There was a saint in the ragged garment, and a horse under the ragged saddle.

- Mongolian proverb

The descendants of Ali and Abbas of the Sarthas of Khorezm, Saidianchi Gunsdin of the Bukhara, Hassan of the Salur, Gong Huaizhou of the Han of the Central Plains, and the descendants of the princes were scattered like pearls on the grasslands, and the ends of the world were on their own side. As subjects of the Ming Dynasty, they lived ordinary and extraordinary lives.

In the city of Hezhou, Doro, a descendant of Ali of the Sarta, has entered the age of 70. He worked five times a day on time, and lived with his beloved youngest son, Said's family.

Sade and his wife run their own shop on the high street.

They lived in a square street with the surrounding Hui people, and together they went to the mosque to perform the main ma, and when they met, they spoke the Salta language to each other. They speak Chinese to the outside world and have always referred to themselves as Sartas.

One evening, Seid returned home from his stall and said to Doro, "Ada, I saw some Mongols entering the city today. ”

Doro asked, "Da Yuan has long perished. Where did the Mongols come from? ”

Sa'd replied: "I see that they are wearing Mongolian robes, but they go to the mosque and do ghusl and then do the prayer in good form." ”

Doro asked, "Our language is basically the same as Mongolian, so you didn't ask them what they were doing?" ”

Said replied, "Yes." ”

Doro counted impatiently and said, "You see that you are in your 40s, why are you still talking so verbosely?" Tell me the results straight and end-to-end. ”

Said picked up the bowl sent by his daughter-in-law, took a sip of tea, and then said with a smile: "Ada, are you in a hurry?" Listen to me slowly give you the old man a chat (chat). They said that they were the descendants of the Hui people under the grandson of Kublai Khan, Lord Ananda. In that year, Lord Ananda led more than 150,000 people to garrison the Tangwu place in Hexi. There are a lot of people in the team. Lord Ananda was influenced and followed Islam. Some Mongol soldiers followed him with Islam. After the death of Yuan Chengzong, the lord and the empress Bo Yaozhen planned a coup d'état. Later, things leaked. Lord Ananda was killed by the emperor. His son united with the Hui people to rebel and was also suppressed by the imperial court. His subordinates fled to the remote and isolated Dongshan of Hezhou. ”

Doro said anxiously, "I already knew about this. What does it have to do with the Mongols who are entering the city today? ”

Said teased Doro and said, "It's a big deal." After they converted to Islam, the Mongols who believed in Buddhism were reluctant to do so, calling them traitors to religion and ostracizing them everywhere. They were forced to move eastward, first to Zhenfan (present-day Minqin, Gansu Province). After that, they split into two more ways. All the way south to cross the Yellow River, to the east of Hezhou, and live with the Sarta people here. The other way crossed the Helan Mountains and settled in the Hetao area. The Mongols who entered the city today came from Hetao to visit their relatives. ”

Doro was silent for a moment, then said, "It's really hard for them. By the way, Yunus, the descendant of Abbas Dada and Ayisha Aunt that your grandfather said, lives in Longjialiang in the East Plateau. You find a time, and we'll visit them. ”

The real settlement of the Sarthas was indeed in the eastern part of the city of River, as Doro said. It is a large area of loess mountains surrounded by the Yellow River, Tao River, Daxia River and Guangtong River. The Sartas here have better preserved their national characteristics and customs.

Early in the morning, Syd brought two tall mules, and put a cotton wool mattress on the saddle, and then helped Doro to mount the mule, and put a straw hat on his head. Riding a blanket containing a few bags of tea, rock candy, and a blanket for worship, Sade put it on the back of the other mule, jumped on it, and set out with his father.

The father and son went out of the east gate of Hezhou City, flowed across the clear Daxia River, climbed the steep high slope, and entered the Dongyuan Mountains.

Seid stood on a high place and looked out at the endless mountains and rivers in front of him. The undulating loess slopes and deep ravines resemble the scrawny body of a beggar. The hillside was bare, with no trees and no green grass. There are no rivers or streams in the narrow, winding ravines. A few palm-sized dry fields are sparsely covered with corn and artichokes. The dilapidated mud houses are high on the hillside, and they are in danger of collapsing at any moment.

Said thought to himself that if he came out at night to relieve himself, he would fall into the bottom of the ditch if he was a little unsteady on his feet.

Puzzled, Sade asked, "Ada, how can such a Nas (bad) place be alive?" If you want water, you have no water, you have no land, and the food you have beaten down is not enough to eat for three days! ”

Doro said, "Burn (stupid) Gawa, who will come here if there is a way?" Is Hirakawa good? Good! But Hirakawa has long had a master. The flat Xichuan and Beiyuan are Han people. Is the prairie good? Good! That's where the Tibetan people live. We Sarthas arrived late, and only this place remained. What is this place? Fall to death sparrow and roll to death snake. The mountain is high and the monk's head is high, and there is no water flowing in the deep ditch. ”

Seid listened to his father's words, but could not answer, so he had to bury his head and hurry.

They walked for about an hour and passed by a place called Woto.

Doro asked, "Gava, do you know what it means to be a litter?" ”

Said honestly replied, "I don't know." Ada, you name it. ”

"The Han people like to farm, and the Mongolians like to herd sheep, and neither of them likes to do business. We Sarthals have been good at trading for generations. When the ancestors came here, the Mongols set aside a fixed location for the Sartas to trade grain, medicinal herbs, livestock, tea and furs to meet the needs of the Mongols, Han Chinese and Tibetans. Hezhou City has become a commodity distribution center for east and west, south and north. Two hours further into the mountains, the name of the place changed again. ”

Said asked, "What's changed?" ”

Doro replied, "The Pools of Waigu, the Pools of Alou, the Pools of Tomu, the Pools of Iha, the Pools of Arasu, and the Pond of Noktu. Do you know what these place names mean? ”

Said said with confidence: "Of course I do. These place names are in our Salta language. Fujiu Chi is a silversmith, Alou Chi is a weaver, Tomuchi is a blacksmith, Ihachi is a bowl nailer, Alasu Chi is a tanner, and Noktu is a weaver. Ada, am I right? ”

Doro said, "Yes, yes. Why is it called that? ”

Syd shook his head in confusion.

"In the past, the Mongol governor placed all kinds of sarta craftsmen who came from the west to work in different places according to the type of work, and formed different villages. These names were given to each village after the names of the craftsmen. ”

Said suddenly realized, "I see. ”

"These villages are all on Longjialiang and Alouchiliang, which is where we are going today. ”

In the evening, the sun sets in the west, and the sky is full of red glow, and the golden sun shines on the continuous mountain beams, whitewashing the desolate and dry land as brilliant and beautiful as heaven.

When Said saw a young man in front of him driving a herd of goats to the village on the high slope, he quickly chased after him, said to him, and then asked, "Gawa, is the village in front of you called Daban?" ”

The shepherd replied, "Yes." Who are you looking for? ”

Said said, "Yunus, the descendant of Abbas's father and Aunt Ayisha. ”

The shepherd smiled and said, "Yunus is my Ada. Follow me. ”

Doro and Said followed Yunus's son into the village of Daban.

At this moment, in the main hall of the Daban Worship Temple, Yunus, who is over 60 years old, is wearing a pale yellow tasdal (turban) wrapped around his head, a black girdle with a calf-length hem and embroidered edges, and patent leather socks on his feet, and is packing his things to go home for dinner.

Yunus is the opening teacher of the Great Mosque and explains the knowledge of Islam in simple terms to Muslim believers and Tarip (students) every day. Because he had made the pilgrimage to Mecca, the villagers called him Yunus Aji.

Through the open gate, Yunus saw his beloved little grandson, Juma, running into the courtyard.

Yunus thought that Juma had come to call him home for dinner, so he said kindly, "Jumazi, is dinner ready at home?" ”

Juma shouted in a childish voice, "Grandpa, Grandpa, go home quickly." There are guests in the house. ”

Yunus asked, "Where are the guests?" ”

Juma replied, "From afar." ”

Yunus quickly got up, put on the religious books wrapped in a silk scarf, and hurried home with Juma.

Dora and his son and the Yunus family sat cross-legged on the blankets of the clay kang, drinking tea from the Three Fort while telling their own stories.

Doro asked, "I heard that you have begun to believe in Kubu Ninya here?" They had repeatedly gone to the city of Hezhou to preach, but they were all driven away by the parishioners. ”

Yunus nodded.

Doro asked, "What the hell is going on?" How is it different from our previous beliefs? ”

Yunus opened the conversation box and spoke eloquently.

Around the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the homeland of the Khorezm Empire was under the rule of the Timurid Empire, a descendant of Mongolia. A Sartar named Hamutse led 40 Muslims to preach in the eastern mountains of River State.

The reason why they chose to go to Dongshan in Hezhou to preach is because the location is remote, the roads are inconvenient, and the living environment is extremely harsh, and the old sect of Islam cannot take care of it for the time being, and it belongs to a region of pure faith. The descendants of Khorezm call themselves the Saltas, who speak the Salta language, a mixture of Mongolian and Chinese words, according to the rules handed down from their ancestors.

Hamu was proficient in Arabic, carrying scriptures in both Arabic and Chinese, crossing mountains and mountains, spreading religious teachings, and covering the ravines and valleys of the eastern mountains.

In the end, Hamu chose to settle on a densely wooded mountain beam. He used timber from the mountain beams to build the first worship temple in Togo, called the Great Worship Temple. People later called this mountain beam Hamzeling.

The rest of the missionaries met in one village and then dispersed to other places.

Soon after, a second group of missionaries led by Ali Ada came to Dongxiang. There were 8 of them. Later generations are honored as the Eight Great Righteous Virtues (meaning Mr. and Chief).

Aliada settled as a missionary in the present-day Alpine township of Bulon Valley.

Among the 40 tanned Gudub and 8 Said, in addition to the missionaries who went to other places, 14 of them settled in Dongxiang and lived as missionaries. Their descendants live among the Sarta groups in Nalgaon, Sal, Shirati, Bulon Valley, etc.

At the same time, a Muslim teacher named Saeed Abduli Gajil Jerani Muhuyindini also came to Daming to preach.

Muhuyindini, the fourteenth descendant of Muhammad of the Arabs, was born in the province of Gilan in present-day northern Iran, where he studied Persian and later in Baghdad, Arabia. He is very smart, has both ability and political integrity, is knowledgeable, filial piety, virtuous and treacherous, and is famous in the township.

Once, he received a revelation: "Your return is in the middle of the two hills. You close your cloudy eyes and open your discerning eyes to see. You should endure hardships and endure hardships to transform human beings."

So, Muhuyindini took a few missionary utensils and a bowl of his homeland in a bowl, and set out to find Sereseg Tuni.

He traveled thousands of miles to China three times and preached in Liangguang, Lianghu, Sichuan, the Western Regions, Qinghai, and Gansu.

Muhuyindini was different from the preachers who preceded him. He did not preach the primitive Islam commonly practiced by the Muslims, but the Sufi Kubu Nyaya (Arabic for the greatest), founded by Najmuddin Kubra, a native of Khorezm.

In addition to observing the five Muslim teachings of reciting Halal, praying, fasting, zakat and pilgrimage, Kubhuya mainly advocated meditation and meditation, learning from Muhammad to worship the Lord in a cave in the suburbs, meditating on the Jigai, and the meditation period was divided into 40 days, 70 days, and 120 days.

Muhuyindini encountered walls everywhere in the Huihui area, which adhered to the old religion, and finally came to Dawantou, Dongshan, Hezhou, which is located in a remote location and has simple folk customs.

Muhuyindini was skinny, unkempt, hungry and thirsty, and very lonely. On the high slope of the loess, he met a man surnamed Salta surnamed Zhang who was clearing the wasteland, so he opened his mouth to ask him for some tea.

When the Sarta heard that he came from Khorezm, the land of his ancestors, he was filled with sympathy and nostalgia for him, and brought him a bowl of tea with precious oil.

The Salta people surnamed Zhang have always been dissatisfied with the red tape of the old religion. In the midst of the casual conversation, he heard the Kubu Ninya teachings expounded by Muhuyini and felt that it was very reasonable, and decided to take Muhuyini to the villages in the high mountains to help him spread the Kubu Nyanya teachings together.

Muhuyindini looked up and saw that the village of Dawantou was right in the middle of the two hills. His heart couldn't help but heat up: This is my Sereseg Tuni.

Because most of the Salta people in Dawantou have the surname Zhang, Muhuyindini also changed his surname to Zhang in order to integrate into the local society, taking the name Jade Emperor, and the word is Phuket. Since then, Zhang Yuhuang has cultivated the 9 acres of land given to him by the villagers in Dawantou, and at the same time spread the teachings of Kubu Ninya, so that the nearby Sarthas have converted to Kubu Ninya.

As a result, Kubu Ninye has the nicknames of Dawantou Gate Eunuch and Zhangmen Gate Eunuch in China.

Muhuyindini settled in Dawantou and married a woman from Sarta and raised a group of children until impermanence came true.

His sons and daughters built Gongbei for him in Dawantou (the mausoleums of mentors, eunuch ancestors, Taoist ancestors, sages and others are called Gongbei).

His descendants were integrated into the Sartas.

After listening to Yunus's introduction, Doro couldn't help but sigh, and then said: "The one who believes in one lord and reads the same scripture, why are there different sects?" ”

Said interjected: "Ada, the language in the scriptures is concise, and everyone has their own understanding, so naturally there will be factions. ”

Doro glared at Said disapprovingly.

Yunus hurriedly beckoned: "Brother, nephew, eat a few bites while it's hot (a broth dish made from animal offal)." ”