According to the pre-prepared plan, after everyone entered the mountain, they changed their weapons to a state of alert, and at the same time sent forward soldiers to investigate. The mountain is not steep, and small patches of mountains can be seen along the road.
A small piece of land is planted with rice that is about to be harvested, and there are traces of planting on the relatively gentle hillside - the green mountain forest is like a hairless blanket, with patches of yellow exposed from time to time - this is the mountain fence planted by the people -
This is a primitive agricultural method that is close to slash-and-burn farming. One or two scattered villages can be seen on the hillside in the distance. Because they have plenty of time, they are not in a hurry and watch the mountain scenery while walking. Although it is autumn, Hainan
It's like summer all year round, with blooming mountain flowers and green vegetation, and the scenery is particularly beautiful. Compared with the desolate scene of smoke and grass outside the mountain, it has a different flavor. Walking up a hill, everyone stood and looked around. Wen Desi couldn't help but praise:
“What a great place.”
"Compared to the two sides of the Wenlan River, the scenery is much more beautiful." Everyone said the same, wiping sweat and pointing at the surrounding scenery.
"What is this?" There is an extremely tall and straight tree on the hillside not far away. Among the lush trees, it has fallen leaves very conspicuously.
"This is kapok," Wen Desi said. As a person living in Guangzhou, it is impossible not to know the plant that is the city flower of Guangzhou.
"Kapok, I know! The flowers are very beautiful. When I went to Panzhihua, I saw many of them," Mu Min said.
"Haha, that's right. Panzhihua is named after kapok."
"Why are all these trees losing their leaves? Trees in the south usually don't shed their leaves."
"It is originally a deciduous tree," Fashilu explained, "because its place of origin basically has two seasons, dry and wet. Before entering the dry season, all the leaves will be removed. This is to save water." Although he is
I am an agronomist and have also worked in plant protection. I know a lot about this aspect.
"This tree is very useful," Fa Shilu continued. "It is a very good fiber material."
"It is good, but it cannot spin cloth."
The fiber of kapok is much shorter than that of straw cotton, so it is not suitable as a textile raw material. However, it grows quickly, the material is light and soft, the fiber is short and thin, without twisting, the hollowness is as high as 86%, and it is not easy to be soaked in water.
It has strong moisture resistance, strong pressure resistance, strong warmth retention, natural antibacterial, no moth and mildew, and can be filled with pillows and life jackets.
Travelers have discovered many kapok trees sporadically along the Wenlan River, but this is the first time they have seen such a forest. If developed, there should be great potential.
"Mr. Wen, I want to collect some samples." Fashilu asked for instructions.
"Dr. Gong, you tell Captain Lu about this -" Wen Desi said, "I am just a team member and have no command authority."
"Okay, I forgot again." The agronomist smiled sheepishly. The title of chairman of the committee on Wen Desi's head always made him forget this.
"Old Fa, you said this kapok cannot be spun. Why did I hear that the Li people's cotton spinning technology was always leading in ancient times? Even Huang Daopo learned spinning from the Li people in Hainan." Accompany him.
It was Cui Yunhong who went to collect samples. He was carrying a lot of equipment: a laptop, a transient electromagnetic meter, an anchor detector, an ultrasonic detector... and even a small hand-cranked generator of the African poverty alleviation version - there was no way.
Who said these things all need electricity? While he was collecting samples, he also did some geological surveying.
"Not all kapok cannot be spun." Fashilu carefully avoided the thorns on the trunk and pulled the measuring tape. "Some kapok varieties are acceptable, but the quality cannot be compared with herbal cotton. There are also some so-called kapok that are actually
It’s sea island cotton.”
"Sea Island Cotton?"
"This is a high-quality long-staple cotton. It is produced in Central and South America. Because it was once widely distributed on the southeastern coast of the United States and its nearby islands, it is called island cotton." Fashilu explained, "Hainan Island has a similar
The long-staple cotton is very close to this American sea island cotton.”
"I've seen cotton. It's very short, like grass, and grows one year after year. How can it be the same as kapok?"
"Haha, because cotton can be an annual or a perennial." Fa Shilu knew that in the original time and space, most people did not distinguish between grains and grains. There were many people who used wheat seedlings as leeks, so it was considered good to have seen cotton.
, "Cotton can grow into a perennial woody plant in the natural environment. It may be mistakenly called kapok because it is the same as kapok, with cotton wadding on the seed coat. The raw material of Li people's textiles in Hainan Island should be this kind of cotton.
Perennial woody cotton." He continued, "I have seen some sporadic cotton trees like this. They are quite common on the island. Our department is considering how to deal with the cotton problem."
"Is this kapok?"
"It's an ordinary kapok." Fa Shilu was a little regretful. It would have been better if it had been Chenglin's island cotton: this long-staple cotton can not only be used as raw material for worsted spinning, but also spin high-count worsted cotton with a texture and feel comparable to silk.
It is also an indispensable raw material for cords in the future tire industry.
"It can be used to make cotton wool." Zhang Bolin, who was warning them from the side, interjected, "All it takes is fiber to make cotton wool."
"You can't say that -" Fa Shilu was talking when he suddenly saw two or three people coming from a distance. They were not Han Chinese at first glance. Knowing that they were Li people, he quickly packed up his things and returned to the group.
Two soldiers came over, stood some distance away and asked loudly. They were all wearing cloth shirts, but their lower bodies were wrapped in briefs-like cloth, a bit like the Japanese crotch cloth (this was often worn by Li men in the past)
A kind of clothing). There is a hook knife on the waist - this is what every Li man carried with him in the past. It is both a production tool and a weapon - crossbow arrows on his back. Lu Rong spoke to them in Qiongzhou dialect for a while
, knowing that this place is already within a cave boundary, and the owner of the cave lives in a place called Nanan Village in front of it (this village is purely fabricated).
While they were talking here, the prisoners behind became commotion, and regardless of the weight of their salt bags, they all rushed over. When the two sides met, they hugged each other excitedly and cried - it turned out that these two soldiers were from their village. Today
Early in the morning, a hunter reported that a strange-looking team had arrived. They were not many in number and were not officers and soldiers. Nor were they a single or small group of Han merchants. The owner of the cave was also the general manager of the earth building appointed by the Ming Dynasty government, and had to maintain it.
It is the duty of the local public security to send someone over to inquire.
From the conversation, we learned that five of the thirty Li soldiers sent by Bendong escaped. Now everyone in Li District is saying that a powerful pirate team has come from the sea with powerful firearms. Small traders from Han District have also
The events of the Bairentan War were dramatized with added vigour, and now almost everyone knows how terrifying the time-travelers are.
Knowing that the people coming were the "pirates" with the power of ghosts and gods, the two soldiers showed a look of fear. Lu Rong quickly explained that he was not a pirate, but a businessman who was fighting with the official army at Bairentan.
It was also out of necessity. This time I came to Li District, firstly to return the eight prisoners, and secondly to do business. As he said that, Lu Rong opened a salt bag - the snow-white salt sparkled in the sun. The power of salt is indeed true.
It was so huge that after taking a lick to confirm that it was really salt, the two soldiers seemed to run away.
Lu Rong told everyone to wait where they were. If the information the security team got from the Li prisoners was accurate, the power of salt would be enough. Even so, everyone was still a little nervous, fearing that the other party would take revenge if they came. More than 20 people
The firepower of the SKS rifle is not a problem even if one or two hundred people come, but once the conflict occurs, it will be difficult to deal with the aftermath. If there are a few casualties on one's own side, it will be irreparable losses.
Not long after, I saw more than ten Li soldiers coming, surrounded by a middle-aged man. He was dressed much better than the nearly half-naked soldiers. He looked like a traditional Li brocade, with pheasant feathers on his head. It seemed that
It was a leader or something. According to the prisoners, this was an "Oya" in their cave, a big shot after Mr. Tushe.
This "Oya" could speak Qiongzhou dialect very well. He walked alone to the open space on both sides and first chopped the hook knife on the ground.
"What does this mean?" Lu Rong was a little nervous.
"It seems to mean there is no hostility." Wen Desi remembered that when he watched an Amazon rainforest adventure movie, the expedition team met the indigenous people in the forest and put the machete on the ground first to show friendship. "Just do the same.
."
So Lu Rong also walked out and put the machete on the ground. Not only was he extremely nervous, but everyone in the team was also sweating. He was only fifty meters away from the soldiers. If the crossbow arrow was fired, he would be hit.
In places without the protection of stab-resistant clothing, the curare wood on the crossbow arrows can be bloody and seal the throat.
The two sides stood there talking for more than ten minutes, and then he came back and said somewhat helplessly: "He refuses to let us go to the village. They are willing to buy the salt, and they are willing to use whatever we want as a ransom for our capture."
What's the point of Wen Desi just going back? But the captain is Lu Rong, and his involvement in decision-making seems to violate the command policy established by the Executive Committee.
So he still asked tentatively: "Let's talk some more? Let's give some gifts -"
"Gift!" Lu Rong laughed, "It has been more than a year since I resigned, and I have forgotten all the content of my job." So he went back, and the two talked for a while. After a while, Lu Rong came back with a smile on his face:
"It's done. He promised to take us outside the village, but we can't enter the village. We can only trade outside the village. But he promised to let us see the owner of the cave."
The price of this transformation is a small fruit knife. Although the fruit knife is not made of high-grade steel such as tool steel, it is still a steel knife, and it is completely incomparable with the rough iron hook knife in their hands.
It seems that commercial bribery can be used anywhere.