Chapter 1154: Small River

In places like the Western Development Group, besides the beasts that run on the ground, there are also beasts that fly in the Heaven; the birds of prey here can even be described as enormous, and when their wings are fully spread, they can cast a shadow when flying in the Heaven.

Moreover, they don't just attack sheep; sometimes they even attack people. Adults are not their targets, but children are easily targeted.

Therefore, when they go out, children must be with adults, and the adults must also be equipped with a Weapon, a Crossbow that fires pellets.

A Crossbow can not only fire an Arrow, but it can also fire pellets. The main issue is that if you shoot towards the Heaven, the flying Arrow will fall back down vertically due to its counterweight and fletching, and once it falls, it is extremely dangerous and can also be fatal.

Because such incidents have happened in Huaxia before, a new type of Bow and Crossbow specifically for firing pellets was improved; its power is also sufficiently great, and it has enough lethality for targets nearby as well as those in the Heaven.

Furthermore, pellets do not have the terrifying power of an Arrow; even if they fly into the Heaven and fall back down, hitting someone only hurts for a moment and won't be fatal, but an Arrow truly can be.

Initially, this danger came from a group of children who made their own darts—that is, taking bone needles or wooden needles and mounting them on thin bamboo, later adding feathers, and also putting things like stones into bamboo tubes for counterweight, then throwing them for play.

Although such things were very dangerous, parents in this era not only wouldn't discipline their children or confiscate their toys, but instead would encourage their children to make them themselves, and would insist that their children must win in such competitive games.

If one practiced the technique of throwing darts well enough, one could even have an Iron Needle head made for them, the kind that could truly be used for hunting, but in later generations, such a situation would be absolutely, completely impossible; this would simply be a major family education accident.

But later, also because a child threw a dart they had made toward the Heaven, when they looked up to see it, it happened to fall down and pierced directly into their face.

After this incident, the children all learned their lesson: they could have darts, but they had to play by the rules—they were not allowed to throw them at their classmates or friends, not allowed to throw them at living people, and not allowed to throw them toward the Heaven or toward the ground.

Then, because the parent of that injured child happened to be from the Ministry of War, when these parents put their heads together, they realized that the child's situation was similar to what they dealt with in the Ministry of War; sometimes, arrows shot toward the Heaven during training would also fall back down, which was very dangerous, so how to solve it became a problem. No one had cared before, but now someone had finally considered it.

Later, through the cooperation of the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Works, they finally made this kind of Bow and Crossbow that fires pellets, which is very easy to use for shooting targets in the Heaven and is also much safer.

Now it is also used by the Western Development Group to defend against birds of prey; otherwise, not only small lambs but even children could be snatched away, and their territorial awareness does not seem as clear as that of wolf packs or wild beasts. In any case, they certainly have territories, but most of the time, the territories of various birds of prey overlap.

Many times, different, or even different species of, birds of prey will come, which is very terrifying. As long as you feel a shadow passing over your head, you must prepare your Weapon, because that might be some kind of huge eagle about to dive down from above your head.

Now that everyone had arrived and gathered together, Ce introduced Changle and Ayuduo to the crowd in a grand manner.

"This is our Huaxia Prince, the King's second son, Changle! This is the Prince's wife, Ayuduo. The two of them will be staying here with us for a period of time, and then they will guide our work, and at the same time, they will inspect this place to see how future development will be; likewise, they will also supervise how our work is going, whether we are slacking off or not—everyone must work even more diligently and earnestly!"

"Good!!!"

Changle hurriedly waved his hands and said to the crowd: "I have come here indeed to inspect and to provide you with some guidance, but this supervision is not within my professional scope. How you worked before is how you should continue to work; don't worry about me. The greatest use of my coming here is to solve your troubles.

I am a person who understands a little bit about all kinds of things. If you encounter any problems, you can come to find me, and I will explain them to you, provided I understand them. Then, if there is something I don't know or don't understand, I will go back to find my father and have him explain it to me, and then the solution will naturally be sent over.

Furthermore, there is the matter of solving the problems you have here. If you encounter any trouble, lack anything, or have any difficulties, you can tell me. In Huaxia, I can at least solve the vast majority of your problems; this I can guarantee you!"

"Oh oh oh!!! Great!!!"

The crowd expressed their sincere welcome for Changle's arrival. Although they had never met him, the legend of Changle had always been circulating in Huaxia. Changle was the most successful one among their peers, and naturally, he was the idol of most people. Although Changle was the son of Baifeng and possessed an inherent halo, it could not obscure Changle's own radiance in the slightest, because Changle himself was a sufficiently excellent person.

Changle looked around and then asked curiously: "Who picked up those little kittens, and who is raising them?"

As soon as Changle asked this, everyone here had their hearts in their throats. Although some of them were unwilling to raise the kittens and did not think it was appropriate to raise them, they were helpless because the minority could not overcome the majority, so they could not express their opinions.

Everyone else was willing, so it was useless for you to be unwilling; at most, you would just be showing off, and it would also be easy to be looked down upon by the women.

The herdsman who had picked up the kittens stood out in a panic: "Prince, it, it was me who picked them up, but they are all very small and won't hurt people; they definitely won't hurt people. They will just grow up, they are all just tiny little things, they won't hurt people, nor will they hurt our livestock.

Also, also, they might be able to be like dogs and be of some use, right? Aren't dogs also wolves? These little kittens might become completely tame, Prince, don't you think so? Please just let them stay, don't kill them."

Changle did not answer directly, but asked with a little bit of curiosity: "What is your name again? I have forgotten."

"Prince, I, I am called Xiaohe."