Chapter 107: Armored Cannon Egg
Wild boars, and a group of them, there were probably at least a dozen of them.

The big wild boar in the lead was obviously at least two sizes larger than the other pigs. Its tusks were curved and turned outward, and it was estimated to weigh four or five hundred kilograms.

Xiaonian and Junqiang looked in the direction the second child pointed and became excited as well.

“Pigs! A bunch of wild boars! Brother Erhai, we’ve made a fortune!”

“Don’t say anything, follow me and move slowly! Xiaonian, hold the knife! Junqiang, hold the leg plug. Wild boars can’t climb trees. If there is any danger, climb up the tree. Do you understand?”

After all, the second child was a few years older than the two of them, and he told the younger brother a lot of precautions before taking action.

The two brothers did as they were told and followed Zhu Erhai slowly along the ridge.

When they got within about 150 meters, the big cannon egg that was grunting and searching for food at the bottom of the valley suddenly stopped and started sniffing around.

Seeing this scene, Zhu Erhai and the other two were so frightened that they immediately fell to the ground.

Just now I swore that the wild boar’s nose was very sensitive and that one should pay attention to the downwind direction, but when it came to actual combat, I had already forgotten these details.

However, the three brothers had the advantage of geographical location. After they lay down on the ridge, it was not easy for the wild boar to detect danger through smell.

Zhu Erhai didn’t dare to stand up and move forward. He could only let the two brothers wait where they were while he crawled forward with the gun in hand.

They were about 50 to 60 meters away, which was the limit of how close they could get. If they moved any further, not only would there be no cover, but they would also lose the advantage of the higher terrain and vision.

Seeing that he couldn’t get any closer, Zhu Erhai opened the magazine of the Hanyang gun to confirm. He then followed the key points taught by the instructor when the militia was shooting, aiming at three points in a straight line, then he pulled the trigger after he caught the largest cannon ball in the sight.

There was a dull gunshot, and sparks suddenly appeared above the front shoulder near the back of the wild boar, which was digging the ground with its head down.

Hum! Chase!

The herd of wild boars immediately became chaotic and ran around in all directions.

The cannon egg that was hit only paused for half a second after being shot, and then rushed towards Zhu Erhai.

The huge boar weighing more than 400 pounds was running on the snow crust. Although it was not earth-shaking, it was still quite impressive. Zhu Erhai’s face was pale. He forced himself to suppress the urge to turn around and run away. He pulled the bolt to eject the shell, and then fired another shot at the wild boar that was rushing towards him.

throat!
The wild boar was shot in the front leg as it was moving forward. It staggered and almost fell, but it quickly steadied itself and continued to rush forward.

Zhu Erhai pulled the bolt again and pulled the trigger.

But this time there was no sound of the bullet firing; the bullet jammed.

Before he could even bother to eject the bullet or troubleshoot the problem, Zhu Erhai smelled a strange mixture of stench, blood and pine oil that came like a whirlwind, and then the whole world in his eyes began to turn upside down.

The injured Cannonball Boar is an existence that even tigers and blind bears are unwilling to provoke easily. Moreover, this Cannonball Boar is a little different from other boars. There is a layer of armor made of gravel and mud on its shoulders and back.

This was a cannon ball in armor. The first shot produced sparks when the bullet hit the pine oil-stained stones on its back, and fragments of the bullet flew everywhere, but it did not cause any serious trauma at all.

“Oh no! The second child’s brother was taken away by the big cannon’s egg! What should we do?”

Junqiang was one year younger after all. When he saw that Erhai failed to knock down the wild boar after two consecutive shots and was instead pushed back several corners by the wild boar, he suddenly panicked.

“Don’t worry about him, run!!”

Wang Xiaonian had a sharp knife in his hand, and Junqiang only had a calf stick, so they had no confidence to confront the wild boar head-on. So the mean Wang Xiaonian saw that things were not going well and ran away decisively.

“What about the gun? What should we do with it?” Junqiang was afraid of getting beaten when he got home if he lost his gun, so he was a little hesitant.

“The wild boar will at most knock him over a few times, but he won’t die! We only have a knife in our hands, and bullets can’t penetrate it. I saw sparks coming out of the wild boar’s back just now! Wait until the wild boar is gone, and then we can come and rescue him!”

If it were any other person of the same age, they would have been completely terrified at this moment, but Wang Xiaonian was quite quick-witted. Putting aside his lack of loyalty and the fact that he would run away on his own when in danger, his temporary reaction was indeed better than that of ordinary people.

Junqiang was completely panicked at this moment, so he just did whatever Xiaonian said. The two brothers climbed up the mountain ridge from their hiding place in a hurry, fearing that the wild boar would chase them. Not wanting to be worried, they even climbed up a pine tree that was slightly thicker than a bowl in one breath.

The two brothers stayed on the tree, hugging the trunk for five minutes before they came to their senses.

“Brother Xiaonian, will the second child be killed by a wild boar?”

At this moment, Junqiang no longer wanted to share the big money from hunting wild boars, but was thinking about what to do if he got into big trouble when he returned home.

If anything happens to the second child, it won’t just be a matter of getting slapped when he gets home. The Zhu family might even make a big fuss.

“It shouldn’t be…right! At most he’ll somersault to vent his anger. As long as he doesn’t struggle, the wild boar will find it boring and leave on its own!” Wang Xiaonian said with some lack of confidence.

“It’s been five minutes. Should we go down and take a look?”

“Wait a few more minutes, if there’s no movement, go down and take a look!”

These few minutes were extremely torturous. Wang Xiaonian also imagined how the situation would end if a major problem occurred. When he thought of the Zhu family’s reputation in the village, Wang Xiaonian felt a headache.

“Brother Xiaonian, let’s go down, the wild boar should be gone!”

“Down!”

Soon the two brothers slid down holding the tree trunk, and then looked back carefully.

From a distance, I could see Zhu Erhai lying on the ground motionless, and the invulnerable cannon ball was gone.

“Brother Erhai, what’s wrong with you? Are you okay?” Xiaonian hurriedly came up and greeted him gently twice.

“Ouch! My butt!” Zhu Erhai, who had been holding his breath and pretending to be dead, let out a long breath when he heard someone calling him, and groaned while covering his butt.

“No one is seriously hurt!” Xiaonian and Junqiang looked at each other, both of them looked like they had survived a disaster.

“You two are so mean. When you saw me being pushed by a wild boar, you turned around and ran away! Why didn’t you help me up?”

Zhu Erhai’s tone was a little complaining. When he stood up, he felt a chill on his butt. He touched it with his hand and found that the wild boar’s tusks had torn a hole in his cotton pants at the hip area, exposing his butt. It was chilly, wasn’t it?

“This big guy can’t be killed even with a gun. We only have two small broken knives in our hands. We have no choice but to run away!” Junqiang said with some fear.

The three brothers examined Zhu Erhai and fortunately, Zhu Erhai only had a shallow bloody mark on his buttocks and a hole in his cotton pants, but the rest was not seriously injured. This was directly related to a life-saving trick that Zhu Jianshe taught his son.

Whether it is a wild boar or a bear, their eyesight is actually very poor. After they are attacked and enraged, the more they struggle, the greater the injuries they suffer.

For someone like Zhu Erhai, the injuries on his body were simply caused by the wild boar’s front snout and tusks picking him up and causing him to fall heavily to the ground. He then lay motionless and pretended to be dead.

In winter, people wear thick cotton coats and trousers. The wild boar pushed a few more times, and the person who pushed against the sky turned over on the ground. Seeing that there was no reaction at all, the wild boar’s anger disappeared for the most part.

The same principle applies if you are controlled by a bear at close range. A creature like a blind bear will most likely sit on you and bite your arm if your arm moves, or your leg if your leg moves.

On the contrary, if you pretend to be dead and stay still, the bear will lose the desire to attack, and the injury you receive may be less serious than if you struggle desperately. Of course, this situation assumes that the bear is not hungry. A hungry bear will eat people, and it is not just a simple matter of biting them to death to vent its anger.

“Brother Erhai, what should we do next? Should we continue looking for pigs?”

Xiaonian saw that there was basically nothing to do with his second child, so he started thinking about continuing to beat the pigs.

It’s not easy to come here, and Zhu Erhai’s posture of shooting the wild boar in a prone position just now looked quite realistic, but he was just unlucky and hit the armored cannon egg.

Upon hearing this question, Zhu Erhai was furious: “This broken gun jammed at a critical moment and almost cost me my life, and it’s useless!!”

Despite his complaints, Zhu Erhai still took the gun from Junqiang again.

He tried to pull the bolt again. After several consecutive jams, the bullet that was stuck when it was about to be loaded and fired was successfully ejected. He pulled the bolt again and the next bullet was successfully loaded.

The Hanyang rifle has the problem of being easily jammed since it was a new gun. This is a design flaw. It may not seem like a big deal at normal times, but when it comes to a critical moment, the bullet jams and cannot be loaded into the chamber, and naturally it cannot be fired. Its safety and stability are too poor.

“Was it stuck just now? The fault has been eliminated!” Xiaonian saw that the fault was successfully eliminated, and a new hope arose in his heart.

I had to steal a gun and walk for several hours deep into the mountains. I would be unwilling to go back empty-handed.

“Those pigs must have run away. It’s unlikely that we can catch up with them and shoot them! Otherwise, why don’t we go to Forest Farm No. 14 to have a look?”

Zhu Erhai also knew how difficult it was to go up the mountain, so despite all his complaints, he still decided to take a look around.

“We both listen to our second brother!”

“Then let’s go to Forest Farm No. 14!” The three brothers reached a consensus again and continued to move towards the new hunting ground.

Zhu Erhai was lucky today, not only did he encounter a group of big wild boars and survive, but he also unexpectedly encountered an unexpected prey on the way to Forest Farm No. 14.

The three brothers were walking slowly along the ridge when they suddenly heard a struggle coming from the bushes not far away.

Three deer-like animals, one big and two small, ran quickly from the bushes into the distance with light and nimble steps. A heart-shaped ball of white hair was raised on their buttocks, and they looked very conspicuous as they walked and jumped.

The mythical beast of Northeast China, the silly roe deer!

“It’s a roe deer! It ran far away. Should we chase it?” Wang Xiaonian asked anxiously.

Zhu Erhai shook his head: “This thing is said to fly on the snow, and even hunting dogs can’t catch up with it. How can we catch up with our two legs?”

“Oh, what a pity! If we can’t kill the wild boar, we can at least take a roe deer back. Even if we can’t sell it for money, we can each share a dozen or twenty pounds of meat after killing it. Isn’t that good too!” Junqiang muttered with some regret.

“Who said you can’t beat me? Watch me!!”

Zhu Erhai lowered his head and searched around for a long time. He quickly picked up a dry branch as thick as his wrist, tried it in his hand, and then knocked it four or five times on the tree trunk next to him.

“Brother Er Hai, what are you doing?”

“Don’t say anything, find a place to hide, wait a while, this stupid roe deer will come back on its own!”

After Zhu Erhai finished speaking, he dropped the stick, turned around and walked towards a big tree not far away.

You know what, silly roe deer, silly roe deer, I don’t know how this thing can survive in the harsh mountains.

Zhu Erhai’s action may seem completely illogical to some people, but it actually reflects his understanding of the habits of the silly roe deer.

The three brothers hid behind the tree and waited for more than ten minutes. Sure enough, the silly roe deer that had escaped swiftly in front of them came back stealthily, looking around.

Zhu Erhai leaned his gun against the tree trunk, aimed at the silly roe deer more than 20 meters away, and then fired decisively.

With a bang, the stupid roe deer fell down.

“Hit it!” Junqiang was extremely excited. After climbing the mountain for so long, he finally hit a mountain animal.

“Let’s go and take a look!” Zhu Erhai put the gun on his shoulder with high spirits and strode towards the fallen roe deer.

This is an adult female roe deer. It is not very big and weighs about 50 kilograms.

He was shot in the neck, leaving a bloody hole as big as a tea bowl, and died on the spot.

“Brother Erhai’s shooting skills are awesome! Awesome!” Xiaonian immediately knelt down and flattered him, giving Zhu Erhai enough emotional value as the captain.

“Pull up the knife, let the roe deer bleed, and open its chest!” Zhu Erhai gave the orders while standing in place.

“Can’t we open the body after we get back? The internal organs are all out and the blood is spurting out. It will be difficult to carry them back!” Xiaonian had some different opinions when he heard that they wanted to open the body on the spot.

Zhu Erhai glanced at Xiaonian and said, “You know nothing. This prey has just been killed and its body is still warm. If we don’t open it now, the heat from its body will cause the contents of its intestines and stomach to react soon.

By the time we drag the roe deer home, the meat will no longer taste good because it has become smelly!

This roe deer only weighs about fifty pounds, and the three of us can carry it back!”

This is indeed true. Most mountain animals have this characteristic, whether it is a wild boar or a roe deer. If they are not gutted after being killed and are left to stew for a day before being cleaned up, the quality of the meat will be greatly affected. If they are gutted on the spot to dissipate the heat, the intestines, stomach, etc. can be easily preserved in water.

“Okay, then let’s listen to Brother Er Hai!”

There is nothing much to say about this little thing. Most of the children who grew up in mountain villages are born with this habit. They cut an artery, turn it over and let the blood drain for a while, and when the blood is almost drained, they use a sharp knife to cut the chest, and then quickly open the entire abdominal cavity, take out a whole bunch of internal organs, and leave them steaming hot under the ice and snow.

(End of this chapter)