Chapter 39 The Insect Breeder
Southern Wilderness, Great Swamp, Mosquito Tribe.
The Mosquito Tribe is a small tribe in the Southern Wilderness with a population of about 500 people.
Among them, there are more than 80 warriors of the same color or above, more than 200 ordinary warriors, and the rest are children and ordinary tribesmen with weak or no combat ability.
The witch of the Mosquito Tribe was a skinny old woman. There was not much flesh on her arms, only a layer of skin covering the bones.
Her face, arms, and even legs were all covered with black totem patterns. She wore an animal tooth necklace and a lot of bone ornaments. She looked mysterious and scary.
On the shoulder of the Mosquito Tribe witch, there stood a bird-beaked mosquito, one of the three bird-beaked mosquitoes that escaped from the Vine Tribe.
She had a mysterious way of communicating directly with the bird-mouthed mosquito, and learned from the bird-mouthed mosquito what happened in the Teng tribe.
She got some scattered information from the Bird-Billed Mosquito: a tribe, giant dragonflies, vines, and everyone was dead.
Through this information, the Mosquito Tribe witch knew roughly what had happened and gathered the important people in the tribe to discuss what to do next.
After receiving the news, the Mosquito Tribe witch fed a small piece of raw meat to the bird-beaked mosquito on his shoulder, and his expression showed no emotion.
"More than 50 warriors of the hunting team led by Tiger Mosquito were all killed by a strange tribe. Tell me, what should we do?"
There are five hunting teams in the Mosquito Tribe, the largest of which has seventy to eighty people, and the smallest of which has only twenty to thirty people. The hunting team led by Tiger Mosquito is just one of them.
These hunting teams would use the location of the tribe as their starting point and head to the jungles and swamps in different directions to hunt in order to obtain enough meat for the tribe.
The weaker children, women and children are responsible for collecting edible plants near the tribe.
Every few years, when the available food nearby became scarce, they would migrate to ensure that they could obtain enough food through hunting and gathering.
This time, not long after they migrated here, they encountered the incident of an entire hunting team being wiped out, which made the people of the Mosquito Tribe very angry.
A hunting leader stood up first and shouted angrily: "Find this tribe, kill them all, and avenge our people!"
"Yes, kill them all!"
"Take back all their stuff!"
…
The Mosquito Tribe, which did not have abundant food, had no intention of capturing slaves. Even if they caught them, they could not afford to feed them. It was better to kill them all and steal some useful things.
Unless the tribe encounters a disaster and many people die, they will try to snatch some women and children from other tribes to fill the population gap.
"Shut up!"
At this moment, the leader of the Mosquito Tribe roared, suppressing the voices of others.
The four chiefs were in awe of their leader. They shut their mouths and sat down again.
The leader of the Mosquito Tribe is tall and fierce, with four horizontal lines on his face, which means he is a powerful four-color warrior.
Being a four-color warrior meant that he could hunt the saber-toothed tiger alone and his combat power was extremely strong.
As for the five-color warriors who hunt wild bears alone, it is almost impossible for them to appear in a small tribe, and they are only likely to appear in a medium-sized tribe at least.
After the leader of the Mosquito Tribe calmed down the others, he lowered his voice and looked at the witch.
"Wu, this strange tribe was able to kill all the hunting teams led by the tiger mosquitoes, and even only three bird-billed mosquitoes came back, which shows that they are quite powerful."
In fact, it is more than just not weak. What the leader of the Mosquito Tribe wants to say is that this tribe is very strong, at least not weaker than the Mosquito Tribe.
The tiger mosquito is a tricolor warrior, and the bird-billed mosquito's flying speed is so fast that ordinary birds can't catch up with it.
But the tiger mosquitoes were dead, and most of the bird-billed mosquitoes were also killed. One can imagine how powerful this strange tribe is.
Wu nodded and said, "The leader is right."
The leader of the Mosquito Tribe continued, "If we attack this tribe rashly, even if we can defeat it, we will lose a lot of warriors. What will we do if other tribes attack us again?"
As soon as these words were spoken, the four leaders immediately shut their mouths even tighter.
They are not fools. Real fools will not survive long in the dangerous jungle.
I was so hot-blooded before that I was clamoring for revenge, but now that I have sobered up, I suddenly realize how stupid my previous remarks were.
They are not the only tribe living near this swamp.
There are at least two tribes around the Mosquito Tribe that are not weaker than theirs. They are not too far away from each other and they occasionally meet during hunting, and some minor frictions have occurred.
The Mosquito Tribe witch nodded again and said, "What the chief said is exactly what I am worried about. Our tribe has just migrated here and we don't know this place as well as other tribes. If we rashly start a war, we will suffer a great loss."
"Wu, are we just going to let it go like this?" a leader asked in a low voice, his tone very unwilling.
"Of course we can't just let it go!"
The leader of the Mosquito Tribe said: "But we must first find out the situation of that tribe. Once we have established a firm foothold here, we will look for an opportunity to take revenge!"
"The chief is right." The Mosquito Tribe witch agreed with the chief.
The witch and the chief had reached a consensus, so the matter was basically settled. There was nothing the others could say and they could only agree.
However, the matter is not over yet.
When the Mosquito Tribe discovers the truth about the Vine Tribe one day, they will definitely attack and avenge Tiger Mosquito and others.
…
Vine tribe.
A few days after destroying the Mosquito Tribe hunting team, in order to save his life, Jiang Xuan led his men to set up a large number of traps in the forests surrounding the tribe.
In addition to serving as an early warning and blocking force, these traps can also capture some prey and provide food for the Teng Tribe.
Thanks to everyone's efforts, another tunnel was dug out in a few days. All that remained was to widen and deepen it.
In the future, Jiang Xuan decided to dig more tunnels in his free time.
For example, when there is nothing to do in winter, the ground is frozen hard and difficult to dig, but the underground is relatively warm and dry, which is very suitable for digging tunnels.
These tunnels can not only be used to hide and save lives at critical moments, but can also be expanded into several cellars to store tuber crops in winter.
Jiang Xuan held a torch and walked through the newly dug tunnel. Whenever he came across a place that was prone to collapse, he wrote it down and reminded the tunnel diggers to reinforce it.
After coming out of the tunnel, Jiang Xuan muttered strangely, "The good vine tribe has dug so many tunnels that it's almost becoming a bamboo rat tribe..."
However, there is nothing we can do about it, since the Teng tribe is so weak.
It’s not a good look to often dig tunnels, but it’s enough to save your life.
When the tribe becomes stronger, we won’t have to hide here and there all day.
Before the tribe becomes strong, it's better to be a little cowardly than to be destroyed by others.
After checking the tunnel, Jiang Xuan walked outside the bamboo house, but found someone digging a hole on the hillside not far from the bamboo house. He walked over curiously.
"What are you busy with?"
Jiang Xuan knew this man. His name was Da Jiao. He was a young man in his twenties with ordinary looks. He was usually taciturn, but he worked very hard.
When Da Jiao heard Jiang Xuan's voice, he turned around in a hurry and said uncomfortably: "Chief, I am not lazy. I just finished my meal and everyone hasn't started working yet."
Jiang Xuan waved his hand and said, "Don't be nervous. I didn't say you were lazy. I just came to see what you were doing."
Da Jiao felt relieved. He pointed to the half-meter-deep hole and said, "I want to dig a bigger hole here."
"What are you digging for?"
Da Jiao hesitated for a moment, then mustered up his courage and said, "I want to use it to raise insects."
"Raising insects?"
Jiang Xuan was quite surprised by Da Jiao's statement.
"Yes, I want to raise some big edible insects. When I come back from work, I can just throw some leaves and tender grass for them to eat."
Dajiao became more and more excited as he spoke, and his voice became a little excited: "I have observed that some insects like damp places, so I plan to dig a big hole and raise these insects in it."
"Insects are easy to raise and don't require much time to care for. If everything goes well, it won't be long before the tribe can eat the insects I raise."
After hearing what Da Jiao said, Jiang Xuan's eyes suddenly lit up. This guy has a good idea!
In fact, Jiang Xuan has always been thinking that after the planting is successful and the tribe has more food, he can start the breeding industry.
Because even if you raise a rabbit, it needs to eat a lot of plants every day.
It is not possible to feed many animals just by cutting the grass near the tribe.
Only by carrying out large-scale planting and relying on the leaves, rhizomes, etc. obtained from the planting, the parts that some people do not eat, plus the plants on the mountains, can we meet the needs of breeding.
However, Da Jiao gave Jiang Xuan a new idea, which is to raise insects.
Insects eat a variety of foods, are resistant to hunger, and are easy to feed.
The most important thing is that the bugs in this world are very large, have a lot of meat, and reproduce very quickly.
If the breeding can be successful, the Teng Tribe will soon have a large number of edible fleshworms!
When Jiang Xuan thought of this, a bright smile appeared on his face.
"Da Jiao, your idea is very good, very good!"
"Really?" Da Jiao still felt a little uneasy when he didn't speak.
"Of course it's true."
Jiang Xuan thought for a moment and said, "How about this. From now on, you will work for half a day in the morning, and raise insects in the afternoon. Don't worry, I will ask others to help you if necessary."
When Da Jiao heard Jiang Xuan's words, he felt like he was dreaming.
He originally thought that the idea of raising insects would be rebuked by the leader.
After all, in the eyes of the tribesmen, hunting and gathering are the best ways to obtain food, and in the Vine Tribe, planting can also be added.
Raising insects seems a bit unprofessional.
He never expected that Jiang Xuan not only agreed to let him raise insects, but also allowed him to spend half a day every day raising insects.
“Chief, I…I…”
Da Jiao was so excited that he was speechless. This feeling of being recognized was very precious.
Jiang Xuan patted Dajiao's shoulder and said, "Do a good job. Since you have decided to raise insects, raise them well. If you can really make the entire tribe eat the insects you raise, I will reward you greatly."
"Yeah!" Da Jiao nodded heavily. He clenched his fists involuntarily and secretly swore in his heart that he must raise the insects well and not let down the leader's trust in him.
"Come, let me help you dig the hole."
Jiang Xuan didn't say anything, went back to the bamboo house, took out a bone hoe, and started digging for Dajiao.
Soon, the news that Dajiao wanted to raise insects spread throughout the tribe.
Especially when they learned that the leader asked Dajiao to raise insects, they found it incredible.
The tribesmen had simple ideas. Since the leader supported it, it must not be a bad thing.
Based on this idea, no one laughed at Da Jiao. The younger teenagers thought it was novel and went over to help Da Jiao dig holes and catch insects from time to time.
Soon, several large earth holes appeared on the hillside of the Teng tribe, and the holes were filled with a large number of insects caught from the mountains.
Because he had no experience, following Jiang Xuan's suggestion, Da Jiao separated several types of insects suitable for cave breeding and tried them one by one to find the most suitable variety for breeding.
Jiang Xuan even asked him to try raising small insects such as earthworms to feed those carnivorous large insects.
Because large carnivorous insects are larger in size and have more meat, they are more valuable for breeding.
During this period, people from the Mosquito Tribe also appeared.
They brought the bird-billed mosquito with them to investigate the strength of the Teng tribe.
However, when they approached the Vine Tribe, they first encountered a large number of traps and saw more than fifty skulls hanging on the trees.
Not long after, they encountered a giant dragonfly foraging for food. Several bird-billed mosquitoes were eaten by it, and they fled in panic in fear.
It happened that at this time, the Mosquito Tribe had a relatively large friction with the other two tribes on the other side of the Great Swamp. They had no time to take care of the Vine Tribe for the time being, and did not send anyone to continue to investigate the situation.
Time passed day by day, and in the blink of an eye, it was midsummer.
In June, after a month of trial and error, Dajiao achieved initial success in breeding insects!
June 18th, sunny.
Although the sun was scorching outside, it was relatively cool inside the cave.
“Crash…”
Big Horn carried a load of grass and scattered it into the cave.
“Rustle…”
Soon, large insects crawled out from the corners and began to eat the grass.
These big insects are white in color, just like oversized silkworms. The adult insects are nearly half a meter long and are fat and white after being fed by the big horns.
Da Jiao looked at these fat bugs and showed a simple smile on his face: "Eat more and grow more meat."
He has tried to domesticate more than a dozen species of insects, and this large white insect is one of the more successful varieties. Its meat quality is also relatively good, and there have been no problems so far.
After leaving this cave, Big Horn came to another cave.
The cave is covered with thick, moist soil, which is home to earthworms and other soil-burrowing insects.
Dajiao used a bone hoe to turn over the soil. When many insects saw the light, they immediately twisted their bodies and tried desperately to burrow back into the soil.
Dajiao quickly put the little bugs into two large bamboo tubes he carried with him, and then covered them with soil again.
He brought the two little insects in the bamboo tube to the third cave.
There are quite a few stones and bamboo leaves in this cave, and at first glance it seems like there is nothing there.
But when Dajiao poured the two large bamboo tube insects in, many large carnivorous black-shelled insects quickly emerged from under the stones and bamboo leaves, scrambling to eat the small insects.
This carnivorous black-backed insect looks similar to a centipede but is not poisonous. It is the second more successful species of bighorn breeding. As for other species, many have been eliminated.
Dajiao looked at the bugs and said to himself, "One day, I will let the whole tribe eat the bugs I raise!"
Dajiao is very confident about this!
Two chapters combined into one.
(End of this chapter)
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