Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

Chapter 296: Is this what we call a narrow road for enemies?

The fishing continued until late October. Li Jianguo finished his work in the fields and joined in. Li Long left the task of setting the nets and selling the fish to his elder brother, and he hitched up a horse-drawn carriage to the county.

At that time, the Salt Company had not yet been established, and bulk salt trading was conducted through supply and marketing cooperatives.

As a member of the supply and marketing cooperative, Li Long naturally gets discounts when buying salt.

"You bought so much?" The warehouse manager was also a little surprised. "What are you going to do with this salt?"

"My herder friends feed the animals, rub the skins and so on."

"Oh... no problem. There's plenty of coarse salt in the salt lake anyway." The warehouse manager didn't ask any more questions and helped Li Long move the goods.

Li Long also asked:

"Is this salt from Jinghe or Wucheng?"

There are many salt lakes in northern Xinjiang. There is one in the east of Wucheng, about 200 kilometers away. There is also one in Jinghe, west of Wusu, which is a little further away.

"The salt from Jinghe is good." The warehouse manager said, "But it's just coarse salt. It doesn't matter if it's good or not, as long as it works."

This is also used to pickle pickles.

It is said that the salt in Jinghe is better, especially the base under the salt lake. According to later generations, he heard from an industry insider that as long as this base is there, the salt lake will continue to produce salt. It was just because of the rumor that the mineral salt of this base can cure diseases, so many people, mainly people in the industry with connections, went to dig up the base, and finally there was no salt in the Jinghe Salt Lake.

I don't know whether it's true or not, it's just a rumor.

This time, Li Long added boards on all four sides of the carriage, which were half a meter high and could hold more than a dozen bags of coarse salt.

Li Long felt that this should be enough.

I was originally planning to buy some other things, but then I thought that Halimu and the others were about to leave, and it would not be safe to buy more things and keep them in the winter nest, so I decided to wait until they came back.

When Li Long arrived at the winter camp, Halimu was carrying bundles of grass in front of the camp.

There was a tall pile of grass next to the winter den, and Halimu was picking up the grass from the bottom and stacking it neatly.

When Li Long was leading the carriage over, Halimu saw it, put down the wooden fork, ran over, and helped Li Long get the carriage to the winter den.

"Bring over all the salt you use in the winter. Anyway, the salt is kept in your winter home, so no one will steal it." Li Long removed the compartment board and said as he moved the salt bags down.

"That's right. It will snow in the mountains soon and there will be basically no one there."

"How did you fight that wolf?" Li Long asked again.

"We killed two more." Halim shook his head and said, "Wolves are very smart. They won't come out later. I don't have many bullets left. I'll need them when I get back. We'll see when we get back. If they're smart, they won't come back. If they come again, we'll kill them again."

Not completely defeated.

The wolf will definitely take revenge.

"When our militiamen have winter training, I will get some more bullets and go hunting, whether it's wolves, deer or wild boars."

"Okay." Halimu nodded repeatedly. In winter, many animals hibernate and hide. If wolves and other guys want to find food, they will definitely target the herdsmen's cattle and sheep. Having more bullets is a good thing for those who have guns.

After unloading the salt, Li Long asked Halimu to take care of his grass, while he started digging manure next to the winter den.

The carriage with the added board can hold more manure, and Li Long worked very hard. Now there are people selling fertilizers, but the food grain fields will continue to be planted until the first decade of the new century, when the team will re-divide the land for drip irrigation (not divide the land, but re-divide it according to the original number of acres of food grain fields and contracted fields of each family). At that time, the land will change owners. There is still nearly 30 years to go, so it is good to put more manure on the land.

After loading a full cart of manure, when Li Long stopped and prepared to leave, Halimu had already arranged the grass and was lighting a fire on the stove.

"Wait a minute, drink milk tea, eat naan, and chew on dried wolf meat." Halimu gestured to Li Long, "Tomorrow, I will also go into the mountains to the summer pasture."

Li Long then realized that Halimu had actually been waiting for him. He asked:
"Have they all gone back yet?"

"Go, all go."

Since Halim said so, Li Long put the No. 76 back down and let it continue to graze. He used the bucket he brought with him to fetch a bucket of water from the stream to water the horse.

Halimu was boiling tea on the stove, and he had brought out a bag of naan. The naan should have been made just two days ago, so it wasn't very dry. Li Long sat in front of the winter nest, broke off a piece, put it in his mouth, and chewed it slowly.

Halimu brought a plate of dried wolf meat from the winter den, intending to steam the meat after the tea was ready.

Li Long didn't rush me. In this era, there were no mobile phones or the Internet, so everything was slow. I've been here for almost a year, and I've gotten used to it.

I used to regret that the journey from my home to the mountains, which used to take an hour by car, now took four hours by horse carriage and at least two hours by bicycle.

But now I am coming here slowly in the carriage, and will go back slowly later, but I don’t feel impatient.

Life in this era is just like this, you can't rush it, it can't be quick. Watching Li Long slowly breaking the naan to eat, Halimu also sat down, picked up a piece of naan and slowly ate it.

"How are your cattle and sheep this year?" Li Long asked while eating.

"This year, the grass on the summer pasture is very good, and the lambs are basically all alive." When talking about this, Halimu became more talkative:
"Before we moved, you brought us so many things. We had a very happy and interesting time at the summer pasture. We all learned a lot from listening to the radio, and our ideas have changed a lot. Our future life will get better and better."

"Well, it will get better and better." In the next few years, as long as I don't do anything reckless, my life will definitely get better and better.

There will be more and more bicycles in the village, the first TV, the first tractor, and more students will be admitted to high schools and technical secondary schools...

Some people living on the pastures will start settling down to graze, and will send their children to special Uyghur and Kazakh schools. Some herders will turn into economic agents or businessmen, and some will go abroad in the future to do business with foreigners from the same tribe next door...

Drinking milk tea, Li Long and Halimu talked about their experiences. Halimu was envious of Li Long's hunting harvest this summer. He told Li Long that many deer have gone deep into the mountains. When it snows in winter, some big deer will bring their fawns to the nearby mountains, which will be a good time to hunt deer.

"I encountered a brown bear at the hot spring." Li Long suddenly remembered something and reminded Halim, "You guys have to be careful, this guy is more powerful than a wolf."

"Well, we also encountered them in the summer pasture," Halim said. "They are usually scared away by some noises, but they will come to trouble us when they are hungry. Fortunately, we all have guns - there are many of us, so we are not afraid of them."

But brown bears can definitely cause trouble.

After the dried meat was cooked, Li Long ate two pieces. After he was full, he said goodbye to Halimu and left.

Halimu asked Li Long to bring some dried meat, but Li Long didn't bring any, saying he had plenty at home. Halimu didn't force him.

It will be winter before we meet again.

Fortunately, winter will come soon.

The next day, when Li Long and Tao Daqiang came over with a horse-drawn carriage and an ox-drawn cart respectively, the door of Halimu's winter den had been sealed and no one was there.

After they loaded the manure, they returned to the team. That day, Li Jianguo cast his net in Xiaohaizi. He told Li Long that the team had something to do tomorrow, so he would stay in the team and asked Li Long to go to Shicheng to sell the fish.

Li Long thought that since he had nothing else to do, he might as well go. After this trip, he planned to go into the mountains to be busy for a while. It was the end of autumn, and the Codonopsis pilosula in the mountains was almost ready for digging. It would be good to bring some of this stuff back, whether to sell it to a purchasing station or keep it for personal use.

Stewing chicken with Codonopsis pilosula in winter is a great tonic.

When Li Long went to retrieve the net the next day, he found that Yang Yongqiang had also arrived at Xiaohaizi very early.

Li Long didn't think much about it. He just said hello and Tao Daqiang went into the water to collect the net.

Yang Yongqiang actually proved what Li Long said by doing two experiments: loosening the net at one end and letting it hang loose when lowering it would indeed catch more fish. After that, he would come earlier every day to get the net, mainly to prevent others from noticing.

After all, everyone has cast their nets, and everyone knows the previous conditions. If you suddenly catch more fish, won’t others ask you?

They would not ask Li Long, and probably would not be able to get the answer, but they would definitely ask Yang Yongqiang, and even go to watch Yang Yongqiang cast the net. That's why he came early so that others could not see him, and then there would be nothing to say.

Li Long and Tao Daqiang went back to pick the fish, then he rode his bike and took Li Juan and Li Qiang to school, and then went to Shicheng to get the things.

People who often visit the old street know that Li Long, the fisherman, comes here every now and then to sell fish. So they just try their luck. If they can come across it, they will come and buy it. If they can't come across it, they will miss it. It depends on the situation.

Therefore, Li Long’s fish is quite popular and is basically sold out within an hour at the latest.

Thinking that he would go to the mountains soon, after Li Long sold the fish, he packed up his things and pushed the cart without rushing to drink milk tea. Instead, he planned to see if there was anything worth buying.

There are many stalls in the old street, and the goods are also rich. Now it is the end of autumn, and there are many agricultural products. Watermelons are gone, because they are in season, but there are still melons for sale. Li Long guessed that this should be the last batch of melons.

He didn't buy any, but there were quite a few piled up at home, all of which were planted by Li Jianguo in the cornfields where there was a shortage of seedlings. There were pear melons, cantaloupe eggs, etc.

When there are too many things, I don’t feel like eating them anymore. When I want to eat something, I open one and sometimes I can’t even think of eating it.

A long-distance bus stopped at the old street, and a group of people came down from there. One of them was carrying a large sack and hurriedly walked through the crowd to the end of the old street.

At this time, Li Long was bending over and looking at the iron tools on the stall. There were hook-like tools, small rakes, and small shovels, all of which looked good.

He bought a handful of each and planned to try them out when digging Codonopsis pilosula.

After all, not all Codonopsis grows obediently in the soil. Some grow in the cracks between rocks or between tree roots, making it inconvenient to use a shovel at that time.

Special tools are required.

When he straightened up to push the cart, he saw the man with the bag in front of him.

That guy, why does his posture look so much like Gu Ermao?

Li Long immediately followed him, as he still had a grudge against this guy!
If it really were him, Li Long would never let him go!

(End of this chapter)