Chapter 151: Changbai Mountain

A few days later, Wei Hua and Ding Peng returned to the small mountain village. It was already October, a crisp and refreshing season of autumn, so Wei Hua decided to go hunting in the mountains and simultaneously survey the resources of Changbai Mountain, in order to find a path to prosperity for his family.

In the broad sense, Changbai Mountain refers to the Changbai Mountain Range, a collective term for the eastern mountainous areas of Liaoning, Jilin, and 黑龙江 provinces in China. Stretching from the southern side of the Sanjiang Plain in the north to the Liaodong Peninsula in the south where it meets the Qian Mountains, it includes parallel fault-block mountain ranges such as the Wanda Mountains, Laoye Ridge, Zhangguangcai Ridge, and Jilin Hadaling. Most of the mountains stand at an elevation between 800 and 1,500 meters, with the central section of Changbai Mountain being the highest, gradually decreasing in height toward the north and south.

In the narrow sense, Changbai Mountain refers to the mountainous area in eastern Jilin Province bordering North Korea, which is the highest part of the eastern mountainous region of Northeast China. Within Chinese territory, Baiyun Peak reaches an elevation of 2,691 meters and is composed of trachyte. In summer, the white rocks are exposed; in winter, it is covered with pristine white snow, remaining white all year round. Formed by multiple volcanic eruptions, it serves as the source of the Songhua River, Tumen River, and Yalu River. The forests are dense. Between 500 and 1,200 meters, Korean pine, Jezo spruce, Sakhalin fir, and maple trees predominate; between 1,200 and 1,800 meters, spruce and fir forests are dominant; above 1,800 meters, there are dwarf birch forests, making it an important forest region in China. Among the forests are rare animals such as sika deer, sable, and Siberian tigers, as well as medicinal herbs like ginseng. Ginseng, sable pelts, and deer antlers are known as the "Three Treasures" of the Northeast, enjoying a long-standing reputation both at home and abroad. A nature reserve was established here in 1960, covering a vast area.

As one of China's top ten famous mountains, comparable to the Five Great Mountains, Changbai Mountain is the premier mountain of the Guandong region, renowned for its magnificent scenery and charming views. It derives its name from its principal peak, Baiyun Peak, which is covered with white pumice stones and snow. It proudly bears the reputation: "A thousand years of accumulated snow make up the pine trees of the year, ascending straight to the supreme peak among mortals." To step into Changbai Mountain is to walk into a realm of grandeur and boundlessness—its heroic posture leaps 2,691 meters above the sea. Represented by Changbai Mountain Heaven Lake, it integrates tourist attractions such as waterfalls, hot springs, canyons, underground forests, volcanic lava forests, alpine grand gardens, subterranean rivers, primeval forests, clouds and mists, ice and snow, forming a bright and captivating landscape.

Led by his brother-in-law, Wei Hua and Ding Peng toured all over Changbai Mountain, witnessing the scenery of Heaven Lake, waterfalls, the Grand Canyon, hot spring groups, and more. During this process, Wei Hua primarily surveyed the traditional Chinese medicinal material resources of Changbai Mountain. He intended to have his elder sisters engage in traditional Chinese medicinal herb cultivation in their hometown. This industry causes no pollution, requires small investments, and yields favorable returns—provided, of course, that the harvested herbs can all be successfully sold. The three of them roamed the mountains for over a week. Wei Hua saw animals like sika deer and sable, but the Siberian tigers he longed to see never appeared. Exploring Changbai Mountain for such a long time, Wei Hua also harbored a desire to discover whether there were any so-called practitioners of immortality here. Weren't the lofty figures described by the authors on the Qidian platform all hermits dwelling in famous mountains and great rivers? Even if there were no cultivators in modern society, finding a few cave dwellings left behind by ancient practitioners would have sufficed. However, Wei Hua was disappointed; he did not find anything related to immortality cultivation. He did, however, discover a few century-old wild ginseng plants, which greatly delighted his brother-in-law.

In late October, Wei Hua, Ding Peng, and Wei Hua's brother-in-law returned from Changbai Mountain to the small mountain village. Their harvest was quite bountiful, yielding plenty of game including wild boars, hares, and pheasants. Autumn is the season when game is at its plumpest and most delicious, allowing Wei Hua to savor the most authentic wild game—delicacies that would become exceedingly difficult to eat a decade or two later. In late October, Wei Hua and Ding Peng left the small village and returned to Dalian, where Wei Hua needed to plan his sisters' journey to prosperity. Preparatory work for the highway from the county town to the small village had already been completed, awaiting construction in the coming spring. Because the Northeast was about to enter winter, construction was impossible, so the highway project had not yet broken ground. To consume the massive quantity of medicinal herbs resulting from cultivation, it was imperative to establish a traditional Chinese medicine factory. In his past life, the decline of Chinese medicine techniques had ached Wei Hua's heart; the shameless boasting of the Korean sticks claiming "traditional Chinese medicine is South Korean technology" filled him with indignation. Therefore, Wei Hua was determined to develop traditional Chinese medicine technology, starting first with the traditional Chinese medicine industry technology.

The memories of the Immortal Emperor Xuanyi contained numerous alchemy methods, but the medicinal ingredients within them were heavenly treasures, the vast majority of which Wei Hua had never even heard of, rendering them of little help to his establishment of a traditional Chinese medicine factory. However, some data within the communicator were very useful to him. Still, Wei Hua felt this was not enough; investments in traditional Chinese medicine research needed to be increased. Yet, researching traditional Chinese medicine required personnel in this field—meaning people who understood the theories of traditional Chinese medicine. But such people were hard to find! Wei Hua's plan was forced to be temporarily shelved.

Only a few days after Wei Hua returned to Dalian, Zhao Hongjun, Li Aihong, Zhang Zhandong, and Liu Shenkui arrived in the city. Having learned from their respective elders that Wei Hua's Harbin-Dalian Expressway construction plan had been approved, they came to see if they could carve out a share of the benefits. Wei Hua received them at his temporary residence and, looking at the group, said:

"I know why you have come. Sharing the profits is not a problem, but there are some things I must make clear beforehand, to prevent us from having ideological divergences later on and ultimately becoming enemies. Wealth is the root of disaster; I do not wish for us to become foes because of money. You must listen well and remember this: my plan is as follows. We can jointly establish an expressway construction company. I do not need you to contribute capital; I will give each of you a ten percent share. However, these shares cannot be transferred without my consent and can only be used for dividends. Furthermore, your shares cannot be obtained for nothing. The labor force and frontline technical personnel required by our expressway construction company must be provided by you. Didn't you say you have good connections in the Northeast? Now is the time to exercise those connections. You also know the state's current personnel employment system; it won't be easy for me to recruit frontline technical personnel myself. As for high-end technical personnel, I will source them from abroad, so you don't need to worry about that. If there are similar high-end technical personnel domestically and you manage to bring them in, I will be even more delighted. As for compensation, rest assured, we will absolutely make these people satisfied."