Rebirth of Bayi Fishing and Hunting in the Northwest

The two tractors stopped in front of Yushanjiang’s winter nest, instantly bringing this winter nest, which was originally like a paradise, closer to modern society.

Li Long's arrival made these young herdsmen more enthusiastic - although some of them could not afford it, and some people's winter homes were far away and the road conditions were complicated, making it impossible to drive in, they still wanted to know more about tractors.

Although Yushanjiang and Talihar came back driving a tractor, they were more convinced of Li Long about the tractor.

So Li Long was surrounded all of a sudden. These people were talking at once, asking questions that interested them in fluent or stiff Chinese.

Some people don't speak Chinese very well, so they get anxious and mix in some Kazakh from time to time. Someone immediately translates for Li Long.

"He asked, how much is this tractor? How many sheep can I get it in exchange?"

"Yes, yes, yes. How many sheep and cows can you exchange for them?"

"We can't use cattle and sheep. It's not cost-effective to exchange cattle and sheep. The elderly at home won't allow it." Before Li Long could answer, someone else said, "We have to use leather. It's best to use leather, something from the mountains..."

Li Long knew that they were most concerned about the price of the tractor, so he said:

"Let me tell you, this tractor costs more than 6,000 yuan..."

"Do you want to add the rear carriage?" someone asked immediately.

"Yes, but not the harvester."

"Don't interrupt, hold on tight!" Someone was unhappy that Li Long was interrupted and immediately shouted, "Listen carefully!"

After scolding him, he turned around and said to Li Long with a smile:

"Li Long, tell me, how much can we get for a tractor by using the things in the mountains?"

Six thousand yuan was a huge, unfamiliar number to them. Most of them had little education, and it was good enough for them to be able to recognize numbers within a hundred. Six thousand - it was unimaginable.

But Yushanjiang and Talihar actually drove the tractor back. What does that prove? It proves that if you work hard, you can earn so much money.

When Li Long first drove a tractor into the mountains to help everyone cut grass, they were still in awe of the tractor. Even after driving it twice, they still thought it was really amazing.

Later, when people from the pastoral team drove tractors to pull wool, Li Long drove a jeep to interact with them and let them understand that although people outside the mountains did not need to ride horses, they had more powerful things.

You say they aren't curious and don't want to?

Of course I did.

Now that my tribe has this thing, do I want it? Of course I do!

"If it's snow leopard skin, three will be enough." Li Long said, considering that the snow leopard skins he collected were all remnants and their value had to be discounted.

This one may make everyone think about it. After all, although there are not many of these guys in the inner mountains, there are much more of them than in the outer mountains. Every family has seen them, or every family should have been visited by snow leopards when grazing cattle and sheep.

But it is possible to hit one card, but it is difficult to hit three cards.

"As for the red deer skin, I need 100 pieces." Li Long said another number. This 100 pieces included both the whole skin and the residual skin.

"For lynx skins, four should be enough. The same goes for bear skins. Of course, if you want to include bear gallbladders, two bear skins and two bear gallbladders will be enough."

"Ibex, argali, roe deer, and wild goats. One hundred and fifty skins will do."

"If it's snow lotus, there would be one thousand two hundred flowers..." said Li Long.

The specific numbers are listed here, and each one sounds quite large.

But it’s not out of reach.

After listening to this, these people either whispered to each other or secretly calculated what advantages they had.

"I still owe you a lot of furs," said Talihar. "After I finish cutting grass and come back, I will go hunting and pay you back."

Yushanjiang had enough, but Talihar didn't, and he owed a lot. Although no one said anything, Talihar, who was influenced by traditional education, didn't want to owe others anything. He thought that if he went back and killed a snow leopard and a few red deer, that would be enough.

He once found a group of seven or eight red deer. Although the range of their activities was large, they were relatively fixed. When he returned, he would find out the situation.

"You can also do the same as Talihar. A few people can gather together and bring the things to me. When you have enough, you can drive a tractor back." Li Long said with a smile, "In fact, there are not only these things, but also mushrooms. Take a look..."

He took out a large black tiger palm mushroom from the jeep and said, "This is two yuan per kilogram. There are too many in the mountains. If you have time in the next two days, pick some and bring them here. You can exchange them for money with me."

"Can this be exchanged for money?" Buick looked at the black tiger paw fungus in Li Long's hand and asked in confusion, "There are a lot of them in this mountain. They grow in patches in the forest next to our winter nest."

"Yes, you can exchange it. Fresh ones are three yuan per kilogram, and dried ones are fifteen yuan per kilogram." The price Li Long quoted was the price charged by the purchasing station.

It takes about five kilograms of black tiger's paw mushroom to produce one kilogram of dried goods.

"Is it so expensive? Then let's go pick mushrooms now and bring them back to you." Someone said immediately.

"Okay, pull it over here and I'll pay you." Li Long smiled. The advantages of living in the mountains are still huge.

"Why pay? It's a gift for you." The man waved his hands hurriedly.

"That's right, money, money, Li Long, you can't keep talking about money. If you keep talking about money, we can't be friends anymore." Yushanjiang also said, "You have helped us so much, it's normal for us to pick some mushrooms for you. It's not okay for you to just think about giving us money."

Li Long was stunned for a moment and didn't know what to say.

In his opinion, he couldn't always take advantage of the herders, so he had to pay them when they gave him things.

But in Yushanjiang's opinion, Li Long had helped them so much, and he could pay for some of the things, but for some other things, he was just picking up mushrooms, so how could he ask for money?
If it weren't for Li Long, they would have never thought of using a mower to mow the grass in the past five years, and they would not have been able to do so. If they used a sickle to mow the grass manually, they would not be able to mow as much grass in a month as they would in ten days with a mower, and it was more tiring.

Now? If two tractors work together, it may take less than ten days to complete the work. The herders only need to bundle the dried grass and put it on the tractor to pull it back.

How much time can be saved, and it is not tiring. Isn't it right to use the saved time to pick some mushrooms for Li Long?
Helping is mutual. He didn't want to turn his relationship with Li Long into a purely business one. Li Long was a friend they recognized, and in the process of recognition, Li Long helped them a lot, which could not be measured by money.

Li Long saw Yushanjiang's determination, so he stopped talking about this topic. In fact, he had thought of something that Yushanjiang had thought of yesterday, so he changed the topic:
"Yushanjiang, you see, the winter camps of Halimu, you, and Talihar can be accessed by tractors. The winter camps of others are farther away, so it's not easy for tractors to pass through. I thought, when we have some free time, we can find a big bulldozer and open a road to the other winter camps. How about that?
Once the road is cleared, it will be easier for the tractor to go up the mountain and to carry things up and down. For example, you can bring coal from the open-pit coal mine to your winter home in one truck, without having to use horses to carry it - horses are slow after all."

Coal is just an analogy. The main thing is that it is easy to transport, repair and deliver.

After Li Long finished speaking, at least half of the herdsmen responded loudly. If this could really be done, it would be great.

But half of the herders still have concerns. Most of them have elderly people in their families. In the past two years of contact with Li Long, most of the herders are willing, but a small number of older herders are worried.

Li Long's bringing a radio into the mountains had already made some old herdsmen dissatisfied, saying that it had changed their traditions.

They have become accustomed to sticking to their own pastures and leading a peaceful life. They worry that if they communicate too much with the outside world, their descendants will forget or throw aside their traditions. Then, will the tribe still be a tribe?
But young people have seen the technological products of the outside world and are unwilling to stick to tradition and spend their lives in the mountains.

Some young people are brave enough to take risks. They either turn a deaf ear to what the elderly say, or at least they don’t listen to it completely.

Some of the more honest and obedient ones hesitated. After all, if you tell this to the elderly, they will probably not agree.

The current roads were paved by the older generation, and are very convenient for horses to walk on. If a road is built for cars, will the tribe be opened to outsiders? If more people come in and out, can the tribe still be protected?
Li Long was just making a suggestion. Whether Yushanjiang would agree to it or not would depend on his determination.

In fact, Yushanjiang thought the same thing before Li Long came, but now it seems that the resistance may be considerable.

Furthermore, can the road be cleared using a bulldozer?

The road has been opened, but is the impact it has played as great as we imagined?

He is not Li Long. Li Longchun is a person who has lived two lives and thinks like a person from outside the mountains. "If you want to be rich, you must first build roads." This concept runs through the experience of the 40 years of development in northern Xinjiang. As long as the roads are open, things will be easier to transport. Those materials can be exchanged for what they want, instead of being left to rot in the mountains.

Of course, the cost is also quite high. When the road is built into the mountains, there will be more people in the mountains, and those wild animals will definitely move into the mountains or become less numerous.

This is inevitable - let’s improve people’s lives first.

Li Long was just making a suggestion. Now that the tractor had arrived and the herders had finished their breakfast, they had almost asked about the price of the tractor. So Yushanjiang took a few people to cut grass. He had already assigned the tasks and everyone did their own work.

Li Long did not go there. He carried a gun and a sack and went to pick mushrooms in the nearby woods.

There were still few people in the mountains at that time. Those who picked mushrooms usually did not come to this area, so Li Long went into the pine forest, identified the direction, and looked for a place with moss and thick pine needles on the shady slope. Soon he found a patch of black tiger palm mushrooms.

As long as you find the place, you will soon find a lot of them. "Bang!"

Hearing gunshots in the distance, Li Long looked up and continued picking mushrooms.

I guess some herdsman saw prey and wanted to hunt it.

He suddenly thought of the snow lotus on the slope that he had seen when he was renovating the house. It should be blooming now, right?

Then let’s go pick it?
Li Long did it as soon as he thought of it. He carried the sack out of the ravine, identified the direction, and headed southeast.

The winter pastures of Yushan River are filled with a strong smell of green grass. The harvester cuts the lush grass, and translucent green juice oozes out from the cut ends. The smell is very popular with cattle and sheep. When lawns are treated in communities in later generations, the smell is basically the same, but not as strong as here.

Yushanjiang drove the tractor, rumbling all the way up, leaving a long, neatly fallen trail of grass on the left side of the tractor.

The herders were very happy about this. The sickle was slow to cut grass, and the grass was not as neat as that cut by the harvester. When tying the grass, the sickle had to be used to hook it together.

Occasionally, pheasants would fly out from the bushes, and sometimes even many little pheasants would emerge from the bushes.

Yushanjiang's tractors will not stop because of these, even if a marmot comes out of it.

The forage grasses are mainly wild alfalfa, ice grass, Codonopsis pilosula, Setaria viridis, etc., and occasionally a small amount of Poppy, also known as Tianshan wild safflower.

There are a lot of medicinal herbs in these grasses, and many bees are hovering over the flowers.

Yu Shanjiang drove the tractor and stopped after harvesting more than 20 acres of grass. He needed to rest, and the tractor also needed to rest.

Of course the most important thing was that he was stung by a wasp while cutting grass, so he had to be replaced.

There are also hornets in the mountains, and there are quite a lot of them. Some of them build their nests directly on tall grass poles, and then specifically rob bees collecting honey nearby.

The wasp sting was on Yushanjiang's eyelid. He was going back to his winter nest for a change. When he heard Li Long say that vinegar or soapy water could be used to remove the sting, he wanted to try it.

If it were in the past, I might have just endured it, but now that there is a way, of course I have to try it. After all, it hurts, it really hurts.

At this time, Li Long had already arrived in front of the mountain covered with rocks.

With the naked eye, you can see the tender yellow snow lotus flowers blooming on the mountain.

There are quite a lot of them dotted here and there.

What surprised him even more was that there were more than a dozen argali sheep grazing on the grass on the hillside.

These wild animals in the mountains are just like this. There is lush green grass at the foot of the mountain, but they just won't go there to eat. I don't know if they are worried about being harmed by natural enemies or if they are used to staying in the mountains.

Good at running away?

Li Long was not sure, so he raised his gun and took aim. The distance from here to the herd of argali was nearly 200 meters. Although the effective shooting range of the 565mm was 400 meters, it was still unclear whether it could hit the target within 200 meters.

He continued to move forward with his gun in hand - he didn't throw away the sack either, as he still had to pick snow lotus later.

There are at least a hundred snow lotus flowers on this hillside, which is considered a large area.

With the cover of bushes, Li Long walked forward more than thirty meters.

In fact, he had already taken a good look at the route before he set off. There was a sparse patch of bushes ahead, so as long as he was careful, he would be able to reach the argali within a hundred meters.

I was looking at the next bush, thinking of bending over when the argali were not paying attention, when I suddenly felt the argali move.

Is it dangerous?

Then Li Long saw four sika deer, one male and three females, rushing towards this side near the bottom of the ravine!

The male red deer has tall velvet antlers on its head - they have not yet grown into antlers at this time, and look very beautiful and a little cute.

But this bull elk was extremely strong, weighing at least two hundred kilograms.

The skeleton is not small, like a pony.

The three female elk were much smaller in size, only slightly larger than ordinary roe deer, and even smaller than the greater argali in the herd.

The three sika deer were running very fast and were rushing towards Li Long.

Is there something chasing them?
Li Long looked back again and saw a group of gray wolves!
The group of argali were also carried up the mountain, that is, the mountain on Li Long's left hand. The argali ran very fast, and nearly half of them disappeared from the top of the mountain and climbed over the slope in less than a minute.

A few sika deer were still running towards this side and did not see Li Long beside the bushes.

Li Long put down the sack, aimed his gun, and fired two shots at the male sika deer!
The bull elk stopped with its head held high when the first shot hit it, and the second shot killed it directly.

The three female elk immediately separated when the gun was fired, one went uphill to the south, and the other two went downhill to the north. The group of five or six wolves behind them also slowed down.

"Boom!"

Li Long took advantage of the time when the female elk turned sideways and fired two more shots, knocking down one. He then ignored the elk and aimed his gun at the gray wolves behind him - those gray wolves were not scared away by the gunshots, apparently because "wolves are in numbers" and still had some ideas.

The leading wolf was shot in the head by Li Long, and fell down with a howl.

The other wolves immediately stopped chasing and hid in the bushes, neither walking nor chasing.

Li Long did not continue shooting. He looked up at the mountain and saw that the argali had disappeared. He felt a little sorry, but he immediately took out a magazine loaded with bullets, pulled the bolt, caught the bullets that popped out, and pushed the magazine down.

There are a lot of wolves, so you have to keep the magazine full.

After loading the gun with full bullets, he loaded the remaining bullets back, pulled the bolt to load the gun, and fired two more shots at the bushes where the wolf was hiding!

A wolf leaped out of a bush and ran backward into another bush.

Li Long looked left and right, then looked back, and there was no danger.

He liked the feeling of ambushing - he was not good at hunting, but ambushing at close range and shooting at fixed and moving targets were his strengths.

He still had a hundred bullets on him, so he was not afraid even if another group of wolves came.

Just as Li Long was carefully looking at the bushes, thinking about shooting any wolf that showed its head, someone shouted in the distance:

"Is it Li Long?"

"It's me!" Li Long shouted, raising the muzzle of his gun. "There's a wolf over here, and I'm killing it!"

"Bang, bang, bang!" Gunshots were heard from the hillside on the right. It seemed that the other party had discovered the wolf.

Being attacked from both sides, another wolf fell down immediately. The other wolves also realized that it was impossible to take revenge at the moment. The leader howled, turned around and ran away.

The gray wolves were similar in color to the rocks and were very fast, and with the bushes providing shade, they soon disappeared.

Li Long put away his gun and stood up, then he saw Talihar and Buick on the hillside on the right, both looking over here with guns in hand.

He smiled and asked:

"Talihar, why don't you drive the tractor?"

"Let others drive it away." Talihar was also helpless. Those guys said that the tractor was theirs and they had the chance to drive it, but they drove him off.

I had no choice but to come here to hunt.

Before I saw anything, I heard gunshots from Li Long's side.

Fortunately, I hit a wolf.

I wonder how many prey Li Long has? (End of this chapter)