Fourteen years ago, on the afternoon of October 8, 2006, I took the eighth class of Quanzhai Middle School on a long journey to Wucheng Town, Wuyang County, Luohe City, to investigate the source of the Silt River.
The Silt River, the second largest river in Xiping County, is famous for the death of the Tang Dynasty general Luo Cheng in battle. Regarding the source of the silt river, the "Xiping County Chronicle" published during the Republic of China said: "The silt river originates from the West Huanglongchi In Quanzhai Town. The pond is at the end of the southwest corner of Wuzhuang. However, the new "Xiping County Chronicle" published in 2005 believes that "the silt river originates from Wucheng in Wuyang County, and enters from Mazhuang, ZiquanZhai Town." Both opinions have their own supporters and have long been disputed.
Regardless of whether the source of the silt river is in Quanzhai or not, it passes through at least 6 village committees in Quanzhai Town (Liuzhuang, Fengtang, Quanzhai, Zhenglou, Guanzhuang, Xiaodian), and the Quanzhai section also has a name - Jinshui River, which shows the deep feelings of the people of Quanzhai for it. As a quanzhai person, I feel that I have a responsibility to figure out the source.
On April 9, 2006, I and my Class 75 students first made a field trip to Huanglongchi in Wucun Village. Half a year later, the seventh and fifth classes have become the eight5th class, and my classmates and I are still obsessed with the source of the silt river, so we decided to go to Wucheng to clarify the fog and survey the right and wrong.
Full preparation was made before departure. I first checked the information and found a more specific statement: the silt river originated in the "South Dam Pit" in Xianqiao Village, Wucheng Town. He also rode a motorcycle to explore the expedition route. Wucheng belongs to Wuyang County, Luohe City, although it is close to Quanzhai, but it has left the town and out of the county and out of the city, the distance is also 20 kilometers, in order to ensure that the return on time, to ride a bicycle instead of walking. Considering that there may be no toilet on the road, the whole class did not drink water at noon.
(Group photo at Xianqiao Village)
After leaving the school, about 1 mile west from Qinzhuang, we have to pass through a cement arch bridge. The bridge is very ordinary, but the location of the bridge is not ordinary, it is the intersection of three ditches:
To the north, the ditch, about 500 meters long, flows into the Jinshui River; the place of confluence is called "T-shaped mouth", which is also connected to the Huanglong Pond.
To the south is "Dry Ditch", which originates from Shiling White Temple, and the village in the east of the ditch is called "Donggangou Yan", which belongs to quanzhaizhai; the village in the west of the ditch is called "Xigangou Yan", which belongs to Shiling Town.
(The cement arch bridge is a "dry ditch" to the south)
To the west is the "Heihe River" (the old county chronicle called "Dagou"), leading to Wucheng, which is the source of the silt river called the new county chronicle. The confluence of the Dry Ditch and the Heihe River is also home to the famous Black Dragon Temple. Legend has it that next to the temple is the Black Dragon Pond, the Black Youtan and the Yellow Dragon Pond at the end of wu live with the Black Dragon and the Yellow Dragon, respectively, the two places are connected by dragon veins, and the ducks can pierce from the Yellow Dragon Pond to the Black Dragon Pond. Now, the Black Dragon Temple has disappeared, and the "Black Dragon Pond" is only a depression, and there is no trace of the "pool". Only the "Black River" is still there, twisting and turning to the West.
Head west along the Black River. After Passing Liuzhuang, the road is still straight to the west, but the river meanders southwest. Because I was riding a bicycle, I couldn't walk along the river, which was a big regret of this expedition.
(On the way to Wucheng.) River channel on the right side of the picture)
Cross the Black Village and come to He Zhuang. A dirt road leads directly to Wucheng to the west, but everyone decided to look south at the river channel so as not to lose contact with it. After crossing a cross street, follow the west side of Hezhuang Elementary School, and in front of it is a bridge, spanning the Black River.
At the head of the bridge sat a few elderly villagers, talking about the allusions of the Black River, they were like a family treasure. For example, the Heizhuang people do not have the surname Hei, the He Zhuang people do not have the surname He, and the village name is derived from the name of the split river. For another example, when Hei He went to other places to talk about his village, he often proudly said: "Hei He Xi is near the Maling River, and four miles to the south is the White Temple." "Outsiders were shocked to hear it, thinking that the Maling River was a big river, and the white temple was four miles in size. In fact, this is frightening, Malingjiang and Baimiao are the names of ordinary villages. The Maling River is Mazhuang. There is also a story: In ancient times, He Zhuang had a person who was a high official outside, and some villagers committed crimes, and he just happened to be judged. This great official had the heart to let him go of the horse, so he was shocked and clapped, and drank: Although the death penalty is spared, the living sin is difficult to escape, and I will send you to the Black He Ma Ling River. The jury listened, close to the river or the "black" river, this place must be far enough to be hard enough. No one could have imagined that he would be sent back to his hometown. However, when it comes to "Maling River", the fame is really not small. The old man pointed to the small asphalt road to the west by the river and said that this road used to be an "official road", east of Wugou Camp, west of the North Dance Ferry, the traffic is extremely convenient, merchants are endless, He Zhuang people along the official road opened many hotels, its lively scene is no less than the current national road 107, it is said that Mark Polo has come.
It's just that things change for stars, mountains and rivers change, the once prosperous has become a dusty past, only the quietly flowing Black River is still silently telling the legend of the past...
Further west is the Maling River. Sure enough it was just an ordinary village. However, the village is not short of water: it is bordered by the Black River to the north; there is a tributary of the Black River running north-south to the west of the village. Surrounded by water on three sides, it is really a treasure of feng shui.
Head north back to the original dirt road, and then arrive at Wucheng in one breath. In front of the Dongwang Village Primary School, a ditch was found, stretching from west to east. From the orientation, it should be the upper reaches of the Black River. Asking the locals for advice confirmed this speculation. But it is so narrow, but the handle is wide, and it is no different from the small ditch in front of the house and behind the house.
(Arrive at "South Dam Pit")
Tracing up the ditch, entering another village, and turning 300 meters to the south, a pond with an area of tens of acres appears in front of you. This is the "South Dam Pit". The pit water is very full, it is said that the rainwater from the surrounding dozen villages is all collected here; the pit water is also extremely clear, there are four or five women washing clothes, there are two or three teenagers fishing here, and there are more than a dozen ducks playing in the pit. In the northeast corner of the pit, there is a cement dam, called the "flood embankment": in the dry season, the water is blocked in the pond for the villagers' living and irrigation; in the rainy season, the water level rises, and the pond water flows from here, through the Heihe River into the silt river, and finally flows into the sea in the east. It sounds similar to the "Feisha Weir" in Dujiangyan, Sichuan.
(In the distance is the "flood embankment")
The village where Nanbakeng is located is Xianqiao Village, which according to the villagers is named after the fairy bridge in the south of the village, and the fairy bridge is named because of the footprints of fairies left on the stone strips. When I came to the Fairy Bridge, there was indeed a stone strip under the bridge, but there was a large pile of corn stalks pressed on it, and the stone strip only revealed the "tip of the iceberg", and only saw a trickle of water singing and running to the South Dam Pit. Are there really fairy footprints on the stone strips? What kind of ancient story is there?
(I photographed the Fairy Bridge.) The stone strip is on the other side of the bridge. ）
(Netizens photographed the other side of the Fairy Bridge)
As a Quanzhai person, of course, I hope that the Huanglong Pond in Wucun village at the end is the source of the silt river, but objectively speaking, whether it is the length of the river or the area of the river basin, or the amount of water during the flood season, the South Dam Pit is the well-deserved birthplace of the silt river, and the new county chronicle is more realistic.
Fourteen years have passed in the blink of an eye. Most of the students in that year had already established families, and I also left my hometown to teach in the county. Recently, some classmates contacted me and talked about the expedition. We have a common desire: to walk a little further along the original road and see how much has changed at the source of the Silt River. Fourteen years ago, Wucheng Street still retained the old building with wg color! We'd love to know, are those buildings still there?
Hope to make the trip soon.
(The old building on Wucheng Street fourteen years ago)