village.

The sister-in-law saw that the two of them were outsiders, and guessed that they were Red Army children, so she told them: "The Ma army is searching everywhere. There is no hiding here. Go quickly to the east. ”

The kind sister-in-law pointed out a way and gave them a few pieces of bread she had brought with her.

They only knew that the Red Army's troops were east of the Yellow River, begging all the way to avoid the Ma army's search, and went east to find troops.

After several months of arduous travel, they arrived in Lanzhou. The two of them did not dare to enter the city, so they walked around the mountain road from outside the city, and walked hundreds of miles to the remote Shangying Village in Lintao County. They stopped to do short-term work for the local villagers, carrying firewood, digging the ground, moving stones, delivering dung, and all kinds of farm work.

In order not to reveal their identities, they went incognito, and Ren Tingdong changed his name to Lin Yin.

In those years of war and chaos, the Kuomintang army arrested strong men everywhere. Even though Ren Tingdong was hidden in a remote mountain village, a year later, he was still a strong man by the local chief and incorporated into the 10th Cavalry Division of the Kuomintang Central Army as a soldier.

In 1941, the 10th Division was stationed in Zhangye.

Ren Tingdong escaped in a big circle and returned to Zhangye. Within a few days, Ren Tingdong found an opportunity to escape from the camp of the Kuomintang troops.

He followed the place where the Western Route Army had fought all the way south and entered the Qilian Mountains. I don't know how many ravines he crossed, how long the mountain road was, and finally he reached a place called Gray Ditch, and found a small coal kiln in the small ditch gate, where he settled down and carried charcoal on the coal kiln to make a living. Later, it is said that he married a woman who was cooking in a coal kiln.

The couple spent their days the coal kiln, and before they knew it, they were getting closer

10 years.

He lives in the gray strip ditch deep in the mountains and old forests, and he is not aware of the changes in the outside world.

On the morning of September 17, 1949, the sound of horses' hooves suddenly came from outside the cave where Ren Tingdong lived. He rolled over and got out of the cave.

He hid behind a large rock and looked into the ditch, only to see a group of stragglers shouting and shouting a herd of yaks, carrying boxes, burdens and luggage, and walking into the mountains in a panic.

A fat old man in his 50s hunched on horseback, his long black beard floating across his chest. Several soldiers with guns crowded around the old man.

This person is none other than Han Gong.

Two days later, Ren Tingdong walked around the hill to see what movement would be in the ravine after Han Gong left, and happened to see a soldier wearing a Kuomintang army uniform.

The soldier saw Ren Tingdong from afar and shouted, "Fellow, give me some water to drink." Lao Tzu Kang (thirsty) is dead! ”

Ren Tingdong wanted to inquire about the news outside, so he led the soldier to his cave and took the opportunity to inquire about the situation in Zhangye City.

The soldier shouted angrily, "The Communists have entered the city." ”

Ren Tingdong's heart jumped suddenly: So our team is back again! He was anxious to know the details of the outside, so he approached the soldier, deliberately kept him to eat, and went around the bend to ask him where he was.

The soldier who had lost his vigilance said, "Lord Han sent me to Zhangye City to inquire about the news. ”

Ren Tingdong was shocked when he heard this, and hurriedly asked, "Who is Lord Han?" ”

The soldier replied, "Lord Han is Han Gong." He was defeated by the People's Liberation Army in Lanzhou, so he had to retreat to the mountains. ”

Ren Tingdong was very excited when he heard the news. More than ten years have passed, and I am finally looking forward to this day! Although I have been trapped in the mountains for so many years, the fire in my heart has never been extinguished. He hoped that one day his team would be able to defeat the Ma army and liberate the whole of China.

Ren Tingdong said goodbye to his daughter-in-law and co-workers, drove more than 100 miles of mountain roads overnight, and came to Zhangye County at noon the next day.

Zhangye City is full of red flags, gongs and drums. PLA soldiers came and went in the streets, patrolling and performing duties in an orderly manner, and propaganda teams made propaganda speeches on the streets. The people were smiling one by one.

Ren Tingdong looked at the shining red five stars on the soldiers' military caps, and couldn't help but burst into tears! He inquired all the way to the Military Management Committee, talked about his experience, and reported Han Zheng's whereabouts.

The cadres of the Military Management Commission held Ren Tingdong's hand tightly and said, "Comrade, thank you!" You've suffered all these years. Welcome back to the ranks of the revolution! ”

Ren Tingdong suddenly choked for a long time, and tears welled up in his eyes.

The cadres of the Military Management Commission believed that according to the situation at that time, the best strategy was to win Han Gong to go down the mountain and surrender himself. The best person to accomplish this task is Ren Tingdong.

So, the cadres of the Military Management Commission explained the organizational decision to Ren Tingdong and asked him if he dared to meet Han Gong.

He straightened his chest and replied in a loud voice, "Why don't you dare?" I was a soldier, and I'm not afraid! ”

The roof leak happened to rain overnight.

Han Attack was already in a panic, and encountered a mutiny among his soldiers.

These soldiers not only robbed Han Raid of gold and silver dollars, but also beat Han Raid, who loved money as much as his life, and broke his hamstrings with knives.

After a few days, Han Gong's hair, eyebrows, and beard all turned white, like a lost dog.

On September 22, Ren Tingdong took a letter of persuasion from the Military Management Committee and made an appointment with the Red Army soldier who had been displaced by him to go into the mountain again. They drove more than 100 miles, and finally found the invisible fire ditch platform of Han Gong and his gang.

A dozen sentinels swam in the ravine.

Ren Tingdong was full of courage and shouted: "Who is Han Gong?" ”

The soldiers hurriedly picked up their guns and asked in a panic, "Who are you?" ”

Ren Tingdong replied in a majestic manner: "I am a representative of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, and I asked Han Gong to come out and speak." ”

At this time, Han Gong had become a frightened bird, and when he heard that the People's Liberation Army was coming, he was so frightened that he hurriedly walked out of the cave to observe the situation.

Han Gong read the letter of persuasion brought by Ren Tingdong, and knew that there was no way to enter the sky and the earth for a while, and if he resisted any longer, there was only one way to die, so he immediately said that he would discuss it with his subordinates.

After a period of noise, everyone finally had to surrender to the People's Liberation Army at the end of the road.

Han Gong exchanged his good gun for the landlord in the mountain, put on a carriage with three animals, went down the mountain with a broken gun and two retinues, and came to Zhang Chengren's house, 22 miles south of Zhangye County.

The cadres of the Military Management Commission had already arranged a platoon of people to wait here for Han Gong to surrender.