Chapter 17: Arctic Village

Arctic Village is located in the northernmost part of Mohe, and now it is a tourist attraction with great regional characteristics in the north. However, after all, this is not Suzhou, Hangzhou, Hong Kong and Macao, and although the tourists are not small, they do not feel crowded.

When General Yin and Xiao Wang arrived here, it was dusk a few days later. In the past few days, the two of them have been running wildly on the sparsely populated snowy fields, sometimes walking at night, but even so, the speed of movement is very amazing.

When they looked at the Heilongjiang River, it was twilight again. Thousands of miles of ice, thousands of miles of snow drifting - it is very well verified here. The length of the ice surface is not as long as you can see, and the width is also tens of miles. The thickness of the ice is very large, and there is no problem for trucks with loads of dozens of tons to walk up. Therefore, although the water transportation here has stopped in winter, the frozen river has made many detours and turned into direct access. Shallow rivers are frozen to the bottom, and there is no danger or inconvenience, while deep rivers often have two meters of ice frozen on top, and undercurrents are still surging day and night.

When night fell, there were ice caves on the ice, some of which had not yet been sealed, like mud spots splashed on the surface of a huge mirror. It was the ice eye of the nearby fishermen, who fished in the winter. Judging from the ice, they found the whirlpools, which were places where the water was relatively deep and where fish could easily gather, and used a three-edged ice cutting tool called Bingchuan to cut a hole with a diameter of two or three feet, and used various nets to catch fish.

Xiao Wang suggested that he eat cold-water fish, saying that he had seen it on the Internet, and it was very delicious. The Tiger King took him to an old shop called "Northern Lights" and ordered a few seasonal delicacies. Precious cold-water fish are abundant here, and the stewed sturgeon fish in river water is the most characteristic Arctic village delicacy. Zhero is a large carnivorous fish among cold-water salmon, some of them are more than one meter long, weigh fifty or sixty pounds, and are long and round. It looks cute, but it is the overlord of the water, for small fish, it is definitely not negotiable to eat; Both Jerro and Damaha are salmon that grow in cold water and feed on live animals, so their meat is exceptionally delicate.

After a while, the two of them had already begun to taste, and the large tray was served, and the fragrance spread all the way. The freshness of its taste and the beauty of its feelings are simply incomparable and difficult to find in the world.

There are really a lot of customers in the store, and there are five local men at the next table, and it seems that they are also familiar with the boss. They didn't order fish to eat, but directly ate the most famous pig-killing dish in the Northeast, and drank the stuffy donkey with Mongolian characteristics nearby.

Killing pig vegetables, originally a kind of stew eaten in the rural areas of Northeast China every year when the New Year is close to the end of the year, is generally to cut the freshly killed pig blood into large pieces and cook them into large slices and put them into the pot, and then put sauerkraut in them while cooking, add water and seasonings to make it. Sauerkraut stewed with white meat and blood sausage, which is a regional signature dish in the Northeast. Of course, the sauerkraut should be made of cabbage grown in the northeast by natural fermentation and soured, the color is slightly yellow and translucent; the white meat is a large piece of pork belly with skin; the blood sausage should be made with fresh pig's blood, seasoned with green onions, salt and other ingredients, and then poured into the casing, which is tender and delicious. These three flavors are stewed together in a pot, and the fat in the pork has been cleaned by sauerkraut. It's definitely an appetite.

The high-grade liquor produced in Mongolia, known as the grassland liquor, has a degree of 65 degrees. This kind of wine has a lot of stamina, so the nickname is stuffy donkey, which means that the donkey has to be put down after drinking, which shows the strength of the wine.

Seeing a few people eating happily and drinking happily, General Yin also smiled. Isn't it just to let these people live safely, eat and drink happily?

After three rounds of drinking, there will be more talk.

"Third brother, take me with you for tomorrow's work. A younger man took a sip of wine at a middle-aged man.

"Are you okay? This is a tiring job, you kid don't look at the money you make a lot, you really can't do it when the time comes, delay the big things of the owner, don't mix on this Heilongjiang River in the future." The middle-aged man said hesitantly.

"Isn't it just winter fishing? Who doesn't know our pimple. I've never eaten pork, and we've seen pigs run. Don't worry, brother doesn't bring errands. The young man swore an oath.

"That's not the same thing, this time it's not as good as in previous years, and this year it's very important. Not only TV stations came, but there were also many foreign tourists, as well as big shots to watch the scene, and there may also be big shots to participate in the first fish. ”

"Third brother, today Qiangzi asked you and your brother to come out for a little wine, just to tell you about it. He is also a big boss, and he has been selling tourist souvenirs in the previous stage, and he can't make a lot of money. This time he also made up his mind, third brother, you just give him a chance, if not, you just let him do some manual work. The other person next to him probably had already discussed with Qiangzi in advance, so he helped to speak.

"That's fine. But I can tell you, tomorrow the net will be opened, and we will gather by the river at seven o'clock, so it's not too late. Let's stop here today, go back and have a good rest. The middle-aged man thought about it and agreed, and everyone dispersed when they were full of wine and food.

General Yin listened quietly while eating, until their table was gone, and said to the children who were still eating happily, "Let's go and see the winter fishing in Arctic Village tomorrow." ”

"I've seen it. Aren't we there over there?" Xiao Wang muttered as he ate in his mouth.

"I said virtuous nephew, you are a river bubble, this is Heilongjiang. Is that comparable? It's like a cat comparing yourself to my uncle. General Yin ate happily and joked casually.

Every year, more than a month before the Spring Festival is the golden time for fishermen to carry out large-scale winter fishing operations. This fishing and hunting culture originated in prehistory and flourished in Liaojin. Because winter fishing is easy to preserve and transport, this ancient winter fishing method has continued to this day and has remained unchanged for thousands of years.

The winter catch is preceded by a sacrifice that is done by lamas and shamanic priests. This is how communication is done with the ruler in the water. In winter, when the water freezes, the water beneath the ice can remain around four degrees Celsius, and fish live in this relatively warm area. At this time, the fish net is launched from the net inlet and then dragged to the outlet two or three miles away, and then the net is raised, and a large number of fish can be replenished. Of course, it is not difficult to invite lamas today, shamanism is in decline, and it is difficult to say whether the high priest is present or not. I don't know if I can find someone to play it, or if I can really invite a shaman priest who should theoretically live in seclusion.

A winter fishing often requires dozens or even hundreds of manpower, more than ten hours, and a very complicated operation process. It is no less than a one-time arrangement. First of all, we must send people to chisel an ice hole every three zhang on the ice layer of about one meter, and then chisel hundreds of ice holes in a net, and then thread the rod and lead. When the net is lowered, because the net is too long, at certain distances, they have to use horses (now using machinery) to pull the winch to pull the large net, so that the net can be gradually lowered into place, and the process of getting off the net alone takes eight or nine hours. When the net is collected, several tall horses pull the winch to pull the wire rope to turn, and the fish under the ice are wrapped in a two-zhang wide net from the fish mouth three or four feet wide and one zhang long slowly exposed the ice. Generally speaking, the largest fish will be auctioned on the spot, and in recent years, I have heard that twenty or thirty catties of big fish are auctioned for hundreds of thousands of dollars.