dognovel Chapter 91 Night Bow
Chapter 91 Night Bow
Stroking the Solon bow in his hand, Chen Tuo looked at the sinew and leather bowstring in Su Dao's hand and asked:
"Uncle Su Dao, are these bows usable?"
The several Solon bows that Su Dao brought, whether made of pear wood or ironwood, were all oily, brownish-red, and looked very old.
"It's usable! These are all new Sauron bows from recent years, Naji's bows. They're oiled every now and then, but..."
Su Dao's "only" refers to the plight of the three Solon tribes, including the hunters of the entire Northeast, after the Qing Dynasty, which had exploited them, collapsed.
With the Qing Dynasty no longer in power to deliberately maintain their primitive lifestyle, Russians and Japanese devils arrived one after another on the black soil.
What they coveted was the black soil on which the hunters depended for their livelihood, and the resources on it.
As the battles went on, not only did the number of people dwindle, but many traditions were also destroyed.
The Solon bow that Su Dao brought was a tool used by the hunters' ancestors to hunt bears and elk, and its various sizes and construction methods have been passed down.
However, in actual use, few hunters today are able to draw such a large bow to shoot bears or elk.
Reducing the size of the Solon bow and making arrows according to ancient methods resulted in arrows that lacked the power to hunt bears and wild elk, and could only be used to hunt pheasants and hares.
From the time Russian fur traders introduced the Berek rifle, primitive hunters began to abandon bow hunting in favor of gun hunting, in addition to crossbows.
Having a bow but no arrows isn't embarrassing; what truly embarrasses Su Dao is that none of the hunters in the Dobukur settlement can use these few Solon bows.
These are all hunting tools passed down from their ancestors!
"Can I try? I didn't have a gun for a while, and I was hoping Uncle Wu could get me a few hunting bows!"
Chen Tuo had no idea about Su Dao's embarrassment.
The wooden single bows he brought, though clumsy in appearance, were all of similar specifications, suggesting they were professionally designed standard weapons.
Seeing that Chen Tuo did not have the idea of having the hunters demonstrate drawing their bows, Su Dao finally relaxed a little.
"Alright! Then I'll teach you how to wind the moon. This is the 'Looking Back at the Moon' pose passed down from our ancestors. There's also the 'Embracing the Moon' pose, but I can't use them!"
As he spoke, Su Dao raised his foot to trip the bowing body, and slowly lowered his body to exert force.
It took several attempts to finally hook the deerskin bowstring into the symmetrical arrow mouthpiece.
After stringing the bow and making a few adjustments, he said softly:
"The methods passed down from our ancestors for selecting materials, crafting bows, making bows, training bows, and maintaining bows are now rarely known, which is a great pity..."
In the entire Dobukur settlement, there were only a few people who could make bows.
The only person left who could fully explain the techniques of bow making and arrow making was the shaman Najiu, but she could only make arrows, not bows.
"Uncle Su, you must write these methods down carefully. If you lose them, you'll never find them again. It's okay if you can't use them; you can try to modify them."
After stringing the bow, Su Dao also tried pulling the crescent-shaped Solon bow in his hand a few times.
No matter how hard he tried, he could only draw the bow a little over halfway.
"I understand. After I sober up a bit, I'll go ask Najiwu'ao, Chen Zhiqing, why don't you give it a try? Be careful not to break your fingers with the bowstring!"
Su Dao just tried it out. It's not that he can't open the bowstring wider, it's just that his fingers can't withstand the force of the bowstring.
Although he had drunk deer blood wine, he wasn't drunk and wouldn't recklessly try to draw the bow.
"I'll try wearing the glove on..."
Despite Sudora's difficulty, Chen Tuo didn't dare to force it. Instead, he took out a three-finger gauntlet, put it on, and carefully tried to draw the bow.
He didn't feel any strain driving at the speed Su Dao had just reached, but driving any further would put some pressure on him.
"Chen, don't draw the bow and release it suddenly without an arrow. It's cold here, so draw it slowly and release it gently, otherwise the bow might explode!"
Following Su Dao's advice, Chen Tuo tried a few times. The Soren bow was wide, and to draw it to its full extent, one would need an arm span of about two meters.
With his arm span, he could only draw the bow to about half its length.
"What a pity! If we had arrow shafts, we could have seen the power of these great bows."
Having mentioned the regret of having a bow but no arrow, Su Dao then reminded him:
"Najiwu'o said that when their ancestors used bows, they would wrap the bow with wolf skin, deer skin, and tiger skin, with leopard skin and tiger skin being the best, of course. This was to prevent the hunter from being injured when the bow exploded..."
With regret at not being able to draw the bow, he handed the bowstrings in his hand to Chen Tuo.
"Chen Zhiqing, there aren't many bowstrings available, so I can only give you three. These two bows are also for you. If I have the chance, I'll go to other hunters' settlements to find arrows for you."
In addition to a deer sinew string and a camel skin string, Su Dao also gave Chen Tuo a leather bag containing all sorts of old arrowheads.
Like the Sauron bow, the old arrows in the leather bag were standard weaponry, and the specifications of the same type of arrows were almost identical.
"Chen Zhiqing, you'll sleep in this tent with Lao Wai tonight. If you take a fancy to Bai Long, she can come over too. We'll keep it a secret..."
If Chen Tuo hadn't mentioned the method of inheritance, Su Dao would have been happy to facilitate his relationship with Bai Long.
However, he proposed a method for inheritance, and whether or not one was willing to accept it depended not on Bai Long's opinion, but on Chen Tuo's.
"Uncle Su Dao, we've only just met, let's get to know each other a bit first..."
Chen Tuo politely declined Su Dao's offer, not believing they could keep it a secret.
This might be bait to keep him on the mountain; his good days haven't even begun yet!
I don't want to stay in the almost completely isolated mountain.
"Alright! I'll have Lao Wai come over in a bit. I'll go find Najiwu'ao now..."
Su Dao became increasingly polite in his speech, but Chen Tuo's wariness only grew stronger.
There's no such thing as a free lunch.
It makes sense to eat as much as you vomit.
If we consider fishing as an example, once a large fish takes the bait, why bother calculating the amount of bait needed?
Wu Laowai, who was already drunk, went into the tent and fell asleep immediately.
Having drunk deer blood wine and eaten fresh venison, Chen Tuo was restless and couldn't sleep.
Picking up the Solon bow with the deerskin string, Chen Tuo drew it back and released it slowly, then drew it back again and released it slowly, while also examining the path beneath his feet.
His foresight and his background in Chinese literature are the bow in his hand.
After making money, a period of leisurely life becomes his target.
Now we have the bow, and we have the target.
The arrows "New Life", "Eight-Cent Stamp", "Lamplight", and "Fish-Picking Story" have already been released.
Whether the arrow hits the target or not, whether it strikes the bullseye or not, is not up to him to decide.
Longjiang Literature's "Fish-Picking Diary" is only for making money.
The idea of commissioning articles from Beidahuang Literature and Art is just that—an idea.
The real target is still in Guangzhou.
If "New Life" becomes an instant hit, and he simply follows up with "Eight-Fen Stamp" and "Lights," he can still produce powerful works.
If the "newcomer" doesn't receive a great response, then he'll have to give up on instant fame and rely on sheer numbers to gain some recognition...
Suppressing the turmoil in his heart, he followed Su Dao's demonstration, continuously drawing and releasing the bow. When his right hand ran out of strength, he switched to his left.
He practiced drawing and releasing the bow again and again until he was exhausted. Only then did Chen Tuo crawl into his reindeer-skin sleeping bag and fall into a deep sleep...