Chapter 1: Back to the Three Kingdoms

Section 1: The Call of the Distant Mountains

In May 1999, it was a gloomy day, and I was playing bridge in the house with a few poker friends. At this time, a scientific expedition film "Shennongjia Exploration" was playing on TV, and the scenery of Ni made several of us lose the interest in playing cards, and we all put down the cards in our hands.

I am a businessman, born into a family of educators, and I was also a secondary school chemistry teacher, but an incident three years ago made me quit my job and go to sea. At that time, my parents were planning to move overseas to join my brother, who was teaching in the United States.

Three years ago, my parents wanted me to go to the United States with them, but I refused my parents' kindness when I was in love, and my parents had no choice but to leave the house and a sum of money on the road alone. But what happened next is something that I will remember in this life.

After my parents left, my girlfriend who thought she could move to the United States with me left me in disappointment, but I thought that she didn't care about this, I thought I could stay with her for the rest of my life, I thought she loved me......

In the days that followed, I don't know how it was like. Before I knew it, I quit my job as a teacher and started a business with the money I left behind when my parents left.

Three years passed like this, and as time went by, I became more and more grateful for the experience she had left me. The mountains and seas can't be trusted, let alone the pig friends and dog friends in the business field. With this vigilance, relying on the merchants introduced to me by my parents from overseas, I acted as an agent for several brands of goods, and the business gradually got on the right track.

I have been educated by my parents since I was a child, and I have been in business for many years, and I have not developed any bad habits. In addition to having a close relationship with a few of my secretaries, I like to play bridge with a few poker friends. Anyone who has played bridge knows that bridge is a complex form of hand, and there are fewer people who would have been able to play cards, plus there are always people who like to do all kinds of small actions when playing cards, and join forces with their accomplices to cheat. Therefore, in my circle of friends, it is really difficult to find players who are well-behaved, reasonable, and do not cheat.

These players are all left over from my years of running-in and testing. Maybe it's a coincidence that they're all teachers, or maybe they're in an ivory tower and don't have the pollution of the world. After years of teaching, they finally have the same philosophy as me - rules are rules, no rules are no circle, if you don't plan to abide by this rule, then don't play. If you still intend to participate in this game, you must abide by the rules of this game.

However, what is embarrassing is that since they understand this truth, their situation in the unit is not very good, and I often maliciously think that maybe this principle may not be suitable for this era and China......

The TV was playing at the end of the film, and we all lost the interest in playing cards. Zhou Yi, a technician teacher majoring in machinery manufacturing in X steel mill, spoke first: "Fairyland on earth"

Yin Dong, who has just finished his master's degree in medicine and stayed at the university to teach, said with a very professional vision: "It is really a treasure trove of Chinese medicine."

Gao Shan, a middle school physics teacher, is particularly interested in mysterious things, and he said emotionally: "Shennongjia savage is one of the four mysterious events in the world today, thousands of years, the genetic map has been solved, human beings have been able to go to the moon and Mars to understand the mysteries of space, but around us, we still don't know a mountain." ”

I couldn't resist the temptation and said: "I have been paying attention to Shennongjia, which is said to be the place where the Han people tasted a hundred herbs during the period of ignorance. With Shennong's taste of herbs, there is the farming technology and traditional Chinese medicine technology of the Han nation, and the development of Han culture. Curiously, the only epic of the Han nation was also found there.

Previously, people have always believed that Babylon, Egypt, India, and China, known as the world's four ancient civilizations, have their own national epics. However, the Han nation, which has a long history of 5,000 years and splendid cultural traditions, has not discovered the grand epic of its own nation for thousands of years, and this is undoubtedly the most regrettable and confusing thing for the Chinese.

More than a hundred years ago, the German philosopher Hegel asserted: "The Chinese do not have their own epics, because their way of observation is essentially prose." "Since the 20th century, three major epics of China's ethnic minorities have been discovered: the Tibetan "The Biography of King Gesar", the Mongolian "Jangar", and the Horgiz "Manas". However, Chinese academics remain pessimistic: there is no epic of the Han nation. Is there an ancient nation in the world that does not have a glorious epic? Why is there no epic only for the Han people?

In 1982, on an earth-shattering day, the only creation epic of the Han nation "Dark Biography" was discovered in Shennongjia. It should be mentioned that the discoverer is Hu Chongjun, a cadre of the Shennongjia Forest District Cultural Center. There are many people who rely on the "Dark Biography" he discovered to be promoted and go abroad to give lectures, but this discoverer is still in the mountains of Shennongjia, with no title, no position and no treatment. The local cultural agency's solution to this is said to be to ban the man from being interviewed again because he has no academic qualifications.

Amazingly, in 1989, a 1.5 million-year-old Australopithecus fossil was discovered in the Shennongjia area. There is also the "Shennongjia Savage", which is regarded by the scientific and technological community as a stout species of Australopithecus. This shows that the Shennongjia area is not only the cradle of the Han nation, but also the cradle of mankind! The Han people originated here, and so did the human race.

However, how did people know all this in ancient times, especially in the era when there was no written language, relying on word of mouth to transmit 1.5 million years of history, directly implying that the person was the origin of mankind, how amazing it is! 1,500,000 years! ”

After saying this, we fell silent for a long time.

I don't know who spoke first, maybe in unison, "Why don't we go there and have a look?" Think about it, in the Ice Age, thousands of miles of snow covered with snow, and the only patch of green on earth was there. How many animals have traveled thousands of miles to this animal's final refuge, and the animals that have survived to this day. And on the way they trek, how many animals died in the wilderness and in the mountains and forests due to physical exhaustion.

Where you are, feel the course of life for millions of years, trace the footprints of the ancestors of the Han nation, touch the traces of history, and it is worth dying."

In the days that followed, we were actively planning our trips. During this period, I worked the hardest, because according to the plan, all the equipment was provided by me. At the same time, because Shennongjia has an area of 3,700 square kilometers, mountains are connected to mountains, not to mention stepping all over the green mountains, but it also requires good physical strength to focus on exploring the secrets. To this end, we have developed a three-year fitness plan, which we are going to use to build up our strength and prepare for the adventure, and the workout activities are also called by me.

Fortunately, my business is on the fast track, and I am afraid of anything if I have money. Since I was a child, I have been practicing Tai Chi Sword and Splitting Hanging Boxing with my father, and it is just a piece of cake for me to make a fitness plan. I rented my downstairs house and housed the three of my comrades. For the next three years, it was only natural to go downstairs and tell them to crow, but the sunset would not let them rest, because I found a taekwondo club for them in the evening. When they strongly protested against my cruelty to them, I told them eloquently: "Deep in the mountains and dense forests, who knows that you will encounter animals such as old bears and female orangutans, if you don't even have some self-defense skills, maybe you will be dragged to be a man in the village or something." So the protest is ineffective, continue to practice".

When I was negotiating business with my business partners, I went to Shennongjia several times in order to find a local guide. However, exporting the local Chinese herbs to the United States made me a lot of money, which was enough to cover our expedition. During this time, I also formed life-and-death friendships with several local mountain farmers, but I did not directly tell them what I was going to do. It's not time yet, and I'm eagerly awaiting that moment.

During this period, I came to Hong Kong many times on the occasion of exporting goods. This shopper's paradise is home to extremely cheap wilderness survival equipment. I purchased four folding wirestring crossbows and packed them into containers to ship back home. Considering that it is forbidden for people to carry guns in China, and we cannot do without the protection of long-range weapons in the field, the wire string crossbow is the best choice. In addition to this, I intermittently purchased four short military ******, a Swiss multi-tool knife, a fine Japanese samurai long knife, two German military long cleavers, and a Damascus Arabic cutlass on and off. In this way, our field protective tools are finally complete.

Three years is enough time for us to plan it all, three years is enough time to justify the efforts we have put into it. For this trip, we turned over several copies of the Wilderness Survival Guide. Countless times, we got together to plan this trip. In order to meet the unknown challenges, we repeatedly review every step of the way and strive to achieve perfection.

In order to ensure that we would not get lost in the deep mountains and old forests, for three years, I equipped each of them with a GPS system, and in order to identify the local flora, fauna and minerals, I equipped each of the three of them with a laptop computer, which was installed with a complete book of zoology, flora and minerals. And, of course, GPS GPS. Considering the limited battery power of the laptop, we even equipped two solar chargers, one of which can be replaced with a solar stove at any time, also to prevent fires in the mountains and forests. At the same time, in order to prevent the failure of the GPS system, we learned to use a sextant and a watch for longitude and latitude positioning. In order to prevent the quartz watch from malfunctioning, I also equipped each of them with a brand-name fully automatic watch.

Some people may ask me why I put so much effort into them, the reason is very simple, I can't do it alone, and it is rare to have so many people with me, and I would not be a fool if I didn't make good use of it.

Years later, I was drunk and lost my words to solve this problem that had been puzzled in their minds for a long time, in exchange for them waving their arms with automatic gold watches, beating me as a big brother with a blue nose and swollen face, and they still shouted from time to time: "Get on the thief ship".

Nor do I want to think about how desperately they were eager for the trip at the time.

Alas, it is difficult to be a good person!

As the three-year contract expired, I became more and more overwhelmed. In my heart, there is always a voice whispering, "It's time, are you ready?" ”

Whenever this happens, my hands tremble with excitement, and I can't help but spin quickly around the office, and keep waving my fists in the air.

At this time, the little secretary outside the office suite always looked at me melancholy and said to me, "Boss, are you in love?" The object is not me, I have been with you for 3 years".

Yes, I'm in love, and unfortunately, it's not you. I love that side of the water and soil, the mysterious mountain, the mysterious forest, I am going to see my lover, this makes me excited, how not to make me excited, for this moment, I have been preparing for three years, I have waited for a lifetime. My love, I'm coming.

It's been three years, and I should say that our fitness program is perfect, and those three people who have been tortured by me are now not a problem to deal with two or three big men with their bare hands, and if they use equipment, I don't think it is a big problem for two people to deal with a bear. This ensures that as long as they are not left alone, they will not have the fate of crushing the villagers. As for walking with weights, it is not a problem to walk 30 kilometers with 50 kg on your back. Although this is not as good as the record of the Afghan War, when the average weight of US soldiers was 72.3 kilograms and they walked 40 kilometers, it was also close to the Korean War, where American soldiers carried an average weight of 60.1 kilograms and walked 30 kilometers, which was at least better than most police officers with fat brains.

In July 2003, I came to Shennongjia again to order medicinal herbs. Premeditated, I placed an order of $1.2 million at a time and paid 70% of the amount upfront. My excuse is: I've been dealing with each other for many years, and besides, you have a family and a mouth, and I'm afraid that you won't be able to run to the edge of the sky. The overjoyed mountain people insisted on feasting me on local game, and I agreed to come down after a little push.

Before the banquet, I solemnly declared to them: I was born in a scholarly family, and I have been educated in tradition since I was a child, and I will never eat rare animals. These words are not only meant to proclaim my principles in life, but also to reassure them when I ask them when the time is right. The banquet began with the staggered glasses.

When the wine was half-drunk, they chatted about some of the stories of the medicinal herbs I purchased this time, and one of them was the fish lice in the official fish cave. The official seal fish cave is hidden in the green trees and grass shrubs of Shennongjia, and it is not easy for people to find it. The water flow in the cave is large and inexhaustible for many years. Where does the water in the cave come from? How long is the process? It's a mystery to this day. Folklore has it that the water in this cave comes from Mount Emei, flows through thousands of miles, and comes with fairy wind, scattering fairy energy. I don't know what era and century, after the first spring thunder sounded, the Guanfeng Fish Cave began to produce fish. Soon after it was discovered that the water at the entrance of the cave began to turn from clear to yellow and then turbid, schools of fish appeared. At this time, the mountain people had already come from all directions with scoops, baskets, and pockets, and stood on the water and under the water, squeezing, shouting, shouting, and staring at the entrance of the cave with wide eyes. At night, hundreds of torches burn brightly, illuminating the river at the mouth of the cave. When the water at the entrance of the cave is completely turbid, a school of fish with chopsticks long and short (about a catty in weight), no scales and no armor, and as white as silver will appear at the entrance of the cave with their heads and tails. People shouted and scooped with their spoons, scooped with baskets, grabbed with their hands, and blocked with their pockets...... When it comes to the climax, one scoop can scoop three or five catties! In a short time, the buckets, basins, and baskets that people had brought were filled to the brim.

The official seal fish hole has a minimum of two days of fish every year, the longest is seven days and seven nights, more than 2,000 catties are produced when there are fewer days, and tens of thousands of catties are produced at most times! The mountain people couldn't eat it, so they dried the fish fillet and pickled the salted fish, which inevitably rotted a lot. What's even more strange is that the fish flowing out of the Guanfeng Fish Cave are not only of average size, without scales and armor, but also have a fish lice in the belly of each fish. Fish lice are milky white, the size of broad beans, and have all four limbs. When the belly of a fish first emerges, it can crawl on the ground. Over time, the mountain people discovered that fish lice were a miracle cure for esophageal cancer. They collected the fish lice, dried them and crushed them into fine powder, soaked them in wine, and once they got sick, the medicine was very effective.

Tens of thousands of years have passed, where did the fish in the official fish cave come from and where do they go? Why are they all average sizes? Why are they all scaleless and armorless? Why does every fish have a fish lice in its belly? This mystery of the ages, people do not know the mystery, but have to flow through the generations with beautiful legends.

The mountaineers also told me that on the bank of the Xiaodangyang River, there is a rare tree species of iron fir that shades the sky and the sun, and this tree has grown for 1184 years according to the annual rings! The height of the tree is 36 meters, and the diameter of the tree is 2.7 meters! Legend has it that 110 years ago, not far below this ancient cedar, there was also a tall ancient cedar, a rich family surnamed Pan in the mountains wanted to use this cedar as a longevity device, so they ordered three woodcutters to cut down this ancient cedar, and at the moment when the tree fell, the three woodcutters were all stoned to death. Since then, the family surnamed Pan has also declined, and it has been extinct more than ten years ago.

At the root of the hemlock fir that had not fallen, there was a pool of water a few feet square, the pool was crystal clear, and there were two frogs perched in the pool, and their skin was extremely red. The people in the mountains regard it as a "fairy baby", and often drive dozens of miles or hundreds of miles of mountain roads to burn incense, kowtow, release whips, and pray under the trees. or let their children and grandchildren worship "fairy baby" as godfather and godmother; or drink water in the pond in order to eliminate disasters and cure diseases; The mountain people also dug a rectangular tree hole one meter high in the ancient cedar, which was used as a Buddhist shrine, and a statue of a god was placed inside. Ten years ago, in order to stop the superstitious activities of the mountain people, the government organized forest workers to fill in the waterhole at the base of the tree, and the "Buddha shrine" on the tree pole is now closed and covered with bark.

"Fill in the waterhole, what about the two red frogs?" I felt a shudder. "When filling in the pool, first cover the pool with stone slabs, and then fill it with earth, and the two red frogs are probably still alive." Mr. Yang, a mountain man, smiled.

"Actually, you shouldn't bury the red frog underneath...... I couldn't help but feel sad.

Mr. Yang said that on the rugged branches, many red snakes were entrenched every summer. Last summer, he saw a huge red snake about 15 meters long and 20 centimeters thick climb down from a tree and slowly reach out to the grass. Someone wanted to fight, but suddenly he couldn't bear it, so he showed mercy to his subordinates and let the fiery elf go away.

"Actually, no life in Shennongjia should be harmed!" I said to Mr. Yang wistfully.

When the mountain people told this, their faces flashed red, and their brows were full of pride. I took the opportunity to pretend to be emotional, and said, "If only I could go and see it?" ”

When the mountain people heard what I said, they were silent. I immediately took a step forward, sighed and said, "I have done millions of business with you over the years, and I know that you may have a mountain closure order, and it is difficult for outsiders to go out on public tourist routes, but I will go to see the origin of my goods, which will not be allowed." Besides, I'm not an unruly person, I've been dealing with people for many years, and I don't believe me, it's too uninteresting. ”

When the mountain people heard what I said in a disgruntled tone, they rushed to pat my chest and promise to arrange food and lodging for me. I took the opportunity to make a few requests: I don't need them to accompany me all day, as long as two mountain guides serve the whole process, and the guides' wages are paid by me at a high salary per day; I may stay in Shennongjia for a month or two, during which time I hope that they will prepare the goods I want; Contact me when the goods are ready, I will take the goods down the mountain and pay the final payment, and don't disturb me before the goods are ready; In the end, I might want a few friends to play with.

The next thing was logical, after the mountain people had obtained a mountain entry permit for me, I set off to return home to prepare my bags, and invited a few friends "by the way". After getting off the airport, I called the three of them:

"Are you ready?"

"Ready!"

"Leave tomorrow."

There were excited cheers on the phone, and I silently said in my heart: "It's time, I'm ready".