Daomu Biji

We wanted to help search the mountain, but Agui didn't agree at first, so we persuaded him before we followed him. Agui's little daughter is called Yuncai. Agui asked his daughter to follow us and not get separated. About twenty villagers gathered together, holding torches and flashlights, and walked toward the buffalo head ditch with their hunting dogs.

It was pitch dark all around the mountain road, and we let the hunting dogs smell our clothes while shouting.

The forest farms here have been cut down, and the road ahead is not difficult. However, there is abundant rain here, and there are many puddles on the mountains, full of mountain leeches. It was not until we reached the Baolin area that the road became difficult to walk. However, these mountain people were all hunters and had rich experience, so walking was not difficult at all. For us, this mountain road is like a walk compared with Tamu Tou. The group of people just walked deep into the mountain.

As I walked, I asked Yun Cai what was going on in the Buffalo Tougou area and whether Dad would be in any danger?

Yuncai turned around and said: "That's the boundary line between the Dabao Forest Area and our village's forest protection area. Yangjiao Mountain is in the Dabao Forest Area, Zhoudu Mountain is in the forest protection area, and in the middle is the Buffalo Head Valley. Behind Yangjiao Mountain is the deep mountain old forest. The forest farm People have put up signs at the mountain pass, telling us not to go in, so except for the old hunters, we generally don’t go to Yangjiao Mountain, and I haven’t heard of anyone entering the forest behind Yangjiao Mountain.”

Agui said from behind me: "I'm afraid the only person in the village who is most familiar with Yangjiao Mountain is Panma. It is said that only foot traders from Guyue dared to walk in the forest behind. In ancient times, Vietnamese jade people walked through the forest in order to evade customs duties." I travel here for a month to sell jade, but I don’t know how many people are trapped deep in these mountains.”

The jade trade is the most profitable, cruel, and mysterious commercial trade on the ancient China-Vietnam border. I have heard of the brutal struggles between jade gangs in Vietnam and Myanmar. It is so common to become poor and rich overnight here. Under such huge interests, there is absolutely no place for human nature.

Agui said that this place is not far from the place where the jade trade is most prosperous. The jade merchants from Banai to Guangxi all do small business with some bosses in Guangdong. They are the most miserable jade people, so they are also particularly vicious. Especially during the Qing Dynasty, Vietnamese people who were half merchants and half bandits came in batches, which was a harm to the local area.

I thought to myself that if this was the case, if the remains of those Vietnamese jade people could be found in the woods, maybe the raw jade stones they brought could be found. Good jade-colored raw stones are very rare these days, and the price of jade is ridiculously high. The quality of jade back then was much higher than now. If you find one or two good pieces, it is worth more than any other bright objects. But then I thought about it, those Vietnamese jade people valued these jade stones more precious than their own lives. Now, intercepting them like this is a great injustice. This is different from tomb robbing, and I am afraid it will bring about bad luck.

We walked into the ditch in the middle of the night, and the man in blood-stained clothes pointed to a tree and said that the clothes were found on the tree. He first saw blood sticking to the tree trunk, and then he looked up and found the clothes. At first I thought it was a night owl killed by a wild cat, but later I found out it wasn't.

The flashlight shines on the tree,

This kind of copper-covered flashlight has little illumination ability, but it is certain that there is nothing else on it. It is obvious that Father Panma left the bloody clothes behind after climbing up the tree.

My father is almost eighty years old. Although he used to be an expert at climbing trees, it is logically impossible to climb a tree for no reason. He obviously encountered some danger. I asked Yun Cai, what beasts are there? Yuncai said that he had heard of tigers a long time ago, but now in the mountains, the most powerful thing might be a leopard.

When I heard this, I thought that the tiger was definitely gone now. Leopards are good at climbing trees. If it were really a leopard, it would be in trouble. Moreover, leopards have the habit of hanging food on trees and hiding it. Maybe my father has been killed.

However, A Cai said that leopards are all in the deep mountains. The mountains here are not deep enough and the probability of encountering leopards is too small. Dad didn't bring a gun, why did he come so deep into the mountains?

I remembered the story of the little soldier who hid the captured pistol in a bird's nest, and wondered whether Father Panma had also learned this trick, but there was no bird's nest in the tree.

We searched around the tree for a while, but found nothing. We could only barely see some blood stains from several directions. The few dogs they brought came in handy. The hunters all carried guns. After loading the bullets, the soldiers went in separate groups to look for them in the distance. I followed Aquina all the way to the Yangjiao Mountain.

The buffalo head ditch is very long and deep. No one has walked to the end. The middle part of the ditch is the mountain pass where Yangjiao Mountain and Zhoudu Mountain meet. It shows the momentum of a tropical forest. It feels very similar to Tamutuo. It makes me Very uncomfortable. I kept hearing the "gurgling" sound and breaking out in a cold sweat, but there was nothing I could do about it. I had to bite the bullet and follow.

Mountain dogs are quite tough and stand taller than me. Although they are all mongrel dogs, they are well-trained and quickly picked up the scent and led us all the way deeper into the valley.

We were silent all the way until late at night with the crescent moon above our heads. The dog seemed to have found its target and we stopped near the Yangjiao Mountain pass. It was a slope on the mountainside. Because of the mudslide, the trees were sparse, the slope was very steep, and the soil was slippery and soft, like snow. We used branches as crutches to maintain balance. From time to time, we stepped on the wrong place, and the whole piece of mud just slipped all the way down.

The hunting dog pulled us and half-climbed to the foot of a tree with difficulty. After that, it stopped wandering and barked at a large patch of grass behind the tree.

The clouds were a little scary, and I was worried. If Dad encountered a leopard, the things in the grass might be terrible.

Agui stepped forward and pushed aside the grass with a branch. When he shined a flashlight, he found that there was no body inside, only a big stone. After we went over, we found that it was a fragment of an ancient stone tablet. Over the years, the traces of wind and rain were obvious, and the surface was completely worn away.

Agui and the others pushed aside the waist-high weeds around them to search. Suddenly, a hunter let out an ouch and suddenly fell down.

We rushed over to catch him and saw a mud pit hidden in the grass. It seemed that it had been washed out by the rain, and there was still mud in the pit. Looking at the bottom of the pit, Menyoupin and I looked at each other, and our hearts skipped a beat. In the pit, we could vaguely see a few pieces of rotten wood wrapped in the mud. Judging from the shape, I was pretty sure it was a broken coffin.

This is a simple ancient tomb that was washed out. ④Read on Tianshu Chinese website