Chapter 1243: Rat-Catching Team

Such rampant methods naturally forced Baifeng into a corner, so Huaxia began a vigorous rat-extermination campaign, with the mole-rat, being the easiest to exterminate, bearing the brunt of it.

That creature is nearly blind because it lives underground; it runs very slowly, but its body is quite large.

Catching them is also relatively simple: use a bow to shoot them. Of course, one doesn't stand on the ground shooting into the earth, but rather sets up the bow as a Trap and waits for it to trigger itself.

Mole-rats have many tunnels, and every tunnel is a passageway for them. You only need to find a relatively new hole, dig it open in the middle, stuff a little dirt inside, and make a trigger mechanism at the entrance—it's just a small stick, with a rope tied to the stick, and the rope connected to the mechanism that triggers the bow.

The Bow and Arrow are aimed at the tunnel below. When the mole-rat discovers its tunnel is blocked and there is no airflow, it naturally uses its nose to push the dirt forward until it pushes the mechanism, the Bow and Arrow trigger, and the Arrow shoots the mole-rat dead in the hole.

You certainly don't need the kind of bow used for battle; ones made by children out of bamboo strips are sufficient, or just wood tied together, since you don't need precision, only force.

Or it can just be a rope tied to a stone, with a row of bamboo or wooden spikes placed under the stone; when the mechanism is triggered, the stone falls, smashing onto the spikes, and the spikes can directly impale the mole-rat to death.

Mole-rats have large bodies, small holes, and slow movements, making them very easy to catch; such work can be easily completed even by children.

The Ministry of Agriculture even organized a Rat-Catching Team, whose members are primarily children; some children who aren't good at their studies but are too young are specifically assigned to this work.

Once they have a little experience, they can successfully take up their posts; those who hunt mole-rats specifically hunt mole-rats, those who catch mice specifically catch mice, and there are also those who catch rats.

Each has their own methods, and the Rat-Catching Team is even a formal department with records in the Ministry of Personnel; of course, there are few official members, and most are outside the Establishment System, so children can join after school and take what they catch to exchange for rewards.

Those who perform exceptionally well can become official members, directly supported by the Ministry of Agriculture, and can even take private orders; if someone's land is suffering severely from rat damage, they can hire a few skilled people from the Ministry of Agriculture to set up bows in their fields, though they have to provide the grain themselves.

In this era, rats—all kinds of rats—are still very rampant. The existence of humans has caused the number of rats to climb, and they are more willing to settle where humans are. As time goes on, rats will forever become humans' tag-alongs in the future, as there is more food in places where humans live than in the wild.

Furthermore, because humans build houses and dig holes in the ground beneath them, they don't have to worry about rain or Snow pouring in, nor do they have to worry about other wild beasts.

Even setting aside the space under human houses, just looking at the farmland, the primary creatures that hunt rats, such as snakes, foxes, and hawks, will try their best to avoid places where humans live, unless they are blind enough to want to steal chickens or meat.

Because of human hunting, the rats' living areas are left without natural predators, so wouldn't the rats become even more rampant?

One point where humans differ from other creatures is that they interfere with Nature and interfere with the food chain; of course, most of the time they fail, with the region of Australia being the most famous example.

They released rabbits, and as a result, the rabbits overran the place; having no other choice, they thought to release cats to catch the wild rabbits, but the cats discovered that the clumsy birds in Australia were easier to catch, and the bird eggs were also tastier, so they wouldn't bother to go to the effort of catching wild rabbits.

They even caught the rabbits' natural predators, various snakes, and not only was the wild rabbit problem not solved, but they became even more rampant. Until hundreds of years later, people had to hold guns to slaughter them on a large scale, but the barbarians had little history and didn't understand cooking, so even after catching the rabbits, they didn't know how to eat them.

In Asia, other creatures that are common in other countries and continents include things like Asian carp, bamboo, and Japanese knotweed; they are all delicacies in our country, but unfortunately, they don't know how to cook them, so they all ran rampant.

However, a large number of foreign species have also run rampant in our country; tilapia, African catfish, and others have already replaced the main native fish species in rivers large and small across the country.

Water hyacinths, originally intended to treat river pollution, have also broken out in water bodies everywhere, and long-legged mosquitoes, American cockroaches, red imported fire ants, and others are also constantly expanding their territory.

Humans think they can change Nature, but they end up almost destroying themselves. The food chain that Earth spent countless years struggling to stabilize is something humans vainly attempt to modify themselves; this is pure nonsense.

There are many rats now, but human power can also control them within a reasonable range; all kinds of killing devices can be used for extermination.

The Rat-Catching Team works year-round, and the benefits are quite good, with flexible scheduling; both adults and children can do it, it's just that there is currently no assessment standard, so there is no such thing as a "Rat-Catching Master" rank.

As long as your skills are good enough, you can have a formal job. In the future, after Baifeng implements the Establishment System, he might even give the Rat-Catching Team members a formal position; they are different from other departments, as their salary is a base pay plus performance.

The base pay is very low, low to the point where you can only support yourself, but the performance pay is high, which also incentivizes them to work hard at catching rats. Now, there is no fear of them catching all the rats, because they can't be caught all; if there are fewer in Huaxia City, they will go to other cities to catch them, and once they are caught in the city, they will go to the towns; there is always work for them to do.

Besides the Rat-Catching Team, there is also a Bird-Driving Team; this one has no Establishment System and is not formal, just children doing it. When the grain is about to be harvested, the children are also out of school, and once the grain is ripe, countless birds will come.

At this time, the children who cannot serve as the main labor force become members of the Bird-Driving Team; after arrangement and training by the Ministry of Agriculture, they can take the field.

They use small Crossbows they make themselves, as well as Slings, or even throw stones by hand to drive the birds out of the farmland and protect the crops from being harmed by the birds.

After the harvest, they will gather together, guarding day and night, setting various Traps to catch the birds; the birds they catch are their own, and they can take them to eat, whether roasted or stewed in soup, it is no problem.

This alone is not enough to attract them, so the Ministry of Agriculture also provides rewards; when a bird is caught, they hand over the bird legs directly, and two bird claws represent that they caught one bird. The bird claws have no meat, but this ensures they won't claim the reward repeatedly.

The reward is usually grain, paper, and brushes; the grain won't be too much, and the children won't choose this unless their family is in difficulty. Paper and brushes are necessities for the children's studies, and the ultimate reward is Maltose, which is attractive enough to the children, and this is a reward they can actually eat.

Although the cost is high and it is hard to earn, after a day of hard work, one can still exchange for a piece of Maltose the size of a finger.

Once the Maltose is in hand, it goes straight into the mouth; after returning home, the parents can't confiscate it, and this is the greatest attraction for the children.