Chapter 302: Is this a treasure left by a bandit gang?

After such a toss, Li Long didn't think about digging codonopsis in this gully anymore. He packed up his things, carried his gun, left this mountain gully, and returned to the wooden house.

Resting in the wooden house for over an hour, Li Long climbed up, took his tools and gun, and went out again. This time he changed to another mountain gully. The soil quality here was relatively good, so he went in to dig.

Li Long also learned to be smart now. After entering the gully, he first looked at the soil quality. If the soil layer was relatively thick, he would go in to dig. Now a relatively good point was that in these gullies that didn't need to be mowed, or weren't worth mowing, there were quite a lot of codonopsis, and they were relatively large in size. After all, the Chinese herbal medicine in the entire Tianshan Mountains was basically in an undeveloped state at this time.

Of course, from undeveloped to crazy development, it was only a few decades. Fortunately, this thing, codonopsis, isn't as precious as ginseng, otherwise it would be like the snow lotus above the snow line in the Tianshan Mountains, which was visible everywhere in just a few decades, and in the end, not a single one could be found.

Actually, there are more places for codonopsis in the herdsmen's pastures. Those herdsmen beat down codonopsis plants as forage. And some people living in the river valley area deep in the Tianshan Mountains use codonopsis as raw material for pickling vegetables.

So the quantity of codonopsis is large, not rare.

But whatever thing is old, it is good stuff. For example, the one Li Long is digging now, just looking at the head, it must be as thick as an adult's small arm. It is the first time he has dug such a large codonopsis!

This branch must be kept for his own use, not taken to the purchasing station to sell—it's not worth it.

Originally, Li Long thought this codonopsis was similar to the previous ones, a single branch, going deep for dozens of meters. It's just that after digging down less than twenty centimeters, this codonopsis started to branch, and suddenly branched out four forks, and this doesn't look like a human shape?

These forks also have a diameter of two or three centimeters, and then they slowly become thin as they go down, and finally they are gone.

Li Long used half the time of the previous codonopsis to dig out this extremely thick but very short codonopsis. Looking at this shape, it's a bit like an octopus with four legs cut off.

However, to tell the truth, it's really thick!

Very satisfied!

Li Long carefully put away this codonopsis, and then continued upward.

There is a thick pole above, but the position of this codonopsis pole is next to a pile of stones. Li Long hesitated for a moment, looking at the thickness of the pole, he decided to dig it.

This pile of stones is relatively conspicuous. It can be seen that the largest stone on the very top should have been here originally, and the two stones piled together next to it seem to have been moved later. The colors are inconsistent, or it might be Li Long's mistake.

He just took a look and didn't pay too much attention.

Actually, the thickness of the codonopsis pole doesn't necessarily represent the size of the codonopsis body below. But for those with small branches, usually the codonopsis body is relatively small.

First, dig a pile of soil on the side of the pole, opposite the stones. Seeing that the reed system isn't close to the stones, Li Long is a bit relieved and continues to dig down.

Digging down more than twenty centimeters, the reed system reaches the end, revealing the codonopsis body. Looking at the size, it's not small either. It's just that the position has started to lean toward the stones.

Since he has already dug, Li Long didn't hesitate. Let's see down, after all, this codonopsis is unlikely to grow into the stones.

He used an iron shovel to dig away the soil in a circle outside first, watching the codonopsis body lean toward the stones, and began to use a small grab hook to clear the soil over there.

Then the more he cleared, the more puzzled he became. Is this codonopsis body really growing into the stones? How is it getting closer and closer, not only sticking to it, but also going in...

Digging and digging, it was hard to see that he felt he had dug out the codonopsis body, and then the grab hook hooked onto a hard object on that side. He thought it was a tree root or something, and directly pulled it hard, wanting to cut this thing off, but didn't expect to pull the thing out directly.

It was a copper ring with green rust, with some decorations on it, feeling like a neck ring.

There were also silk fabrics that hadn't completely rotted wrapped around it. Don't know if it was a blanket or cloth.

Li Long was startled and stood up directly—he wouldn't have dug into an ancient tomb, right?

Then he denied it. Whether it was Han or ethnic minority, usually tombs are in cemeteries, even if secretly or unintentionally buried in the mountains, it's impossible not to wrap them up with things.

This doesn't look like a funerary object.

After Li Long confirmed this point, he became bold, first dug out the codonopsis, and then the grab hook hooked onto an object again. When he pulled it out, he found it was a large lump of copper coins that had rusted and stuck together.

It was rusted out of shape.

Could it be a hidden treasure?

This thing, logically speaking, doesn't have anything to do with the Tianshan Mountains—this is a place where people rarely go, almost no one lives, and it's not a passage to the southern Tianshan Mountains, so how could it be possible to hide things here?

Li Long, with suspicion, put the lump of copper coins that were rusted badly to the side, and used the grab hook to continue digging.

After continuously digging out five or six copper vessels, he dug out two black things—looking like silver ingots, palm-sized, with both ends boat-shaped and upturned. Looking carefully, there seemed to be words below, but there was also rust, and he couldn't see clearly.

Li Long basically confirmed that this thing should be a hidden treasure.

He looked at that pile of stones. Only then did he understand that the most natural stone on the top should be the sign. The person who hid it was probably worried that one stone wasn't safe, so he added two more stones. At least under natural weathering, this thing wouldn't rot for a while.

Putting the things he dug out into a pile, regardless of whether they were useful or not, he used his jacket to pack these things—the bag he was carrying was to hold codonopsis, and Li Long was worried that these things would mix with the codonopsis and ruin the codonopsis. Although codonopsis isn't as valuable as ginseng, it was hard to dig out, so he still hoped they would be intact.

Looking at that pit, Li Long didn't continue digging, so he used the grab hook to continue digging, like a treasure hunting program, looking forward to whether the next thing was a treasure. Then he dug out a curved knife with a scabbard.

There were small pieces of emerald inlaid on the knife handle, the scabbard was leather, and the metal edging on it had rusted. Li Long held it in his hand, pulled it twice but didn't pull it out. It seemed that the rust inside should be relatively serious.

He put this knife into the package made by tying the jacket, used the grab hook to dig twice more, and dug out another lump of copper coins. It seemed that nothing else was dug out later.

Li Long guessed that there should be things inside, but at the moment he didn't have the idea of digging further, so he used an iron shovel to fill the pit.

The sign here is very obvious, Li Long isn't worried about not finding it. He carried his gun, packed his tools, lifted the codonopsis bag and jacket package, and returned to the wooden house.

Returning to the wooden house, Li Long fixed some food in a mess, and then opened the jacket package on the wooden floor in front of the house, slowly cleaning it up.

Although it wasn't a professional method, his personal curiosity was too strong, and he really wanted to know where these things came from.

To say it was hidden by the landlord and old rich man of the ethnic minority before, it wasn't very likely. Looking at the age of these things, it shouldn't be very long. After all, if it was too long, those copper coins should have long since rusted away.

He took out the curved knife first, found a piece of cloth, slowly wiped off the rust on it, used clever force, and pulled the knife out without destroying the scabbard.

There wasn't much rust on the knife. To say it was sharp, it definitely wasn't sharp anymore, but Li Long felt that finding a professional to repair it well, this definitely counted as good stuff.

He wiped off the rust that could be wiped off first, and then didn't move the remaining part. Not a professional, afraid of destroying this thing.

!.

The two horseshoe silvers were a bit curled at the upturned ends, estimated to be pressed in the mud. Li Long used force gently, and it really did bend back a little. Wiped it, the black rust wasn't easy to wipe off, but the dirty mud was wiped clean, and then he saw the words below, seeming to have "Ping Yin" or something. Li Long guessed if it was Kuping silver, but that word that might be "Ku" was worn away.

These two were quite heavy, and the size wasn't small. If they were real, they should be worth something if kept in the future.

At this time, Li Long slowly thought, could it be left by bandits before?

Li Long remembered Li Jianguo telling him the history here. Before, the bandit Osman had robbed in this area of Maxian, and had also been beaten, so it was possible that these were things left behind by the defeated bandits under his command.

Osman was originally a small leader of an ethnic minority uprising force opposing Sheng Sheng Shi Cai. The main reason for the uprising was that Sheng Sheng Shi Cai wanted to collect the hunting guns of the ethnic minority herdsmen, and the herdsmen didn't agree. However, after the uprising, they didn't beat Sheng Sheng Shi Cai's army, and then they were driven into the mountains.

Osman was a small leader of one of the scattered troops. Later, they obtained the support of the Outer Mongolian forces, and their power slowly expanded. Osman also changed from an uprising herdsman at the beginning to a bandit leader who wanted to be self-reliant.

And the northern slope of the Tianshan Mountains was once the range of Osman's activities.

Li Long felt that his guess was probably correct.

Don't know whose family's things were robbed, and finally buried here.

He cleaned it slowly. These two horseshoe silvers must be kept. He pried open a piece of that copper coin lump, looked at the Qianlong Tongbao exposed inside, and felt it was nothing interesting.

There was another unexpected surprise. Inside, there were not only copper coins, but also a stack of silver dollars. Although they had rusted, the rust wasn't very obvious. Cleaned it up, the appearance was quite good.

As for that copper neck ring, Li Long didn't clean it out; the green rust was too serious, and he didn't have that technology and ability now.

Changing these things into a bag, packing them up, and putting them into the small room, Li Long felt that if he had time, he would take them back to the courtyard and put them together with those collected antiques. Putting them like this for a few years, maybe they would be valuable.

Not necessarily to sell. After all, with his current ability, earning money isn't anything, and ensuring he is always above the well-off line is no problem. Those things, including the mutton-fat jade seeds, are all for a thought. In the future, what others have, he will also have when he takes them out.

Feeling like he sought treasure again, although he didn't get much codonopsis back, the sense of harvest was full.

Quite good!

Now it's not hot in the mountains at noon. Li Long squinted for a while in the wooden house, took his tools, and went to another gully with full spirit to dig codonopsis.

Today's luck is good. The codonopsis in this gully mainly grows in the soil. Li Long dug over a dozen, all quite thick and large.

Seeing the sun hadn't set, Li Long didn't plan to dig anymore. He put away the codonopsis and tools, and walked toward another gully nearby.

That is the Hot Spring Gully. He wanted to see if there was any prey at the hot spring. If there was, he would get one, and there would be things to eat in these few days.

The temperature in the Hot Spring Gully is slightly higher than in the gully just now. Li Long guessed if it was because the water temperature here was high. A smell of sulfur permeated the gully, and even the mosquitoes and insects here were fewer, much quieter than in other gullies.

Don't know if there is any prey taking a bath? (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 303 =====