Chapter 13 Article Eleven: A Big Joke Made by Soviet Experts

Leaving the city and going to the countryside, the first job I took part in was to control the Huaihe River.The Huaihe project is very large and complex.Participated in two small projects: Shuanggou River Diversion Project and Nanchao River Sluice Project. Since I am not an expert in water conservancy engineering, but only participated in the Huaihe River as an ordinary laborer, I don't know much about the whole, but I only have my own experience, which is quite memorable. The Shuanggou river diversion project is to dig a river near Shuanggou Town on the edge of the Huaihe River to connect the Huaihe River and Hongze Lake. I still remember that this river needs to be dug by all manpower. It is 50 kilometers long and the deepest part needs to be dug down for two Seventeen meters, but I can't remember the width.I was particularly impressed with the depth of 27 meters, because during the entire river digging project, many strange things were excavated underground.

The purpose of digging this river is to use Hongze Lake as a natural reservoir. When the Huaihe River rises, the water will be channeled into Hongze Lake, which will naturally eliminate flooding. The idea is reasonable and the project is not too complicated. The idea of ​​this project was proposed by Soviet experts.At that time, on the territory of China, there were countless Soviet experts from all walks of life, all of whom obeyed the instructions of Soviet experts. It is said that a group of Soviet water conservancy experts made a comment after inspecting the Huaihe River: You Chinese are so stupid. The Huaihe River has been troubled for thousands of years. Zehu Lake is here, and the water level of Hongze Lake is much lower than that of Huaihe River. As long as there is a diversion river to bring water from Huaihe River into Hongze Lake, at least half of the problem will be solved!

China itself has water conservancy experts, some dare not speak out, and some say that although the water level of Hongze Lake is lower than that of the Huaihe River in autumn and winter, the water level of Hongze Lake will also rise in the flood season of the Huaihe River, even higher than that of the Huaihe River. The water level of the Huaihe River is even higher. Normally speaking, there should be information on the water level records over the years, but for some reason, maybe the words of the Soviet experts are the truth, and the project is still going on. As the vanguard of the project, a working group with less than 20 people escorted 200,000 catties of grain without moving. The grain and grass went first and drove to Shuanggou first.

From Linhuaiguan to Shuanggou, you take the waterway. On the Huaihe River, it is clear and calm, and the scenery is excellent. Fishing boats are lined up on the river, fishing with connected fishing nets. Net, thirty to fifty catties of big fish, jumping wildly in the net, really amazing. When the boat arrived in Shuanggou, the first task was naturally to unload the 200,000 catties of grain.The local government has already prepared a warehouse, which is nothing more than a big grass shed. After arriving in Shuanggou Town, the most strange and incomprehensible thing is that I don’t know why the town’s street entrance is so far away from the river, there is a large open space of more than 500 meters, all of which are extremely smooth, without any grass, and the width of the Huaihe River, It's just that, looking at the other side, the situation is the same.A bag of food had to pass through this open space before reaching the town, and the work of transporting it was naturally more and more difficult.

Of course, I later learned why there was such a large open space on both sides of the bank. It turned out that it was not an open space. Once the flood season of the Huai River came, this was the bottom of the Huai River. The width of the river could triple overnight. Under normal circumstances, if there is a lot of rain, the river surface can expand almost endlessly, so the Huaihe River is a disaster! There are 50,000 people, 30,000 migrant workers and 20,000 labor reform prisoners who participated in the Shuanggou River Diversion Project. Fifty thousand people lined up in the field, only then did they realize that there is really no difference between people and ants.All people live in shacks (with the exception of the cadres of the headquarters), the so-called shacks are mats made of reeds, covered on small bow-shaped bamboos, the two ends of the small bamboos are inserted into the soil, and some The grass is dried and spread on the mat.

This kind of shack has been dealing with it for a long time, from northern Anhui to northern Jiangsu, for about three years, so it is necessary to mention it.The reeds are very loosely woven. Lying in such a shack, when one opens his eyes, the moon and stars are few and far between.Naturally, there is no rainproof effect. Once it rains, it will rain a little outside, but it will rain heavily inside. The leading river had to be completed before the wind season, so 50,000 people rushed to work day and night. Railroad tracks were installed on the construction site, and the excavated soil was transported out with bucket trucks. The construction was completed just before the wind season. The water in Hongze Lake also rose sharply. Look at the water in Hongze Lake, which passed through this laboriously dug river and poured into the Huaihe River, causing even greater disasters. It was still there, and quickly filled in the excavated soil near Hongze Lake. It took another half a month, and finally built an earth dam to block the water of Hongze Lake.

And what about Soviet experts?I patted my ass and walked away. Later, I found out that the so-called Soviet water conservancy experts were just students from some small water conservancy college in some small place, and they had never graduated. A few days before leaving Shuanggou, I walked back and forth along the bank of the Yin River with a few people. The river is straight and full of water. I saw willow trees and peach blossoms planted on both sides of the river. It is a good place to go boating on it. The idea of ​​using Hongze Lake as a natural reservoir, of course, no one has mentioned it again, is it a waste of manpower and material resources? Anyway, China has a vast land and abundant resources, and it can be wasted, so naturally no one will pursue it.