Chapter 297 - 249: Encountering the Dog Gang
With the order given, everyone moved out. The militia split into four groups and, led by the captains and platoon leaders from each production team, headed straight for the great mountain.
Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu followed Tao Fei home, grabbed their guns, and leashed the dogs. The three of them then left the village and went straight into the mountains.
Just as the three were about to leave, Tao Fulun wanted to give them a long, dramatic send-off, but his four-year-old grandson pulled him back inside.
It takes a real child to handle an old man acting like one.
At the same time, following Tao Dabao’s instructions, the militia from the ten production teams of the Yongxing Brigade all entered the mountain hunting grounds.
The militia and the Hunter Team were different. Militiamen knew how to shoot, but they didn’t know how to hunt.
They were divided into small teams to guard all the main paths and intersections. If any wild animals were driven down from the mountain by the Hunters, the militia would block them off and simply gun them down. It was simple and brutal.
The hunting grounds behind Yongxing Brigade stretched for dozens of miles. Even with over a thousand militiamen deployed, they were stretched thin just guarding the main paths.
After entering the hunting grounds with the dogs, Zhao Jun first observed the surrounding terrain and mountain features, then led the dogs toward the southwest.
After walking for over a li, Zhao Jun looked down from the mountainside and saw the gully below was full of walnut trees. It was a Qiuzi Pond.
Zhao Jun then looked up and saw that the main ridge above was covered with oak trees. He took the lead, calling for Li Baoyu and Tao Fei to unleash the five dogs.
The moment their leashes were removed, the dogs’ first instinct was to shake their bodies vigorously.
At that moment, Zhao Jun whistled, and all five dogs ran toward him.
"Let’s go! We’ll stick to the ridge!" Zhao Jun called out to Li Baoyu and Tao Fei, then led the dogs forward.
Tao Fei hurried to catch up with Zhao Jun. He asked him, "Brother Zhao, why are we sticking to the ridge?"
He had also grown up in the mountains and knew that "sticking to the ridge" meant walking along the crest of the ridge.
And a ridge was the spine of a mountain. To put it simply, if you pictured a mountain as a person’s nose, the bridge of the nose would be the ridge, and its two sides would be the slopes.
Tao Fei knew that when hiking, following the ridge was less tiring, but he didn’t know what significance it had for a hunt.
Zhao Jun knew he was just curious, but he patiently explained, "Xiaofei, these two sides are Qiuzi Ponds, which are good spots for wild boars to hide."
"Yeah." Tao Fei nodded. Everyone knew that boars went to the Qiuzi Ponds to find walnuts to eat.
Zhao Jun added, "If we were on a walking hunt, we couldn’t stick to the ridge. But since this is a hunt with dogs, we lead them along the ridge. With the gullies on both sides, no matter which one has a boar, the dogs can go down from above."
"Ah!" With Zhao Jun’s explanation, Tao Fei understood. After all, he was a boy who’d had a few years of schooling. He immediately said, "Brother Zhao, I get it now. Sticking to the ridge gives us a better chance of finding a boar."
"Mm-hmm," Zhao Jun grunted in agreement, then continued, "The key is that when the dogs go down from the ridge and flush out a boar, the boar will run up the opposite slope. That way, as long as our dogs are good, we can catch it nine times out of ten."
"But if we were down in the gully with the boar on the slope above, the dogs would have to flush it uphill. Once the boar reaches Gangjiansi, it just has to go over the top and head downhill, making it impossible to chase. You’d be lucky to catch one in ten, even with the toughest dogs."
Zhao Jun’s words left Tao Fei speechless. He now felt that there was so much to learn about hunting. No wonder his old man was always clamoring to go hunting in the mountains—it was actually really interesting.
The three of them continued walking forward. The five dogs fanned out around them, scampering left and right, sniffing here and there.
Suddenly, Hua Xiao’er froze, glanced down the southern slope, and shot off like a bolt.
But after running just over twenty meters, it stopped dead, craning its neck and barking nonstop.
Once Hua Xiao’er started barking, Daqing reacted too. But just like Hua Xiao’er, it charged forward for ten or twenty meters before stopping. It craned its neck and barked noisily, but wouldn’t take another step forward.
"Brother Zhao, what’s going on?" Tao Fei asked in surprise when he saw this. "Don’t tell me there’s something big down there?"
’In Tao Fei’s mind, for the dogs to be too scared to advance, there had to be some huge beast in the gully below.’
’Either a Big Bear Dominator or a Tiger. Otherwise, there was no way it could scare five dogs into stopping in their tracks.’
It wasn’t just Tao Fei who thought this; Li Baoyu also grew tense. He quickly turned to Zhao Jun, his eyes asking for an explanation.
But Zhao Jun was calm and unhurried. He put his fingers in his mouth and let out a sharp whistle.
As soon as the whistle sounded, all five dogs immediately returned to Zhao Jun’s and Li Baoyu’s sides.
Zhao Jun knelt down, opened his arms, and wrapped one around Hua Xiao’er and the other around Da Huang. Then he shouted to Li Baoyu and Tao Fei, "You two, hurry up and grab the dogs!"
Tao Fei and Li Baoyu were both a bit stunned for a moment, but they did as Zhao Jun said. Li Baoyu held onto White Dragon and Xiaohua, while Tao Fei used both hands to restrain the strongest dog, Daqing.
Just as they’d secured the dogs, a gunshot echoed from the bottom of the opposite slope.
At the sound of the shot, all five dogs struggled to break free, but the three men were prepared and held them tight, preventing their escape.
After a short while, the five dogs stopped struggling, and the opposite slope fell silent once more.
Zhao Jun released Hua Xiao’er and Da Huang first, then called out to Li Baoyu and Tao Fei, "It’s all right. You can let go now."
"Brother Zhao." Tao Fei pushed Daqing away and sidled up to Zhao Jun, asking, "Did you know there were people down there?"
’It was obvious. Zhao Jun had told them to hold the dogs, clearly anticipating what was about to happen.’
’But what Tao Fei didn’t understand was how Zhao Jun could have known.’
"Yeah," Zhao Jun nodded. "Xiaofei, let me tell you. Hunting dogs are different from other dogs. You saw how our five dogs didn’t cause any trouble at your house, right?"
"Yeah, that’s true." Tao Fei nodded in agreement. The five dogs were very well-behaved. When they were at the Tao Family home, they could even tell who was part of the Tao Family.
"And they didn’t bark randomly. They would only make a sound if a stranger entered Tao Xiaobao’s yard."
Seeing Tao Fei agree, Zhao Jun continued, "Our dogs don’t fight with other dogs over prey in the mountains, either. They lunged just now because they smelled a wild boar. But then they heard other dogs barking, so they didn’t go any farther. It’s not because there was some huge beast down there, that’s not it."
"Ah!" Tao Fei’s eyes lit up with understanding.
He understood the rest, as Li Baoyu had explained it to him yesterday. Zhao Jun had them hold the dogs because hunting dogs recognize the sound of a gun and will charge toward it.
If that happened, the two groups would run into each other, and it would look like Zhao Jun was trying to claim a share of their kill. Things could get awkward.
Zhao Jun glanced at the opposite slope. The other group was probably somewhere from the midway point downwards, so he couldn’t see what they had shot.
But with all the commotion they’d made, plus the dogs’ initial charge, that whole area would be empty now. There’d be nothing for him to hunt if he went over.
Thinking of this, Zhao Jun whistled to call the five hunting dogs. Then he waved his hand, signaling for Li Baoyu and Tao Fei to follow him down the northern slope.