Firmament

I learned hard work from my father

I learned patience from my grandfather.

- Dong proverb

The steppe army overthrew the Khorezm Empire according to the original plan and completed the task of the western expedition. They were about to return to their homeland in the north, but they did not disband the Tanma Red Army, which was formed by Khorezm's captives. At the moment, they can't do without these captives, and they need their help to conquer the Bai Gao Daxia Kingdom and the Nuzhi Kingdom.

Ali, Abbas and other Khorezm soldiers ran to the military tent in Hohba-ri and begged the general for mercy and mercy to release them to go home to raise the elderly and children. However, no matter how they complained and pleaded, Hohwa Bari always kept his face tense and did not let go, and even threatened to cut off the head of anyone who made trouble again.

Ali has been serving in the steppe country army for 4 years before he knows it.

In the past 4 years, he has grown from a teenager who died in the country to a young man. Flesh and blood were also separated for 4 years. He misses his parents and other relatives every day, every night, all the time. To this day, he doesn't know what is going on with them. Whenever he missed his relatives and Samarkand, Ali would take out the pebble on the banks of the Zeravshan River, which was already shiny to the touch, and put it in the palm of his hand and looked at it for a long time. Tears of sadness couldn't help but tick and tick on the pebbles.

Although he has been separated from his relatives for the past four years, after all, he has been marching on the land of Khorezm, and now he is going to be taken captive by the army of the steppe country to a foreign land. Ali was so anxious that he couldn't sleep at night.

Abbas was also anxious and restless. In addition to his parents and siblings, he also has a wife and two young children, and the psychological burden is even heavier.

Ali privately approached Badr and begged him to come forward and ask Hoho Bari to excuse him and Abbas.

Badr just gave Ali a cold look and left without saying a word.

Ali and Abbas conspired in the shadows many times to escape from the Prairie State military camp in the dark night. Unfortunately, the soldiers were very tightly guarded, and they couldn't get a single gap. Unless they die with the soldiers in their custody and leave the corpses in the land of Khorezm, they will never find a chance to stay in their homeland.

One day, Abbas couldn't bear it anymore and angrily picked up a machete to chop meat, ready to rush out of the camp to kill the guards, and then flee back to his hometown of Mulu.

Ali hurriedly hugged the emotional Abbas and persuaded him bitterly: "Brother Abbas, you and I are both single-handed, and rash action will only break our bones, how can we realize our wish to go home and reunite?"

With tears of sorrow in his eyes, Abbas sighed wistfully: "Alas, the year I was captured by them, Adan was 5 years old, and Hani was only 1 year old. Today, Adan is 9 years old and Hani is 5 years old. But I don't know where they are, I don't know if they're still in this world

."

Ali comforted Abbas and said, "Brother Abbas, when the war is over or when General Hoho Bari dies of old age, they will not need us." That's when we'll be able to go home. The most important thing now is to save your life. "

Abbas buried his head between his knees in agony, weeping in grief.

In order to save their lives and wait for the day when they would return home, Ali and Abbas were silent all day long, enduring humiliation and burden, but their hearts were full of enthusiasm and hope.

Under the persecution of the officers and soldiers of the steppe country, Ali, Abbas, and thousands of Khorezm soldiers were forced to leave their homeland and head to the distant and unfamiliar East.

Ali and Abbas looked at their hometown and motherland, which were drifting away, and their hearts were like knives, and their hearts were broken. They put all their hopes in the future. But where is the future, and what does the future look like? No one can give them a satisfactory answer.

On the way to the east, they ate and slept in the open air, and worked hard to cross the fertile Ferghana Basin, climb over the majestic Tianshan Mountains that stretch for thousands of miles, cross the vast Taklamakan Desert, enter the long Hexi Corridor, cross the rolling Yellow River, and climb the Loess Plateau, which is riddled with holes. In 1224, they came to the eastern lands occupied by the steppe state.

Hundreds of thousands of Khorezmians like Ali and Abbas were forced to move eastward. Some people worked as craftsmen for the government and nobles, using their skills to earn a living in foreign lands; some people acted as errand servants and traders in the army, providing them with logistical support; and some people directly filled the vacancies in the army, acting as commandos who charged into battle, and used their blood and lives to seize territory, plunder property, and conquer the world for the steppe country.

The Khorezm Empire itself was a multi-ethnic state. Therefore, the Khorezmian people who came to the East were made up of different ethnic groups. According to official statistics, there are as many as 30 of these ethnic groups. These peoples lived and multiplied on the land of the East.

Iranian-speaking East Iranians such as Ali and Abbas make up the majority, but there are also Iranians and Arabs living in the Western Regions.

Some Uyghur officers and soldiers who followed the army of the grassland country into the Central Plains were stationed in the cantonment and reclamation as military households and civilian households.

Some Hararu tribes also migrated to the Central Plains and guarded the fields in Xiangyang, Nanyang, Longqingchuan, Daming Road, Zhending Road and Qingyuan Road.

The Aerkhun are a Turkic-speaking tribe who used to live and graze cattle in the area of Talas and Barasagon in the valley of the Seven and Chu Rivers. When the grassland country was on the westward expedition, they were the first to respond and formed the Aerhun army to participate in the westward expedition. After the end of the war, they moved east to the Central Plains with the army of the grassland country, and merged 3,000 households to return to the craftsmen in Nettle Forest, Fengzhou and Xiashui (stationed in the area, engaged in hand-weaving brocade and reclaiming wasteland.

The Gaoche people were an ethnic group in the ancient northern steppes. Their descendants, the Khamli, belong to the Turkic people. Later, they migrated to a vast area east of the Ural River and north of the Aral Sea. Many Kangli people were requisitioned by the army of the grassland country and scattered to various parts of the Central Plains to fill the army, mainly distributed in the area of Yongping Road and stationed in Tuntian, paying grain and grass.

The Kipchaks are also a branch of the Turkic people. In the 13th century, they were nomadic herders in the Volga and Ural valleys, north of the Caspian Sea. Many Kipchaks became prisoners of the steppe army, and were forced to come east as slaves and scattered in the northern part of the steppe country.

The green-eyed Azo and the blue-eyed Russians came from distant Europe.

The

government of the steppe state and the common people believed that the Khwarazmians were merchants who settled in the city to do business, and they were always called the Sartas.

The common people of the Central Plains are reserved and introverted, gentle and kind, polite in their manners, and unpretentious in their clothing. In their consciousness, the Uighur Khanate, which had frequent contacts with the Central Plains, was in the Western Regions, and the people who came from the west and the east were Uighurs.

They said to Ali and Abbas: "Once upon a time there was a Uighur kingdom in the West. Since you have migrated from the Western Regions, we are right to call you Uighurs. "

Later, people used false rumors to refer to all ethnic groups from the West as Hui people.

Some people from the Central Plains said to them in amusement: "I only heard you shouting all day long to go back, but many years have passed, and you still haven't gone back." In this way, it is not wrong for us to call you Huihui. "

As Hohe Bari's personal guard, Badr is not only a conscientious and loyal subordinate, but also a well-behaved and obedient junior, which is very appreciated by Hohe Bari. He followed Hohe and Bari to various places for many years, and personally felt his greatness and heroism. In his eyes, Hohbari was a general with lofty ideals and political ambitions.

Huhe Bari saw that Badr had grown up and considered finding a suitable opportunity for him to marry a wife and start a family, so that he could live the life of an adult.

Alima is the daughter of a noble family in Ferghana of the Khorezm Empire, and she is beautiful and elegant. She was captured by the soldiers of the steppe country and presented to Hohwa Bari.

Hohba Ri found out that Alima was from an extraordinary background and was fresh and refined, and decided to marry her to his proud disciple Badr.

Returning to the northern grasslands after a five-year absence, Badr and Alima plan to find a warm family and enjoy their settled life.

This wish of Badr did not come true. He often heard Hohba Ri muttering to himself: "What I want to perish most is the country of the Tang Wu people and the country of the Jurchens." In order to conquer the East, these two countries must first be conquered. If you want to conquer the world, you must first conquer Khorezm. These two empires in the East have not yet been conquered, but they have eliminated Khorezm ahead of schedule, which is really extraneous. "

Full of ambition, Hohba Ri launched a full-scale attack on the Bai Gao Daxia Kingdom without resting for a few days.

Badr felt a little incomprehensible about Hohba's actions, and cautiously asked him for advice: "Honorable general, the dust of the Sarta Ul that has fallen on the battle armor has not been washed away, and the delicacies of the steppe of your hometown have not been tasted to your heart's content, and you are about to embark on a journey to continue the war. IMHO, the general is no longer a strong young man like us. For the sake of the prosperity of the Grassland Country, I imply that you take care of your health. "

Hohba said earnestly: "Badr, I always thought you were clever and understanding, but I didn't expect you to change, into a little lamb who can only stare at the grass in your mouth, and be tainted with the habits of a small citizen who is rich and peaceful. As long as the enemy who threatens us is not destroyed for a day, there will not be a day of peace in my heart!"

Badr listened to Huhe Barri's criticism, and his face turned red for a while, and he was ashamed.

He immediately said: "I am a staunch and loyal warrior of the Grassland Country, and I will always be a warrior who follows you, and I will escort the general for the rest of my life." "