sbdcsierra Chapter 1763 The Rusty Ginseng and Giant Serpent Attack the Zhao Army
Chapter 1763 The Rusty Ginseng and Giant Serpent Attack the Zhao Army
Chapter 1763 The Rusty Ginseng and Giant Serpent Attack the Zhao Army
Zhao Jun held the deer antler key and gently poked at the ground around the spot where the little white dragon had emerged.
The little white dragon he just brought out must be at least fifty years old.
Because it's a low estimate, over the past fifty years, this ginseng seedling must have had above-ground stems for more than forty years.
Excluding factors such as insect damage, bird pecking, and animal grazing, the probability of ginseng seeds forming in a plant with above-ground stems is more than 50% within a 40-year period.
Over the past twenty years, most of the ginseng seeds have fallen to the surrounding area, except for those that have been pecked away and taken away by small birds and animals.
These ginseng seeds took root in the soil and grew into ginseng.
This is why, in the poem about hiking, fourth-grade leaves are called a "clump," fifth-grade leaves are called a "pile," and sixth-grade leaves are called a "piece."
Just like the first ginseng seedling Zhao Jun brought out, that was the ginseng seed that Little White Dragon formed and fell to the ground.
"Huh?" Suddenly, the antler spoon paused, and Zhao Jun watched as it blocked a ginseng root.
"Fool!" Zhao Jun shouted immediately. This time, Ma Yang was the first to respond, yelling, "What grade of leaves?"
"A sixth-grade leaf!" Zhao Jun was excited. Today was really worth it. He got at least 10,000 to 20,000 yuan for a single White Dragon seedling, plus that upside-down hair, and now he has another seedling.
"How many seedlings?" Ma Yang was also excited; he felt that he was born to run mountain trails.
"They're everywhere on the mountain!" Zhao Jun shouted, then began to dig up soil and carry ginseng.
"Damn it!" Upon seeing the head of the horse, Zhao Jun couldn't help but swear.
At this moment, everyone gathered around to look, and saw that the ginseng root head was rotten.
The root head was rotten, so Zhao Jun didn't care about the appearance anymore. He used the deer antler spoon to pry it off, and when the ginseng body was exposed, Zhao Jun couldn't help but fly into a rage: "Damn it, this is utterly despicable!"
Zhao Youcai and the others rushed forward and saw that half of the ginseng was rotten. As the soil was broken, part of the rotten part of the skin turned to powder, while another part rotted away from the ginseng body.
The rotten parts of the ginseng body are a light blackish-red color, just like rusted iron.
In the context of mountain expeditions, this is called "ginseng rust".
Why do Zhao Jun and Zhao Youcai pray to the mountain god and the old foreman when they offer sacrifices to the mountain, asking them to bless the ginseng with all five elements intact, so that it will not rust for a thousand years or develop spots for ten thousand years?
Because once it develops rust and spots, the ginseng starts to rot. It was fortunate that Zhao Jun moved it early; otherwise, it would have rotted away in less than half a month.
"Look at yourself!" Li Ruhai complained to Ma Yang, "What are you showing off for? What kind of mountain are you talking about? Look at the way you answered!"
"I..." Ma Yang felt extremely wronged and shouted, "I didn't shout the wrong thing, wouldn't anyone have responded the same way?"
“Brother-in-law.” As Ma Yang’s voice fell, Li Dazhi began to attack Zhao Youcai, saying, “Look at you, leading us to kowtow and what else you’ve done, this club is just rusty. You might as well not do it at all, it’s just a waste of the three stone trees.”
"Go to hell! Don't talk nonsense!" Zhao Youcai said angrily, "That cigarette was offered to the mountain god and the old foreman, what do you mean it was a waste?"
"So after you've finished your filial piety, why is the club still rusty?" Li Dazhi pressed on the key point, leaving Zhao Youcai speechless.
"Sixth Brother!" Just as Zhao Youcai was in a dilemma, Li Dayong stepped forward, stopped Li Dazhi, and said, "If you ask me what's going on, it's because Xiaojun didn't go over to kowtow."
"Hmm?" Upon hearing this, everyone looked at Li Dayong, who continued, "Xiao Jun is carrying the club, so he should be the one to go and kowtow."
After hearing what Li Dayong said, everyone felt that it made a lot of sense.
While they were arguing, Zhao Jun ignored them completely and silently carried out the ginseng seedling that was almost half rotten.
"Alright, Dad," Zhao Jun called to Zhao Youcai, interrupting the argument, and said, "Take this club back and shave it, cut off the rotten parts. Throw the rest over there in the wine barrel, you can soak it in wine and drink it."
"Hey!" Hearing Zhao Jun's words, Zhao Youcai was very happy. He went forward to put away the rotten ginseng, and then said to Zhao Jun, "Son, listen to your father. Go over and kowtow to the mountain god and the old man twice."
“You’ve kowtowed, that’s enough.” Zhao Jun didn’t believe in this, but Zhao Youcai pulled Zhao Jun’s arm and dragged him up from the ground, saying, “Come on, son, listen to your father, go over and kowtow twice, so that the mountain god and the old man can bless us.”
With that, Zhao Youcai pulled Zhao Jun away.
Zhao Youcai was incredibly energetic, and Zhao Jun couldn't resist him, so Zhao Youcai dragged him towards the pine tree.
Everyone followed the Zhao family father and son uphill. Seeing that everyone was leaving, the black tiger abandoned the animal and barked twice while pulling on the rope.
"Baoyu!" Zhao Youcai heard the voice and turned around to instruct Li Baoyu, "Bring Huzi here and let him kowtow a couple of times too."
Li Baoyu: "Huh?"
When Li Baoyu untied the black tiger's rope, the black tiger happily followed him.
When he and his dog arrived at the pine tree, Zhao Youcai had just coaxed Zhao Jun to kneel down.
Helpless, Zhao Jun bowed three times to the pine tree, and then heard Zhao Youcai instruct him: "Son, quickly inform the mountain god and the old leader to bless our Zhao family hunting gang."
Upon hearing Zhao Youcai's words, Zhao Jun couldn't help but glare at him sideways.
"What the hell, brother-in-law?" Wang Qiang then realized what was going on and hurriedly stopped Zhao Youcai, saying, "What kind of hunting gang are you trying to pull by carrying a club? Just the fact that the club was rusty shows that your request was wrong!"
Zhao Youcai was speechless. Li Dayong, who was standing next to him, quickly spoke up for Zhao Youcai, saying, "Alright, Qiangzi, don't just blame others whenever something happens."
"I..." Wang Qiang was unconvinced, but before he could speak, he heard Li Dayong say to Zhao Jun, "Jun, hurry up and kowtow to the mountain god and the old man a few more times."
Zhao Jun pursed his lips, then immediately kowtowed three more times, followed by a plea for blessings.
"elder brother!"
"Big brother!"
Seeing Zhao Jun raise his knees to get up, Li Baoyu and Li Ruhai quickly stepped forward and helped him up, one on each side. This scene made Zhao Youcai and Li Dayong stare in disbelief.
"Alright, Dad?" Zhao Jun, who had stood up, said to Zhao Youcai, "You guys hurry up and pack this meat and stuff. After that, I'll go over there and check if there's any left."
After saying that, Zhao Jun walked towards the big linden tree.
Li Baoyu and the others followed closely behind Zhao Jun. At this moment, Jie Chen asked, "Brother Jun, how can a club get rusty?"
"Tsk!" Zhao Jun smacked his lips and said, "I feel like it was right before the land was thawed, some big guy, a wild boar, went up there and kicked a hole in it. Then the hole filled with water and the bottom of the hole rotted."
This is what the older generation of mountain herders called "wild ginseng robbery." Some wild animals would walk over the ginseng and trample it into a hole, and then water would accumulate in the hole.
"Hey, brother?" Zhang Yuanmin asked Zhao Jun, "Next time we graze in the mountains, let's bring an old ox again."
"Huh?" Zhao Youcai hadn't followed, but Zhao Weipeng, who was with him, was a bit suspicious and quickly asked Zhang Yuanmin, "Yuanmin, what are you doing leading that old ox?"
“Ah, Uncle Peng,” Zhang Yuanmin said, “I’ve heard someone say that ten years of grazing on the mountain is not as good as one trip by an old ox.”
Zhang Yuanmin didn't know what these words meant, but he roughly understood that taking cattle to graze in the mountains would bring some luck bonus.
As soon as Zhang Yuanmin finished speaking, Zhao Jun said, "Brother, that's not a nice thing to say."
"What?" Zhang Yuanmin was taken aback, and then Zhao Jun explained, "The reason the club broke just now was a special case. Normally, if a mountain animal steps on it, it will mostly break the head of the club, and in very rare cases, it might damage the club, but it won't break. But if an old ox steps on it, the club will definitely break."
After hearing Zhao Jun's explanation, everyone realized that "ten years of ginseng farming is not as good as one trip by an old ox" meant that the harvest of a ginseng farming group over ten years was not as much as the amount of ginseng that an old ox could destroy in one trip up the mountain.
This statement is somewhat exaggerated, but it better reflects the harm that the old ox caused to wild ginseng.
"Brother-in-law, why is that?" Ma Yang asked, puzzled. "An old ox isn't necessarily heavier than a big guy, so how come the big guy can't crush it, but the old ox can crush it with a single step?"
“They say there’s a fungus on an old cow’s hoof that’s a killer for yaks,” Zhao Jun said. “As long as an old cow steps on a yak, even if it doesn’t touch the cow’s hoof, the yaks will rot.”
"Ah..." The crowd was skeptical, but followed Zhao Jun past the large linden tree where the wild ginseng grew. Zhao Jun continued to poke around the tree with a deer antler spoon, while the others went to skin the bear and butcher the bear meat.
The meat from those two bears had already been butchered; only this little black bear cub was left to be butchered. It wasn't that Zhang Yuanmin and the others weren't working; it was just that they couldn't resist watching Zhao Jun's side carry the ginseng.
Li Baoyu tied the black tiger to the tree again, then went to butcher the bear. But as soon as Li Baoyu left, the black tiger behind him suddenly trembled, stared at Zhao Jun's left side, and roared.
The sound a hunting dog makes when it spots prey is different from its usual bark.
Of the dozen or so people who came up the mountain today, apart from Li Dazhi, Li Ruhai, Ma Yang, and the fat father and son, the others, including Jie Chen, were all seasoned veterans.
As soon as Black Tiger spoke, they immediately became alert.
"Those without guns, don't run around!" Zhao Youcai shouted, gun in hand. "Everyone move closer to Zhao's army!"
Today, the Zhao family gang and the Zhao family hunting gang came out together, bringing all six of their semi-automatic trees.
Zhang Yuanmin and Li Baoyu charged out with guns, while Liu Jiechen remained in place to guard those without guns.
Seeing the black tiger barking towards the southeast, Zhang Yuanmin and Li Baoyu advanced step by step, one in front and one behind, one on the left and one on the right.
At this moment, Zhao Youcai and others also arrived. Wang Qiang, armed with a gun, protected Li Dazhi and the others, while Zhao Youcai and Li Dayong, each carrying a semi-automatic rifle, went to meet up with Zhang Yuanmin and Li Baoyu.
At this moment, Zhao Junpeng was squatting in front of the linden tree, searching for wild ginseng. When the dog barked earlier, he only glanced up and then continued searching for ginseng.
With six semi-automatic ginseng plants remaining, even if a Tyrannosaurus Rex were to be resurrected, it would surely perish on the spot today. Therefore, Zhao Jun calmly continued his ginseng search.
Zhao Youcai and Li Dayong formed one group, while Zhang Yuanmin and Li Baoyu formed another. They probed forward for two hundred meters but found no trace of any wild animals.
Moreover, the woods were quiet.
Zhao Youcai looked back and saw Black Tiger roaring in their direction, clearly indicating that danger was coming from that direction.
"Grandpa, are you going to release the dog?" Li Baoyu, who had also failed to find his target, asked, but Zhao Youcai replied sharply, "No, you can't release it. Can you release just one dog?"
Nobody knows what Black Tiger found. It could be a jumping cat, a greyhound, a roe deer, a wild boar, or even a bear or a tiger.
If we let Black Tiger out, it's fine if he can beat us, but what if he can't?
If there's only one dog, and people can't get there in time, won't Black Tiger be finished?
Zhao Youcai would rather not hunt the prey than let Black Tiger take the risk.
It wasn't that Li Baoyu didn't cherish Black Tiger; he just didn't think about it enough and hadn't considered that point.
At this moment, Li Dayong asked Zhao Youcai, "Brother, shall we walk a little further?"
"I'm not leaving." After saying this, Zhao Youcai raised his gun and fired.
"Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!" Zhao Youcai fired four shots in a row.
As the gunshot rang out, birds in the surrounding woods took flight.
Zhao Youcai felt that his son had brought two and a half ginseng roots and so much bear meat today, which was more than enough. Right now, Zhao Youcai was firing his gun to scare away the nearby wild animals, allowing his son to continue his ginseng hunt in peace.
"Awooo..." As the gunshot rang out, Black Tiger frantically pulled on the rope.
No one paid much attention, because they knew the dog recognized the gun and assumed that Black Tiger's behavior was due to Zhao Youcai firing the shot.
"Bang! Bang!" Zhao Youcai fired two more shots, making a total of six shots. Even tigers would have to leave the mountain animals within Black Tiger's sense of smell after hearing this series of gunshots.
If it were a bear, and it was far away from these people, it would definitely walk away. But if it were close, and it charged with guns, then there should have been some commotion.
"Don't move!" Zhao Youcai stopped Li Dayong and the others from making a move, and then he fired two more shots.
Zhao Youcai did this so that Li Dayong and others would keep the bullets in their guns in case of an emergency.
As for him, Zhao Youcai was confident that with the two bullets he had taken, he could go anywhere in the world.
After the gunshots subsided, Zhao Youcai stared intently and listened intently. All that remained in front of him was silence, with no other sounds except for the black tiger's roars.
"Alright." Zhao Youcai holstered his gun, engaged the safety, and said, "It's fine now. There's no way there's anything around here."
Zhao Youcai spoke with great confidence, and Wang Qiang did not refute him, because he believed that Zhao Youcai was right.
In an instant, Wang Qiang, Zhang Yuanmin, and Li Baoyu also put away their guns and turned off the safety.
That makes sense; with so many people gathered together, insurance must be turned off.
The four turned and walked back, but Black Tiger still wouldn't stop, barking incessantly towards Zhao Jun's southeast.
"Second Uncle, something's wrong! There's something else!" Lin Xiangshun, who was closer to Black Tiger, saw Black Tiger's fierce appearance and its bristling fur and hurriedly called out to Zhao Youcai.
"There's more?" Upon hearing this, Zhao Youcai glanced back, then turned back to look at Black Tiger struggling with the rope. Zhao Youcai suddenly turned around, raised his gun, and fired all the bullets in it.
"Baoyu, fire!" Zhao Youcai ordered, pulling a spool of bullets from his pocket and loading it into the chamber.
By the time Zhao Youcai cocked his rifle and chambered a bullet, Li Baoyu had already emptied all ten bullets from his gun.
The gunshots stopped, but Black Tiger's reaction remained the same, which put Zhao Youcai and his group in a difficult position.
"What the heck is this?" Li Dayong craned his neck to look southeast, only to see towering trees.
At this moment, Zhao Jun and the others behind him were also puzzled.
It's perfectly reasonable for Zhao Youcai and his men to fire in the southeast direction, since Black Tiger was barking in that direction. In this situation, the danger couldn't possibly be coming from anywhere else.
But Black Tiger remained in that state, indicating that the danger had not yet been eliminated. At this point, Zhao Jun put away the deer antler key and scissors, and decided not to look for ginseng anymore.
Just as Zhao Jun was cleaning the mud off the deer antler spoon, a large snake slithered from his southeast direction.
The snake passed by Zhang Yuanmin and Li Baoyu, but the two of them were only looking ahead and didn't pay attention to their feet.
"Awoooooo! Awoooooo!" The black tiger roared like a madman, and the snake, seemingly startled by the black tiger, coiled up the tree next to Zhao Jun.
"Brother-in-law!" Ma Yang, with his sharp eyes, immediately shouted, "Snake!"
"Huh?" Zhao Jun, who was packing his things, was taken aback. He looked up and saw that the snake had already climbed to the same height as him.
The snake was over two meters long. As it climbed the tree in front of Zhao Jun, its scales writhed, making Zhao Jun shudder.
Just as Zhao Jun was stunned, the snake wrapped its tail around the tree and sprang its upper body off the tree toward Zhao Jun.
Zhao Jun: "Ah!"
(End of this chapter)