Editor's note
Cheng Gang, the author of the article "Unforgettable Bashan Hanshui", is a student of the 69th junior high school of Xi'an Dongfeng Instrument Factory Middle School. From August 1970 to December 1972, as a soldier of the third company, three platoons and ten classes of the sixth regiment of the railway soldiers, he participated in the construction project of the Xiangyu Railway.
In the later period, his parents were transferred from Xi'an to work in the third-line military factory in Yunnan, and at the same time, Cheng Gang also left the company with five factory children in mid-December 1972 to work in the third-line factory in Yunnan.
In 2014, Cheng Gang died of COPD at the age of 62.
More than 10 years ago, I saw this article written by Cheng Gang on the Internet and found it very touching, and the language was unique and lively, so I kept it. Recently, I found this article on the computer, so I made a slight correction to the typos in the text, and the content was kept intact for everyone's benefit.
The subheadings in the article were added by the editors.
When publishing this article, I received great help from Cheng Gang's old friends Bi Yuanhua, Xiao Xingye and other student comrades-in-arms, and I would like to express my gratitude to them together! - Old History
Unforgettable Bashan Hanshui (4)
Author: Cheng Gang
Fourth, the bridge stone door ditch
The Xiangyu Railway starts from Xiangfan, an important town in Hubei Province, passes through Mojiaying, Shiyan, enters Baihe, Xunyang, Ankang and Ziyang in Shaanxi Province, and enters Wanyuan, Xuanhan, Daxian and Beibei in Sichuan from Ziyang, and reaches Chongqing, the hub of water and land transportation in southwest China, with a total length of 895.3 kilometers. The Xiangyu Railway crosses the three provinces of Hubei, Shaanxi and Sichuan, crosses the scenic spot Wudang Mountain and the Daba Mountain, where the peaks and loves overlap, and crosses the surging Han River and the deep and rapid Jialing River.
The history books contain "the danger is even thousands of miles, and the Qinsai Road is difficult to travel". After the railway forked from Mojiaying in the northwest of Xiangfan, the first crossed the Xianren Bridge on the Han River, passed through the Hanjiang Plain, crossed the Wudang Mountain into the Baihe River at the junction of Hubei and Shaanxi, and began to cross the Hanshui Gorge between the Qinling Mountains and Daba Mountain in the blockage of Kyushu, crossed the Han River again in Xunyang, crossed the Han River three times in Ziyang, entered the Daba Mountain area at the junction of Sichuan and Shaanxi along the Ren River, passed through a 5,333-meter-long Dabashan Tunnel, crossed the Houhe River 33 times into the Huaying Mountain Area, crossed the Jialing River in Beibei, and then crossed the Zhongliang Mountain into the Chongqing hub.
There are 405 tunnels with a total extension of 287.1 kilometers, including 12 tunnels of more than 3 kilometers, and 716 bridges with a total extension of 113.2 kilometers. Among them, the Xianrendu Hanjiang Bridge is 1,630 meters long, the Ziyang Hanjiang Bridge pier is 70.5 meters high, the bridge length is 437 meters, and the bridge and tunnel are 400 kilometers long, accounting for 44.2% of the length of the main line, which is the railway with the largest bridge and tunnel density among the existing railways in China. There are 90 stations on the line, and 36 stations are built on bridges or tunnels.
Preparation of river beaches
The tasks of the 3rd Squadron (3rd Battalion) of the 6th Regiment (Unit 5806) of the 2nd Division of the Railway Corps are:
The Mimixi Tunnel is 3,307 meters long and is the second key project of the Xiangyu Line Tunnel of the Second Division of the Railway Corps; The Yangpo Tunnel is 1,259 meters long; The Shimengou Railway Bridge is 145.4 meters long and 52.6 meters high, with 2 piers, 2 sets and 3 spans.
Participants: 5 companies of the 3rd Squadron of the Railway Corps, Langao County Migrant Workers League, Ziyang County Migrant Workers League, Zhenba County Migrant Workers League, and 3rd Student Company.
At least 3,000 people live at the Shimengou site on the Xiangyu Line.
The first task of our Third Cadet Company in the construction of the Xiangyu Railway was to build the Shimengou Bridge.
Shimengou has been in the ditch for thousands of years, tens of thousands of years, and the deep ditch has been formed naturally, and the large and small stones washed down from the mountain have been discharged to the riverside. The mountain stream flows all year round. The task is arduous and the time is short, and the bridge building must be completed in the winter rainless season.
The first is to prepare materials: bridge pier stones.
There are so many stones in Shimengou, all kinds of colors, round like eggs, flat like a small moon falling in the water, all kinds of strange forms; The big one is like a room, the small one is like a ball, the hand is slippery, the texture is fine, look at it, and you will take out thousands of years of vicissitudes and feelings. The river was so surging that the chaotic and stunned stones were so softly hydrated that they showed a beautiful brilliance. Where did these stones come from? Was it a flood that washed down the mountain? But I didn't see so many stones on the mountain, why don't you go to the river, nature is so magical!
The students prepared the bridge stone in this magical place. Our task: to knock stones, that is, to hammer larger stones into one-inch square stones for use on the bridge construction site. In the first few days, we looked for ready-made sizes, and later the blue balls were big and the tables were big, and we broke them with an eight-pound hammer. The class is a unit, the students move, knock and knock, compare ideas, compare enthusiasm, and then divide the contract, requiring each person to take one cubic meter per day, and the statistician will measure before getting off work.
The Ziyang section of the Xiangyu Railway is connected by bridges and tunnels
Pile up a pile of rocks beside you, then sit on the stones, or put your feet on the stones, or you won't fly.
Lunch was delivered to the construction site by the cooking class, and the time was counted by watching the sun. The students were looking forward to the meal being delivered early, and they sang before the meal every day, and they didn't sing that we came from all over the world, it was too long, and they changed to sing "to fight for private criticism", and eating two steamed buns was like not eating.
Zhu Huaguang, a classmate from the same school, came over and said: Da Gang gave you half a steamed bun. I was shocked and said, "What are you eating?" He said that you are bigger than me, and I can eat one and a half is enough, and patted his stomach and said that he was full. I was busy saying no, I don't want it, you can eat it, push it around or give it to me, and give it to me many times in the future. That touching scene is deeply in my mind, decades have passed, and whenever I think of that friendship in difficult times, I am moved to tears, I miss him so much!
The army provided the student company with a stone crusher. That guy is easy to use, the big pebbles of the basketball can't be held, as soon as you throw it in, it will become gravel in minutes, the progress is accelerated, and the labor intensity is also greater, the students are looking for stones that can be held everywhere by the river, every day the barracks construction site, the construction site barracks......
The stone preparation work was successfully completed, and the students were transferred to the construction of the bridge foundation.
The whole company held a mobilization meeting, and the instructor made a mobilization report: "The construction of the third line should be grasped quickly" is to fight with the emperor to fight for time and speed, the Xiangyu railway cannot be repaired, Chairman Mao can't sleep well, we must let his old man sleep well, put his mind at ease, carry forward the revolutionary spirit of not being afraid of hardship, and not afraid of death, and work hard, skillfully, and desperately...
The painstaking construction began.
The 6th Regiment of the Railway Corps (Unit 5806)
Schematic diagram of the construction area
The Shimengou Railway Bridge is 145.4 meters long and 52.6 meters high with 2 piers.
At this time, it is winter, it is the golden period of bridge construction, there are high mountains on both sides, the ditch is full of rotten stones, the stream water is flowing all year round, and the site is not open enough, so as to ensure the construction period, ensure the quality and ensure safety.
The arduous construction began, the Daba mountainous area, the Shimengou construction site, the cold wind was biting, and I was worried about going to the night shift, hungry, cold, and sleepy......
The students worked in three shifts a day, 24 hours a day. The most difficult to dig the foundation of the bridge. The foundation of the No. 1 and No. 2 bridges should be dug deep to reach the rocky part of the mountain. Dig a ditch to divert the water from the ravines at both ends, but the stream still flows partially into the foundation. There was no pumping machine, and all the water was carried up by manpower, 24 hours a day, and the water on the foundation would be full as soon as it stopped.
The foundation is three or four times larger than the cross-sectional area of the pier, and the amount of work is very large and very difficult! The students use the most primitive tools: steel drills, sledgehammers, flat poles, bamboo baskets, buckets for construction day and night, the eight-pound sledgehammer just began to hit dozens of times, and it is not accurate. Later, everyone who practiced hungry could hit nearly a thousand times in one breath, and opened the bow left and right, just like playing. That accurate, that scene is touching, unforgettable!
There is both pain and joy. Let's just say that the load of water, no one has ever done it at home, two big iron buckets and a flat burden, carrying the water in the foundation, walking on the wooden bridge, swaying from side to side, the water is sprinkled all over the body, the cold wind blows, that feeling......
In winter, the bridge construction site is bitterly cold, and the clothes brought by the students from their homes in Xi'an can no longer stop the cold. The railway troops issued each person a cotton coat, which was the clothing for aiding Vietnam to resist the United States. Everyone will have a uniform uniform when they put it on, and they will use a fly to pierce it, and they will know that it is the student company at a glance.
The foundation is laid, the irrigation begins, the foundation construction cannot be stopped, and the cement must be finished in one go. Hundreds of square meters of concrete, the quality of the project is a century-old plan. The inner appearance of the bridge requires "natural beauty": smooth and flat, supple lines, beautiful shape, sharp edges and corners, and no pores. Well-designed, well-constructed.
Our three rows are in the first shift, and the shift is eight hours. The whole platoon of students had eaten noodles in the morning, and they arrived at the construction site on time at eight o'clock, and the two mixers were divided into two teams to lift gravel, sand and cement, and ensure the operation of the machinery in shifts. There is also tamping to ensure the quality below, two bags of cement for one pot of mixer, three cars of stones for a "small wheelbarrow", and two cars of sand for a "small wheelbarrow". The students are in full swing and lively, and they are afraid that they will miss their work and make mistakes in their own hands.
At noon, the cooking class brought lunch, two steamed buns per person, and continued to dry. Thanks to the efforts of the whole platoon, when the shift was about to change at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, seeing that our platoon could finish it all by holding on a little longer, the platoon commander reported to the company: The next shift is not needed, and the food will be delivered to the construction site, and our platoon can complete the task in one go.
At that time, everyone had to show their revolutionary enthusiasm, and the platoon commander expressed his attitude: Carry forward the spirit of not being afraid of hardship and not afraid of death, so that the instructors and company commanders can have a good impression of our platoon. After eating the two steamed buns in the evening, continue to dry! The students encouraged each other and read Chairman Mao's quotations: "Make up your mind, not be afraid of sacrifice, and overcome all difficulties to strive for victory!" ”
Chairman Mao's words from his old man are like seeing them at the scene, and they were specially published for us, and they are counted alive and dead! This spirit has been deeply rooted in the hearts of every student in the third line.
The afternoon is the time for the construction of the tunnels on both sides, and it takes a lot of time to avoid the artillery; In the second half of the night, a blender malfunctioned, and the progress was greatly reduced. The weather was cold, the people were hungry, and the construction lasted for more than 20 hours, and the drier it was, the slower it became. As soon as they stopped, everyone would fall asleep while standing, and the students did their best.
When the students were in the most difficult moment, the battalion commander and instructor of the army came back from a meeting at the regiment headquarters and passed by the bridge construction site to see us. The students said to the battalion leader: No matter how hard and tiring the construction is, we are not afraid and we are used to it. I'm just hungry right now.
The instructor hurriedly asked why Lianshang didn't deliver food? The students told the instructor: We ate the meal at 6 o'clock in the afternoon, and now there is no food for us in the second half of the night! After the instructor learned about the situation, he called the messenger over and arranged for him to go back to the camp headquarters immediately to give the students a note.
The battalion headquarters is not far from the construction site. It didn't take long for the messenger to arrive with two buckets of hot noodles. Most of the students didn't bring lunch boxes and used hard hats. Our hard hats are plastic. I used a branch as chopsticks, and I was especially grateful for the care of the battalion commander and instructor.
The construction continued, and the students loaded the stone ballast, pulled the sand of the sand, and carried the cement on the back, and worked hard.
The day is getting brighter, and because of the praise of Haikou, the second row that should have taken over was arranged for other construction, and there was no successor. This bridge construction was the longest time that our three platoons participated in the construction of the third line - from 8 o'clock in the morning until the next afternoon. After the construction was completed, I returned to the station, which lasted 36 hours! This is a construction project that I remember deeply.
The cadets of the year returned to the place where they fought
It has been more than half a year to Daba Mountain in southern Shaanxi, ushering in the New Year's Day of 1971.
Today is a good day, the 5806 unit of the Second Division of the Railway Corps held a New Year's Day literary and artistic performance attended by troops, students, and migrant workers in Donghe, the regiment headquarters.
The whole company gathered early in the morning, and the students were really happy, talking and laughing. I haven't left this Shimengou for more than half a year, and I think about the other student companies from Xi'an that can be seen in the Tuangang Donghe, everyone is so excited! The company commander explained the discipline: all actions are subject to command, and you can't move freely!
Each person took the foldable pony clips made by the company's carpentry class, and the mighty team set off.
The Dong River is located in the east of Ziyang County, where the Han River, the Dong River and the Ru River meet, and the team of the student company follows the Han River along the simple road for 40 miles.
The venue is on the edge of the Han River, which is a beach the size of two or three football fields, which is very vast, and a simple stage was set up to pull up the banner of "5806 Unit Military and Civilian New Year's Day Art Show". There is also a big slogan "The army and the people are united as one, try to see who can be the enemy in the world", and the red flags fluttered on both sides.
The mountains are vast on all sides, and the river flows around the mountains. Facing the rostrum, on the left is the student company: the first company, the second company, the third company, the fourth company, and the fifth company (the fifth company is the student women's company), and there are nearly 1,000 students; In the middle were the railway troops, also a few thousand people; On the right is the county migrant labor division, several thousand people. What a big venue, nearly 10,000 people, plus the local villagers to see the lively, it is really lively, packed with people.
One unit and five students were together, and the students only met for more than half a year, and they were excited, and they were happy, introducing each other's companies and greeting each other. Of course, the point is that the students are connected to the girls, and there are several female students from each school, and three of our Xi'an Dongyizi School came. We all looked back at the team of the girls' company and wanted to meet the female students of our school.
It's too far away to see clearly.
They were also tanned red and black one by one, and their faces were a little fat, as if they were puffy? At that time, the classmates were feudal again, and they were embarrassed to look at other people, but they didn't find one.
The troops are the troops, and revolutionary songs are sung before the meeting.
It was also the first time I had seen the troops' singing, and it was actually the teamwork, style, and morale that the singing actually pulled. Whichever unit has good team spirit, excellent work style, and high morale, the probability of winning when singing is often high.
The troops first sang "Railway Soldiers Aim in All Directions":
Carrying that bag and carrying that gun,
The majestic team was mighty.
Comrade, where are we going?
We want to go where the motherland needs it most.
Farewell to the snow of the Tianshan Mountains,
But when I saw the waves of the East Sea,
I heard the cows and sheep crying outside the plug,
Smell the fragrance of Jiangnan rice flowers again.
Comrades, take a big stride, go forward,
The railway soldiers are determined in all directions!
Carrying that bag and carrying that gun,
The majestic team was mighty.
Comrade, where are we going?
We want to go where the motherland needs it most.
Splitting the mountains, filling the sea,
Splendid mountains and rivers weave a railway network,
Today sweat spilled on the ground,
In the Ming Dynasty, the flowers bloomed.
Comrades, take a big stride, go forward,
The railway soldiers are determined in all directions!
When the troops finished singing, they sang to the students.
Conductor: One from the student company!
Warriors: Alright, here's one!
Conductor: Tell you to sing...
Soldiers: If you don't sing, you don't look good! Hey, it's not presentable!
Conductor: One, two, three, four, five...
Warriors: We've waited so hard!
Conductor: One, two, three, four, five, six, seven...
Warriors: We've been waiting so much!
Conductor: Donggua Peel...
Warriors: Watermelon skin, don't play with the skin!
Conductor: Who is the hero...
Warriors: Whoever is a hero, let's play and compare. Hey, hey, Bibi look!
The leaders of the student company didn't expect...
Or the student girl sang a song five times in a row:
"Looking up at the Big Dipper, I miss Mao Zedong in my heart":
Looking up at the Big Dipper,
I miss Mao Zedong in my heart, I miss Mao Zedong,
When you get lost, I want you to have direction,
I miss you in the night. I miss you in the night.
Jinggangshan, your first revolutionary base area,
The workers and peasants were in power with great authority.
On the side of the Ganjiang River, you led us to fight against encirclement and suppression,
Kill and repel a million soldiers of Chiang's thieves.
yes
The Red Army is your own creation,
The strategy is yours.
The people's fighters miss you, the great leader Mao Zedong.
The people's fighters miss you, the great leader Mao Zedong.
Great leader Mao Zedong.
Every student has even sung it, but it hasn't been sung three times in a row, no, I've worked every day, and I haven't practiced. The other students even sang and coaxed to sing:
Students are not allowed to play tricks in the third row! Students are not allowed to play tricks in the third row!
The company commander asked the company commander to sing the song back and forth, and the classmates said that we would only sing the dinner song: "We want to fight for private criticism."
Several of the students who sang applauded loudly and applauded.
The literary and artistic propaganda teams of the troops, migrant workers, and student companies performed songs, cross talk, allegro, and small dramas written and performed by themselves.
Langao County Migrant Workers' Literary and Art Propaganda Team performed a song "The Train Doesn't Call and Can't Go Home":
The red flag of the three-line position is flying,
The red flag pointed to the militia to arrive.
We are most loyal to Chairman Mao,
Practice red heart, high morale,
Mountains and rivers were changed, and railways were built.
In order to completely bury the emperor's rebellion,
The hands are broken, and the feet are blistered,
Bloodshed and sacrifice also laughed.
The rock cliffs, the scorching sun,
I would like to sweat to float the boat.
Fight the Xiangyu line,
If you don't call the train, you can't go home.
Xiao Xingye sent off the five students
Leave the company to work in Yunnan
At noon, the meal was served, and the steamed buns and porridge sent by the troops. The steamed buns are divided according to the head, the porridge can be eaten casually, and the steamed buns of the army can be small, one bite at a time, and a few people forget it, and it is not enough to eat. The remaining half bucket of porridge from the troops was brought over and eaten; The student girl Wulian sent another half bucket of porridge, and after eating, she was not full; Several male students even brought over the rest of the porridge. The students became famous three times in a row that day, so they could eat it.
It was already more than 10 o'clock in the evening when I returned to the station, and the company commander lost his temper, counted the number of people, and trained for an hour:
Tell you to sing, and you won't be able to do any of it, just you're hungry! I don't think any of the other students are as embarrassed as you! Do I see that your faces are chubby and red, like red apples?
"It's actually puffiness"! The classmates laughed. Thirty-six years later, that laughter is still in my mind, is it happy or bitter?
What a happy, happy day, the five companies of the students of Unit 5806, the only day together, so unforgettable.
Mighty and majestic schoolgirl company
The winter weather in Daba Mountain is very cold, and our class has a night shift. The students had just fallen asleep, and at about nine or ten o'clock, a life-saving cry came from the side of the Han River: Come on, someone, a boat on the Han River has capsized!
The students got up and looked at the river: this is a terrible time, there has been a big accident, and I saw that the middle of the Han River is black and pressing, and it is full of people who have fallen into the water! Save! Save! Fast! The students got dressed as fast as they could and ran to the river.
We lined up on the slope of the mountain, and when we arrived at the river, a few people with good water quality in the second row had already gone into the water to save people. When I arrived at the riverside, I saw that it was two local villagers rowing boats to transport dung, and the wooden dung bucket was floating on the river, looking like a human head from a distance. Everyone is relieved. The students cooperated with each other by the river to rescue the villagers who fell into the water. After that, the instructor and company commander announced an order to the students: The Second Division of the Railway Corps stipulated that in the future, the student company was not allowed to go down to the Han River to save people and things, and other student companies had already had fatal accidents!
After such a toss, my stomach was hungry again. Because of our night shift, there was no food for us at noon, and we had to wait until 6 p.m. to have two steamed buns. The students couldn't sleep, so they went up the mountain in twos and threes to find food. Seven or eight of us walked along the road, aimlessly. When I walked to the 15th mechanical company of the army, there was a pigsty of the mechanical company on the side of the road. The classmates gathered around to watch, and everyone talked about pigs: the pigs raised by the army are really big, and they have never seen them in Xi'an. You don't understand, what kind of pig breed is this, it can grow to be as big as an elephant! I don't know if the one who knows more will tell the students.
At this time, a recruit carries a basket of steamed buns to feed the pigs. The classmates immediately surrounded him and asked him:
Brother Jun, we're so hungry, give us food!
The recruits did not dare, saying that they would ask their company commander. If we ask the company commander, can we still eat? The little recruit ignored us, poured the steamed buns into the pig trough, and mixed them, thinking that this was the ......
When the recruits left, the students entered the pigsty to drive the pigs away, and each person was given three or five steamed buns. Eat as you walk back. As soon as the steamed scalp is torn off, it is clean inside, and students still pay attention to hygiene! It's like a big victory, and today is a big gain.
The construction of the Shimengou Bridge is going on day and night, and the bridge is getting longer and taller.
On that day, we were on the day shift in the third row, and at 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the students washed up and prepared to eat in the class, and the students who were cooking came up with two buckets of noodles. When the students saw that there was noodles, it was soup, and we would give us soup after a day's work! I can't make a bowl of noodles in a bucket, so angry, I scolded the bastards in the cooking class for bullying us three rows.
The people in our class are still honest, and the squad leader persuaded everyone to sing Chairman Mao's quotations and songs.
Not long after, there was a quarrel among the companies below, and we were in the twelfth shift. Where is there noodles here, but I am angry to take the noodle bucket and go to the company to complain. The instructor and the company commander were not there, and when they saw that the cooking class had left a large bucket of noodles for the management class, the students became even more angry. Take that bucket of dry noodles, take that bucket of thin noodles, and the whole class go to the army camp headquarters to complain, it's really unusual! The students are very strict, not urgent, who dares!
I admired their actions, but I didn't dare to participate, and we were all worried about the students of Class 12. Isn't it clear what the result will be?
Edit: Have fun