Reborn in the 1980s: I made my fortune hunting wild game in Changbai Mountain

Rabbits and tigers surround the palace!
As soon as those five words were uttered, the audience members, who hadn't fully recovered from their shock, lowered their heads and began whispering among themselves.

The rabbit-tiger encirclement game is familiar to many falconry enthusiasts in China, with similar games available in places like Tianjin, Hebei, and Beijing.

Several falcons and greyhounds worked together to hunt hares on the plains, their movements swift and agile, making for a very exciting hunt.

However, with the addition of the qualifier "palace" before the three characters "rabbit and tiger surround," very few people understood the meaning.

The American turned to look at Zhang Chaochao and asked in a low voice, "Zhang, what does 'Palace Rabbit and Tiger Encirclement' mean? Is it a game exclusively for the royal family?"

The man in the white robes remained expressionless. He was a member of the royal family himself, and he didn't care about royal lineage or anything like that.

In his mind, when it comes to falconry, their Middle Eastern tradition is number one in the world, and everything else comes second.

After listening to the translation, Zhang Chaochao smiled and shook his head: "I don't understand what 'palace rabbit and tiger enclosure' means either."

Ye Jianjun and Yue Feng's club has several experts with different falconry traditions. Last year, at the first falconry tournament, we witnessed a very representative rabbit and tiger encirclement performance!
I suspect it might have involved some kind of performance-style falconry with added ritual elements!

Upon hearing that the falconry was a performance, the white-hatted man's expression grew even colder.

While the group was whispering amongst themselves, the audience had already retreated behind the pre-drawn white lines as instructed by the staff.

The crowds on both sides made way for a passage about three meters wide.

Li Fulin, dressed in a brand-new outfit, appeared at the end of the passage to greet everyone.

Li Fulin put his fingers in his mouth and suddenly whistled a whistle with a curve.

The next second, a specially designed car rushed out from the tent on the other side of the passage.

Goats were the main force pulling the cart. Between the two goat horns was a moderately thick support. On the support, a pure white peach blossom tree, without a hat or a five-foot rope, sat quietly, gazing ahead.

The monkey sat in the driver's seat, holding the reins in one hand and a small whip for driving in the other.

On the carriage of the small car, a stick and a rabbit-tiger, wearing hats, squatted motionless on the carriage's support bar.

About half a meter behind the chariot, two greyhounds, one on the left and one on the right, followed the chariot into the arena with the same pace.

As soon as this special vehicle appeared, the audience began to whisper among themselves.

Monkeys, goats, albino hares, falcons, dogs, and small chariots—all these things combined together create an indescribably strange feeling.

My first reaction was that this wasn't falconry, but rather more like a monkey show in a circus.

Pipi rode the goat chariot around the field along the drawn circular path and soon arrived in front of Li Fulin.

Li Fulin snapped his fingers, and the chariot came to a steady stop in the designated position. The two greyhounds beside him stood on either side, awaiting their master's next command.

When the goat chariot stopped for a brief appearance, the audience's discussion became even noisier.

Many people noticed the pure white grey-backed falcon. The little creature was perched between two ram horns, its bright eyes looking steadily at everyone without any fear. It looked like a mascot model, quite stable.

Li Fulin shouted "Release!" to the staff who were cooperating with the release of the rabbits in the distance. Soon, the mechanism on the ground was activated, and a red-haired old rabbit weighing at least five pounds crawled out of the underground cage and began to run and scatter in the huge release area.

Li Fulin glanced at the rabbit, casually picked up a small, slightly smaller perch (male falcon), took off his hat, and released it into the air.

The stick was fast; the moment it saw the rabbit, it flew close to the ground, making a clear, quacking sound as it flew.

"Chasing the wind, treading through the snow, let's go!"

At Li Fulin's command, the two greyhounds that had been lying still instantly transformed into lightning bolts, chasing after the direction in which the stick was barking.

The eagle that had been leading the way flew away, leaving only the old rabbit-tiger with its hat on the goat chariot, along with the albino peach blossom bush.

Seeing that the baton was in place, Li Fulin set up the second main battle old rabbit tiger with its hat on, whistled, and with a flick of his arm, the eagle took off from the spot.

The old rabbit-tiger, unable to see the light, did not chase after the hawks and rabbits that had already begun their pursuit after letting go. Instead, it circled around its master's location, climbing higher and higher, and soon reached a height of at least seventy or eighty meters.

"Oh damn it! That falcon hasn't taken off its hat! What a blunder!"

When Evan saw the eagle circling and soaring in the sky, climbing higher, he couldn't help but cover his eyes, his tone filled with obvious regret.

When he was young, he was learning to train peregrine falcons and made a similar mistake. The falcon, with its hat on, suddenly took flight, soaring into the clouds and disappearing from sight. It wasn't until three days later that it was found, and it had become a cold corpse.

The onlookers were on the edge of their seats.

"You forgot to take off your hat! Quickly blow the whistle and see if you can call the eagle down!" Feng Huanping couldn't help but remind him.

Upon hearing the reminder, Li Fulin smiled, shook his head, and waved his hand calmly.

He confirmed that Rabbit and Tiger were highly qualified and blew the whistle again.

The next second, upon hearing the command, the albino tuft vanished from its lazy demeanor, its fur tightened, its tail twitched, and it produced a small clump of poop. With a powerful push from its standing position, it shot straight into the sky like a white feathered arrow.

Compared to the large saker falcon's climbing speed, the small-sized but powerful grey falcon immediately demonstrates its advantage.

The albino falcon quickly flew to the height of the mother falcon's flight and went straight for the eagle's cap on its head.

It swiftly and precisely removed the eagle's cap, grabbing the tassel, then with a tuck of its wings, it plunged down from the sky like a diver.

In the blink of an eye, the white flight path flashed by and quickly landed back in Li Fulin's hand.

Li Fulin took the hat and held it up in front of the audience to show it off. The crowd, who had been on tenterhooks just moments before, immediately burst into thunderous applause.

"it is good!"

Holy crap!

"That wasn't a mistake, it was intentional! Awesome!"

The audience erupted in cheers; everyone was stunned by Duozi's hat-removing performance.

The fact that two completely different birds of prey can be trained to cooperate so well demonstrates the falconer's exceptional skill level.

Evan, who had just been covering his face and saying no, widened his eyes even more when he saw the white grey-backed falcon returning with its hat, looking utterly shocked as if he had seen a ghost.

Whoosh~~~
After showing off the hat, Li Fulin blew a whistle.

The rabbit-tiger circling high in the sky suddenly let out three consecutive cackling sounds, then swooped down at high speed towards the wild rabbit that was chasing it.

Diving down from a height of nearly 100 meters, the whooshing sound of wind cutting through the air could be heard. The old rabbit-tiger swooped down from the southeast, towards its prey close to the ground, from the direction where the sun was.

With a sharp crack, the old rabbit, who had been running wildly just a second ago, was kicked in the stomach by the old rabbit tiger. It tumbled six or seven times in the air before finally crashing to the ground.

In the blink of an eye, the prey was finished off by the old rabbit tiger, killed with a single kick!
As the prey was kicked to death, a low-flying stick circled about seven or eight meters above the old rabbit's carcass, making a rapid cawing sound.

The call was distinctly different from ordinary calls; it was filled with urging and excitement.

Hearing the stick's urging, the monkey cracked his whip, and the goat drove the cart toward the place where the battle had ended to regroup.

When the chariot reached Old Rabbit's position, the two falcons jumped onto the chariot without hesitation. The greyhound chased the wind and carried the prey back into the chariot bed. Then the monkey picked up the gong from his feet, banged it as he walked back, and soon returned to Li Fulin's side.

Li Fulin took the rabbit, representing the team's hunting spoils, from the chariot's cargo bed, showed it to the audience, then bowed and left the stage, ending the performance.

Once the monkey and its owner had left, the audience erupted in a second wave of thunderous applause.

Evan and the others were completely dumbfounded.

As top falconers in their respective countries, they have witnessed all sorts of falconry customs and combat performances.

Evan has personally witnessed various methods, including attaching collars to the necks of eagles and letting them fly, training peregrine falcons to soar and follow pointer dogs to hunt pheasants, and even using golden eagles to hunt wolves and deer.

However, all these previous experiences paled in comparison to Li Fulin's series of performances just now.

If Li Guangkun's Eagle God Sacrifice War Dance was a sight to behold, then the Palace Rabbit and Tiger Encirclement just now left this foreigner feeling somewhat hopeless.

The layman looks at the excitement and the insider looks at the doorway.

Eagles have their own temperament and habits. In the performance just now, many of the behaviors exhibited by the birds of prey in different segments were completely contrary to their nature.

For example, when Duozi went to take off the hat from Tu Hu, Tu Hu didn't even consider Duozi his target and attack him!
For example, the old rabbit-tiger, who killed its prey with a single blow and ended the fight with a fatal kick, didn't even go down to the carcass to eat it after kicking it to death.

Such behavior completely violates the normal habits of birds of prey.

"Damn it, what did I just see! Can someone explain to me how he did that?! Zhang, do you know how the Eagle Master did that?"

Evan no longer cared about his image. He took off his cowboy hat, grabbed his hair with both hands, and looked completely bewildered, as if he had seen a ghost.

Zhang Chaochao was also dumbfounded. He turned his head and glanced at Qian Fenglin, his eyes full of questions.

Qian Fenglin knew how to play the regular rabbit and tiger game, but he had never even heard of this kind of performance-style court rabbit and tiger game before, let alone seen it.

Seeing that Mr. Qian did not react, Zhang Chaochao could only shake his head helplessly: "I don't know either. I told you before that Ye Jianjun and Yue Feng's club has powerful experts!"
This is the first time I've ever seen a performance like that!

If you're really interested, I can help you connect with them later, and you can ask them in person!

"Really, that's great! If I could learn from you, I'd pay the tuition!" The American was completely convinced, and seemed eager to pay the tuition and become your apprentice on the spot.

Seeing Evan's incompetence, Zhang Chaochao turned to the man in the white robe: "Salman, you just watched the performance, I'd like to hear your opinion?"

The man in the white robe said in a somewhat serious tone, "I don't know how he did it, but it's completely different from the falconry training I've had since I was a child!"
Falconry should be a battle that unlocks the potential of both the bird of prey and its prey, not a performance staged for an audience!
From a practical standpoint, this system is far too complex and utterly impractical!

Hearing this, Zhang Chaochao felt relieved. Thank goodness.

Zhang Chaochao invited the man in white robes not to make him admit defeat, but to use his superior eagle-training skills to intimidate Yue Feng or even sabotage his event.

Therefore, seeing that the man in the white robe was not convinced, Zhang Chaochao was very satisfied.

Evan was impressed by the performance, but the man in the white robe was still unconvinced, so there was still a chance to turn the tables.

“Your insight makes a lot of sense!” Zhang Chaochao nodded and did not continue the topic.

While a few people were whispering and discussing, Ye Jianjun reappeared in front of everyone.

"Thank you to our club employee, Uncle Li Fulin, for the wonderful performance of the Palace Rabbit and Tiger Encirclement!"
I hereby announce that the group tour has ended, and all participants are now free to move around!
Please note that in the club's breeding area, there are some breeding eagles and falcons that are not publicly displayed. If any exhibitors wish to visit, please follow the rules to disinfect, change clothes, and queue up to enter the cage breeding area for a closer look!

At noon, a sumptuous lunch will be prepared for everyone, and in the afternoon, we will also organize some live falconry demonstrations!

Thank you again for your support!

At a shout, the audience immediately dispersed and started doing their own thing.

Evan pulled Zhang Chaochao along, demanding that they go find Li Fulin, whom they had just met.

Unable to refuse, Zhang Chaochao had no choice but to take his entourage to find Ye Jianjun.

"Brother Jianjun, please do me a favor!" Zhang Chaochao asked in a fawning and polite manner.

"What's wrong, Chaochao? Speak up if you need anything!"

"Evan would like to consult with Chef Li from your club. Could you arrange that? A brief discussion?"

"Uncle Li Fulin?"

"Yes! It's the same performer who just did the 'Court Rabbit and Tiger Encirclement' performance!"

"Alright, come with me!" Ye Jianjun was in a great mood when he saw that Old Li's cooking skills had completely impressed the Americans, so he led the group to the lounge to find Old Li.

Li Fulin had already tidied up all the equipment and props for the performance, including the monkeys, goats, and hounds, and had given out the rewards as appropriate. He was currently drinking tea in the lounge.

"Uncle Li, are you busy? There's something I wanted to ask you, is it convenient?" Ye Jianjun asked politely.

"Huh? What's up?"

"That's right, several foreign guests were very interested in your performance just now and would like to ask you for advice and exchange ideas!"

"I can't speak or understand foreign languages!"

"Don't worry about that, they have translators!"

"Alright, for your sake, I'll meet with them. But let me make this clear first: I don't have a very good impression of these foreigners. If I say anything inappropriate and offend any of the foreign guests, don't blame me!"

Li Fulin is an experienced driver; he's taking precautions to prevent any unforeseen problems from arising.

Ye Jianjun nodded: "Okay, as long as it's not too excessive!"

Ye Jianjun is unaware that Old Li is about to teach the Americans a good lesson. (End of Chapter)