Chapter 151: Semi-finished winter camp

On the mountain road, Li Long was pedaling the bicycle with difficulty. This section is the most difficult to walk. The road is overgrown with weeds, the slope is high, and there are many stones.

After pedaling up this long slope of nearly one kilometer, the gentle slope in front was much more comfortable. Li Long held the handlebars with one hand and wiped the sweat while riding forward.

People who ride bicycles are the same as people who drive cars in later generations. Once they get on the bike, they don't want to get off. Even if they know that getting off and pushing this section might save more effort, they just want to pedal up.

Pedaling the bike into the mountain pass, the next road is winding. Fortunately, this road was stepped out by herdsmen coming and going with cattle and sheep, and it was quite good to ride. Li Long avoided the stinging nettles along the way and arrived near Halimu's winter camp.

Halimu was outside the winter camp. Seeing Li Long coming, he ran over with a smile, followed by Nasen and their family's dog.

"Li Long, you didn't come yesterday," Halimu said, "Originally I thought about taking you to see your winter camp."

"It's okay now." Li Long said, "I had something at home yesterday, so I didn't come—put the grain in your winter camp first."

"Well, put it here first. After we unload the grain, we will go to your winter camp, and just tell them that you brought grain—when you get to the summer pasture, what they need most is this rice and flour."

In his previous life, Li Long heard that herdsmen in the mountains usually eat brick tea with naan. If there are side dishes, they might be butter or cream or jam, very simple. It's impossible to eat meat every meal—eating meat for them is also very luxurious, usually only slaughtering sheep during festivals or when guests come.

He just heard it, didn't know if it was true or false, but he didn't ask.

Together with Halimu, he moved the grain to the winter camp, and then walked west.

"They have already started stacking wooden walls. According to Yushanjiang, it won't take two days, and your house will be built. Then you can move in—you need to prepare the things inside yourself. After all, our living habits are different from yours."

"Understand, understand." Li Long was still a bit excited. Not to mention the house in the team, that's the eldest brother's. After he gets married, he will definitely have a homestead to build a house.

The houses on the street are not mentioned, they were bought directly, and they are houses from decades ago, and it is impossible to have any empathy.

But what is about to be seen, which cannot even be called a house, was built in these few days since he came to this life. It was built by these lovely and enthusiastic Kazakh herdsmen to thank him for his little insignificant contribution.

This made Li Long really a bit excited.

Before seeing the house, Li Long heard someone singing, and the sound of the radio. It should be the announcer broadcasting the news. Although it was not in Chinese, the tone could still be heard.

There was also the sound of beating wood, and laughter.

"They are very happy." Li Long said with a smile, "Your mentality is really good."

"The words passed down by our ancestors say that people should look forward. Although we are in the mountains, we don't have as many things as you have down the mountain, but we are very content." Halimu's words made Li Long trance for a moment.

In his previous life, his material life could be said to be extremely rich, but it seemed that he was not as happy as these few months.

The arrival of Halimu and Li Long made these men even happier.

Yushanjiang shouted, letting the men who were still working rest, and everyone gathered around, talking one by one. Li Long shook hands with them one by one. He didn't understand what they were saying, but looking at those sun-spotted yet enthusiastic and innocent faces, he really felt that he was very lucky in this life.

Yushanjiang brought Li Long to the house that had built two wooden walls and said:

"Look, after these two sides are built, the back will be fast. This house, well, two rooms, one room, well, for living, one room, well, for things. By the way, lay wooden boards inside, well, we have to smear a layer of mud on the wall, so that, well, there will be no problem when burning fire later, well."

The house frame is very simple, two rooms, one big and one small. The big one is about 30 square meters, and the small one feels like 20 square meters. Now it looks very rough and primitive, but it has a unique beauty.

"Thank you, thank you!" Li Long said sincerely to Yushanjiang, "I really don't know how to thank you..."

"Friends, don't say this!" Yushanjiang said seriously, "You, well, helped us so much, we, well, do this sincerely. We, well, people on horseback, don't know how to say so many nice words, but the friends we recognize, we will treat them sincerely."

Li Long stopped talking.

Halimu said some words, and then those men looked at Li Long.

"Halimu said, you can help them trade for the things they want to trade. Deer antlers, roe deer antlers, or skins, etc., all work."

"Okay!" Li Long said firmly, "I am very willing to help friends!"

The young men looked at each other, and none of them thought about speaking first.

Li Long and Yushanjiang walked over from the house to the wood where the young men were sitting, and also found a piece of wood and sat down.

A young man gathered his courage and stood up, saying a string of words.

Halimu looked at him a bit unexpectedly, then turned to ask Li Long:

"He said he saw a red deer with a fawn, and asked how many such fawns can trade for such a radio?"

How many?

Red deer fawn?

Trade for a radio?

Li Long felt his head a bit sluggish.

Then he reacted. Thinking about it, it's normal. In the eyes of these herdsmen, a red deer fawn that hasn't grown up is not more valuable than a sheep. After all, it is not easy to raise, even if there is velvet, it is a matter of a few years—and it is not necessarily a male deer.

Then this fawn is inevitably not valuable.

But it's different here at Li Long's! Deer are treasures all over, even fawns are the same! "One, trade for one." Li Long held up a finger and said, "Of course, there are no radios in the county now, I have to go to Shicheng to see."

Halimu turned his head and explained to the young man. The young man's face showed an expression of ecstasy. He sat down, and someone next to him was asking him, he nodded, and didn't say much.

I think he is already calculating how to catch that fawn now, right?

With the first person, soon the second person said a string of words.

"Deer antlers, how many deer antlers can trade for a radio?" Halimu translated.

"Deer antlers..." Li Long thought about the average price of deer antlers now is 5 yuan, so about 10 kilograms can trade for a radio, plus a box of batteries, at most 12 or 13 kilograms.

"Two to three deer antlers are enough." Li Long said.

After he finished speaking, Halimu and Yushanjiang looked at him blankly first. That expression obviously didn't believe it.

"Really." Li Long said: "However, it is not certain that a signal can be received in the mountains. After all, this is a winter pasture, and it is too high to go to the summer pasture. It is not certain whether it can be received, and it is not certain whether adding iron wire as an antenna will work."

"We can't let you suffer." Yushanjiang suddenly interjected, "Li Long, we are friends, friends, can't suffer. We work voluntarily, for friends, you brought us news from the outside..."

Halimu looked in agreement.

！.

Li Long smiled bitterly.

Is he a selfless saint in their eyes?

He thought for a moment and said to Halimu and Yushanjiang:

"The two pieces of jade you gave me for the first time can trade for five or six radios. As for deer antlers, they weren't enough at that time, but now the price of deer antlers has risen, and they can be traded. Our country can produce radios itself, and many factories can build them, so they are not very expensive."

Halimu and Yushanjiang looked at each other, and then Halimu started to translate for the young men.

After listening, some of the young men also showed expressions of disbelief.

Most of them were trading for radios, and some wanted to trade for grain, some wanted to trade for hoes, medicine, and tools. Li Long answered them one by one.

Through this conversation, Li Long knew that the herdsmen in the winter camp were really lacking in materials.

Although the lack of materials in this era is a universal phenomenon of the whole society, overall, due to language communication problems and ethnic habits, the herdsmen in this area are relatively less in terms of materials.

And relatively, because of the location of their pasture, they actually possess a large amount of precious resources, which are various skins, jade, deer antlers, roe deer antlers, and a small amount of velvet antlers.

There are even real Tianshan snow lotuses.

Although the efficacy of snow lotus is not as magical as the legend, it is also a precious gynecological medicine.

And in the eyes of locals, the snow lotus that appeared in film and television programs and special product counters in the border area in later generations is actually called stone lotus. Only those growing above the snow line are called snow lotus.

It is just because it is too rare, and some greedy guys will pull it up by the roots after discovering such snow lotus to seek maximum profit, leading to people in later generations almost never seeing real Tianshan snow lotus.

It is said that a pharmaceutical factory in the border area produced a snow lotus safflower tonic wine, invited a singer who later collapsed to endorse it, and flew along the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains by helicopter for a week, but didn't find a snow lotus that was really above the snow line.

But Li Long doesn't know the purchase price of snow lotus now, but he knows it definitely won't be high.

So Li Long said he would go and ask, but reminded that it might need a lot.

The young man who asked about snow lotus was a bit disappointed.

"Alright, alright, work!" Yushanjiang clapped his hands and said, "Work for a while longer, your sisters-in-law are coming to deliver food, don't let the women see us being lazy, come and work!"

Li Long and Halimu also joined the team of working. He wouldn't work, but moving wood and hitting wooden wedges was fine. Although the language was not clear, gestures were the best means of communication at this time. Through gestures, he could understand what kind of cooperation the other party hoped to get.

At noon, Halimu's wife sent a large basin of mutton, and Yushanjiang's wife brought large pieces of freshly made naan and mare's milk. Li Long ate meat, naan, and drank mare's milk with them.

After lunch, during the break, Halimu called Li Long up and said:

"Li Long, you don't have to work here, leave the work here to us, you go and do your things. In two or three days, this winter camp will be built. Then arranging things here will be your own business. Then you will have endless things to do. I think if you have time, you can pull some wood down and make some furniture. We can build wooden beds for you, but other things, we can't do, this can only be done by yourself."

Li Long nodded. It is indeed the case.

If possible, he also hopes that there will be wooden tables, chairs, iron stoves, and cabinets in his wooden house.

These things, Yushanjiang and these people can't do, and they don't have the right tools.

"Then I'll come over tomorrow. Our villagers are going to work in the gully on the east side of Hongshanzui, and it may take a month, so I will often come to see, so I will run back and forth between the mountains and the county seat this month. If everyone needs to trade for things, I will trade them for you."

"Don't worry, you will be busy tomorrow. Maybe everyone will go back today and bring many things tomorrow, let you trade them for them."

"Definitely no problem."

After Li Long left here, he returned to Halimu's winter camp, rode his bicycle, and went to Xiaobaiyang Gully.

To get from here to Xiaobaiyang Gully, you have to turn to the outside of the mountain, then ride along the mountain path on the outermost layer to Hongshanzui, and then from Hongshanzui to the mountains. Xiaobaiyang Gully is one of the gullies here, and its gully mouth does not lead directly to the outside of the mountain.

When Li Long reached the mouth of Xiaobaiyang Gully, he saw his own horse cart and another family's horse cart parked here. More than half of the things on the horse cart had been unloaded, and some people were digging winter camps on the flat slope dozens of meters from the gully mouth.

Winter camp is the house where herdsmen spend the winter. It is basically built against the mountain, or even a built adobe house or wooden house.

The winter camp is different. This thing is relatively common in the northwest and northeast. It belongs to a semi-underground temporary residence. Dig a pit on the ground, usually square or rectangular, add a layer of branches or wood on top, cover it with a layer of soil, and people live inside, which is called a winter camp.

Entering the winter camp is to dig a ditch directly from the outside to the inside, which can be steps or slopes. Inside, usually spread some grass, put a roll of bedding, and those who are particular will dig more spacious, convenient for placing other things.

The side-line team stayed here. Although the winter camp they lived in at that time could no longer be used, the pit was still there, and it could be used after simple repairs.

Now Tao Daqiang and these people are cleaning the pit.

Seeing Li Long, Li Jianguo by the horse cart smiled.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 152 =====

Dugout shelters are different; this thing is relatively common in the Northwest and Northeast and belongs to a semi-underground temporary living place. Dig a pit in the ground, usually square or rectangular, cover it with a layer of branches or wood, and then cover it with a layer of soil. Living inside is called a dugout shelter.

Entering a dugout shelter means digging a trench directly from the outside to the inside, which can be steps or a slope. Inside, it's usually just spreading some grass and putting down a roll of bedding. Those who are particular will dig it more spacious to facilitate placing other things.

The sideline team has stayed here before. Although the dugout shelter they lived in at that time can no longer be used, the pit is still there, and it can be used after simple repairs.

Now Tao Dayong and these people are cleaning the pit.

Seeing Li Long, Li Jianguo by the horse-drawn carriage smiled.

(End of chapter)