After arriving in Baotou, I gave you a letter, and I think I have received it. In the past two days in Baotou, where this uncultural monument is located, I feel very depressed.
Baotou City is very large, and it is one of the three major towns in the northwest by the mountain, and it was later promoted to a county. At the time when Feng Yuxiang was stationed here, he had a great plan for construction, and he wanted to build an outer city, divided into commercial areas, residential areas, agricultural areas, and so on. The outer city was not half built, and he failed, and there is still a ruined foundation. Baotou is the commercial center of the West Road, the waterway traffic has the Yellow River to Ningxia, and the land route can reach Qinghai and other places from Wuyuan and Linhe, which is an important place in the west. Today, commerce is still developed, and the railway freight can get more than 800,000 to more than 1 million yuan every year. Although after Feng and Sun military and 18 years of great drought, the loss is great, but in the past few years, after recuperation, has gradually recovered, industrialists from all over the southeast, there are also many people who are interested in investing in this industry.
Wu Zejun came and talked about the customs and customs of this place. He felt that opium smoking was a major problem, and that men and women often went into prostitution and theft in order to eat tobacco. During the 18-year drought, nearly 270,000 Suiyuan women were sold to Shanxi and Hebei. Shanxi merchants can get a wife for 100 yuan and have a son and a daughter, and they can immediately become a family.
On the 19th, from seven o'clock, the sky was overcast as if it were going to rain. The spirit is very bad, and it is as gloomy as the sky. Because it has been more than ten days since I came out, I have not gained much. I thought of Wuyuan, but because I had to walk for a day by car, it was too far, and the roads were mostly washed away by rain, so I had to give up the plan. I want to go home, but I can't go. Soon, it began to drizzle again, like the Qingming season in the south of the Yangtze River. I ate too much for a day and had diarrhea several times. When the rain stopped, I went to the Hebei New Village run by Duan. The new village has not yet started, and is recruiting Hebei disaster victims to move here. The south of the village is close to Yihaizi, and Duan Jun recruited several North Korean farmers to experiment with rice planting. If it succeeds, the impact is significant.
It's also very rare to meet a large herd of donkeys on the way.
When approaching the new village, the car stopped, and the mud was so wet that it couldn't drive anyway, so I had to walk there. There is still a lot of wasteland in the village, and it has not been fully developed. Due to the low embankment, the rice was submerged by water last year, and the harvest was less than 15 years, and this year the situation is slightly better, but it is still in the experiment, and there is no sure hope of success. But the terrain of this village is really good. Haizi is close at hand, and it is very convenient to get water, so the benefits of irrigation are not a problem. Duan Jun said that when he bought the land, he only gave four corners per mu, and because it was salty land, no one would want it. In the past few years, after his operation, the peasants were willing to rent opium from him for seven or eight yuan. He didn't want to grow cigarettes, so he didn't rent them out.
times to Nanhaizi. The car also got stuck in the mud on the way and had to turn back.
At 3 o'clock in the afternoon, the trailer arrived at Dengkou and planned to visit the Minsheng Canal. When I got off the bus, I met Xu Baichuanjun, a former student of Fudan and now an engineer at the Qukou Yellow River Water Conservancy Commission. He said that the avenue had been submerged by the water, but that he had found another path to follow this morning, and he led us to the mouth of the ditch. The water of the Yellow River is flowing very smoothly, and a small river is blocking us. The clear stream rushes into the Yellow River, where it forms several whirlpools. We got off the boat before the whirlpool and crossed the opposite bank, which is the mouth of the Minsheng Canal.
When the canal was completed, it was well publicized, but to this day it has not yet reaped the benefits of irrigation. At that time, the courage to rescue the victims, the work for relief, hastily completed, the design was very negligent. But it's not completely useless, and it can still be a good channel when organized. The mouth of the canal is closed with an iron gate, and the river cannot be entered. A few sparse red knotweed flowers grow at the bottom of the canal, swaying in the wind.
Nearby is the office of the Yellow River Water Conservancy Commission, which is dedicated to measuring the water volume and sediment content of the Yellow River. He was afraid of bandits and did not dare to live in the house. He said that when the river froze in winter, a large number of bandits in the west of the river crossed the river to plunder and looted everything. Several of the guards were thrown into the Yellow River, and one was taken captive several times. During the tobacco cutting season, the bandits disappeared and went to work. But as soon as the season passed, they were rampant again, with the aim of grabbing cigarettes. They don't make a career out of banditry, they are peasants, they just come out of poverty, and they even want a few dimes. If the soldiers come, they are good people, and if the soldiers go, they are bandits, and there is no way to prevent them. No wonder there is a fortress-like building on the station! He originally lived in the town of Dengkou, but because of the garrison in the town, he had to move to the station. His wife, a graduate of the Peking Institute of Technology, is also here. This kind of work that does not shy away from difficulties, our college students are beginning to be "immersed". He still escorted us to the station. Dengkou Station cannot be overnight, so it is still necessary to drive back to Baotou.
During the transition, I met a fishing boat carrying two bunches of oil wheat. It is said that when the oil wheat was sunk to the bottom of the Yellow River, the carp came to eat, and the fisherman lifted the bundle of oil and wheat, and the carp was hooked. The price of carp here is very cheap, and crucian carp is almost uneaten.
At half past six, I returned to Baotou.
At 6 o'clock in the morning of the 20th, Qitian waited for Nanhaizi to investigate. I didn't go. This place has been the port of the Yellow River in the past, and now it has been moved to Erli and a half miles and Wang Dahan Yingzi, which are closer to the railway line.
At half past eleven, I drove to Kojizaka and visited the Catholic village of Badalgai (Little Baragai Village). I have not gone with me because I am weary. It was still autumn, and soon it was drizzling. They went on a mule cart and returned at 5 p.m. It is said that there are more than 1,000 residents and their ability to defend themselves is very good. There are self-operated electric light factories and radio stations, and all men are strong and employed, and all women are full. Outside the village, the people who lived were all women with bound feet. There is a kindergarten and a co-educational school in the village, which is run by a Belgian pastor. Why does this peculiar "religious society" exist in the northwestern region? Why do the peasants living in that circle be more vigorous? Why do people outside the village not envy them when they see them and ask to join them? In the meantime, there must be a very important secret, and it is not necessary to investigate them in depth on the spot, and it is not enough to believe the report of the church. At 5:33 p.m., he drove from Gongjizaka to Mai Ta Zhao. Plan to visit Maida Zhao tomorrow.
Spend the night in Midazhao, which is very well guarded, just in case. I wanted to live in Sa County, but because of the big water, I couldn't get to see the places, so I gave up.
This is the last letter of the westward journey, because tomorrow we will return to Peking after the tour of Maidazhao, and we will meet shortly.
Finally, I would like to say a few words that I forgot to say: when I went to Dengkou, the scenery along the way was better. To the north is the Great Green Mountain, a natural barrier, to the south, the Yellow River, a soft belt, which follows us, and in the middle is the wheat field, which is full of water, but the harvest is not hopeless. On the road, there were many peasants with burdens on their backs, and they all rushed to the west to do short-term work, and they had to walk away without even a few cents of fare. The spirit of hardship and food is enough to show the true colors of true Chinese.
Standing on the bank of the Yellow River, looking at the mountainside of Daqing Mountain, there are many houses, Xu Junyao pointed out: "That is Shaerqinzhao." "
"There's a myth about this calling. He added: "Once upon a time, I don't know when, when the Han and Mongolia were fighting for territory, it was agreed that the place where one arrow would go was the junction of the two clans. It is said that it is a Han person, and a shot straight to this place. Therefore, Daqing Mountain became the boundary between the two ethnic groups, and Shaerqin Zhao was built to commemorate the place where the arrow was shot. "
At 10 o'clock on the night of the 20th, it was sent out at the Madar Calling Station
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