The changes in Hejiazhai Village, Jiufeng Town, Zhouzhi County

"Book of the Later Han Dynasty" records: "Gengyu, this place was the Royal Shanglin Garden during the Han Dynasty. At that time, Fubo General Ma Yuan stationed here to reclaim wasteland and sold the land to prepare military supplies." "Zhouzhi County Chronicles" " records: "In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Mayuan sold official land, and people with the surname Geng bought the land in this valley with only two grains of silver. I didn't know the depth of the valley at first, but later I learned that the valley was hundreds of miles deep. Because of the surname Geng, I got Geng Valley."

The Gengyu River here originates from Baiyangcha in Shouyang Mountain in the Qinling Mountains at an altitude of 2824 meters. After leaving the mountain, it passes through Gengyu, Jiufeng, Macun, Shangcun Town, and Liangjiabao before flowing into the Weihe River.

According to legend, in the first year of Guangming in the Tang Dynasty (880 AD), Li Yuan (Li Shimin’s father), the emperor of the Tang Dynasty, came here for hunting. The mountain looked like a crouching tiger, and the nearby village Hufeng got its name from this. . To the north, there is a village about two kilometers away from Gengyu Pass. It is named "Juyang Village" because the river in the south of the village has formed a barren beach with overgrown weeds and groups of wild goats often appear.

From the first year of Jingding in the Southern Song Dynasty (1260 AD) until the recent 1960s, the Gengyu River often experienced floods due to flash floods. The floods flowed straight down from the mouth of the valley, and the villages downstream were in danger. Floods When it reached one kilometer south of the village, it suddenly branched off from east to west. The two streams passed by the village, and then flowed to the north of the village and merged into the lower reaches of the Gengyu River. The village was safe and sound, so the village was renamed "Hejia Village", which later evolved through oral tradition. It is a homonym for "Hejiazhai" and is still used today. In fact, no one in the village has the surname He, and the surname is basically Li. Today, people are still accustomed to calling the Gengyu River Beach where the first group of villagers outside the east gate is located "East River Beach" and the residence of the fourth villager group outside the west gate of the village as "West River Beach".

I remember when I was a child, there was a small river outside the west gate of the village. The water was crystal clear and the water flowed endlessly. It existed until the 1980s. People often bought vegetables and washed clothes here. The breeding room and storage room of the Second Production Team and the Third Production Team, as well as the wall with a large iron gate, are the team headquarters. The team's tractors, winches, threshers and other belongings are all inside. In the 1980s, the household responsibility system was implemented in rural areas, and all the "properties" of the production team period were sold and disbanded. Now private houses have been built here.

I heard from the old people that at that time, the village was surrounded by woods, and the woods were dense, and wolves often appeared. In the 1970s, it often happened that the pigs raised in the backyards of some households were eaten by wolves at night. Later, people Painting white circles on exterior walls to scare away wolves is really effective.

Grain processing basically relies on grinding flour yourself. What I remember most clearly is the Mohe Canal one mile away to the west of the village. Here, the impulse of water flow is used to drive the operation of the mill machine. The process of processing grains relies on manual feeding, stacking stacks back and forth repeatedly, and then the noodles are baked by hand. We were young at that time and didn't know how to do it, but we saw it in our eyes and it has become an indelible memory. At that time, my father was working in other places, and my mother often pushed a wheelbarrow or carried grain on a pole to come here to process and grind flour. Because it used water to drive the big wheel outside, which then drove the movement of the mill inside the house. Everyone called it "water mill." ". I remember that my mother carried the burden and led us here often. Looking back now, it was not easy for my mother to bring us up at that time. It is unforgettable and accompanies us in the process of growing up.

The water in the "Mohe Canal" is an irrigation canal diverted from the Gengyu River Lanba in the upper reaches. I remember once, my neighbor’s brother was carrying me across the river, but something went wrong and I fell into the water. I don’t know how long I drifted or how I came up. I only know that when I was conscious, I was lying on someone’s hot bed drinking sugar water. Well, the eldest brother next door was scolded by his parents for this. Not far from the "Water Mill", we call it "inverted siphon" because the road water passes from below. After the water flows from the underground pipe, a pond more than three meters long is built. In summer, the water in the nearby village Children come here to bathe and play in the water. It is very lively and has been like this for decades.

Regardless of this small canal, the contribution of the "Mohe Canal" is not small. There were no wells in the fields in those years, and the fields for dozens of miles around were basically irrigated by it, including Ganwu, Shuizhai, Erlian, In Shayun and other villages, "Mohe Canal" is under the jurisdiction of the Heihui Canal Management Office of Zhouzhi County. I remember once we lined up for irrigation and it was our turn to water the field. It was a corn field that was as tall as one person. We basically watered the field using the methods of "blocking" and "draining". Because the field is long and narrow from north to south, we watered the field from north to south. When I looked back after watering my own land, I saw that other people's fields had also been watered a lot. This was because my farming skills were not yet mature enough, as I was still a student at that time.

Three mountains, six rivers and one farmland, this is the portrayal of Jin Zhouzhi.

People often say: What you eat brings you benefits and harms. The Gengyu River is extremely harmful to the village. I remember how many times the river flooded and the village was in emergency. People guarded the river embankment day and night to rescue people. Later, in the 1980s, the Zhouzhi County Government mobilized the entire county to "radicalize the Geng River" and completely control it. Due to the huge project at that time, a temporary headquarters was set up on the river bank. I heard that it was basically a responsibility system at that time, and it was carried out on a piecemeal basis. All towns and villages in the county sent out workers. From then on, the Gengyu River was completely renovated, and the riverbed was covered with stones. Building edges and solidifying the foundation basically solved the flood problem for many years. In recent decades, some people have built commercial mixing stations along the river, basically using up the sand that has accumulated at the bottom of the river for many years.

Speaking of river floodplains, due to the alluvial deposits of the Gengyu River, there are large areas here. Due to the open ground, the township militiamen trained here. They threw grenades for live-fire drills. After the drill, we are here. They picked up the grenade handle and wooden handle they left behind and took them to the village to show off to their friends, attracting many friends to come to "treasure hunt".

For many years, the village has only one street, and the residents have long bases. Basically, the houses have three entrances. Because the village is small, everyone knows what kind of house they have. People in the village drink from well water. There is a well at the east end and the west end of the village, both of which are covered with well houses. There is a windlass on the derrick, and a rope is wrapped around the shaft. When drawing water, the iron hook at the end of the rope is used to tie the barrel beam. Go up, lower the bucket slowly, estimate that you have reached the bottom of the well, then wave the handle of the pulley, wrap the rope around the shaft of the pulley handle, and a bucket of clear water will rise to the surface. Then carry it home on a pole and pour it into the water jar prepared at home. It can usually be eaten for several days. This well is sacred, always clear and sweet, nourishing the whole village.

In the 1960s, thyroid disease was prevalent in a generation along the Qinling Mountains, and many people had "Yong Gua Gua" (thick neck). At that time, a unit of the People's Liberation Army drilled deep-water wells in our village along the Qinling Mountains - -----We call it "pressure well", also known as "yangjing", which facilitates the drinking water of the whole village. The well water is rich in trace elements. After a few years, endemic diseases and the consumption of salt will cause "Yong Guagua" Basically eradicated. Later, in 1982, the provincial hydrogeological team carried out hydrological exploration and surveying not far south of the village. After the geological team completed the survey, in view of the good water quality, the 300-meter-deep well was directly handed over to the village. We witnessed and participated in the scene of lowering iron pipes into the well and filling it with sand and gravel. At the beginning, the water from the well sprayed out automatically, and the water sprayed very high. People from the surrounding villages came here to wash clothes and vegetables. Later, in order to make full use of this resource, the village built an 18-meter-high water tower with a capacity of 30 tons. In 2015, pipelines were laid using the national centralized water supply project. Every household has access to tap water, which has completely changed the village's past situation of shallow water and pollution. The current situation of large earthen jar wells and pressure wells for drinking water has completely changed the environmental outlook of the village.

People often say: repay kindness with knowledge and seek the roots of ancestors. In the south of the village, not far from Gengxi Village, we call it "Huangtu Liang". There is a big mound here, which everyone calls "Zonggupa". Around 1980, many educated youths in the village jumped in to settle down. Since the "general lump" was in the middle of the ground and was in the way of some people planting crops, they proposed to level the large mound. During the leveling process, ancient tombs were discovered underneath it. I remember that we all went to the scene to watch. At that time, the most enthusiastic person about digging graves was the educated youth stationed in the army. Everyone called him Lao Xiao (he had no family, lived alone, and later died of stomachache one night). A lot of things were dug out at that time. Things, including the jars, altars, basins, bronze mirrors, and swords in the tomb, were all placed in the storage room of the second production team, and then nothing happened. Some people judge that it may be the ancestral tomb of the Li family in the village. Legend has it that it is a descendant or a general of the "King of Jin" Li Keyong in the Later Tang Dynasty. Because he was going to Luoyang to fight, he settled his family members in this village and buried them after they died in the battle. There is a field not far south of the village - Huangtu Liang. Since there are no records, it cannot be verified. Hejiazhai Village is now divided into six groups, and Anzhaizi Village has been merged into the village committee. It now has more than 400 households and a population of more than 1,400 people.

Speaking of Jiufeng Township Government (now Jiufeng Town after the merger of Jiufeng and Gengyu Townships after 2000), the original office was located in Ganwu Village. Due to transportation convenience, In the early 1990s, when the village was moved to this village, members of the Second Production Team donated more than 20 acres of land for their use free of charge. Later, schools, police stations, credit unions, mobile China Unicom, etc. also came, as well as large supermarkets, making work and life more and more convenient.

Time flies, the little kids back then are now all white-haired, and there are groups of children. Gengyu River still flows with clear water, but there are no shadows of children playing in the river, and there is no longer the lush vegetation on the river bank. In the woods, I feel that the river bank is shallower, the clear gravel is no longer at the bottom of the river, and the stone bridge is not as majestic as it used to be when I was a child.

The soil and water support the people. Standing in the distance and looking at the village, you can see the endless kiwi orchards, etc., all of which are planted with cash crops. Farmers no longer work in the fields early in the morning or late at night as before. Every family has an electric donkey, which makes traveling very convenient. The village is getting bigger and bigger, from one street to four streets now. The houses are basically made of bricks and tiles, and they are getting higher and higher. The village has street lights, cement pavement, and cars parked all over the streets and alleys...< /p>

A hometown that cannot be returned to, a memory that cannot be erased. The clear Gengyu River flows all year round, nourishing the people along its banks. Currently, after Jixian and Jiufeng Towns were managed by the Xi'an High-tech Zone in 2018, most of the farmers' land is being expropriated as the scale of the Jixian Industrial Park continues to expand. Today, I write down these things that happened in the village to tell people the real stories that happened here. It is not to worry about where to put their hearts in the future. It is to let people know a little about the living environment and life trajectories of their predecessors and ancestors, leaving behind some interesting information. Value of memory.