When I went there, the grass on the riverbank was still green, and the crops in the farmland were just growing buds.
When I came back, the mountains and fields were green as far as the eye could see, the riverbanks were covered with green grass and wildflowers were blooming, and the crops in the farmland had strong stems and leaves, growing crazier than the weeds. The entire valley was covered in green and looked full of life.
After returning to the Ba tribe, Xu Chen spent two days sorting out the inspection status of this trip.
On a piece of linen, a map of the six ethnic groups was drawn with a relatively accurate scale. It not only marked the precise locations of the six ethnic groups, but also made some notes on the animals, plants and mineral resources in the area.
In addition, a diary was used to record the details of the cruise.
Although this trip came and went in a hurry, and the various ethnic groups were still poor and eating dirt, with no food and no clothes, the overall situation also made him feel happy.
At least after more than a year of his efforts, the living conditions of several tribes have undergone considerable changes.
The spread and popularization of new technologies such as ropes, straw sandals, rattan baskets, wooden hoes and fishing nets have significantly improved the productivity of various tribes. Even in the lean spring, all tribes can still meet basic food security and have not starved to death. human condition.
The construction of houses and the promotion of pottery have caused great changes in the living and living environment of various tribes.
Furthermore, the stimulation and management of men through military training have been strengthened, which has greatly changed the spirit of all tribal men. They are no longer the lazy and lazy people in the past. As soon as they go out to hunt, they waste the whole day going home to eat and eat. It is a traditional custom to pile up and sleep after dinner.
Of course, what Xu Chen is most gratified about is the cultivation of land.
Although the area of farmland planted by each tribe is not large, it is a good start.
It marked that human civilization finally began to break through the primitive survival mode of hunting and gathering and began to move towards the agricultural era.
And from the perspective of the Ba tribe to the perspective of the entire six-ethnic alliance.
This is another huge improvement.
Of course, there are a lot of changes, but there are even more bad things.
First, the population is seriously insufficient. The current total population of the six tribes is just over a thousand.
Second, transportation is difficult. Several tribes are only tens or hundreds of miles apart from each other, but it takes days to get there, and there is no road between them at all. They all rely on familiar guides to lead them.
The third is that the living environment is harsh, living in caves is still the mainstream, food is still scarce, snakes, insects and wild beasts are rampant, injuries and illnesses are difficult to treat, and the infant mortality rate is extremely high.
But this is the most real state at the moment. It is a long way to go to change any of them, and it is not even something he can solve in his life.
Therefore, Xu Chen could only try his best to think for the best.
After this inspection, what he wanted most was to produce usable metal as soon as possible.
With various metal weapons and knives, axes and farm tools, not only will he have the strength and courage to expand, but the lives of the six tribes will also undergo a truly earth-shaking change, completely getting rid of this purely barbaric and primitive state of existence.
The agreement with the other five tribes is to set off for the Gonghuo tribe after the full moon night in February.
There are still more than ten days left.
The Uzbek people have been sending thousands of kilograms of copper ore since winter. Xu Chen had arranged for the kiln to re-build the smelting furnace before setting off for inspection, and he just happened to take advantage of this time to smelt another furnace of copper.
Xu Chen is not allowed to worry about farmland matters. Mother and Amu are already very familiar with farmland weeding and daily care.
After returning, Gu Heju once again returned to his old business. With two teenagers and a group of children, he led monkeys and wolves to patrol around the farmland all day long to drive away eating wild beasts.
However, this year the size of the farmland has expanded to 400 acres, and almost half of the river beach has been reclaimed as farmland. It is obvious that a few people cannot patrol it.
Even if there are scaremongers, the effect gradually loses as the beast becomes familiar with it for more than a year.
The horn that scared the wild horses away for several months last year has now lost its intimidating power and is also slowly losing its deterrent effect.
So when farmland crops began to grow vigorously, various herbivorous beasts began to frequent the farmland again, grabbing a few bites from the east and a few from the west, causing trouble almost every day.
Gu Heju and others rushed back and forth like a desperation every day, but the damage to the farmland became increasingly serious.
Xu Chen had to assign ponies to them to participate in patrolling and driving.
But there was only one pony, and it was not yet fully grown. Xu Chen cherished it very much and stipulated that he could only ride it for half a day and rest for half a day. He also asked that he not run too fast to avoid damaging the horse's hooves.
Therefore, although the beast-repelling effect has improved somewhat after Xiaoma joined the patrol, it is still a drop in the bucket and cannot completely prevent the beasts from eating.
And everyone knows that as crops in farmland continue to grow, they will attract more and more wild animals, and the damage to farmland will become more and more severe.
"C'mon, the wild horse rushes into the field again!"
That day Xu Chen was in the room instructing the little witch to learn to read, when Gu rushed in sweating profusely and yelling loudly.
Xu Chen put down the pottery board and charcoal strips helplessly and said, "Why are you so loud? I can't help you!"
Gu pulled his hair with an annoyed look on his face and said: "The wild horse comes to quack every day and ate a lot today. The mother quack is angry. Please help me find a way to quack."
Hey, hey, uncle, can you speak properly?
There are so many wild horses, what can I do?
Xu Chen also followed suit and pulled his hair down strand by strand.
A group of those ghost wild horses disappeared as soon as winter came, and came back as soon as spring came. Their legs were so long that they were so fast that they couldn't get close to them and couldn't be driven away. Moreover, under the influence of Xu Chen's appeasement policy for a year,
It has completely become a scourge in the valley.
And the population seems to have expanded a bit this year, with several more foals, obviously just born in the spring.
As the population grows, so does the need for food.
The lush and tender oat sprouts in the farmland are far more tempting than the weeds on the river beach.
This group of smart pests like to visit even more. Now they come almost every day, chasing here and there to eat, and driving here and there to eat. They are completely impossible to guard against. Gu Heju and other four-person animal driving team are working hard, but with little effect.
"Your Majesty the Witch King, capture Qiga!"
Seeing the depressed look on Xu Chen's face, the little witch whispered an idea beside her.
Xu Chen rubbed his face with a bitter smile.
It has been his long-cherished wish to tame these wild horses, otherwise he would not tolerate these guys wandering around and causing damage in the valley all day long.
But he still hasn't figured out how to capture these wild horses.
He heard that wild horses have bad tempers and are very difficult to tame. Even if they can be tamed, they must be masters who are very familiar with horse nature.
But right now, there is not even one person in the entire tribe who is truly proficient in riding a horse. He can ride it only because he has been training this pony since he was a child, and it took nearly two years, which cost countless time and energy.
The price is huge.
Therefore, even if we catch these wild horses, we probably won't be able to tame them, and they will most likely be killed for meat.
Those ponies can give it a try, but water from afar cannot quench their thirst. It will take at least another two years to train them to the point where they can ride.
But no matter what, these scourges must be dealt with, otherwise the damage to farmland will become greater and greater.
With more than 400 acres of farmland, nearly half of the tribe's harvest last year was used as seeds. The whole tribe has invested a huge amount of manpower and material resources. It must ensure the maximum harvest, otherwise it will definitely have a great impact on future farming enthusiasm.
s damage.
So Xu Chen asked Gu Xian to go back to patrol, and he wanted to think of a better way to deal with this matter.
After all, he is an omnipotent existence in the hearts of his people.
If this matter is not solved well, your character and halo will be lost.
In the evening, after Feng came back with a group of hunters who were hunting and fishing, after dinner, Xu Chen called a group of leaders to a meeting to discuss the matter.
Hearing that Xu Chen was planning to attack these wild horses, a group of hunters suddenly started to cry and howl in excitement.
Ever since they learned that wild horses can not only plow fields but also be ridden, the entire tribe, both men and women, old and young, has been coveting these wild horses.
Although many people had suggested finding a way to catch some horses and raise them, Xu Chen didn't do it because he didn't have a good time and didn't think of a good way.
But this time, Xu Chen finally couldn't hold it in any longer, and a group of hunters also excitedly rubbed their hands and shouted.
Xu Chen has always been accustomed to making decisions before taking action.
This group of wild horses are alert and very fast, so they are not easy to approach. Once danger is detected, they will immediately flee to the shrubbery and woods at the foot of the mountain, where the terrain is complex and more difficult to capture.
Therefore, if you want to deal with these wild horses, you need to think of a careful plan, and you cannot deal with them according to your usual hunting habits.
In addition, the purpose of leaving these wild horses is to ride on the farmland and carry things, so they cannot cause too much damage. Damaging weapons such as bows, arrows and spears must not be used on a large scale.
Now he has almost figured it out. No matter what, he must first catch the horse and then consider whether it can be used.
They must not be allowed to stay in the valley and continue to harm crops.
But if you want to completely catch these guys running like flying, it will not only test your physical strength, but also your intelligence.
The best way is to design a trap to trap the wild horses.
But this valley is surrounded by mountains on both sides, with a river in the middle, two or three miles wide and seven or eight miles long. The river beach is wide and the hills at the foot of the mountains are overgrown with bushes and thorns. It is almost impossible to set a trap. If a wild horse runs into the woods, it will be even more impossible to round up.
This is what Gu Heju faces every day now. When driven in a small area, the horses will wander around the farmland as if hiding and seeking. But if they are pushed too hard, they will quickly run into the woods, right on the edge.
If you patrol around and observe, once you find that someone has wandered away, they will come back and cause harm to the farmland within a few minutes.
Xu Chen discussed with a group of hunters for an hour, but failed to come up with a useful plan, so he could only give up temporarily. He decided to wait until he went to the valley tomorrow to carefully observe the range of activities of the wild horses before planning slowly.
Anyway, if you don't move this time, it's enough. If you move, you will definitely gain something. At the least, you have to get five, six, seven or eight horses.
(Chapter 247 follows)
Early the next morning, Xu Chen asked Feng and a group of experienced hunters to stay and led them back and forth in the valley to find a suitable place to lay a trap.
At the same time, I followed Gu Heju around the farmland to carefully observe the direction and movement of a group of wild horses.
After three days of observation, Xu Chen placed the trap at the entrance of the Wild Wolf Valley.
Wild Wolf Valley is the mainstream source of the river, with water all year round. It is a Gourd Valley. The entrance of the valley is covered with rocks and thorns, and there are woods on both sides. The environment is relatively complex. He found that every time he drove them away forcefully, these wild horses would
They will go directly through the farmland, bypass the Wild Wolf Valley and then escape to the other side of the river. Then after making a big circle, they will cross the river from the downstream and approach the farmland again.
To put it bluntly, these wild horses have been fighting guerrilla warfare with humans because of their long legs and fast speed. The enemy advances and we retreat, the enemy is tired and we harass, and they don't take driving them seriously at all.
Of course, if they find that they can't go to Wild Wolf Valley, they will run directly through the farmland into the woods at the foot of the mountain.
After observing for three consecutive days and obtaining the general movement trajectory and range of the wild horses, Xu Chen also gained some insights.
First, let go of the patrol near the entrance of the Wild Wolf Valley to make a group of horses mistakenly think that the defense in this direction is weak.
In addition, people are arranged to find out the route of the wild horses in the small forest area at the foot of the mountain, and then set up obstacles on the road, and even dig holes and set up traps to make the horses wary and try not to run that way.
On the river beach opposite the entrance of Yelang Valley, several trip wires and rope nets are set up to intercept people who pass through Yelang Valley and then go around downstream.
In the end, all the men of the entire tribe were naturally summoned to participate in this round-up operation. Under the pressure of hundreds of people, these wild horses were trapped in the narrow and complex environment of the valley entrance as much as possible for capture.
The sharp weapon for arrest is naturally the most primitive and sharpest weapon of the horse roping man - the roping pole.
No matter whether the attack succeeds or fails this time, Xu Chen believes that these wild horses will escape from the valley and never appear again.
His original idea was to let the foal take the initiative to return to the group when it grew up to seduce a few mares back.
But this is just his wishful thinking, which is as unreliable as winning the lottery.
It is better to rely on yourself than to rely on heaven and earth.
In the end, all happy life must be created by your own hands.
In order to achieve the goal of this hunting plan, Xu Chen did not rush into action.
Because whether it is digging traps or setting up trip ropes and nooses, it takes a lot of time to prepare. In addition, the horse pole is a brand-new tool that no hunter has seen or used. Therefore, after Xu Chen guided it,
Let a group of nimble and powerful hunters practice repeatedly on the river beach against wooden stakes and straw men.
During training, Xu Chen was worried that he would not have enough opportunities to get close to the wild horses because the lasso pole was too short, so he designed a throwing rope and a lasso.
A throwing rope is a one-meter-long broken rope with stones tied to both ends. It is thrown out and wrapped around the horse's legs, causing it to stumble and increase the chance of capture. Hunters on the grasslands use this kind of thing more for herding sheep.
It cannot be used in places that are too deep, so it can only be used when the wild horses are crossing the river.
The lasso is a lasso that discards the wooden pole and only uses the lasso on top. This is a tool commonly used by cowboys. It is relatively difficult to deal with horses. It requires very high aiming and arm strength, and you must be experienced and agile.
However, Xu Chen couldn't make all the hunters practice on a large scale and for a long time. He could only simply train for a few days and select a few guys with strong arms and good accuracy to serve as ropers, and most of the rest were tied up.
Horse pole and cast line.
At present, the Ba tribe has sufficient manpower. There are more than 80 captives plus more than 30 men of the tribe. The scene of hundreds of people throwing lassoes and swinging horse poles still looks very spectacular.
In order to catch as many wild horses as possible, Xu Chen continued to train for seven or eight days. At the same time, he also continuously arranged for a group of hunters to familiarize themselves with the plan and environment.
It's mid-February, and there are only four days left until the full moon.
Recently, a group of wild horses have slowly begun to realize that the Ba people seem to be up to something bad, and they have become nervous.
Because near the foot of the mountain where they often move, there are suddenly many potholes and obstacles.
These obstacles happen to be their paths to come and go.
As the wild horses began to become vigilant, Xu Chen also felt that it was time to take action.
Because in four days, he will lead a team to go to Gonghuo Clan.
It takes at least ten days to come and go, and February and March are the peak growth period of crops. Once the damage is serious, there is no way to replant and transplant.
So after a night of discussions, the next day, hundreds of hunters took action according to Xu Chen's plan.
After the wild horses appeared, Gu Heju took a group of children to drive away the wild animals near the farmland as usual.
Some men, who were old, weak and not very agile, took bows and arrows and went around the horses to set up an ambush in the thorny jungle area near the foot of the mountain where wild horses often pass. Once the wild horses approached, they drove the horses away to prevent them from escaping into the woods.
Another group of relatively strong hunters went to the riverbank weeds and thorn bushes on the other side of the Wild Wolf Valley to set up trip ropes and rope nets. The effect of this group was relatively small. It mainly frightened the horses and blocked them near the entrance of the Wild Wolf Valley.
.
The largest, strongest and most agile group of hunters was arranged to ambush and hide near the entrance of the Wild Wolf Valley.
There are many big rocks here, and thorns and weeds are so abundant that people can barely see their shadows after entering. Wild horses are running inside, and you can only barely see part of them.
All hunters smear mud on their bodies and use weeds and thorns to camouflage themselves, trying not to let the wild horses smell too strong a scent of humans.
As the prepared signals of wild bird cries came from everywhere, Xu Chen blew the golden horn.
Gu Heju and other four teenagers who were patrolling around the farmland heard the signal and immediately launched the most violent drive against the wild horses that were fishing for food near the farmland. The wild horses began to run in the usual harassing way and moved to another place to prepare to continue fishing for food.
But suddenly a few more humans with weeds and thorns tied around their bodies and covered in mud suddenly appeared in the grass and chased them away, and kept throwing stones.
Under this repeated driving, a group of wild horses began to scatter and run, some heading towards the jungle at the foot of the mountain, while others repeated their old tricks and headed across the farmland towards the entrance of the Wild Wolf Valley.
The people running towards the forest were basically a group of mares and ponies, but before they could escape into the woods, there were humans jumping out everywhere along the way, throwing stones, shooting arrows, and some even waving horse poles to try.
Get first blood in advance.
Of course, none of them succeeded, but under such constant encirclement and fright, these mares and ponies could only turn around and run towards the Wild Wolf Valley.
"Eh~~"
"Tap tap tap tap..."
The herd of wild horses had clearly felt that something was wrong today. Under the neighing call of the leading horse, dozens of horses slowly gathered into a group, and the horses' hooves rolled like thunder towards the Wild Wolf Valley.
According to daily habits, as long as they rush through the stone and thorn area at the entrance of the Wild Wolf Valley and reach the other side of the river, humans will no longer drive them away.
Xu Chen rode a pony and stood on a small slope not far from the Wild Wolf Valley. Through a large amount of fallen grass and green thorns, he could clearly see the movements of the wild horses.
Under the constant intimidation and driving by the hunters along the way, the group of wild horses entered the area at the entrance of the Wild Wolf Valley almost according to his plan without any deviation.
Inside, the wind led fifty of the strongest and most agile hunters to ambush it.
However, in order to prevent the wild horses from being frightened in advance, everyone tried to ambush as close to the river beach as possible.
The herd of wild horses finally broke into the chaos of stones and thorns.
Although the situation inside was very complicated, the scene of dozens of horses running together, large and small, was still very spectacular, so Xu Chen could still clearly see the movement of the horses.
It takes only a few seconds to say it's late, but it's faster than that.
Just when the horses were about to rush into the river beach, there was suddenly a loud roar, and the hunters who were hiding among the thorns, weeds and boulders launched their most violent attack.
Dozens of roping poles and ropes were thrown at the running wild horses from all directions.
The sudden change caused the herd of wild horses to be in chaos. The leading horse neighed and led the group directly into the river. The horses behind were in chaos. Some ran forward and some ran back. However, the environment at the mouth of the wild wolf valley was too complicated.
, there were big rocks everywhere, and many wild horses collided directly with each other during the random collision, slowing down immediately.
"Quack, I'll trap the quack, wow, I'll fly quack..."
"Ouch~~"
"I'm dead!"
"Eh..."
"Boom~Boom~"
All kinds of ghost cries, wolf howls, and strange noises mingled together at the entrance of the Wild Wolf Valley. Xu Chen saw with his own eyes a guy being dragged out by a tall wild horse with a harness. Even though he was hit by rocks like a bowling ball along the way, he still refused to let go.
Because Xu Chen said that anyone who catches one will be qualified to ride a horse in the future.
For such a cool thing as riding an animal, all the men were so excited that their souls went crazy.
Even if I die today, I have to catch this horse.
"Ouch~please..."
The guy who was dragged and knocked around on the ground cried and howled all the way.
"Come on, come on, come on!"
A guy smeared with mud and camouflaged by weeds jumped out of the grass. He threw away the rope in his hand and rushed forward to hug the guy who was dragging him on the ground. The two of them were dragged behind the horse like fish on a string and ran forward together.
.
"Wow, wow, wow, wow!"
The two of them shouted for help together.
"I'm coming!"
Another guy jumped out of the grass, lost the horse pole in his hand, rushed to grab his companion, and the three of them were dragged forward together.
This strong wild horse finally escaped from the complicated environment, and then dragged the three howling guys and ran wildly downstream along the river beach.
Xu Chen stood on horseback and witnessed all this, covering his eyes helplessly.
He knew that some savages were stupid, but this was the first time he had seen them so stupid.