Several of the students and some of the hunters were itching to give it a try.
“Here’s my plan,” Bao announced loudly, “one that will take a relatively small expenditure of energy. We’ll surround the valley and burn them out. Then we can pick them off with our rifles, using as much ammunition as necessary.”
The herdsmen and hunters were shocked. For them grassfires were taboo.
“A grassfire violates heavenly laws,” Bilgee said. “It blackens the face of Tengger, and you know what that will mean for us. The rivers will turn black, and the water gods will give us nothing to drink. Shaman-ism and Lamaism do not permit fires out here. In the past, the Great Khans would kill the entire family of anyone who lit a fire on the grassland. Even the current government forbids them.”
Gasmai was so enraged her face was red. “Fire is the grassland’s greatest scourge. If we catch a child playing with fire, we spank him till his rear end swells up. If you set one now, when children play with fire after this, they’ll say they learned that from Representative Bao.”
Lamjav’s thick neck bulged. “In ancient times,” he said angrily, “the Han armies burned our grasslands. It was the cruelest thing they could think of doing. They don’t dare do that anymore. How could a Mongol set fire to his own ancient grassland? Are you a Mongol, Representative Bao, or aren’t you?”
“There’s snow on the ground,” Sanjai said, “which means we’re not into the fire season yet. But if we set a fire now, prevention will be harder in the future. And it will singe the wolves’ coats and ruin their pelts.”
Laasurung said, “Burning the wolves is mean and cruel. But let’s say you burn them all up-then who pays when the fire kills our livestock? The stench would fill the air and could cause an epidemic. Not only that, kill off all the wolves, and the field mice and rabbits will bring the Gobi desert over.”
Zhang Jiyuan said, “We horse herders came out this time to fight the wolves. We’ve been away from our herds for a day and a night, and if we don’t get back now, the wolves will outflank us. We have to get back to our horses. I won’t be responsible for anything that happens.”
“Quiet down!” Bao Shungui shouted. “Quiet down all of you! Nobody’s going anywhere. We’re killing the wolves to eliminate a destructive force and protect national property. The best defense is a good offense. The only way to keep the wolves from outflanking us is to wipe them out. We don’t do it for the pelts. A dead wolf with a burned coat constitutes a victory. I want to see another stack of dead wolves, take some more pictures, and let our superiors look upon our great achievement. I’ll arrange a criticism session for anyone who doesn’t obey me! Now, let’s go, everyone!”
A murderous glare emanated from Lamjav’s wolfish eyes. “Arrange what you want,” he bellowed. “I’m not going! My horses need me.”
Several of the other herders turned their horses’ heads. “We’re going back!” they said.
Snapping his whip in the air, Bao roared, “I’ll take away the job of anyone who deserts on the eve of this battle. That goes for your backers as well.”
Bilgee glanced at Uljii, then waved his hands helplessly and said, “No more of this quarreling. I led this hunt, so I’ll have the last word. One horse herder will head back to each of the herds, all the others will go with Representative Bao. End of discussion.”
Lamjav said to Zhang Jiyuan, “I’ll tend the herd. When this is over, you go home and rest for a couple of days.” He turned and rode off with eight or nine horse herders.
The hunting party crossed three mountain ridges to arrive at a vast expanse of reeds spread out below like white gold, surrounded by snow. Wang Junli and half a dozen other students escorted Bao Shungui, assuring him that it was an ideal spot to burn the wolves out.
Batu emerged from the reeds and rode up to Bao Shungui and Uljii. “I didn’t alert the wolves,” he said. “It’s a big pack, and they’re still in there.”
Pointing to the reeds with his whip, Bao said, “Listen up, section leaders. Section One take the east, Section Two the west, and Section Three the north. Section Four, you circle around to the south and light fires between there and the eastern section. First seal off all escape routes, then move upwind out of the way. When you men in the other three sections see smoke in the south, light your fires. Then everyone, dogs included, wait at the outer rim. Loose the dogs as soon as the wolves appear, and start shooting.”
The students of the Fourth Section took off at a gallop, followed by the herdsmen. The other sections turned and headed to their assigned sectors.
Chen Zhen followed Bilgee into the reedy area to check it out. Undisturbed by natural fires for several years, the reeds had grown to twice the men’s height; the ground was covered by a blanket of dead, dry reeds at least two feet thick. Dry as a bone, the reeds-living and dead-could not have been more flammable.
“The wolves know we’re out here,” the old man said, “but they’re not afraid. The reeds are so dense that dogs are no threat, and the lasso poles are useless. The sound of horse hooves on the undergrowth in the dark tells the wolves exactly where we are. There are many paths in here, paths that will take them behind any horses, men, or dogs that come in. This is their territory in the winter and spring, their refuge. Olonbulag wolves have seen their share of natural fires, but fires set by humans are alien to them. Nothing like this has ever happened before. You outsiders have all sorts of ideas, but this one is especially cruel. This pack of wolves is doomed.”
“Light the fires!” someone shouted, breaking the silence. “Light the fires!”
Chen grabbed Bilgee’s horse’s halter and raced out of the reeds. Black smoke billowed above the southeastern edge. Then flames leaped skyward in the eastern, western, and northern sectors. Bao Shungui ordered the hunters to use reeds as torches to start the fire spreading deep into the reeds with the wind. The densely packed, dry, oily reeds nearly exploded when the fires touched them, sending flames and thick smoke high into the sky. Acres of dry reeds were turned into a sea of fire, with black leaves and stalks dancing in the air currents above, like a cloud of bats. High up on a slope looking down, Bao Shungui liked what he saw.
On the western edge of the billowing smoke, Bilgee dismounted and fell to his knees, facing east, tears wetting his face. He was murmuring prayerfully. Chen Zhen couldn’t hear clearly, but he knew what the old man was saying.
Suddenly the wind turned, sending the choking black smoke and flames in the old man’s direction. Chen and Yang quickly lifted him off the ground and ran with him up the snow-covered hillside. The old man’s face was sooty black; so were his tears. Chen gazed at him, suddenly feeling the creation of a silent spiritual resonance between them; at the same time, he could imagine a fearful yet revered wolf totem rising up to take the Mongol people’s tenacious souls away with it. Their survivors-sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters-would continue to live on the Mongolian grassland, taking the bitter with the sweet, bringing pride and glory to their race.
Waves of fire carried by the wind incinerated the old reeds and sent hot cinders into the sky and onto the snow-covered pastureland. The fire raged for much of the afternoon, leaving in its wake a torched wasteland. Finally, inevitably, the fires died out above a vast blackened landscape and acres of black snow. But the dogs and the rifles remained silent.
After the winds swept the smoke away, the cold settled in. Bao Shungui ordered everyone to form a single line and comb the battlefield to get a count of dead wolves. One man estimated they’d find twenty or more; another predicted a count to exceed that of the morning hunt.
“I don’t care how many there are,” Bao said. “Just find them, no matter what shape they’re in, even if they’re unrecognizable. I want to photograph them so that no one can accuse me of sending up false reports. I want all the banners in the entire league to know that this is what is meant by ‘Kill a wolf and remove a scourge,’ and that this has not been done for the sake of a few wolf pelts.”