Wang Zonghan, the magistrate of Dunhuang County, thought that Li Yu and others would just go back. Unexpectedly, they stayed in Mogao Grottoes for half a month before returning to Dunhuang County.
Wang Zonghan couldn't help but ask: "Shangguan, are there really antiquities in Mogao Grottoes?"
Li Yu said: "The countless murals are exquisite. You must be careful of foreigners coming to steal them."
Wang Zonghan asked again: "Can murals be stolen?"
Li Yu said: "They will remove the walls, and they will inevitably damage them in the process, but it is not the foreigners' own things, and they will not feel bad if they are damaged."
"I thought foreigners were all rich people, so they could do such a thing." Wang Zonghan said in confusion.
Li Yu scoffed: "During the Gengzi national crisis a few years ago, foreigners invaded the Forbidden City and even scraped away the gold plating on the surface of the tripod."
Wang Zonghan immediately became angry: "They have done so much damage in the Forbidden City!"
Li Yu said: "So be careful and don't think that the foreigners have any good intentions. Besides, there are many Buddha statues in Dunhuang. It will be troublesome if they saw off the Buddha's head and take it away."
"This is too much!" Wang Zonghan said, slapping the table.
They've really done this.
Li Yu continued to instruct: "In short, if you see foreigners in the future and say they are here for adventure, you can conclude that they are robbers and thieves. Please remember this!"
Wang Zonghan said: "I will keep this in mind."
Li Yu said a lot more, almost describing foreigners as devils, and he could only do this.
After all, no matter which country's so-called explorers, they just want our treasures, and they take them back with no intention of actually studying them. In the end, Dunhuang studies are still in China, and only the Chinese can study them clearly.
Wang Zonghan asked again: "Why didn't the Imperial Master carry some scriptures?"
Li Yu said: "Just that little bit, let's leave it to Brother Lao Can. I don't understand it at all."
Li Yu deliberately kept the quantity small to minimize the risk.
The best decision can only be to hide the Sutra Cave. Later in history, when the last Dunhuang ancient books were transported to the capital, a lot of losses were lost on the way.
Li Yu was not at ease with the people in the Qing court either.
Li Yu left a radio station in Dunhuang County and taught him how to use it.
Dunhuang County's current power supply capacity is extremely low, and it can only be turned on when sending telegrams.
However, according to common sense, in ancient times, the more bordering areas, the more valuable intelligence was, because it was impossible to station troops in places with difficulty in supplying supplies for a long time.
Even a major role of the Great Wall is to transmit information.
Wang Zonghan understood this principle himself, so he studied it carefully. Li Yu left him a code book, and he practiced it whenever he had nothing to do.
Then Li Yu and others set off on their way home.
Following the ancient Silk Road to the east, passing Jiayuguan, we arrived at Jiuquan, where we happened to meet Ye Changchi, an academician from Gansu Province who was on inspection.
Xuezheng is a rather special kind of official. Although it doesn't sound like much, it has a lot of energy, because in ancient times many officials came from the imperial examination, and the personal connections were really strong.
China is also a social society, so academic administration is really not a small official. Zhang Zhidong has been doing academic administration for many years from the beginning.
Lu Bicheng's father once studied politics in Shanxi, and returned to his hometown in Anhui in his later years. He once had a lot of fertile land in Liu'an, Anhui, and a collection of 30,000 to 40,000 volumes of books.
Ye Changchi asked: "Did the Imperial Master gain anything in Dunhuang?"
"The basic goal has been achieved," Li Yu said, "Why did Sir Xuezheng reach such a place to the west?"
Ye Changchi said: "I want to go north to inspect the Turgut tribe on the order of the governor."
Li Yu asked: "Academic politicians are going to Ejina Banner?"
"You actually know this place?" Ye Changchi was a little surprised.
Li Yu originally wanted to deal with this matter later, but now that they have met, he can take a look at the situation first.
Li Yu replied: "I have always heard that there are magnificent Populus euphratica forests in Ejina and the Juyan Sea in the history books. But the flying generals of Dragon City are here and do not teach Hu Ma to cross the Yin Mountain. I have been fascinated by it for a long time."
Ye Changchi smiled and said: "That's right. Now that we are here, we no longer have to worry about walking an extra five or six hundred miles."
Li Yu asked Lu Bicheng and others for their opinions. Lu Bicheng agreed as soon as he heard that it was "only" a few hundred miles away. Otherwise, he would never know if he would have the chance to see it again.
So Li Yu said to Ye Changchi: "Let's be Mr. Ye's companion."
Ye Changchi was actually quite bored, so he was naturally happy to have them together: "Tomorrow at the latest, the guards from the Torgut Department will arrive and escort us to the grassland."
At that time, the Torgut tribe returned from thousands of miles eastward and were received by Qianlong. This matter was learned in middle school history textbooks.
However, the original motivation for the return of the Torgut tribe was not simple.
At that time, Catherine was in power in Tsarist Russia and was very tough. She wanted the Torgut tribe to convert to Orthodox Christianity and recruited a large number of troops from them. The Torgut tribe could not bear the humiliation, so they burned the royal tent and returned home.
Originally, the Torgut tribe wanted to occupy the empty Ili and establish themselves as king again. However, when they arrived in Ili, they found that it was different from what they imagined, so they had no choice but to surrender.
Qianlong handled this matter quite reasonably and dispersed the Torgut tribe into several banners far apart to prevent them from committing further heresy.
In the past, nomadic peoples were quite complex and scattered, so most people didn't understand them at all. Many people may only know Zhungeer and the beautiful Lan Qier after watching "Kangxi Dynasty"...
As for the Torgut tribe, not many people would know about it if they hadn't returned to the East and been included in history textbooks.
It’s good to know this.
If you take a closer look, you will see that the struggle between the khanates and stans in Central Asia is very complicated, and it is simply a mess. Today you beat me, and tomorrow I will beat you.
But it didn't feel very interesting, because the combat power was far behind that of the Genghis Khan and Torre eras. Zhungeer used to press Kazakhs to the ground and rub him, and then he was quickly destroyed by the Qing army.
The next day, the cavalry of the Torgut tribe arrived at Jiuquan, and Li Yu and others set out with them.
The Torgut tribe has a lot of horses. If we push forward a hundred years, the Cossack cavalry with the same equipment can also fight head-on.
However, since Seng Gelinqin's Mongolian cavalry was defeated by the British in the Battle of Baliqiao in the Second Opium War, the country has not paid much attention to the cavalry. Later, whether it was the Hunan Army or the Huai Army, as well as Yuan Shikai's Beiyang Six
Towns began to follow the British and German routes.
On the contrary, Tsarist Russia, because the Cossack cavalry still performed well in the Russo-Japanese War and could quickly break through on the flanks, so it has always regarded the Cossack cavalry as its trump card and retained it.
Many Japanese TV dramas exaggerate the Japanese cavalry general Yoshiko Akiyama, leading the Japanese cavalry to defeat the Cossack cavalry. In fact, this is not the case at all.
Japan was able to win, but many times it was due to the Russian military's own strategic decision-making mistakes, and the victory was in vain.
——
The Torgut tribe in this banner of Ejina does not have too many people, and its position is not particularly important, so it does not attach much importance to it.
Even they themselves don't know that there are treasures buried in their area for nearly a thousand years.
After walking for a week, the group arrived at the royal tent of the Turgut tribe in Ejina Banner.
The leader at this time was Prince Darcy. They had been loyal to the imperial court for many years and were very polite to the imperial officials. They greeted them into the tent and served them fat sheep and milk tea.
However, the communication here is backward, and everyone does not know Li Yu's abilities. They just know that he is the emperor's master and respect him quite a lot.
Ye Changchi first conveyed some routine matters on behalf of the Governor of Shaanxi and Gansu, while Li Yu and others concentrated on eating delicious mutton.
After they finished chatting, Li Yu asked: "Prince Darcy, have any Russians come to ask about a city called Blackwater City?"
Prince Darcy replied: "It does happen, but we are not willing to be a guide, because Blackwater City is a cursed place, and no one who goes there comes back alive."
Li Yu said: "Situations like this will happen again in the future. The prince still does not want to provide a guide. After all, the Torgut tribe had a feud with Tsarist Russia in the past, and now Tsarist Russia is leading the army to harm the people in the Northeast."
Prince Darcy only knew generally about Tsarist Russia's intention to invade Northeast China, and didn't know much about the recent Russo-Japanese War.
So Prince Darcy said: "Of course we will not help the Russians."
The Russians have inquired about the information about Blackwater City many times, but on the one hand, few people in the Torgut Department know about it, and on the other hand, most of them do not understand the language, and they do not want to help the Russians.
But Li Yu knew that a few years later, the Kozlov appointed by the Russian Royal Academy of Sciences was different. This person had a military background. Of course, they did not dare to openly provoke a war.
The key point is that Kozlov is good at building relationships. With a few pistols, Gramophone hired a very powerful guide Bada from Prince Darcy. It was Bada who helped the Russians find Blackwater City.
Li Yu brought some Western items with him in the car, including lighters, pistols, etc. Li Yu took out some of them and gave them to Prince Darcy: "Your Majesty, please accept these things. In a few years, if the Russians want to use this as a good idea to detect black
Shuicheng, you must not be fooled by them."
Prince Darcy felt puzzled: Why did he get fooled?
But I really liked the things in front of me, so Prince Darcy agreed to Li Yu's words with a confused look on his face.
After dinner, Li Yu inquired again and found the swarthy young guide Bada, who also conveyed similar words.
After receiving some of Li Yu's belongings, Bada was very moved: "It turns out that people in the capital live such a good life."
Li Yu had an idea: "Why don't you return to the capital with us?"
It was easy for Li Yu to arrange for such a person.
Bada was indeed moved, and after thinking about it for an hour or two, he agreed to Li Yu.
Of course, all this is just a little ploy.
Li Yu had already planned for Blackwater City. To prevent Blackwater City from being discovered by the Russians, the most direct way was to get rid of the key figure Kozlov.
The situation of Blackwater City is different from that of Dunhuang, because Dunhuang has been discovered by Taoist Wang, and Blackwater City is just a legend at this time.
Wang Yuanlu was indeed hateful, but he was a compatriot after all, so Li Yu couldn't do anything to him, so he spared his life after several twists and turns.
But Kozlov is different. Li Yu will definitely go to Europe in the future and visit the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. If Kozlov still insists on going his own way, haha, then let him go to meet the Lord in advance.
During the few days in Ejina Banner, Li Yu asked Bada as a guide to take him and Lu Bicheng to see the rumored Juyan Sea and the beautiful Populus euphratica forest. The scenery is really incredible. If you live for a thousand years, you will not die, and if you die, you will not fall for a thousand years.
The thousand-year-old Populus euphratica is impressive, but it’s a pity that the photos taken are in black and white.
Ye Changchi finished his official duties and returned to Lanzhou with Li Yu and others.
Li Yu helped them debug the radio equipment in Lanzhou, and then left a copy of the instructions before leaving.
It was another long journey home, and by the time they returned to the capital, it was already winter.
After Li Yu returned home, he fell asleep and slept for a whole day and night before feeling somewhat recovered.
If he hadn't been too hungry, Li Yu felt that he could have slept for a whole day.
Fengling had prepared the meal, and Li Yu had just eaten a few mouthfuls when Zhao Qian came back in a hurry: "Sir, there is a lot of excitement outside, do you want to go and see it?"
"What's the excitement?" Li Yu asked casually.
Zhao Qian said: "The Jiangyang thief Kang Baye is going to be executed by Lingchi, and many people are going to see where he is."
Li Yu just fed a mouthful of meat to his mouth and said with a smile: "What's the point of such excitement? I might not be able to eat a mouthful of meat in three days."
Zhao Qian said: "I heard that Mr. Kang was so tough that he even dared to scold the Queen Mother and the Imperial Concubine in front of them."
Li Yu said: "Why did he curse?"
Li Yu has been away from home for most of the past six months, so Zhao Qian spent his free time chatting with his former coach driver colleagues, and their information was almost always well-informed.
Zhao Qian spoke eloquently: "After Mr. Kang was arrested, the Queen Mother heard that he was a hard-nosed man. She was very curious and wanted to stand trial. Everyone in the prison thought he had a head, because Yang Naiwu and Xiao Baicai were
Forgiven by the Queen Mother."
This case has been going on for a long time, but the characteristics of Cixi can be seen from these things.
Cixi was a person who brought disaster to the country and the people, but she claimed to be Guanyin Bodhisattva, so she liked to give small favors.
There are too many similar examples throughout the ages, both at home and abroad. There are many psychological explanations for trying to use small favors to cover up big mistakes.
Li Yu asked: "The Queen Mother really tried it?"
"It's been tried," Zhao Qian said, "but how stubborn is Kang Baye! When he met the Queen Mother, he actually contradicted the Queen Mother and her concubines, and said in front of the Queen Mother, 'If I want to rob, I will rob Huang Gang! If I want to rape, then I will.
Annihilate the imperial concubine! Can the Queen Mother endure it after hearing this? She directly changed Zhan Li Jue into Ling Chi."
After listening to this, Li Yu felt that he was just a fool! And it didn’t feel like it was true, so he asked, “Where did you hear this from?”
Zhao Qian said: "The three cripples heard it from Mr. Teahouse, and then told it to us."
Li Yu said: "It turns out it was all heard."
Zhao Qian said: "Anyway, Master Kang can't go wrong if he wants Ling Chi. He is such a good man!"
Li Yu said: "What a good man! He was caught because he had several murder cases on him."
"Sir, do you want to go take a look? The operation is about to take place. There has not been a live beheading scene in the capital for many years." Zhao Qian asked again, and it was obvious that he was eager to try.
Li Yu spread his hands and said, "I'll just take a look from a distance."
This Kang Baye was the last person to be executed by Lingchi. All the rumors about executions in old Beijing in later generations also came from the witnesses of this case.
What Li Yu wanted to see was the public's reaction. By some calculation, Brother Xun would probably have seen the film in Japan that shocked his soul and changed his life.
There's something going on at home these two days, I'll make up for it tomorrow...