Republic of China: Guandong Ginseng King

Chapter 250: Join the Gang in the Mountains
On the morning of the third day of July, Qu Shaoyang led Qu Jiang, Xingye, and six other men.

A group of nine people, each carrying luggage, rice, pots and stoves and other things, set out from Maoer Mountain.

There are so many guys in the family, why did you only pick these few? There is a reason behind this.

"Nine times nine equals one", if nine people go up the mountain, one of them will definitely get a big hammer when they come down the mountain, this is called "turning nine into ten", which means good luck.

In the past, when Qu Shaoyang followed his master into the mountains, the two of them didn't pay so much attention. This time was Qu Shaoyang's first time to join a gang, so naturally he had to be extra careful.

Xiaodonggou is Qu Shaoyang's secret base. No one else knows about it except Qu Shaoyang and his disciples. Qu Shaoyang certainly won't take his men there.

Qu Shaoyang has been wandering around the area a lot in recent years, and he has taken a fancy to a place called Songshuwaizi.

The terrain there makes it very likely that large quantities of goods will be produced.

Qu Shaoyang led his men eastward for most of the day, and finally arrived at the designated location at the end of the hour of Wei.

It was a forest of thousands of acres, with a circle-shaped valley in the middle of the forest.

This place is home to a variety of tree species including pine, oak, and elm.

The mountains are high and the forests are dense. The trees are lush and the density of the forest is very high. No matter how strong the light is, it can only shine through the gaps between the branches.

The diffuse light sprinkled on the ground, casting a soft halo.

Qu Shaoyang bent down and grabbed a handful of soil under the weeds. The loose humus soil was mixed with yellowish fine sand. It was neither sticky nor dry. It was exactly the moist soil environment that ginseng liked best.

"This is it. Come, let's go to the master's house first."

The people brought up the mountain this time were all family members, and they had no experience in mountaineering, so everything had to be arranged by Qu Shaoyang.

So, under Qu Shaoyang's instruction, everyone picked up three stone slabs and built a mansion with one horizontal and two vertical structures under an old crooked pine tree.

Qu Shaoyang dug out incense, candles, paper and other items from his bag, first lit the incense, inserted it in front of the master's house, and then lit the rolled yellow paper.

Then, Qu Shaoyang, along with a group of idiots, knelt in front of the master's house.

"Mountain God, old boss, please bless us.

Pray that we will open our eyes early and get the big goods. When the time comes, we will prepare generous gifts to thank the old boss."

Qu Shaoyang said something, and everyone followed suit.

Finally, everyone swore in front of the master's house that they would come together, go together, and return together.

If someone is tempted by money and has evil intentions, he will surely be punished by God.

After worshiping the mountain god, Qu Shaoyang instructed everyone to choose a hillside that was sheltered from the wind and facing the sun, and to cut down trees and build huts.

The huts are basically made of wooden poles tied with soft tree bark to support a tripod, which are then covered with birch bark to protect against rain, and the ground is covered with hay and roe deer skin.

Roe deer skin is moisture-proof and cold-proof, and has no odor, so it will not attract snakes when it rains or is cloudy.

If it is dog skin, it will smell fishy when it rains and will attract swarms of snakes.

For nine people, three larger huts are enough.

Afterwards, Qu Shaoyang ordered his men to go into the mountains to collect firewood.

These guys had never been on a mountain before and didn't know anything, so Qu Shaoyang had to spend some time and give them some guidance.

“Don’t pick birch or poplar wood for firewood, because the charcoal fire lasts only a short time and it is easy to explode.

Pick up some elm, green trees, Korean elm seeds and so on.

Put the firewood you picked up in order, don't throw it around randomly."

Qu Shaoyang is the boss and the owner. Who dares not to listen to him?

So everyone followed Qu Shaoyang's instructions, collected a lot of firewood, and built a fire in front of the shack.

In the evening, the pot-carrier (the person in charge of cooking) cooked a pot of wild vegetable and dried meat soup. Everyone ate some pancakes with the hot soup and slept in the shack at night. Sleeping in the mountains at night, the sound of the wind, the howling of wolves, and the calls of night owls mixed together, which was really scary for the timid.

Qu Jiang, Xingye, and Qu Shaoyang lived in the same shack.

Qu Shaoyang and Xingye have been through all sorts of things in the past few years, and they are not afraid at all and sleep soundly at night.

Qujiang was not a good option. It was his first time to spend the night in the mountains, and he tossed and turned, unable to sleep.

I finally fell asleep, and in the middle of the night I smelled a strong odor of urine.

"Who is it? Can't you go farther away to pee? Why are you peeing in front of the shack? This smell." Qu Jiang muttered in a daze.

"Third brother, go to sleep. That's not our group's urine. That's the jackal's urine."

Qu Shaoyang had sharp ears. When he heard Qu Jiang complaining, he didn't open his eyes and quietly explained to his third brother.

"The jackal is very friendly to us rangers. It urinates in front of the hut, and the tigers, leopards, bears and other wild animals dare not approach."

After Qu Shaoyang said this, Qu Jiang finally felt relieved. He turned over and went to sleep peacefully.

The next morning, the pottery man cooked some millet porridge, and everyone had a meal by wrapping some pancakes with pickled vegetables, egg sauce, etc.

After breakfast, Qu Shaoyang emphasized the rules of letting the animals go, and then everyone lined up in front of the shack and shouted in unison.

This is called shaking the mountain, and its purpose is to scare away nearby wild animals.

After shaking the mountain, the next step is to press the mountain, which is also called opening the mountain, patrolling the mountain, and pressing the mountain.

Before pressing the mountain, Qu Shaoyang had to confirm the surrounding environment again and decide which forest to press today.

"Today we will go to the mountain on the left, and after reaching the top of the mountain, we will head to the right and then down.

In this way, it will only take three rounds at most to cover the entire mountain area on the left." Qu Shaoyang pointed to the mountain forest on the left.

"Pull the sticks and pull the cart."

Qu Shaoyang waved his hand, and the eight men immediately found their positions according to the order they had rehearsed in advance.

There were nine people in the gang, each one separated by a distance of a rope stick.

Qu Shaoyang held one end, he was the head stick, Xingye held the other end, he was the side stick, and Qu Jiang was in the middle, he was the waist stick.

Everyone lined up in a row and walked towards the selected mountain field.

As he walked, he used a rope stick to poke the grass and bushes on the ground. One reason was to make it easier to find ginseng, and the other was to avoid alerting the enemy and prevent any accidents.

The key to releasing a mountain is to rather leave a mountain behind than leave a single brick behind. Not even the space for a single brick can be left behind and all must be searched.

When pressing the mountain, no one is allowed to talk nonsense. The terrain in the mountain is complex and there are many animals. Talking or shouting nonsense will distract you and you will not be able to see the ginseng.

Qu Shaoyang and Xingye had to use crutches every time they advanced a certain distance.

Just bend a thin branch into 90 degrees as a mark to avoid repeated searching.

The mountain was shaking just now and had scared away all the birds and animals nearby.

At this time, in the vast forest, the only sound that could be heard was the clattering sound of the copper coins tied to the top of the stick when the rope-pulling stick turned over the grass.

Qu Shaoyang led the group and spent most of the day making two trips through the forest, but still found nothing.

The anxious guy had already started to show anxious and suspicious expressions on his face, but Qu Shaoyang and Xingye remained calm.

It is not easy to release the seeds in the mountains. How many people can open their eyes as soon as they enter the mountains? It is normal not to see a single seedling of mulberry in three to five days.

"Hold the fire and keep calm."

After walking for most of the day, everyone was tired, so Qu Shaoyang simply shouted and asked everyone to sit down, smoke a cigarette and take a rest.

(End of this chapter)