mesbooks Chapter 123 Wooden crossbow? Poison quenching
Chapter 123 Wooden crossbow? Poison quenching
morning,
In the open space of Yanyuan tribe.
"Gulu gulu..."
Nishi Ichiki was concentrating on watching a pot, which seemed to be boiling something...
Soon,
The milky white juice in the jar began to thicken.
She quickly wrapped her hands with animal skins and carefully poured the juice into a small jar on the ground.
These small jars are only the size of a palm. They were newly made by the tribesmen after the rain subsided yesterday. They are specially used to hold poison.
After filling each bottle, Xi Yiqi would tightly seal the bottle mouth with a wooden cork, turn the jar upside down to check, and only after making sure there was no leakage would he feel at ease to continue filling the next bottle.
"It's a pity that we didn't find the poison dart frog, otherwise the poison would be even more powerful..." She muttered with a little regret as she filled the poison.
That's right, this is the preparation of the legendary deadly venom, which is the juice of the curare tree - a deadly poison specially used to coat arrows.
Wu Yu took away most of the herbs this time.
In order to ensure that there are sufficient herbs available during the migration, Xi Yiqi took his men to the outskirts of the tribe to pick some yesterday, and the arrow poison tree was accidentally discovered on the way.
This tree stands out in the dense jungle. It stands tall, more than 40 meters high, equivalent to the height of a 13-story building. The bark is gray and slightly rough.
It also produces purple-red fruits, but unfortunately the flowering period has just passed and it is not the right time yet.
Nishi Ichisu used a knife to cut the bark, collected some sap and brought it back.
This milky white juice is highly poisonous.
In ancient times, people often mixed it with strychnine (an extract of strychnine), simmered it over low heat to make a thick venom, and applied it to arrows for use as curare.
Nishi Ichisu didn't find any strychnine nearby, but its juice was enough.
The reason why it is called "blood-killing" is that once the wound comes into contact with the sap, it is like being strangled by an invisible hand.
From a scientific point of view, once the sap enters the body, it will quickly cause arrhythmia and lead to heart paralysis. The blood vessels will be blocked, and the blood will not be able to circulate normally, eventually causing the person to die from suffocation.
Therefore, people have another name for this poison - "seven up, eight down, nine down". Any wild beast that is shot will die no matter it runs seven steps uphill, eight steps downhill, or nine steps on a flat road.
But the meat is still edible and non-toxic. You just need to quickly cut out the meat near the wound.
In comparison, the juice of bluegrass is equally deadly, but takes too long to work.
The toxicity of "Seven Ups, Eight Downs, Nine Downs" is much more rapid, and the poisoned person will usually die within twenty to thirty minutes.
Both poisons have their advantages and disadvantages.
In addition, to prevent the tribe members from accidentally getting injured or poisoned.
I also picked some "red-backed bamboo grass" - this grass usually grows around the roots of the strychnos nux vomica tree. It looks ordinary, just like an ordinary weed, but it can detoxify this poison.
Nishi Ichisu knew this because he heard an interesting story in modern times:
There is a bird called the starling, which likes to build its nest on this tree and even eats the fruit directly from the tree without any scruples. Although the sap secreted by this tree is highly toxic, the toxin in the fruit is extremely trace.
After eating the fruit, the birds will not be poisoned to death, but will suffer from diarrhea.
The feces they excrete every day will be absorbed by the soil and gradually penetrate into the roots of the poison tree. The toxins are then transported upward along the trunk until they spread to every leaf, causing its physiological mechanism to fall into complete chaos and collapse.
Over time, the originally strong branches become withered and broken due to the accumulation of toxins.
As the toxin spreads, the once vibrant tree will eventually be destroyed by its own toxins.
He ended his own life.
After filling nearly thirty small jars, Xi Yiqi took a deep breath, pounded his sore legs, and went to find the tribe leader.
After a while, everyone arrived.
She pointed to the small jar in the basket and said solemnly, "This contains the poison used in the wooden crossbow. When using it, just gently turn the arrowhead in the jar to dip it in the poison liquid."
As he spoke, he demonstrated with a poison arrow in his hand.
This kind of thing was extremely dangerous. This time, Shen Qi did not dare to be negligent at all and gathered everyone together, even the children.
"Everyone, please listen carefully!" His rough voice sounded like thunder, and his eyes were wide open.
It turned out that he saw some of his tribesmen being careless and not serious, so he just yelled at the top of his voice.
Those people were hit by lightning in an instant after being shouted at so suddenly. They came back to their senses and jerked their bodies violently.
Seeing this, Chen Qi signaled Xi Yiqi to continue explaining.
The two exchanged glances, and Nishi Ichi turned his head, stared at everyone's faces and said, "Everyone must be extremely careful. This poison can only cut a finger. Once the wound is touched, the person will quickly fall down and return to the embrace of Mother Nature."
"If it splashes into your eyes by accident, you will go blind immediately... From now on, you will no longer be able to see anything, day or night."
Then, she strode up to the children and deliberately put on a stern face:
"You also have to understand the danger of this thing. Don't touch it just for fun. It will be troublesome if you hurt someone. You should continue to use ordinary crossbows for now. You can use poison arrows when you are adults. Do you understand?!"
The purpose of calling these kids here was purely to broaden their horizons, and there was no preparation for them at all.
Who can predict whether there are any naughty children among this group of primitive people?
If anything unexpected happens to this thing, I'm afraid even if there is an antidote it won't be in time!
"I got it. Don't worry, Sister Xiqi." The older children, including Skye, Lan Xi and Xiyi, answered quickly, with their backs straight and firm eyes.
Nishi Ichiki nodded with satisfaction, walked to Ster, stared at his slightly pale face and asked again:
"Did you guys understand? If anyone touches this, there will be no more dried meat or fish to eat, and you can only continue to eat green radish fruit!"
Considering their age, it is safer to give them a little "intimidation".
After hearing the second half of the sentence, the younger children jumped up and down in panic, shouting at the top of their lungs, "We know, Sister Xiqi, we definitely won't touch anything carelessly!"
Those flushed little faces were full of eagerness and assurance.
Ster stared quietly at the pottery jar in Xi Yiqi's hand and said "hmm" softly.
He was able to stand up yesterday, but there were still some bruises on his stomach. The bruises were dark purple and looked scary.
Since my health improved, I have talked much less.
I don’t know what Xi Yi told him, but he never picked up the wooden crossbow again. Instead, he gritted his teeth and endured the pain to practice archery for an entire afternoon yesterday.
Seeing this, Nishi Ichisu half squatted down, ruffled Ster's short hair, and said with a smile: "So good."
Then, she stood up straight, glanced around, and continued to say to the rest of the tribesmen: "Ulu Amo, Youxi, you continue to stay and help me. After the others receive the poison jars from the tribe leader, they can quickly go about their own business."
Their wooden crossbows are still far inferior!
"Yes--!"
Everyone answered in unison.
Everyone lined up in an orderly manner and began to receive the poison bottles.
In the morning, Wu Lu and You Xi had tied a circle of animal skin strips around the bottleneck of the medicine jar and hung it on the animal skin coat so that it could be firmly fixed. There was no need to worry about it falling off even if the movement was a little larger.
After distributing the jars, Chen Qi did not leave in a hurry. He looked at the pile of wooden arrows next to the jars with curiosity:
"Is this still something to be done?"
Nishi Ichiki picked up a wooden arrow and patiently explained to the three people: "If we encounter an emergency, it will definitely be too late to dip it in poison on the spot. We can make some poison arrows in advance in case of emergency."
Chen Qi suddenly realized, got the answer and left.
"Help me soak the arrowheads in poison in the jar, then take them out and place them in a pottery basin to dry directly. After they are completely dry, put them into animal skin quivers and hand them over to the tribe leader for distribution."
Nishi Ichisu said as he demonstrated it himself.
Both of them were thoughtful people, so they immediately squatted down and started helping to make poison arrows.
After working for a while, Nishi Ichisu suddenly seemed to have thought of something, and said seriously: "You'd better keep an eye on it while it's drying, and don't let the children touch it."
"Don't worry, Wu Xiqi, I know the importance of this matter." After spending some time together, Youxi no longer stuttered when speaking.
"Okay, you are all careful people. That's why I'll entrust this task to you. Thank you for your hard work."
After Nishi Ichisu sincerely thanked the two men, he turned and went into the cave.
She has to go check out what she got at the last trade fair...