Fifty years ago, more than 300,000 people in Linxian County, Henan Province, holding the momentum of rebuilding mountains and rivers, flattened 1,250 mountains and drilled 211 tunnels on the mountains, crossing the low-to-high drop, and going up against the mountains. The artificial Tianhe of Hongqi Canal. Hongqi Canal, under the technical conditions of the time, the construction of such a great project made everyone look at it with admiration!

A hundred years of severe drought

Lin County is a county seat in Linzhou City, Henan Province. It was once famous for its extreme drought. Looking through the county records of Linzhou, I found that from 1436 to 1949, Linzhou experienced more than 100 large-scale natural disasters, more than 30 land harvests were lost, and drought caused severe famines.

These droughts are caused by many reasons. Linzhou land belongs to the Linzhou Basin of Henan Province. The basin is bordered by Hebei and Shanxi at the same time. On the west side is the towering Taihang Mountain, and on the north side is the flowing Zhang River. This Zhang River, which originated in Shanxi Province, is divided into three main streams: Qingzhang River, Zhuozhang River, and Zhang River. Although the Zhuozhang River in it has been diverted many times, it has "three-passed and failed to enter" the Linzhou Basin.

The basin bottom of the Linzhou Basin also presents a trend of higher west and lower east. It cannot store water well during rain. What makes the situation worse is that the local geology is mostly limestone. Limestone is different from ordinary sandstone. It is very soluble in water. , Is a kind of formation that “absorbs water” instead. Therefore, there are almost no impervious formations in the Linzhou formation, and there is nowhere to find groundwater.

The people of Linxian County in the past faced such difficulties in survival, and they had never thought of saving themselves. At that time, they had only two ways to go: repair water conservancy, or escape. But fleeing is easier said than done. After all, at the same time, there were no trains or high-speed rails. Only a few people who had the right conditions could go to Shanxi to flee the famine. Even if the others took the burden to flee, they would not bring enough dry food. To get out of Linzhou’s hunger circle, you can only beg and go all the way. However, crossing the Taihang Mountains means going through many uninhabited areas, and some people starved to death on the way to fleeing famine. The vast majority of the people in Linxian who remain have the feeling of "returning to the roots of fallen leaves" and still stick to their hometowns.

Around 1956, Lin County spontaneously started large-scale water conservancy construction. A reservoir was built in the southwest of the Linzhou Basin, and a hero canal was dug to connect with Linzhou. Water conservancy facilities such as ponds and deep wells were also completed. However, in 1959 An imminent drought caused the reservoir to completely dry up. All the efforts of the people of Linzhou were in vain. At this time, they realized that what is needed here is not unstable rainwater and groundwater, but a river that never stops flowing.

Where is the river? Zhanghe in the north is! The Zhuozhang River is a large river with abundant water. If it can be introduced into Linzhou, it can solve the drought problem in Linzhou for at least 20 years. But the problem came again. When the Zhuozhang River flowed from high to low, to the nearest place in Linzhou, the water level was already lower than the elevation of the basin. Moving from low to high is undoubtedly unrealistic. Therefore, it is necessary to take a point higher than the basin in the upper reaches of the Zhuozhang River to allow water to flow into Linzhou by gravity.

After repeated scrutiny of this water diversion point, Houbi at an altitude of 464.75 meters in Shanxi Province was finally selected. The construction of the Hongqi Canal began.

Introduce Zhang into the forest

To build an "artificial river" from Houbi to the Linzhou Basin requires a drop of more than 14 meters across the two places, separated by the tortuous and steep Taihang Mountains. Taking into account the stability of the mountain and the flow velocity of the river, it is undoubtedly unrealistic to dig a straight tunnel from Taihang Mountain to Linzhou. The main canal must have a continuous slope, and the drop between every 8 kilometers must not exceed 1 meter. Therefore, after planning, a main canal hovering more than 70 kilometers on the Taihang Mountain was determined.

At that time, it was in the country's "three-year difficult period". Some people believed that such a large-scale project could not be supported by the state, nor could it be built. However, the lack of water for the villagers is a problem that needs to be solved urgently, so the people of Linzhou decided to rely on their own hands to do it by themselves.

In February 1960, more than 30,000 ordinary Linxian farmers walked into the Taihang Mountains. They were husband and wife side by side, father and son walking together. They had no professional skills, and some were just eager for water and surviving.

Without construction funds, they raised in the county, and the villagers were all trying their best to help; without accurate measuring equipment, they built their own "water duck" with wood planks, wires and water basins, and the measurements were not bad; there was no cement shop. If there is no explosive to make a hole in the mountain, just study the homemade method of "earth explosive".

According to historical records, the 5,170 tons of cement produced by Lin County people themselves accounted for 77.1% of the total; the 1,215 tons of explosives produced by themselves accounted for 44.3% of the total, and the 145,000 tons of lime fired were completely self-made.

Even if the material problem is solved, it still has to face the problem of insufficient logistics. At that time, it was a famine, and the working flesh needed energy support, so many villagers who were unable to participate in the construction saved their own little food and gave it to the construction team as rations. They drank rice soup and ate wild vegetables. Fill your hunger.

The problems faced by the construction team are even more dangerous, because many of the constructions in the planned route need to be hoisted on the vertical cliffs of Taihang Mountain, and they always need to face falling rocks from above. As a result, the aspiring youth stood up and set up a platoon to remove the loose rocks on the cliff before the construction team arrived. In the process, the tooth was knocked out, and it can continue to be pulled out on the spot; the head was stunned, and he could still move his hands after a rest. It was they who gave up their lives to minimize the casualties of the construction.

Among them, the most difficult and legendary project is called Qingniandong. It is the main throat of Hongqi Canal. The entrance of the cave is on the cliff of Langya Mountain in the lower Jinjiling. Not only is the terrain vertical, but the geology is all quartz sandstone, using a geological hammer. It can even knock out sparks when it hits it. It is extremely hard, but once it is cut through, the Hongqi Canal can move forward about 600 meters.

When the repairs were made here, due to insufficient funds, the voice of opposition became louder. At the moment when the construction was almost abandoned, more than 300 youths from the Yokosui Commune formed a commando team to quietly start the excavation project. At first, they could only dig less than half a meter on the quartz sandstone every day, but later this group of young people used their ingenuity and invented the "main attack triangle gun" method. The excavation speed increased from 0.3 meters to 2 meters per day. In 1 year and 5 months, a 616-meter-long, 6.2-meter-wide Youth Hole was finally drilled on the cliff. The construction of the Hongqi Canal has achieved a phased victory.

By August 1969, all the supporting works of all main canals and branch canals of Hongqi Canal were completed. Among the 500,000 people in Linxian County, more than 300,000 walked into the Taihang Mountains to build the Red Flag Canal. A total of 81 migrant workers died for this, including 61-year-olds and 17-year-olds. At this point, the Zhang River finally incarnates as the "life-saving river", passing through the Taihang Mountains for the first time and flowing continuously to Linxian County. A population of 567,000, 37,000 livestock and 540,000 acres of arable land completely bid farewell to the history of drought.

After the completion of the Hongqi Canal, the irrigated grain yield increased from 100 kilograms before construction to 476.3 kilograms in 1991. It is still in normal use. Over the past 50 years, it has diverted more than 12.5 billion cubic meters of water and irrigated more than 46 million mu of farmland. , Is a well-deserved river of life for people in Linzhou.

Not only that, but because of this achievement, many workers who built the Red Flag Canal were able to leave the Taihang Mountains to work. Those 100,000 craftsmen have traveled all over the country and even the world with their superb architectural skills and the spirit of "Red Flag Canal." It was embellished by the five-star red flag fluttering in the wind. The Hongqi Canal records the most difficult period in China, and it is also a magnificent history of young China that has risen to difficulties and is united in one mind. Editor/He Yuting