sjar Chapter 142 Beating the Dog, Catching the Tiger King
Chapter 142 Beating the Dog, Catching the Tiger King
Ranch Captain Wang shook his head, counted again, and found two ones.
1100 yuan. That's 100 yuan more than the previous 1000. Lu Zhiqiang was even more excited this time, stomping his feet so hard he almost stomped through the ground.
Li Ju'an knew this was a compliment; Captain Wang was deliberately flattering him and feeding him the benefits.
He pondered for a moment, reluctant to part with the white mastiff. It's said that nine dogs make one mastiff. In the old Tibetan region, to obtain the best mastiff, Tibetans would put ten mastiff puppies of the same age in a pit with very little food—enough for just one mastiff. These ten mastiffs had to compete fiercely, and only one would survive—this is also called "nine dogs make one mastiff."
Of course, mastiffs don't compete like that anymore, but those that survive are still the best of their litters, strong and powerful.
Seeing that Li Ju'an really liked the white mastiff, Veterinarian Zhang, being an honest man, pointed out the mastiff's shortcomings: "This white mastiff is good in every way, except that it doesn't dare to pounce and bite, and it won't kill you."
The three men were stunned. A mastiff that wouldn't dare to attack? What a waste of such a large jaw and bite force. No wonder the ranch foreman was willing to give him the white mastiff.
Li Ju'an threw the dried venison out of his pocket. Da Hu, who hadn't received a command, squatted down and stared at him.
"White Mastiff, go."
Red Wolf, Black Panther, and Iron Hammer, always eating whatever they could find, pounced on the dried venison. The white mastiff, sensing something was wrong, thought, "You all go, I can't fall behind." The fastest was the white mastiff; its legs were incredibly long, and with a few strides, it grabbed the dried meat and ran back.
The white mastiff didn't eat the dried venison. Instead, it carried the dried venison back to Li Ju'an's hand, then followed Da Hu and obediently squatted down, blinking its eyes and looking at Li Ju'an.
Li Ju'an smiled and said, "What a great patrol dog!"
Besides tracking and catching prey, hunting dogs also provide support, such as helper dogs that follow the lead dog in tearing apart the prey, and patrol dogs that quickly rush out to retrieve the target when the hunter needs to search for something or prey.
White mastiffs are fast, have long legs, and their snow-white coats allow them to blend into the snow. Their thick, fine manes resemble those of a lion, and the harsh environment has forged their rugged and fierce nature. Ordinary wild animals, when encountering a white mastiff, dare not confront it head-on and will turn and run.
Li Ju'an accepted the job and led Song Desheng, Lu Zhiqiang, and Old Zhang, the veterinarian, out the door.
Veterinarian Zhang chattered on and on about the tiger king's encounter at the ranch these past few days. He went to the barn to get some small iron rods. These small iron rods looked familiar, as if they were sawn out of large iron nails, and were about one or two centimeters long.
Veterinarian Zhang scattered the sawn iron rods on the table, then fiddled with them for a bit. He then held the slightly longer iron rod horizontally to the muzzle of the gun, and after a few gestures, he was able to put it in. Then he grabbed an iron rod of roughly the same length, stuffed it into his cloth bag, and called Li Ju'an and the other two to follow him.
Li Ju'an watched as Veterinarian Lao Zhang assembled his flintlock rifle.
Old Zhang picked up the large-caliber hunting rifle, loaded the gunpowder, and then cut a small piece of sheepskin with its fur still on and stuffed it into the barrel. He borrowed a pole from Li Ju'an to press the sheepskin down, poured a bunch of iron rods into the barrel, and finally cut another small piece of sheepskin and pressed it into the barrel. With this, the musket was assembled.
Looking at the afternoon sun, Li Ju'an thought he should head into the mountains as soon as possible. Veterinarian Zhang, however, was in no hurry. He reached into the folds of his leather hat and pulled out a box of matches. He weighed it in his hand to make sure there were still some matches left before putting it back in the hat folds and saying, "Wait a minute, let's add another person."
Song Desheng asked curiously, "Why add more people? You can just lead the way."
Veterinarian Zhang was unhappy and said, "What can you three young people do? More people means more help. Call Lao Zhao, Lao Qian, and Lao Zhang to come along."
Fearing that too many people would lead to the money being divided, Lu Zhiqiang hurriedly shouted, "The three of us are enough."
Veterinarian Zhang glared at him and sneered, "Why are you young people so stubborn? Can you three handle this? Fighting a tiger is no small matter, don't take it lightly. Have you ever seen a tiger with big claws? Don't try to scare it away with a gun. If anything happens to you three, I'd rather not have brought you into the mountains."
Lu Zhiqiang was about to say something more, but remembering how terrified he was by the roar of the Siberian tiger, which had kept him awake for several nights, he fell silent. He turned to Li Ju'an and said, "The old man is right. Those are big claws. More people mean more help, and we'll be able to relax a bit more."
Li Ju'an noticed four or five more people entering through the door. They were all elderly forest rangers and old men from the security department, which struck him as odd. The ranch was providing assistance, yet they didn't send any strong and capable men. These old men were coming into the mountains with him, and he would have to protect them.
He led the dog to the gate and found a large tent covered with fences and barbed wire.
The tent was huge, and he noticed a corner peeking out from the entrance, revealing a small canvas tent that was torn and stained with blood. He asked Veterinarian Zhang what it was.
Veterinarian Zhang hesitated at first, but security guard Zhao said, "A merchant who came to the mountain to collect goods borrowed it from the ranch."
Li Ju'an looked at the blood-stained canvas tent, unable to suppress his curiosity. He took it out, opened the tent, and found three two-foot-long slits on it, sewn shut with needle and thread, and three small holes in front of the slits.
The three men gasped at the sight, remembering what the truck driver, Chen Shangqiang, had said earlier. Near Chen Shangqiang's hometown, Xiaoling Village, a villager had found a tent with large claw marks, apparently from a creature known as "Big Claw."
Unexpectedly, this tent was borrowed from the ranch by merchants who came into the mountains.
Li Ju'an casually asked, "Who borrowed this tent? Where is the person who borrowed it?"
Lu Zhiqiang quickly asked, "What happened? What's going on?"
Old Zhao from the security department was quick to speak, saying, "Where else could the borrowed person go? That boss from the south was carrying a gun, and even after firing five shots, he couldn't kill the tiger. The tiger got really angry, and that night the ranch could hear the tiger roaring. And sure enough, that guy was killed and dragged away by the tiger through the tent."
The group thought Li Ju'an and his men were scared, but Li Ju'an led his men and dogs and turned to continue walking into the mountains, calling out, "Big Tiger, let's go scout ahead."
The safest way for hunters to set up a hunt is with hunting dogs. Hunting dogs are the hunter's right-hand men; with them scouting ahead, no tiger's footprints or the scent of burnt grass can escape their noses. Moreover, hunting dogs are very agile; often, the animals haven't even noticed the dogs before they've already spotted their target.
Big Tiger led his 11 hunting dogs and ran very fast, soon disappearing into the distance.
This time, the wandering dog, Iron Hammer, wasn't in the mood to run around randomly; there was a smell in the forest that frightened him.
Li Ju'an was most worried about the white mastiff. The white mastiff was a new dog, quite perceptive, but hadn't yet recognized its owner. Unexpectedly, the white mastiff was willing to follow Da Hu around, trotting along. The white mastiff was several times larger than Da Hu, the Qingchuan dog; the two of them walking together looked like a father taking care of his son, with the father being a helper dog—quite comical.
Throughout the journey, Veterinarian Zhang and his team remained silent, extremely vigilant, and constantly looked around.
Lu Zhiqiang caught up with Li Ju'an and whispered, "Something's not right, Brother Li. Are the people at the ranch hiding something from us?"
This forest wasn't in the same direction as the one Li Ju'an had just come from. He followed the hunting dog's tracks for a while, and soon he too began to wonder.
Why is it so quiet around here?
Why aren't the hunting dogs barking? It's understandable that Big Tiger isn't barking, but why aren't those old, slippery dogs barking either?