Republic of China: Guandong Ginseng King

Chapter 179 Wild Wolf Valley

Although Yelanggou is only fifty miles away from Maoer Mountain, the mountain road is rugged and difficult to travel, and the land is covered with heavy snow, so many landforms have been changed by the thick snow.

It was not until noon that everyone arrived at the mountain area occupied by Qu Shaoyang.

Here, there is still a distance of about ten miles from Yelanggou, and Qu Shaoyang suggested taking a rest first.

In the afternoon, they observed the terrain around them and then made a plan to see how they could catch all the wolves in the Wild Wolf Valley.

This log house was originally built to provide a place to rest when going into the mountains to hunt or walk the traps in winter. No one thought so many people would come.

Fortunately, there are two large rooms, with the east end occupying one and a half rooms, and large bunk beds on the north and south sides, so if we squeeze in, about 30 people can live there.

The kang hadn't been heated for a few days, and it was probably emitting smoke, so Qu Shaoyang didn't rush to have anyone heat it.

They just lit the stove first, and everyone gathered around the stove and ate some of the dry food they brought with them.

After waiting for the meal, Qu Shaoyang led six or seven people to conduct reconnaissance near Yelanggou, while the others stayed here to guard the house and heat the kang.

"Brother-in-law, take this with you, it should be useful."

Chen Yunhan is a scholar after all. Although his physical strength has increased a lot due to training in the past six months, he is still no match for Qu Shaoyang and others.

He was too tired from walking this afternoon to continue the reconnaissance.

So he took something out of his wolf-fur cloak and handed it to Qu Shaoyang.

Qu Shaoyang took a look and found that it was actually a monocular telescope.

This telescope is about one and a half feet long, and there is a circle of foreign words written on the outer circle of the barrel. I don’t know which country it is from.

There are three sections of sleeves connected inside. The outer edge of the lens is a large pure copper hoop, and the lens in the middle is embedded in the copper sleeve.

There is a leather strap tied to the sleeve of the telescope.

"Brother, you still have this good thing?" Qu Shaoyang took the telescope and asked in surprise.

"I got this by chance before, it's quite useful, I always carry it with me.

You can use it, it's very useful for observing terrain." Chen Yunhan smiled.

It would be difficult for him to say in front of so many people, "This was stolen, right?"
They stole this thing from a foreigner, but they are not sure which country he was from.

Qu Shaoyang naturally understood, so he took the telescope and set off with his men.

Wolves are cunning by nature, and there must be some wolves hiding in the dark and keeping watch near their lair.

To be on the safe side, Qu Shaoyang and his team did not get too close to the valley, but hid on the hillside outside the valley entrance.

Taking advantage of the cover of bushes and rocks, we carefully observed the terrain around Yelanggou.

The Wild Wolf Valley covers a large area and there are many natural rock caves in the valley.

Places like this are more convenient for wolves to live in caves when the mountains are covered with snow.

In the harsh mountain conditions, caves provide better protection for the habitat and survival of mother wolves and their cubs. They are indeed a good place for large wolf packs to hibernate and hide.

Qu Shaoyang had a telescope in his hand, which made it easier for him to observe the situation in the valley.

They carefully changed several observation locations and gained a general understanding of Yelanggou.

The Wild Wolf Valley covers a large area, with large bushes in the valley and a small stream that never freezes.

In the southwest of the valley, there is a hidden goat path leading to the back of the valley.

Wolves are not only ferocious, but also extremely cunning. Where they live, there must be at least one secret passage for emergency retreat, or even more.

After observing the terrain of Yelanggou, Qu Shaoyang waved his hand and everyone returned to the wooden house quietly.

Then, everyone gathered together, and Qu Shaoyang explained the terrain of Yelanggou to everyone. Finally, everyone discussed and decided to divide the thirty-odd people into two teams.

The Zhou brothers and the Qu family's men formed a team to guard the path behind the valley.

Qu Shaoyang and the Chen brothers, as well as a group of other young and strong men in the village, led their hunting dogs to deal with the enemy head-on from the valley.

This time, Qu Shaoyang and his men brought a total of eight quick-firing rifles, more than twenty muskets, and plenty of bullets, gunpowder, etc.

There are also bows and crossbows, crossbow arrows, and wolf clubs for everyone, in addition, there are dozens of large animal traps.

After discussing with Zhou Chuanren and others, Qu Shaoyang decided to rest in the house during the day to recuperate.

In the second half of the night, they set out for Wild Wolf Valley, and before dawn, they tried to scare away the wolves in the valley.

After daybreak, they advanced simultaneously from the front and rear passages, surrounded, encircled, blocked and strangled the wolves.

After the plan was made, everyone checked the shotguns, bullets, crossbows, etc. they carried with them again to make sure there were no mistakes.

Qu Shaoyang also stuffed the medicine prescribed by his father-in-law into Jiang Chunfu's hands and asked him to keep it safely. This is a life-saving medicine and cannot be lost.

Everyone ate dinner and then rested.

The space in the house was too small, so the hunting dogs could only be tied to tree stumps and garden poles in front of the cabin.

More than thirty people lived on two kangs, squeezed together and could only make do with how they slept.

After midnight, everyone packed up and Zhou Chuanren led a team to set out first. They were going to take a detour to the back of the valley.

About an hour later, Qu Shaoyang led the team and set off.

At night, most people's vision range is only about ten meters. The mountain road is difficult to walk on, and the weather is too cold, so no one walks fast.

When they arrived at Yelanggou, the sky in the east was faintly turning pale.

Two or three miles outside the entrance of Yelanggou, there is a large red pine forest, which is very suitable for hiding.

So everyone took advantage of the cover of the woods and slowly approached the valley entrance.

When they reached a point less than two miles from the valley entrance, everyone carefully dug some snow holes.

They buried the traps they brought in a cross and disorderly manner under the snow, and covered them with some dead branches and snow to camouflage them.

Afterwards, Qu Shaoyang led his men to retreat into the red pine forest, using a few fallen trees as cover to block the wind and snow and prevent the wolves from approaching.

It was early in the morning, when ghosts were baring their teeth. The sharp whistling wind swirled through the woods, raging in the forest from east to west.

In this kind of weather, no matter how thick your clothes are, they can't keep out the biting cold.

Even though Qu Shaoyang and his friends were hiding under a fallen tree, they were shivering from the cold.

But in order to prevent the village from being harassed by wolves, we have to hold on no matter how cold or hard the weather is.

When the sun jumped out of the horizon and the first ray of morning sunlight shone on them, everyone's heart tensed.

According to the time agreed in advance, the time for them to launch the attack was getting closer and closer.

Sure enough, after a while, gunshots were heard from the northwest corner of Yelanggou. It was Zhou Chuanren who started the fight first.

Qu Shaoyang immediately gestured to everyone, asking them to load their bullets and get their guns ready.

The crossbows are installed with arrows and can be fired at any time. The wolf clubs are also inserted in the snow close to hand so that they can be picked up and used at any time.

As for the dogs, they were all on full alert at this moment, waiting for their master's order to rush out.

(End of this chapter)