The years gone by - building earth walls

I planned to clean up the house in my hometown, so I called a forklift, and in just a few packs of cigarettes, the earthen wall in the front and back yard was knocked down and leveled, which made me feel a little sad. In order to build these earth walls, we suffered, sweated and worked hard, but now we pay people to knock down the earth walls. Standing aside and watching the mechanical operation, scenes of building walls in the past came to mind...

In 1988, Murakami designated a new homestead for my family. I asked my father: "Sir, how do you plan to build a house?" My father said without hesitation: "Build a five-room civil structure building. This is a construction model passed down from our ancestors. There is plenty of soil in the countryside and little money. The earthen house is well insulated, making it warm in winter and cool in summer.” I agree with my father’s idea. My father went on to say: "What farmers lack most is money, what they look down on most is suffering, and what they value most is affordability. Isn't a Gass house just about suffering more and sweating more!" I was deeply moved by my father's simple words. Impressed.

My father was in his early 50s and was thin. I was young and energetic, and my younger brother had grown up to be a young man. The three of us, father and son, were looking for good soil sources, driving their son's cart, and getting up early in the morning to collect soil. When I saw my father bending over and pulling the heavy cart, his legs were bent as he went up a small slope, he was breathing heavily, and there were big beads of sweat on his forehead, and his body was almost parallel to the ground, my eyes flushed and I sighed. The talkative father worked hard for his son silently, and felt very uncomfortable. Once the soil has been soaked, the foundation has been dug, the foundation has been tamped, and the tools for building walls have been found, and everything is ready, it is time to enter the first key step in building a house - building walls.

The earth wall has a long history, and it is impossible to verify when it started. During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, Chen Wan once wrote a poem praising earthen houses with earthen walls: "A low house with earthen walls and thatch, with a short bamboo fence and a wooden door. Swallows fly across the curtain in the drizzle, and the fragrant breeze intoxicates the branches of flowers." The earthen wall is The precious wealth of construction craftsmanship left by our ancestors embodies the diligence and wisdom of the working people. The technical content of building an earth wall is not high, and the tools used are simple: clamp rods, blocking ladders, iron ropes, hammers, shovels, iron hoe, stone pestle, slide rope, wooden wedges, twelve straight and slightly thick The pine rafters can be opened.

In order to build the earth wall well, I invited my cousin to be the "workman". Although he is young, he is very experienced and is a master in this field. There is a saying among the people that when building a wall, "seven tight, eight slow, nine free and slow". I called on a dozen strong friends in the village, which can be regarded as a "happy" team. My cousin organized everyone to lay out the wires, spread out the size of each wall, marked it with small wooden wedges, planted the clamping rods and ladders, and then placed a rafter on both sides of the blocking ladders and clamping rods, and used wood at the clamping rods. The wedge was fixed, and the blockage of the ladder was tightened with a rope. Everyone used shovels to fill the trench with soil. Brother Fa Quan, a "foreign-tempered man" in Guixiang, was appointed to pound the soil against the rafters with shovels, which is called edge rolling. While he was shaking the shovel, he shouted: "Lay, drop, stick, the shopkeeper will pour you some tea, Diudiu, the shopkeeper will give you some soju!" Everyone laughed and swung the shovel even more happily. Then three people went up and tamped the Xu Shi down with stone pestles. When I was building a wall, I discovered an interesting phenomenon: the people holding the pestle tilted their heads while working. I was curious. After asking an "expert" for advice, I learned that the purpose of tilting the head is to find the correct position of the pestle head. Will hurt the feet. As the "workman" shouted: "Get on the board", there was an immediate response: "Hey! The rafters are here!" Everyone quickly placed the rafter on the first rafter and fixed it, and picked up the shovel and prepared it. Put down the soil. Brother Dingsuo, a "capable man", said: "There is no idle person under the wall. Print the boards to survive. They are compact!" Generally, only twelve rafters are used to build a wall. When the seventh board is reached, the rafters will patrol for the second round. In jargon, it is called " Blink your eyes", and the rafter "flower" will be revealed. When changing the board, knock off the wooden wedge at one end (people in the village call it Dasha), loosen the rope at the other end and protect it with your hands, and gently turn it inward when taking out the rafters to avoid damaging the rafters. When building walls in the countryside, they pay attention to what they call "haozzi". The leader shouts "Hey!" and everyone echoes "Hey!" According to the old man in the village, building a wall is a hard job. People use a lot of force when holding the stone pestle. The purpose of shouting is to prevent suffocation by shouting, reduce the pressure on the chest, achieve smooth breathing, and use force in one place to boost the spirit. , the effect of activating the atmosphere. My cousin told me quietly: "When shouting, the person who raises his head high and shouts in a low voice is using his strength to drum up strength; the person who raises his head low and shouts loudly is a 'treacherous egg' .

"A group of people are working together, talking and doing household chores, whether they are holding work or holding clamp poles; whether they are standing on the wall lifting stone pestles or filling soil; whether they are turning over slabs Or doing other work, everyone has work in their eyes, they work non-stop, work together, divide the work, and work very hard, and the work is busy and not chaotic. Brother Quan was holding the iron hoe as a conductor, giving constant instructions and witty sayings: "Follow the hoe, put down the fan board, go through the door, and get the hoe..." If he thought the people below were too slow to put down the dirt, he would scold them in different ways. Everyone: "It's so dark that it's so hard to throw away dirt! The people below would laugh and scold him: "It doesn't hurt to stand and talk, you can just talk!" "When the soil was full, Brother Fa Quan shouted: "Roll it up and drop it, lean on the handle of the shovel, and pee behind the wall! "While everyone was chatting and laughing, the atmosphere was lively and they forgot about their fatigue. Unknowingly, a wall came up.

After the back wall was hit to the ideal size, my cousin gave the order: "Big man, strong boy, continue. The earth is thrown away, and the porcelain hammer and monkey build the wall. "This is the unique skill of the neighbor's bold and careful monkey boy. He stands on the wall, puts his hands on his waist, jumps up with both feet, holds a shovel and pats the wall bare and porcelain solid, and then shovels off the excess soil. The wall is smooth and semi-circular, very beautiful. . A wall is built, and everyone takes the opportunity to relax for a while, and the guys will shout: "Gangdanzi, boil the human head leaves and bring the 'golden monkey'! "My mother will also bring the local specialties I brought back from other places for everyone to taste.

At this time, everyone has finished drinking tea and has had enough cigarettes. My cousin gave the order: "Tear it down. Boards, digging pole nests, and planting ladders. "Everyone immediately got up and went about their own business. I took the opportunity to use a slide rope to scrape off the soil stuck on each rafter (called rafter washing).

I chose the time to build the wall on the lunar calendar. In February, the spring is warm and cold, and the wind is blowing. From time to time, scattered snowflakes are falling from the sky. I am deeply moved by the simple people in my hometown, the strong nostalgia, and the sincerity of the friends. For this kind of hard work, everyone comes on call, and some come uninvited. They don't ask for any reward, don't complain about whether the master's food is good or bad, don't talk about poverty and wealth, they help each other, take care of each other, and work hard. It's about friendship, it's about happiness, it's about taking care of each other and being in a good mood.

As the host, I participate in the whole process of building the wall during the day, and I also have to do some bits and pieces when I have time. , I was tired from running around to buy some urgently needed supplies. Due to the long-term work in the field and the lack of hard labor training in the countryside, although I couldn't hold on to the fire, I still held on without showing a sign, and my hands were worn out for a few days. There were a few blood blisters, and I was grinning in pain even if I exerted any effort. My friend saw my embarrassed look and said with a smile, "I look so cowardly!" I've only been away from the yellow land for a few days and I can't bear the hardship! I was not convinced, so I smiled and retorted: "If you have any trouble, let's give it a try!" "After working hard during the day, I still have to burn the midnight oil at night, pouring the soil from far away to the nearest place, and then mixing the dry and wet soil evenly so that it can be used for building walls the next day.

The wall-building scene is very hot. The mother and wife were also busy in the kitchen. Aunts and sisters-in-law from the alley also came to help in aprons, selecting vegetables, cutting vegetables, rolling noodles, making noodles, stir-frying sauteed seeds, scrambled eggs, seasonings, hot peppers, frying and frying. Busy but not chaotic. With a "Eat!" "Everyone put down their things, patted the dust, washed their hands, picked up their bowls of noodles and wolfed them down. Farmers are hard-working people and don't pay attention to the form of meals. As long as it suits the taste and fills the stomach, it is a delicious meal.

The elderly in the village People heard that the "Steel Egg" in the south field hired a group of "outcropping greens" to build the wall. A circle of more than 60 meters long wall was upright, solid, smooth, with clear edges and corners, full rafters and straight lines. , they all came to see what was going on and join in the fun. The old man Wenxuan stroked his beard and kept saying "tsk tsk tsk": "These children have learned their skills. The wall they built is like 'two mutes meeting' - ―Nothing said! It's pleasing to the eye whether you look left or right. "That's it, 28 walls were built in one week, and the project was successfully completed. I expressed my gratitude to everyone again and again, and everyone waved their hands: "You're welcome! We are all fellow villagers, no one needs the other! It should! It should! "What a simple language, what pure feelings, what a strong nostalgia. Over the years, the words of my partners have often echoed in my ears, warning me: My hometown is my roots, and my hometown friends are also my relatives!

Since then, with the gradual improvement of people's living standards, the number of houses built with earthen walls has gradually decreased, and earthen houses have been gradually replaced by brick-concrete houses.

After the implementation of the land contract responsibility system, the proportion of agricultural production to grain is relatively balanced. Fruit farmers are now building orchard walls. Building this type of earth wall is not as formal as building a courtyard wall. It does not require much effort. The wall is only one person high and prevents Outsiders "caojian" the fruit, which plays the role of "preventing gentlemen". Later, every family had an orchard, full of apples, pears, peaches and other fruits. People found that the earthen walls hindered the ventilation and lighting of the fruit trees, so they knocked down the earthen walls one after another.

The earth wall has withstood thousands of years of wind and rain. It is a kind of folk culture and a symbol of prosperity, carrying the history of our ancestors' struggle. Our generation has inherited the traditional construction techniques passed down from our elders, and then lost them. We have personally experienced the rapid development and progress of society in a period of time. Nowadays, earthen walls and earthen houses in rural areas are no longer common. In a few years, they will gradually disappear from people’s sight. The work of building earthen walls will become a record of history, a time gone by!