Tongzi Dam River
Teng Jianmin
Tongziba River can be regarded as the mother river of my hometown.
Its name could not be found on the map, but it kept flowing in my memory, crystal clear and gurgling. The icy water of the snow-capped mountains watered thousands of acres of land along the coast, feeding people and living species in more than 20 villages.
The snowy landscape water of the Tongziba River originates from the northern slope of the Obo Ridge in the middle section of the Qilian Mountains. In ancient Han dynasties, it was called Qilian River, and during the Wei and Jin dynasties, it was called Qiangshui River. It is a tributary on the eastern side of the Black River.
The snow mountain water flows from the source, the Tongziba River meets with tributaries such as Donggou, Yangjizi, Xiaoshibi, Dashibi, and Erdaogou, passing through Qilian County, Qinghai Province from south to north, over mountains and rocks, after thousands of hardships, through Biandukou, all the way to rush and mighty, flowing through the gentle and open Mayingjiao River, and finally into the Shandan River.
Around the land moistened by snow-capped mountains, people along the river work hard, multiply, and live an ordinary life of self-sufficiency. Suddenly, one day, a young man dressed in a robe and holding a wooden staff came from afar, breaking people's peaceful lives. A good-looking young man explained scriptures and explained the Dharma to the people in every village. The suffering and spiritual emptiness of the people were illuminated by the Buddhist ideas and the sincerity of the communicators. In the meridians turning in the hands of the communicator, there is hope, sustenance, promise for the future, and even the destruction of evil thoughts. Day after day, they wondered where the preacher came from and where was he going. Later, it was discovered that the cave on the mountain on the other side of the river was the shelter of the young speaker, and people respected the teenager more and more.
One day, when the young man sat on the altar and chanted with his hands folded, people listened attentively. A few white clouds spread out in the sunny sky, and the young man sitting here suddenly appeared as a statue of a bodhisattva boy. Therefore, the villagers and neighbors rushed to tell each other, worshiped incense to the cave, and named the cave Tongzi Temple, and affectionately called the river Tongziba River.
I grew up drinking water from the Tongziba River, which is my hometown, the cradle of my life.
The earliest memory of the Tongziba River is watching the adults divert water into the waterlogged pond in the middle of the village. In the sixties and seventies of the last century, waterlogged ponds were an indispensable place for water storage in the countryside. In today's parlance, it is a reservoir that diverts the snow water of the Qilian Mountains through the Tongziba River channel to the waterlogged pond for drinking by humans and livestock. People in the countryside use water all year round and rely on waterlogged ponds for storage. It is the lifeblood of rural people and a landscape of the countryside.
At that time, whenever the village held a meeting to divert water and drain the pond, the adults carried shovels to repair the canals, and people far from home had to bring food, drink, and felt jackets in addition to labor tools. Although we are small, we also understand that they not only work during the day, but still have to wait by the ditch at night, and the waterlogged pond is filled with water before they can return home. For a while, there was smoke in the village, and the voices of people were booming. Every time the waterlogged pond is filled with water, the village is like a New Year's holiday, the old people squint and wait against the street gate, and the children jump and shout at the entrance of the village, expecting the first clear stream to enter the village.
The waterlogged pond is full, the water flow gradually decreases, and the long river channel and the lubrication ditch become a paradise for children. In the era of material scarcity, all children can chase are chickens and dogs barking, streams and meadows, frogs and cicadas, dragonflies and paper kites, weaving colorful childhood in the embrace of nature.
In summer, the sound of the Tongziba River can be heard in the distance, like the pleasant chanting of countless wise men. I walked as slowly as I could, approaching it gently, listening to the melodious sound.
The water rushed over the stones, soaked the earth, and jumped down the way. All the noisy sounds become safe and peaceful here. The silver glow of the sun on the surface of the water is intertwined with the sound of water hitting the stones, as if the ancestors fought to survive in this land thousands of years ago.
The villages on the banks of the river not only divert water from the river to water their fields, but also take advantage of the water resources and install water mills on the fast-flowing rivers. The river pushes the wooden wheel to rotate, and the wooden wheel drives the two hewn stones to run. It not only solves the needs of the people in ten miles and eight townships to grind noodles, but also increases the collective income. The water mill has a special guard, I remember that when my family pushed the mill, my mother often contacted the two families to help the water mill push barley. At that time, we called the water mill a big mill, and pushing the big mill was also a very hard and tiring job. Keep grinding up, keep piling noodles. That is, the grain is transported on the millstone, the grain is ground into flour, and then the noodles are passed over with the apple, just like through a sieve, the thick block is on the top of the apple, and the sieve is fine powder. Push the big mill day and night, waiting in line, which time slot has to be in which time period, you can't choose by yourself.
I often think that if people's homeland is a village, then the river must also have a home, and its hometown should be time. The Tongziba River grows in time, dreams, and longs. Its growth process is arduous and slow, and although the natural appearance is monotonous, it also has endless charm. The handsome Yuer Mountain around him hides a thousand years of hearts, and the stones that have been weathered for a long time in his arms can tell a story. More than 2,000 years ago, the Han Dynasty opened the Central Asian Passage and made the Silk Road unimpeded. Huo Qubing's first battle with the Xiongnu, Tongziba River was a witness.
The Tongziba River, which flows through the ages, has been listening to the footsteps of people along the bank and the sound of flying horses' hooves. In the wind, there are local ditties roared by shepherds, and there are foul words and colloquialisms of men holding ploughs and rakes waving bullwhips, the sound of the bow and knife of the moon clashing with the shining sword, and the shouts and fights of trumpets. Until the last feather arrow that covered the sky drifted in the clouds of history, when the Tongziba River was soaked red with blood, the birds flying in the sky emitted a low wail, and the stone silent at the bottom of the river carved a tragic scene, which will also become the eternal memory of our descendants.
The Tongziba River hides immortal inks of history. In the cold winter of 1936 of the last century, after the long march of thousands of miles, the Red West Road Army Blood Hexi Corridor, soldiers died under the Qilian Mountain. After a fierce battle between Gulang and Ma Jiajun, they passed through Yongchang and were besieged and ambushed, and Tongziba River and Yonggu City were all stops they passed. That winter, when the wind was cold and the snow was flying, they would rather drink ice and lie in the snow in the Tongziba River, sleep on the streets of Yonggu City, and shelter from the wind and snow under the eaves, rather than disturb the people. When the people looked at their thin clothes, festering wounds, red and swollen hands and feet, and chapped lips, they stretched out their warm big hands to free up hot kang for the wounded and sick and clean their wounds. Wealthy people also voluntarily donated food, felt, quilts, and clothing to ward off the cold. To this day, on the hillside on the banks of the Tongziba River, there are many unrecognized grave bags, which, according to the older generation, are all Red Army. Due to the situation at that time, the Western Route Army rested in Yonggu City for two days, most of them left with the army, and some of the seriously wounded patients could not walk, so they stayed. Later, after recovering from their wounds, they went to the troops, but some of them were buried in the arms of Tongziba River.
When I spent my middle school years in Yonggu City, I used to hear that as soon as the sun went down all year round, there would be a cry from Yu'er Mountain. What's more, if you get up in the middle of the night to listen, you can probably hear the deafening sound of drills under the fish mountain. At that time, these legends felt like rumors and superstitions, but in today's view, some of the things circulating among the people are not necessarily rumors, perhaps it is the heroic soul of the Western Road Army that transmits their strong and unyielding love of life!
Today, my heart still carries the primitive and quaint Tongziba River, and the lonely and silent Yuer Mountain is still tapping on the keyboard. Hometown is a topic that I can never finish writing about, and I can't finish telling poetry.
I miss the river of my hometown, and the squeaky water mill...
(About author: Teng Jianmin, pen name Mobei Xuelian, literature lover. Member of Gansu Province Association. Some texts have been published in provincial, municipal and county-level newspapers and magazines, and literary websites. He has occasionally won essay competitions held at the national, provincial and municipal levels. ）
