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Qingshui River, also known as Qingshan River, is the only waterway from Gaochun to Dangtu, located in the lower reaches of the Shuiyang River. In Gaochun, not many young people nowadays pay attention to it, and many people don't even know about her existence.
Do you know that before the 70s of the 20th century, it was the golden waterway for our logistics and even travel. At that time, land transportation was extremely underdeveloped, and most of the goods from other places such as Nanjing and Zhenjiang (Gaochun was under the jurisdiction of Zhenjiang Prefecture at that time) were transported by ship.
Through this waterway, the means of agricultural production and daily necessities were transported to Gaochun from other places, and the grain, oil, cotton, yarn, and silk of the Gaochun estate were transported to other places. It can be seen that in the history of Gaochun transportation, shipping is the main mode of transportation.
Where the ancient times end, a thousand years old drift with the wind. Mr. Galtai once described in "Crossing the Horizon" (see "In Search of Home"): "I was fourteen years old and was going to study at the Suzhou Art College, first by ship and then by train. It takes three days on the road. "When Mr. Gao went out to study, he walked this golden waterway.
He boarded a small steamer at Gaochun Wharf, crossed the Qingshan River into the Yangtze River to Nanjing, and then took a train from Nanjing to his destination in Suzhou. Although it is a big circle, it is more difficult to travel by road and takes more time.
In the mid-70s of the twentieth century, the three production teams of our natural village had a small wooden boat of more than three tons, which was specially used for the transportation of goods from Gaochun to Dangtu. The boat is contracted to the members, three people per period, for one month, and the village contract fee is paid 100 yuan per period.
The excess income shall be received by the contractor. Most of the time, especially during the wet season, the income can reach three or four hundred yuan per period, or even more. This was a very attractive income at the time.
There are more than 100 laborers in the three production teams, and everyone is vying for contracting, and the leaders of the production teams are not easy to arrange, so they have to adopt the method of grasping castrations to determine the contracting personnel. When catching eunuchs, each team has one person, a group of three, and pairs by themselves.
I was sixteen years old, and I was still an ignorant teenager. Although I was a student in school, the "Cultural Revolution" was in full swing, and I went to school to "fish for one day and dry nets for three days," and spent most of my time working in the production team to earn some work to subsidize my family.
The captain said, "You're too young, I'm afraid no one wants to pair with you." My dad privately found a cousin and a cousin to do the work, and at the contract meeting, they offered to form a group with me, and the opponents had nothing to say.
When the third phase was contracted, it was the wet season in August, and everyone wanted to go. My cousin and cousin asked me to be castrated, saying that I was a young man and that my luck would be better, so I would take it seriously. Wow! I'm so lucky, I'll take the cocoa's.
This made the other members of the club very envious, and they all said, "This kid is so lucky, he will be prosperous in the future!" Cousin and cousin are even happier.
Someone who contracted the first phase even offered to give me 50 yuan to replace me, but of course I didn't do it. I thought to myself, maybe I can earn a hundred dollars back, in that case, wouldn't I lose fifty dollars in vain?
You must know that at that time, we worked in our production team from morning to night to earn two cents and four cents. Fifty yuan is a lot of income for my family.
The three of them rushed to Sanba early in the morning with some grain, oil, clothing, daily necessities, and expectations like blue sky and white clouds, and handed over to the members of the second phase of the contract.
The three-ton wooden ship had seven cabins, the first of which was entirely planked with wooden gangplanks to facilitate the disembarkation of the crew and cargo. The last cabin is the helm room, where the helmsman is at the helm. The sixth cabin was covered with reeds for night stays. The middle four cabins are the largest and are used for loading.
There is a walkway more than a foot wide on the left and right sides of the ship to facilitate the passage of the crew, and a tall mast is erected in the center of the ship. The first time I went out was to live on a ship, which made me, a teenager who had never been out since birth, feel that everything is very new.
Running from cabin to cabin, jumping from ship to shore, without stopping. But my cousin and my cousin were very busy for a while, inspecting the ship cables, wooden rudders, pennies, iron anchors, arranging ropes, tarpaulins (covering the goods), sails, and placing stoves and daily necessities.
The first ships were loaded with wheat, all in flax packaging. There is a large state-owned grain depot in Sanba, and there is a special person at the grain station to contact the ships there. There are special migrant workers on the goods, a bag of 100 kilograms of wheat, one bag at a time, from the polder to the ship, each bag of wages three cents, very hard.
Our crew is responsible for counting, setting up and setting up the gangplank. Once filled, cover it with a canvas to shelter from any wind or rain you may encounter on the way. The wheat is transported to Dangtu, with designated wharves and dedicated consignees, and then transported by train to all parts of the country.
After filling the wheat, cover the canvas, tie the rope, and take advantage of the moonlight to sail overnight. Pull on the full sail, smooth the wind and water, all the way west.
The horizontal banks are wide, and the wind is hanging. Uncle Cousin was at the helm, my cousin was cooking, and I stood on the bow of the boat to enjoy the scenery, only to see the vicissitudes of the waves, and the moon flowed and smoked. The breeze is coming, and the bright river is shadowing. It's a pity that I will only "get on the bow of the ship and roar", and "I won't write poems in the clear stream." ”
After five hours of sailing, we arrived at Dalong Town. Uncle Cousin said that the boat would be anchored here for the night today. At night, one person is arranged to watch the goods, two people sleep, and take turns to rest. We complied.
The first time I lived on the boat, I was cranky, and I had the mood of the ancients of "a lonely boat to the moon, and the sound of the water accompanied the guest's heart". In a few moments it was dawn. A red sun is rising, a new day has come, and we are ready to set sail.
Suddenly, I thought of freeing my hands and asked Uncle Cousin what to do? Uncle Cousin said, it was not easy, go to the stern of the boat, and pull it into the river. I looked embarrassed, and my cousin said, I'll make a show first. He walked to the stern, ripped off his pants, cocked his ass, and literally pulled shit into the river, which I could only do.
After that, I thought that the water we use for cooking and washing vegetables and the boiling water we eat are all scooped from the river, and then we pull the feces and urine into the river, completing a cycle. For thousands of years, boaters have lived like this. But the water is still as clear and clean.
After the tap water used today is pumped up from the river, it has to be filtered, disinfected and tested, and after many procedures, it can be transported to thousands of households.
The national and local governments have promulgated many environmental protection regulations, such as not allowing the discharge of sewage into the river and not allowing washing clothes in the river, but the river water is muddy and the water source is very polluted. It can be seen that modern life brings us not only happiness, but also environmental pollution. This is off-topic.
We arrived at Dangtu Pier that day, it was already dark, and we had to wait until the next day to unload the goods. After dinner, my cousin and I went ashore to see the train. I've never seen a real train before.
When the Tu Bridge was not far from the unloading dock, my cousin and I sat on the steps by the railway, and we were extremely excited to see the trains speeding by.
The tracks are mostly grey wagons, with the occasional green passenger-carrying train passing by. It turned out that the train was so long and running so fast, and it was so strong! I didn't sleep well that night with excitement.
The next morning, we unloaded the wheat and loaded it with fertilizer. The return journey has suffered us, which is both a headwind and a headwind. The ancients said: "Sail against the current and hold on hard, and retreat a thousand times with ease," Cheng Si said.
You can't borrow the wind, you can't pull the sails, you can only carry the fiber. Steering is a technical job, and you have to be a cousin. My cousin and I took turns carrying the fiber. When you are not carrying a fiber, you can't be idle, hold a penny, stand at the bow of the boat, and prevent the bow of the boat from hitting the river bank at any time.
It is hard work to carry fiber, it requires exertion, and it is summer, most of the time, barearmed, wearing trousers, bending the waist, pouting the buttocks, and moving forward step by step on the shore with difficulty! When you encounter a tree or a boat moored by the river, you need to go around, and the effort is very great, and the boat travels slowly.
At the end of the month, my shoulders were covered in calluses, which were a permanent memory for me. Enduring hardship is actually nothing, we are all farmers who can endure hardship. The biggest concern for water transport is storms.
The ship carries goods, the draft is very heavy, once it encounters a storm, the slightest carelessness, there is a danger of capsizing. In the event of capsizing, the cargo transported will be lost, and the ship may be destroyed and people may die. There is a saying among the people of Gaochun that "sailing and running horses are three lives", which shows that it is very dangerous to sail on the rivers and seas.
Uncle Tang is an old boat driver, he has run on the Yangtze River before, and has a wealth of sailing experience. Whenever there was a storm and dark clouds rolled in the sky, he led us to move the ship to a sheltered harbor and wait for the storm to pass before setting sail.
A few days after the storm, I was very nervous when I was often hit by flash floods, the water in the river was turbulent, and the waves were rolling. Whenever there is a crisis, Uncle Tang is not afraid of danger, and he holds the rudder steadily, and he can turn danger into danger every time.
There are also happy moments, when the wind and water are smooth, pull on the full sail, go down the river, only to see the big green mountains in the distance towering into the sky, showing the kind of scenery of "the green mountains on both sides of the strait are opposite each other, and the lonely sail comes by the sun".
I stood at the bow of the boat, looking at the beautiful scenery on both sides of the river, the graceful green mountain main peak seemed to greet me, and my body had the feeling of flying. Seeing thousands of sails competing in the river, boats coming and going, the ancients' poems such as "the south comes to the north and rests, and the apples blow all the Chu Jiangqiu" and other ancient poems will blurt out.
At this time, the cousin, who has always been unsmiling, will also hum a few lines of folk songs: "A big river has wide waves, and the wind blows the fragrant ....... on both sides of the rice flowers."
The most nostalgic thing is the food life on board. There are a lot of fishermen on the river, and the fish is also very cheap, the fish is a dime a catty, bought and washed, put on the reed to dry, after steaming, it tastes fragrant and crispy.
Whenever the ship is anchored at night, the three of them sit on the bow of the boat, raise the wine to change the lamp, look at the bright moon, buckle the side and sing, not to say that they have raced the gods, at least they are also happy. Boats are usually parked in small towns along the way. Because there are a lot of boats, these small towns are lined with shops, people come and go, it is very lively, the sound of Jiake Township is mixed, and the smoke is bright and the fire is bright.
A month passed quickly, and after the three of us liquidated together, we earned more than 500 yuan in transportation expenses this month, and after deducting living expenses, there were still 460 yuan, deducting 100 yuan from the production team's contracting fee, and 360 yuan.
The cousin said 3131, I disagreed, and proposed that the two of them get 130 dollars each, and I get 100 dollars. At my insistence, it was distributed, and everyone was happy. At that time, "small workers" paid eight dimes a day, and 100 yuan was equivalent to more than four months' wages.
Carrying a ray of sunshine, leading the mighty wind all the way, raising a journey to splash the waves, making a youthful dream, and the hot-blooded man is ambitious in all directions. The one-month crew life on the Qingshui River was my sail to the society.
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