In Renhuai, "Shu salt goes to Guizhou, Qin merchants gather in Maotai", these two poems can be said to be familiar, they come from the Qing Dynasty poet Zheng Zhen's "Wu Gongling". In May 1843, Zheng Zhen passed through Huaiyang Cave, passed through Maotai Town, went down the Chishui River, went to Chishui to visit the deceased, and when he passed through Wugongyan, he was shocked by the mountains on both sides of the river and the surging river, and wrote this poem. "Wu Gongling" describes Wu Gongyan, which is located in the middle reaches of the Chishui River, as well as the hardships of people in governing the Wugong Rock waterway and the tragic fate of salt workers. 
Wu Gongyan, formerly known as Wengong Rock, or mosquito rock. This section is also known as the "Little Three Gorges" of Chishui River, the mountains on both sides of the river are steep, and the riverbed drop is large, forming a dangerous beach one after another, known as "ten miles long beach". Historically, not only could boats not pass, but even wooden rafts were scattered by dangerous shoals and huge waves after passing through this stretch of river beach. In the poem, Zheng Zhen used the phrase "Wu Gongling, side eyes Wu Gongling." The flying lion fell for nine days, and his feet were stuck in the red water kuma. The turbulence is shaking, and the roar of anger echoes back to the world. The water rages and the stone is quiet, and the eternal sky is beautiful", describing the danger of Wu Gongyan. However, Wugongyan is the only way on the waterway of Sichuan salt into the Chishui River in Guizhou. In order to send the salt produced in Sichuan to Moutai, the salt workers started from the Erlangtan ferry, carried hundreds of pounds of salt on their backs, passed through the cliffs of the Chishui River, and sent them to Masangping above Wugongyan for loading. As a result, there is a sentence in Zheng Zhen's poem "Thirty miles over the mountain, and the camel will spend its money". Historically, in order to open up the Wugongyan shoal and unblock the waterway, in the past 200 years, the dredging project of the Wugongyan waterway has been included in the "national project" at least 4 times. And every time Wugongyan is remediated, there is a thrilling and touching story behind it. The first treatment of the Wugong Rock Rapids began in 1743. At that time, Zhang Guangsi, the governor of Yunnan and Guizhou, in order to transport copper and lead ore from Yunnan and Guizhou and solve the problem of expensive salt in Guizhou, asked the imperial court to dredge the Chishui River. 
The story of Wu Dengju, a ferryman on the bank of the Chishui River, who organized the construction of the Chishui River (provided by Ge Zhenya), and pledged the lives of his family of 18 to ask for dredging, which occurred during the first dredging of the Chishui River channel. His story is now well known to the people of Renhuai, Xishui, Chishui, Gulin and other places in Sichuan and Guizhou provinces. In order to commemorate Wu Dengju, people not only carved steles and statues for Tale stone, changed Wengongyan to Wu Gongyan, but also named the city road "Dengju Road". In 1746, with the efforts of Wu Dengju and his fellow villagers, the waterway was finally dredged, and ships from Erlangtan to Moutai were finally passable, and the transportation capacity of Sichuan salt into Guizhou was greatly increased. Because of the smooth waterway, the communication between the two banks of the Chishui River and the outside world is more convenient and frequent, and Moutai Town has also entered a stage of rapid development, from a little-known small village to gradually grow into one of the four famous towns of the Qing Dynasty in northern Qianbei. According to the data, due to the drive of salt transportation, there were more than 40 new commercial market towns developed in the Qing Dynasty in northern Qianbei. Among them, the Chishui River basin accounts for more than half. In the Daoguang period of the Qing Dynasty, there were hundreds of horse shops, inns, restaurants and hotels in Moutai alone, and the commercial forms were rich. 
The early Chishui River salt wharf.
In Zheng Zhen's "Wu Gongling", "Shu salt goes to Guizhou, and Qin merchants gather in Moutai", which describes the commercial form of Moutai Town during the Daoguang period. Wu Dengju and others fought for their lives to dredge the channel, due to the terrain restrictions, and often dangerous rock collapse, so that "the opener is restored, and the passer is still blocked", and dozens of people are needed to lift the operation to barely pass a boat, resulting in the Wugongyan River section of the channel is not actually used, and soon it can no longer be navigated, Sichuan Yan still needs to unload the ship at Erlangtan, and the water and land transfer to Masangping. In 1754, the copper and lead mines in Yunnan and Guizhou, which had been changed to waterways, were forced to re-take the old road from Bijie to Yongning. Wu Dengju, whose long-cherished wish was unfulfilled, was depressed and unhappy, and died of illness in 1757. In the poem "Wu Gongling", Zheng Zhen called him "extremely angry and looked up to the sky to die", and at the same time expressed his dissatisfaction with the salt merchants and salt politics at that time, and his pity for the common people, especially the salt workers and shipwrights. Fat idiots enjoy thick breath, splendid and swaying public opinion", writing that the people "and nine out of ten, there is no land to cultivate", "every time you are good, you are hungry and buried". A hundred years after Zhang Guangsi dredged the Chishui River, due to the collapse of rocks, the filling of beach roads, and the lack of maintenance, the navigation of the Chishui River channel became more and more difficult, so that "the high beach and shallow moraine, the danger and obstruction, and the boat raft was difficult to pass", and the river section above Erlangtan could only be transported by land, and the roads and bridges along the way were also quite damaged, which was difficult and dangerous. Many salt and business houses complained a lot because of this, and called for the improvement of the waterway again. Tang Jiong, a native of Zunyi, played an important role in the second dredging of the Chishui River. At that time, he was an alternate Taoist under Ding Baozhen, the governor of Sichuan. Ding entrusted him with the general management of the Chishui River official transportation salt affairs. 
In 1878, Tang Jiong first reformed the salt administration, changed the original "commercial transportation and sales" to "official transportation and commercial sales", set up official salt transportation institutions and outlets, stipulated the monthly sales amount, used salt to transport salt, and cracked down on illegal salt, etc., which increased the number of salt transportation in the Chishui River. Randomly, he put forward the idea and technical measures for the improvement of the salt channel of the Chishui River, which was supported by Ding Baozhen and asked the imperial court for approval. Tang Jiong proposed a salt road improvement plan that goes hand in hand with land and water, and at the same time adopted the method of donations from salt merchants and shippers and cash-for-work to raise funds. As a result, it was quickly approved by the imperial court. However, this salt road improvement plan, which is beneficial to the government, salt merchants, and boat people, has been hindered because it touches the interests of some of the people who make a living by transporting salt, and there have been various objections to the construction of the river. Zhou Mengsheng, who served as vice chairman of the Renhuai CPPCC after the founding of the People's Republic of China, wrote in his reminiscences: When I was young, I heard my predecessors say that some people who made a living from salt thought that "open up Wugongyan and starve to death", thus obstructing the improvement of the Wugongyan waterway. Of course, the opponents are not only salt workers who carry salt for a living, but also some local leaders. For example, Chen Daguan, the head of the Xinlongtan Salt House Regiment. He thought that after the Wugongyan channel was dredged, his business would be affected, so he instigated salt workers to gather ** to oppose the management of the channel. Later, the government, which had a resolute attitude towards river management, regarded Chen Daguan as the ringleader, and investigated and dealt with the charges of pushing rocks to fill the river and collecting taxes indiscriminately, so that the second waterway improvement project of Wu Gongyan could be started. 
According to the data, the second renovation of the Wugongyan River Project, it took two years, a total of 33 dangerous beaches, more than 40 general dangerous beaches, "winter construction" Chongyan turbulent, ice and snow cold", migrant workers 'naked, in and out of the waves' ......Roads, fiber roads, stone bridges, and wooden bridges along the river were also repaired one by one. The cost will be paid in advance by the General Administration of Salt Affairs, and after the completion of the project, each firm will share the amount of salt introduced, setting a precedent for officials and businessmen to work together to control the river." The second remediation project was completed in February 1881. However, Wugongyan Erlang to Masanping is still a stuck neck section of the river, and it is still not navigable. However, in addition, "all are unobstructed and unobstructed", "not only Moutai and Moutai, that is, the upstream lead, iron, bamboo and wood, and medicinal materials can all flow down the river to reach the Shu River". Tang Jiong also made meritorious contributions to the reform of salt administration, and was awarded the salt tea Taoist before the completion of the second dredging of the Chishui River. More than half a year after the completion of the second dredging of the Chishui River, he was recommended by Zhang Zhidong and others to go to Yunnan as a political envoy. The third dredging project of the Chishui River channel was the most difficult period for the country. At that time, the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, the national ** moved the capital to Chongqing, Guizhou became the rear, the population soared, the amount of salt transportation increased, and the transportation of other materials was also very frequent, and the Chishui River waterway was once again valued. In August 1939, the Ministry of Economic Affairs ordered the Guidance Committee to send personnel to investigate and formulate the Chishui River control plan, and at the end of that year, the Chishui River Engineering Bureau was established in Hejiang County, Sichuan Province. The project began in February 1942 and ended in August 1945, with a total area of 159 kilometers from Moutai to Lintan, involving 45 dangerous beaches, including 8 above Masanping. In this Chishui River waterway control project, the Executive Yuan sent a number of technical personnel to inspect and guide. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, some of these technicians became university professors, some were experts in large-scale water conservancy projects in New China, and some also had a certain influence in the international community. 
With the help of relatively scientific engineering techniques and means, the results of the treatment of the Chishui River have become more obvious. For example, in the section of the river from Bing'an to Lintan, blasting operations were adopted to deal with more than 60 reefs that threatened the safety of the waterway by blasting reefs above and below the water. Regarding the section of the Wugongyan River, according to the actual topography and previous treatment experience, the technicians proposed a plan to build a lock and dam for navigation or build a barge, but in the end, due to lack of funds, they were forced to give up and had to use other plans. In this treatment, the navigation situation of the Wugongyan River section can only be barely improved, and no fundamental change has occurred. Some sources suggest that another important reason why the condition of the river has not improved significantly is due to the obstruction of construction - among them, Yu Mingxian, an expert in literature and history, wrote in an article: "The area around Erlangtan is round.
People within sixty or seventy miles rely mainly on salt on their backs, regardless of men and women.
At the age of seven or eight, he began to carry salt to earn a living, and did not stop until he was unable to walk in his later years, and his life was extremely difficult. At that time, a folk song was circulated in the area of Erlangtan and said: "I don't want my son to be an official and sit in the house, as long as I can carry a hundred."
Four, five! Due to this objective reason, when the Kuomintang ** set out to control the Wugongyan Beach, people generally realized that once this section of the waterway was sorted out and opened to navigation, the living route of transporting salt by land was about to ......be cut offTherefore, people gathered together to oppose it, often lifting huge logs and stones from the top of the cliff to interfere with and destroy the river dredging project, and the Kuomintang had no choice but to give up the management of Wugongyan Beach. ”
Wugongyan RapidsAlthough the condition of the waterway in the Wugongyan River section has not been effectively improved, after the third treatment, the Great Ape Beach, which was originally impassable in the Chishui River, has been opened, and the famous dangerous beaches such as Layanding, Taohongtan, and Grasshopper Ditch Beach have all been turned into dangers, and the navigable time of the whole river has been shortened by one-third. Shen Baixian, who was then the vice chairman of the National ** Guidance Committee, said in the "Monument to the Renovation of the Chishui River Waterway": "Gu Yichishui has a long history and is known for its shallowness. After the renovation and navigation, it can not only contribute to the development of local economy and culture, but also can be used for the repair of water conservancy! "After the founding of the People's Republic of China, all kinds of waste are waiting to be rebuilt, and various constructions are in full swing, but the highway transportation construction in northern Guizhou has just started, and the Chishui River shipping is more important. In the catastrophic flood in September 1953, all the fiber roads from Erlangtan of the Chishui River to Chishui County were washed away, and some of the channels were blocked by silt and rolling stones, resulting in the obstruction of navigation on the Chishui River, and the daily necessities such as firewood, rice, oil and salt, as well as industrial products, minerals, and construction materials urgently needed on both sides of the river, could not be carried. It has become an urgent task to rush to open the Chishui River waterway and ensure people's livelihood and national infrastructure. From October 1953 to August 1954, cadres sent by the Guizhou Provincial Department of Communications and the coastal ** mobilized the masses to basically resume the navigation of the Chishui River after more than half a year of hard fighting. At the same time, the fourth large-scale Chishui River waterway control project in history was put on the agenda by the state. 
On the winter solstice of 1954, the Chishui River waterway control project presided over by the Guizhou Provincial Department of Communications started. The focus of this dredging project is to increase the carrying capacity of the open sea and open up the channel of the Wugongyan River from Erlangtan to Masangping, so as to completely end the history of the Chishui River being opened to navigation in sections. From Erlangtan to Masangping, the total length of the river is about 10 kilometers, but the drop is 34 meters. In the middle of the river, there are many boulders that have collapsed and rolled down at different times, and the water is turbulent, and even in the dry season, the huge roar of the river flowing through the boulder cranks can be heard from a distance. Blowing up the boulders in the river and cleaning up the dangerous rocks on both sides of the river is the only way to eliminate the dangerous shoals of Wugongyan. With the support of the local people, the construction team braved the cold to go into the water throughout the winter, blasting boulders one by one and pulling out the blockages. However, in the early days of the founding of the People's Republic of China, various materials were in short supply, and sometimes chemical explosives were not available, so the construction team used charcoal, sulfur and other methods with charcoal, sulfur and even the most primitive fire and poured cold water after burning. 
In February 1955, Erlangtan to Masanping and above, a total of 18 kilometers of long beach, were all opened. The section of the Wugongyan River has the ability to navigate ships, and small motor boats can pass from Maotai to Masangping. By 1968, the first 30-ton sailing ship set off from Hejiang County and went upriver to Maotai ......From 1743 to 1955, for 212 years, four large-scale dredging of the Chishui River channel reflected not only the national strategy, but also the national economy and people's livelihood. Wu Gongyan, a ten-mile long beach on the Chishui River, is a witness of more than two hundred years. 
Today, with the improvement of the traffic environment on both sides of the Chishui River, the navigation of the Chishui River is changing our memories and becoming the cultural accumulation of a river. The Chishui River shipping, which is gradually fading away, once brought and formed the culture and industry intertwined with salt and wine, is the root of the city that empowers today and the future, and will be inherited and continued.