Chapter 351: Oroqen Horses, Cannon Fire
The fight between the two attracted everyone's attention.
Though it wasn't exactly everyone; Wang An noticed that many soldiers and police officers immediately departed after climbing down from their sleds.
Soon, Wang Shuai was forced to fight back.
Because for anyone, the best defense is a good offense.
People like Wu Dong and Sun Nian, who loved nothing more than watching a commotion, began cheering for their respective "bros" and "sisters."
Following suit, more people began joining in the chaos, regardless of which side they were on.
"Nice, nice!"
"Kick him! Kick him!"
"The head! Watch the head!"
"Slam him! Slam him!"
"Aw, he missed!"
"Yes, yes! Grab him!"
It had to be said, this group was truly bored out of their minds. One would think they'd be more serious about hunting bandits, but here they were, treating it like a theatrical performance.
The most unreliable of the bunch had to be Wang An's "sworn brother" Wang Shuai and his "sworn sister" Zhang Shuya.
These two didn't have a single shred of leadership quality.
Whether it was a real fight or a staged one, this kind of hand-to-hand combat primarily tested endurance and the ability to take a hit.
As for actual techniques, they didn't seem to matter at all.
Come to think of it, it made perfect sense that Zhang Shuya could "eat so much meat" (be so hearty/strong), because as time passed, Wang Shuai clearly fell into a disadvantage.
A few seconds later, Zhang Shuya seized the opportunity and executed a standard shoulder throw on Wang Shuai.
However, the moment Wang Shuai was about to hit the ground, Zhang Shuya clearly yanked him upward. Thus, while Wang Shuai ended up lying there, he actually suffered no injury whatsoever.
It had to be said, Zhang Shuya was truly hearty, but she could truly fight as well.
Then, Zhang Shuya squatted down, poked Wang Shuai's head, and said
"Do I really have to teach you what to say?"
Wang Shuai blinked and shouted quite bluntly while lying there: "Boss!"
Hearing this, Zhang Shuya patted Wang Shuai's head with satisfaction and replied with a smile, "Yeah."
After speaking, Zhang Shuya stood up and ignored Wang Shuai.
At this moment, Wu Dong and the others, who had been cheering for Wang Shuai, began making sarcastic remarks.
"What a total coward."
"Holy crap, he caved that quickly?"
"Pathetic, can't even beat a woman."
But Sun Nian suddenly couldn't stand it anymore. She looked at the sarcastic crowd with utter contempt and said
"Which one of you thinks you can do better? None of you could even beat me. If you went up against Shuya, do you think you'd last three moves?"
Sun Nian's words carried significant weight; everyone making sarcastic comments immediately shut their mouths in embarrassment.
Standing up, Wang Shuai brushed the snowflakes off his clothes and said with an expression of "defeated but honored"
"Only Nian-nian is sensible. You bunch of bastards only know how to talk trash."
Wang An could tell now that whether it was the group of four including Wang Shuai and Wu Dong, or Zhang Shuya, Sun Nian, and Liu Meng, they all knew each other.
Furthermore, from the way they addressed one another, it was easy to see that their relationships were quite good.
Wang An guessed that these people likely belonged to the same social circle in Ice City, though many were probably in competition with one another.
That was normal; wherever there are people, how could there be no competition?
As the battle between the two came to a close, the military and police forces began assembling their teams.
Standing in the middle, Wang An and his two companions looked truly isolated and outnumbered, giving off the vibe of a dog entering a wolf pack.
Moreover, both the military and police were wearing the same style of green military overcoats and standard-issue cotton hats.
In contrast, Wang An's group wore hunting gear in three different colors and fur hats; to be honest, they looked quite out of place.
The key issue was that he didn't know what Wu Dong and Zhang Shuya were thinking, placing Wang An's group right in the middle of these two factions.
In this situation, it looked as if these two groups of officers had captured Wang An and his companions.
Once the teams were assembled, no one spoke. Even Wang Shuai and Sun Nian became solemn and expressionless.
After waiting a few more minutes, a police officer spoke into a walkie-talkie: "Received."
Then, Wu Dong and Zhang Shuya, standing at the front, shouted almost simultaneously: "Attention everyone, move out!"
Everyone began walking toward the forbidden area.
Wang An and his two companions were called out of the formation by Zhang Shuya.
It had to be said that the moment Wang An left the formation, he felt an instant sense of relief throughout his body.
The feeling of being "escorted" was truly not pleasant.
Now relaxed, Wang An resumed his habitual scanning of the surroundings.
When Wang An looked back, he noticed that the horses pulling the sleds for Wu Dong and the others were all uniformly Oroqen horses.
Compared to local horses, Oroqen horses are not large; they are among the medium-sized breeds, with a shoulder height and body length between 1.3 and 1.4 meters.
Naturally, their four legs are not long, but rather short.
However, it must be said that when compared in all aspects for the purpose of trekking and hunting in these great mountains...
Even though Wang An's "Big Son" horse was a warhorse, it couldn't compare to an Oroqen horse.
Oroqen horses are gentle in temperament, agile in movement, and can adapt to the vast majority of environments.
Furthermore, these creatures are incredibly resilient to hunger; even if not fed for a night, they can still be ridden across the mountains and fields for hunting the next day.
Crucially, their endurance is extremely strong when riding or carrying loads through these mountains.
Even more impressive is that riding one allows you to weave through forests, cross gullies, and traverse fallen logs; climbing mountains is a breeze.
In the summer, they can carry a person and leap across grass hummocks in the marshes; while a human cannot distinguish which hummock is solid, the horse can.
In the winter, especially when descending steep snowy slopes, these creatures can carry a person and sit on the snow like a dog, sliding down the steep incline.
Of course, the most impressive part is that Oroqen horses, regardless of gender or whether they have been gelded, are very skilled in combat.
Just like Wang An's "Big Son," they have no problem fighting off wolves or red dogs.
At the end of the day, the Oroqen horse was specifically bred over generations by the Oroqen people for hunting.
The problem was, while they were truly excellent, they were incredibly difficult to buy, or rather, they rarely circulated on the open market.
Almost every mountain trekker wanted to own an Oroqen horse, just as they wanted to own a high-quality rifle.
As a mountain trekker, Wang An was no exception. Moreover, Wang An had one major advantage: he wasn't short on money!
It wasn't that wanting an Oroqen horse meant he no longer wanted "Big Son."
But for gold panning and ginseng digging, one stays in the mountains for days or even one to two months, and the conditions in the mountains are extremely complex.
Under such circumstances, only an Oroqen horse is perfectly suited for the task.
Therefore, when Wang An discovered that the horses pulling the sleds were all Oroqen horses, his eyes practically lit up.
To be honest, if Mu Xueqing, Shen Wei, or Fang Xiu'e saw the look in Wang An's eyes right now, they would undoubtedly assume it was the prelude to him wanting to "get intimate."
Turning his head back, Wang An began to silently ponder the Oroqen horses in his mind.
Just as Wang An was lost in thought, several sounds of "Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"—the sound of cannons—reached his ears.
Wang An was certain; this was definitely cannon fire, not the sound of dynamite exploding.