Chapter 1165: Migratory Birds

Yishang has already set off smoothly; his personnel have been fully assembled and have reached the standard for departure. After bidding farewell to Changle, he stepped onto this unfamiliar road to expand the territory for Huaxia.

On the second day of Changle's time with the Western Development Group, he went to inspect some basic conditions here before setting off; naturally, the first things were the soil and water sources.

As the primary leader, Ce was naturally required to accompany him the entire way. Once the Prince arrived, his own leadership should be handed over; after all, Changle came here to inspect and guide the work, not to stay for a short visit. Even without Baifeng's order, he should have been tactful enough himself. Besides, he did not consider his own ability to be stronger than Changle's.

Changle first went to that extremely lush and enticing grassland. Although the grass had turned slightly yellow now, one could still see how rich and abundant it was.

However, "looking at a mountain while the horse runs to death" applies to grasslands as well. The grassland that looked right before one's eyes actually took a long time to reach. By the time they finished basic grazing and walked onto that grassland, the cattle and sheep had already eaten their fill, though they also preferred the lush grass there.

Stepping onto the grassland, there were still many grasshoppers flying about. Autumn grasshoppers were still active, as it had not yet reached the time for a complete drop in temperature, but it was getting close. Perhaps after a sudden cold snap, one would no longer see so many grasshoppers.

For the sake of safety, Changle was still riding on an ox; after all, there were many animals hiding inside such tall grass. Many wild chickens laid eggs here, and the dense grass provided the best cover.

Therefore, in the summer, herdsmen could always find many wild chicken eggs, as well as eggs from other birds. This was just for the ones that settled here; many birds migrating to the south would pass through here and make a short stop in this place with abundant water and grass.

Looking over now, there were many large white birds flying back and forth over the water. These were creatures Changle had never seen before; they were tall, had exceptionally long legs, and possessed graceful figures.

"Prince, should I have a hunter come over and catch a couple for you to taste?"

Changle shook his head slightly: "No, don't hunt them. Look at how big they are, yet they don't have much meat. These are quite beautiful birds, so just let them fly away. They are going south for the Winter and are only making a short stop here."

"Don't you think they are beautiful? Don't harm them; just treat it as looking at the scenery. As for hunters, go catch other wild beasts. Wild beasts that live here, like wild chickens, can be hunted, but there is no need to kill these birds that one can only see twice a year."

"Them flying south is telling you that Winter is coming soon. When you see them flying from the south back to the north, you will know that Spring is coming soon. They are all very good birds."

After hearing Changle's words, Ce did not dare to mention hunting them again. He had just seen Changle staring at these birds in a trance and thought he wanted to taste them; he hadn't expected that he just thought they were beautiful. Well, the Prince is indeed different.

Furthermore, he hadn't expected the Prince to know why these birds came here now. They really hadn't seen them before; it was only after the weather turned cold that they could see them like this. They had been a bit curious, but they hadn't expected this to be the reason. Birds actually running to the south—this was something they had truly never heard of.

Changle had heard these things from Baifeng. If food were scarce here and there was absolutely nothing to eat, let alone these migrating birds, Changle would even be thinking about whether the grasshoppers here could be eaten and how to get the people here to eat them.

But since there was no problem with food, there was no need to hunt these birds. Killing them would be nothing more than satisfying a craving; it was unnecessary. In the current Huaxia, no family needed to do such things to fill their stomachs. Even children catching sparrows or birds were just doing it to satisfy a craving, not to get full.

Another thing was that there were all kinds of insects and snakes in the grass. The original use of "beating the grass to scare the snake" was to use a stick to beat the grass randomly to scare out the snakes that were lying in ambush so that people could avoid them.

Cattle and horses could also serve the purpose of preventing and scaring snakes. Snakes rarely attacked prey they could not eat, but if their safety was threatened, they would attack. However, riding on an ox could largely avoid this risk.

Changle rode the ox, holding a stick himself, poking around on the ground randomly, mainly wanting to see if there were any grasses he hadn't seen before.

The types of grass here were relatively uniform; most were the same kind of grass, Crested Wheatgrass, also called Barley Grass. It was a very common, high-quality forage grass with extremely tenacious vitality. Even sheep that ate grass roots couldn't finish it off, because as long as a tiny bit of root remained, it could live again.

It was too common, so Changle ignored this grass directly; there was nothing to pay attention to. Although the ears looked large and were like wheat ears, they were actually incomparably shriveled and had no great value for cultivation, at least that was how it looked now. Therefore, no one bothered to collect its Wax Seed, because it couldn't be eaten.

Such a grassland was naturally excellent for grazing, but in Changle's view, the diversity was a bit lacking. He had walked for so long and hadn't seen a single new species he hadn't seen before. Ayuduo was also looking very carefully; she also wanted to find some wild grasses she hadn't seen before, or rather, wild grasses she felt were useful.

Walking and walking, they reached the water's edge. The river bend was very narrow; if one made a dash, one could jump to the opposite side. Now in autumn, it was the dry season, and the water volume was even smaller. In the summer, the water would overflow.

"Are there many fish in here? I heard you say yesterday that you come here to catch fish, right?"

Ce jumped off the ox directly, tied up his robe, rolled up his sleeves, and was about to go into the water to catch one for Changle to see.

"Prince, there are still many fish in here. They look different from the fish on our side, and every kind of fish here is delicious. The meat is very tender, and there are many fish; you can find them just by looking, and they are very easy to catch."

Changle also became interested: "Is it really that easy to catch? I'll come down and take a look."

But Ayuduo asked with some concern: "Will there be a Tuolong in here?"

"What kind of dragon?" Ce stopped his steps, a bit puzzled.

"It's a crocodile. There aren't any here; crocodiles like warmer places. It's too cold here, and they can't survive." Changle explained to Ce, while simultaneously comforting Ayuduo, who was a bit scared.

No matter what, Ayuduo was afraid of the dangerous crocodiles that lay in ambush. Who wouldn't be afraid of that thing? If you weren't careful, you'd lose a leg or an arm. Even in the Jiuli, quite a few people died in the mouths of crocodiles every year.