Walking on Daqing Road in southern Shaanxi

In the northland after the National Day holiday, the golden wind brought a cool breeze, and the weather was getting colder. However, the southern Shaanxi valley between Qin and Ba is still hot. Along the Baocheng line of Jialing River, south to Lueyang, Yangpingguan and Ningqiang, an outer jacket became a complete burden, and hula danced all the way around the waist.

The Qinling Mountains extend from east to west, from Shaanxi, Gansu, Sichuan, Henan and Jiangsu. It is a landmark in China, and it is also a major obstacle to north-south traffic. Jialing River passes through the mountains and goes all the way south, opening up a south Sichuan road. Thus came the Shu Gate, Shu Road, Wu Jun's resistance to gold, and Shu's Northern Expedition, which also gave birth to countless ancient towns, villages and ancient battlefields along the way. Bashan and Shushui are like historical fossils. As long as you are willing to stay, every landscape stream will tell you endless vicissitudes.

Today's Baocheng Line is closely related to the ancient Shu Road, and it can go directly to Beijing. Yang' an Line, Han-Dan Line and Hanjiang River run parallel in the hinterland of Qinba, leading directly to Wuhan. Take the green leather train along these two north-south east-west railways, walk slowly and listen slowly. Along the way, there are village tunes, battlefield echoes and rolling red dust. Just like traveling in another world, just visiting.

It was afternoon when I set foot on the southbound train of Baocheng Line from Huixian Station at 34 degrees north latitude and arrived at Guzhen Street in Yangpingguan. The fiery sunset dropped from the top of the mountain bit by bit, and there were countless golden ripples on the river.

Five dollars left the railway station by battery car and crossed the bridge to the other side of the river, which is Yangpingguan Old Street.

Old street is really old. At a fork in the south of Daqing Highway, it suddenly descended and extended to the river. The whole street looks completely under the highway. The old tile houses on both sides are lower. The facade was blackened with age, and the color of the wood could not be seen. Shops along the street use bamboo poles to support black sunshade nets, and the two opposite houses are almost close together. There are colorful clothes and plastic products on the street. It's past five o'clock, but there are no customers and no idle people. Several women are playing cards by the shop, a child is playing skateboard, and the door of an old barber shop is open, with an old barber chair. No one was there. The sunset in the evening is sinking rapidly, and the streets are silent, which is particularly deserted. Only the sunset casts a long shadow on the lower and lower streets.

After walking for 100 meters, the black sunshade net disappeared, the shops disappeared, the streets narrowed, and three or two old people stood by the roadside talking. It looks like a residential area. The wooden house on the street is very low on the second floor, and most of it is littered. Some doors have plaques, and the handwriting is unrecognizable after being smoked. I walked into an alley, and many doors were closed. I don't know whether I have gone out or have already moved out. There is a door that says clinic. The door was open and no one was there. There is a room with the door half open. A woman is wrapping jiaozi, but there is no sound in the room. The roadway is clean and tidy, the firewood at the door is neatly stacked, and the blue gravel road is spotless. At this time, I really hope to meet one or two people, or hear the voice of cooking in the room, the voice of adults calling dolls to eat, or the voice of women cursing men, but there is nothing. Near the end of the alley, I seem to hear someone walking around in the cable, trying to find a voice to walk over, but it is some weeds, the doors and windows of an old house are skewed, and several cobwebs are shaking in the wind. On the edge of the old house, there is an alley extending into a yard, and a door is half-closed, but there is no sound. Looking around again, there was no figure, almost silence. Only a few clumps of autumn chrysanthemums and wild geese bloom brilliantly in the sunset, and the Jialing River flows quietly. Suddenly there was a trace of fear, which seeped up from behind bit by bit coolly. Hurry down the slope along a path leading to the beach.

Standing by the Jialing River, under the faint sunset, the river wind in early autumn blew from the valley, blowing on my face with a slight coolness. The sunset is like a soft satin, quietly spread on the empty river. In the boundless twilight, the desolate wilderness and the silent village look lifeless. Is this a quiet and slow time or an abandoned old time? Are these old houses determined to stay in time, or are they depressed because no one cares? The clean bluestone road, neatly-coded firewood and bright flowers clearly show the dignity of a serious life, but why is there no sign? It was not until the next day at Daijiaba that the mystery seemed to be solved.

Back at the hotel, I chatted with the female shopkeeper. I heard that I came to visit and said with a smile that there was nothing to see and play in Yangpingguan. The retired postmaster came over and said that Yangpingguan was the ancient battlefield of the Three Kingdoms, where Zhao Zilong had been stationed. Opposite is Mount Zi Long. I walked into the yard and looked in the direction of his finger. That's a hill. It looks lower and flatter than the surrounding mountains. There are no more functions. When Zhao Zilong was stationed there, it was really a strategic place to explore Cao Wei in the north and control Bashu in the south. For many years, North Shu was separated by mountains. Yangpingguan is naturally an important pass at the junction of Qinba Mountain area, which runs down the river. It's just that the Zi Long Mountain in front of us is not as majestic as advertised, but a relatively high flat platform on the river. Idle people play with words or official propaganda. In order to match Zhao Zilong's heroism, they insist on exaggerating with some words.

I asked if I had heard of the ancient riverbed in Yangpingguan. The water of the Western Han Dynasty once flowed eastward here, which was originally the upper reaches of the Han River. During the Six Dynasties, due to the uplift of the earthquake, the dam diverted water to the south, resulting in the separation of Jialing River and Hanjiang River today. The old director and the people in the room shook their heads hard and said with a smile, where is yo? We grew up here, and the Jialing River has always been like this. I said, it's not surprising that you haven't heard of it. That was more than a thousand years ago, and it was also an old account dug up by some geographical explorers. The old director said that there seems to be some truth in what you said. There is a watershed village in Lijinba. A small amount of water flows into the Han River in the east, and there is a ditch in the west that drips into Yangpingguan. I was overjoyed to hear that. This is the very place I am looking for. The old director said that if you want to go, you can take the shuttle bus, more than 20 kilometers away, or you can take the train to Da 'an first. Daan is a small station on Yang 'an Line. This line runs from Yangpingguan to Ankang, mainly for freight and passenger transport. It's a life car for railway workers, which comes once a day. Very slow. Before it was opened to traffic in the 1970s, Ankang's goods had to be transported by car and caravan to Yangpingguan and then to Baocheng Line. After Yang 'an Line is opened to traffic, it will be much more convenient to merge with Baocheng Line. So Yangpingguan is also an important wharf.

The past is like smoke. The dangers of Shu Dao in the past have become the past. The criss-crossing roads and railways have turned the natural moat into a thoroughfare. Remaining old streets, old houses, and war stories, the stories that people have passed down from mouth to mouth, still seem to tell people the glory of the past. The quiet ancient town continues to stage new survival stories in the new era.

Early the next morning, looking at the opposite Zi Long Mountain, the fog filled the air, which is very common in the mountains. If it weren't for the legend of Zhao Yun, it would hardly be mentioned. Waiting for the bus on the bridge, the people in the market made the desolate streets lively yesterday. Daqing Road is also bustling, with cars and motorcycles honking their horns and avoiding each other. Buses, noodles and black cars compete to attract business. At 8 o'clock, a bus from Ningqiang to Qingmuchuan crossed the street. Bamboo baskets and baskets are lined up under a big traffic sign. A woman is selling osmanthus trees, and a two-meter-high seedling is one yuan each. Walnut buns are golden and crisp. Buy one and get on the bus to Hanzhong while eating.

This road is also called Liyang Highway. This is a section from Jin Kui to Qingmuchuan. On the road from Yangpingguan to Daan Town, 30 kilometers east, there are scattered villages such as Daijiaba, Xiangshui Village, Fenshuiling Village, Qingnigou Village and Lijinba. Golden paddy fields are dotted between green mountains and green waters, white morning mist is entangled among the green bamboos in the valley, and Qingxi flows quietly at the foot of Daba Mountain. Tall trees covered the houses and tiles. The car walking on this road is like a country song, relaxed and beautiful. 20 10 Daqing road was rated as the most beautiful country road in Shaanxi.

Get off at Xiangshui Village and walk. Look along the road. After 9 o'clock, the sun is just right, and I determine the position according to the sun. Daba Mountain in the north, extending from northeast to southwest, and Qinling Mountain in the south. Elevation and position measured by altimeter: 730 meters above sea level, 33 degrees north latitude 1 40 seconds east longitude 106 degrees 12 minutes 57 seconds. Near the direction of Daba Mountain, there is a small river ditch that flows westward. I suspect that this is what scholars now think of as the ancient river channel, which once connected with Qingnigou to the east and poured into the Han River. I want to ask someone, but there are few pedestrians on the road. It took me a long time to meet two little girls of sixteen or seventeen. There are also several migrant workers who build roads. Turn into a small village, every household is closed and no one can be found. I have some urine at this time, so I want to solve it on the side of the road. I used to look around before I did something bad, but I saw a woman in a vegetable field. I said hello, asked about mountains and water, and only answered, I don't know, ask someone else. I said where there are many others, why are there so few people in this village? Where have all the people gone? The woman said that young people and men who would have stayed at home have gone out to work. I see! No wonder I felt strange in Yangpingguan Old Street last night.

I took some photos of the noisy ditch, and a woman came in the yard. I said hello and asked what the name of this mountain was. Where does this river come from? The woman looked at me doubtfully, but she didn't answer, but asked me, what are the benefits of killing some? What I'm saying is I want to know. Women lose interest. Taking pictures in a yard, a woman bluffed at me, beware of dog bites.

Back in expressway, I walked for a while and finally met a man, a lean old man in his sixties. It is said that this river is called Xiangshuigou River and flows down from Longdong Mountain in the north. There were three holes, and he gestured with his hand, which was as thick as the mouth of a teacup. There is more water in summer and less water in winter, just like now. I asked him if he had come down from the Guanting, and he shook his head. No, he is from Longdong.

I asked Fenshuiling Village, and the old man pointed and said that there was a slope ahead.

I stopped a car and walked to Fenshuiling Village in less than ten minutes. At the top, the car just stopped to get on and off. I quickly measured the elevation and position, took out my notebook and copied it down. It is 787 meters above sea level, 57 meters higher than that of Shoushou. Longitude 106 degrees 14 minutes and 7 seconds, 2 minutes and 50 seconds east of Xiangshuigou. Latitude 33 degrees, 2 minutes and 7 seconds. Xiangshui village is 27 seconds north. After walking for another five or six minutes, the driver said it was a green mud ditch. Can't you come down? I said, down, right here. You can't see the river in the green mud ditch in front of you It is really worthy of the name that it is a river ditch. Walking by the roadside for a while, a man in his thirties brushed his teeth beside the hospital. Ask quickly. The man said that the level of the green mud ditch is not high, but it will rise in summer and drip down into the Han River. Is this exactly what modern scholars call the ancient riverbed of Yangpingguan? It seems that it will take some trouble to find the clues of history.

Get off at Lijinba and stop at Little Square, the village committee. Like all rural cultural squares, there is nothing new. However, there is a river in Lijinba, which originates from the source of Han River in Da 'an, southwest of Qingnigou, south to Wudingguan and Jinniugang, passes through Shumen Jianmenguan and reaches Chengdu. This is the famous Chuanshan Road. There is a legend about Wudingguan. According to legend, during the Warring States Period, King Hui of Qin wanted to attack Shu, and Daba Mountain prevented him from going south. I will send someone from Shudu to send you a gold medal, Shi Niu. Wang Daxi of Shu ordered Wu Ding to cut the mountain to clear the way. Qin entered Shu and destroyed Shu. This place is called Wudingguan. It is said that the road passes through a narrow mountain range, and the walls on both sides are lined with knives and axes. When you look up, you can only see the sky. Lijinba, Wudingguan, Jiamengguan and Jianmenguan are all important stations and passes on the Sichuan-Shaanxi road. This road is also called Jinniu Road.

There are still five or six kilometers from Lijinba to Da 'an Town. I took another seat for six people and soon got into 1 1 person. The driver said there were two more people to fuck. Surprised and scared, I said I would go down and take the next bus. The driver closed the car door and headed for Daan like an acrobat.

Like most towns in the north, in Da 'an, the largest town in ningqiang county, brand-new shops are crowded with sporadic low adobe tile houses, and motorcycles, tricycles and shelf cars can be seen everywhere on the streets. The most conspicuous thing is the advertisement of the mobile phone shop. Pedestrians are bustling and looking in all directions. Women with children in their arms, elderly people carrying mountain products and teenagers riding motorcycles make a street very lively. A large truck bound for Chengdu passed by the street with a loud roar, and motorcycles, pedestrians and stalls on both sides retreated in horror.

A big river flows from north to south into the deep mountains. Ask the local people that this river is called Hanwang River, which comes down from Hanwang Mountain in the north and is the source of Hanshui River. Will be injected into Mianxian county.

This statement is generally consistent with what I know. The official information of Daan Town is as follows:

To the west 10 km is the birthplace of ancient Hanshui-Hanwang Niudong Rock. The Seven Sisters Jinguihua Tree and the Wang Yu Monument, which have a history of thousands of years, are interpreted as the origin of the Hanshui River. According to legend, the Yu Palace in its mountain was built by Hanwang to commemorate Dayu's efforts to control water and benefit the people.

It's just that the direction is different from that of the locals. The inscription on the tablet and the words "The tomb of Gui is full of people, and it flows to Han in the east" are recorded in Han Yu Gong. Is Ge Zhongshan the Hanwang Mountain here? Is the handwriting on the Wang Yu tablet still clear?

Unfortunately, these unexpected problems were not planned in advance, and there were no vehicles and assistants on this trip. Considering the difficulty and unpredictability of the source investigation, no further action was taken before the next opportunity to find it.

I took some photos in a hurry and blocked a car to go to the railway station. The driver insisted on not asking for money when he got off the bus. Say I think you're from outside. If you are not familiar with it, I can give you a ride. This is a private car, and generally it doesn't pull people.

According to the driver's instructions, I walked along an uphill for four or five minutes, but I didn't see anyone. I wonder if I'm going the wrong way. Until you see a railway freight yard, and then the railway. There is still no sign of the station. In a roadside shop, a woman bowed her head in front of the door and played with her mobile phone. I asked where the train station was. The woman looked up and pointed, then bowed her head. After walking several hundred meters along the railway, a yellow warning sign hung on a closed iron gate: non-working personnel are not allowed to enter. Did the woman order it wrong? Look around, there are no other forks and entrances. I tried to push, the door opened and unlocked! We walked 100 meters again and finally saw the platform. There are three or four people sitting in the chair in front of the duty room, carrying luggage in their hands, as if they were waiting for the bus.

The platform is very small, so the word "Ningqiang" is very big. There are only five seats in the blue seat row waiting for the bus. I find time to sit down and chat with people nearby. This train runs from Yangpingguan to Ankang only once a day. Getting used to sitting is actually very convenient, time-saving and cheap. All the way to 7 yuan. Qinling Mountains in the north and Daba Mountain in the south. When we talked about Wei in small talk, we all felt sorry.

1 1: 40, the train marked "Happy Village" slowly enters the station from the west. Tickets are bought in Mianxian, two yuan. The train goes over mountains and mountains between Qinba Mountains and across rivers. Passengers along the way are all residents along the way. People are carrying burdens, baskets and schoolbags, visiting relatives and friends with gifts, playing cards and cracking melon seeds. The whole carriage is filled with the strange smell of sweat, tobacco and instant noodles. The scenery outside the window is constantly changing, gradually becoming open, and the river is endless. The train entered Hanzhong Plain from the mountainous area in southern Shaanxi. Qinba Mountain area is open and closed, and a broad stage is opened here.

It's basically boring to go to Wuhou Town, Mianxian County. On the big sign that entered the door was written an inscription by a minister of culture: Wuhou Town is the most cultural ancient town I have ever seen. This is really the best travel advertisement. It seems that all the tourist attractions in China are built according to one model, and all the mature tourist attractions look similar. For me who just came from the countryside, I have no feeling about this "built" culture. Borrowing the arrow of the grass boat, Zhuge Cao Lu and Zhuge Shen are just good photographic props. The so-called culture is transplanting and splicing together.

This trip is just to avoid the popular attractions and routes of the National Day, and there is no plan to write a road book. While walking, there are many unknowns and many accidents, which add unexpected gains and fun to this trip. Perhaps the significance of travel lies in discovering and exploring the unknown.