Ya (pronounced "lai" in northern Shaanxi) kiln is a cave carved by people on a steep rock cliff. It differs from other caves in that the entrance is half-cliff, and you need a ladder to access it. In the era of cold weapons, people, especially the rich, often built a cliff kiln on the cliff wall of the ravine near their residence in order to avoid robbery. Even if someone tries to climb up with a ladder, as long as the person above holds a large knife and shuttles to guard the entrance of the cave, they cannot go up. Some cliff kilns are well repaired, there is water, firewood and rice noodles in them, and it is not a problem to live for a while.
In the small mountain village where I cut the queue, there is a ravine called "Lai (cliff) kiln ditch", as the name suggests, since it is called "Lai Yao Gou", there must be allusions related to the cliff kiln in that ditch.
Or just arrived in the mountain village for a short time, I and the fifth uncle were coming to the kiln ditch to herd sheep, I specially asked the fifth uncle why he called the kiln ditch here? The fifth uncle pointed to a hole in the red stone wall of the half-cliff opposite the ditch, which looked like a basin, and said that there was a "Lai (cliff) kiln" where the landlord's family used to make (repair) it, so everyone called this ditch Lai Yao Ditch. I asked which landowner in the village it was? What do you do with this kiln? The fifth uncle said that there was no one in the landlord's house for a long time: "I heard the old people say that when the chaos came, everyone else in the village was suffering (poor) and had no property, so when they saw that the return was killed, they ran to the forest to hide. So they all moved to this kiln, and people hid in this kiln. They thought that they would not return in a few days. Who wanted that people not only did not retreat, but also beat to death the family members guarding the entrance of the cave with fast guns, and ended up climbing up and killing the family. After that, the people of Zhuangli came back, went to the cliff kiln, cleaned up and buried the people."
The fifth uncle said that since he had a fast gun, this cliff kiln was not good for Tibetans, "People have a few guns to put the hole in one, how can they climb up the gram." I smiled and said that you still have this military talent: "That person guarding the entrance of the cave is also guarded with a gun, so it is still difficult for the people below to get up?" ”。 The fifth uncle said hahahaha, "Your eldest (father) said it to you, right?" ”
I said no, "My dad never said that." What does this kiln have to do with my father?"
"What does it matter! In the first month of the 32nd year or February, you who had only joined the Red Army led by Liu Zhidan at the end of the first year, and the descendants who had gone with Lao Liu a few years ago suddenly ran back, saying that Lao Liu had been beaten by Lao Xie, and the Red Army with Lao Liu had been dispersed, and a few of them hid for a while in the Zhilin of the Ansei realm, but they ran back without food or drink. At that time, when you were in the Red Army, you had to lose your head when you were caught by the vigilante group. After you came back, you worked in the mountains during the day, and I sent you your fourth uncle for meals. I hide in this cliff at night and dare not go home."
"Haha, then my dad is hiding in the cliff kiln, and he is not afraid that the vigilante group will seal the entrance of the cave and arrest him?"
"You doll! You came back with a dirt gun. There were also two wooden bombs (grenades). You said a lot, if the vigilante group comes, you will not pay for killing one, and you will earn by killing two. Alas, there was no way to do it at that time. You can only do this, otherwise what will you do? ”
"What about my dad?"
"Hey, I don't know one day, you're working in the mountains, and I just happened to deliver food. You haven't finished eating yet, and Tuosan from Tuojiawa came and said that Lao Liu has returned, and the team has been fighting vigilante groups at the end of Xichuan in the past few days. When you heard that you hadn't finished eating, you took out the earthen gun that didn't leave your body from under the grass next to the ground, and said, "Say back to my mother (my grandmother), and the word is heard: I'm looking for old Liu Ke. The next day, your fourth uncle and I went up to the cliff kiln and brought back your big covered ground (quilt) and bowls and chopsticks buckets. After that, probably no one has ever been on the beating. In 47, the Hu bandit army came up, and some people in the village still said that they could not hide in the cliff kiln, and then the guerrillas said that they did not dare, in case they were surrounded by Hu's sons, it would be over. ”。
After I listened, an idea suddenly rose in my mind, that is, go up to the cliff kiln and take a look! The fifth uncle saw that I had been looking at the cliff kiln, and prompted me, "Don't you dare to overcome it!" I'm afraid there's something wild out there." I said no, no, no. But the determination in my heart has already been made!
A few days later, I took advantage of the opportunity to herd sheep and went to the bottom of the cliff kiln to see the field. It was found that the soil above had been slipping down and piling up over the years, and now the height of the steps under the entrance of the cliff kiln is less than one meter seven or eight meters from the ground, unlike the fifth uncle who said that it is five meters high from the ground.
I straightened my arms and tried, and my hands were able to reach the lowest steps, but unfortunately I didn't have the strength to pull up and climb up, and the bottom of the steps was a concave stone, and my feet couldn't pedal to help.
What attracted me even more was that near the mouth of the cave, it may be difficult to climb, so the artemisia wood that grew in the stone crevice was particularly luxuriant, and the mountain villages in those years were extremely short of firewood due to extensive planting and thin harvesting. There is such a good firewood here, what a gift to the door! Be sure to go up and check it out!
One day not long after I made up my mind to explore the "danger", I took advantage of my free time before herding the sheep and took a flashlight, rope, axe, and sickle to cut some firewood. Find the team for safekeeping, and say borrow the ladder to use. He asked me what I was doing, and I vaguely said that he didn't bother to cut two willow rafters for repairing the sheepfold door, and he didn't bother to open the warehouse door to help me take out the ladder. I carried it on my shoulder and walked towards the kiln ditch. As soon as I left the village, I felt someone following behind. Because it was difficult to turn around with the ladder, I asked who it was, and no one replied. I think I was too careful, so I didn't bother to continue walking. After walking for a while, I felt that someone was following, and I happened to come to a bend not far from the cliff kiln, and I turned around to see that there was really someone, another young man in the team nicknamed "Egg".
"Egg" saw that I found out, laughed and said to work for the team: "Go, go together, I'll help you do it, and earn some points."
The "egg" is a person who usually does not work well, so he likes to see what loopholes to grab to help and then pester the accountant to record a few points. When I was looking for a ladder to borrow, he saw and heard that this was a good job, and he cut two willow rafters to "help" me carry it back, and at least I could entangle the accountant to keep a half-day of work, so he planned to repeat the old trick.
I didn't think much about it at the time, but I thought it was a good thing that the "egg" was coming! It is said that he is bold and will also do martial arts (absolutely bragging. Later, he almost broke my tanuki for killing me), so I told him what I was going to do. He immediately patted his chest and said what was this: "Nothing, buddy!" ”
At the bottom of the cliff, as I expected, the two-meter-long ladder was erected to reach the steep steps of almost 90 degrees below the cave entrance.
After the ladder was propged, the "egg" sharpened his fists and threw his arms and kicked his legs, saying that it was luck "coming hard", and then looked up and told me that his stomach was a little uncomfortable: "You go first, I will come when I go."
As soon as I heard it, I knew that this kid was going to play a slippery head, and he was also a silver-like wax spearhead! Then he smiled coldly and said that you were busy "don't have to go up". Ignoring his direct shouting "don't mind don't mind, buddy will come up in a while" and climbed up the ladder.
I climbed all the way and chopped all the firewood that could be near the entrance of the cliff kiln with a pickaxe, firstly to chop some firewood, and secondly, to "knock the mountain and shake the tiger", and some wild things were also scared and ran, I was so smooth into the cave.
Soon I cut down the wood and reached the bottom step. The steps of the upper cliff kiln are very characteristic, first there are six steps carved into the nearly 90-degree steep cliff wall, and then the steps turn a corner, and it is not too steep to go up the cliff wall, and a total of twenty steps are opened to the entrance of the cave. Strangely, these steps were on the side of the cliff, and not far from each other there was a hole the size of a basin, and I counted four such holes, like shooting holes in the city wall. "What is this for"?
When I walked down the steps to the entrance of the cave, I saw that the mouth of the cave was not only the size of a basin, but at least one meter and five or six meters in diameter. I shone a flashlight inside, and the inside of the kiln was large and empty. I didn't see anything wild or other material within the range of the flashlight, so I picked up a fist-sized stone from under my feet and threw it hard, except for the sound of the stone hitting the ground, I didn't hear any other sounds.
After "throwing stones to explore the way", I looked down and got in, hey, there is a deep hole with a diameter of more than one meter facing down the hole in the ground next to the cave entrance! And there are steps in this hole. Fortunately, I found out, otherwise I might have fallen into it. I went around the hole and into the cliff cave, stood up straight, and stretched my arms straight before reaching the top. At least the height of the kiln is not less than two meters. I walked to the kiln with a flashlight, roughly measured the depth of this cliff kiln at least 178 meters, and measured the width of the kiln, which was about 10 meters. In general, this cliff kiln is very spacious. It was much more spacious than the earthen cave where I lived as the saying goes.
Although there was no one in the cave for a long time and it was covered with a thick layer of soil, it was still clean. It is that there are traces of birds and beasts on the ground. I haven't found anything else, but at first glance, there have been people living in it, because there are black traces of burning fire and smoke on the top of the kiln.
No matter where I stood in the kiln, there was always a cool breeze coming in my face. The experience of drilling bomb shelters many times tells me that there are exits or ventilation holes in this kiln, and the air can be convectioned so that there is wind. Because of this, the kiln is very dry.
I walked carefully with a flashlight and looked. The ancestors were very clever, and the cliff kiln was very suitable for people to live in. In order to solve the lighting problem, people took out a shallow nest with oil lamps at a height of more than one meter above the ground on the cliff wall.
There are also small caves in the cliff kiln, all of which are built with kang, of course, those kangs are collapsed and broken and unusable. I counted six small kilns.
At the head of the kiln, there is a pot stove, and a number of niches are dug in the wall of the kiln where household goods can be placed. It seems that the construction was very thoughtful!
The kiln palm is close to the kiln leg, and there is a low hole in the ground, and people feel a cold breath when they approach. I went over and looked, ah, it was a well, I picked up a stone and threw it down, "bang" the water was very loud, and I could see the splash of water when the flashlight shone." No wonder the fifth uncle said that after his father left, they came up and took the bucket away, and it turned out that there was a well in the cliff kiln. There is water, as long as there is grain and firewood, it can really be avoided for a long time. I also understood the reason why the kiln ditch is not long, but why there is a flow of water for many years: "The well in this cliff kiln may be one of the sources of the gurgling water in the ditch."
Soon the kiln was "inspected" by me, and I was a little disappointed, I didn't find any wild things, nor did I find any fairies and evil spirits. I didn't find any big knives, shuttles, guns, grenades and other weapons. Moreover, no ventilation space was found to form air convection. The people who repair the cliff kiln are too smart, and this ventilation hole must be very secretive! In order to prevent others from finding out and getting in or blocking it. The only discovery was that there was still some hard wood (i.e. wooden firewood) in front of the stove of the kiln palm, which was probably the leftover from my father's time. After all these years, these firewood are not rotten, and I immediately decided to take them all away, which is "good firewood"!
I returned to the cave entrance, saw the downward facing hole next to the entrance of the cliff kiln, and shone a flashlight down the steps.
Hi, this hole is not too deep, I suddenly woke up, this hole is separated from the steps into the cliff kiln by a stone wall. The hole opened in the wall of the cave that leads directly to the steps of the cliff kiln is the hole opened to prevent outsiders from coming up the steps! If someone climbs up the steps to enter the kiln, the guards will poke them out with shuttle marks through these holes, and the climbing intruder will surely be stabbed and fall. And the bottom hole is just used to deal with the ladder of the upper cliff kiln, when the person squatting in the hole can use a pole to poke the ladder over. Of course, this is the era of cold weapons.
When I threw the pile of hard wood off the cliff and got out of the cave, I saw that the ladder was gone! I looked at the ground and no! Shouted "egg" a few times at the top of his voice, except for the echo reflected back, where is the shadow of "egg"! There is no trace of anyone else! I know, this is the "egg" to make a mistake!
There was no way, so I had to go down the steps, turn around when I reached the bottom step, squat down and climb the steps tightly with my hands, and then hang my body slowly, holding the steps tightly with both hands and hanging in the air.
I looked down, haha, it's okay, it's okay, the mound of earth on the tip of the ground is not high, at most more than a meter, the heart is wide and the hand is loose, hey, I landed smoothly.
I sorted out the firewood and carried it back to the village. As soon as I entered the village, I saw the captain standing under the locust tree with a black face, and "egg" was standing on the side with a ladder with a treacherous smile.
The captain asked you what you did in the kiln, "The sheep still can't be released?" ”。
I didn't care about the captain's words, just questioned the "egg": "You turtle son, stole the ladder for Lao Tzu." The harmed Lao Tzu almost couldn't get down."
"Eggs", then said, "Hey, hey, captain, look at you, I'm not wrong, he just used the ladder on the team to sneak up the kiln to find something for himself!" Why do I have to give me a day for this report? ”
The captain did not answer the "egg" stubble, but said that I "put down the firewood, I will send you back, and hurry up and herd the sheep." Look how hungry the sheep are. ”
In the future, I also plan to compete with the "egg", and after the persuasion of other young people, I also feel that there is no loss. Besides, at that time, I was still afraid of the "eggs" who could "martial arts". It wasn't until he later killed the big tanuki I was feeding with a small-caliber rifle brought by the management cadre, and the old accounts were counted together, which taught him a lesson and pierced his cowhide of martial arts.
After I met "Egg" decades later, I talked about these interesting stories of that year, and I asked "Egg" why he took the ladder away that year. "Egg" smiled and said that after I entered the hole, he originally climbed up, but once he calculated that this job was not sent by the team, then it was impossible for him to mix a few jobs. Therefore, as soon as the spirit moved, he simply carried the ladder back, saying that the furniture in the team could not be used personally, he was protecting public property, and he could still rely on the skin to ask for a few work points, "But the conscience of heaven and earth, I see, without the ladder, you can also come down to do this."
I smiled and asked how many jobs you carried the ladder back. "Hey, don't mention it, I just met the captain in the village. Having said this, he reprimanded me. You want me to carry a ladder and follow him into the ditch to find you." Just as you were about to leave, you came back. In the evening, I looked for an accountant to keep scores, but the captain said that he would not give a single point. In fact, our captain is good at everything, but it's really fucking critical in terms of work points."