Before 150, Zuo built a village on the mountain. 20 19 years, why is there only one family left in the village?

Exclusive village, now a village in Xihaigu, Ningxia, has only one village, Ma Dehai.

One day in midsummer, we visited Ma Dehai. Starting from Baiya Township Government in Xiji County, we walked along the country road for a few minutes, and the asphalt pavement was gone. As soon as the car turned the corner, it looked up at the dirt road into the mountain. The yellow-brown winding mountain dirt road winds along, winding on the back of the green hill, like a ribbon extending to an invisible distance. Looking around, it is rare green, abandoned terraces and ridges, green vegetation, and no exposed loess at all.

The car walked along the mountain road for half an hour and dived into the river bed sandwiched between two mountains. At this time, we clearly saw adobe houses scattered on both sides of the river bed. The abandoned adobe house collapsed and was washed away by the rain. It was in ruins, simple and ancient. There are earthen walls, gaps everywhere, lush apricot branches on apricot trees, and round and big fruits scattered on the ground. The previous smell of fireworks no longer exists, but only exudes the silent beauty of mountains, rivers and trees.

After walking along the riverbed for ten minutes, we saw an old building on a sunny hillside. Further on, there is a residential building with adobe houses and brick houses hidden in the shade. There is smoke rising in the kitchen-this is the only Ma Dehai family in the whole village (Yaoerwan, Baizhuang and Xigou).

The mountain breeze is blowing, which makes people feel relaxed and happy. The sun shines gently on the old house in Ma Dehai through the dense trees. Brick houses for the elderly were built more than ten years ago, and the connected adobe houses have a history of more than 80 years. From a distance, there is a watchtower on the outer wall of the adobe house. People standing on the observation deck can see the end of the river bed and beyond. In front of the door is a borderless yard, with piles of hay neatly spread out, a Shifeng brand tricycle parked on the side, rows of stout willows covering a large shade in front of the house, and birds singing cicadas on the branches. On the other side of the yard, there are fields cultivated by the old people. There are a lot of alfalfa with blue flowers in the field, as well as cucumbers, beans, eggplant and tomatoes, all of which are ordinary vegetables without pesticides. The clear mountain spring in front of the door was rushing, and I immediately felt the silent beauty of the mountain.

Standing in Ma Dehai's old man's yard, we feel forgotten by time.

At this moment, a big German shepherd appeared on the lookout. It looked at us warily, barked fiercely, and sent a message to the host that a guest was coming. Seeing someone entering the mountain, Ma Dehai put on his jacket and hurried to meet him. Then, his wife, daughter-in-law and several grandchildren poured out of their rooms. Noisy voices enlivened the courtyard in the mountain. It's midsummer, and the mountains are hot and cold. There was a fire in the old man's house, and there were several pots of tea. The rising flames creaked and licked the container. Beyond the mountain, it seems like two worlds. Ma Dehai is nearly seventy years old, with a thin figure and rough skin. His forehead is like the ridge of Xihaigu, and his lips are like the cracked land of Xihaigu. However, his vicissitudes still exude a keen spirit. I can feel from this kind of eyes that he was a tough Shan Ye character when he was young.

Just know, ask Ma Dehai when the village cadres for more than 30 years. Now, the villagers have already moved out of the mountain, and his home has become the exclusive village here. Although confined to the mountains, it does not prevent him from being a well-informed person. I sat on the edge of his kang, and he sat in the chair opposite. There is a stove between us, and several little grandchildren are circling around their feet.

Ma Dehai slowly told the story of mountain life. He said: "During the Tongzhi period of the Qing Dynasty, Zuo used troops in Gansu, and when dealing with the aftermath, he planted many ethnic minorities in this mountain and set up this village. In other words, the Qing government gave us these miserable places to live in, and they were places that could not develop at all. In the first batch, my great-grandfather got married and had children, and was forced to settle in Moer Bay. Unconsciously, we have lived in the depths of the mountains for 150 years. "

In Zuo's plays, there are reports that people are inserted into Xihaigu Mountain.

The big village established by the left has become an exclusive small village overnight.

A few years ago, there were three villages in the mountains: Yaoerwan, Baizhuang and Xigou, where more than 4,000 villagers lived. However, the mountainous area is barren, and when the rain is good, the yield of wheat per mu will exceed 200 Jin. Ecological migration and whole village relocation have moved to the plains near the Yellow River and cities in northern Ningxia. In the mountain village, China Mobile and China Telecom were removed first, then the network signal disappeared and the TV signal disappeared.

Almost overnight, the whole village was emptied.

When Ma Dehai said this, he seemed to think of something. Hurriedly told us that there was another family that had not moved with him. Another person who hasn't moved is his neighbor Ma Zhiliang, who is one year older than him. "I have been called Ma Zhiliang's brother since I was a child. My brother has several daughters. When my daughter grew up, she married abroad. When the whole village moved away, Ma Zhiliang and his wife didn't move away. His wife later married in the mountains, 20 years younger than him, and their feelings were very general, making do. One day last year, Ma Zhiliang's brother suddenly fell ill and had a serious heart attack. That morning, his wife accompanied him to see a doctor in Xiji County, and I took them to Baiya Township with a tricycle. When I left, I said he died in the county hospital when he got well. When the buried body was sent back, it was also a morning. I dug a grave for my brother with a shovel ... I was exhausted after burying my brother during the day. His wife went out of the mountain that night and never came back. "

As a result, Ma Dehai's home became an exclusive village.

I asked him why he didn't take part in the village relocation.

Ma Dehai's brow wrinkled up immediately, revealing a full face of shame. His expression was depressed and he pinched his fingers. Then he told me about his difficulties: "The older generation and the second generation (two sons) are now in their forties. They should be smart but not smart, and have no physical strength ... The former daughter (wife) of the older generation (the eldest son) disliked these and ran away with others. We have raised more than a dozen boxes of ground bees, a dozen cows, oats, wheat, potatoes and peas. There is no problem in life. " The reality is that the education of grandchildren has become a problem, so we can only send them to the nearby mountains and borrow books from Linxian County.

The Ma Dehai family who live in the mountains live a life of sunrise and sunset. Courtyard agriculture is an important source of income in Ma Dehai. In the cowshed, a dozen cows are lying or lying down, and some get up and wag their tails. They are the property of this exclusive farmer. Next to the cowshed, there is a beehive, and the buzz is endless. Every few days, Ma Dehai drives a tricycle to the market in Baiya Township to sell his own honey and grain, so as to maintain the family's economic expenses.

When we came out of the mountain, Ma Dehai and several children accompanied us out of the yard. The old man held my hand hard, and the grass under his feet drowned our ankles, so we couldn't tell the old road in the village. Not far away, the once farmland was covered with grass half waist high. Surrounded by lush mountains, mountainsides, ridges and tops are covered with poplars, blackberries and Caragana.

The mountains are all green and Daiyu, and the exclusive village has witnessed the changes in the depths of Xihaigu Mountain. Not long ago, a friend in Baiya Township called me and told me that the stubborn old man in Ma Dehai might move out of the mountains and live on the flat land in the township. In recent years, many villages have disappeared in Xihaigu. In fact, those villages have not disappeared, but have become forests, mountains and rivers, grass seas, quiet and fragrant homes, forming another form of existence. (Text/Fan Qianfeng)