Chapter 218

"what happened?"

Jiang Defu didn't understand why this old man was so startled.

"Old Jiang, grandma's, do you think what kind of board we slept on last night?"

Din Jiqun shouted, with a strange look on his face.

Jiang Defu looked at the board they used to sleep on last night, especially the board he slept on. It was painted black and had large gilt characters on it, which were bright and golden.
Look at the font above again!
His grandma's, isn't this a coffin board?
Last night they actually slept on the coffin boards.

Look at those boards again. Although they are scattered into several pieces, the wood should be made of golden nanmu, which is relatively corrosion-resistant. It is estimated that the people have disappeared. The wood boards are cracked, but they are still intact and not completely corroded.

When we set up camp yesterday, the sky was gloomy and I didn't see the surrounding situation clearly. Now I realized that there was a cemetery not far ahead. It was estimated that the board they were sleeping on came from there.

If there is heavy rain and flash floods in the mountains, it is normal for graves to be washed away and coffins to be scattered everywhere.

"There must have been people living around here!"

Jiang Defu looked at the bulging bags on the graves. If nothing else happened, people should have lived nearby.

The reason why it is said that people once lived is because according to the news, there is no one living in this mountain now, and the residents who previously lived in some parts of the mountain have moved out.

There is also a short grave bag in the tomb here, indicating that the age of the tomb bag should not be very long, but it is just a short tomb bag and it should not have been taken care of for several years.

"After eating, search around to see if there is anything available!"

Jiang Defu ordered.

"Yes!"

Someone quickly responded.

Everyone knows in their hearts that the so-called usable things are so-called food, and what they lack most now is food.

If there is food, whether it is leftovers from others or what is left in the coffin board, they don’t care.

In a difficult environment, many people don’t care so much.

Therefore, they were surprised that they slept on the coffin board before, and no one minded. They even thought about sleeping on a different side at night, because they slept on the painted side, which seemed a bit dirty.

It had snowed all night. Although the sky cleared up, it was still so cold that people shivered. Everyone wore all the clothes they could wear, and their leather jackets and cotton shoes were not left behind.

Early in the morning, I cooked several large pots of ginger soup and drank several bowls. Everyone's kettles were filled again. The cook cooked first. The others had ginger soup in their stomachs and began to look around for food. .

Entering the mountains is basically like entering winter, not to mention it's snowing, so there's basically no hope for green wild vegetables. Jiang Defu asked people to look for dried fungus or other mushrooms. Anyway, put it in a pot, add Add salt to make your stomach full.

A group of people searched the surrounding mountains for two or three hours, and some people came back with some dried vegetables: dried fungus, mushrooms and so on.

Jiang Defu had someone soak the dried fungus and mushrooms, and put some of the remaining portion into a small cart carrying grain for storage. He didn't know what the situation was going to be like, but he had to keep something.

"Captain Jiang, I brought these food back!"

A soldier came back with a smile and something like bark.

"What is this? Is this edible?"

Jiang Defu was a little puzzled.

Although they are short of food, they are not chewing tree bark now, right?

The bark of trees is everywhere in this mountain, and it is difficult to eat it now.

"This is elm bark, it's edible!"

The soldier said happily.

Some soldiers also came around and said this thing was edible.

Jiang Defu felt a little emotional. It seemed that many people really ate this food.

"Um bark, we used to eat it when there was a famine in my hometown. Remove the outer skin, and the inner skin will be moist and sticky. When cooked in soup, it tastes good."

Lao Ding came over and said, it seems that their hometown has also experienced a lot of hard times.

Thinking about the people of this era, Jiang Defu couldn't help but feel a little sad.

The elm bark was sorted and sent over, and some were put into the pot for making pickle porridge. As expected, the porridge that day was a lot thicker. Many people thought it was very good, and some suggested making more.

Jiang Defu drank the porridge and it tasted okay. He thought the bark was bitter, but he didn't expect that the elm bark also had the effect of gordon powder.

After eating, except for a few people who stood guard and watched, the rest were scattered around to look for food.

The mountain in front is higher. According to the current situation, the weather is cold, and there is probably less food up there. All they can do now is rest and look for food. Once they climb over the peak in front, they will overcome a difficulty, otherwise it will be difficult to get over the famine alone. .

If a person lacks starch, he will be depressed. You can find bark and leaves in the mountains, and you can also find some dried vegetables. These alone are not enough. You must have some starchy things. Jiang Defu is a little worried.

There has been a lot less rice in the rice porridge these days, mainly wild vegetables and some auxiliary things. The rice and noodles are all calculated, because I am worried that the lack of starchy things will affect the mental state of everyone.

He originally thought that someone had lived nearby and could find something, but he was a little disappointed after searching for so long and finding nothing.

Thinking about it, if life was good here in the mountains, I wouldn't move out.

The reason for moving out shows that life here is difficult.

Whether in the past life or now, this deep ravine is okay for a vacation, but it is really not a good place to live for a long time.

"Captain!"

"Company Commander! Found something good!"

Jiang Defu was distressed when a shout came.

"What did you find?"

"There are a lot of cassava not far ahead! Big cassava!"

A little orderly rushed over and shouted excitedly.

"Cassava?"

Jiang Defu was confused, but he still followed the orderly and ran in the direction he pointed.

At a mountain col about one kilometer away, Jiang Defu saw many soldiers bending down to dig out something.

"Old Jiang, there are large tracts of cassava here, which must have been planted by previous people. Now we have something to eat!"

Huang Bin ran over and said excitedly.

Jiang Defu looked along his hand, and sure enough he saw some dead branch-like plants in the overgrown mountain col. Someone took a knife to uproot those things, and long root-like things were pulled out.

Cassava!

Jiang Defu had eaten this kind of thing in his previous life, but as a man who often lived in the city, he had only eaten the finished product and had never seen this kind of thing.

In his previous life, he lived in a plain area, and he had seen sweet potatoes, but not much cassava!

But these are not problems. Anyway, potatoes are starches. With these, they can naturally be used as food.

This patch of overgrown cassava covered about five-fifths of the field. Although the tubers were not too big, they could not be loaded into two full carts, so each soldier had to carry some before they were finished.

In addition to the pickled vegetable porridge, a large pot of cassava was cooked for breakfast, and everyone ate happily.

Jiang Defu was very emotional as he ate the soft cassava. He didn't expect that one day he would eat cassava so delicious and satisfying. What a day!

"Could this be planted by a fellow villager? What should I do if it is gone when someone else comes to harvest it?"

Lao Ding is a careful person and thought of this problem after having a full meal.

"I heard that the mountain people here have all moved to Huangwan Town at the foot of the mountain. If that doesn't work, wait until we return to the city to find the work unit in the town, ask about the situation, and ask them to help find someone, and leave some money as compensation. ." Huang Bin seemed to be somewhat familiar with the situation here.

Jiang Defu thought this proposal was a good one and agreed to go to Huangwan together after completing the training mission.

With cassava as a guarantee, the whole company was in high spirits when they set off on the road the next day. What could be more exciting than having food to eat and not going hungry?

Even though the march was slow due to snow, the whole spirit was full and uplifting, and some platoons even started to sing military songs.

When they climbed to the top of the mountain and looked back at the short hills below, and vaguely saw the white snow forest in the distance, everyone was filled with emotion.

Because they took a detour to the top of the mountain, they were not able to meet the other two small companies along the way, and they did not know each other's situation. But judging from the difficulties they experienced, Jiang Defu believed that the lives of those two companies would not be much better. .

Standing at the top of the mountain, Jiang Defu saw the highest stone on the hillside not far away, and asked the vanguard team to plant their flag at the highest point.

According to the training rules, each company must climb the mountain, plant the flag at the highest point of the mountain, and then descend from the other side of the mountain back to the destination.

"Old Ginger!"

"Old Ginger!"

Jiang Defu was standing on the top of the mountain admiring the scenery below, when Huang Bin and Lao Ding ran over quickly.

"What happened?"

Seeing the two men running over, Jiang Defu knew that they must have discovered something wrong.

"Lao Jiang, our people found the flag of the second company when they planted the flag on the rock."

Huang Bin said quickly.

"It's okay, Lao Jiang, we are No. 2. We just walked around there and didn't find Guan Yunpeng's team. Anyway, we can get No. 2, which is already very good!"

Old Ding said happily, his face smiling like a blooming chrysanthemum.

"We are No. 2, maybe No. 1 is also hopeful. I just looked and the soil inserted is still new. If there are no accidents, they should have left not long ago! Looking at the footprints, they should have taken the main road. or……"

Huang Bin looked at Jiang Defu with meaningful eyes.

"Take the trail?"

Jiang Defu smiled.

"Yes, take the trail! Catch up with Ya!"

The two men agreed in unison.

Before training, they had studied the map in detail. There were two trails and one main road going down the mountain.

The trail is naturally short, while the main road is relatively flat.

"With Wang Zhenbiao's competitive character, they actually chose the high road. Their people should have persevered harder! If we choose the small road, we should have a chance to surpass them!"

Huang Bin said excitedly.

Jiang Defu nodded in agreement.

Another reason why he chose the trail was that they didn't have much cassava left along the way. As for the food, they only had ten kilograms left, which was left over from eating cassava these days.

If we had followed Wang Zhenbiao and the others, given the food shortage, they would have probably picked all the wild vegetables along the way!
Rather than doing this, it is better to take a shortcut. Although the road condition is worse, there should be some wild vegetables and other things.

There are also areas approaching down the mountain, where the temperature will get higher and higher, and weeds will grow thickly. There will also be some food that can be eaten to fill your stomach. At worst, the journey will be slower every day!
After deciding on the route, Jiang Defu ordered people to start streamlining their luggage. The first step was to abandon the trolley. Although it was simple, it was not safe to get off the trolley.

As for saving food, it’s not a problem at all to put some on everyone.

After resting for half a day on the top of the mountain, cooking pots, and having a full meal, the company set off again.

After everyone learned that they were No. 2 and took a small route to catch up with their only opponent, they became more energetic. They sang and laughed all the way, which made Jiang Defu feel like he was out on a spring outing.

The road condition was indeed much more difficult than the main road. It took us two days to travel a relatively short distance. It was easier to go up the mountain than to go down. It was indeed a little different.

Seeing that everyone was a little tired, we simply took a rest at a stream.

Stopping to rest, the company has developed a habit of looking for food in the surrounding area.

Jiang Defu saw bubble circles in the ditch and knew there must be fish in the river.

People began to prepare to search in the river to see if they could find some that were inedible.

Because in the mountains, for safety, everyone is equipped with guns and long knives, as well as two steel forks.

Various tools were used, and in the end I caught two and a half large fish, and the rest was more than half a bucket of frogs and an old turtle. In addition, someone dug out a few loaches! .

"Can this be eaten?"

Regardless of living in Qingcheng, people these days eat seafood, fish and other things, but rarely eat frogs and turtles.

The bottom line is that there is not much oil these days, people are short of staple food in their stomachs, and they don’t value these things very much.

There are also many things in the river that have a strong fishy smell. There is no seasoning or oil, and many people are not willing to give up salt. Naturally, the food they make is much unpalatable.

"I'll show you my skills today!"

"Company commander, you...when did you bring the oil?"

After the river creatures were cleaned and the pot was heated, Jiang Defu took out a bottle of oil and shocked everyone.

"Old Jiang, how many good things do you have in your backpack?"

Huang Bin looked at Jiang Defu's backpack not far away in surprise.

"That's all. It's too little. I ate it before, but now it's gone! I just wanted to reward everyone when I go down the mountain!"

Jiang Defu could only explain vaguely.

In this place, if something is really made, a lot of explanations are needed. There is no way, if something appears out of thin air, a reason must be found.

Fortunately, what he took out was a small pot. Anyway, he was equipped with some medicine on the way. Everyone has already accepted the small treasure box in his backpack. If he takes out some small items appropriately, everyone can still accept it.

"It's been a long time since I've eaten something fishy!"

The crowd cheered excitedly.

Heat oil in the pan and stir-fry a lot of Hanoi meat, add wild pepper picked on the road, and dug small wild rice. Jiang Defu's mouth watered when he stir-fried.

After stir-frying, pour a large pot of water, followed by a large pot of all kinds of green vegetables and mushrooms that can be picked, and add salt to season. Before the pot is started, a crowd of people gathered around the three floors. The outer three floors.

"Stuffed! It tastes better than braised pork!"

When Lao Ding took his first bite, he couldn't help but marvel.

After all, he was still too greedy. Jiang Defu knew that it was far from as delicious as Xiu'e's sister-in-law's pork buns, but it was already a luxury to be able to eat such a thing in this place.

After eating, everyone lay down and rested. After eating a full meal, they rested for the day, and then they marched for two days without rest. Many people began to take a nap and fell asleep.

Jiang Defu soon fell asleep, and a pretty figure waved to him in his dream.

Damn, I'm so full and warm, I'm so lustful!He had just finished his meal when he had other thoughts, and he couldn't help but cursed secretly.

"Boom! Boom"

Two gunshots suddenly sounded.

A burst of exclamation directly shattered his dream.

(End of this chapter)

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