sbdcsierra Chapter 1823 Huang Xian Pays Homage to the King of Gods: Enemies Reunite
Chapter 1823 Huang Xian Pays Homage to the King of Gods: Enemies Reunite
Chapter 1823 Huang Xian Pays Homage to the King of Gods: Enemies Reunite
May 29, 1988, was the day Zhao Jiabang set off for Qiaotou Village in Lingnan to meet up with Shao Jiabang.
Early in the morning, Wang Meilan made large steamed dumplings with beef filling for Zhao Jun.
The calf we brought back yesterday yielded over 100 pounds of meat, filling the freezers of the Zhao and Zhang families' refrigerators. We gave some to relatives and friends, ate some last night, and chopped the rest into minced meat.
When each family left, they took a basin with them, and Wang Meilan told them to cook whatever they wanted to eat.
So this morning, some families ate boiled dumplings, some ate steamed dumplings, and others made steamed buns or pancakes.
Wang Meilan is very particular. Following the custom of "dumplings before getting on a horse and noodles after getting off a horse," she made dumplings for Zhao Jun.
Around 7:30, all the members of the Zhao family gang arrived at the Zhao family's residence.
Those accompanying Zhao Jun to the conference were Wang Qiang, Zhang Yuanmin, Li Baoyu, Xie Chen, Zhao Jinhui, and Li Ruhai.
Xing San was originally supposed to go too, but considering his grudges with the Shao family gang, Zhao Jun told him to stay home and look after the house.
As for guarding the house, the main person in charge was Zhao Youcai, to prevent him from running around aimlessly all day.
As for Ma Yang, he probably won't be able to come.
The seven members of the Zhao family loaded their guns, ammunition, roadside supplies, military water bottles, and the Shilong steamed buns they had bought from Pang Zhendong and his son the day before onto the car.
Then, with their relatives seeing them off, the seven embarked on their journey to Lingnan.
The Zhao family has been traveling this route quite often lately, and they've gotten quite used to it. The group of seven people in two cars arrived at the Shao family's house in Qiaotou Village around noon, familiar with the route.
Knowing that Zhao Jun and his seven companions were coming, the Shao family prepared food and wine in advance.
After the two incidents involving the sale of stone dragons, the Shao family gained a completely new understanding of Zhao Jun. Before, they had only heard people say that Zhao Jun was benevolent and righteous. But when it came to a deal worth 100,000 yuan, the Shao family realized what it meant to keep one's word.
Who wouldn't want to deal with this kind of person?
After lunch, the two groups sat on the kang (heated brick bed) in the east room and chatted. As a senior member of the gang, Shao Tianpeng told Zhao Jun and the others about the origin of the Ginseng King Gathering.
When talking about the Ginseng King Conference, one cannot help but mention the Ginseng King that is housed in the Jilin Hall of the Great Hall of the People.
The Ginseng King came from Fusong County, the hometown of ginseng, in 1981. It is Shuangdianzi, which is also the place where the older generation of ginseng hunters, such as Shao Yunjin and Shao Tianpeng, are talking about. It is also the place where this Ginseng King Conference was held.
That ginseng seedling was quite large, about the size of a vegetable lump. It weighed over 280 grams, which, according to the old system of 16 liang equaling 1 jin, would be around 9 liang and 2 qian.
As the saying goes, seven ounces is ginseng, eight ounces is treasure; according to this saying, this ginseng is treasure. And according to the legend of Fangshanxing, this is Miao Daxiantong.
While ginseng is a treasure, we are not in the era of overexploitation of wild ginseng resources as we will be in 30 or 40 years. When has the Changbai Mountain range not produced its own ginseng prodigies? There are plenty of ginseng seedlings of better quality and higher value than this one.
But why is it that only this ginseng seedling can enter the Great Hall of the People?
The answer is because it's cheap.
Back then, the Jilin Provincial Government spent 20,000 yuan to buy this ginseng king seedling from the ginseng purchasing station in Beigang, and then sent it to the Jilin Provincial Government.
Speaking of ginseng purchasing stations, these were special departments established during a special period.
In those years, we were rebuilding from scratch, and we were indeed lagging behind in many aspects. At that time, development was inseparable from foreign exchange.
As the hometown of ginseng, Fusong in the 1980s could earn as much as 20 million US dollars in foreign exchange from its wild ginseng production each year.
This represented a significant amount of foreign exchange earnings for the country at the time. The ability of Fusong County to gather these ginseng plants together was inseparable from the ginseng purchasing stations established then.
According to local regulations, wild ginseng collected by hunters must first be taken to a ginseng purchasing station for evaluation.
Wild ginseng of grade six or lower can be processed by the ginseng growers themselves. Wild ginseng of grade six or higher will be purchased by ginseng purchasing stations.
Back then, the ginseng king was rated as a second-grade wild ginseng by the ginseng purchasing station, which offered a purchase price of over 1,800 yuan.
Later, after the ginseng king was bought by the Jilin provincial government, the ginseng purchasing station upgraded it to first grade and gave the four ginseng farmers 300 yuan each.
Since then, the Ginseng King Conference has been quietly established.
Mentioning the ginseng king, Shao Tianpeng said mysteriously to the Zhao family gang members, "You all don't know, but I have something to tell you that will scare you."
"What's up, Mr. Shao?" Zhao Jun asked, but he already knew what Shao Tianpeng wanted to say.
Shao Tianpeng stubbed out his cigarette before saying, "This is what I heard from them... but it's absolutely true."
Shao Tianpeng kept everyone in suspense, making Wang Qiang, Li Baoyu, and the others eager to know more, before finally saying, "After they sold those barley seedlings to the purchasing station, they were delivered to the warehouse that same day after get off work."
That evening, when the warehouse keeper was on patrol, he heard noises coming from inside the warehouse. The keeper immediately wondered if a thief had broken in.
Shao Tianpeng's explanation only fueled Wang Qiang and the others' curiosity.
At this moment, Shao Tianpeng continued, "He was holding a gun in one hand and a flashlight in the other, and he walked towards the warehouse door. When he got outside the warehouse, he shone the flashlight into the window and looked inside. Oh my god, he looked like he was scared to death!"
Zhao Jun hadn't expected Shao Tianpeng to be such a skilled storyteller. He smiled without saying a word, but Li Ruhai couldn't contain himself any longer.
"Old man," Li Ruhai asked Shao Tianpeng, "what happened inside?"
"What's wrong?" Shao Tianpeng glanced around at everyone and then said, "He was just watching the place where the club was placed, surrounded by a ring of weasels."
"Huh?" Everyone was stunned. Zhang Yuanmin hurriedly asked, "Grandpa, what happened?"
“The weasel has a spirit,” Shao Tianpeng said mysteriously. “That sapling is a great celestial being. I reckon that the sapling emitted a magical aura that attracted those weasels.”
Many people are interested in paranormal events, and the Zhao family gang members are no exception. After hearing Shao Tianpeng's words, Wang Qiang, Zhang Yuanmin, Li Baoyu, and the others started talking all at once about the strange things about the weasel.
This topic continued until after dinner. As the group lay on the kang (a heated brick bed), Zhang Yuanmin, Li Baoyu, and Li Ruhai were still discussing it.
Zhao Jun remained silent. He had heard about what Shao Tianpeng had just said in his previous life. Although he didn't know if it was true or false, he remembered seeing a painting called "Huang Xian Pays Homage to the Mountain King".
……
The next day, May 30, 1988, the core members of the Zhao and Shao families finished breakfast and left Qiaotou Village by car, heading straight for Fuyuan County.
The Zhao family gang still consisted of the same seven people, while the Shao family gang sent six people, led personally by Shao Tianpeng, including Shao Zhiqiang, Lin Youli, Xu Shanhe, Xu Shanchuan, and Shao Jun, who was out to see the world.
The journey was over 400 li. The two groups set off at seven in the morning and didn't enter Fusong until nearly five in the afternoon.
After entering the city, Zhao Jun found that Fusong County was similar to Shulan. There were a few buildings, but most of them were single-story houses.
But following the Shao family's car, they went further and further away, and the place became more and more desolate.
As they approached a factory, the Shao family's jeep gradually slowed down, and the Zhao family's two cars followed into a strange factory.
The reason this factory is considered strange is that half of the open space inside the factory's perimeter is used for growing vegetables, while the other half is used for parking.
Not far away, there were burn marks on the walls of the office building and the two rows of factory buildings. To Zhao Jun, this didn't look like an abandoned factory at all; he felt as if he were there to conduct an illicit transaction.
At this time, there were already five cars parked in the yard, including four Jeeps and one Santana.
After Zhao Jun parked the car, Zhao Jinhui, who was sitting in the passenger seat, asked Zhao Jun, "Brother Jun, should we bring our weapons?"
Hearing his words, Zhao Jun felt even more that he wasn't there to do anything serious.
Seeing that the Shao family gang had gotten out of the car, Zhao Jun said to the people still in the car, "Take the pistols, they're all ready. Don't take the semi-automatic ones out."
At Zhao Jun's command, Wang Qiang, Zhang Yuanmin, Zhao Junhui, and Li Ruhai all tucked their guns into their waistbands.
At this moment, Shao Tianpeng, who had already gotten out of the car, saw that Zhao Jun and the others were not getting out for a long time, so he walked to the car window.
Shao Tianpeng peeked through the window and saw Zhao Jun and the others hiding guns on their bodies. Shao Tianpeng quickly knocked on the window twice.
"What's wrong, Mr. Shao?" Zhao Jun asked, one hand on his gun and the other pushing open the car window.
“Zhao Jun,” Shao Tianpeng said, his graying eyebrows furrowed, “there’s no need to take those guns. There are no bad guys around here.”
As he spoke, Shao Tianpeng pointed to the pistol that Zhao Jun had half-tucked into his waistband and said, "You guys alone are enough to take down this factory."
Zhao Jun smiled upon hearing this, then asked Shao Tianpeng, "Master Shao, is this really a factory? What kind of factory is it?"
“It turned out to be a flax factory.” As Shao Tianpeng said this, Zhao Jun got out of the car, and then Shao Tianpeng said, “It caught fire later.”
"Ah, I was right." Zhao Jun looked at the charred marks on the factory building, but something felt off.
At this point, Shao Tianpeng added, "After the fire, the flax factory moved away. Later, I told you about Old Wu, who bought the place and turned it into his own match factory."
"A match factory?" Zhao Jun looked at the vegetable garden next to him with suspicion. No factory could grow vegetables in its yard.
Shao Tianpeng noticed Zhao Jun's confusion and said with a smile, "He's been doing this for about two months, and by the time he's done, it'll be on fire."
Zhao Jun: "..."
Just as Zhao Jun was speechless, the two groups gathered behind the two leaders. Li Baoyu sniffed lightly and said, "Why do I smell braised pork?"
“Baoyu has a good nose,” Shao Tianpeng chuckled. “After his match factory caught fire, this place was ruined. Since a few of us were organizing this Ginseng King Conference, Old Wu used this place for the reception.”
As he spoke, Shao Tianpeng pointed in the direction of the office building and said, "Behind that building, there's a factory building that's been converted into a canteen now."
Then Shao Tianpeng pointed to the left and said, "That's where we live."
Immediately afterwards, Shao Tianpeng moved his finger to the right and pointed to the office building, saying, "These past few days, we've been communicating and holding meetings in this building."
As soon as Shao Tianpeng finished speaking, an old man and two young men walked quickly toward them.
The old man was of medium build, neither fat nor thin, and had an average appearance. The only thing that left a deep impression was his pockmarked face.
Seeing him come over, Shao Tianpeng gestured in that direction and said to Zhao Jun, "This is Old Wu. He's a local from Shuangdianzi. His Wu family gang specializes in raiding the Daheishan area."
Hearing Shao Tianpeng's words, Zhao Jun nodded. He knew that the so-called Daheishan was the origin of the Miao ginseng king from Jilin Province.
At this moment, the pockmarked old man called out, "Tianpeng, why are you only arriving now?"
"I've been in a real rush the whole way," Shao Tianpeng replied with a smile, then asked, "Have Old Zhang and Sun Zhuaizi arrived yet?"
When Shao Tianpeng spoke of Sun Zhuaizi, the word "zhuai" was pronounced with the first tone, referring to someone who was not good with their hands.
"They haven't arrived yet," said the pockmarked old man. "Old Zhang will arrive tomorrow morning, and Sun Zhaizi will arrive tomorrow afternoon."
“I’m early,” Shao Tianpeng said with a smile. The pockmarked old man shook his head and said, “Early? Little Dai and Little Li from Liaoning Province, and Yu San’er from Heilongjiang Province, they’re all here.”
After the pockmarked old man finished speaking, his gaze swept across the faces of the Zhao family members, and then he asked Shao Tianpeng, "Tianpeng, which one is the Zhao gang leader you mentioned?"
"Come here, let me introduce you." Shao Tianpeng beckoned to the pockmarked old man, and then introduced him to Zhao Jun, saying, "Old Wu, this is Zhao the foreman, one of the eighteen strongmen of Heilongjiang Province. Don't let Zhao's young age fool you, he's incredibly capable."
“I know.” The pockmarked old man smiled and looked at Zhao Jun, saying, “I heard that the amber dragons and white dragons that big bosses in the capital acquired were all brought out by Zhao Jun.”
"You flatter me too much, sir." Zhao Jun smiled and clasped his hands in a fist salute to the pockmarked old man, saying, "My name is Zhao Jun, thank you for your hard work."
"Thank you for your hard work, Chief Zhao." Wu Baoguo returned the greeting with a fist and palm salute, and introduced himself, "My name is Wu Baoguo. Let's keep in touch often."
"Let's keep in touch." Zhao Jun responded with a fist and palm salute again. At this moment, Shao Tianpeng asked Zhao Jun with surprise, "You sold your little white dragon to someone in the capital too?"
Zhao Jun nodded slightly. From this, Zhao Jun could tell that the Shao family gang was relatively behind in information.
Considering that the middleman between Manager Huang and Blind Pang offered a reward of 100,000, while the Shao family gang only received a reward of 80,000, this also proves the point.
At this moment, Zhao Jun had no interest in helping the Shao family with their internal affairs, because at least the Shao family had sources of information, while the Zhao family was completely clueless except for the two pieces of information that Manager Huang had given them by chance.
However, at this moment, Zhao Jun remembered Jin Xiaomei's classic line: "Give it to Li Ruhai."
As Wu Baoguo just said, several ginseng gangs have already gathered in this dilapidated factory. With Li Ruhai's social skills, Zhao Jun believed he could easily get along with the leaders of those ginseng gangs.
After exchanging pleasantries, Wu Baoguo led the two groups to their lodgings. It turned out that the factory had been partitioned into dormitory rooms.
Each dormitory room is about 20 square meters, with a table, chairs, and a large kang (heated brick bed). There is a cabinet on the kang, and bedding is stacked on the cabinet.
"I had the sheets and blankets washed for the first two weeks," Wu Baoguo said, gesturing with his hand. "They were all just put up the day before yesterday. I also had the bedding taken out to air in the sun. Everything is clean, so you can rest assured and move in comfortably."
To be fair, Wu Baoguo had done a thorough job of preparation. When Zhao Jun entered the room, he could feel the warmth emanating from the kang (a heated brick bed), indicating that it had been preheated.
Zhao Jun and his men put down their satchels, which contained towels and toiletries. As for the Shilong and the Type 56 semi-automatic rifles, they were still in the car.
After settling in, the two groups followed Wu Baoguo out; they were heading to the office building.
That office building was where the gatherings were held, and the ginseng gangs that had arrived early were all waiting inside for dinner.
But as soon as they came out, a jeep drove in from outside the gate.
Seeing this, Wu Baoguo quickly said to Zhao Jun and Shao Tianpeng, "Tianpeng, Zhao, wait for me a moment, let me see who's here."
They came to exchange ideas, and seeing that their peers had arrived, both Zhao and Shao's groups stayed where they were.
But when the jeep stopped and he saw who got out, Zhao Jun frowned and narrowed his eyes.
Because the people who got out of the jeep were none other than Blind Pang and his son.
One more chapter is due, so it'll be a little late. Brothers, go to sleep now, we'll read it tomorrow morning.
(End of this chapter)