Chapter 27: Hunting

Li You changed the subject, smiling as he said, "Xiao Ruan said there are rabbits in the mountains to the west; let's go take a look... We've been here for quite some days now, yet haven't seen a single shred of meat!"

"We swept this area clean before; are there rabbits again?"

Wa Qingyun suddenly grew excited and told Liu Longjin beside him, "Brother Liu, go fetch that bucket of fire oil from under the bed!"

"Fire oil? What do we need that for?" Li You was somewhat confused.

"Ah, we have two prongs, but that three-lipped beast has four prongs; how can we catch up? If it drills into a hole, we'll use the fire oil to start a fire! Could it be that Master actually expects you to rely on that iron bow on your back?"

Wa Qingyun knew Li You had a good temper, so his words carried a hint of mockery: "This iron-spine bow is purely a burden to the hand; who can even draw such a thing? Throw it away; carrying it is dead weight."

Li You smiled, saying, "In my hands, only the hand bullies the bow; there is no such thing as the bow bullying the hand... Let's go first. No one is managing the mine today; a bunch of little brats are missing from here, probably starving and running into the mountains to find food."

"Mm." Wa Qingyun nodded.

"The bow bullies the hand"—this is a term in archery skills. When the hand is strong and the bow weak, it is called the hand bullying the bow; when the bow is strong and the hand weak, it is called the bow bullying the hand.

West of the West Pit, walking less than a li or two, one actually enters the branch ranges of Mount Daba; here the forests are vast and the gullies deep, and the appearance of tigers and wolves has become commonplace.

Historical records indicate that the most severe tiger plagues occurred in the late Ming, and the most severe of all were in Sichuan.

The "Nanchong County Gazetteer," Volume 16, "External Records," states: "Shu Bao (Ning) and Shun (Qing) prefectures are mountainous. After the chaos caused by the bandit Xian, smoke and fire were desolate; from spring to summer, suddenly groups of tigers emerged from the mountains, numbering in the thousands. They gathered at the city walls; the residents fled, and many were bitten. The county government and school became tiger dens; for hundreds of li, no human traces were found, with Nanchong County being the worst."

The "Anyue County Gazetteer" records that tigers could "break walls, climb onto roofs, ascend trees to injure people... smoke was scarce for over twenty years."

In fact, this was all caused by the sudden temperature drop during the Little Ice Age; tigers and wolves also need to eat. The sharp temperature drop caused a drastic reduction in herbivores, so these beasts began descending the mountains, entering villages, towns, and even cities; at that time, this was not considered anything strange.

But what was strange was that humans, the highest existence in the animal chain, became the easiest prey for tigers, actually feeding the tiger population, ultimately leading to a large proportion of Sichuan's population dying from tiger plagues.

Liu Shixi made a rough estimate in Volume 5 of "Shu Gui Jian": "From the fifth year of Chongzhen, when chaos began in Shu, until the third year of Kangxi, when it was settled." During the long span of over 30 years, in southern Sichuan, "one or two out of ten died from plague tigers"; in northern Sichuan, "one or two out of ten died from plague tigers"; in eastern Sichuan, "one or two out of ten died from plague tigers"; and in western Sichuan, "one or two out of ten died from plague tigers."

Regardless of its authenticity, it at least proves that the tiger plague in the late Ming was truly severe.

Therefore, in this area of Nanshan at Longmen Zhai, bandits rarely set up defenses; after all, once one enters these deep mountains, one will surely end up in the mouths of tigers and wolves.

Li You and Wa Qingyun walked west along the dry stream gullies. Before long, Liu Longjin caught up, holding a wooden bucket with a rotted rim in his right hand, containing some tung oil, and he had also brought Wa Qingyun's single-edged blade.

"We're almost there!" Ceng Ruan, anxious, ran excitedly, taking the lead.

Li You and the others followed around a mountain hollow, and the view opened up; the foothills on the north and south sides were relatively gentle, the stream disappeared, and they gradually merged into a small plain.

"Where are they?"

Li You frowned, seeing Ceng Ruan shout, "Brother Yu... Brother Yu..."

Only then did several "black coal balls" emerge from the wild grass.

"It's Xiao Ruanzi! Ah, Master Li is here, and Brother Qingyun too..."

Song Baishun shouted excitedly, and the bunch of little brats gathered around Li You.

Wa Qingyun was very anxious; seeing Yu Zhengchun, he asked, "Where are the rabbits? Did you spot a den?"

"There!"

Yu Zhengchun and the other children did not dislike Wa Qingyun or Liu Longjin; in fact, their relationship was quite good, since they had all once been under Wu Ying. So he took a fat, dead rabbit from behind his back; the rabbit was not yet stiff, with deep claw marks on its spine, but its head had been smashed.

"So fat? Did the sharp-nosed one catch it?"

Liu Longjin swallowed, picked it up from the ground; it was heavy, estimated to be six or seven jin-weight!

"Hehe, it was a yellow hawk; 'whoosh,' it swooped down and grabbed it, but couldn't fly away; greedy and wouldn't leave... Alas, I was in a hurry to smash the rabbit first; I should have smashed the yellow hawk first, otherwise I could have dealt with both!"

Yu Zhengchun said, unable to hide his pride.

Li You finally understood in his heart; they had deliberately let Xiao Ruan bring him here to steal food together. Unfortunately, there was only one; how could so many people eat enough?

"Brother Liu, find a flat spot and roast this rabbit for the children... Be careful with the skin; don't tear it..."

After speaking to Liu Longjin, Li You roared at Song Baishun and the other troublemakers, "Hey, you go help gather some dry firewood; don't run around. If you don't listen, there will be no meat to eat later!"

In fact, hearing that meat was about to be roasted, how could they possibly run around? Li You was worrying unnecessarily.

"Rabbits generally don't travel alone, right? Look around; see if there are any rabbit holes nearby!"

Li You said to Wa Qingyun, "If we can get a few more, that would be best. I see the mine workers and salt slaves in the mine den are all looking like they are about to die..."

"Master is truly benevolent!"

Wa Qingyun sighed, "There must be plenty of grain in Beizhai; at the very least, there are several fat pigs, big sheep, and dozens of chickens and ducks... But every year in September and October, Zhang Cang, who manages the grain station, just keeps people like us, who are unliked, alive with wild vegetables and millet, unless we can raid something. But in the nearby plains, where are there any human shadows?"

Li You said nothing; he had long noticed that his confidants Cao Er, Shi Jiu'en, Xu Lifang, and others not only ate white rice but also had meat. Sometimes even well-behaved bandits like Huang Mao'er, Gu Laosan, and Zhao Laiwa would be called in to be given a mouthful of food.

Every time the two of them squatted on the doorstones eating, their mouths went "chomp chomp" so loudly it shook the heavens, acting as proud as if they were eating the Manchu-Han Imperial Feast.

"Damn it, acting like a dog but so proud... But white rice is indeed fragrant. If I ate it... I certainly wouldn't chew so loudly; I definitely wouldn't be proud..." Li You swallowed his saliva without showing emotion, thinking happily in his heart.

Wa Qingyun took a few children and began searching along the foothills.

For convenience, Li You brought Hei Liuzi here, while Wa Qingyun took Yu Zhengchun there.

Li You hadn't walked far when a sound of footsteps came from behind, and Xiao Juan happily followed up.

"Oh my, little ancestor, what are you running here for?"

Li You looked speechlessly at Xiao Juan, who wore a large bun on her head.

Xiao Juan's small face turned red as she pointed to the foot of the mountain not far away, saying, "Over there... there are persimmons!"

Li You looked in the direction she pointed and indeed saw a persimmon tree about the thickness of a millstone, roughly eighty paces away; however, only a few scattered persimmons remained on it, most having been pecked away by birds.

But having rotten persimmons to eat was still extremely good; thinking back to last spring, Li You and Wu Zhengchun in Liangdang County had almost caused a death over fighting for a piece of elm bark.

"Ah, a furry rat!"

Suddenly, Hei Liuzi pointed to a persimmon on the treetop and said, "Look, look, look, it's eating the persimmon. Wait, that's not right... there are two!"

Li You drew his double daggers 【Note】, quickly drew the bow and nocked an arrow. The moment his hand touched the bowstring, powerful muscle memory made him push left and pull right in a fluid motion.

His gaze focused on the furry rat; his right hand was at his lips, his eyes falling above the bow grip; his hand position was the Mongolian thumb draw, with the groove of the thumb guard hooking the bowstring, and his index finger hooked over his thumb...

Wa Qingyun glanced, then turned his head; he did not want to make Li You feel embarrassed.

【Note】: One bow case and one arrow case, collectively called "double inserts" in the Ming Dynasty; both had straps or ties, either tied or hung on the belt. This was the military custom of the time; basically, the arrow quiver was hung on the right side of the body, and the bow case on the left.