The 16-day Olympic event ended in a blink of an eye, China's Olympic athletes lived up to expectations, ranking first in the gold medal list with 51 gold medals, and Qingyuan Beer also happily donated 51 million yuan to primary and secondary schools in remote areas to build sports facilities in accordance with its promises, and it also received a wave of praise for a while.

But for the Jiagu team in the northwest desert, the excitement has nothing to do with them, everything is for the fledgling desert control.

After confirming the existence of the underground water system, the construction of a large reservoir and a waterway connecting the northwest is a big plan that affects the whole body, and after confirming the existence of the underground water system, it has begun to enter the stage of project establishment and demonstration, and the work at this stage involves not only the Al-Shanxi League, but also most of the northwest region, which will certainly not be completed in a short time.

In contrast, with the increase in water output, Jiagu's desert management and development plan has made great strides.

Focusing on the water outlet, the one million acres of sandy land in the Tengger Desert will be treated first.

Sand control starts with sand fixation. In the past, the Jiagu laboratory used cryptofloral plants such as mosses and lichens, along with bacteria and fungi, to create a biological carpet on the sand to fix the sand, which around the water outlet.

However, whether it is biological soil crust and sand fixation, or tree planting and grass sand fixation, grass squares need to be laid first.

Desertification warfare requires a lot of manpower. With millions of acres of sandy land, Jiagu's staff management alone is definitely stretched, so more "temporary workers" are recruited.

In the eyes of many people, the desert is a challenging place. However, in addition to the harsh environment, some people want to "conquer" this barren land and make it sound and fragrant again.

"The desert is a disease of the earth, and it needs green medicine. The yellow sand flying in the sky can't stop the pace of afforestation. But afforestation is never just talk, it requires real action. Desertification is not terrible, and the most terrible thing is not to change it, but to let it worsen. Xiao Qiu, a volunteer from the capital, said.

In the northwest, a group of volunteers from all over the country and around the world are involved in desertification control. And Jiagu's big action can be said to be a response in this group.

Of course, more of the labor is the local population. Whether it is the Ala Shanxi League or Mingqin County in Su Province, farmers and herdsmen who have suffered from the wind and sand have responded to the call to join the ranks of sand control in Jiagu.

"If we don't manage the desert, Mingqin will disappear, and we will soon become homeless. Because of his personal experience, Master Liu of Mingqin County began to participate in the management of the desert many years ago, and has persisted for 15 years, "Let's suffer, the next generation will no longer suffer from the sand!"

If you add Jiagu's own employees, in this desert, a total of nearly 1,000 people are involved in this sand control war.

Although there is a spirit array to protect itself and there is no invasion of strong sandstorms, the desert climate is still harsh, and it is not easy to change. During the day, the surface temperature can reach as high as 60°C, not to mention planting trees, standing for long periods of time is a problem, and at night, the temperature plummets, which is particularly torturous.

Therefore, Jiagu cannot be said to have done his best for these people who are struggling at the forefront of desertification control. The people involved in the desertification control do not work for nothing, working for one day's salary, and as for the volunteers, Jiagu also provides them with a "living allowance".

Jiagu built a desert control base near the desert water point, although the main body is composed of tents, but there is everything in it for food, clothing and transportation.

There is no shortage of water, and electricity is mainly supplied by diesel generators, which are the main power supply equipment in the camp, which is used to cook, heat and recharge. Therefore, its proper functioning is directly related to the life of the camp.

Although people fall asleep to the rumble of the generator every night and open their eyes in the morning to the rumble, no one really thinks it's noisy. On the contrary, as soon as you can't hear it, you know it's "on strike". As soon as it strikes, it is everyone who suffers.

In this era of highly developed information technology, the employees of Jiagu headquarters lived an isolated life for the first period of time, with no mobile phone signal and no contact with the outside world. However, after the construction of the base, the company specially purchased a signal booster, and the camp can finally make and receive calls.

......

It's the start of another day.

Whenever the white and light blue of the fish belly meet, the sand control people sleeping in the tent open their sleepy eyes in the rumbling sound of the generator, and after a simple breakfast, they start the day's sand control work.

Nowadays, there is no mechanical sand fixation equipment, and the laying of grass and sand barriers depends on manpower. The difficult thing is that the transportation in the desert is inconvenient, the equipment cannot be transported, and it is not easy to build the road to open to traffic, but there is only sand here, and the soil and stone are all pulled from the outside, and it takes two cents to pull a brick into the desert...... Jiagu is currently building an improvised road to the camp, and more can be done for the time being.

Therefore, local people, such as volunteer Xiao Qiu and Master Liu, relied on manpower to carry tools such as wheat straw, sand wicker, reeds, and shovels and pickaxes on foot.

Master Liu, who is in his fifties, stepped on the soft sand, and the yellow sand submerged his trousers and poured into his shoes, and he didn't care.

Suddenly, one foot sank deep into the sand, he shook from side to side twice, and Xiao Qiu on the side helped him by hand, which stabilized his body.

"Master Liu, be careful. Xiao Qiu reminded softly.

Master Liu smiled helplessly: "When people are old, they just don't ...... used."

"How can it be? You have the most experience in desertification control, without your guidance, how can we have such high efficiency?" Xiao Qiu said sincerely, and several other young people in the team nodded one after another.

The laying of grass squares is assigned according to the team, and Master Liu's main job in the volunteer team in Xiaoqiu is to organize, coordinate and guide the training.

As we talked, we walked 1 kilometre down the stretch of sand dunes, and in front of us was the end of the grid of grass squares.

Looking back, on the rolling sand dunes, the "double-eyebrow" grid-like sand barrier gradually spreads out from scratch, dividing the sand into a "well" square-shaped grid of about 0.5 square meters, like a large net covering the yellow sand, so as to achieve the effect of sand fixation. If you plant trees and grass in the lattice, there will be more oases in the desert.

This is their previous masterpiece.

Although the conditions are difficult and the work is tiring, every time they look at the grass squares spread in the desert, blocking the wanton spread of wind and sand, everyone will show a little relieved smile on their faces.

Wheat straw, sand wicker, reeds, etc., are used to weave the nets, which are not easy to weave, and farmers and herders weave them on the spot on the sand dunes.

Xiaoqiu, who is not so skilled in weaving, put bundles of wheat straw in a lattice shape to make them stand firmly on the sand, and roll them into the sand with shovels, leaving 1/3 or half of the wheat grass to stand naturally on the four sides, forming a grass sand barrier. In this way, the roughness of the desert surface can be increased, the wind can be reduced, the quicksand can be stopped, and the rainwater can be intercepted.

Everyone acted skillfully and cooperated tacitly, either bending down to lay the grass or wielding a shovel to fill the sand...... Full of energy, a hot labor scene.

Due to his age, Master Liu is not doing it himself. He walked from one end to the other of hundreds of meters of sand barriers, bending down from time to time to check, and sometimes he even half-squatted on the sand to pull up the buried sand barriers, or to see if the sand was strong.

Standing on the grass grid will give you an intuitive feeling.

If you stand on a bare sand dune, a strong wind blows, and the sand will flutter in the wind, blowing like a small knife on your body, but standing on a large net, the sand will not fly very high.

......

The sun rose to the zenith, the yellow sand was hot, and the exposed skin was burned and painful.

Under such difficult conditions, seven or eight hours a day can also lay a grid of 100 square meters. The sweat on everyone's face was like running water, and the skin on their backs was tanned and purple. But over the years, farmers and herders have pushed forward little by little, spreading a grid in the desert.

However, one thing that they are satisfied with is that Jiagu's logistics work is still okay.

No, lunch and water were brought over.

A large bucket of water that he brought in the morning was drunk, and Master Liu first took a sip of water and exhaled comfortably.

When I turned around, I saw Xiao Qiu and they put their shovels into the sand, took off their overalls and jackets, put them on two shovel handles, set up an awning, and ate lunch with a hot lunch box below, although for the whole sea of sand scorched by the scorching sun, this shade was almost useless.

Master Liu smiled and said, "It's okay now, in the past, it was a problem for us to control sand and eat." I brought my own food. When I opened the lunch box in the summer, the food was not only roasted dry, but also floated on a layer of sand, and ants crawled out from time to time, and in the winter, it was very cold, and the food was frozen with the lunch box......

Looking back on the past, Master Liu, who has dark skin and a thin figure, is even more vicissitudes.

Xiao Qiu hurriedly said, "Master Liu, your lumbar spine is not good, hurry up and come over to rest for a while." ”

He knew that as the first batch of sand control people, they were very hard, purely relying on their bodies, and arthritis and lumbar spondylosis were very common. Master Liu's lumbar spine also fell to the root of the disease.

Master Liu smiled with satisfaction, and also went over to take the lunch box and rest while eating.

"Feeling tired, aren't you?" he asked Xiao Qiu, who had gobbled up his lunch.

Xiao Qiu took a sip of water and nodded: "It's really tiring, but seeing the grass grid advancing towards the hinterland of the desert step by step, I think it's worth it." ”

Master Liu looked up at the results of the morning's work and said with emotion: "Yes, in fact, we are like the grid seen on the sand dunes of the barren cow, the function is only to fix the sand, and if the sand does not move, it is possible to plant trees and grass on it." And what really stops the sand and dust is not the grid, but a lot of greenery. Grass and trees, that's the root of life......"

......