The volunteers and local villagers who had entered the mountain before were already waiting at the entrance. According to them, the mountain road was not too long, but the most difficult part was that there was a natural moat in the middle. There were mountains on both sides, and in the middle was a river about 50 meters wide. There was no bridge between the two mountains, only two steel cables. Anyone who entered the mountain, except for helicopters, could only enter through these two steel cables.
Although Li Mu was prepared, he only realized how difficult it was after he followed these people into the mountain. The mountain road had not been systematically repaired. The slightly gentler parts were almost completely trampled hard soil. The steeper parts had traces of artificial repair, but it was only to make some of the dents deeper and smoother to prevent people from slipping when climbing the mountain.
According to the guide, even though the villagers in the mountain used this road to enter and exit the mountain, even they could not guarantee absolute safety. Every year, there would be people injured on this road. The light ones were sprained, and the heavy ones were fractured. For the mountain people, if they broke their legs on this road, they would not be able to leave the mountain for half a year.
This was the first time in Li Mu's life that he had walked on such a difficult mountain road. To be honest, he was a man in his early twenties, and it was especially difficult for him to walk on such a mountain road. It was hard to imagine how the old people here could get out of the mountain.
Fortunately, there were these well-trained soldiers. On this kind of mountain road, they could guarantee that each of them could carry 15 kilograms of weight. In addition to some equipment, they also brought some grain and oil prepared for the old people. In the end, whether or not they could persuade the old people to go down the mountain, Li Mu himself was not sure. The grain and oil were a record. At least, the old people would not have to worry about food.
Li Mu's hometown was on the eastern coast. Although it was not an economically developed area, it was generally acceptable. The poverty he had seen with his own eyes before was nothing more than a humble dwelling, frugality, and careful budgeting. At most, it was ragged clothes. But when he was in the deep mountains in the southwest and struggled to move forward on the mountain road that was not a road, he realized what real poverty was.
Real poverty was the kind of reality that made people fall into despair at first glance.
In this kind of mountain that even bicycles could not get out of, Li Mu could only think of despair when he put himself in the shoes of others.
What surprised Li Mu was that Liu Xinying, who walked with him, did not seem to be that strenuous. Her movements were particularly neat, and sometimes much more dexterous than him.
At first, Li Mu was surprised, but soon he thought of something and felt relieved. Liu Xinying was a very magical woman. She had even been to the North and South Poles, and she was also someone who wanted to climb Mount Everest. Climbing this kind of mountain road should be a piece of cake for her. Compared to her, he was inferior. He had never participated in such challenging outdoor activities, so he had no experience at all.
The group of people climbed on the mountain road for more than an hour and finally reached the top. When they reached the top, the first thing Li Mu saw were the two ziplines that spanned the two mountains. The ziplines were steel cables thicker than a thumb, fixed to the top of the mountains on both sides. Coincidentally, a villager holding a lamb was sliding from the opposite mountain bit by bit. Li Mu panted as he carefully observed, only to find that there were two pulleys side by side above the ziplines. Below the pulleys, there was a fixed rope. People crossed the river by tying themselves to the rope, and then used their hands to pull the steel cable bit by bit to make the pulleys move forward.
Before they got close, Li Mu could already hear the huge surging sound of the waves. It was like the release of water from the sluice of a hydropower station. The sound was extremely loud. Under this surging sound, the two of them had to shout to each other to talk, or else they would not be able to hear each other clearly. When they came to the front and looked down, Li Mu could clearly see the turbulent rolling river. The flow was extremely fast, and the sand was tumbling. It made people feel awe.
A volunteer from the province said loudly in Li Mu's ear, "Li Zong, below here is Nujiang."
Li Mu suddenly realized, "No wonder I always felt like I've seen this kind of situation before. Now that you mention Nujiang, I remember it. I've learned about it in geography class in junior high."
The volunteer smiled and said, "In the eyes of outsiders like us, this is a rare scenery, but in the eyes of the locals, this is the mother river, and also a natural moat that separates them from the outside world. This zipline, on one side is the town, and on the other side is a dozen or so primitive villages deep in the mountains. The people of the mountains within a dozen or so kilometers share this zipline to enter and exit the mountains, but even if they leave the mountains, they can only reach the town where we just parked. If they want to go to the county town, they still have to walk a dozen or so kilometers. There are no public buses here, so there are people riding motorized tricycles in the town, and there are also people driving animal carts to carry passengers. Only after walking a dozen or so kilometers can they truly leave the mountains."
Li Mu nodded his head lightly. A dozen or so villages using this zipline to enter and exit the mountains, with a radius of more than ten kilometers. In other words, the farthest village in the mountains would still have to walk a dozen or so kilometers to reach. A dozen or so kilometers on flat land was nothing, but in such a large mountain, a dozen or so kilometers would probably take at least half a day to reach, right?
Calculating in this way, a day might not even be enough for the villagers to leave the mountains …
As he was thinking, Liu Xinying waved at Li Mu from the other end of the zipline and said, "Li Zong, let's cross the river!"
Li Mu had played zipline before in the scenic mountains around Yan Jing. The feeling of sliding down from the mountainside with a zipline was especially cool. To a certain extent, Li Mu quite liked that kind of exciting feeling. But today, Li Mu was filled with awe. He tied himself up tightly and used his hands to pull the zipline forward bit by bit.
Because the height of the mountains on both sides was similar, there was basically no difference between the two ziplines. Therefore, whether it was entering or exiting the mountains, one could not slide down in one go. One had to use both hands to pull it bit by bit. When Li Mu slid out, he realized how tiring it was. Although there was no difference in height between the two sides of the zipline, the zipline was not perfectly straight. After a person climbed up, the position of the zipline would naturally be pulled lower. Therefore, it was especially difficult to slide like this. Under his feet was the surging Nujiang River. The waves were turbulent, making people feel weak in their hearts.
Li Mu had only slid halfway, but his arms were already extremely sore. When he finally slid to the other side, his arms were already so sore that he could not feel them.
The delicate Li Ziwei had only slid halfway across the river and cried for ten minutes before she finally slid over with gritted teeth. Li Mu comforted her while sighing in his heart. No matter how much money the people in the city earned, it was still too little. Many people complained about the pressure of life, the hardships, and the unfairness of society. However, compared to the people living here, they were already many times better off. The biggest wish of the young people here was probably to leave the mountains.
The group took turns to slide across the river and advanced for another hour under the guide's lead. When everyone climbed over a mountain and stood at the foot of another mountain, the guide pointed at the dozens of houses scattered on the mountainside and said, "That is the Baofu Village we are going to. It will take about twenty minutes to go up the mountain from here."
Everyone heaved a sigh of relief. After twenty minutes, victory was already in sight.
The guide introduced, "There are currently more than thirty households in the village, and the permanent population is about a hundred. Most of them are old, young, women, and children. There are also some middle-aged laborers with silicosis. The Old Mister Sun we are going to visit lives on the easternmost hill."
Old Mister Sun's original name was Sun Xiaozhong. Since ancient times, there was a saying that loyalty and filial piety could not be achieved at the same time. It was unknown what the meaning behind the old man's name was.
…
More than twenty minutes later, the mighty group of more than twenty people finally arrived at Baofu Village. The village had been ruined beyond recognition. The whole village was filled with thatched houses, and there was not even a single brick house. A slightly better family had a three-room thatched house, and some families only had one small thatched house. From the outside, the area inside could not be more than ten square meters.
Baofu Village had almost never received visitors from outside. Occasionally, people from outside the mountain would come, but they were all young people who had gone out to work. This time, there were so many outsiders and more than ten soldiers in military uniforms, which shocked the whole village. Men, women, old, and young all went out and looked at these uninvited guests in horror. There was no officially appointed village chief in this village. There was only an old man in his sixties who was elected by everyone to act as the "village chief." When the old man saw such a large group of people, he nervously went forward to ask Chen Chengwu, who looked like a commanding officer. He spoke in the local dialect, but Chen Chengwu could not understand him at all. At this time, the guide hurriedly went forward and said to Chen Chengwu, "He is the village chief elected by the village. His surname is Tian, and everyone calls him Village Chief Tian. He just asked you if the People's Liberation Army came to the mountain to arrest fugitives. He said that 20 years ago, there were dozens of people from the People's Liberation Army who came to the mountain to catch fugitives. They searched the mountain for three days and three nights."
Chen Chengwu hurriedly said to him, "Explain to the old village chief that we are here to see Mr. Sun."
The guide nodded and pointed to the east and said a few words to Village Chief Tian. Village Chief Tian was stunned and said a few more words to him. The two of them chatted for a while, and Village Chief Tian's expression became more and more surprised. Later, he seemed to be anxious and slapped his thigh and shouted a few words.
Chen Chengwu asked the guide, "What did the old village chief say?"
The guide said, "The old village chief said that a few days ago, someone came to see Mr. Sun and said that he was a great hero who had fought against the Japanese in the past. The village chief said that Mr. Sun had really fought against the Japanese, and that he was a member of the Flying Tigers who flew a plane to fight against the Japanese. The old village chief said that why didn't he say such an important thing earlier? Mr. Sun had lived alone in the village for half his life, and no one knew that he was a great hero. If they had known earlier, they would have worshipped him like an ancestor!"
Chen Chengwu sighed and said, "It's not too late to know now. You tell the old village chief that we have to go see Mr. Sun first, and we will come back to visit him later."
The guide said a few words to the old village chief, and the old village chief immediately said a few words to him. The guide said that the old village chief wanted to go with them, and Chen Chengwu didn't object, so he called the guide to take everyone there.
When they came to the small hill on the east side of the village, when Li Mu saw the lonely thatched hut, tears almost came out of his eyes. This thatched hut was really dilapidated, its dark grass roof had collapsed, revealing the rotten wood inside, as if a gust of wind could completely blow it down. The thatched hut's door was even more crude, it was simply a few crooked branches that were randomly nailed together. In order to block the wind, there was a fertilizer bag with carbamide written on it. Who knows how long that bag had been used for, but now it was full of holes.
Before everyone reached the door, the old village chief shouted with an accent that no one could understand. A moment later, the dilapidated door was pushed open from the inside. A hunchbacked old man with white hair and beard and tattered clothes stumbled out with the help of a walking stick made from a tree branch. When he saw a dozen soldiers wearing military uniforms standing outside the door, the old man was first stunned. After a long while, he actually raised his right hand shakily. After a long while, he raised his right hand with difficulty to his ear.
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