Chapter 196: Ladders and Pig Farming

While the engineering team was building the sewage treatment plant, the annual autumn harvest of the Teng tribe also began.

The climate this year is pretty good, and the planting team has accumulated a lot of experience in recent years. With the addition of the curved plow, the grain area and output of the Teng tribe have been greatly increased.

In order to store more food, the Teng tribe built two large warehouses in the summer.

But no one expected that the Vine Tribe would defeat the Raptor Tribe and obtain a large amount of supplies.

In addition, the trading area also continuously received various materials, which required space to store them. Therefore, after the autumn harvest, all the warehouses were directly filled up.

As a last resort, they could only use a few wooden houses to store things that were not easy to decay, such as stones and animal bones.

After the sewage treatment plant is completed, the engineering team will build more warehouses so that all the food and supplies can be properly stored.

In addition to harvesting grain, the Teng tribe also has another precious product from the autumn harvest, which is insect wax.

This spring, the Teng tribe moved the wax worms that were previously in the Blue Sheep Tribe site to the newly planted wax tree forest.

Thanks to the careful care of Maidong and other warriors of the former mountain goat tribe, these waxworms have grown plump and white and produce a lot of wax.

When the insect wax was being harvested, Jiang Xuan rode Tangyuan over to watch.

When the glutinous rice balls landed outside the wax tree forest, Jiang Xuan saw a large amount of white insect wax condensed on all the wax trees.

These insect waxes cover the branches like ice and snow, and most of the branches are snow-white, which is very spectacular.

Maidong led the warriors of the original mountain goat tribe to climb up the trees, broke off the cylindrical wax from the branches one by one, and put them into animal skin bags.

After Jiang Xuan came over, Mai Dong said excitedly: "Chief, this year we harvested at least twice as much insect wax as last year!"

Jiang Xuan walked to the wax tree, pulled down a branch, broke off a piece of wax from it, put it to his nose and smelled it.

Insect wax has a special fragrance that can make people refreshed after smelling it.

"Not bad, good insect wax, your hard work over the past six months has not been in vain."

Jiang Xuan's affirmation made Mai Dong and others smile sincerely, and they became more motivated.

"I'll help, too."

Jiang Xuan picked up a leather bag and climbed up a tree.

Mai Dong hurriedly said: "Chief, this job is too hard, we can do it."

"It's okay. I'm not afraid of hard work."

After Jiang Xuan climbed up the tree, he began to peel the insect wax with Maidong and others.

The wax on thick branches is easier to peel, but the wax on thin branches is small and difficult to reach, and some can only be obtained by breaking the branches.

This is indeed a very hard job, and if you are not careful, you might fall from the tree.

But soon, Jiang Xuan came up with a new idea.

"Tangyuan, come here!"

Jiang Xuan waved his hand on the tree, and Tangyuan came over immediately. It was huge in size, so after entering the wax tree forest, it could only lower its body as much as possible and move step by step.

When Tang Yuan squeezed under the tree, Jiang Xuan immediately jumped from the tree onto Tang Yuan's back and said to it, "Hold still, don't move."

Tangyuan nodded, and then saw Jiang Xuan standing on its back and starting to pick insect wax from the tree.

With the help of Tangyuan as a support platform, Jiang Xuan can easily pick the wax insects from the trees, whether they are high or low.

Maidong and others were very envious of this, but they did not have a large mount like Tangyuan, so they could only continue climbing trees.

At noon, everyone came down from the wax tree and rested while eating the dry food they brought with them.

Jiang Xuan pondered for a moment and said to Mai Dong: "Just now when I was standing on the back of Tang Yuan to break the wax, I remembered a tool."

Mai Dong asked curiously, "What tool?"

“A stepladder.”

"Herringbone ladder?" Mai Dong looked at Jiang Xuan in confusion, hoping that he could explain it in detail.

The Teng Tribe already had ladders, but they were very primitive ladders, tied with ropes.

For example, construction teams that often build houses have several primitive ladders.

However, tools like stepladders have not yet appeared.

Jiang Xuan ate the dry food in his hand in a few bites, then picked up a few sticks from the ground and demonstrated to Maidong.

"You see, the ladder we have now is one-sided. We can only climb up by leaning against a tree or a wall."

"It's hard to pick the wax from treetops with a single-sided ladder."

"But what if we connect the top and middle of the two ladders together? Wouldn't it be able to stand up directly?"

Mai Dong watched Jiang Xuan's demonstration and easily understood what the stepladder was.

He looked at Jiang Xuan blankly and said, "Chief, you are so smart. Why didn't I think of the ladder being able to do this!"

The other soldiers also looked at Jiang Xuan with admiration.

In fact, the herringbone ladder is not complicated, it’s just that no one has thought of it yet.

Jiang Xuan smiled and said, "I just thought of it by chance. As long as you are willing to think more when you encounter something, you will definitely be able to think of many convenient tools."

Jiang Xuan never underestimated the wisdom of the tribesmen in this world. Their IQ was not low, they just had less knowledge.

As long as they really start to get used to thinking, they will definitely develop strong creativity.

Mai Dong scratched his head and said embarrassedly: "We don't have a brain as smart as the leader."

"No, you are very smart. Remember this. If you even look down on yourselves, how can I give you more important tasks in the future?"

When Maidong and the others heard about the more important mission, their eyes lit up and they nodded like chicks pecking at rice.

After eating and resting, they first followed Jiang Xuan's idea and made a few simple stepladders with branches and ropes, and then stood on the stepladders to pick insect wax.

In this way, the efficiency of picking insect wax is indeed much higher. At least they don’t have to climb trees hard and worry about the branches being too thin to bear their weight.

At the end of the day, they harvested a dozen hide bags of wax.

However, these insect waxes are in a curled state and are relatively loose. After being boiled, their volume will be reduced a lot.

That evening, Jiang Xuan tied the insect wax together, put it on Tangyuan's back, and let Tangyuan carry it back.

Maidong and others rode blue sheep down the mountain and returned to the tribe.

Tomorrow they will continue to go up the mountain to pick wax insects until all the wax insects are picked.

…

By mid-September, the autumn harvest and the collection of insect wax had been completed, the sewage treatment plant had been built, and the people of the Teng tribe were in an unprecedented state of satisfaction.

Because the tribe has sufficient supplies and the powerful enemies have been eliminated, they can spend the winter peacefully.

However, Jiang Xuan soon thought of another problem.

That's the problem with the tribe's lack of oil.

Most prey do not have much fat on their bodies because they exercise too much and eat poorly. Only before winter comes can they store up a little fat.

Even the animals and birds currently raised by the Teng Tribe do not have much fat, at most slightly better than those in the wild.

But fats and oils are essential for tribal people because they exercise a lot and consume a lot of energy every day.

Therefore, when the tribesmen eat prey, they like to crack the bones and suck the marrow, because the bone marrow contains a lot of fat.

The advantage of the Teng tribe over other tribes is that they are good at fishing and they also raise a large number of fish in ponds.

Many fish contain fish oil, especially those raised in ponds.

For example, fish such as catfish and herbivorous fish contain a lot of fish oil in their bodies.

Relying on these fish oils, the people of the Teng tribe can consume more fat than people from other tribes, and are therefore stronger, unlike the skinny people from other tribes.

The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!

However, the amount of fish oil is still not large enough, and it is impossible for the people of the Teng tribe to eat oil every day.

In the past, no one could fill their stomachs, and being able to eat enough was a blessing.

Now, the Teng tribe has initially solved the problem of food and clothing. Jiang Xuan wants to further enhance the physical fitness of the members of the Teng tribe so that they can get enough fats and oils.

At the beginning, Jiang Xuan wanted to find a plant rich in oil for large-scale cultivation, such as rapeseed.

But he soon gave up the idea because vegetable oil was not suitable for the tribesmen who exercised a lot.

He thought about it and finally came up with one path: raising pigs.

Other wild animals are either difficult to tame or have little fat. Only by raising pigs, and fattening pigs, can we obtain large quantities of animal fat, sufficient for the tribesmen to eat regularly.

Before this, the Teng tribe had never thought of raising pigs, because there were some giant wild boars living near the Teng tribe. When they grow up, their weight generally exceeds one thousand pounds, as big as a cow, and their destructive power is incredible.

These giant wild boars are highly destructive and eat a lot. With the previous strength of the Teng Tribe, even if they could find a way to lock them up, it would be difficult to feed them.

But now, the strength of the Vine Tribe has greatly increased, and with the existence of the vine wall, it is almost impossible for these giant wild boars to escape.

In addition, with sufficient food, Jiang Xuan came up with the idea of ​​raising pigs.

Autumn is the time when giant wild boars give birth to babies. Jiang Xuan plans to take people to catch some giant wild boar cubs.

He was a very decisive man. After thinking it through, he immediately found the leaders of the two hunting teams and gave them the task of capturing the giant wild boar cubs.

"Catching giant wild boar cubs?"

After hearing the news, Gou Teng's face became visibly troubled, because he had almost lost his life at the hands of a giant wild boar's fangs, and still had some psychological trauma.

Jiang Xuan said unhappily, "I'm asking you to catch the cubs, not the adult giant wild boars. What are you afraid of? Can you trap them? Can you set a trap?"

Uncaria felt ashamed after being scolded by Jiang Xuan, so he puffed out his chest and said, "Don't worry, leader. Our hunting team will definitely catch the giant wild boar cub."

Shi Qiu was as calm as ever: "Hunting Team 2 is fine."

Jiang Xuan nodded and said, "Since everything is fine, let's set off as soon as possible. Be careful. If you encounter a mad adult giant wild boar, you can give up temporarily."

Uncaria and Stone Eel both nodded. The lives of the hunting team members were more important than the prey. Jiang Xuan had told them this countless times.

Afterwards, the two went back and discussed with the soldiers in their respective teams how to capture the giant wild boar cubs and prepare some things in advance.

The next day, two hunting teams from the Teng tribe set out at the same time to the wild boar forest north of the tribe to capture wild boar cubs.

Wild Boar Forest is where Jiang Xuan first hunted wild boars. There are many wild boars in this place, often in groups.

Giant wild boars can give birth to two litters a year, with four to twelve boars in each litter, one in the spring and one in the autumn, both times when food is relatively abundant.

It is autumn now, which is the time when these giant wild boars reproduce in large numbers, so it is relatively easy to catch the piglets.

After the hunting team entered the wild boar forest, they first selected a group of giant wild boars. There were about 20 to 30 giant wild boars in this group. They moved in groups and were very scary.

Among this group of giant wild boars, there are twelve sows with piglets. These piglets have been born for some time and are running very fast behind the sows.

This type of piglet is close to weaning, and is neither too big nor too small, making it just the right size for domestication.

In the woods, Uncaria squatted on a big pine tree. He first observed the giant wild boar in front of him, then climbed down from the tree and summoned all the team leaders of the hunting team.

The number of warriors in the hunting team has increased to more than 300 people. In addition to the leader Gou Teng, six more team leaders have been added. This way, management will be more efficient.

Uncaria said to the six team leaders, "Go around from the side later. Set up a lot of traps and nooses in front and on both sides. Don't dig the traps too wide. It's best to make the piglets fall into them and can't turn around."

"Make the lasso shorter, too, or the little wild boar won't be able to step on it."

"Remember, we don't catch adult giant wild boars, only piglets. Do you understand?"

"I understand." The six team leaders nodded.

"Okay, three teams on each side, let's go."

Gouteng waved his hand, and the team leaders led their teams to run into the woods on both sides.

Gouteng, with a dozen soldiers, still stayed here, climbing up trees from time to time to observe the movements of the giant wild boars.

Today, the hunting team of the Teng tribe has bronze shovels, a powerful tool for digging. These bronze shovels are painted with indelible paint. If you don't look closely, you would think they are tools made of stone.

The group of giant wild boars were still eating slowly.

Giant wild boars have a very diverse diet and will eat everything.

They first look for various wild fruits that have fallen on the ground. After eating the fruits, they use their long tusks to dig the mud, and then use their snouts to dig up the soil and eat the roots of plants, earthworms, insects and other things underground.

If the grass is tender, they will also nibble on it.

The little piglets followed the sow and looked for food in the soil that had been dug up.

After Uncaria waited patiently for a while, strange bird calls were heard from the surroundings.

"One, two, three, four, five... six..."

When he counted to the sixth bird call, Uncaria realized that the trap had been set.

"Start driving these giant boars away."

Uncaria took out a very thick horn made of a bison horn with a hole at the end so it could be blown.

The dozen or so soldiers around him also took out their horns and blew them at the same time.

“Wuwuwu…”

The loud sound of the horn echoed throughout the mountains and forests. The giant wild boars that were foraging were immediately frightened and began to flee in panic. The little wild boars also screamed at the top of their lungs and followed the sow.

(End of this chapter)