In fact, there is a main reason for the merger of the two sides, which Hong Tao himself does not know. In addition to water and climate factors, safety is more important.

Since he used paratroopers to raid the county seat of Sanyuan and annexed the Northwest Alliance bloodlessly overnight, the survivor groups everywhere have been a little noisy, for fear that one day when they open their eyes, they will become rubber stamps in the council.

Although Xinjiang Province is far away, it does not dare to underestimate it, and in the long run, the Ili River Valley area is far more complex than Urumqi's geographical environment, farther and better defensible.

There are only four ways to enter the Ili River valley by land; The first is south from Kuitun along the Duku Highway to Nalati; the second, from Urumqi to the south to Balentai Town, from the east to Nalati; the third, from Urumqi to the west to Sailimu Lake to the south, through Huocheng to turn east, around the back of Yining; Fourth, the railway from Hami to Yining.

Of these four roads, the first and fourth have been tightly controlled by the redeemers, and there are not only garrisons stationed in Kuitun, but also in several tunnels in the northern section of the Duku Highway.

The tunnel here is quite interesting, it is a door, a cement gate. The defenders didn't have to do anything, as long as they blocked the tunnel gate, the balance of the world would be over.

One side is a cliff, one side is a cliff, the altitude is more than 3,000 meters, in the summer, it rains when it rains, it snows when it snows, it is not a mudslide or a landslide, and the army can't get by.

The second road is also not easy to follow, the road near the town of Barentai is built in the middle of the valley, and the river has collapsed a section of the roadbed due to the sudden rains of the past few years.

The redeemers erected a chain bridge, which could only pass through small vehicles and pedestrians, and if they faced an enemy attack, they did not have to fight, destroyed the chain bridge, and then hid in the fortifications on the mountainside to shoot cold.

In the summer, maybe when the flood comes, in the winter, a heavy snowfall can seal the road, and there is no need to fight, no one will go out, no one will come in.

The third road is even easier to defend and difficult to attack, and it is the farthest detour, hundreds of kilometers more than the first two. Not far from the Sailim Lake, there is a bridge across the mountains, called the Guozigou Bridge.

Unfortunately, in the fifth year of the outbreak of zombie disease, there was an earthquake here, and the bridge was broken, so not only outsiders could not enter, but also people in the Ili River valley could not get out, and the road basically existed in name only.

This means that the Ili River valley is entered from the north, and if you go from the south, there are two more roads to enter. The first, from Kuqa along the Duku Highway to the north, or to Nalati; The second, from Ruoqiang, headed north, through Korla, to the town of Barentai.

See, no matter if you go from the north or the south, you have to pass through Nalati and Balentai towns. These two original tourist check-in destinations have now become battlegrounds.

If it weren't for the purpose of extracting oil from Karamay, the redeemers would not have to station troops in Kuitun, as long as the tunnel on the Duku Highway was blown up, even the town of Barentai would not have to be defended, as long as Nalati was controlled, everyone who came by land from the north, east, and south directions could be blocked.

To the west is Khorgos, and then to Kazakhstan, and most of the survivors over there have run over, so there is no need to worry about any large survivor groups.

If you can't get in by land, what about the air? Since the Redeemers decided to establish a base in Yining, they spent more than three years sending people to destroy the runways of the airport east of Wuwei, including the western part of Qinghai. I don't dare to say 100%, anyway, as long as there is one that can be found on the map, it counts as one.

In this way, the nearest airport is 2,000 kilometers smaller than Nalati, and there is no place to land or refuel on the way, so even if the US Air Force is found, it will not be easy to land on the C130 that can land at a field airfield for a short distance.

And with the passage of time, aviation kerosene was basically cut off, and the highway was also covered by dust, even if the C130 really came, it did not dare to descend to the grass casually. The field airfield is also an airfield, a big guy weighing dozens of tons, the ground can not be flat, but the hardness must be guaranteed, otherwise a dog will eat.

"Go back, I can walk the road ahead." How should Hong Tao go to Yining Base? Ten days later, three horses appeared in the valley below the Guozigou Bridge with two men and several large packages.

The bridge is broken, and ordinary people may not be able to cross it, but for Crimea, who travels back and forth between the mountains at least twice a year, the presence or absence of this bridge does not affect his passage. Even if there is a bridge, it is impossible to drive the sheep and vehicles along the highway.

Among the experiences passed down from our ancestors year after year, there is a path that crosses every hill and valley. Of course, you can't drive, you can't ride a motorcycle or a bicycle, you can only ride a horse, and in many places you have to walk with a horse.

Today is the day when Hong Tao went to the Yining base, Kerim not only prepared two slaughtered sheep and two hanging horse intestines, but also used sheepskin bags to fill two large bags of sheep cheese and horse cheese.

Hong Tao didn't ask what these meant, some things don't need to be communicated in words. Since he told Crimea that he would buy a Kazakh or Kirgiz woman from the Yining base and come back to him as a daughter-in-law, this lonely shepherd has become extremely diligent, secretly sewing new leather jackets and new felt tents, and the meaning is clear at a glance.

"I know you're Han Chinese, and you're here to hide from your enemies. We are brothers, be careful of the Han people, they are bad! Klim was a little reluctant, and in previous years, he had not shown such emotions after he had been away for several months.

Because he knew that this eccentric Han man was not afraid of wild beasts and bandits, and he was a snow leopard in the wild, and his own sheepdog who slept in the open from a young age had to bow down. But there are too many people on the Yining base, all races, and many guns, no matter how strong a person is, there are times when he can't bear it.

"Don't worry, I'm really here to sell. There are acquaintances there, and they will not be bullied. If I can't find him, throw these things away and come back immediately. By the way, you don't go fishing on a sailboat, you want to eat fish and wait for me to come back. Drive...... Driving ......"

The reluctant scene of the two old men made Hong Tao's eyes a little hot, and in order to avoid revealing his true feelings, he hurriedly shouted at the old pack horse under his crotch to step on the grass blades that had just returned to green and walked away.

In the blink of an eye, they have been together for seven years, and they are still the only partners, no matter who has no other person, they are only lonely. Even shepherds who are accustomed to solitude still need to be accompanied, regardless of whether they are of the opposite sex or the same sex, this feeling is beyond ordinary emotions

In fact, there is no road under the feet at all, and the so-called sheep intestine trail is a place where it is easier for sheep to find out by instinct when they climb the mountain. If you don't have the guidance of the Crimean and the simple road map, if you want to climb over this mountain beam and bypass the mountain peak in front of you, you can exhaust the of the flood waves.

So he walked all day, and at night he had to spend the night on the branches of the big trees on the mountainside. What does that taste like...... All kinds of animals are scurrying around, and from time to time there is a cold and biting wind, and it is strange to be able to fall asleep without a few years of adaptation.

There is a closer path that can go around the broken bridge, but it will eventually have to return to the southern end of the broken bridge. Krim said that there was a garrison of redeemers there, and that those fellows had robbed his sheep, so it was not advisable to go, and that it was better to spend more than half a day in the mountains than to be killed and thrown into a ravine.

Hong Tao thought deeply of this suggestion, although he could kill them first, but this trip to Yining did not continue to be Youluo, and he could keep a low profile, so as not to provoke a large army of redeemers to search all over the mountains.

Two days later, the man and the two horses finally turned out of the ravine and returned to the abandoned road. Although the road still turns around in the ravine, at least it is smooth, and there is no need to lead the horse on foot.

"Hah...... Finally let me see it! After walking for more than three hours, the mountain gradually slowed down, and a large bright purple patch appeared in front of me. Hong Tao took out the binoculars and swept it to know what it was, lavender, a large area of lavender blooming, one of the beauties of the Huocheng area.

In the past, when I traveled to Xinjiang Province, I didn't catch the flowering season, but now there is no human planting, and these plants have not bowed to nature, and they are still lush and green. It's nothing more than a little white, yellow, red and other flowers, but this makes it look more natural.