Republic of China: Guandong Ginseng King

Chapter 65 Opening the Mountain

The wood in the mountains is collected and transported to the yard at the foot of the mountain. All the work in between is called mountain work.

The beginning of the work in the mountains is called "opening the set", and the completion of the work in the mountains is called "pinching the set".

The opening of the set is usually in October in autumn and winter, and the closing of the set is usually in late February or early March of the following year.

In other words, it takes about four or five months to work in the mountains.

The noose refers to the rope noose.

Whether it is a mountain field or a water field, ropes are indispensable, so the woodcutters not only need to be strong, but also have to have quite good rope-tying skills.

When choosing a wooden handle at the counter, people usually ask, "Can you open the rope?" That means can you tie the rope by yourself?

If the answer is "I made it myself", the boss will usually ask who the master is and whether it is a home-grown art or an imported one.

Those who can open the trap by themselves will be paid higher wages. If they cannot open the trap by themselves, they can only earn half or a small amount of wages.

Logically speaking, when a woodcutter goes into the mountains to cut wood, the first thing he should do is to build a house.

Wherever there is water and wood, we will build huts and horse racks.

The mountain area is small, so people usually just build a few simple huts. After finishing logging in one area, they move on to another.

If the mountain area is large and there are many logs, one or several relatively sturdy large houses will be built, which can accommodate hundreds of people.

Qian Xiucheng's farm is the largest in Hengshan, with one or two hundred woodcutters working there.

So in addition to this big house, there are two others, all of which were built in advance.

The snow fell late this year, and the first snow has not fallen yet. The boss and supervisor arranged by the government have not arrived yet.

Li Yongfu discussed with Shui Laowu and they first led the woodcutters to prepare things before starting the work, mainly making ropes and digging ice trenches.

In order to save money, the shopkeepers never bought ready-made ropes. They only gave the woodcutters hemp and made the ropes themselves.

The tool for tying ropes is commonly called a rope cart.

Three or five people on each side held the old wooden handle with both hands, and shook their waists and buttocks in one direction desperately to add strength to the pain.

After making the ropes, you have to weave buttons, also called cutting buttons, which are the ropes used for shooting arrows and shooting carts.

This rope is also called the Overlord Trap. It has two strands, a big head, and a thin root like a cat's tail.

Then tie a flower, turn it to hold it down, then hit it with a mallet to pick out the flower.

The braided buttons are difficult to undo after being soaked in water, so when you are in a hurry you have to chop them off with an axe.

By the beginning of spring, the unused condoms were like pollacks, scattered everywhere in the mud and snow on the mountains, causing people to trip up and fall.

Digging ice trenches, also known as releasing tail wood, is mainly used to release wood.

The woodcutters had to transport the wood from the mountain to the foot of the mountain in several ways, including pulling wood from the forest, using arrow carts, and using ice ditches.

The arrow-releasing cart makes use of the natural terrain to build a snow track and slide the wood down the mountain one by one.

To repair an ice ditch, you need to choose a slope before the snow falls, then dig a two or three meter deep ditch, and build half-meter high wooden walls on both sides of the ditch to serve as the ice ditch.

When winter comes, the wood can be slid down the ditch.

On the third afternoon after Qu Shaoyang and his companions arrived at the mountain site, the sky was so gloomy that it seemed like water was about to drip out, and the wind was howling.

Just after dinner, heavy snow fell outside. Soon, the sky and the earth became white.

"Oh, this is the first snow of the year, it's quite big. At this rate, I think the snow can stand.

Second cabinet, when will the boss arranged by the government arrive? Now that we have basically all the people in the mountain farm, don't delay the start of our work in the mountain farm. "When Shui Laowu went out to urinate, he was covered in snow. He returned to the big house and asked while brushing the snow off his body.

"It should be within the next few days, right? Wait for two days. If they still don't come, we can start working first."

Li Yongfu was also worried. When he left Anton, the manager reminded him that there were many customers placing orders this year and he must not delay anything.

However, the people arranged by the government were late, and Li Yongfu was really unsure.

It snowed heavily all night. When I got up early the next day, I saw that the snow was almost reaching Bolenggai.

Everyone was very happy. Once the snow fell, they could start working in the mountains and earn money.

During the day, Water Crow led everyone to repair snow trails and ice ditches, and at night everyone returned to the big house to make ropes.

Three or four days passed like this, and still no one arranged by Muzhi Company showed up.

Li Yongfu couldn't wait any longer, so he discussed with Shui Laowu, "Boss Liu, we can't just wait like this. I think we should pick a good day and start working."

There are more than a hundred people in the mountain, and they need a lot of food every day. Even if they are rich, they can't afford to waste it.

"I think it's okay. Let's look up the almanac and choose a day to start work.

We can’t wait any longer. Who knows when those people will arrive?
If he gets caught by a woman in a brothel, he won’t know when he will end up here.”

When Shui Laowu heard this, he immediately agreed.

Li Yongfu is the second in command and Shui Laowu is the boss. The two of them have the final say on the daily affairs of the Wood Gang.

So the two of them took out the almanac and looked through it, and decided to start work the day after tomorrow, which was October 6th.

Before starting construction on a mountain site, we must first open the mountain, which means holding a ceremony to inform the mountain gods (tigers and mountain gods) that we are going to enter the mountain and to say hello to the mountain.

Early in the morning on the sixth day of October, the carpenters carried the black pigs that had been prepared long ago, as well as firecrackers, incense, candles, paper money, etc., and came to the pre-selected mountain site.

There is an old saying that goes, black cows and white horses are used to offer sacrifices to the heavens, and when woodcutters open mountains, black pigs are also chosen to show respect for the mountains and forests.

Black refers to thickness and practicality, and represents people’s sincerity towards nature and forests.

The location for the opening ceremony should be a flat piece of land that looks smooth and beautiful, giving people a bright (pleasing) feeling.

When you arrive at the mountain, choose a sacred tree, which is a straight and tall tree, usually a red pine.

After choosing the sacred tree, you have to hang red on its head.

You can't use nails to hang red, you have to use copper coins.

Because "ding" and "ding" have the same pronunciation, once the mountain clearing and tree felling are fixed, it means that this season will have no future (money), and it will not be smooth and auspicious.

Shui Laowu personally put up the red ribbon, and then shouted, "Kill the pig."

Over there, several young men were already prepared. They held down the black-haired pig and cut it with a knife, and blood started to flow out.

The pig grunted a few times and gradually became silent.

When offering sacrifices at the beginning of a mountain, a whole pig must be prepared, with a head and a tail, which means that people enter the mountain intact and can leave the mountain intact, indicating that nothing is missing.

In addition to the whole pig, six kinds of offerings are also placed, usually steamed buns, steamed buns, luguo, caozi cakes and the like.

Do not place round objects such as eggs and sugar balls, because eggs represent rolling, and sugar balls represent rolling or rolling balls. The most taboo thing in woodcutting is the word "roll", which is unlucky.

"Shaoyang, call Shan." Water Crow had arranged the offerings and called out.

(End of this chapter)