Elu (Manchu name, meaning strong) raised his head and pointed to the sky and said to his father Serdan (Manchu name, meaning arrow).
After hearing this, Serdan looked up and saw a strange black bird hovering in the sky.
"Six wings, two legs. Why no feathers? What about the head, where is the head?" Elu muttered as he looked up.
"Stop looking, catching bears is serious business, watch your feet more." Serdan, who is in his thirties, educates his fifteen-year-old son.
The father and son are Kurkaqi people, who are the Hezhe people in later generations, but they were naturalized into the Eight Banners earlier. Their family lives in a small village southeast of Hunchun City. Because of their excellent hunting skills, Serdan goes to the Eight Banners every year before winter.
People would go to the island to catch bears, and then sell them in Hunchun City in exchange for daily necessities.
"Amma, this time I went to Hunchun to sell leather, so I have to buy a new pair of boots from me." Elu looked at the tattered boots under his feet and begged his father in distress.
"Hmm. Let's see if we can hunt one more bear. Mr. Xie Ling has decided on one for the summer. I want to buy you boots and a new cotton robe for your Mama (Manchu, meaning grandma).
, I have to get medicine for your mother, buy an iron pot, a few kilograms of salt, some beans for the horse, and some tobacco leaves." Serdan whispered as he walked. He gave the family what they needed.
I chanted them all over again, and finally came up with my own tobacco leaves.
As the head of the family, Serdan has relied on his excellent bow and arrow skills to hunt wild beasts and support the family's livelihood for many years. The eldest daughter is already married, and his son Erlu has also made a marriage arrangement this autumn. He will have a wife in the next spring.
, but the bride price and property have not been purchased yet; after finishing her son’s marriage, the little girl will prepare to find her husband’s family.
"Ama, your robe is also in tatters. Let's get a new one this time." Erlu said worriedly, looking at the tattered cotton robe on his father's body.
"Why did you buy that blindly? You can wear it for a few more years just by patching it up."
"How many more years?" Elu almost shouted.
Suddenly, Serdan seemed to have discovered something and immediately stopped. Elu behind him also immediately stopped and squatted down.
After checking the footprints on the ground for a while, Serdan turned around and whispered to his son: "There are two big ones, two small ones, and four. It seems they are still looking for food and preparing to spend the winter."
Elu gently took off the big bow on his back, took out a big arrow from the quiver on his back and hung it on the string.
Serdan has six of these large iron-tipped arrows used for hunting large animals, which were passed down from his grandfather. Serdan cherishes them very much and always takes good care of them. After each use, they are covered with animal fat.
Wipe and maintain repeatedly, then store carefully.
This time he came to Bear Island to hunt bears for the first time. He brought his son Elu with him for the first time and gave him two big iron-tipped arrows, while he took the other four.
Serdan dipped his index finger into the saliva on his tongue, then looked into the air to observe the direction of the wind. Then he waved to his son, and the two of them turned left and quietly walked around from the north side.
Every few steps Serdan took, he stopped to observe the movement, and then continued to move forward. When the father and son walked eight or nine hundred steps away, Serdan raised his hand to signal Erlu behind him to stop. The two of them stopped.
From the forest on the right, the sound of little bears playing and playing could be heard.
Elu didn't even dare to breathe out at this time and slowed down his breathing. He imitated his father's posture, pausing after each step slowly and listening carefully.
The father and son came to the back of a boulder. Serdan poked his head slightly and saw clearly that there were two big bears, a male and a female, on the other side. The two little bears were playing about a dozen steps away from the female bear. This surprised him very much.
.
It is actually rare to see a male bear and a female bear raising cubs together. Generally, the male bear can identify whether the female bear is carrying its own cub. If not, the cub will be in trouble. But according to today's situation, these two
The cub should be the cub of a male bear.
Serdan slowly bowed down, hid behind the boulder, gestured to his son Erlu, and signaled his son to shoot the female bear on the right. He gently pulled out a big arrow from his quiver and hung it.
He pulled the string and prepared to shoot the male bear on the left.
Elu nodded slowly. He was sweating slightly on his forehead, but his hands holding the bow were very steady. He had been practicing bow and arrow skills under the guidance of his father since he was a child, and his level was quite good. In the past, he often shot some by himself.
Small animals. In the past two years, he started hunting deer, and the harvest was very good. This is why Serdan took him to hunt bears this time.
As Serdan waved his head, the figures of father and son slowly emerged from behind the boulder and aimed at their respective targets.
The male bear seemed to have noticed something, and began to walk back and forth uneasily, sniffing constantly, and howling from time to time. The female bear saw the male bear's uneasiness, and began to look around in warning.
Suddenly, the male bear seemed to be aware of the danger from behind the boulder, so he stood up suddenly, raised his head and howled; the female bear also stood up and howled, calling her two children to come back quickly.
"Boom!"
"Boom!"
There were two almost connected bowstring sounds, and two big black arrows flew out at almost the same speed, flying towards the "V" shaped white short hairs on the chests of the two black bears, hitting their hearts.
The male bear and the female bear howled at the same time, "Plop" twice, and fell to the ground.
The two cubs who heard their mother's call didn't know what was happening. They ran out from behind a big tree and threw themselves in front of the mother bear, screaming.
Serdan waited behind the stone for a while, then quietly looked around. After he confirmed that the two big bears had been shot, he suddenly jumped out from behind the boulder and ran to the female bear in a few short steps, one in each hand.
He held down the necks of the two little bears.
The two cubs howled desperately and kept twisting their bodies trying to bite Serdan's hand. The sound sounded like a sheep's cry, but also a bit like a wild boar.
Elu, who was behind the boulder, cheered, ran out quickly, and walked to Serdan. He took out the rope he had prepared, tied it around the bear's neck, and tied the rope to a tree nearby.
According to Serdan's instructions, Erlu left the rope a few feet long so that the cub could lie down next to the mother bear and prevent her from biting the rope desperately.
"With luck, these two little ones can be sold at a good price in Hunchun City." Serdan let out a sigh of relief.
While he pulled out the iron arrows from the chests of the two bears and put them away, he said to his son: "Go and bring the horses over."
Elu then ran excitedly to the place where the horse was tied.
"Be careful." Seldan shouted to his son.
The whole process of hunting bears this time made Serdan very tired. He walked to the side of the tree and sat down against the trunk. Then he took out the tobacco pot and pipe from his arms, struck the flint and lit it.
Pot smoke.
As the smoke rose, Serdan looked at the prey in front of him and said in a low voice: "This year has been better."
"Have you chosen a place? The battery is almost out of power. We have to fly back quickly." Liu Sheng said to Zhao Xin anxiously.
"Well, let's choose this place." Zhao Xin said, pointing to a narrow strip of plains on the west coast of the island. This area is surrounded by a bay, with low hills and plains on both sides of the bay.
, the yacht can be parked here to avoid wind and waves.
We have flown over to see all the southern and eastern parts of the island. The drone found a small village on the northeast side of the island, and there were several small boats docked on the beach near the village.
"Okay, then I'll fly the drone back first."
Through the shooting system carried by the drone, the outline of the entire Bear Island has been clearly depicted on the display screen and saved. Zhao Xin connected a small inkjet printer and printed several copies of this simple map
, comparing the map photos saved in his notebook in advance, Zhao Xin marked the location of the preset camp.
He handed one of the pictures to Katsuzaburo and explained the landing details in detail.
After listening to Zhao Xin's instructions, Shengsaburo called the other six people together and began to talk in low voices. After the discussion, the few people went to various parts of the deck and the cabin to explain to everyone the preparations and precautions before landing.
matter.
The landform of the coast of Bear Island is similar to that of the northern coast of the island. The beach area is very small. Once ashore, there is a dense jungle. Further into the depths of the island, there is a large forest and hills.
A few minutes later, the drone flew back and landed on the bow deck. Zhao Xin put the drone away and put it back in the cabin.
Liu Sheng started the yacht and drove slowly towards the designated location at a speed of 10 knots.
The sea was very cold in the early morning, but fortunately everyone on board had thick protective coats on, so they were able to carry it through.
More than an hour later, the yacht gradually approached the coast. Liu Sheng found that the water near the coast was very deep and the yacht could drive very close to the shore, but he was still very careful when he was two hundred meters away from the shore.
Drop anchor and stop the ship.
In the cabin, the two of them changed into all-terrain camouflage uniforms suitable for cold temperate climates, put on tactical vests, and brought a full set of equipment. They walked to the cabin and handed a walkie-talkie to Saburo Katsu. Liu Sheng had already adjusted the walkie-talkie.
Good frequency, Zhao Xin explained how to use it.
Under the gaze of a group of people on the boat, Zhao Xin and Liu Sheng boarded the assault boat towed by the stern, untied the cable and headed towards the planned landing site.
The assault boat slowly approached the shore, and Liu Sheng stepped sideways onto the beach. He noticed that the sand on the shore here was very rough and had large particles.
Zhao Xin slowly drove the assault boat to the beach and stopped. Liu Sheng took the cable thrown by Zhao Xin and tied the cable tightly to a rock.
The two moved the assault rifles from their backs to their chests, loaded the magazine, pulled the trigger, turned on the safety, moved the muzzles forward, looked around and walked towards the preset position.
Two hours later, standing knee-deep in the grass, Zhao Xin made a coquettish pose. Liu Sheng took out a small folding flagpole, hung a small red triangular flag on it, and then inserted the flagpole into the
In the grass.
"With this as a sign, the land area of 97.6 square kilometers and the 12 nautical miles of sea outside the surrounding coastline belong to our territory!" Liu Sheng solemnly saluted with a military salute and shouted loudly.
"Tsk~~ Wait until you have warships and cannons before talking about maritime territory. Not counting the continental shelf, there is also a 24-nautical-mile contiguous zone and a 200-nautical-mile exclusive economic zone."
"Hey, aren't you here? My warship cannon is pointed at you." Liu Sheng patted Zhao Xin's shoulder affectionately.
"This matter can't be settled in a while. Even if I dare to buy it, who dares to sell it? Besides, if you buy it, can you drive it alone?"
"I'll find a way." Liu Sheng said confidently.
Zhao Xin curled his lips and ignored him.
Katsuzaburo's voice came from the walkie-talkie: "Sir, sir, how is the situation?"
"Everything is fine." Zhao Xin responded, pressing the walkie-talkie on his shoulder.
"What is he asking?" Liu Sheng asked casually.
"Katsuzaburo is asking about our situation." Zhao Xin paused and continued: "I say, you have to learn a foreign language, otherwise you won't be able to communicate with these people. I can't always be your personal translator.
Right." Zhao Xin complained to Liu Sheng.
"Then you can't let them all learn Chinese?" Liu Sheng responded dissatisfied.
"Yes, of course they have to learn Chinese, but they won't be able to use it right away, right? Listen to me, you can learn it from Katsusaburo, he has a serious Kanto accent. As for Liji, they can't learn it, they are all Kanto dialect."
Liu Sheng shrugged and reluctantly agreed.
"Okay, we have checked the situation one kilometer away. Let's take them ashore. There are still a lot of things to do, otherwise we won't even be able to live in the tent before dark." Zhao Xin felt that the time was almost up, so he urged.
Liu Sheng.
At the same time, while Liu Sheng was not paying attention, he quietly took out the jade pendant and knocked it on the ground. A large number of shovels, pickaxes, and sickles appeared in the grass.
Zhao Xin had no intention of telling the secret of the jade pendant. Liu Sheng still thought that Zhao Xin was just making gestures with his hands. However, in Liu Sheng's eyes, this kind of behavior was no longer something a "magic stick" could do. He was almost like an alien.
People.
When Zhao Xin himself was disassembling the gun for maintenance two days ago, he accidentally made a big gash in the tiger's mouth on his right hand.
At that time, he was the only one in the tent, so Zhao Xin searched for the medical bag by himself. In a hurry, the blood from the wound stained the jade pendant.
This time Zhao Xin noticed that the jade pendant absorbed all the blood from his wound, and the injured area healed very quickly, leaving only a faint scar, which surprised Zhao Xin.
During the process of dismantling the tent and recycling all the materials before evacuating the camp, Zhao Xin was so busy that he put the materials in and took them out several times. After going back and forth a few times, he found that he could hold the jade pendant and concentrate his thoughts.
, take out a certain type of materials, instead of putting them all out as soon as you take them, and then busy taking them back one by one.
The two turned around and walked back to the shore, untied the cable and started the assault boat.
"You guys ask everyone to prepare for landing." Zhao Xin shouted into the walkie-talkie.
Immediately, the two boarded the assault boat and began to take everyone ashore.