Chapter 566: The bones can actually be found?

Li Xiangqian wasn't there, so the yellow ox offal wasn't delivered. Li Long drove it back the same way to the compound and let Sister Yang handle it.

Anyway, there was more behind it.

Li Long didn't rest either. Currently, he was still anxious and wanted to go ask Halimu and the others how exactly that tiger was killed and where it was killed; he was thinking about whether it was possible to find the tiger bones back.

After all, compared to the tiger hide, the tiger bones had better uses.

Of course, he felt the possibility of finding them back wasn't high. After all, although this tiger hide looked fresh, there were so many carnivores in the mountains; when the tiger had its hide, they might be afraid, but once the hide was peeled off, it was just food, right?

Li Long drove the tractor chugging toward the mountains. With something on his mind, he felt it wasn't even that cold.

Li Long drove the tractor straight to Halimu's winter shelter.

Halimu's wife came out of the winter shelter and told Li Long stumblingly that Halimu had gone to Talihar's winter shelter to participate in the winter slaughter.

Li Long then drove the tractor again, trying his best to find a suitable road in the mountains, and drove toward Talihar's winter shelter.

It was relatively easy for the tractor to pass by Halimu's winter shelter and Yushanjiang's winter shelter, but Talihar's family's winter shelter was quite far; it was easy for horses to enter, but not for the tractor.

Li Long turned this way and that. By the time he reached Talihar's winter shelter, the cattle here had already been slaughtered, and the meat was almost cooked.

Seeing Li Long come, the others were quite happy. Li Long took out the bullets and handed them to Yushanjiang, who had walked over closest, asking him to distribute them to the others.

He then went to find Halimu and asked in a low voice about the tiger.

"We ran into it on the way back from the transhumance," Halimu guessed Li Long would ask, so he said:

"At that time, we were driving the cattle and sheep toward here. When we saw that big fellow, it suddenly darted out from the pine forest, and in one go, it pounced on one of our sheep, bit its neck, and dragged it toward the forest.

At that time, I hadn't reacted yet and shouted at it. That fellow turned its head and looked at me; it was quite angry, put down the sheep with the broken neck, and roared at me, which gave me a fright."

When saying this, Halimu's expression was one of lingering fear; clearly, the power of the tiger's roar at that time was quite great.

Thinking about it, it was reasonable; this wasn't a wolf, this was a tiger!

Li Long thought to himself, could this be the last Northern Tianshan tiger?

It shouldn't be. He had heard in that short video introduction in his previous life that traces of Northern Tianshan tigers were found as far east as Qitai and as far west as Tacheng, a distance of nearly a thousand kilometers, and the time gap was also forty or fifty years; it couldn't be the same tiger.

"At that time, when it roared, my cattle and sheep herd exploded, running everywhere. I was also angry, so I fired a shot at it. As a result, it was startled; it didn't even want the sheep anymore, turned its head, and ran. I didn't expect it to fall into a snow pit."

A little smile appeared on Halimu's face, and he continued:

"At that time, I thought since it had fallen into a snow pit, I wouldn't be polite. The horse didn't dare to go forward, so I dismounted, took the gun, and when I was twenty-some meters away, I fired several shots and killed it!"

Li Long felt it was a bit unscientific listening to this; was it that simple?

"How deep was that snow pit?" Li Long asked.

"Four or five meters, anyway, after it fell in, its whole body was trapped in the snow. It struggled several times but couldn't get out, and it just happened to be in my sights."

After Halimu finished speaking, he looked left and right, and whispered to Li Long:

"About this matter, only Yushanjiang knows. Don't tell others; I don't want them to know..."

"Alright, alright, alright." Li Long's thinking was still in chaos; it took a good while before he remembered his purpose, and he hurriedly asked:

"What about that big fellow's bones?"

"In that snow pit," Halimu said, "After I killed it, I was in a hurry to drive the cattle and sheep back. After driving them back, I peeled the hide of the sheep it had bitten to death, and also peeled this tiger hide.

Its size wasn't small, two hundred kilograms, I couldn't carry it, so I buried it in the snow pit along with that sheep."

"Is it far from here? If the two of us ride horses, how far do we have to go?" Li Long asked.

"If it's just the two of us riding horses, if we leave in the morning, we should be able to arrive by the afternoon, right?" Halimu said.

"Then how about we leave tomorrow before dawn?" Li Long said, "That thing's bones are very useful!"

"Alright," Halimu agreed without the slightest hesitation, "It's just that I don't know if they're still there. You also know that a wolf's nose is still very sharp."

"Let's try our best to find them," Li Long was unwilling to give up even this little bit of hope.

Perhaps this was the greatest chance he would have in his life to obtain a set of tiger bones. If he gave it up, he might regret it for the rest of his life.

Next was eating meat.

However, Li Long still didn't quite understand; was such a tiger killed off so easily?

Thinking of the videos he watched in his previous life, how big was the size of those Siberian tigers? Carrying livestock was like playing. It seemed there was also a video where a person fell into a tiger enclosure at a zoo, and the tiger carried the person away very easily, like carrying a toy.

In those hunting novels, how fierce were tigers? It seemed that if they saw a person from ten or twenty meters away, they would "whoosh" and be right in front of the person, and then carry the person away.

How come when it reached Halimu, it was killed off so easily?

Li Long couldn't help but think of the scene where Monk Wei was killed in the TV series he had watched before.

Could this be considered capsizing in a small gutter?

Or was it because the Northern Tianshan tiger's size wasn't as big as a Siberian tiger's?

These things could only be guessed out of thin air. No matter how Li Long reconstructed what Halimu said in his mind, it was impossible to truly restore it to reality.

However, because of this, his own awe for the creature of a tiger had lessened quite a bit.

Perhaps the Northern Tianshan tiger was indeed not as good as the Siberian tiger; after all, the Siberian tiger was the largest tiger species in the world, and with a large body, its actions would naturally be different.

Putting this matter aside, Li Long started eating meat with everyone.

The herdsmen young men were still high-spirited, but Li Long already felt he couldn't eat anymore. Eating beef for three consecutive days, with the same menu, he already couldn't feel the fragrance.

So when he came, he actually brought some spices, found a wire, and roasting some beef to eat was also not bad.

Once he did this, others followed suit; if they didn't have wire, they used tree branches.

Seeing the fire pit surrounded, Li Long simply stopped roasting and used salt and chili powder to make a dipping sauce, tearing the boiled meat into pieces and dipping it to eat was also not bad.

Once the ways of eating increased, everyone's spirits rose again.

After eating meat, Talihar took out several hides from the winter shelter and handed them to Li Long:

"Li Long, I also want to use that water pipe. Look, spring is coming, can you get me some plastic pipes?"

"No problem," Li Long nodded. There were many plastic pipes in the Supply and Marketing Cooperative. The pressure wells he drilled for Yushanjiang and Halimu's pastoral team's guard points used that kind of pipe.

The Supply and Marketing Cooperative would bring in some of these pipes every so often. Getting a few hundred meters was a bit difficult, but it wasn't like they couldn't get them.

Other young men came over one after another, saying the same thing.

"No problem, I'll bring the pipes over when spring comes," Li Long agreed readily.

These young men also said they would bring some hides and other things to exchange.

Most of the hides Li Long had pulled back earlier were obtained by Halimu and Yushanjiang, and a small part by others.

Each family actually had some stock, and now they were all thinking of taking them out to exchange for plastic pipes.

Some really wanted to use them for convenience; after all, after spring comes, cattle and sheep have to be let out to graze, and most of the work at home is done by the elderly. It really wasn't very convenient for the elderly to fetch water from the stream dozens of meters below the winter shelter.

Some were following the trend, feeling that if others did it and they didn't, they would lose face.

Don't think that just because they are simple, they don't care about face; in fact, face is also quite important.

Li Long thought and thought, and suddenly had a flash of inspiration, saying:

"No need for so many hides, each family just needs to provide one culled sheep. A sheep *kelangzi*, how about that?"

After these herdsmen joined the pastoral team, they had to give some sheep to the team every year, including culled sheep and two-year-old strong lambs.

Culled sheep were actually five or six-year-old old sheep. These sheep would be sent to the food factory, and then slaughtered and processed by the food factory, and then sent to where they should go.

"A *kelangzi* sheep? Is one enough?" Talihar asked suspiciously.

"Enough, enough," Li Long said with a smile. He didn't count on making money from this; on the contrary, he would lose a bit.

But it didn't matter. He had already made a lot of money dealing with these herdsmen *Dorsens*, and he had a friendship with them, so why be persistent about this?

"Then you accept this hide, and I'll slaughter another sheep for you," Talihar said.

During the Kazakh winter slaughter, someone needs to chant scriptures before slaughtering can take place. That's why the winter slaughter comes one family after another.

Just in time, with people there, Talihar told his parents, went to the pen to lead a sheep out, quickly went through the procedure, and slaughtered it. Li Long said he only wanted a *kelangzi*, so after they slaughtered the sheep, peeled it, and removed the internal organs, they carried the *kelangzi* and placed it on the cargo bed of Li Long's tractor.

Some people were envious. This Talihar was equivalent to having already reserved the third water connection.

Some people were still hesitating, thinking that it was just for water usage in spring and winter, was it worth it? Others were also thinking about whether these water pipes would freeze, discussing in low voices.

Halimu and Yushanjiang were by Li Long's side, also asking this question.

"As long as the water at the water source outlet keeps flowing, the water won't freeze," Li Long said, "It's the same principle as the stream water not freezing. Of course, as long as it's blocked, it will freeze. That's why the water inlet must be cleared, and it must be covered with gauze so that sand and small stones don't get in."

Halimu and Yushanjiang nodded, indicating they understood.

"Summer is fine, it's easy to fix if it's blocked; it's not easy to fix if it's all frozen in winter," Li Long said, "So try your best not to let it get blocked. But let's use it first; only after using it will we know how to solve it."

This was the truth. Everything, including pressure wells, *Nasen* would only know why the wellhead had to be removed every night after problems arose and he saw Li Long solve them.

Li Long still left a bit earlier.

He wanted to go back and rest early, planning to go to Halimu's place tomorrow morning before dawn, and then the two of them would ride horses to see if the tiger bones were still there.

Two people riding horses was much faster than driving a large herd of cattle and sheep for transhumance.

!.

He hoped to be able to return within a day.

There were quite a few plastic pipes in the warehouse at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative now, at least a few hundred meters in stock.

It was clear that it wasn't enough to equip all the herdsmen's families here with this kind of water pipe.

But take it step by step; it was impossible to equip them all at once, and some people might not necessarily want to equip them.

This definitely had to depend on personal willingness. In general, it was a good thing. Actually, there was another way to prevent freezing in winter, which was to dig a half-meter-deep trench and bury the pipe in it, but if it really froze like this, maintenance would be more troublesome.

Digging it shallower would make it easier to fix.

Let's use it first. Li Long was thinking of gradually changing Halimu and the others' living environment.

The matter of transhumance grazing continued in some places until Li Long left in his previous life.

Around 2010, the Maxian area gradually moved the herdsmen out of the mountains, settling them and promoting animal husbandry; to put it plainly, it was grazing in the plains, with winter mainly focusing on penning sheep.

As for the source of forage, the places where herdsmen were moved to would be allocated some land to grow forage.

Places that still practiced transhumance grazing had large tracts of grassland. The grassland deep in the Tianshan Mountains south of Maxian wasn't in large tracts, but in small pieces, so the number of herdsmen it could support was also small.

Therefore, moving them was moving them, which was convenient for management.

And from the later situation, the herdsmen who moved down were also living quite well.

Returning to the wooden house, Li Long took the sheep and hides from the cargo bed and put them into the small wooden house, then drained the water from the tractor, and went into the house carrying the crank.

Setting up the stove and boiling water, anyway he wasn't hungry, so Li Long brewed a pot of tea, intending to rest early.

The fire in the stove couldn't be extinguished; he had to get up early tomorrow to start the tractor.

Sure enough, it was quite a bit colder the next morning. After the start of winter, it was one day colder than the next, but today was especially cold.

Li Long added boiling water to the water tank, tried to crank it three times with the crank, and when he intended to crank it again, the sound of the engine didn't sound like it could catch fire.

Helpless, Li Long had no choice but to go into the wooden house, take a few pieces of red charcoal from the stove, and place them under the tractor engine to roast it.

He added some charcoal to the stove again, and after it burned, he pressed it down with coal dust.

Coming out of the house, he looked, and the charcoal fire that hadn't gone out under the tractor hadn't burned the pipes, which was good.

Li Long felt it was about right, took the crank, pressed the decompression, and cranked it again. This time it started directly.

Cleaning up the charcoal ash below, Li Long went into the wooden house, put on his cotton-padded coat and hat, then locked the door, got on the tractor, and drove chugging toward Halimu's winter shelter.

It wasn't dawn yet, and the starry sky was very beautiful. The moon couldn't be seen, but fortunately, the ground was covered in white snow, so he could barely see the road.

When the tractor drove to the winter shelter, Halimu had already come out of the house.

"Li Long, have you eaten?"

"I have."

"That's good, come into the house and drink a bowl of milk tea; the horses are already prepared, we'll leave after drinking."

"Alright."

Both of them spoke simply. After entering the house, Halimu's wife poured milk tea for the two of them. On the *kang* table, there was still some *naan* left in the plate, and in the small bowl were honey and jam; this was their breakfast.

Drinking a bowl of milk tea, the two of them went out, mounted their horses, and headed into the mountains.

At first, the horses walked fast, and later they started to trot. In some flat places, they could gallop. Because of the transhumance, the snow here had been trodden, so it was relatively convenient to walk.

When the sky brightened, they had already crossed seven or eight mountains. With a road, crossing mountains was fast. Transhumance itself took relatively flat roads, and when driving horses to gallop, it was indeed easier than traveling slowly.

"If we were transhumancing, these roads would take half a day," Halimu said to Li Long when they stopped to rest, "We ran across them in less than an hour."

"Rest for a while," Li Long said, "Do we need to wipe the sweat off the horses?"

"Hmm."

The horses were also tired, and their necks were steaming with sweat. Li Long took a towel to wipe the sweat off the horse, rested for a while, and then took a handful of corn from the bag on the side to feed the horse.

Halimu was doing the same thing.

After resting for a while, the two of them mounted their horses again and headed upward.

After dawn, the speed could be faster again. By the time the sun came out, they had already crossed several more mountains.

When they rested again, Li Long took out the dried meat he had brought and shared a portion with Halimu to eat together.

After the two finished eating, they mounted their horses and continued on their way. Li Long felt he had been deep in the mountains for a long time, and had seen all kinds of mountains: some covered in pine forests, some entirely rock with only shrubs, and some covered in heavy snow. According to Halimu, this place was grassland in summer.

The transhumance road passed through mountain valleys, rarely crossing mountains directly, following streams or river valleys, and occasionally slanting up gentle slopes.

The snow had been trodden into a road by the transhumance cattle and sheep, so at least they wouldn't run into snow pits, and it wasn't easy to run into danger.

"If it snows again, this road will be covered, and it won't be easy to find if we enter the mountains again," Halimu said while walking.

At noon, the two of them ate some dry rations again. Li Long also saw wild goats flash by on the distant mountain top. Here, wild animals were slowly increasing.

"Five or six kilometers further, and we'll be there," Halimu said, "We'll be there in about an hour. This section is still considered easy to walk; it won't be easy to walk once we get there."

Li Long estimated to himself that from morning until now, the two of them had been galloping on horses for six hours, running fifty or sixty kilometers. The straight-line distance should also be twenty or thirty kilometers.

Tianshan is truly deep.

According to Halimu, this place was still a long way from the summer pasture, and the location of the summer pasture actually hadn't reached the center line of Tianshan yet.

When Li Long followed Halimu to the snow pit where the tiger fell, he felt the tiger's predicament at that moment.

That snow pit was right on the side of the transhumance road. Cattle and sheep were led by a lead ox or lead sheep, so they wouldn't take the wrong road and thus wouldn't fall into the snow pit.

The snow pit was right by the road, looking flat on the surface. Wind-blown snow would fill the pit, making it as flat as other places, and it was impossible to tell the height difference.

To the left of that pit was the road, to the right was the mountain wall, and in front and behind were ditches. It really wasn't easy to climb out all of a sudden.

Halimu had buried it in the snow after peeling the tiger hide and had leveled the snow. Now it couldn't be seen whether it had been dug out or not.

Li Long took out the rope. (End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 567 =====