Chapter 338 Flood
The pork elbow was stewed in the pressure cooker until it was very soft and could not be picked up with chopsticks. Mu Xi went to the cupboard and got a porcelain soup spoon. He used chopsticks and spoon together to pick up a piece of pork elbow and put it into Zhao Yeqing's bowl.
The bright red soup on the pork elbow soaked the rice. Zhao Yeqing spread the sauce on the rice before putting the pork elbow into his mouth.
The pork elbow is very soft and melts in your mouth with a light sip. It is not greasy at all when paired with the sweet, sour and spicy sauce. It's a pity that it is only the beginning of spring and the crops grown at home are limited, otherwise it would taste better with some basil.
When Zhao Yeqing's pig's trotters came out of the pot, several dogs drooled and stuck out their tongues, but the fish-flavored pork elbow with sauce was too salty and not suitable for feeding dogs. She had specially stewed some pork legs for the dogs when braising it.
The marinade has a light salt taste. The stewed meat is chopped and mixed with a spoonful of soup and rice to feed them. The dogs had been eating fish every day for the past few days, but suddenly they were switched to pork. They finished the rice in the bowl in a few gulps.
There is not much staple food left at home. I seldom feed the dogs recently, only once or twice a week. I can't bear to give them the staple food, but I have never lacked meat for them.
But when the two of them were able to start planting rice in the rice fields, they found that the dog at home became less interested in eating and even refused to eat pork.
As a rule, rice fields are soaked with water before transplanting rice seedlings, and the seedlings are planted only after the soil in the fields becomes soft.
When the two men discovered it, it was the first day of transplanting rice seedlings. They were busy with their own tasks and had no time to take care of the dogs. It took them two days to plant all the rice seedlings before they went to graze. They wanted to know what the dogs were like.
The reason why Zhao Yeqing was so relieved that she waited until the rice seedlings were planted before going to check on the dogs was because she found that the dogs didn't seem to be eating not because they were sick but because they were full.
It was normal to be full in one day. After all, Dahuang and his friends would catch some rabbits on the meadow from time to time to satisfy their hunger. However, if one's stomach was full for two or three days in a row, this was a little different from the past.
Could it be that the hunting skills of these paparazzi have improved and they can catch good things every day?
After the two men finished planting the rice seedlings, they followed them and didn't notice any problems throughout the morning. But when they came back at noon, had lunch and went to check again in the afternoon, they discovered something was wrong.
There was obvious blood around Xiaohua and Xiaohuang's mouths, and Dahuang and Xiaohei were not next to the flock.
The two looked at each other. Zhao Yeqing asked, "Are they going hunting?"
After staying there for a while, they saw Dahuang and Xiaohei chasing a gray rabbit from a distance. Dahuang pounced on the rabbit and bit it on the back.
Their movements were extremely swift, running, jumping and pouncing all in one go. They looked no worse than the wolves and jackals the two had encountered before.
Zhao Yeqing couldn't help but applaud on the spot. When the two cubs came back after eating, the hair around their mouths was also red.
"No wonder you guys don't like to eat when you go home recently. It turns out it's because you eat so well outside." After saying that, he didn't forget to pat the two of them on the head.
But then I thought again and felt that something was wrong. Why had I never seen such a few rabbits that were good at catching rabbits before? Could it be that the rabbits have become dumber after this winter?
Zhao Yeqing asked the question, and Mu Xi suddenly had an idea and remembered something from the past.
"Do you remember the rat eradication activities in the farmland at the foot of the mountain?"
Zhao Yeqing was stunned by this nonsensical remark, and then he responded, "When I was a kid, the town and village cadres were killing more and more rats at the foot of the mountain?"
"That's it."
There was no way she had no memory of this incident. At that time, there was quite a big fuss in the nearby village because of this incident, and her grandparents at home talked about it many times.
It is said that during that period, the nearby villages reported that a lot of crops in the fields had been eaten by rats, and they wanted the officials from the village to come down and help exterminate the rats. Because the feedback had been going on for too long, the town finally brought in officials and organized a large-scale rat extermination campaign.
At that time, it seemed very effective. We didn't see any mice for a long time, and we went through two quarters peacefully. After a successful autumn harvest, we passed the winter. But who would have thought that when spring came, there would be even more mice than before.
The villagers had no choice but to rush to the town to seek help and hope for more help in exterminating the rats. After all, it was heartbreaking to see the crops that had just been planted in the spring being eaten by rats within just a few days of growing.
This happened in more than one village. The same situation occurred in several villages where the town government came to help with rat eradication. The town government had no choice but to come down and help again.
But I didn't expect that this time it only lasted for two quarters. After spring and summer, when autumn was about to begin and the crops were ready for harvest, the rat infestation broke out again, and it was more serious than the previous two times.
That year, almost all the nearby villages had no food to eat. The town had no choice but to ask the city and province for experts to help solve the problem.
After an investigation, experts determined that the cause was due to incomplete rat extermination, a situation that has also occurred in many areas.
This situation occurs when rat poison is released on a large scale but the rat extermination rate is less than 75% due to lack of experience. The remaining rats are basically strong rats with good genes. Because the rat extermination activity has caused their "population collapse", the remaining rats will start to reproduce wildly after realizing it.
Rats have a bicornuate uterus and can give birth to a large number of offspring in one litter. The consequence of the crazy reproduction of strong rats with good genes is that the number of rats is greater than before the rat eradication and they are more difficult to eliminate.
Finally, after the experts were invited to exterminate rats again in a more comprehensive and effective way, there was no more rat infestation the following year. The government also gave farmers a lot of subsidies that year so that no bigger problems occurred.
People in the surrounding area were victims of this incident, so of course she remembers it.
Thinking of this, Zhao Yeqing knew what Mu Xi was talking about: "You mean, too many rabbits died or were captured in winter, causing the existing rabbits to reproduce crazily?"
Mu Xi: "I'm not sure either. It's just a guess. We need to go to the meadow to see the specific situation."
Rabbits are also very fertile. The two of them had raised so many of them before and understood the reproductive capacity of these animals. If they were to reproduce like crazy, the impact on the meadow would be huge.
Mu Xi walked around the area to check, while Zhao Yeqing rode Xiaohong to a farther place to take another look.
The two of them worked from the afternoon to the evening before returning home. Rabbits are very alert, and it would be impossible to see a bunch of rabbits directly on the grass. They would hide at the slightest noise.
We can only infer this from the amount of vegetation that has been eaten on the meadow, and by looking for signs of rabbit activity, including rabbit nests and rabbit feces.
Neither of them is a professional, but from their observations, they can see that a lot of vegetation on the meadow has been consumed, and some places are even bald. At this rate, unless deer or rabbits continue to move deeper into the meadow, the meadow on their side will easily be eaten up.
If this area was eaten clean, not only would their sheep have nothing to eat, but those animals might even come and steal their crops.
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