Wherever a person is born, he is most precious.

- Kyrgyz proverb

At 8 o'clock in the morning of March 21, Niu Zhanchuan received an urgent order to follow the main force led by Ma Ying to surround Hezhou City.

Niu Zhanchuan's mission is to protect Ma Ying's safety, so he doesn't have to go to the front line of the battle, and there is still a mile away from the battlefield.

He saw that not only did the Hui people from Sixiang come to support Ma Ying's army, but even the Han people living in the Beiyuan area brought firewood and tea because they could not bear the oppression and exploitation of the feudal rulers, and also assisted the officers and soldiers in digging trenches.

At that time, the total number of troops hired by Zhao Ping, the town guard of Hezhou, was only 3 battalions, no more than 1,200 people. Half of the weapons are steel guns, and half are lead guns for hunting. They dug trenches around the walls of the city and covered them with thin planks and sand to make traps.

Ma Ying's army had no heavy weapons in their hands, and it was difficult to destroy the solid walls.

The first siege had more than 5,000 troops. They used more rifles than those of the National Army. Because of the lack of ammunition, their firepower has never been able to overwhelm the national army, and there are even people who secretly sell bullets to make money.

In this context, Ma Ying's siege became a besieged city. The siege lasted for a long time, but it was never able to conquer the city.

Ma Ying was already young and vigorous, fantasizing about winning a big victory in a few days, and attacking the provincial capital Lanzhou before the victory. In the face of the predicament, he rectified discipline, encouraged morale, implemented clear rewards and punishments, beheaded Ma Changlu, the head of the forward regiment who did not obey the command and privately led the team to attack the Dahe family, and Ma Gawu, who had secretly communicated information to Zhao, and then rewarded the officers and soldiers who were working hard to attack the city with shoes, socks, non-staple food, etc.

The siege of Hezhou City lasted for more than half a month, and there was no progress except for the annihilation of more than 150 officers and men of the Zhao Ping artillery battalion who attacked the northern plateau and the capture of more than 100 rifles.

On April 5, Niu Zhanchuan heard that Dai Jingyu, the commander of the bandits, had set out from Lintao and marched to Hezhou.

Ma Ying personally led the army to Nanyangpo and Haozhigou (today's Hezheng County) to encircle and block the attack, but he could not defeat the national army. He hurriedly dispatched more than 1,000 people to Forty Lipu to support.

Although Dai Jingyu was wounded in the battle, their firepower overwhelmed Ma Ying's army.

Ma Ying saw that his troops could not resist the national army, and did not want to make any more senseless sacrifices, so he immediately retreated to the Hanjiaji area in Xixiang to rest, intending to rise again in the future.

The first siege of Hezhou City failed in this way.

In addition to the firepower of the military units, the Nationalist Army also selected a field political committee headed by Liu Yufen's chief of staff, Yu Jiapei, appointed local celebrities in Hezhou, La Shijun, Ma Guoli, and others as members, led two propaganda teams to carry out propaganda and division against Ma Ying's army, and sent celebrities from Bafang, such as La Weiqing and Jiang Zijing, to mediate and seek a peaceful solution to the incident.

The Political Committee put forward three suggestions to Ma Ying to appease him: first, the Ma army completely withdrew from the outskirts of the city and moved to the Hanjiaji and Dahejia areas, which were far away from Hezhou City; the second is to reorganize Ma Ying's soldiers into the National Revolutionary Army according to the number of guns; The third is to absolutely obey Liu Yufen's dispatch after being compiled.

Ma Ying refused, because he had the support of his grandfather Ma Haiyuan, Ma Teng's father Ma Cangwa, Ma Zhankui, a veteran general of the Western Army, his son Ma Pilie, his grandson Ma Fufu and Ma Xian, and dug up the 600,000 yuan silver coins from Ma Xian's cellar as military salary.

Ma Xian and his brother Ma Xian have had irreconcilable contradictions for a long time.

Ma Ying planned to borrow a knife to kill people, prompting Liu Yufen to solve Ma Xun in Liangzhou first. He sent Niu Zhanchuan to persuade him many times, and finally made Ma Xian join his ranks.

The Nationalist Army did not want to fight with Ma Ying, who was in the limelight, for the time being, and in order to win his trust after the first siege, Zhao Ping was transferred to the provincial capital and replaced by Chen Yuxu.

The army of the Nationalist Army gathered in Hezhou City, and grain and grass became the biggest problem.

The Nationalist Army distributed grain and grass from house to house in the city, and in Bafang alone, 500,000 catties of flour and 200,000 yuan in cash were allocated for the special fund for the army's comfort. In addition, in order to find Chai He, the national army forcibly demolished people's houses and forcibly sent ordinary people to pull carts and lead animals.

Once again, the common people are feeling a heavy burden.

This time, the Nationalist Army also figured out the historical practice of ethnic vendetta in Hezhou, and formed three militia groups of Han peasants who had moved into the city from Beiyuan, Dongchuan, and Yagou. These militia groups, which have no training foundation and are full of discrimination and prejudice, harass and oppress the Hui people in their villages under the pretext of looking for food, firewood and grass.

Ma Ying's army is growing day by day, but the vast majority of them are rabble. The quality of the soldiers is relatively poor. Incidents of disciplinary violations occur from time to time. Some narrow-minded people believe that Lao Tzu is the best in the world, and take the opportunity to take revenge on ugly people with personal vendettas, and burning, killing and plundering the common people also often occur, causing contradictions between the rebel army and the Han people.

The Nationalist Army has fully achieved its attempt and purpose of taking advantage of civil contradictions to reduce the forces of resistance.

The Nationalist Army and Ma Ying did not have much sincerity in resolving the issue peacefully. Since the negotiations are not effective, let's actively prepare for war.

The Nationalist Army dug trenches and forts in the northern plateau, preparing for a big fight.

Ma Ying ordered officers and men to set up obstacles in various places and prepare for defensive counterattacks. He heeded Niu Zhanchuan's advice and led his army to be stationed in the valley of Jinggou that he was familiar with.

Niu Zhanchuan stood in the ditch, raised his head and looked at Gayin, and clearly saw his house, and could also see his parents Isa and Mai Liyan working in the field on the top of the mountain. He opened his voice and shouted, "Ada, hurry home!" ”

Niu Zhanchuan's shouts echoed in the valley and spread far, far away.

When Ma Ying heard this, she hurriedly shouted: "Rina's! Don't make a sound! All pretend to be dreams! ”

Isa and Mai Liyan, who were pulling weeds in the fields on the top of the mountain, knew that the situation around them had been tense lately, and now they heard their son's shouts, so they quickly picked up Gawa, who was sitting on the ground and played, and ran to the house with the teapot.

At 3 o'clock in the morning of May 1, 'Isa heard the sound of horses' hooves galloping in his sleep. He got up from the kang and walked to the gate of the courtyard, and looked at the valley to the north by the twilight of the morning, only to see a large group of men and horses galloping in the direction of the north plateau.

Isa sighed softly and said to himself, "It seems that Commander Ga is besieging Hezhou City again. ”

'Isa was right.

After full preparation, Ma Ying launched a second battle to attack Hezhou City.

In the early hours of the morning, he led a large group of men and horses from Jinggou to attack the center of the North Plateau, where they encountered the Red Lancers stationed at Tuqiao.

Ma Ying gave the order, and the cavalry launched a charge.

In an instant, hundreds of fiery horses rushed towards the enemy's position like lightning.

After half a day of fierce fighting, more than half of the members of the Red Gun Society were killed and wounded, and only more than 10 people remained, and they were forced to retreat to the head of the hill to join the national army.

Ma Ying's army then occupied the northern plateau, overlooking the city of Hezhou. He decided to strike while the fire was burning and commanded his men to attack the city.

The cavalry that rushed to the front fell into protective trenches and traps, suffering dozens of casualties.

The Nationalist army did not take much advantage either, and in a hurry abandoned their positions and retreated to the city to defend.

The fighting between the two sides is in a state of stalemate.

Ma Ying focused the offensive on the engineer battalion of the Ma Ying Grand Mansion. Because if you can capture the light and heavy weapons of this battalion, it will be of great help to strengthen yourself. It would also be politically beneficial to capture the political workers of the National Army. Therefore, Ma Ying deliberately dispatched strong troops to besiege the Grand Mansion.

The weapons used by the engineer battalion are advanced, and the Grand Mansion is high and thick-walled, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack.

The battle on both sides was fierce.

Ma Ying's soldiers suffered heavy casualties.

Until the afternoon, Ma Ying's attack was still unsuccessful. If it drags on until the evening, the soldiers of the engineer battalion may break through.

Ma Ying gritted her teeth and ruthlessly ordered the Grand Mansion to be set on fire.

In addition to the more than 100 people who fled, nearly 400 officers and civilians of the Nationalist army guarding a battalion in the Grand Mansion were burned to death. Most of the weapons were also burned and could no longer be used.

The fire ignited nearby temples such as Wanshouguan and Baojue Temple, causing strong dissatisfaction among the surrounding Han people.

Ma Ying decided to bombard the city wall with mines instead, and dug a tunnel from Ma Liuwa's house in Daxiguan to Xicheng.

On May 25, the Nationalist Army adopted a roundabout attack tactic from the East Road and successfully reached Dawantou and Suonan Town in Dongxiang. The vanguard was attacked by the Ma Ying army at Liushuwan, and finally entered the city of Hezhou at the cost of more than 200 casualties.

At the same time, another national army marched from the southern route, encountering only slight resistance along the way, and successfully reached the city.

At this time, the total strength of the national army supporting Ha Chau exceeded 20,000 people.

Ma Ying's officers and soldiers had not yet installed the mines, so they planted them overnight.

At 5 o'clock in the morning of the 26th, after the mine "boomed", Ma Ying commanded the troops to shoot at the city. Their rifles and machine guns fired bullets as densely as summer storms.

When the smoke cleared, Ma Ying found that the city wall had only been shaken off by a mine, and had not achieved the expected goal of opening the gap and rushing into the city.

Seeing that the siege was hopeless, Ma Ying ordered the whole army to retreat with a gloomy expression.

The second siege of Hezhou City failed again.

In the west of the city, there is a merchant concentration area called Bafang, which has been a well-known commercial market since ancient times. It is full of small buildings with unique shapes and delicate shapes. The façade facing the street is a shop, and the back and upstairs are warehouses and households.

There are several sayings in Bafang: one is that the fang is the division unit of Dayuan and Daming, just like the current village community, there are 8,000 people in a square; The second is that Hezhou is located in the transition zone between the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the Loess Plateau, where the materials of agricultural and pastoral areas converge, and people from all over the world gather here, which is called Bafang; The third is that a long time ago there lived here a man surnamed Ma, who raised 8 sons. Lao Ma later divided the family of his eight sons, and each family was given a house, and each family managed a piece of land, thus forming the Bafang family.

The alley of the Eight Alleys is about a zhang wide and stretches forward in a zigzag direction. The walls made of blue bricks on both sides are carved with bamboo orchids, plum chrysanthemums, peonies, and lotus flowers.

The roofs of the two- or three-story wooden buildings are paved with blue and gray tiles. Clusters of grass grew tenaciously on the silted soil in the ditch, and occasionally a branch of stem and leaf stretched out alone in the middle of the grass, and a beautiful little flower swayed and sang brilliantly in the wind.

The foundation of the wooden building is made of stone strips, which are one section higher than the ground to prevent the base of the wooden building from being soaked and rotted by rainwater. The first floor is paved with a wealth of goods. The second or third floor was used as a room for entertaining merchants.

In addition to the gables on both sides, the walls of the building are made of pine planks. The doors and windows of the wooden lattice are carved with elaborate patterns. Liang Dong is naturally also carved and decorated by the Jin Kingdom, and it is painted with bright colors.

The bluestone slabs on the street are polished smooth and shiny, as if they have been coated with a layer of oil and wax.

Every house in Bafang has a shop. Everyone is born to be a trader.

5 or 6-year-olds can start a business. Adults hang a small bamboo basket around his neck, and then fill the small basket with sugar melons, fried broad beans, hemp seeds, tea eggs and other bits and pieces to eat, and send the children to buy them along the street. If the child is tired of walking, he will sit on the stone steps on the side of the street and rest while eating snacks. These children have been shuttling through the crowd since they were young, and they have developed a sweet and eloquent little mouth. A pair of big eyes cleverly search for suitable buyers, observe words and colors, and adapt to changes, which children elsewhere cannot compare. By the age of 13 or 4, he is already able to pull household chores. They either went to department stores and silverware shops as small shopkeepers, or followed various craftsmen as apprentices, and those who had more success would follow their fathers, brothers, and relatives to sell skins, and went south and north to do big business.

Throughout the year, people in Bafang shout and neigh, and the noise is not idle all day long.

The fat and strong cattle and sheep in Tibet, the brightly colored skins, and the whole bundle of medicinal materials have all been pulled here by the foot households of Bafang. With these businesses, the craftsmanship passed down from the ancestors has a place to use. The shops on both sides of the alley are more lively than the other. Those who sell chopped noodles and sausages, those who sell jelly stuffed skins, those who sell sweet wheat, those who sell mash, those who sell beef noodles, and those who sell Hezhou buns...... Business is so good that one race after another.

The carriage and horse shops in Hachibo are filled with tourists from all over the country. There were Jin merchants from Shanxi, silk merchants from Jiangnan, tea merchants from Sichuan and Yunnan, and medicinal herb merchants from Henan......

The storerooms of every house are piled up with all kinds of goods. After selling the goods, the silver dollars were put into his own cash cabinet. Everyone has a smile on their faces, and they live a richer life than people in other places.

After Ma Ying's troops withdrew, the Nationalist Army began to retaliate against the residents of Bafang who sympathized with and supported Ma Ying.

Although the county magistrate Ma Fengtu and the chief of staff Li Yukuan persuaded with great painstaking persuasion: the kind people in Bafang account for the majority, the traitors are only a small part, and there are hundreds of years of ancient temples, so we must act cautiously.

However, the hard-line Zhao Ping insisted on his opinion and ordered the militia to bring torches and go to burn Bafang to vent his anger.

When the thousands of Hui residents in Bafang heard that the Nationalist Army was coming to take revenge, most of them fled to the nearby Nanlong Mountain, and some fled to Dongxiang, where the mountains are high and the ravines are deep.

Gunshots and fires mingled in the eight squares. The sound of the house collapsing mingled with the cries of women and children. The fire burned for three days and three nights.

The fire killed more than 100 elderly people, sick people, women and children who could not escape, burned down a historic town, and burned a large number of precious cultural relics and countless scriptures. Twelve centuries-old worship temples, a temple and a Taoist temple, along with countless buildings, pavilions, pines and cypresses, were reduced to ashes in the fire.

More than 40,000 people from Bafang stood on Nanlong Mountain, looking at the fire of their homes where they had lived for generations, hugging their heads and crying one by one.

Ancient history, culture, and former glory are all that is lost in an instant, leaving only painful sighs and resentment.

On 29 June, the Nationalist army in the city of Hezhou divided into three directions and launched an attack on the garrison of the Ma-British army.

Ma Ying dispatched Ma Zhankui and Ma Haiyuan to use the green gauze tent to defend their positions in the summer, and ordered Han Jinlu to ambush in the Madi in the Gongbei area of Bijiachang to meet the division of Tong Linge of the Nationalist Army.

Tong Linge's army suffered a fatal blow, losing many heavy machine guns, rifles and ammunition, and also suffered heavy losses in personnel, including more than 300 wounded carried back to the city.

The Nationalist Army, which had attacked Nanshan and Beiyuan, was forced to withdraw to the city of Hezhou.

Ma Ying immediately organized an army and began the battle for the third siege of the city of Hezhou.

Ma Ying's army surrounded the city of Hezhou for about 7 days, and the troops of the Nationalist Army Jichang and Liu Zhaoxiang rushed over from the north road.

Ma Ying personally rushed to the triangle fort on the north plateau to direct the battle.

In the end, because of the huge disparity in the firepower of the weapons of the two sides, coupled with the fact that the national army in the city also used large and small steel cannons, mortars and other heavy weapons to counterattack on the hill, Ma Ying's army suffered heavy casualties. More than 700 people were either killed by shells or were forced to commit suicide by jumping into a well.

Braving a hail of bullets, a group of Nationalist daredevils rushed to the Triangle Fort and besieged Ma Ying and Niu Zhanchuan in a peasant's yard.

Niu Zhanchuan was in a hurry, pushed open the back window of the side house, and saw a path below. He asked Ma Ying to jump out, and then escorted him out of the encirclement from the back mountain.

In November, Liu Yufen mobilized 50,000 troops to march to Hezhou, and at the same time sent local celebrities such as Ma Bin and La Shijun to follow the army to divide the work.

Under the offensive of the civil attack and the military guard, some officers and soldiers under Ma Ying defected to the enemy.

Liu Yufen personally came to Hezhou to supervise the war. He issued an order to launch a general attack: the Nationalist Army divided Nanlongshan and Shifoliang as one road, Xichuan and Hongshuigou as one road, and Beiyuan and Jinggou as one road, and encircled and suppressed Ma Ying's army from three directions.

Ma Ying is a smart and clever person. When he learned of the Nationalist Army's siege plan, he saw that some of his subordinates began to waver and rebel, and realized that he could no longer resist the Nationalist Army by staying in Hezhou, so he had to move to other places to seek opportunities to achieve great things.

Thus, Ma Ying ended the third siege of Hezhou. He selected a group of elite subordinates who were determined to fight for a long time, led them into Huaishu Pass in Xixiang, and divided the troops into Tibetan areas by three routes.

Ma Ying was a young man with great ambition, full of vigor and sharpness, and dared to stand up with the strong and strong Nationalist Army, and the slogans he put forward also conformed to the demands and aspirations of the people of all nationalities. However, his contingent belonged to a rabble of improvised intentions, with neither a tight grassroots organization nor an abundance of guns and ammunition, so it was naturally very unlikely that he would achieve a complete victory.

Niu Zhanchuan looked at his hometown Gayindai, which was getting farther and farther away, and couldn't help but leave a string of tears: Goodbye, my good hometown! I don't know when and when I can return to your arms?