Step to Deo Ngang…

The landscape of Deo Ngang (Ky Anh, Ha Tinh ) is like a silk painting by an ancient master. Nature has cleverly arranged the mountains and rivers to create a wonder...

Ky Nam Commune (Ky Anh Town) seen from Deo Ngang Pass.

We groped our way through the forest leaves, following the only path that wound through the steep, desolate mountain. The vines were tangled and jagged with thorns from the Ganges, the Golden Giant, and the sharp thorns of the Soapberry. The bare rocks were covered with slippery green moss, as if they were deliberately trying to block the path of the passersby. With panting breaths coming through my ears, I encouraged my companion: “Keep going! Many generations of people have passed through in the past, even kings and lords, so why can’t we?” The dangerous path we were walking on was the ancient North-South highway leading to the Hoanh Son Quan gate.

Since the new road opened along the mountainside with its dreamy winding curves, no one has used this old road for hundreds of years, wild trees have grown thickly, blocking the path. In the wilderness, looking up, we could see a very close sky, but we had to grope our way to the top of the pass.

Having just passed through the dense, wild area, we immediately encountered a newly opened road running as smooth as silk in front of us. This road went straight into the cliff. The road tunnel opened up and swallowed it, disappearing into the bowels of the mountain. Deo Ngang Road was like the spine of a book, opening it up, if the other page was mysterious and primitive, this page was pure and fresh.

On the windy high pass, looking far away, the countryside is quiet at the foot of the pass. The roads are as thin as sewing threads connecting the gardens, the small roofs are crowded together peacefully and bustlingly. A little further are the legendary green fields because this season the mountain air descends and covers the fields with a layer of milky white mist. A little further, behind the casuarina forest is the sea as blue as ink.

The landscape of Deo Ngang is like a silk painting by an ancient master. Nature has skillfully arranged the mountains and rivers to create a wonder. Under the moss-covered roof of Hoanh Son Quan, the landscape painting shows many wonders, opening up a heroic and tragic history with many changes that have taken place over a thousand years on this sacred land.

Hoanh Son Quan was built by King Minh Mang in 1833 to control traffic through Deo Ngang. Photo: Huy Tung

On top of Deo Ngang is the majestic Hoanh Son Quan, an architectural work with many values ​​that began construction in 1833. That year, King Minh Mang ordered General Tran Van Tuan and more than 300 soldiers to build it. Building Hoanh Son Quan was as difficult as patching the sky with stones. Since then, Hoanh Son Quan has been a gateway for all who pass by on the national highway, from kings, lords, mandarins, and generals to commoners or the unfortunate... Therefore, until now, on the thousands of stone steps, there are still the tired footsteps of many generations of people passing through Deo Ngang.

At that time, maintaining border security and preventing bandits was very important, so King Minh Mang ordered the construction of Hoanh Son Quan, the peak of Deo Ngang became the fatal point of the only road. Deo Ngang stretched for more than 6 km and then sank into the sea, the exposed part of the mountain naturally became an extremely dangerous Great Wall. In addition to that space, at the foot of the mountain was the winding Xich Mo River, creating a high and deep moat. With such a dangerous terrain, if anyone occupied Deo Ngang as a base, the attack or defense would be extremely dangerous. Deo Ngang was like the throat of the country, hidden in the sea, in the mountains, hidden in the grass and flowers of the thousand-year heroic history of our ancestors who opened up the country, and now we have the vastness of our country.

"The first three are the most important."

"Behind one mountain is one horse"

(Before every wave is a soldier.

Behind every mountain is a horse)

If Deo Ngang is like a dragon rising from the sea and then turning into stone, blocking the North-South highway, then following the dragon's back to the sea cliff will meet Radar Station 530 Deo Ngang (now Radar Station 535 Deo Ngang) growing right on its highest ledge. Radar Unit 535 Deo Ngang was established in 1964, the station's technical equipment was provided by the Soviet Union. Just after its establishment, Radar Station 535 Deo Ngang made a heroic miracle. On March 22, 1965, Radar Station 535 was the first radar unit to detect American warships invading the territorial waters of the North. The USS Madocx and USS Turner Joy of the US imperialists were aggressive, they fabricated the so-called "Gulf of Tonkin Incident" to have an excuse to escalate the attack on the socialist North.

Right on the old battlefield, the 535 Deo Ngang radar unit still silently guards the sea and sky day and night.

Immediately after being hit back, the US discovered that on the top of the ancient Deo Ngang Pass there was a "divine eye" of North Vietnam, so they immediately dropped thousands of tons of bombs and ammunition on Deo Ngang Pass. On March 22, 1965, the US used its air force to bomb Radar Station 535. They destroyed the command house and technical bunker. Four officers and radar technicians of the station were killed. Then on March 26 and 31, 1965, US aircraft frantically bombed Deo Ngang Pass. In the rain of bombs, the officers and soldiers steadfastly defended the station, maintained radar transmissions to search for the enemy, and coordinated with the 24th Anti-Aircraft Company and air defense forces in the Deo Ngang area to fight back. We shot down many planes and captured American pilots.

It has been more than half a century, but the traces of that brutal war are still painful. Bombs and bullets have torn apart the rock face of Hoanh Son mountain. The technical bunker, originally built with solid reinforced concrete, had its door smashed open by bombs. The bunker was tilted, the concrete roof was chipped, revealing sharp steel cores. The technical bunker (now the Nghieng Bunker relic), is not far from Hoanh Son Quan. Right on the old battlefield, the 535 Deo Ngang radar unit still silently guards the sea and sky day and night. From afar, the 535 Deo Ngang radar station with its antenna towers looms in the mist, the radar blades like giant bat wings silently rotating endlessly, evoking thoughts - if in the past, our ancestors opened the country by a single path, today our descendants protect the country with radar waves embracing the vast land, sea and sky.

It is also a mountain pass, also the sea, sky, clouds, mountains, also flowers, rocks, grass, trees like many other mountain passes, but it is not easy to explain why Deo Ngang is so attractive! Deo Ngang - the most poetic and romantic mountain pass in Vietnam.

Every Tet holiday, apricot gardens in Ky Nam commune (Ky Anh town) also add brilliant yellow color to the north of Ngang pass...

Love for the country and people blends with the love for plants and trees; the compassion and private melancholy of people before the majestic and vast nature make Deo Ngang an endless source of inspiration for poetry. No other pass has left such a lasting and rich poetic mark. Since ancient times, emperors and literati have come to Deo Ngang and written masterpieces of poetry, including: King Le Thanh Tong, King Thieu Tri, King Khai Dinh, Ba Huyen Thanh Quan, Tung Thien Quan, Nguyen Thiep, Vu Tong Phan, Ngo Thi Nham, Nguyen Du, Nguyen Ne, Bui Huy Bich, Pham Quy Thich, Cao Ba Quat, Nguyen Van Sieu, Nguyen Ham Ninh, Nguyen Phuoc Mien Tham... During the resistance war against the US, poet Pham Tien Duat made a new discovery about Deo Ngang - "the pass running along". Poet Le Anh Xuan, though not yet at Deo Ngang, still sent his worries to Deo Ngang: "Are the flowers, leaves, and trees scorched by bombs? Is the roof under the mountain still there?"

Deo Ngang opened a poetic stream of its own from the time of "Climbing the pass with two cloudy feet" until now.

We walked down Deo Ngang when the "sunset was fading". The hairpin bend of the road down the pass drew a beautiful line dividing the space in two: behind were the silent, majestic, dark green Hoanh Son mountains; in front were the peaceful, prosperous countryside and hamlets. Looking to the North and Northeast, we saw a giant halo of light shining into the universe with a great halo. In the deep silence, we heard the echoes of the rocks and the sea and sky shaking. Over there, thousands of workers and modern machines were racing against time with a strong desire to soon build Ky Anh town into a big city by the sea.

The southernmost region of Ha Tinh has become the “dream pearl” of many domestic and foreign investors. In the photo: Son Duong deep-water port of Formosa Ha Tinh.

Realizing that Ky Anh town has many advantages in developing deep-water seaports, developing heavy industry, trade services, logistics..., with potential not only in the region but also in the country and internationally, many large investors have come here to develop their careers. The southernmost region of Ha Tinh has become the "dream pearl" of many domestic and foreign investors. Together, they have rushed ahead of time to build Ky Anh town to soon become a big city of the future with the stature of a young city, strongly developing, full of potential, full of new vitality.

Under the moonlight on the mountain top, looking towards the sea shining with electric lights, I was suddenly surprised: this place has both banks of legends, the ancient legend of our ancestors opening up new lands, embedded in the legend of today's descendants changing day by day for this sacred land that someone in the past, with a delicate and beautiful premonition, named with two words: Ky Anh!

Nguyen Trung Tuyen

Source: https://baohatinh.vn/nui-hong-song-la/buoc-toi-deo-/254290.htm