No matter how noisy the crows are, they will gather in one place, and if they take refuge in the owl, they will lose their lives.

- Tibetan proverb

After Ma Qiqi, Bai Yanhu and Ma Shengyan were chased and fled to Gansu by the Qing army of Duolong'a, they were pleased to find that the Hui people in Gansu also rose up to respond under the influence of the Shaanxi rebel army.

Locals told Ma that as early as October 1862, rumors of the imperial court going to massacre the Hui spread across much of Gansu. The Hui people in various places quickly organized themselves and formed four anti-Qing uprising centers: first, the rebel army area led by Ma Hualong centered on Jinjibao (today's Jinji Town in Wuzhong, Ningxia); the second is the rebel army area centered on Hezhou led by Ma Zhanao; the third was the rebel army area led by Ma Wenlu centered on Suzhou (today's Jiuquan); Fourth, the rebel army area led by Ma Wenyi, Ma Guiyuan, and Ma Benyuan centered on Xining

Ma Qiqi first projected his eyes on Jinji Fort, which is closest to Shaanxi (today's Jinji Town, Tongxin County, Ningxia).

At that time, Ningxia belonged to Gansu. In order to resist the exploitation and extortion of the government, Ma Zhaoyuan, a low-ranking Huihui officer in Ningxia, took the lead in launching an uprising in Yuwang City (today's Yuwang Town, Tongxin County, Ningxia).

In order to expand their social influence among the parishioners, they repeatedly invited and elected Ma Hualong, the fifth-generation Muller Shide (i.e., missionary) of Jinjibao, as the leader of the rebel army.

In January 1863, the governor of Lanzhou, Enlin, saw that the rebels could not be eliminated by force, so he suggested to the imperial court that a decree be issued specifically for Gansu, reaffirming the policy of non-discrimination against the Hui.

However, this decree of the imperial court was too late. The flames of resistance to oppression and exploitation are already raging in the land of Longyuan.

Ma Qiqi led the remnants of the Shaanxi rebel army to join the rebel army in Gansu. As a result, the momentum of the Gansu rebel army was strengthened.

The governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, Yang Yuebin, and Liu Songshan's Lao Xiang army were helpless under the combined attack of the Hui rebel army and the Western Twist army. With the exception of Lanzhou and a few cities, almost the entire province of Gansu was occupied by the rebels.

The Qing dynasty's rule in Gansu was already shaky.

In July 1865, Ma Qiqi found that the Qing army's Lei Zhengwan's troops and Cao Ke's troops had successfully rendezvous, and they were killed all the way to Jinjibao. He had doubts about the firmness of Ma Hualong's struggle.

There is a reason for the suspicion of the horse revelation.

Ma Hualong didn't want to participate in the uprising from the beginning, but now he was terrified when he saw the enemy pressing the situation, and repeatedly sent a lot of silver and a whole load of flour to the Qing army, asking for peace talks with the Qing army.

The Qing army simply ignored Ma Hualong and just launched a fierce attack. Among them, the army led by Dong Fuxiang worked extremely hard.

Dong Fuxiang was born in 1839 in Maojing, Huanxian County, Gansu Province. His father was the head of the local Brotherhood, and he was straightforward and liked to fight unevenly. Dong Fuxiang was influenced by family style since he was a child, he liked to practice martial arts but did not like to read, and he liked to make friends with people in the green forest when he was young, and often interacted with gangs.

The local gentry were afraid of him.

When Dong Fuxiang heard that the Hui people in Shaanxi were fighting with the Han Chinese, he used the Elders' Association to organize and establish local regimental training to protect the peace of the place, and his power continued to grow.

Seeing Dong Fuxiang's growing influence, the government arrested him on charges and tortured him in a cage.

The prison guards sympathized with Dong Fuxiang's plight and secretly released him.

Dong Fuxiang regrouped and launched an armed uprising, which was unable to resist both the rebel army and the officers and soldiers of the imperial court. He accepted the invitation of Weng Jian, the county commander of Huanxian County, to return to Shun and defend the county seat for the county order.

Soon, Dong Fuxiang once again turned against the Qing Dynasty because he was unbearable to be oppressed by the government.

Ma Qiqi received a letter from Dong Fuxiang asking for unity, and led the Shaanxi-Gansu Rebel Army, the Twist Army and Dong Fuxiang to kill and wound more than 2,000 Qing troops in Qiangjia Shawo near Jinjibao.

Lei Zhengwan's troops were completely annihilated.

In the face of such a major victory, the rebel army cheered.

Ma Qiqi observed that Ma Hualong, who had won a great victory, was frightened and restless.

In 1867, in order to cooperate with the military operations of the Western Twist Army in Shaanxi, Ma Qiqi led the Shaanxi rebel army from Dong Zhiyuan back to Guanzhong. However, due to the heavy garrison of the Qing army in Xi'an, he had no choice but to march east with the Western Twist Army and fight in the areas of Pucheng, Fuping, and Sanyuan in Shaanxi.

At the same time, Dong Fuxiang's rebel army also controlled more than 10 prefectures and counties in Shaanxi and Gansu.

The imperial court saw that Yang Yuebin had no way to eliminate the rebel army, so it had to send Zuo Zongtang, the governor of Minjiang, to serve as the governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, the minister of Qincha, and to supervise the military affairs of Shaanxi and Gansu.

Ma Qiqi had heard of Zuo Zongtang's exploits for a long time, and keenly felt that this was a fierce and auspicious news.

Zuo Zongtang, born on November 10, 1812 in Xiangyin County, Changsha Prefecture, Hunan Province, Zuo Jiayuan, born with a bright nature, less ambitious, 20 years old in the township examination, after which he tried again and again, but he studied Confucian classics hard, dabbled in a wide range of subjects, and laid a good foundation for later leading troops to fight wars and governing and financial management.

When the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom besieged Changsha, Zuo Zongtang threw himself into the camp of defending the Qing Dynasty. He gave full play to his ingenuity and forced the Taiping army to withdraw from the siege and go north, and from then on he began to make a name for himself.

Later, he successively joined the Shogunate of the Governor of Huguang and the Governor of Hunan, and formed the Chu Army to fight against the Taiping Army in Jiangxi and Anhui, and attracted the attention of the emperor and was awarded the Governor of Zhejiang, Fujian and Zhejiang.

After the suppression of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom, Zuo Zongtang proposed to reduce the number of troops and increase the salary. He chose a site in Mawei in Fuzhou to establish a shipyard, sent personnel abroad to purchase machinery and ship troughs, and founded the Qiushitang Art Bureau (i.e., the Shipmaster School) to train shipbuilding technology and naval talents, becoming the first new shipyard in the Qing Dynasty.

In 1866, Zuo Zongtang was ordered to serve in Shaanxi and Gansu, and formulated the operational policy of "Qin first and then Long, first twist and then Hui", planning to first eliminate the Twist Army between the Jing River and the Wei River in Shaanxi, and then eliminate the Hui rebel army in Shaanxi and Gansu.

In July, he led a Hunan army of nearly 20,000 men to Shaanxi, where he defeated and incorporated Dong Fuxiang's Han rebel army.

Liu Songshan greatly appreciated Dong Fuxiang's military talent and appointed him as the commander-in-chief of the former enemy.

Since then, Dong Fuxiang has become the pawn of the Qing army to encircle and suppress the rebel army, and the rebel army of Tsushima Qiqi and Bai Yanhu is pressing forward step by step, breaking through each one, causing heavy losses to the rebel army.

In October, there was a disagreement between the Twist Army and the rebel army. The Twist Army withdrew from Shaanxi and crossed the Yellow River east into Shanxi.

Ma Qiqi was forced to lead the rebel army back to Dong Zhiyuan in Gansu.

Under the fierce offensive of the Qing army, Ma Qiqi and Bai Yanhu merged the eighteen battalions of the rebel army into four battalions, and then retreated to Jinjibao, intending to join Ma Hualong's rebel army and fight the enemy together.

Ma Hualong was wary of the foreign Ma revelation, and delayed and prevaricated in every possible way, which put the Shaanxi rebel army in a dilemma.

In November 1868, after two years of hard fighting, Zuo Zongtang finally controlled the entire territory of Shaanxi. Seeing that the overall situation in Shaanxi had been calmed down, he stepped up all preparations for marching into Gansu, and decided to march to Gansu by three routes: north, south, and central.

Liu Songshan led the Northern Route Army to march west from Suide County and directly pointed at Jinji Fort. Li Yaonan and Wu Shimai led the Southern Route Army from Longzhou (i.e., Longxian County, Shaanxi) and Baoji to Qinzhou (i.e., Tianshui, Gansu). Zuo Zongtang and Liu Dian led the Middle Route Army from Qianzhou (i.e., Qianxian County, Shaanxi) to Jingzhou (i.e., Jingchuan County, Gansu) via Pizhou (i.e., Bin County, Shaanxi) and Changwu County. Among them, the north road is the key offensive direction.

Jinjibao is located in Lingzhou (i.e., Lingwu County, Ningxia) more than 25 kilometers southwest, east to Huamachi, south to Guyuan, west to the Yellow River, is the military core of the Mahualong rebel army.

On September 8, 1869, the Qing army formed a large encirclement of Jinjibao.

Part of the Gansu Hui rebels surrendered to the Qing army. Ma Qiqi and Bai Yanhu's Shaanxi rebel army was forced to withdraw westward.

The Qing army adopted a step-by-step approach and successively captured the forts around Wuzhong Fort and north of Jinji Fort.

The rebel army relied on the Qin Canal and the Han Canal to dig trenches and build walls. The infantry defended with the ramparts. The cavalry constantly attacked the enemy on its own initiative.

Dong Fuxiang led the third battalion of Dong Zi to charge into battle, and made many military exploits, which quickly dispelled the doubts of Zuo Zongtang, Liu Songshan and others.

On December 11, 1869, Dong Fuxiang stepped forward in battle, engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the rebels, and was wounded in the line of fire, making the first contribution to the capture of Wu Zhong.

Zuo Zongtang officially incorporated the three battalions of Dong Zi into the official army sequence. Dong Jun became a strong force under Liu Songshan.

In the battle of Jinjibao, Liu Songshan, the commander of the Qing army, did not listen to Dong Fuxiang's advice and personally went to the rebel army's barracks to recruit An, but was unexpectedly shot and died.

After that, Dong Fuxiang loyally assisted Liu Songshan's nephew Liu Jintang.

The Qing army's offensive was frustrated one after another, and its morale was declining.

Ma Qiqi and Bai Yanhu led the rebel army to launch a counteroffensive at the opportunity, which changed the situation in Gansu. The situation was very favorable for the rebels.

However, the rebel army lacked unified command and leadership, acted independently, and could not effectively coordinate and cooperate, and the favorable situation was gradually lost.

In order to avoid the massacre of the Qing army in isolation, Ma Hualong had illusions about the imperial court, and begged the imperial court several times for appeasement, but after being refused, he divided his troops in all directions, did not concentrate his forces to attack the enemy, and several attacks on Yongning Dongshuikou were also unsuccessful.

The rebels' missteps gave the Qing army valuable time to adjust their deployments.

On the one hand, Zuo Zongtang transferred troops to intercept the rebel army entering Shaanxi, transferred Guo Baochang to attack Huamachi and Dingbian, and opened up the grain road on the east road of Jinjibao, and on the other hand, ordered Liu Jintang to take over the old Hunan army and reorganize the attack on Jinjibao.

On the one hand, Liu Jintang strengthened the defense of Yongning Cave, and on the other hand, he built forts on both sides of the Yellow River to protect the passage to the west of the river, and captured the forts between Lingzhou and Wuzhong Fort one by one.

In order to attack Jinjibao from the south, Zuo Zongtang ordered Huang Ding and others to seize the gorge, break through more than 20 rebel camps, and approach Hongle Fort southwest of Jinjibao.

The Qing army paid a heavy price to capture the fortress around Jinji Fort. They dug two long trenches around Jinji Fort, built a wall as high as more than zhang on the side of the trench, and strictly defended the two returning reinforcements sent by Hezhou.

The defensive situation at Jinji Fort deteriorated day by day.

On the last day of 1870, the rebel army of Ma Hualong in Jinjibao ran out of food.

Ma Hualong had no choice but to go to Liu Jintang's military camp to surrender in person, handed over 56 artillery pieces of various kinds and more than 1,000 guns of various kinds, said that all the sins were borne by himself, begged the Qing army to forgive other rebel officers and soldiers, and wrote a letter to the rebel army in Wangjiatongzhuang to persuade him to surrender.

The imperial court did not forgive Ma Hualong. Liu Jintang and Dong Fuxiang executed Ma Hualong on charges of hiding weapons, brutally murdered his relatives and more than 1,800 of the main force of the rebel army, and displayed his head across the country for 10 years.

When Ma Qiqi and Bai Yanhu learned that Ma Hualong had been killed, they couldn't help but shed tears of sadness. Although they were all Hui people, and they all rose up to oppose the oppression of the Qing government, they still had a narrow concept in handling the overall situation and local interests, and they could not form a unified force and could not defeat the powerful Qing army.

Jinji Fort immediately became Dong Fuxiang's base camp.

Jinji Fort was the core of the Shaanxi-Gansu Huihui Uprising. The defeat in the Battle of Jinjibao greatly affected the anti-Qing struggle in the entire northwest region. From then on, the Qing army seized the initiative in the Northwest War.

Ma Qiqi summarized that there are two main reasons for the failure of the Battle of Jinjibao: First, the leader of the uprising, Ma Hualong, was born in the upper class of the Huihui, and the main purpose of the anti-Qing Dynasty was to maintain and strengthen the political privileges and economic status of Zhehe Renye, which was inconsistent with the Shaanxi rebel army's overthrow of the corrupt Qing rule, and did not put forward a clear political slogan, let alone the determination to fight to the end. Second, the Shaanxi-Gansu rebel army did not have a unified leadership, its forces were scattered, and it could not form a powerful and concentrated striking force. Each team often fought on its own, and it was inevitable that they would be defeated by the Qing army.

Zuo Zongtang is a scheming military strategist. In view of the geographical characteristics of the northwest region, he formulated a correct combat policy, and after completing the encirclement of Jinjibao, he successfully used deep ditches and high barricades to block the rebel army's internal and external aid, forcing the rebel army in a desperate situation to surrender.

The victory of the Qing army also paid a heavy price, and only Liu Songshan's Lao Xiang army killed and wounded more than 1,000 officers and soldiers, and more than 2,000 were disabled due to injuries. Zuo Zongtang also admitted that the casualties under his command for more than ten years have not exceeded this time, which shows that the losses of the Qing army are very serious.

The Jinjibao Rebellion led by Ma Hualong was the largest uprising of the Zhehe Ninya sect in history, so it attracted great attention from the imperial court to Zhehe Ninya, and set off a large-scale suppression of Protestantism.

Zuo Zongtang said in the proclamation: "Cha Protestantism is a heresy of Islam, since the 46th year of Qianlong suppressed Ma Mingxin and Su 43, and in the 49th year of Tian Rebellion, Ma Hualong's father Ma Er, reverted to the Protestant legacy, confusing the public to collect money and infect several provinces. Ma Hualong's fierce flame is even hotter", and in the future, "if you dare to continue to practice Protestantism, listen to the demons such as Haili Fei to confuse the public, infiltrate and instigate, or fabricate rumors...... The sentence is to be punished".

As a result, the imperial court adopted a strategy of dispersing the people and weakening their power, forcibly resettling the people of the Jehe Ninjaya in an isolated wasteland.

In order to commemorate the martyrdom of Ma Hualong, the people of Zhehe Renye honored him as the Thirteenth Master and set up a Gongbei memorial in Wuzhong. The seventh generation of Zhehe Renye's Mueller Shi Dema Yuanzhang bought back Ma Hualong's head with a lot of money and buried it in Gongbei (cemetery) of Beishan in Zhangjiachuan.

Almost all of Ma Hualong's male descendants were killed, leaving only two grandchildren: a 6-year-old Ma Jincheng and a 4-year-old Ma Jinxi.

In April 1877, the government castrated Ma Jin and gave it to Wen, an official in Kaifeng, as a slave. Ma Jincheng died when he was 25 years old, and was later posthumously recognized by the followers as the prince of Bianliang.

On the way to liberate the Qing army into Beijing, Ma Jinxi was intercepted and rescued by Ma Mingxin's fourth grandson Ma Yuanzhang and Ma Yuanchao in Zhangjiachuan, where Zhehe Renye gathered.

Some of Ma Hualong's female relatives were married to officials as slaves, and some were married to Qing officers and soldiers. One of Ma Hualong's nieces escaped by chance and was adopted by the well-wishers of Cypress Tomb while begging for food in Taojiabao, Shagou, Xiji County, and later married Ma Yuanzhang. Another niece fled to Zhangjiachuan and married Yang, and later married Ma Yuanchao after her husband's death.

Bidding farewell to Dong Zhiyuan, who was stained red with the blood of the rebel soldiers, the rebel army of Ma Qiqi and Bai Yanhu had only one way to go. That's all the way to the west, to the west.