The Entire Mountain Is My Hunting Ground

Chapter 280: Chapter 238: Bringing Zhang Yuanmin Home

When Zhang Yuanmin read *Romance of the Three Kingdoms*, he didn’t have any particular thoughts when he got to the burning of Bowan Slope or the burning of Chibi. But after reading about Zhuge Liang incinerating the Vine Armor Soldiers, Zhang Yuanmin suddenly grasped the Fire Attack Skill.

The Vine Armor Soldiers wore armor that was impervious to blades and spears, but their great weakness was fire. The moment a blaze was lit, they were turned to ash.

As for Black Bears, although they didn’t wear vine armor, many of them would hole up in tree dens to hibernate.

The tree dens Black Bears chose for hibernation weren’t picked at random; they had to start preparing them in the summer.

First, they would find a tree den with an opening on the sun-facing side, then leave claw marks and urine on the trunk to signal to other bears that the tree was claimed.

From then on, the bear would periodically climb into its chosen tree den to clean its "room."

This "cleaning" was really just using its claws to scoop out rotten wood chips and damp shavings from inside the tree hollow, scraping away until the den was spotless.

By late autumn, when it moved in, the inside of the tree den would be perfectly dry, not the least bit damp or musty.

Moreover, a hollow tree’s trunk has usually rotted away on the inside. Once it has dried out, the Black Bear slips inside. This tree den was to the Black Bear what the vine armor was to the Vine Armor Soldiers.

Although he had never actually put it into practice, Zhang Yuanmin believed it was feasible. The most critical part, however, was to block the den’s entrance; the Black Bear absolutely could not be allowed to escape.

So, Zhang Yuanmin still pictured it like the first time he went after a Black Bear’s Den with Minister Li and Li Erchen: jamming long poles through the opening and deep into the tree hollow to restrict the Black Bear’s space to move.

What’s more, once the tree was ablaze, the long poles would catch fire too, burning the Black Bear trapped beside them.

These two, Li Yuan and Li Wei, were blinded by greed and actually dared to follow Zhang Yuanmin’s advice. But they bungled the job. The sticks they cut were too short and fell right into the hollow the moment they were inserted.

Furthermore, they cut far too few sticks. Zhang Yuanmin had planned on cutting twenty to thirty, but Li Yuan and Li Wei cut only four in total.

They nailed a few poles over the den’s entrance, but how could that possibly stop a Black Bear?

Then, with a CRACK from above, the two brothers looked up, sensed trouble, and immediately bolted, abandoning the hammer, nails, and bow saw they had brought.

After running just a few steps, Li Wei’s foot caught on a branch, and he went sprawling in the snow. For a second, he thought the Black Bear had pinned him down. He let out a terrified howl and scrambled back up, stumbling on all fours.

Hearing Li Wei’s cry, Li Yuan turned around just in time to see his brother leap past him and hurtle down the slope.

"Huh...?" Li Yuan was baffled. ’The Black Bear didn’t even chase us,’ he thought. ’What’s all this for?’

The two men ran off in a hurry. Since no one was shooting, the Black Bear emerged from its den and slowly climbed down the tree.

Much of the Black Bear’s long fur was now scorched, and it reeked of singed bristles.

After climbing down, the Black Bear glanced at its burning home, completely bewildered. But an animal’s fear of fire is instinctual, so it simply headed off down another path.

By this time, the Li Brothers had returned to their horse-drawn sled. One of them was injured, but not by the Black Bear’s claws or fangs. While tumbling down the slope, he had slammed his leg into a tree, suffering a blunt-force injury.

"Go! Quick!" Li Yuan and Li Wei were so terrified their hands were shaking. They urged the sled onward and hurried back to the Logging Camp.

They returned just in time for the midday meal, but the two brothers didn’t go to the cook’s shack for food. Instead, they went straight back to the workers’ barracks.

The two pushed open the door and saw everyone eating. Zhang Yuanmin was sitting in the middle of the heated platform bed, slurping radish soup from a small basin.

"Big Pants!"

The sudden roar made Zhang Yuanmin’s hand tremble, splashing soup from the basin he was holding.

Zhang Yuanmin placed the soup basin on the low table and saw Li Yuan and Li Wei standing in the doorway, glaring at him furiously.

Zhang Yuanmin frowned. "Who’re you calling Big Pants? Not calling me Brother Zhang anymore?"

Ever since he’d stabbed the Black Bear two days ago, not a single person in the entire Logging Camp, from the boss down to the laborers, dared to call Zhang Yuanmin "Big Pants" anymore.

It gave Zhang Yuanmin a long-lost feeling of respect.

After all, back in Yong’an Village, plenty of the younger men and boys still called him by his nickname.

"I’m talking to you, Big Pants! And you expect us to call you Brother Zhang?" Li Yuan raged. "What the hell kind of trick was that you taught us? My brother and I went after a Black Bear’s Den today, and we nearly got ourselves killed by the damn thing!"

When he heard them say they’d gone after a Black Bear’s Den, Zhang Yuanmin’s eyes had lit up. But the moment he heard his brilliant strategy hadn’t worked, he immediately bristled.

Zhang Yuanmin shot to his feet, pointed at Li Yuan, and said, "Why don’t you tell me exactly what I told you?"

"You’re asking me what you said? Don’t you remember?" Li Yuan shot back.

Zhang Yuanmin turned to the man beside him and asked, "What did I say that day?"

That’s right. Zhang Yuanmin had been drunk off his ass and couldn’t clearly remember what he’d said.

You have to understand, there are two kinds of words in this world you can never trust: the words of a drunk man, and the words of a lover. The Li Brothers must have been out of their minds to believe something like that.

The man beside Zhang Yuanmin didn’t want to get on his bad side, so when asked, he quickly repeated what he’d heard. After listening to the recap, Zhang Yuanmin felt a pang of disappointment. But he wasn’t disappointed in himself; he was upset that such a brilliant fire attack strategy could possibly have failed.

Baffled, Zhang Yuanmin asked Li Yuan, "How exactly did you two try to do it today? Walk me through it."

Li Yuan sullenly started his explanation, but he was barely halfway through when Zhang Yuanmin slammed his hand on the low table and shot to his feet. He pointed at Li Yuan and roared, "I told you to cut plenty of thick poles to jam the entrance! What was that useless crap you were doing? You two screwed it up, and now you have the nerve to blame me?"