The whole mountain is my hunting ground.

Chapter 1880 Searching for the Tiger
Zhao Jun returned to the shack with his mind on his mind. Zhang Yuanmin and Ma Yang saw him return and hurriedly came to greet him.

"Brother," Zhang Yuanmin asked Zhao Jun with hopeful eyes, "Shall we continue carrying ginseng?"

Everyone wants to make money. With such a huge ginseng king buried in the ground, everyone is eager to carry it out as soon as possible.

"Don't worry, big brother." Zhao Jun looked around at the people around him, and finally fixed his gaze on Wang Qiang's face.

A Siberian tiger has appeared in the old 25th forest section, and he has to go check it out. At the same time, the shack cannot be vacated; whether or not to move it is another matter, but at least someone needs to stay here and watch over it.

Xing San, Ma Yang, and Zhao Jinhui—one old, one young, and one fat—are useless against the Siberian tiger, so they all have to be kept alive.

Zhao Jun wanted to keep Wang Qiang, but among the Zhao family gang, Wang Qiang was one of the best in terms of marksmanship and hunting experience, and they couldn't do without him in the tough battle.

Finally, Zhao Jun said to Zhang Yuanmin, "Brother, they've spotted Big Claw at the old 25th forest section. I need to lead some men over there."

"What?" Zhang Yuanmin frowned as he looked at Zhao Jun, hardly believing his ears.

Last night, Zhao Jun taught Li Ruhai to lie, telling him to use big claws as a metaphor. How did that come true?

"Brother, Uncle, Baoyu, and I will leave now." Zhao Jun said, "After we're done, I'll have Xiaochen stay behind. You two, along with Third Uncle, Jinhui, and Xiaoyang, will keep an eye on this shack."

Before Zhao Jun could finish speaking and before Zhang Yuanmin could say anything, Xing San shouted, "Kid, can the three of you really manage? Um... let Yuanmin and the others stay here, I'll go with you!"

"Brother Jun, I'm going too!" Zhao Jinhui followed closely behind, also wanting to join the battle. Then Ma Yang shouted, "Brother-in-law, me too!"

"You guys can stop now." Zhao Jun stopped the three of them, pointed to the place where the ginseng king was buried, and said, "Our top priority right now is to keep an eye on it. Everything else has to wait."

"That won't work either!" Xing Sanshao objected to Zhao Jun, saying, "Those big claws are different from other things. Can the three of you handle it?"

“It’s alright, Uncle,” Zhao Jun said. “The security team just left, and it will take them a while to get to the foot of the mountain. Let’s drive down now, catch up with them, and have a few of them come with me.”

Hearing Zhao Jun say this, Xing San's expression softened, and he said in a low voice, "Alright, then you can take a few more guards."

Xing San was getting old after all. Once a mountain runner is over fifty, his body becomes clumsy and his legs and feet become less agile.

If Zhao Jun were outnumbered and outgunned, Xing San would have gone with him even if it meant gritting his teeth. But there was no need for that now, and Xing San was willing to stay and watch over the ginseng.

Unlike Xing San, Zhao Jinhui and Ma Yang were in their prime, full of youthful vigor. Ma Yang, in particular, was not only impetuous but also immature, obsessed with making a name for himself. As soon as he heard that Zhao Jun was going to hunt Siberian tigers, he was eager to go with him.

That kind of drive is just as strong as Zhao Youcai's.

After calming Xing San down, Zhao Jun ignored Zhao Jinhui and Ma Yang, and said to Wang Qiang and Li Baoyu, "Uncle, Baoyu, untie Hu Zi, Lao Hu, Er Hei, and Huang Long. The three of us will take the four of them down in the car."

Wang Qiang and Li Baoyu responded and went to scatter the dogs, while Zhao Jun quickly went into the shack to prepare guns and ammunition.

As soon as Zhao Jun entered the shack, the little black bear clung to him; the guy was incredibly clingy.

Zhao Jun patted the little black bear's ears and instructed, "Hey, be a good boy and stay here to watch over my shed."

Zhao Jun didn't care whether the little black bear could understand or not. After packing up the two guns, he slung them over his shoulder, put on his bag, and walked out.

"Brother Jun."

"Brother-in-law."

As soon as Zhao Jun left the shack, Zhao Jinhui and Ma Yang followed closely behind him.

At this moment, the four dogs, which had been released by Wang Qiang and Li Baoyu, excitedly ran towards Zhao Jun.

Seeing Zhao Jun carrying a gun and a bag, they assumed he was taking them hunting. The hunting dogs, who had been idle since the beginning of summer, were eager to have a good hunt with their master.

"You two keep a close watch on the shack with Uncle San," Zhao Jun said to Zhao Jinhui and Ma Yang, then whistled and called the hunting dogs down the hill.

"Kid, be careful what you're doing!" Xing San shouted, watching Zhao Jun's retreating figure.

"Brother!" Zhang Yuanmin shouted, "We've got you covered here, so don't worry about us."

Zhao Jun didn't turn around and walked quickly downstairs. Zhao Jinhui and Ma Yang watched Zhao Jun leave with longing eyes. Zhao Jinhui sighed and said, "My brother Jun didn't lead me. He's afraid I'll hold him back."

Xing San glanced at Zhao Jinhui, then walked past him quickly without saying a word.

"Tsk!" Zhao Jinhui smacked his lips and said, "I have to lose weight this time, otherwise I won't be able to keep up when running in the mountains."

Hearing this, Zhang Yuanmin pursed his lips, speechless.

Zhao Jun led the dog down the road, where Wang Qiang and Li Baoyu met him from a side path.

The three of them went to the jeep. Zhao Jun asked Li Baoyu to drive, Wang Qiang to sit in the passenger seat, and he himself and his four dogs to squeeze into the back seat.

The jeep descended the sled track and caught up with Liu Jinyong and his entourage, who were escorting prisoners, on the second flank of the mountain.

When Zhao Jun said he needed the security guards' help, Liu Jinyong readily agreed and arranged to meet Zhao Jun at the foot of the mountain.

With a dog in the car, Zhao Jun didn't stand on ceremony with Liu Jinyong. They drove ahead and arrived at the foot of the mountain first.

At this time, the two rear wheels of the Jiefang truck had been repaired, and Jie Chen was smoking and chatting with two auto mechanics.

When Zhao Jun came out of the shack, he carried two guns on his back. In the morning, when Li Baoyu and Xie Chen went down the mountain, they each carried a Type 56 semi-automatic rifle.

When Jie Chen got off the car at the foot of the mountain, he left the two semi-automatic trees in the car.

At this time, there were four semi-automatic trees in the jeep, and Zhao Jun gave one of them to Xie Chen.

Later, Xie Chen was to go up the mountain alone. Although the possibility of encountering danger was not high, Zhao Jun still gave Xie Chen a gun just in case.

After Liu Jinyong and the other guards escorted the prisoners down, the six guards and Pang Gaoming and thirteen others sat in the back of the forest farm's Da Jiefang truck to prevent them from causing trouble.

One auto mechanic drove, another squeezed into the passenger seat with Liu Jinyong, and the remaining eight security guards were all left to Zhao Jun.

These eight guards, led by Zhou Daikui, were all retired soldiers, and each of them was an exceptional marksman.

Zhao Jun put the four dogs in the back of the truck, and had Li Baoyu drive the jeep to lead the way, while he drove the Jiefang truck behind.

And so, the group of eleven people and four dogs headed straight for the place where Han Shusheng had indicated they had encountered the tiger.

……

As the jeep honked its horn, slowed down, and pulled over, the Jiefang truck following behind also stopped.

Zhao Jun held a gun in one hand and pushed open the truck door with the other. At the same time, security guards got out of the passenger seat and the back of the truck.

At this moment, Wang Qiang, Li Baoyu, Zhou Daikui, and two security guards got out of the jeep.

“Brother, right here!” Li Baoyu said, pointing to the eastern hillside, “Master Han said that the big claw came down from this spot.”

At this point, Li Baoyu paused slightly, then pointed north and said, "It's over. One of their forest rangers took a shot, and Big Claw went straight there."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Jun looked at Wang Qiang, who pointed north, and Zhao Jun nodded.

Then Wang Qiang ran north, while Zhao Jun took two steps forward and tilted his head to look at the eastern hillside.

After glancing at it twice, Zhao Jun strode up the hillside.

There was no path on the hillside, and Zhao Jun struggled to climb up more than a meter before seeing patches of wild grass lying flat beside him.

Zhao Jun took a few more steps uphill and entered the woods. At this moment, the chirping of insects and birds reached Zhao Jun's ears. Zhao Jun looked around and saw nothing but greenery, and his vision could not extend very far.

Just as Zhao Jun was about to turn around and go down the hillside, he suddenly heard a whistle coming from not far away.

Zhao Jun quickly set off, leading Li Baoyu down the hillside, and then saw a guard pointing to the right front.

Zhao Jun hurried over and found that Wang Qiang had also gone up the eastern hillside and was waving at Zhao Jun from there.

Zhao Jun went up and saw Wang Qiang pointing to a small birch tree. There was a branch on the tree, about the thickness of a thumb, which was now broken, but a piece of bark still held it on the tree.

“Nephew, this might have been caused by a lead peg,” Wang Qiang said. Zhao Jun glanced at it and saw that the broken part of the branch was indeed fresh.

Zhao Jun nodded. Just as Wang Qiang said, it might have been caused by a bullet, or it might not have.

Let's pretend it was shot. The uncle and nephew started from the broken tree branch and went downhill onto the road.

These days, let alone mountain roads, even city roads are mostly dirt tracks.

Zhao Jun and Wang Qiang lowered their heads and looked around. The uncle and nephew finally stopped at a dark brown dot.

"It looks like a bloodstain," Zhao Jun said, then looked at Li Baoyu and asked, "Did the forest ranger hit his target with that shot?"

“He didn’t hit it.” Li Baoyu shook his head and said, “He said he didn’t hit it himself.”

After saying this, Li Baoyu suddenly looked up and said, "Oh, brother, I remember he said that."

"What did he say?" Zhao Jun asked. Li Baoyu replied, "He said he didn't aim, so he missed. Could it be that he hit the target, but he didn't see it?"

“He was hitting me blindfolded,” Wang Qiang said. “I felt like he punched through the skin; there was some blood coming out of the flesh from his big claw.”

"Baoyu, get the rope." Zhao Jun glanced around and then said to Li Baoyu, "Let's get in the car and lead the dog down."

Ever since the people got off the bus, the four dogs on board have been extremely anxious, clinging to the railings and jumping around frantically.

They were anxious, but they didn't make a sound, which meant there were no medium or large-sized wild animals nearby.

But Zhao Jun wasn't sure if the four dogs would run out after getting out of the car because of some scent.

Once the dogs leap out, it's incredibly difficult to call them back. And today we're dealing with a Siberian tiger; if these four dogs were to run right up to it, they'd be as easy prey as lambs to the slaughter.

So Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu climbed into the back of the car, tied the four dogs with ropes, and then took the dogs off the car.

After getting off the vehicle, Zhao Jun led Black Tiger and Wang Qiang led Green Tiger in front, followed closely by Li Baoyu leading Erhei and Zhou Daikui leading Huanglong, and then by six guards with guns in their hands.

There were two more guards in the car, one driving a jeep and the other a Jiefang, slowly following the people and dogs in front.

They hadn't gone far when Black Tiger and Green Tiger stopped almost simultaneously.

When the dogs stopped, the people stopped too. Zhao Jun watched as Black Tiger and Green Tiger raised their noses and sniffed in the air. Then, the two dogs pulled on the ropes at the same time, leading the people eastward up the mountain.

Zhao Jun was taken aback, but he didn't exert any force with his hands. Instead, he quickened his pace to catch up with Black Tiger.

Zhao Jun moved, and Wang Qiang moved too. The two were dragged up the hillside by two dogs, the wild grass rustling as they passed.

The two dogs climbed the hillside at an angle, heading straight for the broken birch tree that Zhao Jun and Wang Qiang had just looked at.

"Nephew," Wang Qiang asked Zhao Jun as they walked, "Could it be that the dog smelled something else?"

A dog goes into the mountains to hunt, but it doesn't know what it's going to hunt. Even if its owner teaches it and explains things to it, it's useless.

Once a dog enters the mountains and smells the scent of prey, or sees squirrels or magpies wandering around nearby, it will definitely chase them away.

Wang Qiang didn't know if there were squirrels or anything like that around here, but he was afraid that the two dogs were heading for prey like wild boars or roe deer.

It's not that hunting this is bad, the key is that they came out to find the tiger. Only when they are sure that the tiger will not harm people or affect the work in the forest area can the Zhao family gang carry the giant ginseng king with peace of mind.

"No, no!" Zhao Jun suddenly realized something was wrong. He yanked the rope hard and shouted, "Black Tiger, stop!"

Black Tiger was pulled back by Zhao Jun and sat down on the ground upon hearing Zhao Jun's command. But as soon as his buttocks touched the ground, Black Tiger got up again and tried to walk up.

Judging from Black Tiger's reaction, he definitely smelled something!
Yes, it's about smelling, not looking at anything.

Since it's based on smell, it must at least be a roe deer.

But as soon as a tiger crossed the mountain, the roe deer, wild boar, and red deer dared not linger; they would have all fled long ago.

Therefore, Zhao Jun felt that the tiger should still be on this mountain.

As for Han Shusheng and his group not seeing the Siberian tiger walk back, that's normal.

Han Shusheng and the others said that the tiger went north from the main road.

The road ends at a cliff, and the Siberian tiger, though called a tiger, is not a real tiger; it's impossible for it to rush down there.

Therefore, Zhao Jun guessed that the tiger probably turned around at the next point and then went up the mountain again.

Thinking of this, Zhao Jun called over two guards, one to protect him and the other to protect Wang Qiang.

Li Baoyu and Zhou Daikui, who were leading Erhei and Huanglong, received the same treatment. Then, the remaining three guards were assigned to walk behind Li Baoyu and Zhou Daikui, while the last guard walked between the two groups.

The group of eleven people and four dogs climbed up the mountain. There was a path on the mountain, but it wasn't on this side, so Zhao Jun and his men had no choice but to keep climbing.

As the group climbed to the second flank of the mountain, Black Tiger and Green Tiger strained the rope, eager to launch their attack.

At this point, Zhao Jun dared not release the dogs. He and Wang Qiang walked along, trying to calm the Black Tiger and the Green Tiger down.

"Hey, Uncle?" Zhao Jun's ears twitched slightly, and he said to Wang Qiang, "I can hear water. There's a river over here, huh?"

"Yes." Wang Qiang nodded and said, "I remember there is."

Just as the uncle and nephew were talking, a Siberian tiger was sitting in the icy river water two miles away from them on the riverbank.

The river water is very cold; you'd pull your hand out if you put it in. But a Siberian tiger would pull its tail out if it did that.

But that was exactly the effect the Siberian tiger wanted. The ranger fired a shot, the bullet grazing the tiger's rump. The injury wasn't serious, but the pain was excruciating.