Volunteers and local villagers who have entered the mountain once before are already waiting at the entrance. According to them, the mountain road is not too long, but the most difficult thing is that there is a natural moat in the middle, with mountains on both sides, and a wide road in the middle. There is more than fifty meters of river water, and there is no bridge between the two mountains, only two steel cables. Anyone entering the mountain, except for helicopters, can only enter and exit through these two steel cables.
Although Li Mu had been prepared, it was only after he followed these people into the mountain that he realized how difficult it was. The mountain road had not been systematically repaired. The slightly gentler places were almost entirely made of hard soil stepped on by feet, and the steeper ones were Some traces of artificial repairs can be seen in some places, but they only made some foot dimples deeper and smoother to prevent people's soles from slipping when climbing.
According to the guide, even though all the villagers in the mountains use this road to enter and exit the mountains, even they are not sure of absolute safety. Every year, people are injured on this road, ranging from sprains to fractures. For mountain people, If you break your leg on this road, you won't be able to leave the mountain for basically half a year.
This was the first time for Li Mu to walk on such a difficult mountain road in his life. To be honest, for a young man in his early twenties, it was extremely difficult for him to walk on such a mountain road. It was hard to imagine how an old man here could survive in the mountains.
Fortunately, there are these soldiers who have been tempered for many years. They can still guarantee that each person can carry fifteen kilograms on this mountain road. In addition to some equipment, they also carry some food and oil prepared for the elderly. How can they carry it with them? Unable to persuade the old man to go down the mountain, Li Mu himself was not sure. These grains and oils were just a record, which would at least make the old man no longer have to worry about food.
Li Mu's hometown is on the eastern coast. Although it is not an economically developed area, it is generally fair. The poverty he has seen before is nothing more than living in a small house, frugality, budgeting, and at most ragged clothes. But when he was in the southwest Deep in the mountains, while trudging forward on a mountain road that was not a road, he realized what true poverty meant.
Real poverty is the kind of reality that makes people fall into despair at a glance.
In this kind of mountain where even a bicycle cannot get out, Li Mu put himself in, and all he could think of was despair.
What surprised Li Mu was that Liu Xinxin, who was walking with him, didn't look so strenuous. Her movements were particularly neat, and sometimes she was much more dexterous than him.
At first, Li Mu was surprised, but he soon felt relieved when he thought of one thing. Liu Xinxin is an amazing woman. She has even been to the North and South Poles, and she is someone who wants to climb Mount Everest. Climbing this kind of mountain road should be a piece of cake. Compared with her, I was inferior. I had never participated in such challenging outdoor activities and had no such experience at all.
The group of people climbed on the mountain road for more than an hour, and finally gradually reached the top. When they reached the top of the mountain, the first thing Li Mu saw was the two zip lines spanning the two mountains. The zip lines were steel cables thicker than a thumb. , fixed on the top of the mountain on both sides. It happened that a villager was sliding over from the opposite mountain holding a lamb. Li Mu panted and observed carefully, only to find that there were two pulleys side by side above the zipline, and there were two pulleys below the pulleys. A fixed rope is used to cross the river. People tie themselves to the rope, and then drag the steel rope little by little with their hands to let the pulley move forward.
Before he even got close, Li Mu heard the sound of huge waves, like a hydropower station opening its gates and pouring water. The sound was extremely loud. Under this surging sound, two people talking next to each other had to shout loudly, otherwise He couldn't hear clearly at all. When he came closer and looked down, Li Mu saw clearly the turbulent and rolling river water. It was flowing very fast and rolling with sand. It was awe-inspiring to watch.
A volunteer from the province said loudly in Li Mu's ear: "Mr. Li, below is the Nu River."
Li Mu suddenly realized: "No wonder I always think I have seen this kind of formation somewhere. As soon as you mentioned Nujiang, I remembered it. I learned it in geography class in junior high school."
The volunteer smiled slightly and said: "In the eyes of those of us who are outside the mountains, this is a rare scenery, but in the eyes of the locals, this is the mother river and the natural chasm that blocks them from the outside world. A zip line. This side of the zip line is the town, and the other side of the zip line is a dozen primitive villages located deep in the mountains. Mountain residents with a radius of more than ten kilometers share this zip line to enter and exit the mountain. However, even if they leave the mountain, We can only go to the town where we parked just now. If we want to go to the county seat, we have to walk dozens of kilometers. There are no buses here. There are people in the town riding motorized three-wheelers to carry passengers, and there are also people driving livestock trucks to carry passengers. After walking through those dozens of kilometers Kilometers are the real journey out of the mountains.”
Li Mu nodded lightly. More than a dozen villages used this zipline to enter and exit the mountain, covering a radius of more than ten kilometers. That means that the farthest village in the mountain would have to be walked for more than ten kilometers to reach through this zipline. , Ten kilometers is nothing in the plains, but in such a big mountain, it will take at least half a day to walk more than ten kilometers, right
Calculating this, one day may not be enough for villagers to go out to the mountains...
Just as he was thinking about it, Liu Xinxin waved to Li Mu from one end of the zipline and said, "Mr. Li, it's time to cross the river!"
Li Mu once played ziplining in the mountainous scenic spots around Yanjing. The feeling of sliding down the mountainside with a zipline was particularly refreshing. To a certain extent, Li Mu liked that exciting feeling. But today, Li Mu was full of awe, tied himself up tightly, and then dragged the zipline forward little by little with both hands.
Since the heights of the mountains on both sides are similar, there is basically no gap between the two zip lines. Therefore, whether entering or exiting the mountain, you cannot slide down at once. You must drag it bit by bit with your hands. Li Mu only knew when he slid out. How tiring is this thing? Although there is no height difference between the steel cables on both sides, the steel cable is not stretched straight. After a person climbs up, the position of the steel cable where the person is is naturally pulled lower, so it is particularly hard to slide like this. Beneath your feet is the rolling water of the Nu River. The waves are so turbulent that it makes people feel weak in their hearts.
Li Mu only slid halfway, and his arms were extremely sore. When he finally slid to the opposite side, his arms were so sore that he couldn't feel anything.
The frail Li Ziwei slid halfway and hung on the river surface crying for ten minutes before finally sliding over with gritted teeth. Li Mu comforted her while sighing in his heart that no matter how much money people in the city make, it is too little. , many people complain about the pressure, hardship and social injustice of life every day, but compared with the people living here, they are already many times superior. The young people here may have the greatest wish in their lives. Get out of the mountains.
The large army took turns to slide across the river, and marched for another hour under the leadership of the guide. When everyone climbed over one mountain and stood at the foot of another mountain, the guide pointed to dozens of sparse houses halfway up the mountain and said: "Then This is the Baofu Village we are going to. It takes about twenty minutes to go up the mountain from here."
Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. After more than twenty minutes, victory was in sight.
The guide introduced: "There are now about thirty households in the village, with a permanent population of over one hundred, most of them old, young, women and children, and some middle-aged laborers suffering from silicosis. Mr. Sun, whom we are going to visit, lives there." On the easternmost hillside.”
Mr. Sun's original name is Sun Xiaozhong, which means filial piety and loyalty. Since ancient times, it has been said that loyalty and filial piety are not the same thing. I don't know what the deep meaning behind the old man's name is.
…
More than 20 minutes later, a large group of more than 20 people finally arrived at Baofu Village. This village was in a state of ruin. The entire village was made up of thatched houses, not even a single brick house. The slightly better ones were For other people, a three-room thatched hut is already very good. Some people even have only one small thatched hut. From the outside, the internal area cannot exceed ten square meters.
Baofu Village almost never had outside visitors. Occasionally, people from outside the mountain came, and they were all young people who went out to work. This time, so many outsiders came, and there were more than a dozen soldiers in military uniforms, which made the whole village awe-inspiring. Shocked, men, women and children went out one after another, looking at these uninvited guests with horrified faces. There was no officially appointed village chief in this village, only an old man in his sixties who was elected by everyone and also served as the "village chief". This When an old man saw such a big battle, he nervously stepped forward to ask Chen Chengwu, who looked most like a commander. He spoke in the local dialect, but Chen Chengwu couldn't understand him at all. At this time, the guide hurriedly stepped forward and said to Chen Chengwu: "He is The village chief elected by the village, his surname is Tian, everyone calls him Village Chief Tian. He just asked you if the People's Liberation Army came to the mountains to arrest fugitives. He said that dozens of People's Liberation Army came once twenty years ago, saying they were entering. The fugitive was captured in the mountains and searched for three days and nights in the mountains."
Chen Chengwu hurriedly said to him: "Explain to the old village chief that we are here to see Mr. Sun."
The guide nodded, pointed in the east direction and said a few words to the head of the village. The head of the village was stunned, and then said a few words to him. The two chatted for a while, and the expression of the head of the village became more and more surprised, and then it seemed that I was in a hurry, so I slapped my thigh and yelled a few words.
Chen Chengwu asked the guide: "What did the old village chief say?"
The guide said: "The old village chief said that someone came to see Mr. Sun a few days ago and said that he was a great hero who had fought against the Japanese. People in the village didn't believe it. I just told him that Mr. Sun had really fought against the Japanese. Moreover, he was a member of the Flying Tigers who flew planes to fight Japanese invaders in the sky. The old village chief asked why he didn’t tell us such an important thing earlier. Mr. Sun has been living alone in the village for half his life. No one knows that he is a great hero. If he had been told earlier, If you know it, I have long since enshrined him as an ancestor!"
Chen Chengwu sighed and said, "It's not too late to know now. Just tell the old village chief that we have to go see Mr. Sun first and come back to visit him later."
The guide said a few words to the old village chief, and the old village chief immediately replied. The guide said that the old village chief wanted to go with him. Chen Chengwu didn't object, so he greeted the guide to take everyone there.
Arriving on the hillside at the east end of the village, Li Mu almost burst into tears when he saw the lonely thatched house. This thatched house was really dilapidated, and half of its dark thatched roof had collapsed, exposing the The rotten and broken wood inside seems to be completely blown down by a strong wind. The door of the thatched house is even more crude. It is simply made of a few crooked branches nailed together at will. In order to block the wind, it is covered with paste. There was a fertilizer bag with urea written on it. I don’t know how long the bag had been used, and it was now full of holes.
Before everyone could reach the door, the old village chief shouted twice in an accent that no one could understand. After a moment, the dilapidated door was pushed open from the inside, and a rickety old man with gray hair and beard and ragged clothes was leaning on his hand. The walking stick made of branches staggered out from inside. When he saw a dozen soldiers in military uniforms standing outside the door, the old man was stunned for a while. After a while, he raised his right hand tremblingly and said with After a long time, he raised his right hand to his ear with little difficulty.
At this moment, everyone realized that the old man was actually giving them a military salute...
(End of chapter)