sinovels Chapter 1893 Zhao Jun's First Tiger Hunt
Chapter 1893 Zhao Jun's First Tiger Hunt
Chapter 1893 Zhao Jun's First Tiger Hunt
Along the riverbank, Zhang Yuanmin came up with a plan, Zhao Jun made the decision, and then the four-person team began packing up to prepare for evacuation.
The toothbrush and soap for washing up were all wrapped in a towel and put in a shoulder bag. The six water bottles could be carried around however one wanted.
For some reason, Ma Yang, who was carrying four water boats, suddenly asked Zhao Jun, "Brother-in-law, aren't you the Tiger-Taming General? How come you're having so much trouble dealing with a mere teenager?"
Zhao Jun was taken aback upon hearing this, and glanced at Ma Yang sideways. Ma Yang wasn't being sarcastic towards Zhao Jun; in his mind, his brother-in-law was a tiger-taming general, and dealing with a big fry should be a piece of cake.
Zhao Jun remained silent, but Zhang Yuanmin was the first to object. He said to Ma Yang irritably, "You little brat, you don't even listen to what you're saying these days! Have you listened to a word I said?"
Seeing that Ma Yang was stunned and Zhao Jun had no reaction, Zhang Yuanmin continued, "This is not the season for hunting. Even if you pry your eyes out, you can't see more than twenty meters. What good is it if you're a great shot?"
Ma Yang was rendered speechless by Zhang Yuanmin's rebuke. After giving Ma Yang a good whack, Zhang Yuanmin immediately gave him a sweet treat, saying, "Little Yang, if you want to go up the mountain in the future, you have to take what these people are saying to heart. Don't just listen to the noise."
"Hey, hey." After being reprimanded, Ma Yang's attitude became much more upright. He responded twice and said, "I understand, Brother Zhang."
"Alright." Seeing that Ma Yang had behaved himself, Zhao Jun took over the conversation and said, "Jin Hui, Xiao Yang, you two go first. Big brother, let's hold our guns and shoot when we get a chance."
"Alright, brother." Zhang Yuanmin had just responded when he heard a clanging sound behind him. He turned around and saw Zhao Jinhui carrying two water spouts in his left hand and pulling the rope holding the dragon in his right hand, striding along the riverbank upstream.
His large frame was also strong, and he pulled Qinglong so hard that he stumbled.
Ma Yang was even faster than Zhao Jinhui, quickly overtaking him with four empty water cannons.
Zhao Jun and Zhang Yuanmin exchanged a helpless glance. Zhao Jun pursed his lips and said, "Brother, let's go!"
As he spoke, Zhao Jun pulled the bolt and ejected the two remaining bullets from the chamber. Then he took out a magazine from his pocket and loaded ten bullets into the chamber.
Finally, Zhao Jun didn't care whether the Siberian tiger could see it or not. He just gave the forest a provocative look and then turned and left.
Zhao Jun and Zhang Yuanmin were different from Zhao Jinhui and Ma Yang; they walked very slowly. But no matter how slowly they walked, the Siberian tiger could still detect them.
After all, as the top predator in the mountains and forests, the Siberian tiger's sense of smell, though not as good as a bear's, is still several times better than a dog's.
Feeling that its food was slipping away, the Siberian tiger, hiding in the forest, grew increasingly agitated.
After walking a few steps, Zhao Jun turned back, looked at the quiet woods, and then called out to Zhao Jinhui.
Zhao Jun needed Qinglong to warn him, but he and Zhang Yuanmin needed to hold their guns and couldn't free their hands to leash the dog. So they asked Zhao Jinhui to leash the dog. This fat man, who usually struggled to go up the mountain, was now walking briskly, pulling Qinglong so much that he couldn't turn around or make a sound.
Zhao Jinhui was stopped by Zhao Jun. Without Zhao Jun pulling him away, Qinglong turned around and stared at the direction of the woods, barking loudly.
"Azure Dragon!" Zhao Jun pressed down on Azure Dragon with his right hand, and Azure Dragon reflexively sat down on the rock, simultaneously closing its mouth.
But the smell of Siberian tigers filled the air, making Qinglong unable to help but bare his teeth.
"Let's go!" Zhao Jun ordered, and the three men and the dog slowly moved forward along the riverbank.
At this moment, the Siberian tiger hiding in the forest could no longer restrain itself. Although it was not yet at the point where it would starve to death if it did not eat, the Siberian tiger knew very well that if it could not catch these prey, it would really starve to death.
With a swift movement, the Siberian tiger emerged from behind a tree, enduring the pain in its rear end as it leaped out of the woods.
The Siberian tiger, having emerged from the forest, landed in the stone embankment. Upon seeing Zhao Jun and his group, it did not rush to attack but instead lowered its body and lay prone on the ground.
Because the moment it leaped out of the forest, the Azure Dragon, two hundred meters away, immediately spoke up.
When Qinglong roared, Zhao Jun knew that the Siberian tiger had appeared. Zhao Jun turned around very quickly, but when he turned around, the Siberian tiger was nowhere to be seen.
Although there are no trees, no grass, and no large rocky cliffs on this rocky shore, the haphazardly piled stones are certainly not flat on one side.
Tigers are natural assassins; they crouched on the ground, hidden behind the rocks. Zhao's army, two hundred meters away, couldn't find them.
Zhao Jun glanced down at the blue dragon, and after confirming the general location of the Siberian tiger, he held his gun to his face and used the gun's sight to search for the tiger's position.
Zhang Yuanmin did the same, while Zhao Jinhui nervously pulled out his pistol and anxiously looked around on guard.
Soon, Zhao Jun found the Siberian tiger's hiding place.
A protruding pile of rocks, the highest point of which was just above Zhao Jun's calf, and above that rock, Zhao Jun saw a patch of dark orange-yellow.
This patch of dark orange-yellow rose a finger and a half above the stone, and Zhao Jun felt that the exposed area should be the shoulder of a Siberian tiger.
It lies there, in a striking posture, with its front shoulders higher than its back.
Zhao Jun shifted his gaze from behind the gun and glanced at where the Siberian tiger was hiding.
At this moment, Zhang Yuanmin nudged Zhao Jun with his elbow and then pointed to where the Siberian tiger was hiding, saying to Zhao Jun, "Brother, I think it looks like it's hiding there."
"Okay." Zhao Jun nodded and said, "Big brother, I'll shoot it."
"Brother," Zhang Yuanmin said, quickly stopping Zhao Jun. "You've only just revealed a small part of it, so be careful not to hit a rock."
Zhang Yuanmin said this because he was afraid that the bullets would bounce off the rocks and injure people.
"Brother, I'll shoot upwards and see if I can scare it out." Zhao Jun said, "After that, you aim and shoot when you see it about to come out."
After instructing Zhang Yuanmin, Zhao Jun glanced at Zhao Jinhui, whose chubby face was tense, and said, "Jinhui, you don't need to worry about anything else, just hold onto Qinglong."
"Ah...ah!" Zhao Jinhui nodded emphatically, his eyes wide. Just then, Ma Yang came over, holding a pistol, and said to Zhao Jun, "Brother-in-law, what can I do?"
"Put the gun away!" Zhao Jun pointed at the pistol in Ma Yang's hand, and then said to Zhao Jinhui, "Jinhui, you too, that big claw is about two hundred meters away from us. If it comes out, Brother Zhang and I can react in time. We don't need you two."
Zhao Jinhui and Ma Yang were both novices who had never seen a major battle, and Zhao Jun was afraid that they might accidentally fire their own men.
Ma Yang was obedient; when Zhao Jun told him to put his gun away, he tried to stuff it into his satchel.
Zhao Jinhui did the same, but Zhao Jun stopped him, saying, "Jinhui, did you turn off the safety on your gun?"
"I..." Reminded by Zhao Jun, Zhao Jinhui realized what was happening and quickly turned off the safety lock.
The Type 54 pistol does not have a firing pin safety. If there is a bullet in the chamber and the safety is not engaged, the gun body may be subjected to an impact, which may cause the hammer to accidentally strike the firing pin and cause it to discharge.
After Zhao Jinhui and Ma Yang put away their pistols, Zhao Jun said to Zhang Yuanmin, "Brother, I'll call it 'One Shot'."
"Alright, brother!" Zhang Yuanmin said, "Don't worry, I'm here."
Zhao Jun felt something was off about Zhang Yuanmin's words, but at least the old man didn't say anything taboo, so Zhao Jun didn't take it to heart.
Zhao Jun knelt on one knee, and although the stone hurt his knees and legs, he sat on his buttocks with his heels on the ground and the gun handle close to his shoulder, making him very stable.
Zhao Jun held his breath and pulled the trigger.
"Bang!" The gunshot echoed across the stone embankment, the bullet flying about twenty centimeters above where the Siberian tiger was hiding.
"Boo!" As the gunshot rang out, the Siberian tiger leaped out from its hiding place.
"Bang! Bang!" Zhang Yuanmin fired two shots in a row, but after the gunshots stopped, the Siberian tiger was nowhere to be seen in the Shitang area.
"There! There!" Ma Yang pointed to Zhao Jun's right front and said, "The big claw landed there!"
Zhao Jun lowered his gun and glanced at Zhang Yuanmin. Zhang Yuanmin smiled bitterly and said, "Brother, by the time I saw it, it was too late to fire."
When Zhang Yuanmin spoke, he recalled a saying that Zhao Youcai had once said: "By the time you see the big claws, you won't be able to get a gun to shoot."
Knowing that Zhang Yuanmin's marksmanship was mediocre, Zhao Jun immediately turned to Ma Yang and asked, "Xiao Yang, where did that big claw land?"
"There!" Ma Yang stepped forward, raised his hand to point out the location to Zhao Jun, and then stepped back behind Zhao Jun.
Zhao Jun looked in the direction Ma Yang pointed, but all he saw were rocks. He tried to search through the gun barrel with his gun, but couldn't even see a tuft of tiger fur.
"Brother-in-law!" Ma Yang suddenly realized what was happening and hurriedly said to Zhao Jun, "Those are all rock pits over there!"
This stone embankment is also on a mountain, and like a hillside, it has varying heights. The opposite bank of the river is to the east, and this bank is to the west, with the mountain slopes down from east to west.
But if this were on a hillside, Zhao Jun, with his superior vantage point, might have spotted the tiger.
The stone terraces are different from the hillsides. They are like terraced fields, consisting of strips of stone beaches.
At this moment, the tiger was hiding in the stone pit below, and unless Zhao Jun got close, he could not see the tiger.
"Brother, call it!" Zhao Jun shouted to Zhang Yuanmin, then aimed his gun at the hiding place of the Siberian tiger.
Zhang Yuanmin waited two seconds to give Zhao Jun time to prepare, and then, feeling that it was about time, he pulled the trigger.
"Oh!"
This time, Zhao Jun and his team were disappointed.
The Siberian tiger had already become accustomed to the sound of gunfire in the forest. After coming out, it lost control for a moment and was startled out of its hiding place by Zhao Jun's shot. The gunshot aggravated its wound, and the Siberian tiger hid in the rock pit in pain.
Zhang Yuanmin's two shots missed, which further convinced the Siberian Tiger that the sound was just a bluff.
At this moment, Zhang Yuanmin was firing his gun, while the Siberian tiger hid in the pit, waiting for its chance.
"Bang! Bang!" Zhang Yuanmin's first shot failed to summon the tiger, so he fired two more shots.
But after the gunshots rang out, the Siberian tiger remained completely still.
"Brother!" Zhang Yuanmin called out to Zhao Jun. Zhao Jun holstered his gun, stood up, and said crisply, "Let's go!"
Since luring the tiger away from the forest works, let's try luring it away from the pit.
The four of them moved along the riverbank. After walking about twenty or thirty meters, Zhao Jun judged from the direction the Azure Dragon was facing that the Siberian tiger had followed them. However, Zhao Jun and the others were walking on top, while the Siberian tiger was walking below.
If they continued like this, they would reach the upstream forest. Zhao Jun made a quick decision and called Zhang Yuanmin and the other two to cross the river and change direction, believing that the Siberian tiger would come out.
To Zhao Jun's surprise, the tiger really wouldn't come out. When it sensed the scent of Zhao Jun, his three companions, and a dog moving upwards, the Siberian tiger abandoned them and turned back.
Seeing the blue dragon calling out towards the woods it had come from, Zhao Jun immediately cursed. He didn't know what the Siberian tiger was up to, but he was afraid it would go back into the woods and head for Xing San.
At this moment, Zhang Yuanmin also realized something was wrong and hurriedly asked Zhao Jun, "Brother, what should we do?"
"Let's go!" Zhao Jun brandished his spear and led the three men across the river.
After crossing the river, Zhao Jun saw Qinglong calling out in that direction, so he attacked in that direction.
"Oh!"
"Hang..."
As the gunshots faded, the Siberian tiger let out a series of low growls.
Perhaps it was the pain from its wound, or perhaps it was its roar in response to Zhao Jun's gunfire.
"Bang!" Zhao Jun raised his gun and fired again, pressing the muzzle down slightly. Although he was uneducated, he knew that bullets travel in a curved path, and he was trying to use this method to harm the Siberian tiger.
However, the bullet that was fired did not hit the target as Zhao Jun had imagined. Instead, it struck the stone, deformed, and flew back.
"Whoosh!" The sound of the transforming bullet slicing through the air flew past Zhao Jun and his companions, startling Zhao Jun so much that his expression changed instantly.
The bullet flew more than three meters above Zhao Jun's head, but it still gave Zhao Jun a fright.
"Go! Go quickly!" Zhao Jun shouted, his face changing drastically. Zhang Yuanmin and the other two followed Zhao Jun and moved quickly toward the edge of the woods.
"Wang Wang Wang..."
The barking of dogs continued. Judging from the direction the Azure Dragon was facing, Zhao Jun and the others deduced that the Siberian tiger was also sneaking down below, heading towards the forest.
"Brother," Zhang Yuanmin suggested to Zhao Jun, "We can't go any further. If we go into the woods, we're done for!"
If they continue walking, they will enter the forest. Once inside the forest, the Siberian tiger has the final say.
Zhao Jun was aware of this as well, but he felt that the Siberian tiger was determined to return to the forest. No matter whether the four of them walked upstream along the river or climbed over the hillside, the Siberian tiger was determined to go back into the forest.
The Siberian tiger might be retreating, but once it retreats into the forest, it will find Xing San. The old man, though ruthless, is only a mediocre marksman and has a weak heart; even with just a female dog and a female bear cub, he's no match for the Siberian tiger.
They're caught in a dilemma: they can't lure the tiger out, and they can't send four people into the forest.
"Wang Wang Wang..."
Just then, the roar of the Azure Dragon interrupted Zhao Jun's thoughts. Zhao Jun looked down at the Azure Dragon in front of Zhao Jinhui, which was raising its head and tail and roaring towards the right front. Zhao Jun took a step forward, knelt on one knee, and shouted, "Jinhui, you dog!"
"Huh?" Zhao Jinhui was shocked upon hearing this. He looked at Zhao Jun and asked, "Brother Jun, what do you want me to do?"
Zhao Jinhui wasn't that he didn't understand, but rather that he couldn't believe Zhao Jun had shouted those words.
Sending out Qinglong and his dog would be suicide.
Zhao Jun remained squatting in place, ignoring Zhao Jinhui's question.
"Brother," Zhang Yuanmin said, then asked Zhao Jun, "What did you say?"
Zhao Jun remained silent, firing a shot with a single breath, holding his breath as he gambled on this one shot.
Seeing that Zhao Jun remained silent, Zhang Yuanmin turned to Zhao Jinhui and shouted, "Jinhui, run away!"
Hearing Zhang Yuanmin's words, Zhao Jinhui squatted down and embraced Qinglong, his chubby hands trembling as he pulled open the rope around Qinglong's neck.
"Azure Dragon..." Zhao Jinhui seemed to want to say something, but Azure Dragon, having removed the rope, leaped out and ran wildly along the mountain rocks.
"Woof woof woof..." The fierce barking echoed through the mountains. The Siberian tiger, which was hiding below, heard the barking approaching. Its eyes widened and it leaped out with a roar.
Although the young tiger is not yet of mature age, its kingly might is already innate.
The Siberian tiger leaped out, its injured rear end throbbing painfully, and charged straight at the Azure Dragon.
"Woof woof woof..." The Azure Dragon was not afraid and bravely charged towards the Siberian Tiger.
"Awoo..." The tiger's roar echoed, and the Siberian tiger landed and rose again, turning into a shadow that enveloped the Azure Dragon.
"Bang!" A gunshot rang out, drowning out all other sounds!