The whole mountain is my hunting ground.

Chapter 1719 Zhao Youcai: I've never fought such a wealthy battle before.

Chapter 1719 Zhao Youcai: I've never fought such a wealthy battle before.

At Zhao Youcai's command, Li Dayong responded immediately, while Lin Xiangshun hesitated slightly.

"Where are you going?" In order to save face for Zhao Youcai in front of everyone, Wang Meilan forced herself to speak to Zhao Youcai in a gentle tone, "Your back has just healed, why don't you stay home and rest?"

“What do you mean by ‘raise’?” Wang Meilan was being polite, but Zhao Youcai was not at all polite and said, “Staying at home like this makes my bones ache.”

No sooner had Zhao Youcai finished speaking than Ma Ling asked, "Dad, did you catch a cold? Your bones hurt, why are you going up the mountain? Let Mom give you cupping therapy at home!"

Zhao Youcai: "..."

Zhao Youcai glanced at Ma Ling and saw that Ma Ling's eyes were full of innocence. Zhao Youcai knew that his daughter-in-law really couldn't understand what he was saying, so he immediately said, "My dear daughter, what Dad means is that I'm too restless at home. I need to go out for a stroll."

"Ah..." Hearing Zhao Youcai say that, Ma Ling stopped talking.

In front of all the people in the room, including the two from Xishantun, Wang Meilan couldn't say anything to Zhao Youcai. Seeing that he was stubborn and unrepentant, Wang Meilan could only glare at him.

"Brother!" Now that Zhao Youcai was no longer interrupting, Zhang Yuanmin stood up, clasped his hands in a fist salute to Zhao Jun, and said, "I am a member of our Zhao family gang. How could I be absent from today's battle?"

"Me too!" Zhao Jinhui suddenly stood up, knocking over the four-legged stool as he said, "Brother Jun, I want to go too!"

"Go!" These words weren't spoken by Zhao Jun, but by Zhao Youcai. Zhao Youcai waved his hand at the two of them and said, "He won't lead you two; you two come with me!"

Hearing Zhao Youcai's words, Wang Meilan quickly punched him on the arm. Zhao Jinhui was one thing, at most a burden, but Zhang Yuanmin was someone you could take on? What if he caused more trouble up the mountain?

Fortunately, Zhang Yuanmin and Zhao Jinhui did not accept Zhao Youcai's invitation. Knowing that they were members of the Zhao family gang, they could only watch Zhao Jun with longing eyes.

"Sister-in-law," Zhao Jun ignored the two of them and asked Yang Yufeng, "Should we let my older brother go?"

"Let him go if he's happy to," Yang Yufeng said with a smile. "I'm at ease knowing he'll go with you."

Zhang Yuanmin is a decent hunter, but the problem is he always has a mischievous idea that leads to trouble. Last time he went out with Wang Qiang and the others, even though a few shots would have been enough to kill a black bear, he insisted on using explosives.

Although they eventually succeeded in dealing with the black bear, Yang Yufeng thought that Zhang Yuanmin's talk of these things was extremely unreliable, and that Xiaolingdang's father always made things worse.

Wang Qiang can't stop Zhang Yuanmin, and Zhao Youcai probably can't either. The only one who can control Zhang Yuanmin is Zhao Jun.

"Let's go then." Having received Yang Yufeng's permission, Zhao Jun waved to Zhang Yuanmin and Zhao Jinhui, saying, "Let's hurry!"

After saying that, Zhao Jun walked towards the west hut, and Zhang Yuanmin and Zhao Jinhui followed him eagerly.

A short while later, Zhao Youcai also came in with Li Dayong and Lin Xiangshun.

When they came in, Zhao Jun and the others were already sitting on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) putting on their leg wraps. Just as Lin Xiangshun was about to sit next to Wang Qiang, Li Dayong pulled him over.

And so, the Zhao family gang and the Zhao family hunting gang sat on the same kang (a heated brick bed), yet remained clearly distinct.

"Dad." Li Baoyu finished binding his legs first, then stood up and said to Li Dayong, "I'll drive back to get the dog and bring you that long-barreled gun, okay?"

Li Dayong looked up, glanced at his son, and didn't say anything. At this moment, Zhao Youcai said to Li Baoyu, "Go, Baoyu, bring Lao Hei and Lao Huang here too."

"Yes!" Li Baoyu responded, then turned and gave Zhao Jun a wink before walking outside.

Wang Qiang went with Li Baoyu because he was afraid that Li Baoyu wouldn't be able to manage so many dogs by himself.

After the two men left, Zhao Jun finished tidying up. Zhao Jun thought for a moment, then stood up and said to Zhao Youcai, "Dad, according to what Master Wu said, those two bears are quite close. Instead of going up the mountain to break up the gangs, why don't we just settle it now? You lead a gang of dogs, and I'll lead a gang of dogs, and we'll split up and act."

The Zhao family's hunting gang lost its first dog last spring during a hunting expedition in Yongxing. Because a lead dog joined the gang, the hunting dogs split, ultimately resulting in the loss of Daqing.

After more than a year of development, the Zhao family's gang has grown unbelievably strong. They are fully capable of fighting on two fronts, dealing with two black bears.

However, this must be done under human supervision, not by letting the dogs act on their own. In a situation like today, with the two bears too close together, the hunting dogs might easily break up the pack.

If things go wrong, it could end up like this: eighteen dogs running south and two running north. The eighteen dogs would be fine, but wouldn't the two dogs be in serious trouble?

Zhao Jun was afraid of this happening, which is why he wanted to split up with Zhao Youcai in advance. He planned to divide all the hunting dogs into two groups, with him leading one group and Zhao Youcai leading the other, and then they would act separately.

Upon hearing Zhao Jun's words, Zhao Youcai scoffed, thinking to himself, "You little bastard! You think you can outdo me? Damn it, I'll make you know who's in charge today!"

Thinking of this, Zhao Youcai put down his foot that was on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), stood up, looked at Zhao Jun, and said, "That's what I think too! Let's do it!"

After saying that, Zhao Youcai walked towards the outer room.

When he arrived at the outer room, he saw Ma Ling carrying two military water bottles and a flour sack. She called out to him, "Dad, these are the big pancakes I made yesterday. It's almost noon, so have a bite to eat in the car."

"Hey!" Zhao Youcai took the bag of flour and said to Xing San and the old lady with a smile, "My daughter makes these big pancakes, they taste better than the ones you buy."

Xing San and the old lady smiled upon hearing this. Zhao Youcai's words were somewhat untrue, but neither of them could call him out on it!

Xing San and the old lady didn't believe it, but Ma Ling did. Hearing Zhao Youcai praise her like that, Ma Ling's big eyes curved into crescent moons with laughter: "Dad, you're happy to eat. I'll make the dough tonight and bake it for you tomorrow."

"Okay!" Zhao Youcai replied with a smile. Zhao Jun, who had come over, glanced at Zhao Youcai, but Zhao Youcai did not notice and walked out with the water bottle and flour sack.

As Zhao Youcai was leaving, he heard the old lady behind him chuckle, "His daughter is good at everything she does, hehe..."

The old lady said this to express how much Zhao Youcai valued Ma Ling, hoping it would help improve the relationship between Ma Ling and her parents-in-law.

Ma Ling seemed quite pleased to hear this and said with a smile, "I'll make more dough tonight."

Seeing this, Zhao Jun smiled and led Wang Qiang, Zhao Jinhui, Wu Dalin, and Qin Hongzhi outside.

When Zhao Jun and his five men arrived at the backyard, they saw that Zhao Youcai and Li Dayong had already released Qing Laohu and Erhei.

Seeing their owner getting ready to go up the mountain, the other dogs jumped and howled in a panic.

Zhao Jun quickly led his men over to release the dogs. The unleashed hunting dogs ran wildly towards the front yard.

"Brother-in-law." As they walked towards the front yard, Wang Qiang asked Zhao Youcai, "You bought those three castrated dogs and left them at my house. Can't you take them with you?"

"Don't take them yet," Zhao Youcai said. "I don't know what those three dogs look like. I'll take them up the mountain for a walk in a few days."

The group went to the front yard to put armor on the hunting dogs. When they were halfway through, Li Baoyu and Zhang Yuanmin came over with Xiaohua and Liu Gou to join them.

Five Dragons, Two Tigers, Three Flowers, Two Blacks, Black Girl, Little Bear, Big Black, and Big Yellow—fifteen hunting dogs, all wearing protective armor, voluntarily jumped onto the back of the Liberation truck.

"Brother-in-law, you and Brother Li sit in the passenger seat," Wang Qiang said, but Zhao Youcai replied, "You two sit, I'll sit in the back."

After saying that, Zhao Youcai added, "I have to stay with my gang of dogs."

With that, Zhao Youcai walked to the back.

Wang Qiang glanced at the back of Zhao Youcai's head and muttered under his breath, "How many dogs do you have? And you call yourself a 'dog gang'?"

Everyone got into the car, and Li Baoyu started the engine, carrying a car full of people and dogs out of the village and into the mountains, heading straight for their destination.

A group of people and dogs sat in the back of the truck, chatting and laughing. Zhao Jun was holding a teddy bear and a black dragon in his arms, while Zhao Youcai was holding a blue tiger.

The difference is that Little Bear and Black Dragon actively snuggled into Zhao Jun's arms, while Green Tiger was forcibly held by Zhao Youcai.

It was clear that the green tiger was very unwilling, repeatedly stretching its legs towards Zhao Jun, hoping that Zhao Jun would rescue it from its predicament. But as soon as it stretched out its legs, Zhao Youcai pulled them back with his hands.

"Woo..." The green tiger bared its teeth and breathed at Zhao Youcai. Zhao Youcai wasn't angry. He rubbed the green tiger's head with his big hand and laughed, "Tiger, be good. Work hard when we go up the mountain later, and I'll give you meat to eat."

It was unclear whether the green tiger could understand Zhao Youcai's words. At this moment, the green tiger gave up struggling and obediently stayed in Zhao Youcai's arms.

After nearly an hour of driving into the mountains, Zhao Jun nudged Wu Dalin, who was almost asleep beside him, raised his hand and pointed to the mountain to the east, asking Wu Dalin, "Master Wu, once we pass this area, we'll reach the clearing zone."

The area Zhao Jun was pointing to was selective logging to the south and clear-cutting to the north, with a clear boundary in between. Zhao Jun had collected timber in Xinlengchang last year, so he was very familiar with the mountain area here.

In comparison, Wu Dalin was far inferior to Zhao Jun. At this moment, he craned his neck to look up at the mountain, and after a long while, he nodded and said, "Ah, yes, yes, this is it!"

"This is it!" Qin Hongzhi said, "We came down from here."

"Shall we continue forward?" Zhao Jun suggested, but Zhao Youcai replied, "Alright, let's stop here!"

Upon hearing Zhao Youcai's words, Lin Xiangshun quickly patted the carriage to stop the car.

“I’ve been here before.” Zhao Youcai looked at the mountains on both sides, finding them increasingly familiar. He then said to Wu Dalin, “Little Wu, come with me!”

"Me?" Wu Dalin looked surprised and reluctant, while Qin Hongzhi secretly rejoiced.

"Tie the dog up!" Zhao Youcai said, gesturing to Lin Xiangshun to bring out a rope.

Zhao Youcai took the rope, tied a knot at one end with both hands, and then put it on the green tiger.

The green tiger struggled, but Zhao Youcai pulled it and tightened the rope, and the green tiger became docile.

There's no way around it; even the fiercest dog will obediently follow when leashed. And most importantly, Zhao Youcai is family, so the green tiger might bark at him a couple of times, but it wouldn't actually bite.

"Let's go!" Zhao Youcai said, getting up and pulling Qing Laohu down the road. The barrier was lowered, and the other dogs, including Hei Hu, got off the vehicle. At that moment, Zhao Jun, still in the car, asked Zhao Youcai, "Dad, which dog do you like? Take it with you."

"What do you mean I've chosen one?" Zhao Youcai said, "I'll just take my four dogs."

The four dogs Zhao Youcai mentioned were Green Tiger, Erhei, Lao Dahei, and Da Laohuang.

"Why don't you take two more?" Zhao Jun said. "You can take them for Da Hua and Er Hua."

Zhao Youcai blinked his small eyes and didn't insist any further, saying, "That's fine too."

Seeing that Zhao Youcai agreed, Zhao Jun called out, "Hu Zi, Qinglong, come up here!"

At Zhao Jun's command, Black Tiger, who had been urinating by the side of the vehicle, darted up and got into the car.

Next came Qinglong, and then, at Zhao Jun's call, Heilong, Huanglong, Hualong, Bailong, and Xiaoxiong also boarded the vehicle.

At this time, in addition to the four dogs that Zhao Youcai thought he had, there were also Da Hua, Er Hua, Hei Niu, and Xiao Hua under the car.

That makes eight dogs.

Of these eight dogs, only Erhei was there voluntarily and Qinglaohu was forced to. The other six dogs were not kept because of Zhao Youcai.

The six dogs stayed because of Li Dayong. Dogs don't understand ownership; they only recognize who feeds them every day.

These six dogs all live with the Li family and are usually fed by Li Dayong, Li Baoyu, and Jin Xiaomei. So as long as Li Dayong is around, Zhao Jun can't get them to leave.

Li Baoyu might be useful, but at this moment, Li Baoyu is in the driver's seat.

Zhao Jun looked down from the car and immediately said to Zhao Youcai, "Dad, you can take all these dogs with you."

At this moment, Zhao Youcai was peeking into the car. Seeing that there were seven dogs in the car and he was leading eight of them, Zhao Youcai immediately turned to Li Dayong and said, "Dayong, throw one up into the car!"

"Huh?" Li Dayong didn't understand what Zhao Youcai was thinking either, but since his older brother had spoken, Li Dayong picked up Hei Niu.

"Uncle Li!" At this moment, Lin Xiangshun stopped Li Dayong, then pointed at Xiaohua and said, "Throw this into the car!"

Lin Xiangshun knew that Xiao Hua had already made a name for herself, and that the three of them weren't very familiar with these dogs. Under these circumstances, they shouldn't bring so many dogs; Qing Laohu would be enough.

When Li Dayong carried Xiaohua and put her into the back of the truck, Xiaohua cried out loudly, leaving Zhao Jun speechless.

Zhao Jun stepped forward and took Xiao Hua. Xiao Hua, who was in the back of the car, stood up and leaned against the guardrail to look at Li Dayong.

"Let's go, you guys!" Zhao Youcai waved his hand, urging Zhao Jun and the others to leave.

Li Baoyu started the carriage and drove forward. Zhao Youcai looked at the seven hunting dogs surrounding him and couldn't help but sigh, "I've never fought such a lucrative battle in my life!"

"Let's go!" Seeing that the car had disappeared from sight, Zhao Youcai led Qinghu Lao and walked forward. After walking about 180 meters, and seeing that they were about to reach a sharp right-angle turn, Zhao Youcai asked Wu Dalin again before loosening the rope that was holding Qinghu Lao.

Freed from its restraints, the green tiger glanced back at Zhao Youcai before running off towards a small tree by the roadside.

At this moment, in the back of the Liberation truck, Qin Hongzhi pointed to the mountain in front and said to Zhao Jun, "Young Master, this is the mountain. Black Bear came down from the shady slope, and we went down the slope to the south."

"Oh my!" Upon seeing the mountain, Zhao Jun couldn't help but frown. Wasn't this the place where he had picked up the wild boar cubs yesterday?

Thinking of this, Zhao Jun remembered Qin Guangquan, whom he had met at Xinlengchang yesterday. Then Zhao Jun understood: the wild boar Wu Dalin had mentioned they hunted was the mother of those piglets.

So, Qin Guangquan was lying when he said he didn't hit anything. Zhao Jun didn't think about why Qin Guangquan lied; people always have their own ulterior motives for lying.

But for Zhao Jun, if Qin Guangquan hadn't lied, Zhao Jun would have given him a couple of coins, enough to buy the wild boar. Since Qin Guangquan claimed he hadn't caught anything, Zhao Jun refused to give him the money.

Zhao Jun patted the carriage twice, and Li Baoyu stopped the car.

"Baoyu, pull over!" Zhao Jun shouted. "Let's get out!"

Li Baoyu turned the steering wheel and parked the car at the foot of the mountain. Everyone got out of the car, and the hunting dogs scattered.

“Brother, this…” Li Baoyu also noticed this, but seeing Zhao Jun shake his head slightly, Li Baoyu didn’t say anything more.

The group climbed up the ditch, to the shady north slope, and Zhao Jun asked Qin Hongzhi, "Did that bear roll down this slope?"

"Yes!" Qin Hongzhi nodded, and Zhao Jun whistled.

Upon hearing the whistle, the hunting dogs scattered around rushed towards Zhao Jun. Zhao Jun went into the ditch first, followed closely by the seven hunting dogs.

Not far into the ditch, the seven hunting dogs heard Black Tiger and Little Bear bark in unison, leading the dogs to run up the southern mountain.

At the same time, the green tiger, which was sniffing the black girl's urine four miles away, suddenly raised its head, twitched its nose twice in mid-air, and then took a step and charged upwards.

"The tiger has gone out!" Upon seeing this, Zhao Youcai's small eyes flashed, and with a shrug, he took off his semi-automatic rifle, pulled the bolt, and loaded a bullet!

(End of this chapter)