Back to two knives, one for mutton and the other for cake.

- Hui proverb

In 1799, the 88-year-old Qianlong Emperor, who had ruled for 60 years, died of melancholy. His son, Emperor Jiaqing, was also unable to solve the various ills of the Qing Dynasty. Jiaqing's son, Emperor Daoguang, also lost the enterprising spirit of the early Qing monarchs, and his ruling style became increasingly conservative and rigid.

The Qing Empire inevitably went into decline.

In officialdom, officials form parties for personal gain, dump each other, sell official beards, and bribes are commonplace. In the army, the equipment is outdated, the drills are not diligent, the battalion work is lax, and the discipline is corrupt. Financially, the state treasury is increasingly running short, and it is unable to make ends meet. Social contradictions have intensified to an extremely acute level. Incidents have occurred all over the country, and the smoke is endless.

At that time, the Hui people were widely distributed throughout the country, among them, Shaanxi, Gansu, Ningxia, Qinghai, Yunnan, Shandong, Henan, Anhui and other places were relatively concentrated. Especially before 1862, the first year of Tongzhi, Shaanxi, Gansu and Ningxia were full of Hui villages. Hezhou, Shidao (today's Lintao, Gansu Province), Qingshui, Zhangjiachuan, Hexi, Xining, Datong, Minhe, Hualong, Menyuan and other places are particularly dense.

It has been more than 1,000 years since the ancestors of the Hui people moved to the Han land in the Central Plains. In order to survive and develop, they tried their best to live in harmony with the Han people, and devoutly observed the teachings of tolerance, generosity, and forbearance. It is precisely in this way that the Hui and Han people have coexisted in harmony for a long time and have made important contributions to the construction of their homeland and the maintenance of national unity.

The Hui people mainly make a living from commerce, handicrafts, agriculture and animal husbandry. Business is their traditional economy. The Hui merchants traveled to cities and villages, inland and frontiers, opening up many new markets and lines of communication, and giving rise to some well-known business groups. They do business in a wide range of areas. Because the Hui merchants were good at wandering between the farming people and the nomads, the fur trade of the Hui merchants was the largest and most ethnic. Many fur distribution centers have emerged throughout the country.

The money you make in business comes quickly and in abundance. Therefore, the Hui families who do business are generally richer than the Han farmers who farm the land, and the mercenary nature of the businessmen naturally arouses people's eyes and jealousy.

Although the Hui people live in the same place as the Han people, the living pattern of large dispersion and small settlements, coupled with the fact that the religious beliefs and living customs of the Han people are very different, misunderstandings and estrangements between the two sides are widespread. In particular, the Hui and Han people in Shaanxi and Gansu live together, and some civil disputes will inevitably occur. In some places, there have even been large-scale fights.

The Qing Dynasty has always pursued a policy of national oppression. The imperial court initially directed the contradictions at the Han Chinese who rebelled against them. With the passage of time, the Manchurians were gradually integrated and assimilated in the vast sea of the Han people, and then the basic state policy of joint governance between the Manchurians and the Han landlord class was determined, and other ethnic minorities were excluded, discriminated against, and restricted in political, economic, ideological, and legal aspects, especially the Hui people, who were relatively large in number, were strictly guarded against and strictly controlled.

The social and political status of the Hui people has fallen to the lowest point in history.

The Qing Dynasty was the period when the Hui people were most severely suppressed and discriminated against by the imperial court and the government. As the ruler, the Qing Dynasty not only unfairly handled the disputes between ethnic groups, but took advantage of the contradictions between the Hui and Han to adopt the measure of "using the Han to control the Hui", and favored the Han and suppressed the Hui in all arguments and brawls, regardless of whether they were right or wrong. Some Han people have bullied the Hui people since then, but they don't know that the Hui people are rebellious and cohesive. Over time, hatred was planted between the two peoples.

The imperial court clearly stipulated that it was forbidden for Hui people to hold Han babies, and it was forbidden to build additional worship temples. There is no intermarriage between Manchu and Han, between Mongolia and Han, and between Hui and Han. Ordinary offenders convicted of the crime of exile may apply for retention, while returnees are not allowed to do so, and the place of exile must not be in the enclave of returnees. The conviction and punishment of Hui people is also heavier than that of other ethnic groups, and the word "Hui thief" is tattooed on the face of Hui prisoners.

When many ministers of the imperial court mentioned the Hui people in their memorabilia, they repeatedly added the Hui character next to the word "犭" to express their contempt and contempt for the Hui and other ethnic minorities, and slandered the Hui people as not belonging to human beings.

In the middle of the 19th century, the Qing Empire was already riddled with diseases. The mountain rain is coming, the wind is full of buildings, and the wolf smoke is everywhere after the sunset.

In 1840, the British Empire opened the gates of the Qing Empire. The Second Qing-British War of 1848-1860, especially the capture of the imperial capital of Beijing by Anglo-French forces, inflicted endless humiliation and humiliation on the Qing Dynasty.

In 1851, Hong Xiuquan spearheaded a peasant uprising in Jintian Village, Guangxi, against Qing rule and foreign capitalist aggression. This was the largest anti-Qing movement at that time, which shook the entire country and involved the vast majority of the energy and troops of the Qing Dynasty.

In 1856, Hui people from all over Yunnan responded to Hong Xiuquan's call to rebel against Qing rule. Among them, the Hui uprising in western Yunnan led by Du Wenxiu in Dali was the most powerful. Subsequently, Zhang Lingxiang and Ma Hetu, Hui people from Guizhou, and Ma Rongxian, Hui people from Sichuan Huili, also rebelled.

In 1861, Emperor Xianfeng died in grief in his summer resort in Chengde. For a time, there was no owner in the Qing Dynasty, and the people's hearts were uneasy.

The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom led by Hong Xiuquan sent people to the Shaanxi and Gansu regions to contact the local Hui people to carry out the anti-Qing struggle. The leader of the Salur people, Magasan, led a popular uprising. The people of Nianbo, Xining, Datong, Guide and Huangyuan responded one after another.

The imperial court was also caught in the whirlpool of fierce power struggles. Empress Dowager Xi and Prince Gong jointly launched the Xinyou coup d'état, overthrowing the eight ministers of Gu Ming headed by Su Shun. The new emperor Tongzhi was only seven years old when he ascended the throne, and the empress dowager of the two palaces was able to listen to the government. Governance is in danger of imbalance......

Before 1862, the Hui people in Shaanxi were estimated to have accounted for about 30 percent of the province's population of 10 million. At that time, there was a saying that "Han seven returns to three". Most of the Hui people are concentrated in the prefectures and counties on both sides of the Wei River in Guanzhong. A small number of people cultivate the land, and most people work in the trade of small traders and hawkers, thriving on this yellow earth, which has been passed down from generation to generation.

After the Taiping Rebellion, group training commonly known as Yong arose in various parts of Guanzhong. There is a strict distinction between the brave and the soldier in the Qing Dynasty. Yong is a regimental training, that is, a militia. A soldier is a regular soldier.

Ma Qiqi was a Hui native of Tongzhou, Shaanxi Province (today's Dali County).

In the last years of Xianfeng, Yan Shusen, the governor of Henan, recruited 600 Hui militiamen including Ma Qiqi in Shaanxi in order to deal with the Taiping army, and went to Kaifeng to assist in the defense. When the Huihui militia completed the task, Yan Shusen sent them back to Shaanxi together and handed them over to Zhang Fu (Fu), the minister of regimental training in Shaanxi.

At this time, Chen Decai, the king of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, united with the army and entered Shaanxi from Wuguan in Henan.

The situation in Shaanxi was suddenly in chaos. Ma Qiqi and this group of Hui militia fled in the chaos.

In the spring of 1862, when Ma Qiqi and several fellow militiamen went to Xiaozhang Village, the holy mountain of Huazhou (today's Huazhou District, Weinan City), they fell in love with a dense bamboo forest on the edge of Xiaozhang Village, and planned to buy some bamboo to use at home.

Just as Ma Qiqi and his fellow villagers were cutting bamboo, the father of the owner of the Wang Garden returned. Wang Laohan asked his son about the bamboo transaction, felt that the price offered by his son was too low, and began to regret the transaction.

Ma Qiqi and the others were very unhappy, so they had an argument with Wang Laohan.

Wang Laohan did not blame his son for not being able to do business, but framed Ma for stealing bamboo. According to the regulations of the local government and the customs of the people, once a case of theft and robbery occurs in the village, the bell can be sounded to warn the police. So, the annoyed and angry Wang Laohan rang the big bell hanging on the old elm tree.

At that time, no one expected that such a commonplace civil dispute would later lead to an earth-shattering social upheaval.

When the local regimental drill heard the alarm bell, they rushed to the scene and indiscriminately killed two Hui militiamen.

This time, trouble followed.

Ma Qiqi saw that the two fellow villagers were innocently beaten to death by the group training for themselves, and the anger in his heart soared. He and other Hui militiamen went to the government in Huazhou to complain, hoping that the government would uphold justice.

Pu Yao, the governor of Huazhou, saw that it was the Hui people who came to complain, not only did not seek justice for the victims, but favored the local group training, and even threatened Ma Qiqi and said: "The Hui people beat the Han people with one stick, and they want to beat the Hui people with ten sticks; The Han people beat back the Hui people with a stick, and only beat the Han people with a stick. Did You Know? ”

Subsequently, Pu Yao ordered Ma Qiqi and the Hui militia to be blasted out of the yamen.

Qin Ying, the leader of the Yamen fast catcher, is a Huihui person. He was extremely dissatisfied with the favoritism of Lord Zhizhou, and wanted to help these wronged Huihui people from other places, so he took Ma Qiqi to Qinjiazhuang, a Huihui village outside the city, and connected with the Huihui people in the village, intending to petition the Yamen in groups.

"The returnees of Qinjiazhuang want to petition." After the news spread, it became a rumor that "Hui Hui was going to rebel".

The news of "returning to rebel" quickly spread to the government. The rulers of the Qing Dynasty were inherently prejudiced against the Hui people. Liu Rong, the governor of Shaanxi, repeatedly called Islam a bad religion. Zhang Yinglan, an official gentry from Weinan, and Bai Xiangsheng, a member of the Huazhou regiment, openly declared that they must purge the rebellious Hui people, and killed 17 Hui people on the pretext of arresting the Taiping army's spies. Two days later, they set fire to Qinjiazhuang at night.

Ma Qiqi escaped from Qinjiazhuang in the fire and chaos.

Among the Han people, there is a legend that Hui Hui rebelled. Among the Hui people, it is said that the Han people killed the Hui people. For a time, contradictory rumors spread everywhere, stirring up panic in Guanzhong and putting everyone in danger.

According to the record of "Qin Difficult Sights and Stories", the place to which Tongzhou belonged killed the Hui people when they saw them, and also intercepted and killed the Hui people who came from the south to the north. A man of lofty ideals kindly advised the killer: "You do not want to enjoy peace, for indiscriminate killing of innocents will bring disaster upon you." Once the returnees rise up for revenge, you will die. ”

At this time, two subordinates of Du Wenxiu, the leader of the Yunnan Hui Uprising, Ren Wu and Hao Mingtang, came to Huaxian County and secretly mobilized the Hui people along the Wei River to revolt against the government.

Ma Qiqi immediately defected to Ren Wu's command.

The Hui people revolted in Bunüjing, Qiangbai Town, Wangge Village in Dali County, Dongfu Province, and Cangtou Town in Weinan. In the past, the Hui and Han here got along fairly well, but within a few days, all the Hui Han villages were burned down.

The Han people in Weibei took the lead in attacking the Hui people in their villages. The Hui people in the Weinan area where Ma Qi was hiding took the lead in attacking the Han people's group training. Subsequently, the common people of the two nationalities were involved in the bloody battle of national self-help.

The Shaanxi Huihui Uprising broke out

The fighting then spread to Huazhou, Huayin and other prefectures and counties, as well as Lintong, Sanyuan, Gaoling, Jingyang and Xianyang counties in Xi'an Prefecture. The ranks of the Hui uprising quickly expanded to more than 50,000 people.

In the face of the huge Huihui uprising, Shaanxi Governor Ying Di and other civil and military officials were terrified, and planned to encircle and suppress them, but there were no soldiers for a while, so they had to temporarily pacify. In order to appease the Hui rebels, he even sent Zhang Fu, a former court member who retired and returned to his hometown in Shaanxi, to persuade him.

Zhang Fu accepted the order of the Empress Dowager Cixi to Lintong.

Someone reminded him: "The food of the Hui people can be eaten, but the words of the Hui people must not be trusted." You old man needs to bring more people. ”

Zhang Fu thought that his prestige was very high, and he was going to persuade peace, there should be no danger, so he only brought a few entourages such as Lintong Zhixian.

Ma Qiqi negotiated with Zhang Fu in Lintong.

As soon as Zhang Fu sat down at the negotiating table, he asked the rebel army to hand over Renwu and Hemingtang.

Ma Qiqi was originally very dissatisfied with the perfunctory work of a retired old man sent by the imperial court, but now he actually asked for the leader of the rebel army with one mouth.

Ma Qi was angry and beheaded Zhang Fu and his entourage.

The imperial court's plan to pacify the rebels collapsed.

From the 17th to the 25th, Ma Qiqi led an angry rebel army to besiege the city of Tongzhou, but it was unsuccessful for 9 consecutive days and nights, so he had to retreat to the west of Guanzhong.

On the 29th, the rebel army approached the city of Xi'an. The two sides engaged in a fierce armed battle on the outskirts of Xi'an. The rebel army captured the Jinsheng Temple in the west of the city, annihilated a large number of militia forces, and surrounded the city of Xi'an.

The Shaanxi governor Kong Guangshun, who was trapped in Xi'an, and more than 3,000 Qing troops were even more isolated.

The flames of the uprising quickly spread all over the 800-mile Guanzhong Qinchuan. The uprising grew to more than 200,000 people, seriously threatening the rule of the Qing Dynasty in the northwest.

The imperial court hurriedly ordered Cheng Ming, the governor of Zhili, to lead elite troops to aid Shaanxi.

More than 5,000 soldiers led by Cheng Ming and the militia of Henan were defeated by the rebels on the south bank of Luoshui.

The imperial court also ordered the minister Shengbao to lead the army into Shaanxi.

Shengbao gathered more than 40,000 soldiers and militia and fought a major battle with the rebel army in Sujiagou. The soldiers and horses of the Qing army trampled on each other, and there were countless casualties.

At the same time, Ma Qiqi took advantage of the concentration of Shengbao's army in Xi'an and the emptiness of troops in the east, led the rebel army to launch an offensive in the area of Tongzhou, captured Ha Liansheng, the deputy general of the Tongguan Association, captured the camp and ordnance of the Qing army, and advanced to Chengcheng, Heyang, Chaoyi (the eastern part of today's Dali County) and other places.

The three counties of Fengxiang, Qishan and Baoji in Xifu used to be known as "Huihui 36 Fang". The Hui people here actively responded to the Hui uprising in Dongfu and besieged Fengxiang City for 16 months.

The Hui rebel army swept the entire Guanzhong Plain from east to west, and its strength was huge, and its number soon grew to more than 300,000.

The imperial court dismissed Shengbao on the charge of losing even battles, and renamed the Chang Sheng, a general and a native of Daur, Duolong'a, as the minister of the Qincha to supervise the military affairs of Shaanxi.

After the arrival of Dolonga, the Qing army in Shaanxi began to turn defeat into victory.

In February 1863, more than 20,000 people from Dolonga and Katsuho launched an attack on an important stronghold of the rebels.

The rebel army used guerrilla warfare to constantly attack the enemy, sending cavalry to intercept the Qing army's grain transportation lines.

While raising food and wages, Dolonga sent people to Wangge Village to appease him, and successfully implemented the divisive plan, causing the contradictions within the rebel army to intensify, and the surrender faction and the resistance faction began to attack and kill each other.

Dolonga took the opportunity to raid the rebels, captured the important strongholds of Wangge Village and Qiangbai Town in one fell swoop, and ordered the Hui people of the two villages to be killed, regardless of men, women, and children.

On 19 May, Dolonga captured another major stronghold, the town of Cangtou.

The Hui rebels in the Tongzhou area were forced to move westward, concentrating in the areas of Jingyang, Gaoling, and Xianyang, fighting alongside the rebels in the Xi'an area.

At this time, the Taiping army helped Wang Chen Decai to enter Shaanxi again from Hubei. The remnants of the rebel army led by Lan Chaozhu, a Hui native of Yunnan, were also active in the Yangxian area.

The Qing army took care of one thing and lost the other.

Ma Qiqi led the rebel army to take the opportunity to step up the siege of Xi'an.

Ma Dezhao, the governor of Gansu, and Kong Guangshun, the governor of Shaanxi, led more than 7,000 officers and soldiers to stay in Xi'an, not daring to go out of the city to meet the battle.

Duolonga arrived in Xi'an and once again carried out the trick of appeasement, inducing part of the rebel army to surrender and breaking the blockade of Xi'an by the rebel army.

At the beginning of October, Dolonga launched a general offensive against the rebel army, and soon captured the county town of Gaoling. Subsequently, he sent Shaanxi Governor Lei Zhengjuan and General Soldier Cao Kezhong to defend Xianyang together to cut off the rebels' westward retreat. He personally led the main force of the Qing army to attack Sujiagou (today's Liquan County, Xianyang City), the main base of the rebel army in the Xi'an area, in two directions.

Duolonga used the Qing army's horse corps to divide the rebel army, defeated each of them, occupied Sujiagou and Weichengwan (today's Weicheng District, Xianyang City), and then slaughtered nearly 20,000 rebel troops.

The leaders of the rebel army, Ma Qiqi, Bai Yanhu and Ma Shengyan, led the rest of the army to retreat to the area of Pizhou (today's Bin County) and Fengxiang.

Soon, the Qing army captured Fengxiang and Pizhou.

The rebels were forced to retreat again and came to Dong Zhiyuan in eastern Gansu.

Dong Zhiyuan includes a part of Qingyang County, Ning County and Heshui County in Gansu Province today, 87 kilometers long from north to south, 36 kilometers wide from east to west, with an area of 2260 square kilometers, it is the largest and relatively flat and complete loess plateau in the eastern part of Gansu, with an altitude of 1200 meters - 1450 meters, there are 13 large river ditches that extend into the center of the plateau in a radial shape, and the plateau surface is cut into many gully deep fragments of 150 meters - 200 meters.

From then on, the center of the Shaanxi-Gansu Huihui uprising shifted from Shaanxi to Gansu.

The Huihui uprising in Shaanxi was at a low ebb.