After a spring rain, the vegetation on the mountain grew even more lush.
The soldiers had been frequently hunting in the area recently and had become quite familiar with the nearby forests. They had dug pitfalls and made some traps, but perhaps due to hunting in the vicinity for several consecutive days, they found nothing in the pre-set traps they visited.
Along the way, Fanyu Changyu hadn’t even seen a single rabbit.
The young officer leading the group said, “If we want to hunt something good, we’ll probably need to spread out and search deeper into the forest.”
After pondering for a moment, he divided the hundred or so men who had come along into small teams of ten. A small portion was left to continue searching for prey in the previously hunted areas of the forest, while the rest followed him deeper into the mountains.
Fanyu Changyu and the two soldiers secretly assigned by Gongsun Yin were placed in one group to hunt in the outer areas. It was an intentional arrangement, fearing that Fanyu Changyu might encounter some danger if she went deep into the forest.
Fanyu Changyu had suggested switching with the soldiers who were going into the old forest, but when the young officer issued a military order, she knew that in the army, still disguised as a small soldier from Jizhou, it wasn’t appropriate to insist further.
The group wandered around the forest, only managing to hunt a few pheasants. They raided some nests and collected quite a few pheasant eggs, which a young soldier had to carry in his removed shirt.
Fanyu Changyu, having experience hunting in the mountains with her father, kept her eyes vigilantly scanning the surroundings. The rain-softened mountain soil easily retained traces.
She noticed signs of a large animal scratching at pine needles on the ground where the underbrush met the deeper forest. She told the group, “This looks like wild boar tracks. If we follow them, we might find a boar den.”
One of the soldiers, realizing they would have to enter the dense forest, hesitated, “But Miss Fan, Lieutenant Yang ordered us to hunt in the outer areas and await further instructions…”
Fanyu Changyu thought for a moment and said, “How about this: you wait for me out here, and I’ll go in alone to take a look. I’m not one of your military personnel, so Lieutenant Yang’s orders naturally don’t apply to me. This way, it won’t be considered a violation of military orders.”
The two soldiers inwardly groaned, thinking that Lieutenant Yang had told them not to go into the dense forest precisely to prevent Fanyu Changyu from getting into any trouble. If they let Fanyu Changyu go into the forest alone, they’d be asking for death.
One of the soldiers said, “Miss Fan, why don’t you wait out here, and we’ll find a few brothers to go in and look for the boar den?”
The army’s scouts were meticulous; following the tracks wouldn’t lead to any mishaps.
Their various attempts to obstruct her made Fanyu Changyu feel like she was holding them back by coming along. She looked at the soldier and said, “I’ve gone hunting in the mountains with my father many times. I have experience. You don’t need to be so cautious just because I’m a woman. If I thought I’d be a burden, I wouldn’t have come with you in the first place.”
In truth, Fanyu Changyu was already somewhat regretting her decision. She felt these men were being overly fussy, and she thought she should have just acted on her own.
The two soldiers couldn’t argue. Throughout the journey, they noticed that Fanyu Changyu was not a delicate lady. She hadn’t even been out of breath after walking such a long distance, clearly showing she was well-trained. After some hesitation, they followed Fanyu Changyu into the dense forest.
Ancient trees towered overhead, and being early morning, there was some post-rain mist in the forest. The two soldiers constantly called out, telling those behind to stay close.
Fanyu Changyu would make a mark on a tree trunk with her butcher’s knife every so often as she followed the tracks.
When she noticed claw marks on a pine tree, she suddenly stopped, crouched down to examine the traces, and frowned, saying, “It doesn’t seem to be a wild boar…”
Just as she finished speaking, an earth-shattering roar came from ahead.
A robust black bear stood not far away, its mouth holding half a bloody bird wing, looking at them with bloodthirsty eyes, clearly protecting its food.
The soldiers’ hearts pounded with fear. One soldier grabbed Fanyu Changyu’s sleeve and started backing away, “Miss Fan, quick, let’s go! It’s a black bear!”
Fanyu Changyu had experience hunting wild boars and wild cattle with her father, but she had never hunted a black bear before.
While the soldiers were panicking, she frowned, merely calculating whether or not to hunt it. Killing this black bear would probably take quite some effort. She had never eaten bear meat and didn’t know if the whole animal would be edible. If they only took the bear’s paws, it would be too wasteful.
As she was being pulled back, she pondered for a moment, then turned to the two soldiers and said, “Why don’t we kill it? It’s not easy to find such prey.”
The soldiers and young troops all stared at Fanyu Changyu in disbelief, unsure if she had been frightened out of her wits or if it was pure ignorance making her fearless.
Among fierce beasts, bears and tigers were known to be the most difficult to hunt. There were only ten of them, armed with just swords and ordinary bows and arrows. They didn’t even have large crossbows or long spears. How could they possibly hunt a bear?
Perhaps provoked by their retreating movement, the black bear suddenly tossed aside the crane in its mouth and charged straight at them.
Everyone was startled and quickly scattered to make it difficult for the bear to pursue them.
The more agile ones climbed trees like monkeys. The black bear rammed a tree with its body, toppling the thick trunk and sending a young soldier tumbling down with a cry.
To prevent the young soldier from perishing under the bear’s paws, Fanyu Changyu, knowing the bear’s limbs were agile and that a pig-catching rope wouldn’t work, still took the long rope from her waist and tried to lasso the bear’s neck.
With one foot braced against an ancient tree, she wrapped the rope around each hand once and pulled back with all her might.
The bear, its neck caught in the lasso, couldn’t bring its paw down in time and was yanked backward by the tremendous force on the rope, crashing to the ground with a thunderous “boom”.
The panicked young soldiers, seeing this, were all astounded. They hadn’t expected Fanyu Changyu to possess such strength. Once they came to their senses, they all rushed forward to help pull on the rope.
The two more experienced soldiers quickly took up their weapons and stabbed at the bear.
The black bear’s massive paws swung left and right, preventing the two soldiers from getting close. They couldn’t wound its chest or belly, only managing to inflict two bloody gashes on its back. But the bear’s thick hide and flesh meant these wounds wouldn’t be fatal. Instead, they enraged the bear further, and with its sharp claws, it snapped the rope.
Fanyu Changyu and the young soldiers who had been pulling with all their might stumbled and fell.
Free from the choking rope, the bear furiously attacked the two soldiers. They clearly couldn’t match the bear’s strength and relied solely on their agility to stay alive under its paws. Still, they shouted in Fanyu Changyu’s direction, “Quickly, take Miss Fan and go!”
How could Fanyu Changyu abandon them and leave? She immediately swung her heavy butcher’s knife and hurled it at the bear. It pierced the bear’s back but didn’t sink in deep enough to be fatal.
However, this action drew the bear’s full attention. It turned its head towards Fanyu Changyu, roared, and then charged at her.
Fanyu Changyu told the young soldiers to scatter and ran herself, leading the bear towards the bamboo forest. During this, she managed to slash the bear’s chest with her butcher’s knife, but the cut wasn’t deep.
In pain, the bear rampaged through the surrounding bushes. When Fanyu Changyu reached the edge of the bamboo forest, she quickly cut down a thick bamboo stalk and fashioned it into a sharp spear. Instead of retreating further, she charged at the bear with her makeshift weapon.
The bamboo spear gave her a reach advantage. From a distance of about ten feet, with the momentum of her charge, she drove the spear into the bear’s heart through the wound she had made earlier. The bear let out an agonized roar and broke the bamboo spear with one swipe.
Fanyu Changyu stepped on a nearby bamboo to propel herself upward, then plunged her butcher’s knife deep into the bear’s chest wound. Foul-smelling blood splattered all over her, covering much of her face.
She didn’t even blink, appearing as fierce as a leopard locked in a death struggle with the bear.
After the bear crashed to the ground, Fanyu Changyu shook the blood off her butcher’s knife and muttered, almost to herself, “Hunting bears is indeed more troublesome.”
In earlier years, when her father hunted in the mountains to supplement the family income, he had hunted bears too, but at that time she hadn’t realized how dangerous bear hunting was.
The soldiers and young troops finally caught up, seeing the dead bear on the ground and Fanyu Changyu with her clothes splattered with blood. They unconsciously gulped, shocked and somewhat bewildered, feeling as if they were in a dream.
How could this seemingly kind and docile young woman have single-handedly hunted a bear?
If word of this got back to the camp, probably no one would believe it. What kind of freak was she?
The two soldiers who had accompanied Xie Zheng to Qingping County and had seen Fanyu Changyu throw a person with one hand on the boat managed to control their expressions somewhat. They just exchanged a glance, both thinking: if this young woman were to fight with their Marquis in the future, who knows who would win?
Fanyu Changyu wiped the blood from her face with her sleeve. The killing intent in her eyes faded, and she returned to her usual harmless appearance. She asked them, “Should we just take the bear paws back, or bring the whole bear?”
The young soldiers had no opinion, but one of the experienced soldiers said, “Mountain provisions are already scarce. Let’s take it all back.”
Everyone agreed. They quickly cut bamboo and vines to make a simple sled and placed the dead bear on it.
The young soldiers and the two experienced ones took turns pulling the sled. They didn’t let Fanyu Changyu exert herself anymore on the return journey.
However, pulling such a heavy load slowed their return. On the way, they encountered the young officer who had hunted a wild boar. When he learned that Fanyu Changyu had hunted a black bear, he nearly dropped his jaw in shock.
The group headed back with a mix of joy and complex emotions. Just as they emerged from the forest, they heard the sound of a horn calling for help from the foot of the mountain.
The young officer exclaimed, “Not good! The rebels are attacking the mountain!”
He quickly assigned about a dozen men to continue bringing back the prey, while the rest followed him to support the key mountain paths.
As expected, Fanyu Changyu was assigned to continue transporting the prey. She didn’t want to go down the mountain, but her keen nose caught the scent of roasting meat.
She asked the soldiers and young troops, “Do you smell that fragrance?”
The troops, who hadn’t had a truly satisfying meal in a long time, all swallowed hard. After eating thin porridge and vegetable soup for days on the mountain, even the thought of salt made their mouths water, let alone such a rich meat aroma.
After questioning a soldier who was running up the mountain to report, one of the experienced soldiers answered, “The rebels are attacking the mountain while roasting meat at the foot to tempt us to surrender, trying to break our morale.”
Fanyu Changyu thought this tactic was too underhanded and wondered if Old Man Tao and the reinforcements from Yan and Ji Provinces could devise a countermeasure at the foot of the mountain.
Seeing Fanyu Changyu’s concern, the soldier said, “The men of Yan Province have a backbone. Even if we were down to eating grass roots and tree bark, let alone still having provisions, we wouldn’t be swayed by such a low tactic from the rebels!”
They were at the junction of the camp and the forest, with a clear view. Looking down the mountain, they could even see the number of tents the rebels had set up at the foot.
Fanyu Changyu noticed that the number of Chongzhou army tents was more than twice that of the tents on the mountain. She frowned and said, “The rebels outnumber us, and they’ve blocked all the roads.”
But the soldier explained, “Miss, don’t just look at the arrangement of the rebel tents. The rebels have withdrawn half their forces but haven’t reduced their tents. This is partly to confuse us in case of a night raid from the mountain, and partly to intimidate our recruits, making them think the enemy below is numerous and lose their will to fight.”
On her way here, Fanyu Changyu had heard Old Man Tao talk about some aspects of warfare, but without specific reference points, she had only half-understood it.
Now, hearing that even a common soldier in the Yan Province army knew so much, she praised, “You know so much!”
The soldier, realizing he had said too much and fearing trouble, quickly added, “When you’ve been in the military camp for a long time, you pick up a thing or two.”
Fanyu Changyu asked curiously, “Then how do you determine their exact numbers?”
The soldier answered, “By looking at the cooking smoke. The number of tents can be faked, but the smoke from cooking fires can’t. The number of stoves needed for cooking reveals the number of people to feed. You can estimate the troop strength from that.”
Fanyu Changyu looked at the areas with thick smoke at the foot of the mountain, then at the few wisps of smoke behind the mountain. She drew her butcher’s knife and, with her honest almond-shaped eyes, sincerely suggested, “There are fewer people over there. Why don’t we launch a sneak attack from that side?”