Ang Lee saw that there were so many round stones on both sides of such a small stream. Previously, he guessed that it was man-made for the sake of aesthetics. Perhaps there was a group of people living here in the past, and placing more stones on both sides of the stream could prevent the stream from being contaminated by excessive weeds or even being swallowed by weeds. However, after thinking about it carefully, there was another possibility. These round stones were all washed by the stream, but the stream here was too weak to move these round stones at all. Even small spherical stones were difficult to move. How could so many stones be moved over?
If these stones were really washed over by the stream, the only explanation was that the stream here used to be a river with a lot of water. Later, as the water flow gradually decreased, it became a stream. As the water flow gradually weakened, some round stones stopped on both sides of the stream, forming the current pattern.
Ang Lee took a closer look. The height of these round stones was indeed much lower than the surrounding area. In this way, it could be proven that the location of these round stones was once part of the riverbed. Because there was no soil at the bottom of the riverbed, the round stones could not provide nutrients for plants. Therefore, the position of these round stones had no vegetation, which also made the stream look cleaner. Once silt appeared on the riverbed, a large number of aquatic plants would spread inside, and the stream might be contaminated. In that case, it could not be drunk directly.
"This place might have been a small river in the past, but as the water flow decreased, the river turned into a stream, and these stones were left on the riverbed. After many years, it became what it is now. Take a closer look and see if what I said makes sense."
Ang Lee looked at Chen Long and said.
Chen Long nodded and said, "Yes! Take a closer look. The position of these stones really looks like the riverbed of a river! It seems that this was really a river in the past! What was the reason for the small river to become a small stream? Why did the water flow decrease? "
Obviously, Chen Long was very curious about the reason for the river to become a stream. Why did the water flow suddenly decrease?
There were naturally many reasons for the river to become a stream. As for the specific reason, Ang Lee was not very clear. For example, the weather became cold, the melting of the snow mountain decreased, and the water ran to other places. These were all reasons for the water flow to decrease. As for the specific reason, who knew?
Ang Lee thought for a moment and said, "There are many reasons for the water flow to decrease. It's hard to say which situation the change in the stream in front of us belongs to! However, let's go upstream tomorrow and take a look. Maybe we can find something. Maybe we can even find a treasure? "
"Treasure? It makes sense. It would be great if we could really find a treasure. I'm really looking forward to it! "
Chen Long said with a smile.
"Hey, I found a kind of treasure now. It's a slug."
Ang Lee picked up a small round stone and found a small worm on the small stone. It was a very soft worm. This kind of worm's name was slug, and its nickname was more disgusting. It was a soft worm that many people were very afraid of and disgusted by. Almost no one liked this kind of animal.
"It's actually a worm. What kind of treasure is this thing? It's just a disgusting worm."
Chen Long obviously hated slugs. He felt that this kind of worm was too disgusting. It was very uncomfortable to look at, let alone treat it as a treasure.
Was this disgusting worm a treasure? Of course not. This kind of worm was a kind of pest. At least for humans, it was a very annoying worm. Generally, it was active at night and specialized in eating young leaves, especially young leaves of cabbage. This kind of worm liked to eat the most.
According to the scientific definition of the later generations, slugs belonged to the class Gastropoda, order Stylidae, and commonly known as slugs. It was a relatively common mollusk and formed the order Lungata with some snails. This kind of worm was hermaphroditic and did not have a gender. It looked like a snail without a shell on the outside. A large amount of mucus on the surface of its body was the obvious characteristic of this kind of worm. The popular method of sprinkling salt on the body to dehydrate it to death was indeed effective.
The common slugs were very similar to snails without a shell. The adult worm was three to six centimeters in length and less than one centimeter in width. It had an inner shell, long and spindle-shaped, soft and smooth without a shell. Its body surface was dark black, dark grey, yellowish-white, or grayish-red, but generally grey. It had two pairs of dark black antennae. The lower pair was shorter, called the front antennae, and had a sensory function. The upper pair was called the rear antennae, and the ends had eyes. There was a horny tongue in the mouth, and a mantle at the front of the back of the body. The edges of the mantle were rolled up, and there was a degenerated shell on the inside. There were obvious concentric circular lines, or growth lines. The center of the concentric circular lines was at the back of the mantle. The breathing hole was at the front of the right side of the body, and it was surrounded by fine colored lines. The mucus was colorless, and behind the right antenna was the reproductive hole. The egg was oval in shape, tough and elastic, and the egg nucleus was white and transparent. When it was about to hatch, the color would darken.
The slugs overwintered in their adult form or larvae under the wet soil at the roots of crops. They used the thick layer of soil to keep themselves warm. The thicker the soil layer, the lower the chances of them freezing to death. Therefore, in order to eliminate the slugs, one could choose to plough the soil in the fields during the winter to dig out the slugs hiding in the soil and let the cold air freeze them to death. During the winter, the more slugs that froze to death, the less harmful they would be during the spring and summer festivals.
Once they entered the spring and summer festivals, which were from May to July, the pests like slugs would be active in the fields and cause harm. They would climb out of the ground at night and eat the young leaves of plants, causing huge losses to the farmers. When the temperature rose in summer, the activity of the slugs would be slightly reduced. However, it was not that they would not be active. It was just that their food intake had decreased, so their activity had decreased. When the weather cooled down in autumn, the slugs would regain their vitality. They would then go around harming the fields and destroying the growth of crops, causing the farmers to hate them.
The slugs in the fields were naturally wild. No one would be bored enough to raise such an annoying pest. It was not that this pest did not have a weakness, which was that it was more afraid of light. It could even be said that it was extremely afraid of light. As long as there was strong light, the slugs would not be able to survive. Therefore, the slugs could only obediently hide in the soil during the day. They could only climb out of the soil to eat crops at night.
According to the scientific research of later generations, the slugs, a mollusk that was afraid of light, would die in a few hours under strong light. Therefore, they could only be active at night. Under normal circumstances, they would start moving in the evening and reach their peak between 10 pm and 11 pm. Before the sun rose in the morning, they would sneak into the soil or hide in places to avoid the strong light during the day.
Although the slugs were very annoying, the vitality of this animal was still very strong. They were very resistant to hunger. They could not eat or move when there was a lack of food or under bad conditions. Just like animals hibernating during the winter, they were suitable for living in a dark and humid environment. When the temperature was cool and the humidity was just right, it was the most beneficial for their growth and development. It would encourage the slugs to reproduce in large areas, causing even more terrifying harm.
As a common mollusk, the slugs' diet was quite extensive. As long as it was food with young leaves, they could eat almost anything. Of course, they liked tender food the most, such as cabbage. Ang Lee had planted many plants, such as cabbage, chili, luffa, and so on. However, only the cabbage was eaten. The chili leaves and luffa leaves were not lost at all. This was naturally because the cabbage leaves were more tender, had higher moisture content, and tasted better.
"Haha! This is indeed a very disgusting bug, but this bug is edible. Moreover, it is very nutritious. "
Ang Lee said with a smile.
Chen Long said with a look of disbelief, "Such a disgusting bug can be eaten? Assistant Minister Li can't be fooling me, right? Why don't I believe it? "
Ang Lee said with a smile, "Why would I lie to you? This thing is indeed edible. Steamed, fried, boiled in soup, you can eat it in any way. Moreover, it has a lot of medicinal value. "
"Haha! No matter what Assistant Minister Li says, I won't eat this disgusting thing anyway. However, what does it mean by medicinal value? It can't be the same as croton, right? "
Chen Long said with a smile.
Obviously, this guy didn't believe Ang Lee's words at all. He felt that Ang Lee was playing with him.
In fact, although the slug was disgusting, it was edible. Not to mention the slug, the larvae of flies, earthworms, and bats were all very disgusting things. However, without exception, they were all edible. As long as it was properly prepared, there was nothing that couldn't be eaten.
As for the medicinal value of the slug, it was recorded in medical books. Therefore, this matter naturally couldn't be faked. For example, if a person was bitten by a centipede, he could use the slug to pound and apply it. This could alleviate the symptoms. Also, if a person suffered from hemorrhoid fever and pain, he could use a slug to pound mud, add some dragon's brain, and half a coin of rouge to apply to the affected area. Especially, before applying the medicine, it was better to use stone to boil water and fumigate it.
Also, when a person's shins had ulcers, use ten slugs, bake them on the roof, grind them into powder, and apply oil to the affected area. There would be an immediate effect.
These were all recorded in traditional Chinese medicine, so it couldn't be faked. Many medical books had all kinds of records about the use of the slug.
Li An looked at Chen Long and said, "Although this slug looks disgusting, its medicinal properties are real. This slug clears away heat, dispels wind, reduces swelling, detoxifies, clears phlegm, clears the meridians, cures stroke, convulsions, asthma, laryngeal paralysis, abscess, erysipelas, amenorrhea, arthritis, and centipede bites."
"Really? Such a disgusting little thing can have such great benefits?"
Chen Long seemed to be in disbelief.
Li An said, "Of course it's true. For example, to treat asthma, you need to catch a hundred slugs and wash them clean. Then, add the right amount of fritillary and pound them into a paste to make a pill. Take it twice a day. Also, to treat abscesses, you need several live slugs. Soak them in vinegar and put some ice chips on the affected area. It will have a miraculous effect. "
"From the looks of it, this disgusting thing is actually quite useful! However, pests are pests. The wormholes on the green vegetables were all eaten by this disgusting thing. Is there any way to drive them away? "
Chen Long asked.
Ang Lee said, "There are many ways. For example, you can sprinkle ginger powder in the places where slugs appear. The slugs are very sensitive to the smell of ginger and will feel very uncomfortable, so they will definitely go far away. When the slugs harm the crops, you can also wrap a circle of thin copper wire around the roots of the crops to have the same effect. The slugs also don't like the metallic smell of the copper wire.
"There's another disgusting method that has a good effect. Cut the slugs with a knife, add some fruit juice, and sprinkle it in the places where the slugs often appear. In this way, it's very likely that you won't see a slug for a few months.
Also, at night, at a place where slugs often appear, put a basin full of strong liquor. These slugs would be attracted by the smell of the liquor and unconsciously enter the basin full of strong liquor. Then, the next day, you would see a dead slug that was drunk to death, or possibly killed by the spiciness.
Of course, the best method is still to use salt. Sprinkling salt on the slugs will have a very good effect. It will dehydrate a lot of the slugs and lead to their death.
"If you sprinkle salt on every slug you see, it will be too wasteful. Moreover, in addition to killing slugs, salt is also harmful to vegetables. Salt can dehydrate slugs to death, and similarly, it can dehydrate vegetables to death. The best method is to prepare a large bowl with some salt at the bottom. Then, you can directly put the slugs in the bowl. These slugs will quickly die when they come into contact with the salt in the bowl.
"If you really can't bear to use the salt and feel that it's too wasteful, you can also put them in a bottle. During the day, you can expose them to the sun. A few hours will be enough to kill the slugs."
After he finished speaking, he looked at Chen Long.
Chen Long seemed a little dissatisfied as he said, "Assistant Minister Li, you've said so much, using salt to kill the slugs and letting the sun burn them to death. This is too troublesome. Wouldn't it be more convenient to just stomp them to death? Why do you have to go through so much trouble? "
Hearing this, Ang Lee smiled and said, "Yes, yes, yes. I'm thinking too much. Directly stomping them to death is the most convenient. There's no need to make it so complicated! Haha! "
Indeed, Ang Lee was thinking too much. After catching the slugs, directly stomping them to death would be the most convenient. However, these slugs were too sticky. If he stomped them to death, his feet would be covered in mucus. It would be very uncomfortable. Therefore, Ang Lee would rather go through the trouble of putting the slugs in a bowl with salt. This way, he could kill the slugs more cleanly.
As for why salt could kill the slugs, it was naturally because the slugs had a high water content. After putting them in a salt environment, the salinity in their bodies would be very low. The water content would shift from low to high. Therefore, the slugs would become smaller and smaller. They would slowly turn into water and die.
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