Build a farm from the mountains

Chapter 236 Wild Fruit Forest

When Wu Weiguo heard that he was being sent into the mountains, not only did he not move, he leaned against the wall and asked, "When you go into the mountains this season, do you take the big leaves?"

Wu Hao nodded: "If you encounter a mallet, you must lift it."

Digging ginseng is also called "driving the mountain" and "backing big leaves" among the folks in Northeast China.

The mountain hunters in the area north of the Greater Khingan Mountains harvested everything. When they encountered ginseng, they called it "carrying sticks and big leaves" in jargon.

There are the most rules for carrying a stick into the mountains, a lot...

First of all, burn incense and offer offerings, respecting the "Old Man", the originator of the digging ginseng, for auspiciousness.

If the people who drive the mountains enter the mountains just to carry the stick, then smoking is called "taking the fire" and cooking is called "serving the pot".

When you are hungry and eat, you can't talk about eating, you have to talk about taking food.If you are tired and want to sit, that is Natun.Sleeping when you are sleepy is called Najue.

When you are looking for ginseng, you are not allowed to talk casually, stop to rest and smoke at will.

In the past, if someone stole the ginseng by "black ticket", after catching it back, he stripped off his clothes, tied it to a tree, and let the "little mosquito" bite him to death.

Chasers are most particular about dreams, such as dreaming about dead people, funerals, old men with white beards, big girls in red clothes and green trousers, and old ladies.

If it is a lucky dream, sometimes you can even press the mountain in the direction indicated by the dream.

If these people show dissatisfaction or have nightmares instead of guiding them, it is unlucky and they need to go down the mountain immediately.

Those who drive mountains search for ginseng are called Yashan, Yashan is also called Kaishan, Xunshan, Yazizi, and Sanmucao. In front of the mountain, the head of the mountain chooses which mountain forest to go to by "viewing the mountain scenery".

Wu Weiguo asked with a serious expression: "Several of you are helping to build the master's mansion?"

Wu Hao frowned, he didn't believe in this stuff, but his grandfather also believed in it after he fought in war, he and his grandfather carried ginseng twice, and the few seedlings he brought out were soaked in wine and drank.

There are very few ginsengs in Daxing'an Mountains, but it does not mean that there are no ginseng. For example, a forest covers [-] to [-] square kilometers.

He knew that there was a Xiongcangzi in it, and it was impossible to measure every piece of land.

Shaking his head, he said: "Four people, Xiao Zong and two minks, go to repair the master's mansion, and wait until we meet ginseng. If we don't, I don't follow those rules."

Only those who specialize in pressing mountains and carrying sticks will build a master's mansion, "head" choose a big tree in the northeast, cut the root of the tree into a concave shape, and hang a piece of red cloth.

Let this "immortal lord" come in, and when others come in, the mountain hunter can open his eyes (there is a possibility of finding ginseng).

After repairing the master's mansion, you still have to invite people to eat, right? You can't let the gods go hungry.

The "head" held the meal, raised it in all directions, and said in his mouth: "Old head, the mountain god, please eat at your old man's house."

Then he knelt in front of the master's mansion, and the others knelt down as well, offered incense and paper codes, and began to kowtow, praying for blessings.

Before rushing to the mountains, you must first "help the gang". The "help gang" is free combination, temporary entry into the team, or some landlords hire people.

The number of teams is generally three, five, seven, or nine. Pay attention to "going single and returning to double" (returning to double is to dig out ginseng and bring it back), taboo two-person groups (prevention of profit, seek wealth and kill), taboo four-person groups Team (taboo four dead homophonic).

Generally, there is a "leading stick" who arranges the order and division of labor when setting off the mountain, a "side stick" handles the daily affairs of the small group, other members are called "waist sticks", and there is a special member called "duanguo". , responsible for boiling water and cooking.

Of course, there are also single sticks, but they are relatively rare, and there are all kinds of dangers in the deep mountains and old forests.

A person who has no real skills, and has an accident, has nothing to do but wait to die.

You have to choose an auspicious day to enter the mountain.

Wu Weiguo understood, and the dogs and minks in the family count as the number of people, and he agreed: "You can build the master's mansion after you meet the sticks and build the land. Other rules can be waived, and you should take them all."

"Understood." Wu Hao couldn't talk back to his father about these things, they were all explained by his grandfather, he went into the next room to open the cabinet, and took some things for going up the mountain.

It is not possible to sleep on the ground in the mountains during this season, because it is easy to get sick due to humidity, and the ground is a shack.

He didn't want to dig a shack, because he thought it would be laborious.

In the past, there were many people rushing to the mountains and carrying sticks. Sometimes at night, if you wanted to find a place where people lived, you would yell loudly: "Is there any Liangzi?"
If someone inside replies: "Put the tiles on the platform and make offerings on the platform", it means that you have been invited and agree to stay here at night.

Kuidang is a tool for carrying ginseng into the mountains. The name Kuidang means auspiciousness.

For example, the "axe" that is carried around is called "quickly as an axe", and its homonym is "quickly get rich" and "quickly get blessing", the meaning is self-evident.

Guan Zilong and his brother had never eaten pork and had seen pigs running, so those who collected mountain goods naturally knew some rules, and when they saw the tools in the new cabinet, they knew that the old Wu family was an expert.

Guan Zilong picked up a pair of shoes and said, "You don't need to take the winter shoes. We both came here in moccasin boots, and we also brought some usable tools."

The 靰鞡 worn on the feet of the people driving mountains, 靰鞡 is a Turkic language, which means leather shoes.

To carry ginseng into the mountains, you have to go through the forest, pass through the rotten stone cellar, and climb the ladder every day. .

In the old society, some poor people couldn't afford cowhide clothes, so they had to sew pigskin clothes to wear.

There is a riddle among the Kanto folks:

Old man, old man, don't laugh,
Break the boredom, you don't know;
what untie it does not go
Does it run as soon as the rope is tied?
The answer to this riddle is 靰鞡.

靰鞡 is originally a Manchu language, which refers to the shoes invented and manufactured by the Manchu ancestors in the north. Because these two characters are not easy to write, they are often written as "Ula.

And a kind of Kanto grass that is used to cushion this kind of shoes is called 靰鞡草 among the people.

To wear 靰鞡, you need to be barefoot, and tie it tightly to your calf with a thin hemp rope.

Ula shoes are the name that Qianlong forced.

Guan Zilong picked up a stick about 1.6 meters long and looked at it. He knew this one, it was called Suopao stick, Suobao stick, and it used to be called Suoluo stick.

It is used to pull grass to find ginseng. It is mostly made of hard peach wood or pear wood, which can be used to ward off evil spirits.

When "cracking the stick", it makes a wah-wah sound, and the sound can be heard for more than a mile.

The top of the stick is a "quidang rope" twisted with red woolen yarn, about two feet long, with large copper coins tied on both ends.

The best is Qianlong Tongbao or Jiaqing Tongbao, the worst is Daoguang Tongbao, Daoguang is unlucky.

Ginseng is a treasure. Some people say that Qianlong's Long is the "dragon" of the "true dragon emperor", which can suppress treasures, especially the big ginseng.

Wu Hao asked Guan Zilong and his brothers to wait at home. He went to Han Caizi's house to get two bear skins, went to the store to get three guns and four grenades, and found Wu Meng and asked him to go home and bring something into the mountain together.

Four people gathered in the yard, each carrying a large basket containing dry food and tools.

The top of the basket is bearskin, and Wu Hao has a Kuaidi bag in the basket, which contains various tools for carrying sticks and mallets.

Wu Weiguo drove them into the meadow, sticking to the forest in the south and heading west to the small river.

Stop the car and ask: "How far have you traveled, and when will you be back?"

Wu Hao got out of the car and thought for a while and said, "It takes three days to collect chaga velvet that is more than ten years old, and go back to pick other things nearby."

"After five days, I will come here every day." Wu Weiguo turned around and went back after finishing speaking, which was fifty or sixty miles away from home.

It takes a lot of effort to drive, and when someone in the family is practicing driving, it doesn't take much effort to come here once a day.

"Let's go." Wu Hao said as he led the way, it would take two days to walk west from the edge of the forest.

Wu Meng looked at the wooden stick in his hand and asked, "Second brother is carrying the stick with the Suobao stick?"

Wu Hao said with a smile: "It's easier to walk on three legs than on two legs. You can use one if you don't want to lift it."

"Let's talk about it after entering the mountain." Wu Meng asked with a bitter face: "Shall we abide by the rules?"

"What a fart if you don't meet ginseng." Wu Hao thought of those people who were afraid of the rules and only wanted to carry the stick.

Especially in the old days, we had to eat vegetarian food. This vegetarian food was the millet we brought at home, and we couldn’t eat wild vegetables and fruits on the road.

Hunting is also not allowed. Can people walk by eating only millet?

It doesn't take a day or two to carry the mallet. It doesn't take long to find ginseng, and the equipment you bring is quite complicated. One person carries about [-] pounds of things and walks for more than ten days or even a month.

They are light and simple.

The three of them breathed a sigh of relief when they heard that there was no need to obey the rules, chatting and walking.

Near noon.

Wu Meng felt hungry, looked to the north and said, "There are red-crowned cranes in the lake, they are big and easy to hit."

Wu Hao shook his head: "It's too far away."

There are not only red-crowned cranes in the lake, but also most birds. Now there are many animals in the pasture.

There are groups of silly roe deer and reindeer grazing near the middle hill, and the distance is quite far away, waiting for them to run away.

"Whoo~"

A gust of wind blew, and Xiaozong suddenly stood up in front of him. He didn't smell what it was, so he stood up and looked into the distance.

The four of them were attracted by it, and Wu Hao took Xiao Zong because he was young and could travel for a long time.

There are a lot of smells in the woods now, so Xiao Zong can use his ears to keep watch at night. Hunting is not allowed in this season.

With his 1.8-meter head, he can see farther than Xiaohong. There are wings flapping in the grass [-] meters ahead, which looks like a wild duck.

They love to enter the grassland to find food, and they will lie down in the grass to rest, and there are quite a few of them.

The four guns were set up at the same time, and the cat waist approached quietly, and it was less than ten meters away.

"Quack quack~"

A wild duck flew up and drove more than 30 ducks to take off.

"boom……"

The wild ducks were not concentrated when they flew, and each of them only hit four with two shots, and several people went to pick them up.

Wu Meng weighed it up and said, "It weighs more than two catties, and it's enough to burn enough for the four of us."

"Catch the rabbit." Wu Hao led them to find a rabbit hole nearby, and each of them guarded the entrance of a hole, letting Da Mao and Er Mao go in and chase them.

The four stood behind the hole with guns, and shot the rabbit when they saw the rabbit running out.

In order to avoid hitting the mink, he waited for the rabbits to run a few meters away before shooting. When three rabbits were shot, they were eaten by the dog and the mink.

Then go into the woods to collect firewood and prepare to roast the duck.

Just after the shooting, the woods were safe, Wu Meng turned around a tree and tilted his head to look, and said, "Second brother has old cow liver here."

Wu Hao walked over and finished watching and said: "Look around and bring as much as possible, otherwise it will be too much trouble to go into the mountains."

"Old boletus", which can repel mosquitoes, is Ganoderma lucidum.

It is a kind of mushroom, without those spots on the surface, and the cap is oblate and hemispherical, which is very similar to Ganoderma lucidum.

It is very resistant to burning, and it will make a crisp sound when the lit firecrackers are put in.

It is one of the wood rot fungi, a kind of Chinese herbal medicine for anti-cancer, it emits blue smoke when burned, it does not do much harm to the human body, and it is very useful for repelling mosquitoes.

There are not many mosquitoes in the pasture at noon, and people can be "eliminated" at night. The more humid the environment this season, the more mosquitoes there will be.

When entering the mountains, one must beware of snakes, insects, rats and ants, especially when sleeping. There are few snakes in Daxing'an Mountains, but there are many other three things.

All three of them understood the importance of this thing, so they first cut off willow branches to make Suobao sticks, because some small trees and shrubs are taller than people.

"Screaming stick" knocking on trees can determine the position of companions, and can also scare away snakes, insects, rats and ants.

Lifting the mallet must "call the stick", and you can't shout at each other, but knock on the tree trunk as a signal, if you shout.

Legend: "Ma Dagui will respond."

Because no one came to the nearby woods, the four of them picked five "old boletus" after wandering around for half an hour.

There is no need for any special picking method, just squeeze down directly, or cut with a knife.

The four of them continued on their way after eating the roast duck.

The sun is westward, and it is dark and late this season. Wu Hao looked at his watch, it was 06:30, and he led the way into the woods to collect firewood and find old boletus.

Go out and catch a few rabbits, find an open space in the pasture to set up a few big fires, and extinguish the fire in the middle after eating.

The ground baked by the fire can be covered with bear skins to sleep on, and the bear skins are big enough to wrap around the body as a quilt cover.

Light old porcini mushrooms and set aside to repel mosquitoes, have small brown ears vigil, and several fires.

Ordinary animals dare not come over. They have four guns and four grenades, so they basically don't have to be afraid of any animals in the mountains.

There are many birds in this season, and there are rabbits in the pasture. The four of them have no shortage of food. The next day they hunted a few big birds by the small river.

If the meat is uneatable, it can be smoked, and it can be preserved for many days, so that they can travel faster.

On the third day, after entering the forest twenty miles away, Guan Zilong looked ahead and exclaimed, "This is the fruit all over the mountains and plains!"

Wu Hao said with a smile: "In the next few years, we will make money entirely by selling fruits. The wild fruits here are transported to the south of the capital, and some of them can be sold for at least two yuan a catty. There is not only this fruit forest in front of us."

He remembered that apples would only cost one yuan a catty in the next year or two. Some of the wild fruits in front of him were unique to the Greater Khingan Mountains, and they were very delicious. They must be worth a lot if they are transported to the south. Two yuan doesn't sound like much.

Can't stand the large number, how many wild fruits will there be in a radius of two or three hundred miles?The most important thing is that no outsiders come here to grab the fruit.

The wild blueberries in Daxing'an Mountains, people in the forest area call them dusi, or persimmons, which is one of the five healthy fruits recommended by the World Food and Agriculture Organization.

The price is one year, and in the end it can be sold for 200 yuan per catty.

"It's gone!" Guan Ziyun exclaimed. They saw a lot of fruits along the way, but they were all in the forest, and they didn't go in to pick them.

The fruit trees I saw on the road were sparse, but I didn't expect there to be a lot of fruit trees here.

Wu Meng came here once with the old man, and now he is not so shocked. He walked to the side and picked a few fruits to wipe and eat.

The three of them started to eat fruit, and Wu Hao also picked a blueberry to taste. It tasted sweet and sour, and it tasted really good. He ate it while walking.

A wooden stick was inserted into the basket behind the four of them, and a burning and smoking old boletus was stuck on the front end, so that they would not be afraid of being bitten by mosquitoes.

When walking, use a sobo stick to tap on the trunk to scare small animals. When you encounter a dense forest, you will shoot and wait for a while before crossing the path.

Wu Hao plucked the Cranberry (cranberry) and tasted it. At that time, he had a pain mask, and it would take more than a month for this thing to be cooked.

He secretly scolded himself that he was owed, but he wanted to try everything like his younger sister.

(End of this chapter)