Repel the Wind

During the Anshi Rebellion in the Tang Dynasty, there was a story about a scout named A Gu who stayed alone in the Western Regions. A Gu is a descendant of Han Chinese born in the Western Regions. His parents died young. He started as a handyman in the military camp. He relied on hard study and hard training to become a scout in the Anxi Protectorate. In 755, An Lushan rebelled and the Tang Dynasty was in civil strife. The elites of the Western Regions were transferred back to quell the rebellion. The Western Regions became an isolated island and completely cut off from Chang'an. Tubo took advantage of the situation and attacked the city one after another. The imperial court would not send any more reinforcements, and they would have to rob food and grass. The more brothers died, the fewer brothers there would be, but A Gu would not leave or surrender. It's not about family and country feelings, he never talks about these things - it's just a breath, a breath of "keep your bones as long as you have them". When the brother who was guarding the city died, he put his name in the book; when the city wall collapsed, he led people to block it; when he could no longer hold on, he still said the same thing: "Guard until death." Ten years and thirty attacks later, the number of people defending the city was reduced from hundreds to a dozen. In 766, Guo Xin came with news from the court, saying that Chang'an had been recovered, but there were no reinforcements. A Gu only said: What I guard is not the imperial flag, but the territory of the Han people. There is no great victory in the story, no nobility or generalship, it is just a man grinding his bones harder and harder in the wind and sand, and holding on until the last moment.