The Entire Mountain Is My Hunting Ground

"Yeah, that’s what I was thinking too," Tao Dabao replied. "I’ll take Zhao Jun up there today to have a look. If it seems possible, we’ll give it another shot. If not, we’ll just call it quits."

As he spoke, Tao Dabao grabbed a dog-skin hat from the table and clapped it on his head. Waving to the others, he said, "Let’s move out."

Everyone in the room got to their feet and filed out one after another. As Tao Dabao passed Zhao Jun, he clapped him on the shoulder and then strode outside.

Zhao Jun followed him out to where the main group was gathered. He saw horse-drawn sleds being brought over one by one. The drivers were also members of the Hunter Team, including Li the Fifth, who had gone up the mountain with Zhao Jun and Tao Dabao the other day.

Zhao Jun boarded a sled with Tao Dabao. The calls of the drivers rose and fell, punctuated by the sharp CRACK of whips. Seven sleds, carrying twenty-four men, headed straight for the mountain.

They made their way deep into the mountains, passing the spot where Zhao Jun and Tao Dabao had fought the tiger before. A little further on, the slope became too steep for the horse-drawn sleds.

The men dismounted from the sleds and proceeded on foot. The mountain path grew steeper with every step.

Tao Dabao pointed upward. "See that?" he said to Zhao Jun. "Right over there at Gangjiansi. It’s all huge boulders. The stone tiger is holed up in there. I brought eight men up yesterday, but we couldn’t surround it."

Hearing this, Zhao Jun didn’t speak, merely nodding. ’Trying to encircle a tiger with men, especially when you can’t fight to kill, is a fool’s errand. Of course they couldn’t trap it.’

"We brought dogs yesterday, too," Tao Dabao added when Zhao Jun remained silent. "We had nine in total. Four of them were too scared to even come up the slope. The other five got to this spot and refused to go an inch further, no matter how much we urged them on."

Again, Zhao Jun just nodded, still not saying a word.

’That’s perfectly normal.’

Some people say that if a person carries something made from a tiger’s claw or a Tiger Fang, even the fiercest dog won’t dare approach.

That’s just a legend. But the area ahead was the tiger’s territory. It passed through here on its way up and down the mountain, leaving behind its scent, maybe even its urine. There probably weren’t many dogs in the entire mountain range that would dare to charge ahead after catching a whiff of that.

Seeing Zhao Jun still hadn’t spoken, Tao Dabao finally asked, "Zhao Jun, what do you think we should do?"

Instead of answering, Zhao Jun posed a question of his own. "Uncle Tao, did you and your men go any further yesterday?"

"No," Tao Dabao said. "The dogs wouldn’t move forward, so we wouldn’t have been able to surround it, and the large net we brought would have been useless. We just went straight back."

"I see." Hearing this, Zhao Jun felt more confident about the situation. He asked, "So where’s that large, gentle slope we talked about? Take me there for a look."

At this, Tao Dabao pointed back up the mountain. "We’re not going up there?" he asked, surprised.

"No," Zhao Jun said, looking at Tao Dabao. "You were right not to startle it yesterday, and we’re not going to startle it today, either. Tomorrow, we’ll send people in and use gunshots to drive it out."

"Then let’s go." Tao Dabao seemed to grasp a part of the plan. He called out to the others and led the way to the west.

After only a hundred meters or so, the terrain opened up. Below them lay a mountainside with a gentle, even slope, devoid of any steep cliffs.

But this slope was just as Tao Dabao had said. It had once been the Yang Shuling forest, but it had been clear-cut.

Two years had passed, and numerous new branches had sprouted from the stumps left behind.

Zhao Jun walked forward a few steps. Amidst this second-growth forest, he saw the tracks of roe deer, other deer, and also paw prints the size of a bowl—round, like a cat’s.

The animals in these mountains had their habits. Wild boars preferred the lower foothills where walnut groves were plentiful, and they would forage for fallen nuts.

Meanwhile, the High Mountain Foot was home to Black Bears, roe deer, and deer, as well as the rarely seen Lynx and Tigers.

And the tender new leaves sprouting on the branches of this second-growth forest were a favorite food of roe deer and deer.

As for the tiger tracks, they were here, of course, to prey on the roe deer and deer.

Zhao Jun surveyed the surroundings, lost in thought for a long moment without saying a word. The hunters who had come with them began to whisper among themselves.

"What is it, Zhao Jun?" Tao Dabao, growing impatient, walked over and asked.

Zhao Jun gestured at the area around them. "Uncle Tao, this forest is a problem. It doesn’t matter if they’re mature trees or second-growth saplings, none of it will work."

Tao Dabao frowned. "It obstructs the line of sight, right?"

"It doesn’t just obstruct our sight," Zhao Jun said with a smile. "It obstructs our men." He swept his hand in a wide gesture. "Uncle Tao, when we get back, you’ll need to organize a team to come up here. No matter how long it takes, we have to clear this patch of woods today."

"Oh, that’s easy," Tao Dabao said nonchalantly. "Won’t take more than a couple of hours. We’ll get it done."

"No, that won’t work." Zhao Jun instantly understood what Tao Dabao meant and quickly stopped him. "We can’t use chainsaws. The moment those things start roaring, won’t the Tiger up there get scared off?"

The first time a tiger hears a chainsaw, it won’t know what the noise is and is certain to flee. If it runs off, how are we supposed to catch it?

Tao Dabao glanced at Zhao Jun, his brow furrowed. "Then what? You want us to fell them by hand?"

"It’s the only way," Zhao Jun said. "That’s why I told you to get more men. We’ll have to use Large Axes to chop down all these branches."

At these words, it was Tao Dabao’s turn to fall silent. Capturing this Tiger was certainly a mission, but it wasn’t a mandatory, life-or-death one.

After all, everyone knew that killing a tiger was easy, but catching one alive was hard.

Besides, Tao Dabao was clear on one thing: whether they were capturing it or killing it, the absolute prerequisite was that there could be no casualties under any circumstances.

Otherwise, no matter who had assigned the mission, Tao Dabao would never have taken it.