Chapter 40 Colorful Duck

July 26th, the first year since the establishment of the Teng Tribe.

"Chief, the road to the river has been opened."

In the bamboo house, Gouteng stood in front of Jiang Xuan and reported to him with great excitement.

More than a month ago, Jiang Xuan asked them to open a road leading directly to the river and clear all the shrubs, reeds, weeds, etc. on the road.

In fact, when the Teng tribe was developing farmland, they had already left a road about three meters wide in the middle of the land. Now they are just continuing to develop along this road.

The reason for opening a road to the river was that as the population increased, food consumption became high and the fish catch in the creek was no longer sufficient to meet the demand.

After the road is opened, the Teng tribe can try fishing by the river.

The river is more than 20 meters wide and the water is very deep. Because it has never been fished, the fish resources in the river are very rich.

If the fishing industry can be successfully developed, the fish in this river alone can feed many people.

After Jiang Xuan's order was given, Gou Teng led five or six people and used digging, chopping, burning and other methods. It took a month and a half and they finally opened up this road.

"Thank you for your hard work. Come on, take me to see it."

Jiang Xuan walked outside, followed closely by Gouteng.

The terrain where the bamboo house is located is relatively high, while the terrain of the open area is relatively low. You can see most of the open area at a glance from the front of the bamboo house.

When Jiang Xuan looked around, the first thing he saw was a large pond, followed by fields arranged in a stepped manner all the way down to the open land, covering an area of ​​about thirty acres. The crops in the fields were already growing lushly and looked very pleasing.

Further ahead is a large crescent-shaped open area, lush and green with a large number of shrubs, reeds, and weeds.

In the middle of the farmland and open space, there is a road about three meters wide, starting in front of the bamboo house and extending forward for hundreds of meters to the river.

Although this road is not wide and is even blocked by tall grass and trees in many places, it connects the bamboo house with the small river and is of great significance.

If the people of the Teng tribe want to reach the river, they no longer have to fight their way through the thorns and bushes, which would be a waste of time. They can just follow the road.

As the saying goes, if you want to get rich, build roads first, this principle also applies here.

After reading it, Jiang Xuan took the Uncaria and set off on this road.

He walked past the pond, through the fields, and along the road into a large open area.

The grass and trees around were very tall, the road was bumpy and not very flat, and there were many tree stumps on the ground, but Jiang Xuan was still very excited.

"Clattery"

After walking across hundreds of meters of open space and passing through tall reeds, Jiang Xuan and Uncaria finally arrived at the gravel-covered river beach.

In front of us is a small river which is more than 20 meters wide. The water is flowing non-stop. The water is relatively clear and countless fish are swimming around in it.

Not far away, there was a group of water birds swimming in the shallow water. They would dive into the water from time to time to eat small fish and shrimps, and they would not run away even when people came.

"Hey, that water bird looks... a bit like a duck!" Jiang Xuan exclaimed.

This water bird has a flat beak like a duck, colorful feathers on its body, and is large and looks fat.

"Chief, what is a duck?" Uncaria had never heard of this word.

"A duck is..."

Jiang Xuan suddenly didn't know how to explain, so he said vaguely: "It's a kind of water bird that has delicious meat and can lay eggs."

"Oh." Gou Teng scratched his head and instinctively felt that it was not that simple, but he did not continue asking.

Jiang Xuan's eyes were shining as he looked at this water bird, which was much larger than a duck.

After July, although the weather is still hot, the world is entering autumn because the more than 30 acres of crops planted in the fields are gradually beginning to mature.

At the same time, the caves dug by Big Horn became larger and larger, and the insects grew more and more.

With sufficient food, the Teng tribe had the conditions to develop animal husbandry.

Jiang Xuan has been thinking about what kind of animals the Teng tribe should domesticate.

When it comes to livestock, the first thing that comes to his mind is a large bamboo rat in the mountains, because bamboo rats are herbivorous and have a very diverse diet.

It not only eats bamboo, but also reeds, small shrubs, various plant tubers, leaves, vines, etc. Its food sources are extremely wide.

In addition, bamboo rats are less likely to get sick, are easy to raise, have strong reproductive abilities, and produce a lot of meat, making them very good breeding animals.

As for poultry, Jiang Xuan initially chose a pheasant from the bamboo forest, and some time ago he caught a few cubs to raise.

But the embarrassing thing was that after the cubs were separated from their mother, they were very fragile and could be killed if not carefully raised. This also marked the failure of the Teng tribe's first breeding operation.

Now, Jiang Xuan has set his sights on this water bird that looks like a large wild duck.

Compared with pheasants, water birds obviously have a wider diet, are more resistant to diseases, and can forage for food in the water on their own.

As long as the water area is wide enough, they can eat their fill in the water without even having to be fed much food.

"Think of a way to catch a few and try to breed them!"

Jiang Xuan licked his lips. If this water bird really had similar habits to a duck, he was very confident that he could tame it.

Even if the first generation cannot be tamed, lock them up and let them breed the second generation. If they are raised from a young age, they can still be tamed into poultry.

Of course, there will be difficulties in this process, which require patience to overcome.

“Crash…”

There was a ferocious big fish in the water that unknowingly approached the group of water birds, and suddenly rushed out of the water, opened its bloody mouth, and tried to bite one of them.

“Ga ga ga…”

These water birds were very alert. When the big fish rushed out of the water, they had already flown up and made panicked cries.

The big fish missed its bite, flicked its tail, and swam quickly to the deep water. The duck-like water birds fled into the reeds, obviously surprised.

Their voices really sound like the quacks of ducks, and their feet are also webbed, which makes Jiang Xuan even more excited.

"Let's go back."

Jiang Xuan planned to go back and call Chishao. It was quite difficult to catch this kind of water bird alive, and Chishao was quite familiar with this aspect.

Jiang Xuan and Uncaria immediately returned to the Teng tribe. Afterwards, Jiang Xuan told Chishao about his idea of ​​capturing the water bird alive.

"Since that kind of water bird has crawled into the reeds, it means that they usually live there."

Chishao thought for a moment and said, "Most birds eat insects. Let's go ask Dajiao for some insects. We can then set up some lasso traps in the reeds and see if we can catch them alive."

Uncaria was very interested in catching waterfowl, and he said excitedly, "I'll go get some bugs."

After saying that, Uncaria ran away to the place where Big Horn raised insects.

Chishao said, "I'll go get some ropes and branches."

Soon, Uncaria came back with a dozen fat white bugs, and Paeonia lactiflora prepared some bark ropes and tough branches.

With these things, the group came to the river again, ready to set up a lasso trap to capture those duck-like water birds alive.

Chishao walked along the riverbed covered with mud, sand and gravel, and came to the outside of the reeds where the water birds were hiding.

She observed the ground and found many footprints and feces, as well as paths under the reeds that were frequented by water birds.

"The reeds are too dense to set up the noose, but we can set it up in places where water birds often move around, and the effect will be the same."

Next to the red peony reeds, outside the paths often visited by water birds, a thick and tough branch was first inserted, then tied with a rope, and a lasso trap was carefully set up.

Then she placed two large, crushed insects in the middle of the noose trap.

To be on the safe side, Chishao placed a total of three lasso traps, all on the paths where water birds often traveled.

"Okay, now let's hide over there and wait for these water birds to come out."

Chishao, Jiang Xuan and Uncaria returned to the other side of the road and waited quietly.

Hunting is a job that requires a lot of patience, and if you want to catch prey alive, you need even more patience.

If they don't stay here, but choose to go back and wait.

Then, the noose trap might catch the water bird's neck and hang it up, and by the time they come over, the water bird will either be dead or eaten by other predators.

So, they can only wait patiently.

While waiting, Jiang Xuan continued to observe the river. He found that some of the fish in the river were abnormally large. They swam in the river from time to time, and only a large black shadow could be seen from the water surface.

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These big fish are very ferocious. They not only eat the small fish in the river, but even the birds foraging by the water are sometimes eaten by the big fish.

In addition to these big fish, Jiang Xuan also saw a water beast chasing small fish in the river.

In the water, this water beast looks huge, with long limbs and a long tail, and looks a bit like an otter.

Jiang Xuan sighed: "It seems that there are more prey in this river than in the forest."

Chishao said: "It may be because the forest is relatively large, and the wild animals are relatively scattered. The fish and water animals in these rivers have a relatively small range of activities, so it seems that there are more of them."

“That makes sense.”

Jiang Xuan agreed with Chishao's statement. After all, it was because the fish in the river had a relatively small space to move around. If they were in the sea, the situation would be different.

Uncaria asked, "Chief, are we going to fish in the river from now on?"

"We can set up some fishing traps on the river beach to attract the fish. The river is too dangerous. We can't go into the water until we have a strong enough boat."

"What's a ship?"

Gou Teng discovered that Jiang Xuan was saying words he had never heard of before.

Chishao also looked at Jiang Xuan, hoping he would explain.

Ever since Jiang Xuan made up the story about a mysterious wizard who imparted knowledge to him through dreams, Chi Shao would not find anything he said strange.

Jiang Xuan thought for a moment, pointed to a piece of driftwood by the river, and said, "Do you see that piece of wood?"

"I see." Uncaria nodded.

"A boat is a watercraft made of a lot of wood. It can float on the water, and people can sit on it and paddle to control the direction of the boat."

Jiang Xuan used a small wooden stick to draw a simple rowboat on the ground so that Chishao and Uncaria could understand what a boat looked like.

"With a boat, we can go fishing in the water and follow the river to go further."

Uncaria's eyes lit up as he looked at her, and he asked, "Chief, will our tribe have boats in the future?"

Jiang Xuan smiled and said, "Yes, as long as the tribe grows stronger, we will have everything."

Just as Jiang Xuan was describing the future of the tribe, suddenly, a sound of flapping wings came from the reeds.

“It’s a hit!”

Chishao ran towards the lasso trap first, followed closely by Jiang Xuan and Uncaria.

Soon, they saw a water bird that triggered the trap and flapped its wings desperately trying to escape.

The water bird apparently stretched its neck to eat the insects in the middle of the trap, then triggered the trap and was caught by the rope around its neck. The tough branch bounced up and hung it up.

But the more it struggled, the tighter the rope around its neck became, and its throat couldn't even make a sound.

Chishao walked over and accurately grabbed the water bird's wings with both hands, preventing it from flapping any further.

"Chief, tie up its feet quickly."

"good!"

Jiang Xuan took out a rope from the animal skin bag he carried with him and tied the two webbed feet of the water bird together, making it unable to walk.

Uncaria untied the noose around the water bird's neck to prevent it from suffocating to death.

Afterwards, the water bird was put into the large animal skin bag brought by Chishao.

The water bird was very frightened in the animal skin bag, but its feet were tied and it couldn't spread its wings, so it could only bury its head in the corner.

Chishao tied the mouth of the animal hide bag and said happily, "We are lucky to have caught one alive so quickly."

Jiang Xuan lifted the animal skin bag and estimated that the water bird should weigh more than ten kilograms.

This water bird really looks like a duck except for its larger size.

Jiang Xuan noticed that the feathers of this water bird were a mixture of various colors, which was very beautiful.

He thought for a moment and said, "Since we're bringing it back to tame it, we have to give it a name. Its feathers are colorful, so let's call it the Colorful Duck."

"Five-Colored Duck, this name is good." Chishao felt that the name Jiang Xuan gave was very appropriate.

Uncaria rhynchophylla also agreed.

Chishao looked at the colorful duck in the animal skin bag and said, "We caught one today. The colorful ducks should not come out from here. Let's go back first and set the trap in a different location tomorrow."

"good."

Jiang Xuan and the other two temporarily removed the other two lasso traps, and then returned to the tribe with the captured colorful duck.

After returning to the tribe, the first thing Jiang Xuan did was to weave a large rectangular cage with rattan, put some hay inside, then tied one of the colorful duck's feet with a rope and kept it in the cage.

In the next few days, Chishao caught three more colorful ducks, all of which were raised in the same cage by Jiang Xuanguan, who usually fed them some insects, small fish, shrimps and water plants.

It's strange.

When there was only one colorful duck in the cage, it was obviously depressed, had no appetite, was in low spirits, and was always quacking.

But when the four colorful ducks were kept together, although they still cried, they were obviously in better spirits and had a stronger appetite.

Sure enough, social animals all need companionship.

This made Jiang Xuan breathe a sigh of relief, as he finally didn't have to worry about not being able to support the baby.

What follows is a patient training process.

Because the ducks captured were adult multicolored ducks, it was impossible to tame them directly, so Jiang Xuan could only place his hopes on their next generation.

As long as you raise these four colorful ducks well, wait for them to lay eggs, and then hatch the ducklings, and let them come into contact with people from a young age, they can slowly be domesticated into poultry.

Thanks to the book friend "Who among the immortals in heaven dares to enter the mortal world" for the reward.

Thanks to the book friend "Yizao" for the reward.

(End of this chapter)