In April, flowers bloomed everywhere in the valley of the Eufadi River, and even in the Ra'sal'ain camp on the edge of the desert, in the corner of the humble camp room, some grass and flowers appeared.1

The Ra'sal'ain concentration camp, which was guarded by the "Te?kilatimahsusa" forces established by the Turkish "Unity and Progress Council", covers an area of about four square kilometres, and is a camp for the Turks to "guard" the Armenians.

In May 1915, the Minister of the Interior, Talat ? Pasha demanded that the Cabinet and the Grand Vichyl Sayhalimpasha legislate to allow the relocation and resettlement of Armenians to other places, citing "Armenian riots and massacres in some parts of the country". Talat singled out the events in Van and extended the measures to areas where "riots and massacres" could affect security in the Caucasus theater. Later, the range of migrants was extended to Armenians from other provinces.

On May 27, 1915, the Ottoman Parliament passed the Tesir Law, which allowed the government and military to expel anyone deemed to be a threat to national security, with provisions guaranteeing property rights to those expelled. In September, a new law, the Law on Property, Debts and Assets Left Behind by Deportees, was introduced, according to which all "left" goods and property of Armenians were owned by the Government. On September 13, 1915, the Ottoman parliament passed a new law that allowed all Armenian property to be confiscated by the government.

In the years that followed, the confiscation of Armenian property was accompanied by massacres, rapes, the slave trade, and, most seriously, systematic genocide, until as early as August 1915, the New York Times repeated an unsourced report stating that "the bodies of the displaced were strewn all over the roads and the Euphrates, and those who survived were doomed, a plan to exterminate all Armenians." ”

The Ra'sal'ain concentration camp was an integral part of the whole project, with thousands of Armenians from all over the country being loaded into stuffy tankers. They were sent to dozens of concentration camps in Baghdad province, including the Ra'sal'ain concentration camp, where death awaited.

Although the Ra'sal'ain camp was located in the Euphrates River Valley, it was a deserted place. Although there were some Arabs who lived here in the past, they all left two years ago. A few of the thatched huts vacated by the Arabs still stand.

Now, these broken brick houses have become barracks for Te?kilatimahsusa's troops. As for the Christian Armenians who were deported here, they all slept in the camps, living in the cold of winter and the scorching heat of summer.

In this concentration camp, men can become the target of the Turks' guns or knives at any time, and women can become the Turks' tools for venting at any time. Their pitiful possessions had long since been plundered in the process of eviction, and the Armenians, with few exceptions, were not provided with shelter of any kind, and those who had come from cold places were left behind in the scorching sun of the desert, without food or water. Temporary relief is available only to a small number of people who can afford to pay officials. Naturally, mortality due to hunger and disease is very high. And it was further pushed up by the brutality of the authorities......

In order to survive. People are always trying their best to find all kinds of possibilities, and these Armenians who are starving in the desert do not know that for them this is only a temporary "dwelling", and soon they will die here in silence, but they always do everything possible. Find ways to improve your life.

Over the past few months, after ending the path of expulsion filled with blood and tears. Kosyemir, an Armenian soldier who had been in the Turkish army, had recovered a little of his former bulging muscles. He is now the mayor of this "Armenian town". In fact, this was also approved by the Tart Commander of the Special Forces, although life was bad enough to eat and sleep better than most Armenians in the Ra'sal'ain camp. …,

And in the last few months, it was Kosyemir who presided over the thousands of men still alive in the camp who cleared a piece of land, and some of them pulled out their gold teeth or took out their hidden belongings in exchange for some wheat seeds from the nearby Arabs, and it is undeniable that Kosyemir did a good job, always working quickly, silently and obediently, no matter what the weather, even though they were cursed and beaten daily by the Turks of the special forces, but they still worked hard to reclaim the land, Because each of them knows that perhaps the survival of their families depends on whether they can reclaim the land.

Because many of them were so weak that they would faint and fall to the ground while the land was being cleared, they would often be beaten to death by the guards of the special forces as pretending to be sick and lazy. If they didn't seem to be working, they sent them to God with shovels or sticks, while others silently dragged their bodies back for the evening roll call.

Perhaps they were accustomed to death, they were accustomed to it, and in the case of Ra'sal'ain, it seemed to Kosyemir that the situation here was very good, because in other places there were so many people who died, and even in some of the concentration camps, the vast majority of them lived only a few days, a month or two at most, and now, here, they have lived for a few months.

Captain Tart may have been just as brutal, but at least he agreed with the Armenians to survive in the camp in their own way, rather than forbidding them to trade with the Arabs in order to obtain the food and blankets necessary to survive here, but even so, many of the Armenians in the camp were still skinny and bones, and the guards would torture the Armenians from time to time, whipping their backs to the point of flesh, and when the torturers were drenched in blood. When they fell unconsciously, they wiped the blood dripping from their whips with nonchalant smiles.

And for Captain Tart, all his pleasure is probably that he personally lined up in the firing squad to shoot the prisoners sentenced to death. The usual tone of his voice when he spoke to the prisoners was a threatening rant. He struck a man with a stick, and he could knock a man down like a scarecrow with a dead branch. Despite this, Captain Tarter thinks he is "pretty good". Captain Tart was unlike the captains and leaders of the other special forces, though he also tortured frightened, skinny Armenians with fear, pain, and death. But I don't get pleasure out of it.

More importantly, Captain Tart's corruption is very helpful. This meant that people could do business with Captain Tart, just as Captain Tarter was an extremely womanipulous man, so Kosyemir lobbied the "village" for a few beautiful young girls. Let them wait for the captain, although they will sacrifice something, but at least they can keep more people alive, no matter what, it will all be worth it.

"Just a few more months!"

Every day. Kosyemir said this to himself, and even to the others, that in the past, he had put all the Russians on the same thing as everyone else, just as he had done two years earlier in the events of Van where the Armenian defenders had protected nearly 50,000 of their kind. Later Nikolai? Yudenich's Russian troops came to their rescue.

But now. Kosyemir put it on the Chinese, Van is very close to Russia, and here, not too far from the control zone of the squadron, perhaps, soon. The squadron will hit here, and then. They will be truly free.

Freedom, for Kosjemir. Perhaps freedom is very important, and before they are free, the most important thing is to live, and only by living will it be possible for them to return to their homeland and take revenge on the Turks. …,

"To live!"

All sacrifices are for this purpose, whether others can understand it or not, but Kosjemir believes that sooner or later, those who laugh at him behind his back and sarcastically mock him will understand this, understand that what he is doing today is just to keep everyone alive!

"Stay alive ......"

When Kosyemir thought so in his heart, in the desert dozens of kilometers away, there were also some people who thought so in their hearts.

Adaleti wore a tattered Turkish military uniform and shuffled through the desert with heavy footsteps, sand pouring into his worn leather boots. This long procession of Turkish prisoners of war zigzagged through the desert, the Turkish army that had surrendered to the squadron in the desert a dozen days earlier.

On either side of the POWs, guards in desert-colored uniforms armed with rifles or machine guns watched the procession. At the front and back of the procession, there were two large military trucks that were roaring, loaded with more Guards troops. This thousand-strong POW force traveled all the way on foot. About a third of the captives died during this escort.

In the beginning, at ten o'clock in the morning, they could receive a compressed biscuit, which was the squadron's rations, and some water. But since five days ago, even such rations have often been absent - a week ago, the convoy escorting the captives in the desert had gotten lost!

A week ago, after a spring sandstorm, the escort officers not only lost their guides but also lost their map bags, in the desert, the loss of guides and map bags often means death, after the troops got lost, the Chinese naturally first guaranteed their own safety, so these Turk prisoners, began to look for anything to eat in the desert like goats under the guns of the guards. For twelve to fourteen hours a day, they had to keep up with the sturdy escort soldiers, who alternated between walking and riding every two hours.

In this case, Adaleti's mountain-like body was almost crushed. Around him, people fell as they walked, often silently, sometimes with a moan or shout. When neither the butt nor the spike boots could wake up the fallen man, the Chinese soldier's method of handling the captives was very simple - a bullet pierced his head. This was a routine precaution lest the guerrillas might revive him and absorb him or if he could give a message to the guerrillas, leading to an ambush of the escort troops.

Along the way, Adaleti witnessed the execution of the Chinese men, who calmly and carefully smashed each head with their guns, leaving a large mess of red and white paste on the collar of their tunic shrunken in the sand.

Now, the team was still aimlessly moving in an unknown direction, cold, hunger, and unbearable fatigue making Adaleti look sluggish, and as he walked, he focused his increasingly poor attention on the man in front of him. His legs moved, but his knees were stiff. Because he was only afraid that if the joints were relaxed, they would bend down, and then he would fall. And then the head will be shattered.

On the Middle East front, the Geneva Conventions do not exist. Turki never signed it, as for the Chinese, perhaps. The Chinese have also signed it, but whether or not to abide by that convention is probably up to the officers themselves.

"Is there still water?"

He licked his chapped lips and listened to the chief's question. Wang Tianci shook his head, and then looked out of the car a little tiredly, his face had long since lost the breath of a scholar, and his dark face was perhaps the only mark left on him by the desert of the Near East. …,

What kind of war is this?

Perhaps, there is no trace of a scholar on his face, but deep down in his heart, he still thinks about many issues, just like until now. He didn't even figure it out. What kind of war is this, no matter how you look at it, the expeditionary force has absolute superiority, and here, there are no trenches on the Western Front at all, but the war is delayed indefinitely. The generals seemed to be interested in continuing the offensive. There is no interest at all, and on the other hand. However, they kept transferring their troops to the area around Ilang, where it was impossible to distinguish between friends and enemies.

between allies and allies. In Iran, after the Russian Revolution, China and Britain supported their own interests to fight for their respective spheres of influence there, and did everything possible to squeeze out the Russians, and here, in the Near East, they dismantled each other, and the British secretly supported the Arabs against China, and China......

In the final analysis, this is just a war of "dirty"! It's nothing more than a war in which several powerful countries are trying to plunder the colonies.

"Sergeant Wang, you take a car, search the neighborhood, and then go on like this,......"

Cao Yuan glanced at those captives, now, these captives are the burden in his hands, but he can't kill them all, but they can only drag down the whole team here, and if they continue to drag them down like this, everyone will only have a dead end.

"Give you two hours if ......"

At this point, Cao Yuanyuan's face turned cold, if Wang Tianci hadn't been able to bring good news an hour later, then he could only let these captives disappear behind the desert, and then let the big guys get into the car and drive in a fixed direction, until the car ran out of gas, and there was always something to discover, no matter what, as their platoon leader, he had to ensure that the brothers got out of this desert alive.

"Understood!"

Two years of battlefield career will change many people, Wang Tianci was changed by the war, if it was two years ago, maybe he would have questioned this order, now, he will not hesitate to carry out this order, on the battlefield, there are always some people alive, some people die.

Just like the commander's unfinished order, but just to give everyone else a chance to live, at least a little more chance to live, just as a week ago, in the face of protests from Turkish prisoners, he resolutely picked up and killed a dozen of them.

People always change! This son of a bitch war has long since changed everything!

The truck was running in the desert, sitting in the cab, Wang Tianci's expression was a little solemn, and the car drove for more than half an hour, but still did not find any traces of human existence.

Grab an Arab, let them get out of here with the big guy, and ...... And then everything will end, it's as simple as that, damn the Turks!

The Turks preached jihad, what infidels, and as a result, the Arabs were not very friendly to the squadron, especially the nomadic tribes, and they were likely to attack the lone troops.

"Tell the Heavy to be on alert!"

Shouting at the back of the car, Wang Tianci's eyes returned to this uninhabited desert, if he encountered the herdsmen of the nomadic tribe, even if he took a big risk, he had to find a way to catch a few people, but ...... How many people speak Arabic?

"Stop!"

Suddenly, as if he had discovered something, as soon as the car stopped, Wang Tianci jumped out of the truck, and then he walked to the edge of the sand, and sure enough, this was a cemetery.

Crucifix!

Everywhere in the cemetery you can see the kind of crosses made of tree branches, this is ...... Christian graves, how can there be Christians here? And a trail of footprints in the graveyard caught his attention, footprints, which meant that there were people around here, Christians, people! Although his heart was full of doubts, Wang Tianci still picked up the rifle and walked in the direction where the footprints came.

"Sir......

"Bring a submachine gun and be careful......"

Ten minutes later, Wang Tianci, who was with three subordinates, saw a simple village, and on the edge of that village, there were still some people working in the fields...... (To be continued......)