Back to 1984: Hunting in the Mountains

Chapter 56: Searching for Morels

The sun was at its zenith, and the sunlight passed through the dense bamboo leaves and fell on the grass in the bamboo forest. The grass swayed comfortably, and hummed softly with the breeze that leaked in from the forest.

Two people, one big and one small, were walking through the woods.

It was Yu Qiutang and Yu Xiaowei, the uncle and nephew, who came out to look for materials for the crossbow.

Yu Qiutang has a heavy workload today.

He was looking for yew wood for the crossbow, and also oak wood for the crossbow arrows.

Originally he planned to use bamboo to make the crossbow and crossbow arrow shafts.

But when we went to the nearby bamboo forest, we found that the bamboo here was all Bamboo Mountain Bamboo, which is too soft and too light. Even with several layers of bamboo boards, it could not withstand much pulling force.

If the crossbow arrow shaft is too light, its flight trajectory in the air will be difficult to control and the force of the shot will not be enough, making it difficult to seriously injure the prey.

But to find the arrow bamboo in Qinling Mountains, you need to go to mountains with very high altitudes. There is no such bamboo in the nearby Houtouling.

After much deliberation, I had to give up bamboo as a material.

The crossbow can also be made of iron, but in that case, the entire crossbow would be too heavy and bulky to be used at will while moving quickly.

In the end, Yu Qiutang thought that wood was still reliable.

The crossbow arm is required to be very strong, with a certain degree of elasticity, but just the right amount of stiffness.

The only available woods are oak, peach, and yew. Although jujube wood is hard, it has poor elasticity and is not suitable for making crossbows.

The material of the crossbow shaft should be light but not too light, and should be strong and durable, so the main woods that can be considered include oak, beech, etc.

Combining the two, oak is the most suitable choice.

It can be used as both a crossbow and a crossbow shaft, which is the best of both worlds, so the direction he is heading today is towards the oak forest on the mountainside.

Oak trees generally grow on sunny southern slopes. Since Wangjia Village is just to the east of Houtouling, the distance to the South Mountain is not very close and you have to walk for a distance.

Yu Qiutang was not planning to get the oak tree back today. He planned to go check out the terrain first, and then call an adult to go with him.
The reason is actually very simple.

In the oak forest, there are not only small animals such as squirrels, weasels, and yellow-throated martens, but most importantly, there may also be wild boars.

Wild boars love to eat acorns, especially in late autumn or even winter. If there are enough acorns, they can eat them for almost two seasons.

The most dangerous thing is that wild boars often appear in groups. It would be better if they don’t come out, but once they appear, they always appear in groups of three or five.

At this time, wild boars are in the lactation period. They are very ferocious, savage and aggressive, and any alien they encounter may be targeted for attack.

Yu Qiutang is much stronger now than before, but he is not so arrogant as to be able to fight a wild boar with his bare hands.

Not to mention that this thing weighs about 100 to 200 kilograms, and when it charges forward it has a force of at least 600 to 700 kilograms. Even if it's not as strong as you, its attack power is high. As long as it can break your defense, you won't be able to do anything to it.

Today is like exploring the way.

Otherwise he wouldn't have brought Yu Xiaowei along.

Before leaving, he specifically explained to his nephew the rules for entering the mountains. It sounds complicated, but the most basic requirement is not to run around, not to be curious about life, and not to leave Yu Qiutang's sight. Yu Xiaowei naturally agreed.

He will be registering for school soon, and this can be considered as his last carnival before going to school.

Although it was still a trip into the mountains, Yu Xiaowei acted differently this time than last time.

He was well prepared this time and looked very impressive.

Yu Qiutang asked him to wear long-sleeved clothes and tie them tightly at the bottom to prevent mosquitoes from getting into his clothes.

There are a lot of mosquitoes in the mountains, and many of them like warm environments. Therefore, mosquitoes in February and March and August and September are generally the most powerful, and they must be prevented.

Mosquitoes like the smell of damp and rot, and the mountains have plenty of this. No matter whether it is plants or animals, dead bodies will become the cradle of mosquito reproduction.

Moreover, the mosquitoes in the mountains are more poisonous than those in the plains. The bites leave larger swellings, which are not only more itchy but also take a long time to go away.

Therefore, the thing to fear most when walking in the mountains is not ferocious beasts or poisonous snakes, but mosquitoes. If you are bitten by these creatures, you may be infected with some animal virus.

In addition to his neatly dressed clothes, Yu Xiaowei also carried a small cloth bag on his back, which was specially sewn for him by Yu Chunmei. It contained selected small stones, which were the bullets for his slingshot.

Today he was fully prepared to fight with squirrels, hares and various birds to show off his abilities.

Seeing that he was so excited, Yu Qiutang did not try to hit him deliberately. The slingshot looks simple, but it is not easy to use it well.

The stone is so small that in order to use its elasticity to hit the prey, in addition to a natural sensitivity to distance and direction, constant practice is required to allow muscles to form memory.

Just like when people learn to drive, they have to be very careful when turning at the beginning. After becoming proficient, they can turn in a very narrow space with ease, and sometimes they can almost brush against obstacles without hitting them.

Slingshots and archery seem to use the elastic force of the string like crossbows, but the principles are actually very different.

Slingshot and archery require the muscles and eyes to form a unity, aim at something, and use the elastic force to send it to a fixed position. This not only tests the aim, but also the control of strength.

But the principles of the crossbow and the gun are similar, in that the string is fixed, which means the elastic force is constant, and you only need to ensure the aim to hit the target.

From this perspective, the crossbow is actually better than the bow and arrow and slingshot, and easier to use.

Yu Qiutang handed the slingshot to Yu Xiaowei. Yu Xiaowei's slingshot practice results can only be described as average. It is estimated that he came here with high hopes but returned disappointed today.

Just let him follow and see what it would be like to actually walk to the edge of the mountains.

Going forward, they could see tall oak forests ahead. They just needed to pass through the birch forest in front of them. Yu Xiaowei ran forward and found that Yu Qiutang was not keeping up. He jumped and shouted anxiously, "Uncle, hurry up!"

"You have so much energy now. Normally, if I ask you to run, it would be like a death sentence."

Yu Qiutang laughed and cursed, but did not rush to follow. Instead, he squatted down next to a bush.

Because it had rained a few days ago, all kinds of wild mushrooms in the forest popped up in large numbers, and there was a small bunch of them next to almost every tree.

But most of them are poisonous fungi, like the pure white mushroom that he just stepped on and crushed. Although it looks beautiful, it is actually highly poisonous. People here call it "dog urine moss". It uses its beautiful appearance to attract people or animals to eat it, and it is harmful to people.

But the fungi in front of Yu Qiutang are not poisonous. They are light yellow in color, with blunt and rounded tips and tripe-like pits on the surface. They are a very rare, delicious edible fungus that can be used as both food and medicine - morels.

(End of this chapter)