It had to be admitted that the person who painted on the deer hide was absolutely a master.
Every mountain in the painting was rendered with lifelike precision; no matter where one stood, the mountains in the painting could be overlapped perfectly with the mountains before one's eyes.
After hearing the confirmation from the three of them, Wang An gave a broad wave of his hand and pointed toward a hillside ahead that had a wide field of vision, higher ground, and relatively open surroundings.
"That hillside. We'll pitch the tent on that hillside. It's sheltered from the wind and the ground is quite high, so if it happens to rain, we won't end up flooded."
As he spoke, Wang An led the way toward the spot, leading his horse, while Mu Xueli and the other two followed suit.
When spending the night in these great mountains, one could absolutely not be careless about where they stayed.
First, the field of vision had to be wide, and there couldn't be too many things around to obstruct the line of sight.
Only then, if wild beasts attacked the tent, would there be sufficient time to counterattack. Even if a timely counterattack wasn't possible, at the very least, one could run faster when escaping and avoid being ambushed by hidden beasts.
Secondly, the terrain must not be too low; that is, one must absolutely not pitch a tent in a depression.
Because the annual precipitation in the Lesser Khingan Mountains was very high, a random heavy rain could submerge a low-lying area, leaving one with nowhere to run.
If a flash flood were to occur on top of that, no matter how many lives one had, they would all be surrendered to these mountains.
Finally, one had to choose a spot slightly far from water, which was also very important.
Places too close to water inevitably attracted wild beasts coming to drink, which was not friendly to human safety. Furthermore, when floods occurred, the water volume usually increased gradually from existing rivers or streams.
Once the four of them reached the hillside designated by Wang An, they first unloaded all the gear from the horses' backs to let the animals graze freely, and only then did they work together to pitch the tent.
For this trip into the mountains, Wang An's group had only brought one tent, but it was enough. After all, in these mountains, having a place to shelter from the wind and rain to sleep was good enough; there was no need for excessive fuss.
But truth be told, the tent Wu Dong had arranged was actually quite good; not only was it sturdy as a rock, but it was also very convenient to assemble.
Thus, in just a short while, the four of them had the tent set up.
They laid a layer of plastic sheeting inside the tent and topped it with bear-skin rugs, and they had a place to sleep for the night.
Doing it this way provided both moisture-proofing and warmth; even in the late autumn of the Northeast, sleeping inside the tent wouldn't be cold.
Of course, if it were winter, that would be a different story. In winter, a fire had to be lit; otherwise, a person would freeze to death.
After finishing the tent and checking it carefully once more, Wang An called out to Mu Xueli and Huang Zhong
"Xueli, you and Xiao Zhong go ahead and gather some firewood, then start a fire to boil some water. While you're at it, dig up some wild mushrooms and sandy onions or whatever. Old Wu and I will wander around the vicinity to see if we can hunt something back."
Wang An's primary purpose for wandering nearby wasn't necessarily to catch prey, but to observe the surrounding conditions, locate the water source, and simultaneously find the location of that old *lao-dao-zi* (hunting blind).
In short, hunting was not the main goal; whether they caught anything or not didn't matter.
Mu Xueli agreed with a chuckle
"Mm-hmm, Brother-in-law, try to bring back a roe deer if you can. Roe deer meat is tender; one deer is enough for us to eat for two days, hehehehe..."
Hearing that this fellow was already ordering the menu, Wang An laughed and scolded him irritably
"I think you're the one who looks like a silly roe deer. How about you go wander with Old Wu, and I'll stay here with Xiao Zhong?"
Mu Xueli scratched his head and said
"That's probably unnecessary. My marksmanship isn't as good as yours; it's better if you two go and secure something, hehehehe..."
Wang An waved his hand and said
"Alright, stop talking nonsense and hurry up and get the firewood. It'll be dark soon."
Wang An led Xiao Bai and Xiao Hei, while Wang Li followed beside him carrying a gun. The two of them walked along the ridge, while Mu Xueli and Huang Zhong each took an axe and headed toward the nearby woods.
After Wang An and Wang Li had walked about a *li* along the ridge, Xiao Bai and Xiao Hei barked together.
Wang An tugged the leash and said to Xiao Hei and Xiao Bai
"Stop barking, you two. Xiao Hei, where's the prey? Let's go over quietly."
When Wang An said to stop barking, Xiao Hei and Xiao Bai understood instantly, because whenever guests came to the house, the phrase the family used most was "stop barking."
Xiao Hei turned to look at Wang An, let out two "wu-wu" sounds in one direction, and then pulled the leash toward that direction.
Xiao Bai didn't quite understand Wang An's words, but he could understand what Xiao Hei was barking about. Seeing Xiao Hei pulling in that direction, Xiao Bai also began to pull hard on the leash.
Xiao Bai and Xiao Hei each weighed over 140 pounds but under 150 pounds, so even with Wang An's weight of over 200 pounds, he was pulled so hard that his gait became unsteady.
During this time, Xiao Bai disobediently barked twice more, both times silenced by Wang An's shout.
At this moment, Wang An couldn't help but think of Da Hei!
If Da Hei were here, Wang An would only need to give a few instructions, and Da Hei would perfectly convey Wang An's intentions to the other dogs, removing the need to repeatedly tell the dogs what to do.
As the saying goes, "A thousand soldiers are easy to get, but one general is hard to find." If this phrase were applied to hunting dogs, it would be "A pack of dogs is easy to get, but a lead dog is hard to find."
Of course, the "lead dog" mentioned here referred to a dog like Da Hei—one who was obedient, sensible, wise, fierce, and could understand human speech—not just an ordinary mountain-driving lead dog.
Fortunately, Xiao Hei was only four years old. With plenty of training and communication, he should be able to reach Da Hei's level.
Under the pulling of Xiao Bai and Xiao Hei, Wang An and Wang Li soon arrived at a meadow.
The area of this meadow was actually quite large, spanning a full 30 *mu*.
Knee-deep green grass grew upon it, looking full of vitality.
Looking further, a small stream flowed slowly down from the mountain, with small fish and shrimp constantly leaping on the water's surface.
The scenery here was truly beautiful.
Of course, in the great mountains, such scenery was very common—practically countless.
At a glance, Wang Li subconsciously blurted out
"Holy shit, this place is great! It's so flat. If we planted corn here, one *mu* would yield at least a thousand pounds!"
Wang An was stunned for a moment, gave Wang Li an irritated glare, and said
"What the fuck are you planting corn for? Where the hell are your eyes looking? Hurry up, aim and shoot, damn it! You idiot."
As he spoke, Wang An pointed with his chin in the direction of the roe deer.