Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

After all this trouble, Li Long no longer wanted to dig Codonopsis pilosula in this ditch. He packed up his things, left the ditch with his gun, and returned to the wooden house.

After resting in the wooden house for more than an hour, Li Long got up and went out again with his tools and gun. This time he changed to another ravine where the soil was better, so Li Long went in to dig.

Li Long has learned his lesson now. After entering the ditch, he first looks at the soil quality. If the soil layer is thick, he goes in to dig. The good thing now is that in these ditches where there is no grass or it is not worth weeding, there are more Codonopsis pilosula, and they are relatively large. After all, the Chinese herbal medicines in the entire Tianshan Mountains are basically undeveloped at this time.

Of course, it took only a few decades from undeveloped to wildly developed. Fortunately, Codonopsis is not as valuable as ginseng, otherwise it would be like the snow lotus above the snow line of Tianshan Mountain, which went from being everywhere to being nowhere to be found in just a few decades.

In fact, where Codonopsis is more abundant, in the pastures of herders, those herders cut down the Codonopsis plants as if they were grass. Some people living in the river valleys deep in the Tianshan Mountains use Codonopsis as a raw material for pickling pickles.

Therefore, the large amount of Codonopsis pilosula is not rare.

But anything that has been around for a long time will become a good thing. For example, the one that Li Long is digging now, just looking at the head, it must be at least as thick as an adult's forearm. This is the first time he has dug such a big Codonopsis!

You must keep this branch for your own use and not sell it at a recycling station - it's not worth it.

Li Long originally thought that this Codonopsis was similar to the previous one, with a single branch that went several dozen meters deep. However, after digging less than 20 centimeters, the Codonopsis began to branch out, and it branched out into four branches at once. It didn't look like a human shape.

These branches are about two or three centimeters in diameter, and then they become thinner like radishes and finally disappear.

Li Long took half the time it took to dig out one Codonopsis pilosula to dig out this extremely thick but very short Codonopsis pilosula. Looking at its shape, it looks a bit like an octopus with its four legs cut off.

But to be honest, it's really thick!
very satisfied!
Li Long carefully put away the Codonopsis pilosula and continued to move forward.

There is a thick pole on it, but the pole of Codonopsis pilosula is located in front of a pile of rocks. Li Long hesitated for a moment, and looking at the thick pole, he decided to dig it.

This pile of stones is quite conspicuous. It can be seen that the largest stone on the top should have been here originally. The two stones piled next to it seem to have been moved here later. The colors are not consistent, and it may be Li Long's illusion.

He just glanced at it and didn't pay much attention.

In fact, a thick stem of Codonopsis pilosula does not necessarily mean that the ginseng underneath is large. However, if the branches are small, the ginseng is usually small.

First, he dug out a pile of soil next to the pole, opposite the stone. Seeing that the reeds were not close to the stone, Li Long felt relieved and continued to dig.

After digging down more than 20 centimeters, the reeds came to an end, revealing the ginseng body, which looked quite large, but it was already moving closer to the rock.

Since he had already dug it, Li Long didn't hesitate and looked down. After all, it was unlikely that the Codonopsis pilosula would grow inside the stone.

He used a shovel to dig away the outer circle of soil. As he watched the ginseng body approach the stone, he began to clean the soil there with a small grappling hook.

The more I cleaned it, the more confused I became. Did the ginseng really grow into the stone? How did it get deeper and deeper? Not only did it stick to the stone, but it also went inside it...

As he dug, he finally felt like he had dug out the ginseng body. Then he felt the hook had hooked onto something hard. Thinking it was a tree root or something, he pulled it hard to cut it off, but he ended up pulling the object out directly.

It is a copper ring with green rust and some decorations on it, and it feels like a collar.

There was some silk fabric wrapped around it that hadn't completely rotted away. I didn't know if it was a blanket or cloth or something.

Li Long was startled and stood up immediately - could he have dug into an ancient tomb?
Then it was denied. Whether it is the Han or ethnic minorities, the graves are usually in cemeteries. Even if they are buried secretly or unintentionally in the mountains, it is impossible not to wrap them up.

This doesn't look like a burial object.

After confirming this, Li Long bravely dug out the Codonopsis pilosula first. Then he hooked something with the hook again. When he pulled it out, he found that it was a large bunch of copper coins that had rusted and stuck together.

It's rusted beyond recognition.

Is it hidden treasure?
Logically speaking, this thing has nothing to do with the Tianshan Mountains - this is a sparsely populated place with almost no people living here, and it is not a passage to the southern Tianshan Mountains. How could something be hidden here?

With suspicion, Li Long put the pile of rusty copper coins aside and continued to dig them out with the grappling hook.

After taking out five or six bronze artifacts in succession, he took out two blackened objects - they looked like silver ingots, the size of a palm, with boat-shaped upturned ends. Upon closer inspection, there seemed to be words underneath, but they were also covered with rust and could not be seen clearly.

Li Long was basically certain that this thing must be a treasure.

He looked at the pile of stones and realized that the natural stone on the top was the symbol. The person who hid it probably worried that one stone was not safe, so he added two more stones. At least under natural weathering, this thing would not rot for a while.

He piled up the things he dug out, no matter whether they were useful or not, and packed them up in his coat - the bag he carried was for Codonopsis pilosula, as Li Long was worried that these things would be mixed with Codonopsis pilosula and damage it. Although Codonopsis pilosula is not as valuable as ginseng, he still hoped that it would be intact after he had finally dug it out.

Looking at the pit, Li Long did not continue digging, but continued to dig with the grappling hook, just like a treasure hunting program, looking forward to whether the next thing is a treasure. Then he took out a sheathed machete.

The handle of the knife was inlaid with a small piece of emerald, and the scabbard was made of leather. The metal edging on it had rusted. Li Long took it in his hand and pulled it out twice but failed. It seemed that the rust inside was quite serious.

He stuffed the knife into the package made from the knotted coat, and used the grappling hook to dig twice more, and took out a bunch of copper coins, but it seemed that he didn't take out anything else after that.

Li Long guessed that there must be something inside, but he had no intention of digging any further, so he filled the hole with a shovel.

The place was clearly marked, so Li Long was not worried about not being able to find it. He put on his gun, packed up his tools, picked up the bag of Codonopsis pilosula, and went back to the cabin.

After returning to the wooden house, Li Long Hulimata made some food, then opened his coat bag on the wooden floor in front of the house and slowly started to clean up.

Although it is not a professional technique, he is very curious and wants to know where these things come from.

It is unlikely that these were hidden by the landlords of ethnic minorities. Judging from the age of these things, they should not be very old. After all, if they were too old, the copper coins would have rusted and rotted long ago.

He first took out the scimitar, found a piece of cloth to slowly wipe off the rust on it, and then used his strength to pull the knife out without damaging the scabbard.

There wasn't a lot of rust on the knife, so it was definitely not sharp, but Li Long thought it would be a good idea to find a professional to repair it.

He removed the rust that could be removed first, and then left the rest alone. Not being a professional, he was afraid of damaging the thing.

The two horseshoe silvers were a little curled up on both sides, probably because they were pressed in the mud. Li Long gently applied force and actually bent them back a little bit. He wiped them, but the black rust was not easy to wipe off, but the dirty mud was wiped off. Then he saw the words below, which seemed to have "Ping Yin" or something. Li Long guessed that it was Ku Ping Yin, but the word that might be Ku was worn away.

These two are quite heavy and large. If they are real things, they should be worth some money in the future.

At this time, Li Long slowly began to wonder, could it be possible that these were left behind by former bandits?

Li Long remembered that his elder brother Li Jianguo had talked about the history of this place. In the past, the bandit Usman had robbed and been beaten in this area of ​​Ma County, so it was possible that these were the things left behind by the defeated bandits under his command.

Usman was originally a small leader of a minority uprising force against Sheng Shicai. The main reason for the uprising was that Sheng Shicai wanted to collect hunting rifles from minority herdsmen, but the herdsmen disagreed. However, after the uprising, they were unable to defeat Sheng Shicai's army and were driven into the mountains.

Usman was a small leader of one of the scattered soldiers. Later, they gained the support of the Outer Mongolian forces, and their power gradually expanded. Usman also changed from an uprising herdsman to a bandit leader who wanted to establish himself as a king.

The northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains was once the area where Usman conducted activities.

Li Long felt that his guess was most likely correct.

I don’t know whose things were stolen and who buried them here.

He cleaned it up slowly, and he was determined to keep the two pieces of horseshoe silver. He pried open a piece of the copper coin and looked at the Qianlong Tongbao coins that appeared inside, which he thought were of little interest.

There was another piece that was a bit of a surprise. There were not only copper coins but also a stack of silver dollars. Although it was rusted, the rust was not very obvious. After cleaning it, it was in good condition.

As for the copper collar, Li Long was unable to clean it out because the green rust was too severe and he did not have the skills and ability to do so now.

After putting these things in a bag and putting them in the small room, Li Long thought that if he had time, he would take them back to the large yard and put them together with the antiques he had collected. After a few years, they might become valuable.

It is not necessary to sell them. After all, with my current ability, making money is nothing. It is still no problem to ensure that I am always above the well-off line. Those things, including the seed material of mutton-fat jade, are all kept for the sake of thought. If others have them in the future, I can also have them myself.

It felt like I had found treasure again. Although I didn’t get much Codonopsis pilosula, I felt a great sense of accomplishment.

Good!

It was no longer hot in the mountains at noon. Li Long took a nap in the wooden house, then went to another ditch to dig Codonopsis pilosula with his tools and full of energy.

I was lucky today. In this ditch, Codonopsis pilosula mainly grows in the soil. Li Long dug more than a dozen of them, all of which were quite thick.

Seeing that the sun had not set yet, Li Long decided not to dig anymore. He put away the Codonopsis pilosula and tools and walked towards another ditch nearby.

That was the hot spring ditch. He wanted to see if there was any prey there. If there was, he could catch one, so that he would have something to eat for the next few days.

The temperature in the hot spring ditch was slightly higher than that in the previous ditch. Li Long guessed that it was because the water temperature here was higher. A sulfur smell filled the ditch, and there were fewer mosquitoes in it, making it much quieter than other ditch.

I wonder if there are any prey taking a bath? (End of this chapter)