Republic of China: Guandong Ginseng King

Chapter 266 Deer Chaser

Qu Jiang was genuinely kind to Qionghua, and everyone could see that.

Yang Life and his wife were quite satisfied with this son-in-law, and the engagement process went very smoothly.

After the two sides exchanged the engagement letters, Yang Life's wife took her three daughters to the outer room to cook.

Lao Zhou, Yang and the others stayed behind to chat with Qu Jiang, Liu Dongshan and the others.

The mother and her two daughters worked hard in the kitchen and prepared two sumptuous banquets.

It was just noon, so we quickly cleaned up and served the food, setting up a table on each of the south and north kangs.

Yang Life, Lao Zhou, Liu Dongshan, Doctor Chen, Qu Jiang, as well as Zhou Chuanren’s brothers and Qionghua’s eldest brother.

These people sat on the south kang. Qionghua specially heated two pots of wine for them, and everyone drank and chatted.

Qionghua's mother, Yang, Li, Lin Ruolan, and Qionghua were sitting on the north kang eating.

As for the other five children of the Yang family, they were not allowed to sit at the table. Each of them had a bowl of rice and some vegetables, and they ate casually by the stove.

It was an engagement dinner, so it was just a show of respect and no one was allowed to drink too much, so the meal was not eaten slowly.

It was not yet noon, the banquet was over, everyone chatted for a while, and then Liu Dongshan and others got up to say goodbye.

Mother Qionghua hurried to the outer room and chopped the meat into two pieces. She did the same with the wine and tea leaves, separating them all and taking half of them back with Qujiang.

Hulutao is not far from Maoer Mountain. The sled and the guys had gone back long ago, so Qu Jiang and the others walked back to Qu's house.

After returning, Lin Ruolan and Li told Chen Xiuyun about the engagement.

When Chen Xiuyun heard that the engagement process went smoothly and the Yang family liked Qu Jiang very much, she felt relieved.

A few days after Qu Jiang got engaged, more than ten of the men who had gone out with Qu Shaoyang came back, bringing with them a large amount of mountain products, hides, medicinal herbs, pig bristles and other things.

Qu Shaoyang also asked his clerk to pass on a message, asking Qu Jiang to hurry up and deliver a batch of goods to Andong, Yingkou and Fengtian, and try to get the payment back, so that he could make another trip before the New Year.

Qu Jiang took inventory of the warehouse's inventory and found that there were indeed quite a few things, so he should go there.

So Qu Jiang made all the arrangements at the warehouse, and then recruited more than twenty men from his home, equipped them with guns and other equipment, and drove horse-drawn sleighs carrying the goods along the river straight to Andong and other places.

Qu Jiang has been here for more than half a year and has gained some experience.

Under the guidance of Qu Shaoyang and Liu Dongshan, in addition to learning some boxing and kicking skills, he also practiced spear skills well.

When going out to do business, you must know how to shoot a gun. A gun is a man's courage. As long as you have a gun in your hand, you are not afraid of anything.

This year, Qu Shaoyang bought a lot of guns and bullets from Yingkou Foreign Company.

There are now about fifty or sixty quick-firing guns in the house, and several boxes of bullets.

Everyone in the group carried quick-firing guns and enough bullets, so even if they really encountered robbers on the road, they would be able to beat them into briquettes.

On the other side, Qu Shaoyang sent a dozen men back to Maoer Mountain with the goods, and then he led the rest of the people to leave Tanghekou and find an inn to stay in Shuangdianzi.

After resting in Shuangdianzi for a day, they set out from Shuangdianzi early in the morning on October 25th, planning to go to Sandaimiaoling, Donggang and other places.

Qu Shaoyang's plan was to go to Donggang and get to know the ginseng farmers in the ginseng gardens.

Then, they walked back from Donggang and passed by Xigang to familiarize themselves with the terrain. They planned to plant ginseng in that area next year.

Xigang is not too far from Huashutun, and Huashutun is under the jurisdiction of the Yalu River Inspection Team.

Didn't Xie Taisheng say that the soil in the three hills was the most suitable for growing ginseng? And among the three hills, Xi Hill was the closest to Maoer Mountain.

Qu Shaoyang must choose a nearby one to facilitate subsequent management.

Shuangdianzi is surrounded by three mountain ranges, with the Songhua River only on the west, so the terrain is low, a bit like a basin.

So after leaving Shuangdianzi Town, there were mountains everywhere, and the terrain was getting higher and higher. Following the instructions of Li Daishi and the innkeeper, Qu Shaoyang and his party followed the mountain road and climbed over the mountains, heading towards Sandaomiaoling.

The origin of the place name Sandaomiaoling is said to be because there is a mountain god temple on the ridge, so it was named Miaoling.

Starting from the Toudao Miaoling, this is the third ridge, so it is called Sandaomiaoling.

As you can tell from the name of this place, it is located among the mountains and the road is not easy to travel on.

A group of people led their horses and walked slowly in the mountains.

In the winter, the ground was covered with snow, and it was impossible to tell where the road was and where the ditch was. There were only a few lines of footprints on the ground, and Qu Shaoyang and his companions followed the footprints.

As we were walking, we suddenly heard a gunshot in the distance.

Everyone was stunned when they heard the sound, then pulled the bolt and raised their guns.

Qu Shaoyang ordered the horses to move as close as possible, and the men to hide their bodies behind the cargo bags as much as possible, ready to shoot at any time.

After the first gunshot, two more shots were fired at me. Qu Shaoyang listened to the noise and thought it should be fired from an old-fashioned musket.

"Stay alert and don't shoot at random."

As soon as Qu Shaoyang finished speaking, he saw what seemed to be a group of things running down the hillside in front of him.

These guys ran very fast, and the snow foam they raised flew high up, blocking the view and making it difficult to see what was going on.

Seeing this group of things running towards the valley where Qu Shaoyang and his team were, Qu Shaoyang looked closely and found that they were a group of sika deer.

So without saying a word, he picked up the gun and pulled the trigger. After three gunshots, four of the deer in front of him fell down.

Two of the deer were running side by side, and the bullets shot through the candied haws, killing both of them with one shot.

The other deer had already been frightened like birds and fled in panic, disappearing in an instant.

"Boss, you have great shooting skills." The guys cheered when they saw this.

When he is away from home, especially outside his jurisdiction, Qu Shaoyang does not allow his subordinates to call him "Sir".

One of the guys was quick and ran up the hillside, trying to drag the dead deer over, but was stopped by Qu Shaoyang.

"Don't worry, wait a moment and see what happens."

This group of deer were obviously chased down from the mountain by someone. It was probably because the people who intercepted the deer did not guard them well and let them escape.

In theory, these people were blocking a fight, and Qu Shaoyang was not wrong to shoot and kill the prey.

However, it is better to meet with the other party and explain the situation clearly.

After all, Qu Shaoyang and his group came from outside the area and were unfamiliar with the place, so they couldn't offend anyone easily.

Sure enough, as soon as Qu Shaoyang finished speaking, he saw several figures sliding down the hillside quickly.

Yes, it was sliding. Those people were wearing something similar to skis and they came down the mountain effortlessly.

"Who fired the gun just now?"

A total of four people came down the hillside, all wearing tattered leather coats, tattered hats, holding sticks in both hands, and carrying guns on their backs.

One of the tall guys asked with a nasty look on his face.

"I hit him, what's wrong?" Qu Shaoyang took two steps forward and asked with raised eyebrows.

"You shot them? We heard three shots just now. How come four deer were killed?"

A shorter man nearby looked curiously at the dead deer still struggling in the snow.

There were clearly four heads, so why did I only hear three gunshots?
(End of this chapter)