After lunch, we set off, out of the village is a large grassland, said to be grassland, but due to the poor soil and water conservation in recent years, and indiscriminate grazing of livestock, in fact, there is not much grass anymore, just a piece of dwarf grass, the bare place is some sand and gravel, not the kind of scene of wind blowing grass and showing cattle and sheep. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 info Wangshan ran dead horses, the big mountain looked right in front of me, but from the village walked for more than half an hour to the foot of the mountain, there is a small river, said to be a small river, in fact, it is a man-made drainage ditch, in the northwest of the mountainous area, in order to prevent the occurrence of flash floods, mudslides, built a lot of such drainage ditches. There is a stone slab bridge on the drainage ditch, and after walking through the stone slab bridge, you will enter Helan Mountain.

Helan Mountains, also known as Alxa Mountains, are different homonyms for wild horses in Mongolian. It is located in the east of the Alxa Plateau, west of the Yinchuan Plain, and is the boundary mountain of Inner Mongolia and Ningxia. The Helan Mountains run nearly north-south, stretching for more than 200 kilometers and about 30 kilometers wide, and are an important geographical boundary in northwest China. The east side of the mountain is majestic and magnificent, with overlapping peaks and valleys, and steep cliffs and valleys. To the east, it overlooks the Yellow River Loop and the Ordos Plateau. The terrain on the west side of the mountain is gentle, and it is submerged into the Alxa Plateau. We entered from Ningxia, that is, from the east side of the mountain.

From the outside, it looks like a rocky mountain covered with low grass, but once you enter it, the scene is very different. Helan Mountain is rich in animal and plant resources, lush vegetation, and obvious changes in the vertical zone, including alpine shrub meadow, deciduous broad-leaved forest, coniferous and broad-leaved mixed forest, Qinghai spruce forest, Pinus tabuliformis forest, mountain grassland and other types. There are more than 180 species of animals, such as red deer, roe deer, argali, leopard, green sheep, stone marten, blue horse chicken, etc.

Of course, we just want to see the leopards, pheasants and hares, so we don't go very deep into the mountains, and we only reach the area near the mountain pass. Feng Yun Feng Lian brother and sister are very familiar with this area, Feng Yun said: "Leopards are generally found in the shrubs of the western slope depression, if you want to see them, we can hide and camp nearby." ”

We walked in the mountains for about forty minutes, and after going around a mountain beam, we saw a bush with a forest on the opposite side of the bush.

"This is it," said Feng Yun, "we can set up our tent in the woods next to the bushes opposite, leopards generally like to ambush animals in the nearby bushes, and then drag the animals to the big trees in the woods to eat, and if they can't eat, they will hide in the trees and eat later."

"How do you know that a leopard will pass by around there?" I said, confused.

Before Feng Yun could speak, Feng Lian smiled and hurriedly said, "Well, of course you city children don't know, let me tell you, animals have their own accustomed paths, and laymen generally can't see them, such as leopards, after they hunt, they have to take their prey to a safe place according to the road they have marked in advance, and they will eat it, as long as they hide nearby, they will definitely see them, like pheasants, Hare and other things have their own way, we just need to set up a trap on their way to catch them, these are all grandpa taught us"

"Oh, so that's the case, what if the leopard finds us? Although we have a shotgun, the leopard is a protected animal, and we can't fight it, and besides, the leopard runs so fast and can climb trees, if it really finds us, what kind of food will it catch, won't we become its delicacy?" I said worriedly.

My cousin smiled mysteriously at me: "Don't worry about this, the mountain people have their own clever plans, even if the leopard finds out, we won't attack."

"Why don't you have to worry? Of course they mountain people have a clever plan to escape, what should I do with a city person?" I said with a sad face.

Feng Lian's waist bent after hearing the laughter, "It's still the people in the city, the mountain people are talking about Zhuge Liang, I don't know this, haha......"

"Who doesn't know, tease you, hehe...... But really, is there any way to keep the leopards from attacking us?"

"You'll find out later," said my cousin.

We walked along the path to the opposite woods, the eldest cousin and Feng Yun cut off the nearby shrubs near a big tree, made a clearing, set up a tent under the big tree, covered the cut bushes on the tent, and then sprinkled some oil on the open space in front of the tent, and put a branch on it as a mark, the oil is actually mainly fish oil, vegetable oil, A mixture of saltpeter powder and other ingredients in proportion, this oil is extremely flammable, not easily extinguished, and when burned, the fire is unusually bright, and gives off a smell, and hunters often carry this oil, in order to camp in the wilderness, as if it were an accident, because in case of emergency, this oil sticks to sparks, and its unusually bright fire and pungent smell can drive away prey.

Feng Yun said that the leopard's "road" is about 30 meters away from our big tree, and the weather is good today, and if a leopard passes by at night, it can be seen by the moonlight.

"Feng Yun and I take turns keeping vigil, and if we see a leopard, we will call you," said the eldest cousin.

"However, I still don't understand why the leopard won't attack us, even if it is sprinkled with oil, it is just in case, and it is only lit when it is attacked, the leopard's eyes and nose are so smart, and the distance is so close, can't it have detected us early?"

My cousin didn't answer, but just took out the bag of scales of the Yellow River carp prepared in advance and walked about ten meters away from the tent, and then scattered the scales around.

Feng Lian said with a smile: "You don't know this, we have a legend here: a long time ago, there was no mountain in the west of Ningxia, and it was the Daping River that could not be seen at a glance. The people here rely on the water of the Yellow River to water their crops and live a stable life. I don't know when, a dragon came to the Yellow River. The clear water of the river was muddy, and it opened its mouth and spat out the muddy water on both banks, drowning all the crops, houses, and livestock, and causing the people to be homeless and crying bitterly. There is a young man named Helan in the willow valley on the bank of the Yellow River, his house and his 60-year-old paralyzed father and blind mother were swept away by the flood, Helan floated with a big tree in his arms, and drifted for seven days and seven nights, I don't know where he drifted, and was rescued by a white-haired old man ashore, at this time he was already unconscious. The old man took out a vial, poured out a golden pill and stuffed it into Helan's mouth, only to hear the sound of his throat "clucking", opened his eyes, turned over and knelt in front of the old man to tell the bitterness of the death before and after. The old man stroked his beard and quietly listened to Helan's narration, and asked with a smile: "Child, do you want to save the villagers, or do you want to make a living by yourself?" Helan said without hesitation: "It's still important to save the villagers." The old man then said, "It's dangerous to save the villagers!" Helan said unequivocally: "As long as I can save the villagers, I am willing to give up my life." The old man said, "There is a big dragon hidden in the Yellow River in your hometown, which spits out muddy water every day, flooding crops, sweeping away houses, and making it impossible for people to survive. ”

Feng Lian took a sip of water, and then said, "Helan said angrily: "I will go back immediately, and I will never stop until I kill this dragon." The old man smiled slightly and said, "Child, it's too easy to think, do you know the origin of this dragon?" It is a gatekeeper in the Bichi Palace in the sky, because of the violation of the rules of heaven, was pressed in the prison by the Jade Emperor, Sun Wukong made trouble in the heavenly palace, opened the prison, this dragon took the opportunity to escape, hidden in the Yellow River to show its original form, vicious does not change, stirring up wind and waves, its tail can roll down ten thousand trees, the mouth is open and there are three houses the size, can drink the water in the Yellow River, spew out thousands of huge waves, claws like steel hooks everywhere to catch people and livestock, can you lower it?" Helan pondered for a while and said: " There is a thing in the world, I must find a way to kill the dragon" The old man asked again: "Child, what method do you have?" Helan hurriedly replied: "The soldiers will block, and the water will come to the earth!" The old man laughed loudly, and his laughter spread to the sky. The old man took out a small bottle from the purse of his underwear and said, "Good boy, this Ruyi bottle contains red, yellow, blue, white, and black soil, you can take it back and compete with Jiaolong." Helan respectfully took the Ruyi bottle with both hands, kowtowed to the old man and said, "Thank you for the old man's advice." He looked up and saw that the old man was nowhere to be seen. Helan thought: This must be the enlightenment of the Buddha, and he was busy kneeling and kowtowing to the western sky to pray. ”

Feng Lian spoke vividly, seeing that I could listen attentively, my interest was even higher, and she paused and continued: "Helan returned to his hometown, stood on the bank of the Yellow River and looked at the tumbling flood, he grabbed a handful of five-colored soil and sprinkled it in the river, and in the blink of an eye, the flood receded, and a beach appeared, and after a while, it was flooded again. Helan kept sprinkling, the ground kept rising, ten times, hundreds of times, thousands of times, thousands of times to sprinkle the five-colored soil, the more the ground was sprinkled, the higher the flood could no longer be flooded. Helan stood on a high place and sprinkled the five-colored soil into the river, the five-colored soil pressed on the dragon, the dragon was angry, using the skills of the whole body, and rolling, and roaring, the steel hook-like claws rushed towards Helan, Helan was not timid at all, he stood on the high place day and night and kept sprinkling the five-colored soil, thirsty to drink river water, hungry to eat the five-colored soil in the Ruyi bottle. The more ferocious the Jiaolong, the faster the flood rose, and the more Helan kept sprinkling the soil, for a total of 7749 days, pressing the dragon's head on the Lasa Temple, and the tail on the Niutou Mountain, and never moving again, and the Jiaolong turned into coal. Helan ate the five-colored soil in the Ruyi bottle and turned it into a big mountain, which pressed on the dragon's body, and later people called this mountain Helan Mountain. There are red, yellow, blue, white and black stones in Helan Mountain, which has become a famous "cornucopia" in Ningxia. ”

Feng Lian finished telling this legend in one breath, paused for a moment and said: "This leopard is the descendant of Helan, and the Yellow River carp is the descendant of Jiaolong. ”

After hearing this, my cousin explained with a smile: " This is just a legend, in fact, although the leopard is a carnivore, but does not like the smell of fish, smell this smell and avoid it, especially the Yellow River carp, the taste of fish scales also carries the unique earthy smell of the Yellow River, so the leopard is more reluctant to approach, the leopard of Helan Mountain is the top of the food chain in this area since ancient times, fierce by nature, when you see people will not dodge but will attack, but smell the smell of the Yellow River carp scales around the circle, even if there is a good delicious, it is not willing to approach, so with this protective circle, even if the leopard finds that we are not likely to attack, rest assured to observe, in case of attackLighting the oil in time will also scare it away. ”

"Oh, I see, just like the circle that Sun Wukong drew on the ground made the monsters dare not approach, right?"

At this time, Fengyun had finished the "road" of pheasants and hares, and it was getting dark, and we chatted quietly while looking forward to the appearance of the leopard.

Feng Lian said to me: "Brother Dongzi, there is another legend I don't know if you have heard of it."

"What legend?" I asked.

"This is a bit scary, do you dare to listen to it?"

"Don't you know that my nickname is "Guo Daring"?