sjar Chapter 355 Appearance of the Blue Sheep Herd
Chapter 355 Appearance of the Blue Sheep Herd
The hunting dog, Flower Girl, barked fiercely at the snow leopard, shouting for the lead dog to launch an attack.
The snow leopard's sharp eyes were fixed on the young woman, its jaws still tightly gripping the male ibex it had in its mouth. Blood gushed out, making the hunting dogs so eager they wanted to pounce on her immediately.
However, with the lead dog and the pack of dogs lying in wait beneath the rock face, the beggar girl dared not make any rash moves and could only stand in a tense standoff with the snow leopard.
Grandpa Zhao watched anxiously from below, clutching an old-fashioned, chambered musket, locally known as a "foreign cannon." This was the very gun that Chen Xiangqian had once played with in the hands of Old Chen, the forest ranger, and had accidentally discharged, earning him a scolding from his own father.
The cannon in Grandpa Zhao's hand uses an ancient flintlock mechanism, which is still in the primitive stage of matchlock firing. Therefore, it is by no means easy to use it to hunt wild animals.
His waist was laden with gear: gunpowder, flint and steel, tinder, tinder, and bullets—a complete set of equipment, clearly intended for dealing with large prey.
Grandpa Zhao pulled the fuse and shouted. Li Ju'an and Chen Xiangqian moved aside in unison. Then, a loud bang was heard from the cannon, and bullets full of iron shot were fired.
In the old days, hunters did not yet possess modern bolt-action rifles with breech loading. In addition, Grandpa Zhao was a falconer and had never paid much attention to hunting methods that relied on guns and snares.
With a gunshot, the bullet missed its mark. The snow leopard instantly displayed astonishing agility. It growled angrily, reluctantly abandoning its almost-captured prey. With a burst of power from its powerful hind legs, it vanished without a trace among the rocks of the Gobi Desert in a few leaps. Its white and yellow silhouette moved as swiftly as the wind.
Seeing this, the hunting dog, Flower Girl, instinctively raised her front paws to give chase, but she couldn't catch up. On this rugged Gobi Desert, the hunting dog's steps were far less agile than the snow leopard's. The rough stones of the Gobi made every step exceptionally difficult for the hunting dog's paws; even the most agile hunting dog would struggle to maneuver on such terrain.
Even a slightly smooth, bare rock startled the hunting dog, causing it to let out a long, thin whimper and nearly fall off the cliff.
The ibex was bleeding profusely, yet it still managed to limp and struggle to its feet.
Li Ju'an gripped his hunting rifle tightly, his steps firm, and strode to the top of the bare rock. He fired a shot at the ibex on the slope above. His eyes were sharp, locked on the edge of the cliff above, where an ibex was leisurely grazing. He then pulled the trigger.
boom!
After the shot rang out, he skillfully adjusted his posture, pressing the butt of his rifle firmly down. The first bullet pierced the heart and lungs of the ibex with pinpoint accuracy. The wounded ibex staggered, its knees buckled, and it collapsed to its knees, teetering on the verge of falling. At the same time, in Li Ju'an's palm, a bullet lay quietly between his middle and ring fingers, gently held between them by his two fingers.
With practiced ease, he pushed the bullet into the chamber, closed the gun, and his gaze sharpened once more like that of an eagle.
With a crisp gunshot, a second bullet pierced the air, striking the ibex's skull and ending its struggle. He watched as the ibex slowly collapsed, its figure appearing exceptionally lonely yet resolute in the Gobi Desert wind.
Gunshots rang out, and after the explosions, the hunting dogs seemed to receive a charge. Led by the lead dog, they rushed forward and began to tear at the ibex.
After ensuring there were no lurking snow leopards in the vicinity, Li Ju'an led Chen Xiangqian forward to disembowel the ibex. With a gentle slice of the blade, the ibex's sturdy abdominal wall opened, and a stream of warm blood gushed out, instantly filling the air with a strong, pungent stench.
Chen Xiangqian coughed involuntarily, then turned his head and gagged violently, expelling the unbearable odor from his stomach.
"Oh my, the smell of blood is so strong it's suffocating! If you want to eat this meat, you have to prepare a lot of seasonings, otherwise how can you swallow this pungent smell!" he complained, panting heavily.
Upon hearing this, Li Ju'an and Uncle Zhao exchanged a smile and teased him, saying, "Hey, you rascal, once you get the smell of mutton on your hands, even if you wash it off a thousand times, that smell will probably still linger on you!" After saying this, the atmosphere among the three of them became even more lively because of this little interlude.
Chen Xiangqian tried to continue climbing, but he discovered that this cliff face was truly not suitable for human climbing.
He took out his binoculars, peered at the open nest above the cliff, and said, "Why do I feel like that nest is empty?"
Li Ju'an took the binoculars, looked through them, and said, "There's still no movement."
Grandpa Zhao, a renowned hunter in the area, was especially famous for his skill in raiding eagle nests. He squinted, a smug smile playing on his lips, his voice tinged with a hint of mockery.
"You little rascal, it seems you're really tempted by that eagle. If there really were an eagle's nest in this area, and there happened to be baby eagles inside, why would you be so eager to come and steal it? Every villager around here would be waiting with bated breath."
In the hands of falconers, eaglets are priceless treasures. Countless hunters eagerly watch the eagle nests, waiting for the eaglets to grow strong enough to take flight. Once these little creatures learn to fly, they are captured by hunters in the mountains using various clever methods, and then fall into the hands of falconers, before being sent to even more distant places.
The eagle's nest was located just a stone's throw from the village, but strangely enough, several years have passed and no eagles have been seen returning to roost in that familiar nest.
Chen Xiangqian was somewhat disappointed, but Li Ju'an was pleasantly surprised to see the footprints around him.
He exclaimed in surprise, "Look, this whole area is alkaline rock!"
Mountain dwellers hunt deer and elk, and they also need to create saline-alkali land. However, many granite rocks in the Gobi Desert naturally contain salt and alkali. Many herds of argali sheep travel long distances just to lick a mouthful of salt from these rocks to replenish their salt intake.
Therefore, this area is a natural hunting ground for blue sheep, and it also attracts a large number of carnivores, including snow leopards and Gobi bears.
Li Ju'an excitedly shouted, "Let's catch some blue sheep today!"
Wild animals such as blue sheep have been an important source of sustenance for the villagers over the years. In particular, the agile roe deer, the brightly colored pheasants, and the rabbits leaping through the forest are not only precious gifts from nature, but also indispensable and mouthwatering delicacies on the villagers' tables.
In those days, argali sheep were not as rare as they are today. They roamed the edges of mountains and deserts, hiding in the dense forests of cliffs during the day and coming out to forage at dusk.
Li Ju'an learned the art of setting traps and clips from Old Qin, the "Trap King" of Changbai Mountain. His skills were flexible and his angles were unpredictable. Setting traps and clips was a craft that required not only skillful technique but also ingenious layout and unpredictable angles.
He can use the bamboo strips and wires most commonly found in the mountains to weave seemingly simple but actually ingenious snares to lure the argali sheep into the snares and capture them.