As spring warms and flowers bloom, green grass slowly grows on the river beach.
A large number of wild animals began to appear in groups on the river beach again.
Wild horses, wild deer, wild sheep, wild boars, hares, and many strange herbivores that I didn't even recognize were running around the river beach all day long, making it a leisurely and lively scene.
The water in the small river gradually became abundant, and the clear stream began to fill the river beach. Various fish began to migrate upstream from the big river, attracting a large number of birds to fly and play on the river beach, circling and singing.
The men started collective hunting activities. It is difficult to capture wild beasts in spring because this is the breeding season of female beasts. Male beasts are very vigilant. If they encounter the slightest disturbance, they will escape with the group. However, when encountering pregnancy and
Hunters generally will not take action on female animals during the birthing period. This is an ancient hunting habit.
They will follow this habit and try not to hunt pregnant females and newborn calves.
As a result, traditional hunting methods will bring less harvest.
But occasionally there are unexpected surprises.
Especially on the large river beach outside the valley mouth, where there are the most wild animals, fierce conflicts often break out when animals in estrus compete for mating rights or leadership status.
In the past, because the Ba tribe was too weak, a large group of wild wolves occupied the river beach, causing almost all of the Ba tribe's territory to be compressed into the valley. But this year is different. Since the group of wild wolves suffered heavy losses and escaped, the large area at the mouth of the valley has
The river beach with abundant water and grass has become the exclusive hunting territory of the Ba people.
Feng and a group of people not only fished there, but also successfully picked up fish twice in a row.
Once I encountered an injured wild deer, and another time I encountered a knocked unconscious wild sheep.
However, this opportunity does not come often, so the opportunity to eat meat in spring is obviously much less than in autumn. In addition, Xu Chen used the remaining cereals such as oats and beans as seeds, which led to a shortage of food for the Ba people.
A group of women had to increase their efforts to collect various wild vegetables to supplement their food.
Although there is no harvest in early spring, it is the time of year when food is most scarce.
But spring is also the time when a large number of wild vegetables are at their freshest.
Thorn buds, purslane, shepherd's purse, wild onions, leeks, and many plant buds that Xu Chen didn't recognize at all. Anyway, the women would bring back several large baskets every day, and cook them with some mashed roots and fruits.
Porridge, plus the fish caught by the men and some other hunting harvests, the entire tribe was still barely full.
In the spring, humans lack food, and beasts of all sizes that have lost weight over the winter also begin to eat hard to build up their physical strength to prepare for the estrus period in spring and summer. At the same time, the mother animal also needs to save enough nutrients and energy for the upcoming birth of a child.
.
Although the weeds on the riverbank are lush and tender, the weeds that grow after burning the wasteland are even more fat, tender and sweet. As for the specially cultivated farmland, the neat and tender oat sprouts and weeds in it are even more coveted by all herbivores.
Therefore, since the oat seedlings and weeds in the farmland began to grow hard, a large number of wild beasts began to visit frequently.
"Chen Ga, Ma... Ma..."
On this day, Xu Chen was lying on the grass on the river beach basking in the sun. The pony was grazing nearby. The sun was shining brightly and the wind was gentle. It was the most rare leisure day in early spring.
A group of children were playing and running on the river beach full of flowers and plants, chasing wild birds on the river beach.
Gu came panting from a distance with a bow and arrow, shouting loudly from a distance.
"Magaha?"
Xu Chen spit out a piece of weed in his mouth and quickly sat up and asked.
"Ma...eat...eat Miaoga!"
Gu ran to Xu Chen and reported the situation out of breath.
"Holy shit!"
When Xu Chen heard this, he immediately got up from the ground, patted his butt and ran towards the farmland.
I didn't pay attention a few days ago, but a few wild deer rushed in and destroyed a lot of young seedlings. Although they ate more weeds, the place they visited was in a mess. Xu Chen could only hoe them all off and then thin out the seedlings and replant them elsewhere. Although
It looks sparse, but it's better than being empty.
In fact, in addition to wild deer, there are many animals that harm farmland. Rabbits, hedgehogs, badgers, muntjacs and even wild boars frequently visit.
In order to minimize losses, he asked Gu Heju to patrol around the farmland every day to drive away wild animals.
Although it is troublesome, overall the situation is not bad. Except for the accidental loss of about a point of land, the other wild beasts have been dispersed and can only fish a few mouthfuls outside the field ridge. The loss is very small, so Xu Chen usually
I didn't pay too much attention to it either.
At the current seedling stage, as long as there is no large-scale disaster, the losses will not be too great. What really needs to be guarded against is the maturity stage. Whether it is wild animals or birds, they are the enemies of food production. They can cause disasters several times a year.
All in vain.
There is only a herd of wild horses in the valley, a family of ponies, about thirty of them.
I don’t know whether it’s because of the ponies or other reasons, but these wild horses have been entrenched in the valley and never left. Sometimes they see ponies living with humans from a distance, and they will neigh a few times and try to summon the ponies.
Went back, but never succeeded.
This group of horses came and went like the wind, very vigilant, and it was almost impossible for humans to get close. Feng and other hunters gave up completely after trying several times.
Those long, handsome legs and unparalleled handsome appearance made Xu Chen drool.
It's a pity that he is not a horse roping man.
I can only let these long-legged oppas with flying hair wander around in the valley, and then hope to raise the pony as soon as possible, feed him more aphrodisiacs, and then seduce a few mares back and give birth to a few more ponies.
The horse helped mankind start the era of horse riding.
Because this group of horses is very wary of humans, they almost never go near compounds or farmland, and usually forage far away near the river beach.
But I didn't expect that I would go to the farmland today.
By the time Xu Chen ran to the edge of the field in one breath, the wild horses had been driven away by the wind. However, under the mounds near the river valley, there was a large area that looked messy, and there were even several long lodging marks from the farmland.
It goes straight through the center and disappears along the soil slope close to the river beach.
It looks like a big loss!
Xu Chen, with a twitching face, ran straight to the scene of the disaster along the field ridge. Gu followed behind, eating and eating, while Feng also ran back from the river beach carrying a bow and arrow.
The farmland was originally surrounded by a simple circle of picked-up stones. It was only about a foot high. Apart from being able to block reptiles such as turtles and hedgehogs, it was basically useless. Even rabbits could not be blocked. For wild sheep
For medium and large beasts such as wild horses, deer and wild boars, it is almost the same as none.
This group of wild horses entered the farmland from the foot of the mountain in the direction of the river valley. They ate and trampled nearly half an acre of farmland. Then, driven by the wind and the ancients, several horses rushed directly from the center of the farmland, trampling and causing damage along the way.
caused greater damage.
Xu Chen walked into the farmland and carefully inspected the damage.
The most serious problem was that in about two or three thirds of the area near the outside of the field ridge, all the green seedlings and weeds were almost eaten away. The densely packed horseshoes trampled the inside to pieces, leaving almost no good seedlings.
In addition, there are two or three fields that are eaten sporadically, and coupled with the chaos and trampling, there is almost no value to preserve.
The several lodging strips we passed were also seriously damaged. Under the heavy trampling of horse hooves, a large number of young crops were trampled directly into the soil.
A rough estimate suggests that the damage was as large as an acre.
It's still too late to replant according to the season, but the tribe doesn't have any remaining seeds.
Therefore the only way is to thin out the seedlings and transplant them.
Although he hated it so much, Xu Chen had no choice.
You can only commit a thief in a thousand days, but you can't guard against a thief in a thousand days.
It seems that this kind of intermittent patrolling and driving is still neglected.
Moreover, Xu Chen was worried that once these wild horses became obsessed with this piece of delicious farmland and visited it several times from time to time, this year's farming plan would be completely ruined.
If you wait until autumn to harvest little or even no seeds, you will encounter great resistance if you want to continue to promote farming next year, and then the little magic and awe you have accumulated with great difficulty will slowly disappear.
So Xu Chen went back and asked Mu Ba to arrange for some women to come and help transplant the green seedlings. He used a stone ax to chop some long and short sticks, and asked Gu Heju to help find a lot of weeds and ropes, which were not far from the farmland.