Don't trust skinny doctors and bald barbers.

- Iranian proverb

Among the many leaders of the Shaanxi rebel army, Yu Deyan and Bai Yanhu finally chose different paths, and the outcome of their lives also changed dramatically.

In 1822, Emperor Jiaqing's second son, Aixin Jueluo Minning, ascended the throne as Emperor Daoguang.

On the second day of the second lunar month of this year, that is, the day when the dragon raised its head in Han folklore, Yujia Dazhuang on the border of Weinan County and Dali County in Shaanxi Province gave birth to a baby boy, named Yu Deyan.

The Yu family is a wealthy family in the local area. Yu Deyan has had no worries about food and clothing since he was a child, and he has lived a very happy life.

In 1840, the Qing Dynasty was defeated in a war with the British Empire and was forced to sign the Treaty of Nanjing, which humiliated the country.

In this year, the Bai family in Wangqu Village, Xi'an Prefecture, Shaanxi Province, gave birth to a baby boy named Bai Yanhu.

His father was a minor official in the Qing Dynasty and served as an official in Beijing, Chenggu County in Hebei Province, and Xi'an Prefecture.

Yu Deyan and Bai Yanhu are both Hui people from Shaanxi, and they both have a Yan character in their names. Other than that, there is little else that connects these two people, who are 18 years apart and hundreds of miles apart.

Bai Yanhu spent his teenage years in the capital, Beijing. In 1859, at the age of 19, Bai Yanhu was elected as the head of education in a large district of Beijing. He developed strong leadership and organizational skills in his religious activities.

In 1861, Bai Yanhu was conscripted into the army. He did not spend a few days in the Qing army before returning to his hometown of Xi'an.

At this time, Yu Deyan had already entered middle age and became a well-known local rich man. In addition to owning a large amount of land, he also opened shops and pawnshops in Dali, Weinan, Sanyuan, Xi'an, Kaifeng and other places, and also opened Yanjing in Sichuan, which was called "Sichuan Keyu's family" by the local people.

During the Tongzhi period, in order to raise funds to suppress the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom and the Twist Army Uprising, the imperial court greatly increased the taxes in various parts of Shaanxi, coupled with the failed ethnic policy, which led to the uprisings of the people of all ethnic groups one after another, especially the uprising of the Hui people soon spread from Weinan, Dali, and Huayin to Xi'an, Tongzhou, Fengxiang and Qianzhou and Binzhou in Guanzhong, with great momentum, and it was a large-scale and long-term anti-Qing uprising after the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Bai Yanhu returned to Xi'an just in time to encounter the anti-Qing uprising. He threw himself into the struggle without hesitation.

Yu Deyan not only raised his family to support the rebel army, but also personally led the members of the Yu family in 11 villages to defect to the rebel army, and got acquainted with Ma Ahong, Bai Yanhu, Ma Zhenghe, Ren Wu, Ma Qiqi and other uprising leaders, and formed an uprising coalition with them to jointly resist the corrupt government.

In the autumn of the following year, the rebel stronghold was occupied by the Qing army, which was led by Dolonga and armed with foreign guns and artillery, and several times the number of the rebel army. Bai Yanhu, Yu Deyan, and Ma Qiqi led a part of the rebel army and were forced to retreat to Dong Zhiyuan in Gansu.

In 1866, Yu Deyan, Bai Yanhu, Ma Qiqi and others reorganized their ranks to form the 18th battalion with a strength of nearly 10,000 people. Because of his wit and courage in combat and good use of ambush soldiers, Bai Yanhu, Yu Deyan, Sun Yubao, Ma Qiqi and others were elected as marshals of the 18th Battalion.

East to Xihuachi, west to Xiaojin Town, south to Ningzhou Qiujiazhai, north to Yimaguan, three or four hundred miles longitudinal and horizontal, the rebel army cultivated fields and trained troops, successively occupied today's Qingyang, Longzhou, Pingliang, Jingchuan, Huating, Jingning and other places, and the Qing army launched a battle.

In the autumn of this year, it was rainy and rainy. The rebel army was surrounded by the Qing army in the area of Xiangu Mountain in Huating, and fell into the predicament of being short of grain and grass and the situation was dangerous.

At that time, the leaders of the rebel army discussed breaking the kettle and fighting to the death.

Yu Deyan led the sturdy men and horses to set up an ambush on the top of the mountain in the area of Baicaoyu, Wangjiaxia and Mutouling in Huating County. The front is led by Zou Baohe and Chen Lin, and the old and weak families are in the back. Ma Qiqi and Yu Yanlu pretended to be defeated and fled, luring the enemy deeper.

Zhang Zaishan, who was arrogant for a while, led the three battalions of his own soldiers to chase after him, broke into the ambush circle, and was blocked by Yu Deyan in the Wangjia Gorge, and the whole army was annihilated. Zhang Zaishan absconded under the protection of several cronies.

The rebel army turned the crisis into safety, obtained a large amount of military grain and grass, entered Dong Zhiyuan again, and defeated the invading Qing army many times. They echoed the Ma Hualong rebel army in Tongxin and Jinjibao, and appeared in the southwest of Shaanxi and the east of Gansu at any time.

In 1867, Bai Yanhu, Yu Deyan, and Ma Qiqi took advantage of the opportunity of the main force of the Qing army in Shaanxi to cross the Yellow River to pursue the Western Twist Army, and led the rebel army back to Shaanxi. They walked east along the Wei River and approached Xi'an. Yu Deyan attacked Yulin and other places to the north, and his troops reached as far as Mizhi and Yan'an.

Zuo Zongtang served as the minister of the Qin mission to supervise the military affairs of Shaanxi and Gansu, led 120,000 Hunan troops, used the tax and silver of 12 southern provinces, borrowed 1.2 million taels of silver from Britain and France, purchased foreign guns and cannons, and suppressed the uprising in the northwest.

Soon, Zuo Zongtang's Qing army captured Dong Zhiyuan.

In February 1869, Bai Yanhu, Yu Deyan and others led 500,000 rebel troops to Jinjibao in the north, united with Ma Hualong, and reduced the 18th battalion to four battalions. Bai Yanhu and Yu Deyan are still one of the commanders of the four battalions. They also made contact with the Ma Zhanao rebel army in Hezhou.

In March, Dong Fuxiang, Li Shuangliang, and Zhang Jun, the leaders of the Han rebel army in Gansu, surrendered to Zuo Zongtang and served as the vanguard of the Qing army's attack on Jinjibao.

Yu Deyan and Cui Wei returned to Shaanxi again and operated in Longxian, Baoji, Fengxiang, Fufeng, Weinan, Baishui, Yijun and other places.

The situation in Shaanxi is urgent. Zuo Zongtang was severely reprimanded by the imperial court.

Zuo Zongtang used Liu Songshan's nephew Liu Jintang as the main general to attack Jinjibao again.

In July 1870, Jinjibao's armament and food supplies were cut off by the Qing army.

About 10,000 Shaanxi rebel troops in Jinji Fort were divided by Zuo Zongtang, surrendered to the Qing army, and were placed in Huapingchuan (today's Jingyuan County, Ningxia) at the junction of Pingliang and Huating.

Yu Deyan, Bai Yanhu and others, who failed to advance eastward, led the rebel army to break through the multi-layered defense line of the Qing army, and took their families from Haiyuan, Jingyuan, and Changliushui out of Huining West to the Di River, and withdrew to Hezhou in Gansu, and later transferred to Xining Province, where Ma Qiqi contacted the local Huihui, Salur and Kaligang Tubo Muslims to continue the fight.

Yu Deyan attacked Xifan and Gulang. Bai Yanhu supported Suzhou through Datong. Cui Wei conquered the mill. They entered the vicinity of Xining and the rebel army at Ma Guiyuan formed horns and fought together, forcing the Qing army to reach Xining for two and a half months.

In May 1872, Ma Wenlu, the rebel army of Suzhou, was attacked by the Qing army and sent a cry for help to the Shaanxi and Gansu rebels.

Yu Deyan and Cui Wei immediately dispatched troops to provide support from Datong out of Biandukou. Their dependents are still stranded in Nanchuan, Xining.

Zuo Zongtang hurriedly mobilized heavy troops to cut off the road for the Shaanxi and Gansu rebels to support Suzhou.

On September 13, the famous Battle of Xining broke out. The Qing army, led by Liu Jintang, began to attack the rebel army that was holding Xining.

Bai Yanhu and Ma Qiqi were stationed in Hongshuigou. Yu Deyan and Cui Wei were stationed in Maying Bay, Xiaoxia, and resisted the Qing Dynasty in danger. They gave full play to their advantage of being familiar with the geography and terrain and made it difficult for Liu Jintang's officers and men to catch up, and suffered heavy casualties.

Zuo Zongtang sat in Lanzhou to command the battle, and constantly sent troops to Xining.

The rebels suffered nearly 10,000 casualties.

Guo Xiang, a Han Taoist in Xining, joined forces with the Han gentry to close the city gate and cut off the back route of the rebel army.

At this time, Mu and Mai came to Xining under the entrustment of Ma Zhanao and got acquainted with Ma Guiyuan, Yu Deyan and Bai Yanhu.

On November 18, the strategically important small gorge was lost. The rebels broke through separately and fought fiercely at Pingshuyi (today's Ping'an Town in Haidong, Qinghai).

Mu and Mai saw Yu Deyan and Bai Yanhu commanding the soldiers to break through, and both of them were shot and injured.

Yu Deyan was in his 50s at this time, carrying a vicissitudes of life, full of white hair, wrinkles on his face, sad eyes, and a sympathetic expression. The hard years left a deep mark on him.

Yu Deyan looked forward and saw the vast chaos; Looking back, it was also bloody. He knew that if he continued to fight, the whole army would be annihilated, so he privately agreed with Cui Wei to surrender to Zuo Zongtang.

Zuo Zongtang accepted Yu Deyan's surrender and gave Yu Deyan a wooden plaque of "Dezhong Mingyuan" written by himself, intending to install him in the Qilidian area of Pingliang.

Yu Deyan was afraid of reprisals from the Hui people, so he did not dare to live there, and later migrated to the Twelve Forts in Huating.

In Mu Hemai's eyes, Bai Yanhu was of medium height, broad shoulders, several scars on his face, thick eyebrows and big eyes, blazing eyes, wearing a small white hat, a long braid, wearing a big cloak, and his body seemed to have endless strength.

Bai Yanhu led the rest of his army to break through to the Qilian Mountains in the north. Mu and Mai also followed.

As the vanguard of the suppression of the rebel army, Dong Fuxiang's Five Banner Army and Bai Yanhu's rebel army are connected from end to end, like an army. It turned out that Dong Fuxiang used to recognize Yu Deyan as his godfather and had a friendship with Bai Yanhu, so he deliberately let the rebel army go, so that Bai Yanhu passed through the mouth of Biandu smoothly, and arrived in Suzhou in April of the following year, where he joined the rebel army there.

At the beginning of 1873, the Suzhou Uprising was in trouble. Bai Yanhu led more than 2,000 people out of Jiayuguan and entered the territory of Huijiang. Mu and Mai once again followed Bai Yanhu westward.

Zuo Zongtang reported to the imperial court that after the victory in Suzhou, only 7,000 rebels escaped in the areas of Dunhuang, Yumen, and Shule River. In fact, the total number of rebels and their families who entered Xinjiang was 70,000 to 80,000.

It was very difficult for the rebels to enter the territory of Huijiang.

In the vast Gobi, water sources are extremely scarce and sparsely populated. In order to fight for a well, the rebel army had to go through several battles with the Qing army, exchanging their lives and blood for precious well water.

There were many dead and injured along the way, and some were unable to walk and left behind. So far, there are some Hui villages that speak Shaanxi and Gansu dialects in Jiuquan, Hami, Changji, Qingshui, Yanqi, Gongliu, Yining and Huocheng. It is said that the inhabitants of this area are the descendants of the rebels who fell behind.

At the beginning of 1876, Zuo Zongtang gathered about 150 battalions of 6 or 70,000 Qing troops from all walks of life, and chased the Shaanxi-Gansu Hui rebels from Liangzhou, Lanzhou, Hezhou, and Hami, preparing to wipe them out.

Bai Yanhu's team included young soldiers, as well as old and young women and children. On horseback is a basket with a child on one side and an iron pot for cooking. Sometimes, just after the meal was made, the pursuers arrived. They had no choice but to lift the rice pot, cool it in the damp earth, and then put on their horses and set off.

As living conditions worsened, so did the number of sick and wounded. Some people start to feel depressed and irritable.

When they walked between Turpan and Dihua, Bai Yanlong's wife and Bai Yanhu's sister-in-law, who had been shot dead in Suzhou, were cooking in the stove. While filling the earthen stove with firewood, she grumbled and complained that the little uncle didn't know where to take them.

Bai Yanhu happened to walk behind her with a treasure knife and heard her sister-in-law's complaints. In order to stabilize the morale of the army and strictly abide by military discipline, he resolutely killed his sister-in-law with his own hands despite the dissuasion of everyone.

Afterwards, Bai Yanhu's heart was infinitely sad: he had just lost his brother, and now he had lost his sister-in-law. He lay alone on the kang and did not eat for several days.

Ma Qiqi and Mu Hemai persuaded Bai Yanhu many times, but he refused.

In May 1877, Dong Fuxiang led the Gan army to cross the Tianshan Mountains, marched more than 1,200 miles, and launched the battle to recover Dabancheng and Tuoxun City, the gateways to southern Xinjiang.

Bai Yanhu led the rebel army to flee to the important town of Karasar (present-day Yanqi County, Xinjiang) in southern Xinjiang.

Dong Fuxiang took advantage of the victory to pursue.

Bai Yanhu led the rebel army to fight and retreat, until he retreated to distant Kashgar. Further on is Central Asia, the birthplace of the Khorezm Empire and a Russian territory.

On a snowy night in December, the leaders of the rebels stayed up all night discussing their way out.

Bai Yanhu thought about turning himself in to save everyone's lives. However, Zuo Zongtang had already said that "we must completely annihilate Bai Yanhu's traitors". Moreover, the tragedy after the surrender of Ma Hualong and Ma Wenlu is just around the corner.

The prospect of entering Russia is uncertain, life is sparse, and the language is not compatible, so it must be a lot of bad luck. What's more, there are many wounded soldiers in the rebel army, and there are many old and weak, and it is too difficult to climb the snow-capped mountains to cross the border in the middle of winter.

After a long silence, Bai Yanhu's wife, known as Aunt Bai, stood up and spoke. She was the leader of the female soldiers of the rebel army, and called on the female soldiers and the old, weak, sick and wounded to stay and fight to the death with the pursuers of the Qing Dynasty, covering the sturdy soldiers to cross the snow-capped mountains, and try to develop in the future.

Aunt Bai's words made everyone emotional.

In the end, Bai Yanhu made a decision: send someone to buy roads from the Russian border guards with a lot of money, and then leave one person in each household to prevent the bloodline from being cut off. The rest of the men and horses climbed over the snow-capped mountains overnight.

They had just arrived at the Chakmak Pass on the Qing-Russian border, and a large number of Qing troops had already caught up.

The ranks of the rebels quickly entered the territory of Russia.

The Qing army, which had arrived a step late, was in a state of desperation and pursued the scattered children, women, the elderly, and the wounded and sick. They placed more than 300 guillotines on the streets of Kashgar and slaughtered the rebel soldiers and their families for half a month.

Most of the soldiers who fled into Russia suffered frostbite from their hands and feet. Some of the old people's fingers froze.

Escaping from the country is the best way for Bai Yanhu to choose to escape in a dangerous situation as a last resort. If they fight to the end, the rebels and their families will all be killed in battle, and they will lose their continuous bloodline. If you surrender to Zuo Zongtang, the lesson of the massacre is vivid. Bai Yanhu also planned to go south to join forces with the rebel army led by Du Wenxiu in Yunnan to resist the Qing Dynasty, but the journey was long and could not be realized at all. In order to survive, there is no other way but to escape from the country.

The Qing court repeatedly asked the Russian side to repatriate Bai Yanhu through diplomatic channels, but the Russian side refused.

In 1881, Yu Deyan, who had been dismissed and returned to the field, came to settle in Huating Twelve Forts. The climatic and geographical conditions here are superior to those of Huapingchuan and Gongmen Town, which housed Hemingtang, Cui Wei, Bi Dacai, etc., and Zhangjiachuan. He often had dealings with Cui Wei, Bi Dacai and others. He was very passionate about religion and the common good. Whenever Pingliang, Xiji, Zhangjiachuan, Guyuan, and Huaping built and repaired worship temples, he gave strong support. When there was internal friction or conflict with the outside world, he immediately used his personal identity and prestige to come forward and mediate and resolve the conflict fairly, winning the trust of the government and the people.

Yu Deyan raised many lonely elderly people and orphans, and also raised two Han orphans to adulthood and started a family for them.

On July 26, 1882, at the age of 42, Bai Yanhu died of illness in Russia and was buried in the town of Masanqing in today's Chambyl Oblast, Kazakhstan.

Bai Yanhu was unable to bare before he died, and repeatedly told his family: "If you return to your hometown one day, you must knock vigorously on the west gate of Xi'an Mansion, so that I can also hear it here." At that time, I returned to my hometown with you! ”

In the spring of 1906, Yu Deyan died of illness at home at the age of 85.

After Yu Deyan's death, the Hui Han people from all over the country came to mourn. The funeral was also very solemn.

In his home, there is a banner donated by Zuo Zongtang:

Shanglian is the merit of plum blossom ten thousand tree nose,

The next link is a bottle of bamboo leaves, and the heart is peaceful.

Horizontal batches are the righteousness of heaven and earth.

This war, which lasted for more than 10 years, caused great disasters to the people of all ethnic groups in the northwest. Before the war, there were about 10 million people in Shaanxi, of which more than 3 million were Hui. In the war, famine and plague, Shaanxi's population lost more than 6.22 million, of which the Han people lost more than 4 million, the Hui people lost more than 2 million, and only the 30,000 Hui people who did not participate in the uprising in Xi'an survived.

The Shaanxi-Gansu Huihui uprising was not a religious war, nor was it a war between the Han and the Hui, but a struggle between the oppressed and exploited classes against feudal rule. The uprising was attended by Han Chinese throughout the uprising. One of them, a Han talent named Li Keku, is ironclad evidence. He was Bai Yanhu's resourceful senior staff officer and was involved in decision-making on many major issues. His diary is now preserved in the State Historical Archive of St. Petersburg, Russia.

There were many Han Chinese in the Shaanxi and Gansu rebel army that left Russia. They built Taoist temples in Bishkek and Tokmak. Four families of Taoist believers who emigrated to Russia's Gall-Rivières province in 1878 also followed Bai Yanhu to settle in Central Asia.

After Bai Yanhu became impermanent, Ma Qiqi, Mu Hemai and others followed his will, strictly managed the clansmen, abided by local laws, and looked forward to the time to return home day and night.

Year after year, they toiled and multiplied in a foreign land, forming a new ethnic group in Russia, the Dungan.

Today, there are more than 100,000 Dungan people in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan. They still follow the living customs of the Hui people in Shaanxi and Gansu, and speak the local language of the Shaanxi and Gansu dialects.

More than 600 years ago, the ancestors of the Hui people were exiled from Khorezm to the Han land in the Central Plains in the east.

More than 600 years later, the descendants of the Hui people have fallen from the Han land of the Central Plains to the land of their ancestors and become a new people here.

The reincarnation of the times is sighing.