Chapter 37 Section 11 The Deadly Falcon

On the fifth day after the big truck left, we came to Qinghai.The owner of the car said that there is a group of people who hunt eagles for a living.Their jargon calls this a falcon. I met the big head here.The big head lives in a small town. The big head and cheeks are flushed, like the color of a sweet potato just dug out of the soil in winter in the north.People who have lived on the plateau for a long time, because their skin is always exposed to strong ultraviolet rays, will turn into such a color.The locals call this skin color "Plateau Red".The big head lived up to its name, a huge and round head, carried on the thin shoulders, looked funny and ridiculous, seemed overwhelmed and crumbling.

The owner of the car said that his source of goods was provided by a person surnamed Ma, and the source of goods surnamed Ma came from people like Falcon like Datou.On this plateau, eagle dealers like Ma have made a lot of money, while falconers like Datou have always been poor. The owner of the car hopes that I can give the big head a little more money and abandon the eagle dealers in the middle. That night, Datou and I sat in a small restaurant drinking. Due to the introduction of the boss of the car, the big head did not have the slightest doubt about me.He told me triumphantly that in this land, when it comes to falconry, that's what he counts on.He gave me a thumbs up, not to praise me, but to praise himself.The big head has a huge head and small eyes.When he was talking, his eyes were always blinking rapidly, which, in the words of the locals, was like lightning in a chicken ditch.Do poachers like to brag?I don't know, but at least what I've seen, the big head is like this, and so is Old Gu.Even the Cyclops and Uncle Gousheng in the "Tomb Raider Gang" I have unannounced visits before, and the pretenders in the "Medical Care Dens" I have unannounced visits before, are we entering an era of self-expansion?

I asked, "Has anyone bought eagles from the South like I have before?" Big head said: "How can there be no? It was more than a few years ago, but now there are fewer, because there are fewer eagles. If I buy two eagles and take them home, the money I earn is not enough for transportation." I asked: "How did they bring the eagle back?" In fact, I was thinking about this question all the way. The big head said: "You just started this business, right? It's actually very simple. You put the eagle in a cloth bag, or put it in a cardboard box, stuff it under someone else's seat, and take a long-distance bus. Usually no one checks on the way. Even if If someone checks and the suitcase and cloth bag are not under your seat, you are fine. People from the south always carry eagles like this.”

I said, "Isn't this hurting others?" Datou smiled and said: "Can you frame this matter? Can they admit it? In the end, it was nothing, and the eagle was taken away." Datou drank heavily, a teacup of baijiu was poured into his stomach with a flick of his neck, his expression remained unchanged.In fact, even if he "changes his color", I can't see it. Datou said that the industry of falconry has existed for thousands of years.In ancient times, deserts were all grasslands, there were many rabbits and mice, there were also many goshawks, and there were many people who hunted hawks.In Genghis Khan's army, there is a falcon troop. These eagles also perform military tasks like soldiers.

I was puzzled: "How can the eagle carry out the task?" Datou said that eagles are specially designed to intercept the opponent's pigeons.Genghis Khan went west all the way, invincible and invincible. He was called "God's magic whip". Wherever the magic whip was drawn, he would be smashed to pieces.When Genghis Khan besieged the city, the city was surrounded like an iron barrel. Before the people in the city had time to ask for help, they were all surrounded inside. I asked inexplicably, "Why did Genghis Khan's army move so fast?" The big head is very good at talking, and it can be seen that he is very familiar with this period of ancient history.He said: "Genghis Khan's army is all cavalry, and each soldier is equipped with three horses, and the three horses ride in turns for long-distance raids. One of the horses is a mare, and the soldiers drink horse milk when they are hungry and thirsty. Therefore, Before the soldiers in the city had time to report, they were all surrounded."

I said, "To the west, is that in Russia?" Unexpectedly, Datou is also very familiar with geography.He said that Genghis Khan made his fortune from the grasslands, facing the sea to the east and Siberia to the north.It was too cold for humans and horses to survive, so Genghis Khan developed from south to west and annexed what is now Russia and Arabia. I asked curiously again: "The soldiers defending the city are surrounded, what do you want an eagle for?" Datou said that the soldiers trapped in the city needed to call for help. They could not get out of the city, so they sent pigeons to call for help.Carrier pigeons are in the air, but people can't fly in the air, what should we do?Just release the eagle to intercept.

It suddenly dawned on me that Genghis Khan's army raised eagles for such a purpose. We drank a bottle of baijiu without knowing it, and the big head seemed to have just had a good time.He yelled at the boss, "One more bottle." I asked him, "How can such a powerful animal as an eagle listen to people?" The big head said: "Boil the eagle, the eagle that has not been boiled cannot be used, the boiled eagle is the trained dog, and it will do whatever you let it do." What is boiled eagle?When I was in "Unannounced Visits to the Theft Gang", I only knew that the boss of the theft gang used the method of boiling the eagle to make the thieves who had just joined the gang survive the "will test" to cope with the fatigued interrogation of the police.And what is the real boiled eagle, I have never heard of it.

The big head said, to boil the eagle, you can only choose those young eagles within three months. After three months, the eagle has learned to fly, and its character is as hard as iron. No matter how hard you boil it, it will not give in.When boiling the hawk, tie the hawk to an iron chain, several people watch it in turn, talk loudly on purpose, quarrel with it, make it irritable, refuse to eat, drink, or sleep. After seven days and seven nights like this, the eagle will Unable to stand it anymore, its head drooped and could not be lifted up. The caretaker poured cold water on its head and beat it with a whip. Its will has been completely destroyed. If it is fed at this time, its temper will be broken. Was "commissioned" down.

It turned out to be like this, human beings used such despicable means to subdue the king of the sky.But this king of the sky is a child who is less than three months old. The big head also said that there is a kind of falcon, which is the smartest among the eagles and the easiest to tame.To this day, Arabs living in the desert still rely on falcons to find water. The big head was talking excitedly, spittle splashed from the corner of his mouth, and sprayed on my face several times, but he didn't notice it yet.Later, Datou became more and more happy as he talked, and he sang Qinghai Hua'er.Qinghai Hua'er is as famous a singing form as Xintianyou in Northern Shaanxi:

Steamed buns are baked in a semicircular pot, Lan Yaner covered Zhuangzi tightly; Rub hands together and send off to brother, Qing tears soaked the cavity. ……… Hua'er's singing is slow and long, full of sadness, just like the Xintianyou in northern Shaanxi that I often heard when I was a child.This kind of melancholy singing makes people intoxicated and even more sad.This is the first and last time I heard Qinghai Huaer with a big head. On this plateau, falcons are all ancestral, and have been passed down for hundreds of thousands of years.Since the promulgation of the Wildlife Protection Law in the 1990s, the eagle has been listed as a second-class national protected animal, and falconry has become a poacher.Because, like the five-step snake, there are fewer and fewer eagles.

Three days later, Datou told me that they had already taken a look at an eagle's nest, and seeing that I was in a hurry, they would go falconry today. Earlier, I heard about the various adventures of Falcon, so I said to Datou, "Isn't it very dangerous?" The big head said, "I've been in this business for decades, and I haven't felt any danger. It's fine." Eagles are the lions of birds, and hunting hawks is no less dangerous than hunting lions. That morning, I followed Datou to falconry.Accompanied by two men in their 40s, one named Tiaowen and the other named Shuanlao, they are a pair of uncles and brothers.In the northwestern countryside, the names of many adults are very colloquial, because the parents are illiterate, so when the child is just born, the father walks out of the house and uses whatever he sees as the child's name.Therefore, Zhuzi, Niuwa, Liangou, etc. are all boys' names, while Maizi, Pear Blossom, Vanilla, etc. are all girls' names.Datou said that when Tiaowen was born, his father walked out of the house and saw a young man who was studying in the county seat tying a bedroll to the back seat of a bicycle.The boy's father shouted: "Tie steady, don't fall." In this way, Tie steady became his name.When Shuanlao was just born, his father saw his neighbors tying cattle, so Shuanlao named him that way. It is said that because falconry is too dangerous, local men can only go falconry after they have a son, fearing that there will be no successors; two biological brothers can only go falconry alone.This is an ancient teaching left over from thousands of years, and falconers must strictly abide by it. We were sitting on an agricultural tricycle, and the big head was driving, and I and I were tied and tied firmly in the carriage.There is also a pair of cymbals in the carriage, made of brass, which will make a huge and heart-pounding sound after being slapped, and the Northwesterners call it "Cha Cha".It's one of those "drum guys" that Northwesterners call.There is also a pair of self-made blunderbuss guns, which use gunpowder and make a loud noise when the fuse is ignited.Every year on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, this kind of blunderbuss gun comes in handy. People in the Northwest call it the "three-eyed blunderbuss".I don't understand what they can do with these things. Both tied firmly and fastened tightly were taciturn, with timid expressions on their faces.When I talk to them, they always smile honestly, nod frequently, and promise vaguely. The agricultural tricycle was driving on the plateau, and the wind was very hard, whipping people's faces like whips, causing burning pain.Every time I pass by a village, I can see lazy Tibetan mastiffs squatting in front of people's houses, with their manes draped and majestic.On this plateau, this kind of dog guarding the flock can be seen everywhere, but in the cities below the plateau, this kind of animal called "Oriental mythical beast" has been fired for millions of yuan, or even thousands of yuan. ten thousand yuan. The agricultural tricycle drove to the end of the path and stopped.In front of him is a mountain peak, which cuts off the path.The big head picked up the rope, tied the cymbals firmly, and fastened the gun gun. I followed behind them and climbed to the top of the mountain together.There was no way, so we walked around huge boulders and looked for a gap in the grass to pass.This mountain may never have been climbed. Tie Wen said that he checked for several days, and there was an eagle's nest on the other side of the mountain.Today, we're going to dig out that Eagle's Nest. The big head asked: "Is there really a baby eagle in the eagle's nest?" Tie Wen said: "It really is. I've watched it for several days. Eagles put meat into their nests every day." The big head stopped talking and continued to climb up.We followed behind, and from time to time we could see small animals running quickly through the grass, leaving their erratic backs. Datou said: "Damn it, there are so many mice now, they only eat grass. You see, the pasture has been gnawed into a desert." Datou pointed to a piece of yellow sand in the distance. I asked, "Is that a mouse? Why is it so big? It's almost as big as a cat." The big head said: "There are fewer and fewer eagles, and mice have no natural enemies, so there are more and more, and they grow bigger and bigger, forcing people to retreat step by step. I think this will eventually become the world of mice!" We climbed to the top of the mountain, stood here and looked around, and saw a few white clouds floating lazily on the distant horizon, like a flock of sheep on the hillside.And the sheep grazing on the hillside are like scattered white clouds.One side of this mountain is a slope, which can be climbed up; the other side is a cliff, which is like cutting with knives and axes, and even monkeys can't get down. Datou said that on the cliff twenty or thirty meters away from the top of the mountain, there is an eagle's nest.This is the Eagle's Nest discovered by Tie Bing's observation for several days. There are Ying babies in the Eagle's Nest. The big head put the rope on the ground, fastened one end of the rope to the boulder, then checked whether it was fastened, and then threw the other end of the rope down the cliff.Grab the rope with both hands firmly, and tug hard to see if it is firmly tied.Datou took out a flat aluminum jug from his waist, took two sips of white wine, then spilled the rest of the white wine on the ground, and bowed twice facing the distance.Later, Tiewen told me that every time you dig out the eagle's nest, you must first worship the mountain god. This is an ancient motto left by our ancestors. The big head took out an iron hook, hooked one end on his belt, and hooked the other end on the rope, and then sneezed hard at the distant sun.After sneezing, his body shook inadvertently, and then, like a gecko, he grabbed the rope with both hands, stepped on the cliff with both feet, and jumped down. It was a sunny day with a gentle breeze, and no one thought that something would happen. When the eagle appeared, none of us noticed. The big head came to the outside of the eagle's nest, he stopped and continued to jump.His feet stepped on a protruding rock, and his whole body was close to the cliff, and he drew a pair of gloves from his back belt.These gloves are very long, reaching to the elbow after wearing them, and are special tools for falcons.Yingwazi is fierce by nature, if he is not protected, his arm will be scratched and dripping with blood. At this moment, I suddenly felt a shadow in the sky, looked up, and saw an eagle jumping down from the sky.It spread its wings, two or three meters wide.It fell from the sky like a boulder, and in the blink of an eye, it rushed to the cliff.I saw its beak, like a hook, gleaming coldly in the sun. Tie Jian picked up the cymbals and struck them vigorously, the bang bang sounded like thunder.The eagle hesitated for a moment, then spread its wings and pounced on the big head. Shuan Lao picked up the blunderbuss gun, aimed the muzzle at the goshawk, and began to strike a match.A match was struck and it broke; another match was struck and it broke again.He was so anxious and flustered that the matchbox was knocked over to the ground. Tie Jian was still beating on the cymbals vigorously, shouting hoarsely, his voice was mixed with the sound of the cymbals, which seemed extremely terrifying.Shuan Lao bent down, picking up matchsticks in vain. Suddenly, a scream was heard from Datou. He spread his limbs and fell from the cliff in a strange posture.His figure became smaller and smaller, and finally disappeared into the darkness and confusion.In the eagle's beak, there is a blue and round thing in its mouth, which is the eyeball of the big head... This is the first time I have seen someone die with my own eyes in several years of unannounced visits. The next day, I left the small town on the plateau.I was lost all the way, and I was in pain.I thought, if it wasn't for my arrival, the big head might not have died.Just because I came to buy the eagle, Da Tou went to dig out the eagle's nest in such a hurry, and fell off the cliff. I heard that Datou's son is working in the south, but I have not been able to contact him. I feel that I owe the Datou family all my life, but I can't make it up. Datou is the same as Lao Gu, they are all poachers, however, they are not guilty of death.In a legal society, a person's life should be above everything else. After returning to that city in the south, I did not make unannounced visits for a long time.I have been thinking about Datou, Tiejian, Shuanlao, and Old Gu in my mind.They all live at the bottom of the society, enduring all kinds of pain and oppression.They are engaged in poaching, but life is still poor.Poaching is so dangerous and life is threatened at any time, why would they do it? Like all industries, front-line industrial workers are always the hardest and poorest.The big ones are the front-line industrial workers.When a large number of insurance salesmen come and go in the wind and rain, and their monthly income can only cover their stomachs, the monthly income of the president of the insurance company is calculated in millions of yuan.When a large number of working girls and wage earners rely on overtime to earn living expenses, factory owners live in luxury houses and drive sports cars.When a large number of office workers work hard day after day but can only meet food and clothing, employees in monopoly industries have already lived a life of luxury.If the poaching industry is compared to a food chain, then the big heads are at the bottom of the food chain, and the wild animal restaurant owners and those big-bellied diners at the top are the culprits that cause the extinction of wild animals.The big head and the others poach just to survive, and if there is no demand from the big belly eaters, will the big head risk their lives to poach? Also at the end of the year, I became the chief reporter of this newspaper. On this unfathomable road, I don't know how far to go, how far to find the legendary happiness? Everyone who comes to this city is looking for happiness, but how far is happiness from us? We don't know, we can only trek among the vast mountain peaks like prospectors, maybe, happiness is on the other side of the mountain; maybe, we can't find the legendary happiness in a lifetime. We can't stop looking... Journalists are always on the road. ——End of this book——