60s: I have a store

Chapter 364: Drilling an Ice Cave

The rest of the people were digging ice holes, and each ice hole was about 15 meters apart. Digging ice holes is not an easy task. The ice on the water surface is more than centimeters thick, and it is still difficult even with tools.

The villagers of Zhoujiazhuang held manual ice chisels and kept chiseling the ice surface. Since they had marked the location of each ice hole, they did not have to worry about digging in the wrong place.

Unless the person marking the location makes a mistake, there will be no digging in the wrong place.

Zhou Yimin was not idle either and joined in. Otherwise, how could he experience the fun of winter fishing?

In this way, the preparations are proceeding in an orderly manner.

Zhou Xumin, holding a "salazi" in his hand, walked to an ice hole that had been dug, and waited patiently. He saw a fish swimming slowly towards him.

With quick eyes and hands, he scooped the fish out with a scoop.

When others saw this scene, they were shocked. They didn't expect that the fish could be caught so easily.

Although fish do not swim as fast in winter as in summer, that does not mean they can be caught in such a juicy state. This makes those anglers who often come up empty-handed feel very embarrassed.

"Bravo!"

"I wish I could be as good as Uncle Xumin someday."

"When Xumin heard you say you had the ability before, I thought you were just bragging. I didn't expect you to be serious."

When Zhou Yimin saw this scene, he couldn't help but give a thumbs up to express his affirmation. It seemed that Zhou Xumin was quite capable, otherwise the old branch secretary would not have given him the command of this winter fishing trip.

Zhou Xumin felt a little embarrassed when he heard the villagers' praise.

"No, as long as you want to learn, you can definitely do it."

He was just being polite.

At this time, Zhou Daping was not polite: "Uncle Xumin, can I worship you as my master? Can you teach me this skill?"

"Just now you said that as long as you want to learn, you can do it. You are not lying to us, right?"

Zhou Xumin didn't expect that someone would take his polite words seriously, which put him in a difficult position. He could only bite the bullet and say, "You don't need to become my disciple. If you want to learn, I can teach you."

"And seeing how smart you are, you must learn faster than me."

Zhou Daping didn't seem to hear it. Zhou Xumin was just being polite and immediately asked happily, "Uncle Xumin, how long did it take you to learn it? You said I'm smart, how long do you think it will take me to learn it?"

Zhou Xumin didn't expect that there would be such an impolite person, so he didn't dare to deal with him casually: "Specifically, I don't know how long it will take you to learn."

Zhou Daping heard this and felt a little worried: "Uncle Xumin, if I don't become your disciple, will you hold back?"

After hearing this, the people standing around almost spit out the water in their mouths. They didn't expect Zhou Daping to be so stupid. If you ask like this, others will definitely say no!
Zhou Yimin had not expected that there are now some "social bullies" who dare to ask anything. If it were him, he would definitely not dare to ask such questions.

It can only be said that the arrogant are afraid of the stupid, and the stupid are afraid of the stubborn. This sentence really makes sense! "Daping, don't worry, I will definitely teach you without reservation." Zhou Xumin had no choice but to make a promise.

It is a tacit understanding among many masters to teach their apprentices some tricks, but they will never say it openly, otherwise more people will come to become their apprentices, and if the news gets out, their reputation will be ruined.

After more than an hour, all the preparations were finally completed.

The women of Zhoujiazhuang carefully checked the twenty or so nets, and then repaired the holes to ensure that no fish would leak out.

Then the work of digging the ice caves was completed. We can only say that there were too many people, otherwise more than an hour would definitely not be enough to complete the digging of so many ice caves. It would take at least double the time!
When the old Party Secretary saw that the preparations were complete, he gave the order: "Get on the ice!"

All those who participated in the winter fishing, some pulled the net, and some held a bamboo pole with a hook on it.

More than a hundred people went to the ice to work. The sounds of shouting and chatting added a lively atmosphere to the originally quiet ice surface.

We arrived at the place determined by Zhou Xumin. This place is also very particular. It is called "Huawozi". This is where Zhou Xumin dug the first ice hole after determining the location based on the topography and water depth of the reservoir. This is the place where the net is lowered.

When Zhou Yimin saw this scene, he found it very interesting. He had no idea that there was so much knowledge involved in winter fishing.

Zhou Xumin walked more than 200 steps to both sides of the ice cave where the net was set and determined the place to plant the flag. He walked several hundred steps straight forward to the flag position and determined it to be the round beach flag. Then he went to the position of the two round beach flags and met them several hundred steps forward to determine the mesh of the net and planted the net flag. The ice surface planned by these large flags was the net nest.

The size, direction and shape of the net nest, the angle of the fish head sending the flag, preparation, etc. are all what Zhou Xumin learned from his master, and he has continuously enriched and improved them in practice. Don't think they look simple, there is a lot to it.

Zhou Xumin said at this time: "Get off the net!"

After hearing the order given by Zhou Xumin, other villagers began to lower the nets. Since there were more than 20 nets, they were not connected together yet, so they could only lower them while connecting them.

Zhou Xumin was in charge of the situation. The villagers hooked the front end of the net with bamboo poles and passed it to someone at the next ice cave. In this way, more than 20 nets were set.

Then pull out the net from the last ice hole, and then add a thick hemp rope to use for pulling.

It might be because the net was soaked in water and was difficult to pull, and now the weather is cold. As soon as I took my hands out of my pockets, they turned red with cold and I couldn't use any strength at all.

When Zhou Yimin saw this, he said, "Why not use cows or donkeys to pull it?"

If you rely solely on human strength to pull it, it may take a longer time.

After hearing this, Zhou Xumin was stunned for a moment, and then he wondered why he didn’t think of such a simple question?
If we use cows to pull it, the efficiency will be at least more than twice as fast!

Zhou Yimin was thinking that this profession was probably passed down from ancient times, so there was no teaching of using cows to help. You know, cows had a very high status in ancient times.

In ancient times, cattle were very important, mainly because of their important roles in farming, transportation and war. Cattle were not only the main labor force in agricultural production, but also played an important role in military affairs, sacrifices, divination and so on.

The cow's hard work and selfless dedication make it a symbol of hard work and endurance, and is regarded as a symbol of nobleness and selflessness.

In addition, cattle were used as the main animal power in the early days of the People's Republic of China and were widely used in farming and transportation. The improvement of cattle-plowing technology has greatly improved agricultural production efficiency and crop quality.

(End of this chapter)