Chapter 578

Originally, Li Long thought Director Qian might decide not to shoot anymore, after all, the jeep could only hold so much.

"Xiao Li, which of these Mongolian gazelle meats don't taste good?" Director Qian suddenly asked Li Long.

"The big rams," Li Long said casually. "The meat of the big rams is very gamey and carries a strong odor; it doesn't taste as good as the ewe meat when prepared."

"Alright then, keep the biggest ram and throw away one ram. I've calculated, these Mongolian gazelle horns aren't enough; we have to continue forward and shoot at least one more." Director Qian intended to have a great time before leaving.

Li Long was still a bit hesitant; wasn't this a bit too wasteful?

Over there, Xiao Si had already taken action. The biggest ram was kept, and the two rams were directly carried by him and thrown by the roadside.

"Alright Xiao Li, I know you can't bear it. Don't worry, in the end, except for that biggest ram I want to take back as a specimen, all the other ewes we shoot will be left for you, how about that?" Director Qian said with a smile.

Li Long actually understood that people like Director Qian, and even Li Xiangqian, didn't lack meat to eat. For them, eating game was just a novelty; it definitely wasn't as good as the meat of raised cattle and sheep.

This time was not like later generations, where game was hard to find and everyone secretly ate a little game, feeling very curious and yearning for it.

In Northern Xinjiang at this time, such wild animals were truly very numerous. Hunting Mongolian gazelles here in winter was nothing; people with resources would drive jeeps and take trucks to the sand pits in the north, using submachine guns to hunt Mongolian gazelles.

The deserts of Northern Xinjiang were different from those in Southern Xinjiang; they were basically all stabilized sand dunes. There were many plants in the desert, and cars driving through them only needed to avoid obstacles like shrubs.

It is said that when the Corps first stationed and reclaimed land here, food was insufficient, and they really drove out to hunt. After one trip, the truck could be filled with Mongolian gazelles.

At that time, herds of Mongolian gazelles gathered in groups of dozens or hundreds.

Even twenty years later, there would still be large herds of Mongolian gazelles running toward our side from the Kazakh and Mongol sides, because the management of deserts and grasslands on our side was different.

Since Director Qian had spoken, Li Long had no objections, it was just a pity for those two Mongolian gazelles.

Of course, they couldn't be wasted; either they would be picked up by passing drivers, or they would be eaten directly by carnivores.

The jeep continued forward. At this time, they had reached the area of Anjihai, but it was still quite far from the area where people were active. Li Long sat behind the driver's seat and turned his head to look south, while Li Xiangqian looked north beside him.

Li Long had good eyesight and suddenly saw a large mass of snowflakes being kicked up about a hundred meters away in the distance, with animals rushing in this direction!

Because of the snow powder and the cover of the shrubs, Li Long couldn't tell what it was for a moment, but he could see that the movement was not small!

"There's something to the south!" Li Long couldn't help but shout.

Xiao Si immediately stepped on the brake and stopped the car steadily by the roadside.

Everyone in the car looked south, and Li Long simply took his gun and got out of the car.

More than a hundred meters away, in a large area of thirty or forty meters in diameter, snowflakes were flying. Because it was in the south, the reflected light was quite dazzling.

Director Qian couldn't tell what was there, but he could see there was definitely something. He took a pair of binoculars from the side of his seat and raised them to observe.

Li Xiangqian said enviously:

"The Director is still amazing, having such good equipment like binoculars!"

"Borrowed from the city's Armed Forces Department."

Li Long knew that at this time the Armed Forces Department was transferred to local jurisdiction, and there was a period of time when they were not active duty; he didn't know if it was now.

His eyesight was extremely good, and he finally saw clearly.

It was seven wolves, in a U-shape, attacking a herd of more than a dozen Mongolian gazelles from south to north!

The wolf pack was chasing from behind, and the Mongolian gazelles were running in front. Logically, the speed of Mongolian gazelles was far superior to that of gray wolves, but the snow on the Gobi Desert was deep, and the gazelles had thin legs, making them prone to sinking when running.

Thus, their speed had to slow down.

One slow-running Mongolian gazelle was directly targeted by a nearby gray wolf, which lunged and pinned it to the ground, bit its neck, and began to feast on the fresh blood!

The Mongolian gazelle struggled desperately, but since its body was small, it was no match for the wolf at all!

"A pack of wolves is preying on Mongolian gazelles!" Li Long shouted in a low voice.

"Xiao Li has very good eyesight!" Director Qian also saw it. He put the binoculars back, looked at the direction the Mongolian gazelles were running, which was twenty or thirty meters west of the jeep, and picked up his shotgun, saying:

"Come, this time we'll fire freely. Shooting wolves is fine, shooting Mongolian gazelles is also fine. After we're done, we'll finish up and go back!"

Being able to see a wolf pack preying on Mongolian gazelles was worth the trip.

He could brag about this for at least half a year when he went back.

Li Long was prepared to shoot wolves, of course, if he could kill two birds with one stone, that would be even better.

Everyone raised their guns to find their own targets, and when determining targets, they would still inform each other to avoid hitting the same one and wasting bullets.

"I'll shoot the wolf at the very back; it's biting a Mongolian gazelle," Li Long said first. That wolf was nearly a hundred meters away. A normal person looking at a target at a hundred meters would only see a small dot. This gray wolf was biting a Mongolian gazelle in the snow, and the exposed part was not large.

However, Li Long's eyesight was much stronger than the average person's. He walked a few meters toward the side of the road, crouched down, raised his gun, and aimed at that wolf.

This wolf was still biting the Mongolian gazelle, and the gazelle was still struggling, but the movement of the struggle was already very weak.

Massive blood loss had already drained most of its strength; it was clear it wouldn't survive.

The wolf pack felt the threat from the humans here and began to adjust their positions, preparing to drive the Mongolian gazelles to the west, away from the cars and people on the road.

The wolves closer to the jeep accelerated, charging at the northeast side of the Mongolian gazelles like herding sheep, forcing them to change direction.

"This wolf is really damn cunning!" Director Qian had originally aimed at a large ram, but at this moment that gazelle was being driven by the wolves toward the shrubbery.

He cursed and readjusted his target.

Li Long had already aimed, but he didn't fire.

This gray wolf was far away and didn't care about the threat of humans; it had victory in its grasp and was not panicked at all.

The prey was in its mouth; it only needed to wait quietly for this Mongolian gazelle to bleed out and die, and then it could enjoy the delicious internal organs.

The target Li Long chose didn't look good to others, mainly because of the distance; the part of the wolf exposed in the snow was not large, and being together with the Mongolian gazelle, it was really not easy to hit.

Since he chose a difficult one, others were naturally happy to choose closer targets.

Although they were all moving targets, because they were coming in an oblique direction, one only needed to slightly adjust the lead, making them easy to hit.

This was different from those fleeing in all directions; after all, if one couldn't hit things coming toward them, then they shouldn't hunt.

At this moment, another wolf lunged and pinned down a Mongolian gazelle, the herd exploded, and three or four rushed directly toward the direction of the jeep!

"Bang!"

The first to fire was Director Qian. His shotgun slug knocked down a gray wolf that had followed.

In the end, he still shot a wolf, mainly because the position the wolf gave was too good; it just happened to pass through his field of vision. Originally, he had been aiming slightly ahead of a large ram.

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

As soon as Director Qian's gun fired, the guns of the other three followed, and then there was another "Bang."

This was Director Qian providing a follow-up shot to that gray wolf. He had fired a shot just now, and the gray wolf had suddenly lunged into the snow. He thought it was dead, but didn't expect the gray wolf to climb up again and struggle to run south. Fortunately, the speed was very slow, so Director Qian fired again.

Li Long watched the wolves and Mongolian gazelles scattered by the gunfire and didn't shoot again.

Anyway, even if he shot them, he couldn't take them back.

"Everyone take your own," Director Qian said happily. "I see everyone hit their targets; everyone's marksmanship is pretty good."

None of them were pretentious people; even if they yielded to the leader, there was a limit, and it wouldn't be like the bottomless yielding of later generations.

Since the leader had spoken, Li Long carried his gun and rushed over, running toward the gray wolf he had shot, and by the way, checked if that little Mongolian gazelle could still be saved.

The reason he carried his gun was for fear that the wolf wasn't dead and would counterattack. Actually, to be honest, with his strength, even if the wolf counterattacked and gave a solid kick, that wolf would be finished.

But with a gun in hand, why bother?

Running up to it, he found that the wolf was already dead, but the Mongolian gazelle was still twitching. Every time it twitched, blood still spilled from the hole in its neck bitten through by the wolf's mouth.

Clearly, it wouldn't survive either.

Li Long then slung his gun on his back, carried the wolf in one hand and the Mongolian gazelle in the other, and walked toward the jeep.

Director Qian was also dragging a gray wolf back himself; when Xiao Si wanted to help, he wouldn't let him.

"It's just a wolf, forty or fifty kilograms, I can carry it," Director Qian said with high spirits. "I'll take this wolf back and find someone to make a nice specimen—not bad, not bad!"

Then he turned his head to look at the wolf Li Long was carrying and asked casually:

"Xiao Li, this wolf of yours... where did the bullet hit?"

"The neck."

"The neck?" Director Qian was stunned when he heard this and hurried over:

"Let me see, let me see?" Then he looked, and sure enough, there was a hole in the neck.

Li Long had been patient at the time, waiting all along, on one hand waiting for Director Qian to fire, and on the other hand waiting for that wolf to lift its head.

As soon as the wolf lifted its head, he pulled the trigger and shot through the wolf's neck.

"Hey! Good marksmanship!" Director Qian looked at the wolf in Li Long's hand, then looked at his own wolf, "Swap?"

"That's definitely no problem." Li Long thought to himself, what a big deal, and as he said this, he handed the wolf over, but just as he handed it over, he took it back.

Director Qian thought Li Long was unwilling, so he asked:

"Xiao Li, what are the conditions?"

Xiao Si, who had followed back, had a bad look on his face and turned to look at Li Xiangqian, thinking to himself, look at the kind of person you introduced.

Li Xiangqian, however, was not in a hurry at all. Li Long had never been a person without a sense of propriety. Since he took it back, there was naturally a purpose.

"It's too cold on this road. Director, if you want to make a specimen, I think it's best to give the wolf a knife first and take out the internal organs. I remember that for specimens, you have to fill the inside anyway, so removing the internal organs won't affect anything and can prevent it from rotting."

"Good, good, good, thoughtful! Xiao Si, you two hurry up and take out the things in the stomachs of these wolves!"

Director Qian became even happier.

!.

Li Long moved fast, first taking out his knife to slash the wolf's stomach, then taking out the stomach, intestines, and everything else and throwing them by the roadside; someone or some animal would come to clean it up.

After the two wolves were processed, he also processed the little Mongolian gazelle. This way, by squeezing, the jeep should be able to fit them.

Li Xiangqian had shot a ram. He didn't want the body, so he directly asked Li Long to help him cut the head off at the neck, take it back with the horns, and prepare to make a wall hanging.

This way, it could barely fit in the jeep.

"Sigh, it's a pity it's a wolf; if it were a leopard, a bear, or a tiger, that would be great!" Director Qian looked at the wolves being processed and stuffed into the trunk of the jeep, sighing.

"I know there are snow leopards here, and I know there are bears, but tigers can't possibly exist, right?" Li Xiangqian shook his head and said, "Isn't that something that only exists in the Northeast?"

"We have them here too, just too few. It's said that a hundred years ago there were quite a few in Southern Xinjiang, and a small number crossed the Tianshan Mountains and appeared on our side. Some people have seen them, but no one has gotten a pelt," Director Qian said.

"Leopard pelts aren't easy to get either," Li Xiangqian turned his head to look at Li Long. He knew Li Long had gotten a bear pelt, so he didn't mention bears.

"Snow leopards, beasts of the Tianshan Mountains, are very rare and almost only appear in high-altitude places." Director Qian got into the car, Li Long and Li Xiangqian hurriedly got in too, and Xiao Si started the car, turned around, and headed back.

"My herdsman friend once hunted a snow leopard, and he entrusted me to sell the pelt," Li Long said casually. Anyway, Chen Hongjun knew about this, and it couldn't be hidden. Chen Hongjun himself had a good relationship with Li Xiangqian.

"How much did it sell for?" Director Qian turned his head and asked Li Long seriously.

"Over a thousand."

"So cheap? If there were more, I'd buy them for three thousand!" Director Qian sighed with regret, "That thing is too hard to encounter; the pelts you can see on the market are very few."

Li Long also didn't expect snow leopard pelts to be so expensive.

He wouldn't think Chen Hongjun had cheated him. This should be the difference between the official price and the private acquisition price. The official price itself wouldn't be very high, nor could it be set very high.

From this moment on, Li Long knew that in the future, ordinary pelts could be sold to the acquisition station, but precious pelts were better sold to private buyers.

"Xiao Li," Director Qian's tone became eager, "I know you have good friends in the mountains; they have guns and can hunt good things. Look, how about this: if you have good pelts, you let your Section Chief Xiangqian contact me. Don't worry, I will definitely give a high price and won't let you suffer a loss!"

Li Long nodded and agreed.

Director Qian sighed and said:

"Good things are hard to find. We in the city can only ask around; you often go into the mountains and see more opportunities... By the way, Xiao Li, have you ever seen a tiger?"

"How could he possibly see a tiger?" Li Xiangqian laughed and took over the conversation, "How could there be such a thing in our mountains?" He turned his head to look at Li Long, "Right?"

Li Long hesitated for a moment.

Director Qian was very sharp; he immediately stared at Li Long and asked:

"Xiao Li, have you seen one? Where did you see it?"

Li Long looked at Li Xiangqian, hesitating whether to say it or not.

"Why are you looking at me? Don't tell me you really have seen one?" Li Xiangqian was also full of surprise.

"I... I think I have seen one," Li Long said truthfully.

The car suddenly swerved, and Director Qian turned his head to look at Xiao Si:

"Xiao Si, drive steadily."

Xiao Si responded, his face blushing.

He was also surprised to hear this. Before this morning, he would have thought Li Long was bragging.

But Li Long's marksmanship let him know that the other party indeed had some real skills.

So it might actually be true.

So he was also shocked: Could there really be tigers in Northern Xinjiang?

"It wasn't summer yet, anyway, it was about that time," Li Long said:

"I have a wooden cabin in the mountains. That morning, when I was packing up, I saw something that looked very much like a tiger, carrying a roe deer and running into the forest. It moved very fast."

"What did it look like?" Director Qian asked.

"Black stripes, yellow fur," Li Long said.

"What you saw couldn't be a lynx, could it?" Xiao Si couldn't help but say from the side, "There are lynxes in these mountains; maybe you haven't seen one..."

Director Qian also suspected that Li Long had seen wrong.

Li Xiangqian was not happy. Before Li Long could speak, he defended Li Long:

"Xiao Li couldn't possibly fail to distinguish between a tiger and a lynx. He even hunted a lynx, sold the pelt, and I even got a few bones. It's said that thing is in the same category as a tiger, and the bones are useful for soaking in wine."

"Hey! Xiao Li, I really didn't expect you to be a veteran hunter!" Director Qian now truly believed that what Li Long saw should have been a tiger.

He thought for a moment and said:

"Tigers, this kind of animal, have their own territory. If they appear in one place, they usually don't move their dens too much, and you might encounter them within a radius of dozens of miles... If I have time next summer, Xiao Li, would you be willing to be a guide for me?"

"That's definitely no problem," Li Long nodded.

"Tiger pelt..." Director Qian sat back, muttering, "Tiger pelts from our Northern Xinjiang are very expensive. If you can get one, there are countless people who want it."

Li Long couldn't help but ask:

"Director, logically speaking, aren't the tigers in the Northeast bigger and more precious? There are many tigers there, so they should be easier to find, right? Northern Xinjiang tigers aren't big, they should be much smaller than Northeast tigers..."

"How can they be the same? Several Northeast tigers are hunted every year, but our Northern Xinjiang tigers—for decades, I haven't heard of anyone hunting one. Scarcity makes things valuable."

Li Long stopped talking.

He was calculating that if calculated this way, the value of the tiger pelt in his hands might exceed his imagination.

He thought that if it were a complete pelt, selling it for eight or ten thousand should be no problem.

But this pelt had a few too many bullet holes; selling it for five thousand should be the limit, right?

With Director Qian saying this, it seemed this tiger pelt was indeed very valuable.

While Li Long was stunned, Director Qian turned his head to look, and he noticed something.

When Li Long raised his head, he happened to meet Director Qian's eyes, and Director Qian spoke:

"Xiao Li, let me tell you, if you can really get a tiger pelt, you must give it to me. You name the price when the time comes! I definitely won't haggle!"

Li Long didn't speak, and Li Xiangqian said with a smile:

"Director, what are you saying? We are all our own people, if Xiao Li really has one, he will definitely give it to you!"

Director Qian, however, shook his head and said:

"Xiangqian, I'm speaking from the heart. If Xiao Li can really get a tiger pelt, selling it to me would truly be giving me a huge favor. Do you know how many people in our prefecture, including Wucheng, want such a pelt?"

He turned his head to look at Li Long again:

"Xiao Li, let me tell you, if you can really get that pelt, don't you like this jeep? I can even give it to you! As long as you can sell the pelt to me... I'm telling you, just like this, you would be doing me a huge favor, and I would owe you a great debt of gratitude!" (End of chapter)