Chapter 71 Tracking the Wild Boars
In October, the weather is getting colder. It is still a bit hot under the sun, but once you enter the woods, you can feel a slight shade.
The villagers have been very busy these days. The late rice is about to mature, and Gao Mingcheng said he wanted to harvest medicinal herbs. Once the herbs are no longer harvested, every household will turn their attention to the late rice in the fields.
Some families’ rice was planted well and can be harvested now, while some families’ rice was planted poorly and is not yet mature, and some are even shriveled.
Gao Mingcheng's family's rice was ready to be harvested, but this time no one came to call him back to help. Since no one called him, he did not take the initiative to go back to help.
That day, he went into the mountains again. He planned to get some valuable game before leaving.
The main thing is that he is running out of money!
As the saying goes, a poor family makes a rich road ahead. If you have no money in your pocket, you will feel timid when you go out.
He had been around the South, but had never been involved in the medicinal materials business, so he was willing to make more preparations.
After entering the mountain, he did not rush to look for prey, but followed the mountain road to check the beehives that had been placed in the mountain.
He made a total of twenty beehives and placed them in places with natural nectar sources. He couldn't fully name some of the vegetation in the mountains, but he knew that some trees bloomed and some did not.
He placed the beehives in the shade of a tree, which provided protection from the sun and rain.
We walked and checked along the way. As the beehives were newly opened, there were not many honeycombs in them. The worker bees were busy building nests and had no time to make honey. We could probably harvest honey once at the end of this year, but there were fewer honey sources in winter and the bees themselves also needed to consume honey. If all the honey was harvested, the bees might not be able to survive the winter.
Gao Mingcheng does not intend to exhaust all resources. After putting down these beehives, he will not move them this year. He will wait until the spring of next year when there are more nectar sources before harvesting the honey.
Suddenly, he became alert, stared at one place, and slowly pulled out the dagger from his waist.
The knife was unsheathed, and a cold light flashed.
He waved his hand, and the blade swept through the air. As the blade swept through, the body of a wasp was cut off and fell to the ground from mid-air.
Wasps are the natural enemies of honeybees. If there is no human interference, the entire hive of bees may be eaten by hornets once they target them.
Next, Gao Mingcheng swung his knife again and killed a few more hornets.
Using a military dagger to kill a mere wasp feels like using a butcher knife to kill a chicken, but Gao Mingcheng really likes the feeling of swinging the knife. Every blow brings gain, which makes it even more joyful.
Soon, the hornets lingering around the beehive were killed one by one by Gao Mingcheng.
He checked nearby and found not only dead hornets but also dead bees on the ground, indicating that some bees had been killed by the hornets.
He lifted the lid of the beehive and looked inside.
Because some of the bees were killed, the nesting progress of this beehive was slower than that of other beehives. Gao Mingcheng frowned. It seemed that he would have to pay attention to this beehive later. If all the bees inside were killed by the hornets, then he would have to move to another place and find another colony of bees.
In this way, he checked all the beehives in the area and then went to look for traces of prey.
His goal today was to hunt a wild boar, so he headed towards an area where wild boars often appeared.
It is nearly late autumn, the wild fruits in the mountains are ripe, and the roots and rhizomes in the ground are full of starch. This is the time when wild boars are least short of food.
There are traces of wild boars everywhere in the ravines and on the hillsides.
Gao Mingcheng passed by a slope and saw that the mud there had been lifted up, with plant debris scattered on the ground, as well as a large number of wild boar footprints and feces.
There is a patch of kudzu vines growing here. This plant can be seen all over the mountain. In November, the villagers will carry hoes into the mountains to dig kudzu roots. After the dug kudzu roots are washed, ground, filtered, the starch is taken and dried to make kudzu powder.
People can eat Pueraria lobata, and wild boars can eat it as well. Its leaves and rhizomes are both wild boars' favorite foods.
The surface of the soil was still fresh, and Gao Mingcheng judged that the wild boars had just left. He followed the traces they left behind and tracked them all the way.
He had a leather belt tied around his waist, on which hung not only a military dagger but also an ordinary sharp knife.
Once he found a few wild rabbits. When he was about to pick up stones to smash them, he found that there were no stones in that place at all.
After a moment of hesitation, he suddenly realized that since he could smash rocks so accurately, he could definitely get some knives, spears, javelins, and the like!
After coming to his senses, he ran to the blacksmith shop and prepared to make the right tool. However, if you wanted a javelin, you couldn't just go and buy it. You would have to spend some time waiting for the blacksmith to make it.
Before getting the javelin, Gao Mingcheng bought an ordinary sharp knife and planned to practice Xiao Li Flying Dagger. When necessary, he could throw the sharp knife out to injure the prey, which would affect the prey's escape speed and he could then chase after it.
Originally, that military dagger was definitely more useful than an ordinary knife, but he couldn't bear to part with it!
It's okay if an ordinary sharp knife is lost, but a military dagger cannot be lost!
While chatting with the blacksmith, he also discovered one thing, that is, as long as you give enough money, the blacksmith can make a bird gun for you.
The bird gun is also a gun, but it is a firearm from the Ming and Qing dynasties.
It is very old and not very useful. Even if you get a bird gun, you can only hit small prey but not large prey.
Another thing is that although the blacksmith can make it, the quality...
Well, you can imagine!
Gao Mingcheng followed the traces of the wild boars all the way and after crossing a mountain, he found the group of wild boars in a puddle.
At this time, the wild boars were grazing on fresh wild vegetables, and some were digging the ground with their tusks, looking for insects to eat.
Gao Mingcheng crouched down, hiding behind a bush and observing.
The wild boar herd was not large, with only eight wild boars, about five adults and three piglets. The patterns on their bodies were not obvious, mostly black, and they were covered in mud, looking dirty.
The wild boars were eating and playing leisurely, unaware that danger was approaching quietly.
Gao Mingcheng took off the sharp knife, held it in his hand, stared at the herd of wild boars, looking for a target to attack.
Once a wild boar is frightened, it will run away quickly, so he only has one chance.
If he couldn't attack first, he would have to run and chase the wild boars on his own. Although he ran fast, the wild boars were also smart. They would hide in the dense bushes and in the ditches, which were not so convenient for Gao Mingcheng.
(End of this chapter)
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