sbdcsierra Chapter 1706 Mandate from Heaven
Chapter 1706 Mandate from Heaven
Chapter 1706 Mandate from Heaven
After Zhao Youcai's reminder, Zhao Jun suddenly realized that the map in front of him might be a record of the old hills, minerals, and rare birds and animals that the Qing Dynasty's Dasheng Wula Yamen (a government office specializing in hunting livestock) discovered during their mountain expeditions.
Thinking of this, Zhao Jun got up and called everyone to the west hut. Then he took out another map and tried to piece the two maps together.
Sure enough, the two maps could be stitched together. After stitching, the mountain marked as Lao'anzi was located to the upper left of Xiaobaishan.
"Oh my god!" Zhao Jun called Wang Meilan from the outer room. When Wang Meilan came over and saw the second map, memories flooded back.
“This is…” Wang Meilan pointed to the mountain on the map that was marked with wild ginseng and resembled the letter “m”, and gave the answer: “Hunchback Mountain.”
Upon hearing this, Zhao Jun and the others realized that the mountain must have gotten its name from its resemblance to a camel's hump.
Just then, Wang Meilan pointed to the map and explained to the group, "My father taught me that north is up, south is down, west is left, and east is right."
Look, this hunchback mountain is northwest of White Strip Mountain..."
At this point, Wang Meilan paused slightly, but it wasn't because she was stammering; rather, she was calculating something.
Soon, Wang Meilan reorganized her words and said, "Tuobei Mountain is northwest of Baitiaozi Mountain... about 120 li away."
"Huh?" Upon hearing this, everyone looked at Wang Meilan in surprise. Wang Qiang even asked Wang Meilan on behalf of everyone, "Sister, how did you figure out that it's 120 li?"
"Look," Wang Meilan said to the map, pointing to everyone, "Isn't there a river and two mountains between Baitiaozi Mountain and Tuobei Mountain?"
Hearing Wang Meilan say this, everyone looked in the direction she pointed and saw that between Baitiaozi Mountain and Tuobei Mountain, there were two small hills and a winding, rugged river.
Actually, people aren't sure about the exact location. According to the map, if you go northwest from Baitiaozi Mountain and cross two mountains, you'll reach Tuobei Mountain.
But what about that river in the middle? As the old saying goes, where there are mountains, there is water. So, is the river in the picture a mountain stream or a tributary?
At this moment, Wang Meilan pointed to the map and continued, "This river is a hundred li long, and this small hill is ten li long."
"Ah..." Hearing Wang Meilan say this, everyone suddenly realized. Huadian is also part of the Changbai Mountains. Since it is a mountain range, it is like the Yong'an Forest Area, where mountains connect one after another.
By using a map to determine the name, location, and distance of a mountain, it is not difficult to deduce the location of other auspicious sites once a location is found.
“Look at this,” Wang Meilan said, pointing to a large mountain drawn on the right side of Baitiaozi Mountain. “This mountain is fifty li in circumference.”
After hearing Wang Meilan's explanation, everyone understood the meaning of the mountains and rivers on the map.
"Oh dear." As someone who struggles with climbing mountains, Zhao Jinhui looked at the map with some difficulty: "Even if we know which mountain it is, it's still not easy to manage. There aren't enough of us to search the mountain."
"What mountain are you searching for?" Wang Meilan pointed to the Xiaobaishan gold mine and said, "Look, aren't there trees on the left?"
The tree that Wang Meilan was talking about was a vertical line with two dots on each side.
Wang Meilan continued, "Did you see it? In these two pictures, there are trees next to the Xiaobaishan gold mine and that old hut."
Following Wang Meilan's directions, everyone looked and indeed found simple trees drawn on the left side of the Xiaobaishan gold mine, below the old embankment. Apart from that, there were no other trees in either of the two drawings.
“North is up, south is down, west is left, and east is right,” Wang Meilan said. “If the tree is at the foot of the mountain, look for it to the south. If it’s on the left, look for it to the west.”
"My goodness!" Everyone exclaimed in admiration of the mapmaker's ingenious idea. This map, if shown to someone who doesn't understand, would be impossible to decipher even if they went blind.
At this moment, Wang Meilan glanced to the right and then asked Zhang Yuanmin, "Yuanmin, is there one more?"
Judging from these two maps, it seems that every map shows a treasure land. Moreover, the three maps that Zhao Youcai saw at Zhang Yuanmin's house back then were connected together.
In this situation, the three treasure locations are not far apart. If one were to actually go and retrieve the ginseng from the nest, one trip would be enough to get them all.
Here are two pictures now; there should be one more.
Wang Meilan's question left Zhang Yuanmin completely bewildered.
“Auntie, this is the only one I have.” Zhang Yuanmin said, then quickly looked up at Wang Qiang and the others, and said, “My uncle and the others went with me. They searched the warehouse thoroughly, and they saw it. This is the only one.”
Zhang Yuanmin spoke these words with a hint of urgency, as if he feared these people would not believe him.
“Yeah.” Wang Qiang testified to Zhang Yuanmin, laughing, “My goodness, they emptied his storeroom and finally found a tattered rag bag full of junk.”
“What junk?” Zhang Yuanmin retorted, “That’s just old stuff. It’s all good stuff.”
The group of people who went home with him to look for his things chuckled. At that moment, Zhang Yuanmin asked Wang Meilan, "Auntie, why did you say there was another one at my house?"
Wang Meilan looked at Zhao Jun, and now that things had come to this, Zhao Jun didn't hide anything and told her what Zhao Youcai had seen and heard at the Zhang family back then.
Unexpectedly, after listening to Zhao Jun's words, Zhang Yuanmin began to wipe away tears.
His appearance startled Zhao Jun. Although Zhang Yuanmin was not tall, he was a very strong-willed person. Why was he wiping away tears as he spoke?
Zhang Yuanmin's crying left everyone bewildered. Li Baoyu quickly asked, "Brother Zhang, what's wrong?"
"Yuanmin, what are you doing?" Zhao Youcai asked, and as he spoke, he reached out and pulled Zhang Yuanmin to sit down on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed).
“I’m just a little kid, and my dad’s never home, always running off somewhere.” Zhang Yuanmin said with a hint of grievance, “Everyone in the village says he’s possessed…”
The "demonic obsession" that people here refer to is mental illness.
Hearing Zhang Yuanmin's words, everyone looked at each other in bewilderment.
Anyone who knows Zhang Yuanmin's father knows that Zhang Da Nao was really that kind of person back then. He traveled all the way from Mudanjiang to the Greater Khingan Mountains. He was never home, never idle, and still couldn't make any money.
As far as Zhao Jun and the others knew, Zhang Da Nao had once raised old cattle for someone in Wudaogou, Lingnan.
Isn't this just a case of having too much time on his hands? Wudaogou isn't far from Yong'an Village, and in those years, instead of staying home and leaving his wife and children behind, he wandered around aimlessly. What else could this be but a mental illness? Back then, people like him would easily have been mistaken for spies and executed.
Zhang Yuanmin cried because he realized that his father had done the right things back then, and was not the "Zhang the Fool" that everyone called him.
“My father went everywhere looking for gold mines and other good things,” Zhang Yuanmin said, wiping away tears.
Just then, Li Ruhai suddenly poked his head out from between Li Baoyu and Xie Chen and said, "Brother Zhang, what did your old man Zhang find all those years ago?"
"Huh?" Zhang Yuanmin was taken aback by Li Ruhai's question. Then Li Ruhai laughed and said, "If you really found something, would your family be in such dire straits?"
Li Ruhai's words meant that even if Zhang Da Nao wasn't possessed by a demon, he wasn't exactly a smart person either.
Upon hearing this, Zhang Yuanmin felt as if struck by lightning. Having built up his emotions to the point of no return, he was suddenly struck by Li Ruhai's words, and Zhang Yuanmin couldn't help but burst into tears again.
"You fucking...you're the only one with a mouth!" Upon seeing this, Li Baoyu slapped Li Ruhai on the forehead, causing Li Ruhai to cover his head with his hands.
“Exactly!” Xie Chen also raised his hand and patted Li Ruhai’s back twice, pretending to vent Zhang Yuanmin’s anger.
“Brother, don’t overthink it…” Zhao Jun was about to persuade Zhang Yuanmin when he saw Zhang Yuanmin suddenly stand up from the edge of the kang and say, “My father traveled all over the world back then to find these gold mines and old houses so that he could pass them on to his descendants. He was not a vagrant.”
"No, no." Everyone echoed in unison. Zhao Youcai even spoke up for Zhang Da Nao, saying, "My brother Zhang is not a vagrant. He can do any job. He will never starve, no matter where he goes."
Hearing Zhao Youcai say that, Zhang Yuanmin raised his arm, wiped his face hard with his sleeve, and then asked Zhao Youcai, "Uncle, where did you find this map?"
"Hmm?" Zhang Yuanmin's question stumped Zhao Jun, Zhao Youcai, and Wang Meilan.
“We didn’t look for it. This morning…” Zhao Youcai explained how the map was discovered that day. Everyone looked at each other, feeling that it was somewhat unbelievable.
They definitely believed Zhao Youcai's words. Putting aside the relationship between the families, the key point was that this matter shouldn't warrant Zhao Youcai lying.
"Could it have been brought over during the move? Didn't you guys notice?" Wang Qiang suggested, adding, "And what if those dogs in the yard weren't leashed? They were rummaging around in the storage room and pulled this out?"
“No way.” As soon as Wang Qiang finished speaking, Wang Meilan said, “Before packing, his uncle, your sister-in-law Li, Feng’er and the others were all there. We went through everything that was moved over, and this thing definitely wasn’t there at the time.”
“Our dogs don’t rummage through things,” Zhao Youcai chimed in, speaking up for the four dogs, “Even if they did rummage through the storeroom, we could still keep an eye on them.”
As he spoke, Zhao Youcai pointed out the window and said, "I took a walk around the sheds this morning and saw that all the cabinet doors and everything were closed, and the tarpaulins hanging on the shelves were all neatly arranged. I didn't see anyone open them."
"That's strange." Xing San pinched a corner of the map, gave it a slight shake, and said, "Could this thing have fallen from the sky?"
Upon hearing Xing San's words, Li Ruhai's eyes lit up. He raised his hand and tried to push Li Baoyu in front of him, but failed. He then mustered his strength and pushed Jie Chen.
"What are you doing?" When Li Baoyu and Xie Chen turned to look back, they made way for Li Ruhai.
Li Ruhai squeezed between the two men, stepped forward, picked up the map from the Zhao family with both hands, and presented it to Zhao Jun. He said excitedly, "Brother, our Third Uncle is right. This is a gift from heaven!"
"What?" Zhao Jun was stunned, Xing San looked bewildered, and everyone else was completely confused.
Then, Li Ruhai said to Zhao Jun in a sincere tone, "Brother, you are kind-hearted and have a broad mind, so Heaven bestowed this precious map upon you to help you achieve great things!"
"Ah..." Upon hearing Li Ruhai's words, Li Baoyu's eyes suddenly lit up, and he said as if he had just realized something, "No wonder my uncle found a gold mine on this map. He wants us to mine it so we can recruit soldiers and horses!"
"What nonsense are you talking about?" Zhao Jun didn't quite understand the two brothers' crazy ramblings, but he felt that the two boys were a bit abnormal.
Just then, a loud "slap" was heard from the side; it turned out that Xie Chen had slapped his hand hard.
Seeing Zhao Jun looking at him, Jie Chen spread his hands apart, then looked at Li Baoyu, who was well-read, and said somewhat uncertainly, "Brother Li, is this what they call being ordained by Heaven?"
Zhao Jun, Zhao Youcai, Wang Meilan, Wang Qiang, and Xing San couldn't understand, but Zhang Yuanmin stopped Xie Chen, saying, "Xiao Chen, don't talk nonsense. And Baoyu, what recruitment of soldiers and horses?"
Stopped by Zhang Yuanmin, Jie Chen smacked his lips, still unable to say, "Brother Jun, let's do it."
At this moment, Li Tongyun, who had been peeking in from the doorway, walked back to the outer room with some regret.
When the old lady saw her return, she asked, "Xiaoyun, what are they talking about? It's so lively!"
Seeing that Jin Xiaomei and the others were looking at her, Li Tongyun smiled and said, "My brother and Chen Ge tried to persuade my brother Jun to start a rebellion, but my brother Jun refused."
As soon as Li Tongyun finished speaking, the telephone rang in the east hut.
“Brother Jun! The phone is ringing!” Li Tongyun knew that only Zhao Jun and Wang Meilan in this family had any business dealings with outsiders.
In comparison, more calls came in looking for Zhao Jun.
"Coming!" Zhao Jun quickly came out of the house, walked through the outer room to answer the phone.
After the call connected, Zhao Jun had just said "hello" when he heard a tired voice on the other end: "Is this Team Leader Zhao? This is Chen Weiyi."
"Chief Chen," Zhao Jun replied, "I'm Zhao Jun. Where are you?"
"I'm in the city, at our forestry hospital," Chen Weiyi said. Zhao Jun quickly asked, "How's Wang Haitao?"
“He’s recovered,” Chen Weiyi said, “but he won’t say a word, no matter what I ask.”
Since Wang Haitao is already in the hospital, the Great Memory Restoration Technique can no longer be used on him.
"What if he doesn't talk?" Zhao Jun asked, puzzled. "If he doesn't talk, can't we still sentence him?"
“That’s not it,” Chen Weiyi said. “Putting everything else aside, he can’t clear his name about attacking you. Besides, the murder weapon matches, so he can’t escape.”
After saying that, Chen Weiyi changed the subject and said, "The key issue is that he still has stolen money and goods. He also has the money from selling yellow leaves and seven large leather bags, which is about ten thousand yuan."
"He has to give the money to his wife, right?" Zhao Jun's words were echoed by Chen Weiyi, who said, "That's right, the only thing missing is a wife and children."
Upon hearing this, Zhao Jun didn't respond to Chen Weiyi's words, but instead asked Chen Weiyi, "Chief Chen, yesterday we mobilized the masses and tried to block the way out of the mountains, but nothing worked?"
"No," Chen Weiyi said. "We went to her sister's house too, but no one came."
“She can’t go to her sister’s house,” Zhao Jun said. “Her husband was killed by her brother-in-law, how can she go to her sister’s house?”
“We really can’t find her,” Chen Weiyi said. “She doesn’t have any other relatives.”
Seeing that Zhao Jun still didn't respond, Chen Weiyi said, "Team Leader Zhao, we'll have to trouble you with this matter."
Zhao Jun wasn't too keen on taking the job, but since Chen Weiyi had already brought it up, Zhao Jun said, "Director Chen, I understand. I'll tell our forest rangers to keep a close eye on things when they go up the mountain."
"Team Leader Zhao..." Chen Weiyi said hesitantly, "You are a hero for capturing Wang Haitao."
Hearing this, Zhao Jun quickly replied modestly, "No, no, Director Chen, this is the result of our joint efforts. People like our forest farm security team, the resident police station, our forest protection team, Director Sun from the county, and Captain Liu from the provincial capital are all heroes."
"You deserve the most credit!" Chen Weiyi flattered Zhao Jun, saying, "You were the one who found the man, and you were the one who caught him. And before that, you were already insisting that Wang Haitao was the murderer..."
"No, no," Zhao Jun declined, saying, "Director Chen, I just stumbled upon this by sheer luck."
"That's not true at all," Chen Weiyi said. "Team Leader Zhao, Director Sun, and Captain Liu all say you're a lucky charm. Besides, we're not familiar with this mountain area. We'll have to put in a lot of effort to find Wang Haitao's wife and children in the mountains."
"Director Chen, who can say that she and her child are in the mountains?" Zhao Jun knew that Wang Haitao was guilty and that the Wang family had taken stolen money, but he didn't want to get involved in a case where a woman was leading a sick child.
Before Chen Weiyi could speak, Zhao Jun said, "Director Chen, don't worry. This happened in our forest area, so our forestry security team will definitely cooperate with our GA and our police station."
"These days I've had some free time, so I've been going up the mountain. I've been searching, and I've also asked the forest rangers to help keep an eye out."
At this point, Zhao Jun changed the subject, saying, "But I feel that this mother and daughter can't stay in the mountains, because her child is sick and usually takes medical treatment to maintain his health. If he goes to the mountains, who will take care of him?"
Hearing Zhao Jun's words, Chen Weiyi was silent for two seconds, then said, "Team Leader Zhao, the terrain in our mountainous area is complicated, and there's no other way. We're conducting door-to-door investigations in the villages. Could you please keep an eye out for us in the mountains?"
Having said that, Zhao Jun did not refuse and readily agreed.
When Zhao Jun hung up the phone and walked out of the outer room, he saw men, women, and children gathered in the room.
"Son, what's wrong?" Wang Meilan asked, noticing Zhao Jun's pale face.
After Zhao Jun recounted the contents of the phone call, the atmosphere in the room became somewhat somber.
"This woman and child are so pitiful." The old lady shook her head and said, "What was Wang Haitao thinking? Even if things are difficult, it's not like we can't make ends meet. What is he doing?"
“Who says otherwise?” Wang Meilan sighed. “If we really couldn’t make ends meet by taking care of the child’s medical treatment, he told me that I could give him some money.”
"Oh my." As soon as Wang Meilan finished speaking, Zhao Youcai said, "You're very generous."
Startled by the sarcastic remarks, Wang Meilan glared at Zhao Youcai.
At this moment, Li Baoyu asked Zhao Jun, "Brother, should we get involved in this?"
"I'll take care of it!" Zhao Jun laughed. "Tomorrow morning, we'll all get up early, bring our boots and gear, and go up the mountain. I'll treat you to some river fish for dinner!"
(End of this chapter)