The danger of estimation may be at your feet.

- Uzbek proverb

Most of Ali's descendants fled to the mountainous area of Dongxiang when the Qing Dynasty suppressed the Su 43 uprising of the Salur people, and settled in Jiaozigou, 10 miles from the city of Hezhou. Only Mu and Mai inherited the family tradition and continued to open shops in the city of Hezhou.

When the Shaanxi rebel army and the Gansu Jinjibao rebel army fought a bloody battle with the Qing army, the Hui people in Hezhou also launched an uprising against the Qing government.

Ma Zhanao, commonly known as Mo Nigou Ahong, is originally from Wangge Village in Dali, Shaanxi. In the early years of the Qing Dynasty, his ancestor Ma Xichao came to Hezhou, Gansu Province to do business, and moved to live in Hejiazhuang Village in Monigou.

Ma Zhanao learned religious knowledge since he was a child, and when he was 24 years old, he successively served as Ahong in the Monigou Worship Temple and Dahejia Worship Temple.

The first good deed Ma Zhanao did as Ah Hong was to ask his father to give all the property he was going to leave to the poor peasants.

He said to his father, "Ada, it is better to teach your children the correct faith than to leave them with a good amount of money." Now that I have the right faith, what do I need all that money for? ”

The distribution of money to the poor earned Ma Zhanao a good reputation. When the common people saw that he was brave and resourceful, and that he was well versed in the Arabic scriptures, they spontaneously regarded him as the leader of the Hui people in Saigo. However, the Xixiang of Nuoda can no longer accommodate the kang table where Ma Zhanao can recite the scriptures with peace of mind.

In 1862, Ma Wuzhen, the grandson of Ma Baozhen, the founder of Dongxiang Beizhuang Gate Eunuch, in order to oppose the government's favoritism towards the old religion, took advantage of the sentiment of the people of Salta, who did not have a grain of grain in the pot, to launch an uprising and captured many villages and towns.

Ali's descendants in Jiaozigou believed in the old religion of Gedimu and did not participate in the uprising, but quietly watched the development of events. They thought that if the government suppressed the Gettimu in the future, they would take refuge in a more remote ravine.

In February of the following year, Ma Yonglin and Ma Yongrui led the Bafang Huihui Uprising in Hezhou, fought hard against the cruelty and oppression of the government, and besieged the city of Hezhou.

In order to prevent the local Hui people from rebelling, the officials of Di Dao (now Lintao) slaughtered more than 4,000 Hui people from more than 500 households in the city, and burned down all the houses of the Hui people.

In the aftermath of the incident, the angry Hui people in the countryside staged an uprising against the government under the leadership of Mufti (religious lecturer) Ma Yun.

Rebel armies from all walks of life in Hezhou and other places went to support and tightly besieged Didao City.

The city of Didao was besieged for more than 150 days, and the food was exhausted.

Ma Dahan led the rebel army to climb the city wall from the south gate, attacked the city, and occupied the city of Didao.

At the same time, Ma Wuzhen, Min Dianchen, Ma Yonglin, Ma Yongrui, Ma Futang, Ma Wanyou and others led the main force of the rebel army to surround Hezhou City. They launched two siege battles, both of which were defeated, and they also lost more than 300 men.

After the failure of the siege, they believed that if they were to succeed in their struggle, they had to have a man of great ability as a leader to unify the command of the rebels.

After discussion, Ma Wuzhen, Ma Yonglin, and others held that Ma Zhanao, the eunuch of Huasimen, had the highest prestige among the Hui people, had outstanding leadership and organizational skills, and was the best candidate for this post. So, they personally came to the door and asked Ma Zhanao to come out of the mountain and take on the leadership responsibility of leading the opposition to the government.

Ma Zhanao warmly received the leader of the rebel army. He opened his heart and stated his opinion: "It is not an easy thing to oppose the Qing court. The eunuchs must work together to manage their followers well in order to achieve victory. Otherwise, it will only bring greater harm to the common people. ”

The leaders of the rebel army expressed their acceptance of his suggestion and unanimously elected Ma Zhanao as the commander of the Hezhou rebel army.

Ma Zhanao is strategic, good at words, has a lofty position in religious circles, and has a strong appeal among the masses. His cousin Ma Haiyan has martial arts, knows military affairs, fights bravely, and has social prestige. The cousins of the Ma family can be said to be a pair of excellent civil and military generals.

Ma Zhanao first gathered the leaders of the rebel army and formulated an overall strategic policy. He said: "We should liaise with Ma Guiyuan in Xining, send troops from Datong to Biandukou, and occupy Ganzhou, Liangzhou and Suzhou. If these three places are used as the base of the uprising, then the five counties of the Hexi Corridor will be under our control. Muma Huangchengtan, occupy Jincheng Pass, and then attack Qinzhou to the east. As for Di Dao, even if he gets it, it's not easy to defend, so it's better to give up. When Tubo failed in Gansu, he was defeated in Didao. First of all, I will now make an agreement with you, and at the same time, I will also tell the Han people that they must let the common people cultivate the land as usual. The common people are too peaceful, why not enjoy it? Secondly, we must open up the road between the Yellow River and Huangshui to prepare for the expedition to Hexi. ”

Everyone agreed with him.

In January of the following year, Ma Zhanao commanded various rebel armies to attack Hezhou City. He took the lead, climbed the city walls and fought the enemy.

Ma Zhanao's younger brother, Ma Zhankui, also climbed to the top of the city, was seriously wounded in the battle, and was burned alive by the Qing army.

Ma Zhanao's rebel army was repulsed by the Qing army.

The disadvantage of his teacher and the death of his younger brother aroused his determination to conquer Hezhou City.

On the one hand, Ma Zhanao organized the rebel army to continue to besiege the city of Hezhou, and on the other hand, he sent men and horses to attack in all directions, harassing and attacking the Qing army; On the other hand, two teams were sent successively to support the rebel armies of Dong Zhiyuan and Jinjibao.

On November 1, Ma Zhanao commanded the rebel army to finally conquer the city of Hezhou, which had been besieged for 11 months.

After the city was broken, Ma Zhanao did not adopt the wrong method of countering violence with violence, but repeatedly ordered that he should not go on a killing spree and harm innocent people of all ethnic groups.

He first ordered that the civil and military officials of the government should not be killed, and sent people to escort the rest of the civil and military officials out of the city, except for those who had fled in advance.

Ma Zhanao also ordered that all Han Chinese who were willing to convert to Islam could hang up white flags and wear white hats, and they were not to be killed.

Most of the Han Chinese in the city of Hezhou converted to Islam in order to save their lives.

Some of the rebel generals were narrow-minded, and Su Ri was jealous of the Han people occupying the land-rich northern plateau. They got carried away and ran to the north plateau without permission and killed the local people.

Ma Zhanao was very sad to see the vendetta between the ethnic groups, and even more hated the officers and soldiers who violated military discipline, so he resolutely resigned from the post of marshal in anger, returned to his home, closed his door to thank guests, and recited the scriptures wholeheartedly.

Ma Yongrui and others had no choice but to look at the thatched cottage and admit their mistakes to Ma Zhanao, promising not to repeat similar mistakes in the future.

Ma Zhanao then returned to the barracks and resumed his role as the commander of the rebel army.

Mu Hemai usually hated the high-flying and insatiable Qing officials, so he voluntarily gave a lot of money to support the rebels.

Officials in the provincial capital of Lanzhou were shocked to hear of the fall of Hezhou, and hurriedly strengthened martial law, repaired the city walls, and guarded against the rebel army coming to attack Lanzhou.

Seeing that the Qing army could not recover Hezhou by force, Protector Enlin changed the strategy of the offensive, adopted a policy of political pacification, and sent people to Hezhou many times to negotiate peace with the rebels.

In February 1865, on behalf of the Hezhou rebel army, Ma Zhanao begged Enlin, the acting governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, for comfort, saying that he did not dare to call himself rebellious.

Enlin, who was in a predicament, suddenly saw hope and planned to take advantage of the situation to take advantage of the situation to temporarily envelop and settle accounts after the autumn.

Many officials, however, are opposed.

Admiral Lei Zhenwan believed: "The Hui people in other parts of Gansu can be lenient, but as for the Xiwei in Hezhou, Lianhuacheng, Zhangjiachuan and other places in the southwest, they are fierce and aggressive. The fall of Qinzhou, Yanzhou, and Guzhou was all done by them, and they also plundered our jade silk children. They dwelt in the middle of the mountains, and it happened to be the center, as if they were sick in the heart. If you don't resolutely purge it, you just blindly recruit peace, and you just fall for their conspiracy, and the consequences are unimaginable. ”

Under the circumstances, Enlin had neither troops nor the ability to recover Hezhou, nor could he send officials to govern it, so he had to implement a policy of pacification.

From the time the rebels captured Hezhou and the civil and military officials were escorted out of the city, until the surrender of the rebels in February 1872, Ma Zhanao's rebel army controlled the city of Hezhou for more than 8 years, and controlled the Xunhua Hall inhabited by the Salur people for 10 years.

Ma Zhanao was in charge of the rebel military regime in Hezhou, and was also in charge of Xixiang. Ma Yongrui and Ma Yonglin are in charge of the towns around Hezhou City. Ma Wuzhen governs Dongxiang. Ma Wanyou governed the area of Taizisi (today's Guanghe County) east of Dongxiang. Min Dianchen governed Nanxiang (today's Hezheng County). Ma Yun and Ma Futang have jurisdiction over the Lintao and Kangle areas outside Nanxiang.

In March 1867, Ma Zhanao's Hezhou rebel army and Ma Qiqi's and Ma Shiyan's Shaanxi rebel army jointly attacked the provincial capital Lanzhou, breaking through the fortresses of Chenguanying, Qujiaying, Liujiawan and Zhongjiahe in the west of the city, rushing to Gaolan Mountain in the south of the city, and burning down Santai Pavilion with a fire.

Gansu because of the successive years of famine, Tianzhu, Jingtai, Jingyuan, Gaolan, Lanzhou, Hezhou and other places drought, in the spring grain is not available, a bucket of millet price as high as 40 taels of silver.

In order to fill their stomachs, the common people had to dig wild vegetables and gnaw tree bark. Many people starved to death in the wilderness.

Hunger makes people forget ethics and morality, and they start to go crazy. First they cut off the flesh of the dead and devoured it. After eating the dead, they had to kill the living and eat the meat. Some even exchange their children for food.

The number of people starving to death in the province is too great to count.

Many families in Lanzhou City committed suicide by throwing themselves into the river together. No more than 20% survived.

Yang Yuebin's descendants, the Chu army, had a lot of salaries, but the errand service was relatively easy. The local pacesetters in Gansu were paid little salary, but the errand service was very heavy, and they often did not have enough to eat. Therefore, the angry Gansu pacesetters rose up to mutiny.

After the incident, Yang Yuebin listened to the angry words of the Chu army and suppressed thousands of Gansu pacesetters on the spot.

At this time, Zuo Zongtang, who was stationed in Pingliang, received orders from the imperial court continuously: "There are more than 100,000 Hui rebel troops in Hezhou, and more than 20,000 Hui rebel troops in Shaanxi are stationed. Legend has it that Ma Zhanao plans to fight with officers and soldiers in August and September, and you must do a good job of precautionary work. ”

Zuo Zongtang convened a military meeting to discuss the matter of advancing into Hezhou.

Zuo Zongtang said: "The rebellion in Gansu began in Hezhou, and in order to clear the turmoil, it is necessary to occupy Hezhou. I've heard that Ma Zhanao is full of wisdom. What are your best moves to defeat him? These traitors have no strict discipline, go out to rob indiscriminately, and divide the spoils unevenly. They lived together and set up their own sects, and they were suspicious of each other. Besides, the land in the mountainous areas of eastern Hezhou is barren for hundreds of miles, and the farmland is scarce, so the people there have no occupation, and they specialize in stealing elsewhere for a living, and they are very bold, how can they bow down to Ma Zhanao? A man named Wang Quan also wrote: "The Han people in Hezhou City are mostly forbearant and obedient to the Hui rebel army, and they look forward to the arrival of the Qing army day and night, and they must be the first to act as an internal response." 'The Tubo people of the 48th Banner of Taozhou have a deep enmity with the Hui rebel army. We can mobilize the Tibetan Tusi to lead an army to attack the western part of Hezhou, so that the rebels will be caught between us and the Tibetans. ”

Everyone praised one after another: "Great! What a foolproof solution! ”

In June 1871, Zuo Zongtang decided that the Qing army would march to Hezhou in three ways, and agreed to gather troops in the area of Kangjiaya on the east bank of the Tao River, and then cross the Tao River to the west and capture the gateway to Hezhou, Taizi Temple.

Zuo Zongtang mobilized more than 80 battalions of 35,000 regular troops. Coupled with the local forces in Gansu, the number of troops to suppress the Hezhou uprising reached more than 100 battalions and nearly 50,000 people.

At this time, Tsarist Russia occupied the Ili region of Huijiang (i.e., Xinjiang).

Under the pretext of taking care of the areas that had lost control for the Qing Dynasty, Aguba of the Kokand Khanate, the birthplace of Khorezm in Central Asia, led his army to occupy Dihua and Turpan.

The situation in Xinjiang is becoming increasingly tense.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the Qing court hurriedly appointed Rong Quan as the general of Ili, ordered Cheng Lu to lead his troops west out of Jiayuguan and into Huijiang, and ordered Zuo Zongtang to send troops into Suzhou.

Zuo Zongtang immediately ordered Xu Zhanbiao to lead 12 battalions of infantry and cavalry to Suzhou via Liangzhou and Ganzhou.

On September 13, the Hunan army led by Zuo Zongtang met with Ma Zhanao's rebel army on a narrow road.

The Hunan army was outnumbered, using modern weapons, and the military strength was very strong, and they defeated Ma Zhanao several times.

It was the middle of winter, and Ma Zhanao and Ma Haiyan decided to take risks. They personally led a 300-man death squad, carrying water bottles and stones, to sneak into the new road slope of the commanding heights of the Hunan army's hinterland position at night, quickly built a fortification, and then poured water to freeze it into an unusually solid ice block.

The Hunan army waited until dawn and launched a fierce attack.

Ma Haiyan commanded the daredevils to calmly respond to the battle, resulting in heavy casualties among the Hunan army and shaking the morale of the army.

Ma Zhanao took advantage of the situation to launch a charge and joined forces with Ma Haiyan.

The Hunan army was crushed and retreated in a hurry.

This is the famous "Black Tiger Heart" tactic, and it is also the biggest defeat Zuo Zongtang has suffered since he marched into the northwest.

Ma Zhanao was prepared for danger in times of peace and was not carried away by the victory in front of him. He invited Mu Hemai to Xining as a businessman to contact Bai Yanhu and Ma Guiyuan, who were exiled there, to try to support each other.

Ma Zhanao's heart, like Ma Hualong, is not to kill innocent Han people, nor to overthrow the Qing regime and establish an independent Muslim state. The purpose of his uprising was to use this movement to gain a relaxed political environment for his Huasi eunuchs. Therefore, soon after he participated in the uprising, his mind began to waver, sometimes begging for appeasement, sometimes opposing the Qing Dynasty. This mentality was even more evident after Zuo Zongtang suppressed Ma Hualong.

Ma Zhanao's defeat of Zuo Zongtang in Taizi Temple was a good time for the remaining brave to chase after the poor.

He was familiar with the scriptures and history, and after thinking about it, his mind was always very clear.

He said to the generals: "Now, Bai Yanhu in Shaanxi has failed. Ningxia's Ma Hualong also failed. The situation in Shaanxi has stabilized. Gansu is also mostly pacified. We only have two cities left, Hezhou and Xining. The war spread to various places, and in the long run, it not only deepened the hatred of the Han people, but also had no place for the Hui people. Now, if we attack the Anding camp according to everyone's opinions, even if we win the first battle, the nearby rivers and mountains will be owned by us, who can seal the spacious Hangu Pass with a ball of mud, so that the Qing army in the eastern part of the country will not be able to pass? Get rid of one Zuo Sect Hall, and there are countless Zuo Sect Halls waiting for you. How can Hezhou, a small land, compete with the world? In the future, those who farm will still farm the land, and those who do business will still do business. I am the sole responsibility for the rebellion. If the court kills one of me, it can save 10 of you. Kill 10 of you and save 100 of them. If we wait until we fail and then surrender, the court will definitely deal with it very harshly. Everyone will be affected, too. There will be more people who will die. In today's situation, if we give up surrendering, I don't think there is any other way out. ”

After Ma Zhanao's painstaking persuasion, the other leaders of the rebel army changed their ways and reluctantly agreed to surrender to Zuo Zongtang.

Mu Hemai, who was far away in Xining, heard that Ma Zhanao had surrendered to the imperial court, and was so shocked that he couldn't say a word for a long time. He didn't know how to explain his mission to Bai Yanhu and Ma Guiyuan, let alone return to Hezhou City, so he stayed in Bai Yanhu's military camp for the time being.