The legend of the sand rising wolf baby
Author: Zhang Ming
Zhang Zhaoqiang, the wolf baby, is a well-known figure in his hometown of Shashang Village, he was the branch secretary and deputy of the Shasheng branch of the underground party, and the head of Yuxian District, wearing a high hat. He has two fathers, two mothers, two wives, and two mistresses, and has a home in Luonan County, a family and a half in Hua County, and half a family in Weinantian City. It is not a problem to go to the state and county, he has farmed, played with guns, killed people, and served as an official, and the legendary story of his life is still circulating in his hometown.
4 Absconding
The word "sand" in the name of the village comes from the boundless white sand that originally surrounded the west and north of the village. Baisha is the product of weathering of rocks in the slopes and ravines of the Qinling Mountains in the upper reaches of the Yuxian River. The white sand was carried by the river, and large particles were deposited upstream, and the fine white sand was deposited downstream, around our village. In the early years of the Republic of China, the section of the Yuxian River into the Wei River was straightened, and the Wei River was directly connected to the north through the west of the village. After that, the white sand beach in the north of the village gradually disappeared, and it was not until the 1950s that it gradually became fertile land.
The Yuxian River is a tributary of the Wei River, which refers to the river between the Yuxian Bridge on the Weikou River. The main stream above Yuxian Bridge is Qiaoyu River, the source of Qiaoyu River is on the west side of Laoniu Mountain in Huazhou District, and Laoniu Mountain is a peak on Caolian Ridge. The tributaries of the upper reaches of the Yuxian River include the water of Jinduiyu, Xiaoyu, Chefuyu and Liujiagou on the east side of Qiaoyu, and the water of Mayu on the west side.
During the revolution of the Communist Party, there were many secret communication lines between northern Shaanxi and southern Shaanxi, including Tianshi and Cangdu in Weinan, Yuxian River and Qiaoyu in Huaxian County, and the first line of Baoan Town in Luonan. The Qiaoyu River originates in the lofty mountains of the Qinling Mountains, and flows through the ravines and hills after exiting the valley. Yuxian Bridge below the Yuxian River, along the river trees, weeds are dense, the river channel forks are complex. The first line of Qiaoyu and Yuxian River is particularly convenient for personnel to conceal, suitable for transmitting intelligence, transporting funds, and covering the secret transit of important people. At the northern foot of the Qinling Mountains, about 8 miles west of the Qiaoyu River, there is a place originally called Gaotang Primary School, which is the location of the world-famous "Weihua Riot" General Headquarters.
On the evening of the 28th year of the Republic of China (1939), after the wolf baby shot and killed the tigress, he carried a heavy small burden, along the sand bank of the Yuxian River, avoiding the villages on both sides of the river, all the way to the south, wanting to escape to Luonan through the bridge, over the watershed between Guanzhong and southern Shaanxi, Caolianling. From Shashang to Luonan through Qiaoyu, a total of about 120 miles, is a day's journey for people with good foot strength. In the wolf baby's small baggage, there were two changes of clothes, and Mu Laosan's box gun was wrapped in the clothes.
From September to October of the 23rd year of the Republic of China (1934), the continuous rain delayed the sowing of wheat, and the autumn grain harvest failed, and the grain was not enough to eat. In late October of this year's lunar calendar, the teenage wolf baby and his father Yitai carried cotton on their backs and went to Luonan to exchange corn, and walked this road twice.
It is about 40 miles from Shashang Village to Qiaoyukou. The wolf baby enters the hilly area after passing through Guojia Village, Xincun and Jiangcun to Nanhuitongfang, and then climbs along the Qiaoyu River through Sunjiabao, Liujiaya, high-rise building, and Sanyi, and the chicken just crows for the second time, and arrives at the racecourse when it is ugly. He was worried that there were villagers searching passers-by in Qiaoyu, so he didn't dare to relax, so he quickened his pace through Dongtou, Xitou, and Liangshui Spring, and crossed Qiaoyu before dawn. After crossing the bridge, along the way are all high mountains and dense forests, sheep intestine trails, sparsely populated, often there are jackals, tigers and leopards infested, he slowed down slightly, to the ugly slope pass, the sky has been bright.
The Qinling Mountains south of Choupokou are above 1,000 meters above sea level, and there is snow in the shade of the slopes all year round. The valley is getting narrower and narrower, and on the slopes on both sides of the valley there are patches of cork oak, oriental cypress, mistletoe (hú) trees, walnuts, sumac trees and other trees, and there are shrubs such as yellow guard grass and rubus under the forest. On both sides of the valley grow artemisia and wild chrysanthemums, as well as vines and plants such as kudzu and honeysuckle, which climb on unknown small shrubs and vigorously expand their living territory.
The wolf baby breathed a sigh of relief when he arrived at the mouth of the ugly slope, looked at the denser and denser woods, looked at the more and more rugged paths, and thought that he might encounter jackals, bears and leopards ahead, and his heart beat a drum. He wanted to sit on a big rock by the side of the road to rest his feet, and as soon as his butt fell, he heard the sound of a soo in the grass beneath his feet. He lowered his head and saw a large serpent as thick as a bowl mouth, as red as blood, and more than a foot long, spitting letters, passing through the crook of his leg and sliding into the honeysuckle bushes on the side. The wolf baby trembled with fright, and sat on the stone, not daring to move, until he saw the tip of the tail of the big red snake disappearing into the vines of honeysuckle, and then jumped up and felt a cold sweat.
The wolf baby's fear of the big snake at this moment was deeply engraved in his mind. In the decades that followed, the wolf baby often mentioned the serpent to people. The big snake at the mouth of Qiaoyu Choupo also lingered in the nightmares of his old age and the muttering of dying.
The main snake species in the Qinling Mountains include gray-black water snakes, swimming snakes, black black snakes, cauliflower soldering iron snakes with black and green flowers, yellow chain snakes with yellow rings, red chain snakes with red rings, triangular spotted snakes with triangular markings, etc., there is no blood-red snake, and there is no big snake that is 3 meters long by 1 zhang. The longest snake in the Qinling Mountains is the black black snake, but the longest is not more than 6 feet, that is, 2 meters. Some people say that the Nelson milk snake and mountain king snake produced in the Americas and South America have no black patterns, only red and white ring patterns, but the longest of these two snakes is not more than 1.6 meters. In short, there is neither a bright red snake nor a 1 zhang long snake in the Qinling Mountains. However, the wolf baby claimed all his life that he had seen a big red snake one foot long at the mouth of Qiaoyu Choupo, and no one could doubt it at all.
After the wolf baby was frightened for a while, he remembered the legend in Guanzhong: "When you see a snake when you are ugly, you will be lucky in one day", and he was relieved in his heart, and he continued to go up the Qiaoyu River valley. After climbing to a high hill at the mouth of the lower river, he found two men in black beside the intestines of the sheep in front of him, one sitting and the other squatting, and two back baskets were packed with drums and piled aside. After approaching, he saw clearly that the two of them were in their 40s, and the strong man was slightly younger, sitting on a stone on the side of the path, rubbing his ankles, grinning his teeth, and squatting opposite the strong man with a look of concern.
The wolf baby asked the squatting man, "Uncle, what's wrong?" The thin man raised his head and said to the wolf baby with a smile: "I walked carelessly, stepped on a stone, and broke my foot." ”
"Does it matter?" The wolf baby asked. "I can walk, but I can't carry anything."
"Where are you going?" "Security Town."
"I'm going to Baoan Town too, so I'll carry a basket for you!" The wolf baby bent down and moved the basket on a rock, muttering, "What's it for?" So heavy! ”
"Half a load of salt, I'm sorry for you." The wolf baby heard that it was a half-pack of salt, and knew that it was 75 catties, so he muttered in his heart: I heard that Anyi (now Yuncheng) was occupied by the Japanese last year, and there is no Lu salt, where did this person get the salt and carry it to Luonan? But he didn't speak, and put the basket on his shoulder.
The strong man stood up at this time and said, "Shopkeeper Zhao, I can't do anything, let me go home." ”
"Okay, you can go back." After the shopkeeper Zhao finished speaking, he bent down and took out a pot helmet from the back basket and handed it to the strong man, "Eat on the road." The strong man waved his hand and said, "No, don't, it's more than ten miles away, and I'll be home before noon." ”
The wolf baby and the shopkeeper Zhao climbed up the valley path. Shopkeeper Zhao walked behind and asked the wolf baby's name and where it was from, and the wolf baby answered truthfully. The two gossiped a few words, and arrived at the store in a few steps. There are only two families in the shop, and there is a small restaurant. Shopkeeper Zhao said: "Wolf baby, take a break here and eat something." ”
"I've just walked a few steps, and I don't stop. You have a pot helmet in your back basket, give me a piece. "Good, good! You stop, I'll take the pot helmet. Shopkeeper Zhao put the basket on the roadside sink, took two pot helmets, handed them to the wolf baby, and said, "Also, take it after eating." ”
When they arrived at the mouth of the big swallow, the two sat on the side of the road and rested. Shopkeeper Zhao asked: "Wolf baby, I just finished harvesting wheat now, and I am busy with farm work, why did you go to Luonan?" The wolf baby said lightly: "I had a fight with my brother last night, and I injured someone, so I went to Luonan to hide for two days." Then he turned the conversation around and asked, "Listen to your accent, it looks like a Gaotang person, right?" ”
"A native of Gaotang Zaoyuan has opened a small grocery store in Baoan Town." Then he asked, "Where are you going to Luonan?" "Taolin, Taolin has an uncle."
The two climbed up the steep Qiaoyu River valley to the top of the Caolian Ridge, and then followed the path next to the unknown river valley on the southern slope to the Horse Patrol Road, which was already the ground of Luonan.
During the Republic of China, the dividing line between Luonan and Huaxian was under the southern slope of Caolian Ling, and Dongping, Xiping and other places were the territories of Renjiatan, which were only assigned to Huaxian County in 1956. From the patrol horse road through the west of the river into the Haoping River, along the Artemisia Pingchuan south to Renjiatan, just at noon, Zhao shopkeeper and wolf baby in the "Lao Weinan Noodle Restaurant" each ate a bowl of noodles, drank a bowl of noodle soup, and rested for a while.
As the sun set, they arrived at the town of Baoan. Zhao's grocery store is located on the North Street of Baoan Town, with the door facing east, the shop is not large, and the front store is overnight. Early the next morning, the wolf baby said goodbye to the shopkeeper Zhao and wanted to go to the peach forest. Shopkeeper Zhao handed the wolf baby a small bag, which contained 2 catties of salt. Luonan does not produce salt, and the Japanese controlled the Lu salt in Shanxi at that time, Luonan lacks salt, people often eat lightly, and each catty of salt has bought an ocean, and 2 catties of salt is a very heavy gift at that time.
On November 3, the 24th year of the Republic of China (1935), the Nanjing government, with the support of British and American capital, carried out currency reform, abolished the silver standard, issued silk cotton banknotes, that is, legal tender, and banned the circulation of silver. There are 6 denominations of fiat currency, including 1 jiao, 2 jiao, 5 jiao, 1 yuan, 5 yuan, and 10 yuan, which are exchanged with silver dollars on a one-to-one basis. Before the 26th year of the Republic of China (1937), the currency value was stable, and 50 yuan of legal currency could buy 1 cow. Since then, it has depreciated, and in the 28th year of the Republic of China (1939), 50 yuan of legal currency can only buy half a cow, 1 yuan of legal currency can only buy 2 catties of salt in Guanzhong, and only 1 catty of salt can be bought in Luonan.
(To be continued)
Original source: Author's contribution
Original author: Zhang Ming
Collation and editing: Huazhou Literature and History