Republic of China: Guandong Ginseng King

Chapter 223 Rescue
Qu Shaoyang led the Chen brothers and several men to live in a hut in Shuidonggou.

This rafting hut is also run by an elderly couple. In spring and summer, they receive raftsmen. In winter, when the river freezes solid, they receive pedestrians passing by.

Although the conditions in the Paifu's house were simple, at least there was a warm bed and hot meals.

When you are away from home, you don’t care about those things. It’s nice to have a place like this.

Qu Shaoyang and his men have been living in Shuidonggou for two days, collecting some pig bristles, soybeans, medicinal herbs and other things from nearby villages.

"That's not right. According to the date, my master and his friends should have been here a long time ago. Why haven't they come yet at this hour?"

In the evening, Qu Shaoyang became a little impatient and paced back and forth in the room.

Just as the Chen brothers were about to try to persuade them, they heard bursts of wolf howling outside.

They have been living in Paifu's den these days and heard wolf howling at night, as if there are quite a few wolves around.

Qu Shaoyang asked the nearby villagers, and they said there weren't so many wolves before.

It seemed that because Goryeo across the river suffered a disaster this year, many families were short of food and had no choice but to go into the mountains to hunt, dig wild vegetables, pick wild fruits, and just grab whatever they saw.

But no one knows what happened. After winter came, people started dying one after another on the other side of the river.

In the dead of winter, the ground was frozen hard and the bodies could not be buried, so they had to be left in the wild.

Some families are okay and can afford a thin-skinned coffin, but some are so poor that they have nothing and just roll up a straw mat and drag the body out.

In the autumn, these people went into the mountains to hunt on a large scale, causing a sharp decline in the number of pheasants and rabbits in the forests and a shortage of food for the wolves.

So after winter, many wolves walked out of the mountains and forests and into the villages in search of food.

It just so happened that the corpses in the mass graves became food for the wolves.

Then, more and more wolves gathered, and when the corpses were not enough to eat, they targeted the pedestrians on the Yalu River.

The howling of wolves outside was getting louder and louder, and it seemed that the number of wolves was not small. Qu Shaoyang felt uneasy and always felt uneasy.

"Brother, you guys sit down, I'll go out and take a look." After Qu Shaoyang said this, he pushed the door and walked out.

When Chen Yunzhe and his brother saw this, they hurried out as well.

"Shaoyang, it's no use for you to come out, we don't know where Uncle Liu is now.

It's dark now, and there are wolves around. We can't rush to meet them rashly. Let's go back to the house first.

Didn’t you tell them to bring more people and take all the remaining guns at home? It should be fine.”

As soon as he came out of the warm house, the cold wind blew outside. Chen Yunzhe couldn't help shivering and hurriedly persuaded Qu Shaoyang to go back to the house.

Qu Shaoyang was about to speak when he suddenly heard a banging noise in the distance.

The sound was so familiar, it was a gunshot, and it was the sound of a rapid gunshot.

"Brother, that's the sound of gunfire. It sounds like there are quick-firing guns and old muskets. No, no, maybe my master and his men encountered something."

Qu Shaoyang was startled. At this time and at this place, a familiar sound of gunfire was heard. It was most likely that Liu Dongshan and his men encountered trouble along the way.

The Chen brothers also heard the wolf howls and gunshots, and they thought Qu Shaoyang's analysis made sense.

So the three of them stopped talking and immediately went back into the house, asking everyone to take up their guns and light torches.

Then a group of people walked up the river with torches.

The river surface was empty and the sound of gunfire became clearer. Judging from the sound, the incident should not be far away from them.

Qu Shaoyang said nothing, raised his gun and fired three shots into the air. "Let's go and take a look."

On the other side, Liu Dongshan and others were surrounded by wolves.

There were a large number of wolves, surrounding them from all directions.

Seeing that the situation was not good, Liu Dongshan immediately ordered his men to turn the sleds around and form a circle.

The horses were facing each other, and the people used the sleds and cargo as cover to shoot the wolves. There were originally eight quick-firing guns and two old muskets in the house.

Didn't Gaoli across the river cause trouble during the last autumn? Qu Shaoyang found a way to find a few muskets from other places.

Some time ago, Chen Yunzhe and Chen Yunhan came back from other places, carrying revolvers with them. There were also six quick-firing guns and a lot of bullets in the carriage.

Qu Shaoyang and his crew brought six quick-firing guns and four revolvers with them on this trip.

Before Liu Dongshan left, he left two quick-firing rifles at home and took the rest with him.

Rapid-fire guns have a long range, fast shooting speed, and great lethality.

Old-fashioned muskets are slow to load and have a short range, but they have more lead bullets, which are shot in a fan shape, covering a large area.

The two cooperated with each other and shot indiscriminately at the wolves, causing heavy casualties among the wolves.

But it was getting darker and darker, and humans’ eyesight was not as good as wolves’, so they were bound to suffer losses.

Moreover, the weather was getting colder and colder. They stayed where they were and soon they were frozen stiff.

Especially the hands. You cannot wear glove muffs when shooting. Your hands will turn white from the cold and hurt like being bitten by a cat.

The wolves fell one after another, and they continued to gather. Seeing this, Liu Dongshan couldn't help but groan inwardly.

They only have a limited number of bullets with them. If they continue like this, they will probably run out of bullets.

Never mind, at worst I can just risk it all and fight these wolves to the death.

At this moment, three gunshots were suddenly heard in the distance. Liu Dongshan was shocked and became happy.

"Everyone, cheer up and hold on for a while. Shao Yang and his men should be here to help."

The guys also heard the gunshots, and when they heard what their old boss said, they immediately understood what was going on.

So he cheered up, continued to pull the trigger, and shot the wolves in front of him.

About a quarter of an hour later, Qu Shaoyang and his men finally arrived.

Bang, bang, bang, gunshots rang out continuously, and many wolves were shot and fell to the ground.

The wolf king in the distance saw that the situation was not right and immediately sent a signal, ordering the remaining wolves to evacuate.

The wolves have strong execution ability. At the command of the wolf king, the remaining wolves disappeared in an instant.

"Master, how are you? Is anyone injured?" Qu Shaoyang hurried over, helped Liu Dongshan up, and asked with concern.

"It's okay, it's okay, no one is injured, it's just cold, I'm a little frozen, I just need to move around a bit."

Liu Dongshan waved his hands and tried to move his legs.

I've been squatting for so long and it's so cold, my legs are almost uncontrollable.

Others also responded and said that everything was fine. Qu Shaoyang was relieved and quickly led people to clean up the corpses of the wolves around.

During this short period of time, Liu Dongshan and his men killed or injured no less than thirty wolves, and the surrounding ice surface was all dyed red with wolf blood.

Qu Shaoyang and the Chen brothers took people to check one by one. The dead were dragged directly onto the sled, and the injured but not dead were shot again and then dragged onto the sled.

After cleaning the river surface completely, everyone drove the sled towards the workers' nest.

"How do you know we were surrounded?" Liu Dongshan asked on the way.

“I figured you guys should be able to get to the water cave today, so I’ll just wait.

Later, I heard wolves howling and gunshots. I was afraid that someone had encountered a pack of wolves, so I led people over to take a look.

Regardless of whether they are our people or not, we have to lend a hand when we encounter such a thing."

(End of this chapter)