Republic of China: Guandong Ginseng King

Chapter 271 Rifle Exchange
The three of them came out of the stable room, and Qu Shaoyang finally breathed a sigh of relief. "Grandpa Meng, why is this guy's temper so weird?"

“Alas, everyone has their own sorrows.

Old Liu, like me, is also a servant of the Dashengula Yamen.

My family is a hunter and deer chaser, and theirs is a family that has been catching and training hawks for generations." Old Meng sighed and told the story of Old Liu.

"Eagle-raising households had to hand in a certain number of mature eagles to the Dasheng Ula government office every year, and the government officials would then escort the eagles to the imperial court.

Children of eagle households have been interacting with eagles since they could walk and talk. They begin learning how to feed and train eagles at the age of six or seven.

When Old Liu was about five or six years old, his family caught a top-quality Saker Falcon with white fur and white claws, which was called the White Jade Claw.

Only the emperor can raise and play with this kind of top-grade Saker Falcon, not even the princes and ministers can do so."

"When the Liu family caught the eagle, they were all very happy and thought they would get a reward.

As a result, the eagle got a sore on its claws and died on the way to the capital.

The eagle failed to reach the capital, and not only did Old Liu's family not receive a reward, but their entire family was executed.

It just so happened that that day, Old Liu had gone out to the mountains to play and was not at home.

When he came back, he found that all his family members had been arrested and executed.

Under the guidance of others, he changed his name and hid in the mountains, and later came to the vicinity of Sandaomiaoling. "

"Well, do you see that rock in the distance? That place is called Diaowolazi.

Old Liu brought a pair of eagles from Yingtun and they lived there. Later, everyone called this place Diaowolazi.

Old Meng pointed to a tall, isolated rock not far ahead and said to Qu Shaoyang.

"Old Liu is still raising eagles. We came at an unlucky time today and didn't see any. He must have gone out hunting.

Oh, that big guy really likes people. When its wings are spread out, they are longer than a person’s arms.”

When Old Meng spoke, his tone revealed envy.

As an excellent hunter, how many people don’t want hunting dogs and falcons?

Holding Huang on the left and Cang on the right, this should be the ultimate dream of every hunter, right?

After hearing what Old Liu said, Qu Shaoyang also felt excited.

I never thought that this inconspicuous old man is actually an expert at catching and training eagles.

It can be seen that this mountain is really full of hidden dragons and crouching tigers, and there are many talented people.

This place was far away from the village. The three of them talked as they walked. After a lot of effort, they finally returned to the village before dark.

Xingye and his companions wandered around the village for a day and indeed collected a lot of good things, including hides, medicinal herbs, mountain products, etc., all of which were of good quality.

"Boss, there are still a few families who have good goods. We can't make the decision. You have to go and negotiate in person."

Xing Jia saw Qu Shaoyang and said in a low voice.

"Okay, I got it. Tomorrow you take some money and go to Shuangdianzi to buy what I want.

The day after tomorrow I have to go up the mountain to deliver something to the two old men."

Qu Shaoyang's intuition told him that there must be good things in the shack of these two old men.

Even if not, Qu Shaoyang also planned to chat with the old man surnamed Liu for a while and learn some eagle catching techniques from him.

If he has the chance, he will catch an eagle and train it. When he goes out in the future, he will have an eagle standing on his shoulder. How handsome it will be.

Xingye took the paper from Qu Shaoyang's hand, looked at the words written on it by Qu Shaoyang with charcoal, checked it with Qu Shaoyang again, and then put the paper away.

Qu Shaoyang and his friends stayed at Meng's house for dinner. Of course, they brought their own rice and grain, and exchanged vegetables and meat for silver. Xingye and his friends did the same at Zheng's house.

Life is not easy for everyone. There are more than 20 people in their family, all of them are young men in their prime. Who can afford to support them? They must be given money. After dinner, Qu Shaoyang chatted with Old Meng for a few words, then washed up and rested.

The next day, Xingye led a few people to Shuangdianzi market town to buy various items.

Qu Shaoyang went to several households in the village to negotiate prices with them.

Those families did have good stuff. Qu Shaoyang received a tiger skin, a leopard skin, and several large old ginseng seedlings.

The price is not particularly high. If you take it to Yingkou, it will at least double.

"Xiao Qu, look at these things in my house, how much are they worth?"

After Qu Shaoyang finished taking care of those families, he returned to the Meng family. Old Meng happened to take out the skins, ginseng and other things that he had stored.

"Hey, old man, you have a lot of good stuff."

Qu Shaoyang took a look and saw more than ten mink skins on the kang. They were purple-black in color, without any flaws, and were all top-quality products.

In addition, the ginseng seedlings were also good. One of them was quite thick. It was estimated that it weighed about five or six taels when it was just unearthed.

"Master, how much do you want for these things?"

Qu Shaoyang took a look and thought the items were good, and he also had a rough idea of ​​the prices.

But he still wanted to hear what Old Meng meant, mainly because he was afraid that he would give too little and the other person would be unhappy.

After all, the old man has been busy accompanying him these past two days, so it would be unreasonable to offer too low a price.

The bid is too high. It won’t be good if other companies find out.

Old Meng looked at Qu Shaoyang, then turned back to look at his grandson Meng Lanjun, and then smiled.

"Xiao Qu, we live in the mountains, and we don't have much money to spend, so we still need something practical.

My grandson has taken a fancy to the rifle you use. I don't know how much it costs, but I think it should be possible to exchange these things for a gun from you, right?"

When Qu Shaoyang heard this, he suddenly realized that this was the place waiting for him.

Qu Shaoyang glanced towards Meng Lanjun, and seeing that Meng Lanjun looked embarrassed, he immediately smiled.

"Grandpa, these things you have are enough to replace guns, and there are still some left."

The gun that Qu Shaoyang used was the M1888 committee rifle that he bought from Yingkou in the early spring.

Later, he asked Qu Jiang and Xingye to go to Yingkou to order a batch of them and distribute them to the patrol team.

How should I describe this gun? Actually, it has some shortcomings, such as difficulty in loading and unloading bullets, poor reliability of shell extraction, and the phenomenon of barrel explosion.

But compared to the old musket, it is a pretty good gun.

Qu Shaoyang meant that we should use it temporarily, and after a few years, it would be time to replace the water beads.

Of course, this gun is not cheap, and it is much more expensive than the lever rifle I bought before.

No matter how expensive a gun is, it is not as expensive as the ginseng, not to mention other things.

"Lan Jun, if you had told me earlier that you liked this gun, I would have given it to you.

This time when I went out, I didn't bring many bullets, just fifty rounds, and I used three of them that day.

How about this, you use it first, and I'll have someone bring some to you when there's a chance."

Qu Shaoyang did not mention how much the gun cost, but directly said that he could give the gun to Meng Lanjun.

"No, no, no need. How can we take your gun for free? We can exchange it with things. Just tell me, is this enough?" Old Mengtou waved his hands and said.

"Grandpa, that's enough. That's enough. How about this? In addition to the gun and bullets, I'll give you two hundred taels of silver. Is that okay?"

(End of this chapter)