Wild 1979: From Fishing and Hunting to Becoming a Literary Master

Chapter 143 A Triumphant Return

Riding his big blue horse and fiddling with his newly acquired water beads, Chen Tuo was exceptionally excited.

This was the first time we had truly hunted with clear visibility.

The next test will not only be his newly learned horsemanship, but also his marksmanship, which he has been learning for almost a month.

Just as Chen Tuo was getting excited, Wu Laowai, who had been with him hoping to share in his good fortune, poured cold water on his enthusiasm.

"Kid, those bastards probably got caught by wolves while chasing after the cannons, didn't they?"

Looking at the tranquil snow-covered plain under the moon, and listening to Wu Laowai's sarcastic remarks, Chen Tuo sighed softly and replied:

"Uncle Wu, with so many people fishing here, I feel like it's not as good as just catching fish in the riverbed."

Capturing over 1,200 live gazelles in one go—that's a feat you could brag about for a lifetime.

However, Chen Tuo felt that he had very little participation in the previous hunts. Even when he saw herds of gazelles in the enclosure, he did not feel any joy from the harvest.

Speaking of the experience, hunting 1,200 gazelles is really not as good as catching a set of river fish about a foot long in the ice cave.

"All you think about is playing, isn't that boring? If you really want to play, hunting squirrels, pheasants, and rabbits is much more fun than hunting wild boars!"

When it comes to the experience of hunting, Wu Laowai's experience is completely different from Chen Tuo's.

What he wants is a show of force and tangible results, not just a certain level of participation.

A single hunt that nets 1,200 gazelles is something you can brag about for a lifetime, or even three.

The strategy of first surrounding the gazelles and then attacking the wolf pack is something that anyone, let alone participating in, could boast about just by watching from the outside.

Although Wu Laowai also complained about not being deeply involved and would make sarcastic remarks because the herdsmen didn't give him a chance, his feelings were different from Chen Tuo's.

Hunting for fun, like rats, rabbits, pheasants, and wild ducks, is much more interesting than hunting deer, roe deer, bears, or boars.

"That makes sense. I'll try it when I get back..."

Wu Laowai's words once again sparked a flash of inspiration in Chen Tuo's mind.

Isn't the hunting ground he's trying to build just for fun?

Previously at the winter pasture, he wanted Su Dao to exchange the entire herd of gazelles for them to be used as prey in the mountains.

After hearing what Wu Laowai said, Chen Tuo realized that he had misunderstood.

The key is not what kind of prey you catch, but how you go up the mountain to hunt.

As long as there's enough fun, it can still be addictive even if you don't catch any prey.

If you manage to hunt prey, even something as simple as a squirrel, pheasant, or rabbit, you'll descend the mountain with a sense of gradual pleasure.

Having roughly outlined the hunting and setting up of the hunting grounds, Chen Tuo was no longer looking forward to the upcoming wolf hunt.

Wolves, whether they are prairie wolves or mountain wolves, will need to be protected in the future.

They are an indispensable part of the ecosystem.

But now, sheep are much more important than wolves, simply because the sheep in the pasture are related to people's food, clothing, shelter and transportation.

Besides food, clothing, shelter, and transportation, the cattle, sheep, and horses raised by the herders are not their own. As Xiao Kai said, if anything goes wrong, they will have to bear the responsibility.

At this point, talking about protecting the wolf pack is nothing short of a joke.

Similarly, mentioning ecological protection and sustainable development in one's work at this time is truly a sign of foresight.

Wu Laowai was worried that the herdsmen who were driving the wolves would strike first, but Chen Tuo was thinking about how to protect the wolf pack in the future and how to write his wolf totem.

While the two were lost in thought, the herdsmen, with their two horses and two guns, were chasing after the staffs, just as Wu Laowai had said, chasing after the staffs while also fighting off wolves.

The crackling of gunfire echoed across the moonlit grassland, while Wu Laowai beside him cursed incessantly.

Gunfire continued in the surrounding area until late into the night.

By the time the wolves were driven into the trap, only twenty or thirty remained.

The ambushers opened fire, and Chen Tuo also fired all five bullets from the Water Beads, but he didn't hit a single wolf!

"Damn it! Those bastards ate all the meat halfway there!"

Wu Laowai, who also fired five shots but only hit two wolves, didn't bother arguing with Su Dao, Bai Long, and Su Mo, who were in the same group.

Instead, they vented their resentment on the howling herdsmen behind the wolf pack.

Judging from the appearance of the wolves, Wu Laowai knew that the young herdsmen who were driving the pack outside must have dragged the wolves away to fight them.

Most likely, the horses were tired and they couldn't catch up, which is why they managed to drive the exhausted twenty or thirty wolves into the encirclement.

If it were daytime, when it was bright and clear, those herders probably wouldn't leave them even a single wolf hair.

Just as Wu Laowai had predicted, the young herders who were subsequently attacked all had at least one wolf on their spare horses, and sometimes as many as three or four.

Their Mongolian horses, just like during the day, were completely covered in snow.

A rough count revealed that the pack of wolves chasing the gazelle numbered at most seventy or eighty.

There is a significant difference compared to the hundreds of Russian wolves that often roam Songling.

The sheer number of wolves made Chen Tuo realize the difference between the uninhabited areas of the Far East and the grasslands.

According to Xiao Kai, the Russians have estimated that there are hundreds of thousands of wild wolves in the Far East.

By the same token, the populations of deer, pigs, and bears in the Far East must also be terrifyingly large.

If he could lure them across the river, then the hunting grounds he wanted to create would certainly not have to worry about prey.

On the way back to the ranch, Chen Tuo, riding his big blue horse, caught up with Su Dao and said:

"Uncle Su, can you trade these gazelle and wolf pelts for something else? How many guns do you have left?"

Although he had snagged the prey in the Far East, Chen Tuo knew that for now it was just a thought, and the matters at hand were more important.

"We have about a hundred or two hundred guns that can be transported directly, but we still need to provide Dobukur with borrowed guns, so we only have about a hundred that are usable."

After roughly estimating the number of guns he had, Su Dao turned around with some difficulty. He barely had enough guns to exchange for a yellow sheep.

Wolf pelts can be sold for money on the grasslands. Even though there are only seventy or eighty wolves, their actual value is very high.

"Tell the hunters of Dobukur to wait a moment, exchange the goods, and we can even get them better guns. Can Bailong handle this?"

Although Chen Tuo had asked Bai Long, his firm tone left no room for doubt as to whether it was feasible or not.

After Bai Long nodded, he still brought up the topic of the yellow sheep in the sheepfold of the winter pasture.

"Uncle Mergen, Uncle Sudao, how are we going to transport all these gazelles back? And if they're going to breed, how much fodder will we need?"

Bai Long's worries were also Su Dao's worries; he didn't have the ability to drive the yellow sheep back to Songling.

In his mind, it was possible to transport the mutton back to Songling by train.

"Don't worry about that. The Songling Armed Forces Department will probably handle the gun issue in the Duobukuer settlement. Just listen to me!"

Chen Tuo's statement was unquestionable, and neither Bai Long nor Su Dao raised any objections.

Especially for Su Dao, the two hundred guns he traded for this trip to the grasslands were worth more than his income over several years.

In previous years, when he came to the grasslands, he could only drive back twenty or thirty horses at most, and most of them were Mongolian horses.

This year, there are 150 docile draft horses alone.

If Chen Tuo could bring over the guns stored at their hunter settlement.

This deal was equivalent to the gains of the previous ten years; it was an absolute windfall...