At that moment, two people were walking briskly from the other side of the house.
Xiaoman was walking in a hurry and almost tripped over a stone. It was Chunfeng, who was walking behind him, who helped him stand up.
When he saw that the three people were still on the slope, Xiaomanye breathed a sigh of relief.
Grandpa Xiaoman, who always valued crops more than his own life, didn't care about the food this time. He just anxiously told the three of them, "You must not provoke the wild boars. It doesn't matter if they eat the crops, people are more important!"
Xiaoman protested, "Grandpa, we've worked so hard to grow this, and it's almost ready to be harvested, and now we're letting a bunch of animals eat it... Sigh!" He dropped his machete and plopped down on the ground.
Looking down at the wild boars ravaging the crops, Xiaoman's face was wrinkled with worry: "Even if we want to drive the boars away, we have to find a way. If we rush out now, one bite from their tusks will break all the bones in their bodies."
Jiang Zhi stared at the wild boars happily eating, but secretly felt a surge of excitement: If you're happy eating my crops, don't blame me for being happy eating your meat.
She had prepared weapons to guard against refugees coming up the mountain, but they had been sitting idle in the medicine pile, never having been used.
Jiang Zhi believed that those few javelins were enough to kill a wild boar.
However, wild boars are wary, and their skin is covered in pine resin, tar, and mud, making it difficult to pierce. We need to find other throwing methods.
Thinking of this, she said to Uncle Xiaoman, "Uncle Changgeng, do you have any way to drive away the wild boars?"
In fact, Jiang Zhi also knew how to drive away wild boars. Mountain people would usually beat gongs, set off firecrackers and fireworks at night to drive away wild boars in order to protect their crops.
Asking Grandpa Xiaoman now is to get everyone involved. Three heads are better than one, and maybe the old farmer has a good idea.
Without hesitation, Xiaoman said, "We can make a fire, use torches, and set up a bonfire to chase away the wild boar!"
This is a good method, but it is also dangerous. Wild boars are unpredictable and might charge at you if you try to scare them away with a torch.
“Let’s dig a big pit and use a trap to snare the wild boars!” Xiaoman said.
For the past few months, Xiaoman and Xu Errui have been digging traps to snare rabbits.
Xiaoman shook his head: "If you want to trap such a big wild boar, how long would it take you to dig it out? By then, the corn and sorghum would probably all be eaten."
Jiang Zhi has decided to use poison, but she needs other auxiliary facilities, such as the trap Xiao Man mentioned, to trap the pigs first, and then use the poison gun.
"We still need to drive these wild boars away, otherwise they'll wreak havoc and cause huge losses! We also need to see clearly where they came from." Jiang Zhi wanted to kill the wild boars, so she needed to confirm their route in advance.
Grandpa Xiaoman also wanted to chase the wild boars, but he shook his head: "We can't chase them now. We have to wait until they're full. Once they're gone, they'll leave. The wild boars are still hungry and will fight tooth and nail to protect their food."
Compared to what Jiang Zhi learned from those videos, Xiaomanye was clearly more experienced.
So, the group of people endured the heartache and watched as the dozen or so wild boars wreaked havoc on the hillside. By the time they had eaten and drunk their fill and all the boars, big and small, were fast asleep in the cornfield, it was already getting dark.
Grandpa Xiaoman led the team, with Jiang Zhi and Chunfeng carrying long wooden poles with bundles of wheat straw tied to them.
The three men quietly approached the wild boar, and before the alert boar could make a move, they lit the straw bundle on the stick.
The straw bundles were completely dry and extremely flammable, instantly sending flames soaring into the sky.
The three men, shaking the lit torches and shouting loudly, charged toward the herd of pigs.
The wild boars were caught off guard by the sudden appearance of fire and sound. The few half-grown boars scattered and fled in all directions.
The sow then led the piglets into the woods in an instant, and Jiang Zhi only then witnessed the speed of the piglets.
These so-called clumsy pigs ran wildly on all fours, kicking up clouds of dust on the hillside; even hunting dogs probably couldn't catch them.
The piglet ran away, but the boar stayed behind to cover the retreat.
Its body was covered in ten-centimeter-long bristles, and it had snow-white fangs outside its long snout. It stared fiercely at the crowd.
It was clearly not going to be scared away so easily and was about to charge back.
Just then, Xiaomanye threw the burning bundle of wheat at the boar with all his might, followed by Jiangzhi and Chunfeng throwing all the big fire sticks they were holding.
Instantly, sparks flew from the straw on the wooden sticks, smoke billowed, and a magnificent wall of fire rushed towards the wild boar.
No matter how unruly a wild animal may be, it cannot escape the law that wild animals fear fire, especially when it is a three-row fire.
The boar was so frightened by the sudden wall of fire that it retreated repeatedly.
Fear overcame its fighting spirit. Having eaten its fill, it no longer lingered in the fight and turned to charge in the direction where the pigs had disappeared.
After the wild boar ran away, Jiang Zhi and the others felt their hands and feet trembling and their backs covered in cold sweat.
Watching someone chase a wild boar seems easy, but only when you actually face a 500-pound wild boar can you feel its evil chill and it takes immense courage.
The wall of fire I just threw out was like using a cucumber as a stick—a one-off deal; once it was thrown out, it was gone.
Although he was still holding a sickle and hoe, which was equivalent to being empty-handed, he was only trying to embolden himself.
For a boar weighing 500 pounds and as big as a calf, a single cut is like a shot of adrenaline.
A wild boar only needs one charge to break its bones and die.
The site was only cleaned up after the pigs had run away.
In one afternoon, the pigs almost ruined a large area of crops.
Although the crops were sparse, this situation still resulted in heavy losses for the two families who were already short of food.
Grandpa Xiaoman helped up the corn stalks that had been trampled and broken into several pieces by wild boars. He stomped his feet and cursed the wild boars angrily as he looked at the tender corn kernels that had been gnawed on.
Wild boars eat half of their food and discard the other half, wasting food in the process, which is extremely wasteful.
And as long as they know there is food here, they will come back again during this period of time.
When it got dark, Xiaoman and Xu Errui, who had gone out early, returned.
"Grandpa, Aunt Jiang, those wild boars came over from the mountain pass behind us."
Xiaoman was on a tall tree not far away, watching the direction the wild boars were heading.
Worried about misreading, Xu Errui and he each guarded a different hillside.
It was Xiaoman's location that allowed her to clearly see where she came from.
Back mountain pass!
The two families are currently on a hill that is close to Xujia Village. If they go in through the ditch where they catch crabs and snails, they will reach the other side of the mountain.
The low-lying part of that ditch is naturally the mountain pass.
"Xiaoman, did you see that clearly? The wild boar herd crossed the mountain pass and came from the ditch."
Upon discovering the wild boar's route, Jiang Zhi's spirits immediately lifted.
Xiaoman nodded vigorously: "I must have seen it clearly. In case of any mistake, I even went over the mountain pass to check. I only came back after seeing the wild boars go into the forest and come down the mountain."
The discovery of the wild boar today was actually a coincidence; Xiaoman had originally intended to go to that stream to see if she could catch any crabs.
Before we even arrived, we saw a group of wild boars rolling around in the mud beside the pond.
Having grown up in these mountains, he knew all too well how dangerous wild boars could be. Seeing the situation was not good, he quietly retreated to report the danger.
As a result, the three of them watched helplessly as the wild boars, tired from playing, entered the farmland.
Otherwise, with everyone busy playing mahjong and picking cotton these past few days, there hasn't been time to check on the situation in other areas, and we might not find out until two or three days later.
Jiang Zhi asked, "Where is on the other side of the mountain?"
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