Chapter 337 - 275: Scout Zhang Yuanmin
Before the New Year, during the big market day, Zhao Jun had run into Xing Zhuyong selling wild boar meat. At the time, Xing Zhuyong was also selling his meat for two mao per jin.
But Xing Zhuyong had been selling butchered meat, whereas the price Zhao Guofeng offered was for a whole wild boar, only bled out, with the skin, fur, and bones all included.
This was an incredible deal!
After parting ways with Zhao Guofeng, Zhao Jun didn’t head straight out of the village and into the mountains. Instead, he made his way toward Zhang Yuanmin’s house.
As luck would have it, Zhao Jun ran into Zhang Yuanmin halfway there, who was rushing toward him.
"Hey, Brother!"
"Big Brother, where are you off to in such a hurry?"
Zhang Yuanmin gestured forward with his hand. "I’m going to the Yin Family’s place to borrow their horse-drawn sleigh. You heading to work, Brother?"
"Big Brother, come here." Zhao Jun pulled Zhang Yuanmin aside and said in a low voice, "I need to tell you something, but you can’t tell anyone else."
"Huh?" Zhang Yuanmin gave Zhao Jun a surprised look, then nodded. "Ah, don’t worry. Your big brother is as tight-lipped as they come."
Zhao Jun believed him. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have come looking for him in the first place.
So, Zhao Jun told him, "Big Brother, how about you take a little stroll over toward Yingbei Mountain in the next couple of days."
"Go there for what?" Hearing this, Zhang Yuanmin’s eyes lit up. He asked excitedly, "Is there a Black Bear over there?"
"You look like a Black Bear!" Hearing Zhang Yuanmin bring it up, Zhao Jun couldn’t help but retort, "Why are you still thinking about hunting Black Bears? If you go messing with one of those things again, your wife is going to divorce you."
"I won’t, I won’t." Zhang Yuanmin waved his hands frantically. "I won’t hunt it. I’m just asking."
Zhao Jun rolled his eyes at him, glanced left and right, and seeing no one approaching, said quietly, "Big Brother, will you listen to me?"
"Brother!" Zhang Yuanmin said to Zhao Jun with a grave expression, "I always listen to you. Whatever you say, I’ll do. Wherever you point, I’ll strike."
Hearing this, Zhao Jun nodded and said to Zhang Yuanmin, "Big Brother, just take the sleigh up there. Follow the pass between Yingbei Mountain and Ginseng King Mountain. Scout around and see if you can find tracks from a large Pig Gang."
"Wild boars..." The moment he heard it was wild boars, Zhang Yuanmin’s excitement plummeted. But he would definitely carry out the task Zhao Jun had given him.
Zhang Yuanmin said, "Alright, Brother. Don’t you worry. I’ll head up there right away."
"Big Brother, hold on, listen to me." Zhao Jun kept ahold of Zhang Yuanmin. "This Pig Gang is... a bit large."
"How large?" Even with Zhao Jun’s warning, Zhang Yuanmin didn’t think much of it. Although he’d never hunted wild boar, he had grown up in a mountain village and knew they were social animals. A sounder could have ten or even twenty of them.
Seeing his nonchalant attitude, Zhao Jun knew he’d been right. He had to spell it out for him. Otherwise, when Zhang Yuanmin got into the mountains and saw such a massive Pig Gang, he might get the shock of his life.
Once a man gets a scare, he’s liable to come back and run his mouth to everyone. Zhao Jun was afraid he would expose their plan, so he told him, "There have to be seventy or eighty of them."
"How many?" Zhang Yuanmin stared at Zhao Jun, utterly shocked. For a moment, he thought he must have misheard.
"Seventy or eighty."
"A Pig Gang that big actually exists?" Zhang Yuanmin said, "The year my wife and I got married, my father-in-law was still alive. I heard him mention it once, that there were huge Pig Gangs in the mountains. I thought he was just drunk and talking nonsense."
"He wasn’t." Zhao Jun shook his head and urged him again, "Big Brother, you absolutely cannot tell anyone about this. If we take down all these boars, we can get four to five thousand yuan for them!"
"How much?" Zhang Yuanmin couldn’t stop himself from blurting out "How much?" again. He hadn’t known Zhao Jun for long, but he trusted him more than anyone. Otherwise, he wouldn’t think to go to Zhao Jun for every little thing.
But this time, Zhang Yuanmin just couldn’t believe what Zhao Jun was saying. Even though he’d never hunted wild boar, he knew that while killing one or two was easy, trying to kill a whole herd of seventy or eighty was another matter entirely.
Even ten semi-automatic rifles firing all at once would have a tough time with that.
Zhao Jun took one look at him and knew what he was thinking. He just said, "Big Brother, don’t you worry about how I’m going to do it. I have a plan for this Pig Gang. I’m not letting that money get away."
At this, Zhao Jun put his arm around Zhang Yuanmin’s shoulder. He wasn’t a tall man himself, but he couldn’t help that Zhang Yuanmin was even shorter. Zhao Jun had to lower his head to say, "Big Brother, when the time comes, it’ll be just you, me, and Baoyu. The three of us will go, take down this Pig Gang, and we’ll split the money three ways."
"Brother! This..." Zhang Yuanmin paused for two seconds before saying, "You’re not joking with your big brother, are you?"
"How could I?" Zhao Jun shot back. "When have I ever lied to you?"
"Mm." Zhang Yuanmin nodded. He thought to himself, ’If it’s really like Zhao Jun says, if we can really take down that huge Pig Gang and get four or five thousand yuan, I’ll be rich.’
At that thought, Zhang Yuanmin slowly raised his head, looked at Zhao Jun with a grave expression, and said, "Brother, just tell me. How are we going to do this?"
Zhao Jun raised his left hand, palm up, and tapped it with his right index finger. "This is Yingbei Mountain, and this is Ginseng King Mountain. Big Brother, if you have time these next couple of days, just wander around the base of the slopes. See if you can find tracks from that large Pig Gang.
If you find some on the south slope, go check the north slope..."
"Brother, you mean circle the tracks?" To Zhao Jun’s surprise, Zhang Yuanmin actually understood the term.
Seeing the surprise in Zhao Jun’s eyes, Zhang Yuanmin laughed. "Did you forget, Brother? I dig Ma Lu pits every year. If I didn’t know how to circle tracks, how would I do that?"
It was only then that Zhao Jun remembered. It was true.
The Ma Lu pits Zhang Yuanmin mentioned were a method for trapping the large Ma Lu deer. This also required circling the tracks beforehand to dig the pits within the deer’s range of activity.
Circling tracks was circling tracks; there was no difference between doing it for wild boars or for deer.
Since that was the case, Zhao Jun said to Zhang Yuanmin, "Alright then, Big Brother. I’ll leave this to you. In the next few days, find this Pig Gang for me, and then pin down their territory."
As Zhao Jun spoke, Zhang Yuanmin nodded repeatedly. Then he heard Zhao Jun add, "Big Brother, you absolutely must remember: only the two of us can know about this. You can’t even tell your wife, and I won’t even tell my parents."
"I know, Brother. Don’t you worry."
"I’m heading out, then." Knowing Zhang Yuanmin was tight-lipped, Zhao Jun felt reassured as he walked toward the edge of the village.
Watching Zhao Jun’s departing figure, Zhang Yuanmin smacked his lips and muttered, "With my skills, I should be a Kongming or a Wei Yan. How did I end up being used as a common scout?"