Chapter 881
A Minor Accident
The original plan was to stay here and wait for the pigs that gathered from different places to come down the mountain to feed in the planting area (cornfield).
Once the villagers who are protecting the forest discover the group of pigs gathered together, they will skillfully drive them away according to the plan Yue Feng instructed, while simultaneously setting off firecrackers to warn their companions.
Therefore, Yue Feng and his men, who were lying in ambush on the high ground of Erdaoliang, did not immediately open fire after hearing the commotion below.
Yue Feng felt Zhao Hongbo gently nudge him from the side, and Yue Feng responded softly.
"The pigs are here! Xiaoqun is scouting ahead!" Zhao Hongbo said in a low voice, barely audible to himself.
Yue Feng listened intently for a while, then quietly craned his neck to look down.
Under the dim light of the night, a large wild boar led a scouting party of three or four young boars, sniffing around as they made their way down the mountain.
When the straight-line distance closed to within fifty or sixty meters, everyone lowered their heads and lay down, not daring to look up, for fear of startling the pigs.
After the scout passed through, several different groups of pigs appeared in quick succession within ten minutes of each other.
Yue Feng was more familiar with using small to medium-sized groups as the standard unit: an old sow, leading several young pigs, and behind them were the piglets from that year. A group consisted of about ten pigs.
The older pigs were more cautious with the scouts, while the younger piglets were much more relaxed. They grunted softly as they traveled, and even played and frolicked with their companions, appearing very relaxed.
There was little light at night, and only a few outlines could be barely made out. Yue Feng silently counted the number of gray patches in his mind and waited quietly for the pigs to pass by.
In the half hour or so that four groups of pigs passed by, the Erdaoliangzi area became quiet again.
“The pigs should all be far away! 47 pigs!” Zhao Hongbo said softly with certainty.
"Brother Zhao, can you see clearly at night?" Yue Feng looked at Zhao Hongbo with some surprise.
"Pretty much! We Zhao family members are born with night vision!" Zhao Hongbo replied.
"How many piglets are in here?" Yue Feng asked.
"There are about twenty or so! There are two particularly large old sows, probably weighing over 300 pounds each! The rest are young pigs!"
"I reckon these pigs came from deep in the mountains! The size ratio of the individuals in the group is quite healthy, unlike a herd of pigs that survived being hunted by a hunting team!" Zhao Hongbo continued.
At this moment, Li Wentong chimed in, "Those pigs that scouted ahead were all quite experienced!"
Those few must have been in this area before! The ones behind them are probably their offspring!
"Pigs can be this smart?"
Before Yue Feng could open his mouth, Xiao Tao next to him muttered curiously.
Li Wentong glanced at his son and said irritably, "What do you think! In our mountainous area, which village doesn't have a few hunting rifles?"
In the winter, with nothing better to do, they wander around hoping to hunt down a pig so they can have a good New Year. If they were stupid, they would have been wiped out long ago!
After listening, Zhao Hongtao echoed, "Uncle Li is right! Unless it's a hunting team with extremely tough guns and dogs, there will always be some sluggish guns and dogs that survive."
These pigs escaped to the deep mountains and survived. Their experience and memories were preserved, and when they grew up, they became smarter than other pigs!
Especially older pigs with their own herds and territories, they become more cautious in their actions!
"What do we do next? Should we wait for them to set off the cannons down the mountain, drive the pigs back, and then open fire? Brother Feng, Uncle Li, Brother Zhao, what are the specific arrangements for later?" Xiaowen asked.
Yue Feng didn't rush to express his opinion, but wanted to hear the opinions of the other two people.
Li Wentong said, "In this situation, if we want to catch the piglets, we should prioritize taking care of the big pigs first!"
If the first pig is alive, it will be smart enough to hide back in the deep mountains or lead the herd to another safe mountain area to graze when faced with so many of us chasing and ambushing it!
Ideally, all the lead pigs should be killed, leaving only a small number of young pigs and piglets!
These piglets will definitely run around in a panic, but we're not afraid!
"If they get separated, can we still catch them?" Xiao Tao continued to ask.
Li Wentong scoffed and complained to his son, "You're so stupid, you can't even think straight!"
The piglets are running around, and without the guidance and protection of their mothers, they will soon be exhausted and thirsty!
When the time comes, they will definitely go back to Dog Urine Spring to drink water and rest!
The little piglets can't remember their experiences interacting with people, but they can remember the water sources they've visited before! When they're tired or thirsty, they'll definitely go to Dog Urine Spring!
Perfect timing! We've finished hunting tonight. Let's organize people to bring the prey down the mountain so we can come to the water source tomorrow to lay bait and set traps!
There's just enough time!
Xiaofeng, Hongtao, what do you two think?
Zhao Hongtao said, "Uncle Li's analysis is pretty accurate! But a night of running away should wear these pigs out."
The grass in the mountains is green now, and there's plenty of food to quench our thirst and fill our stomachs. The piglets have scattered, and it will take a lot of time to gather them back together!
I reckon that once we've dealt with most of the big pig with our guns, the remaining lambs might not be caught by traps under the dog's piss spring until tomorrow night, or even the day after!
After listening to Li Wentong and Zhao Hongbo's opinions, Yue Feng said, "Then let's listen to Uncle Li and Brother Zhao! Let's deal with the big guys in the pig herd first before we think about anything else!"
If all else fails, I'll go to the mountain farm tomorrow during the day and bring all the dogs with me. I'll have Canglong take his son's litter of dogs and go for a walk in the mountains together!
We don't need to catch any live piglets; the dogs will roam freely in the mountains, searching and chasing them. They'll be too scared to eat or drink, so there shouldn't be any problems!
Upon hearing Yue Feng mention dogs, Zhao Hongbo's eyes lit up: "If we take the pack of dogs for a walk around here, we'll be absolutely safe!"
The piglets are fast runners, and hunting dogs aren't easy to catch them, but they can keep them from stopping! Once they're almost done, the bait traps from Dog Urine Spring will be even more effective!
"Then it's settled!"
Yue Feng gave a final summary in a deep voice, and tentatively set the stage for the next phase of the plan.
With the follow-up plan finalized, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. A gentle mountain breeze blew in the early night, and the group instinctively wrapped their coats tighter around themselves.
About an hour after the pigs crossed the second ridge, Li Wentong got up from his ambush spot and went to urinate under a nearby tree.
Yue Feng, who had also been holding it in, went to relieve himself as well.
The others, seeing this, also got up. Having been lying in ambush here for so long, they all had plenty of "goodies" in their bladders.
Five old men lined up in a row, letting loose and relieving themselves; it was quite a sight, even late at night.
Yue Feng shivered and pulled up his pants. Before he could even fasten his belt, he heard a loud bang from a distant firecracker below the mountain, followed by the continuous explosions of a string of firecrackers. "Damn! Why are the firecrackers going off now?!" Yue Feng frowned, instantly getting annoyed.
Judging from the travel time of the wild boar herd, at this point they have most likely just crossed the mountains and forests and arrived at the transitional area at the edge of the farmland at the foot of the mountain, still about two miles away from the cornfield where they were last released to feed.
The cannon has fired now, but most of the pigs have not yet assembled at their designated positions.
Zhao Hongbo echoed, "It's a bit early! Something unexpected has probably happened down the mountain!"
"What should we do? Shall we go down the mountain? We have all the guns, and the villagers on guard duty have almost nothing!" Xiao Tao asked.
Yue Feng spat on the ground and said indignantly, "Once the cannon fires down the mountain, the villagers will definitely start moving as we planned, while being driven away."
After being scared by the cannon fire, I bet the pigs will most likely turn back the way they came! It'll be difficult for them to gather into a large herd and return together!
"If I'd known it would turn out like this, I should have just shot them! What a waste of half the night!"
Li Wentong said very calmly, "Xiaofeng, don't get upset! It's dark at night, so it's normal for the villagers to misjudge because they can't see clearly!"
Let's secure our ambush position first! We'll open fire when the pigs arrive!
I guess the scouting team's big pigs down the mountain must have encountered people!
The good news is, they should come up last; the piglets and the rest of the herd might not even know what's going on!
Yue Feng gritted his teeth: "Fine, then let's do as Uncle Li says!"
Check all the guns. If you see a wild boar coming, shoot! Kill as many as you can! Pick off the big ones first!
Soon, all of them released the safety on their guns, found their shooting positions, and waited patiently.
On the Erdaoliang side, both mountain ridges can be used as ambush points, and crossfire can also be achieved.
The original plan was for four starters and two substitutes, but now they simply have three people lying on one side of the mountain ridge, and they will all open fire when Yue Feng fires his gun!
The mountain breeze was cool, and the insects continued to chirp, but at this moment, no one cared about these details. They held their breath, listened carefully to the sounds in the forest, and were ready to fire at any moment.
About forty minutes later, the rustling sound reappeared in the distance.
This time, the pigs didn't take small, shuffling steps down the hill; instead, they galloped all the way down on all fours.
The grass and bushes beside the animal trail were pushed aside or even trampled by the wild boars' thick bodies, making a much bigger commotion than when they arrived.
Yue Feng held his gun and carefully observed the pre-set location. After seeing four or five large wild boars leading a dozen or twenty others to the pre-set location, he immediately pulled the trigger.
Bang bang bang!
A single shot was fired, and as soon as the gun went off, the others immediately followed suit.
The sudden barrage of firepower engulfed the entire area of the pig herd.
The largest sows leading the pack were riddled with bullets before they could even react.
The young pig and the little pig following behind weren't much stronger either.
Six guns, in terms of firepower, are equivalent to ten Type 56 semi-automatic rifles (both AK47s are fully automatic with 30-round magazines). Dealing with these wild boars is like using a cannon to kill a mosquito.
They had originally agreed to prioritize attacking the larger targets and try to avoid targeting the piglets from back then, but once the fighting got going, they couldn't quite control themselves.
Especially Xiao Tao and Xiao Wu, even though they clearly saw that the remaining ones were half-grown corn piglets, they still pulled the triggers to fire the last two bullets.
The pigs that had escaped were almost all taken down in one round, and Yue Feng locked the safety and stopped firing first.
"Damn! That was so awesome! Let's take them all!"
Xiao Tao excitedly pulled out a clip from his pocket, reloaded the empty Type 56 semi-automatic rifle, and then shouted excitedly.
"Show-off! There were only a few piglets left, and you kept shooting! Your brother Hongbo and I stopped firing!" Li Wentong couldn't help but complain to his son.
Xiao Tao grinned: "Hehe, this thing is so dark, I thought it was a big pig! I don't have my brother Hongbo's night vision!"
"So what if they're killed? The herd of pigs that haven't caught up yet will definitely run in another direction after hearing the gunshots! Clean up the battlefield, huh?"
Yue Feng hesitated for a moment: "Uncle Li, Brother Zhao, you two take your guns and continue to keep watch from the high ground. The rest of you come with me and gather all the wild boars we've shot down together."
If you can bleed, bleed first; if you can't bleed, just cut open the abdomen on the spot!
Upon hearing his nephew's arrangement, Li Wentong said, "Hongbo has good eyesight; he can keep watch by himself! I'll help you out too; more people working will make things faster! It's too hot now; it'll be stifling in no time!"
Upon hearing this, Zhao Hongbo said, "Alright, I can handle it by myself! You guys go ahead and prepare the game!"
Yue Feng was the first to turn on the flashlight in his bag, and everyone immediately started working.
First, they dragged back the prey that had run a little further away. Then, they bled the ones that were still alive. After gathering them all together, the five of them, wielding sharp knives, began to gut the prey.
In no time, the entire Erdaoliang area was filled with the smell of blood. The air, mixed with the stench of organs and blood, was carried far away by the mountain wind.
As soon as the gunshot rang out on the mountain, the nearest groups of people down the mountain immediately started moving up the mountain with flashlights. This was all something Yue Feng had arranged in advance.
Since we don't have cell phones or walkie-talkies or other instant messaging devices now, many things have to be arranged in advance.
By the time the villagers found Erdaoliang with flashlights, Yue Feng and his five companions had almost finished cleaning up their prey.
"Secretary Yue? Old Li? Is that you?"
A familiar greeting came from afar; it was Zhang Baoshun from the back street. By seniority, Yue Feng should call him Second Uncle.
"Second Uncle, it's us! What's going on down the mountain? Why are they firing cannons ahead of time? It's not time yet!"
Yue Feng grabbed a handful of black soil from the ground, rubbed the blood off his hands, and asked in a loud voice.
“San Dan got robbed by a pig! His younger brother Er Guai got anxious and lit firecrackers!” Zhang Baoshun explained.
"Got slept with by a pig? How is he? Is he injured?" Yue Feng's heart tightened instantly when he heard this.
Even if all the efforts tonight are in vain, Yue Feng doesn't want any villagers to get hurt.
"The person only suffered minor scratches and is nothing serious! Luckily, it was an old sow without tusks; it smacked him several meters away, leaving a bruise on his thigh, but no fractures!!"
"As long as everyone's alright! Come on over and carry the game down! We've almost finished cleaning up!"
"The gunfire down the mountain is very intense. Did they leave behind a few pigs?"
"Not bad, there are about ten or twenty! The pigs were startled by the cannon fire and didn't all escape back together; only this many were left!!" (End of Chapter)