Chapter 218: The Food of the Baifeng Tribe

Because the food supply of the Baifeng tribe is currently decreasing rapidly, everyone began going out to hunt as soon as the ice thawed; they only stopped for a few days during the spring plowing, after which they went back to fishing and hunting.

Because the Dahe has a flood season right after the thaw, it is quite dangerous, so they did not fish in the Dahe, but went to the Dahu instead; the bamboo rafts of the Fishing Team were still sitting on the shore by the Dahu, but they had grown accustomed to the stable and safe boats with boat covers, so they no longer looked favorably upon the bamboo rafts.

Unfortunately, they had no other boats to use besides the bamboo rafts, and because the distance was too great, even if a boat were built, there was no way to transport it to the Dahu; their waterways here did not connect to the Dahu, so they could only travel by land.

However, the distance by land was so great and the boats were too large, so it was impossible to transport them; it was also impossible for the Carpenter to run all the way to the side of the Dahu just to build boats for their comfort, so the people of the Fishing Team were waiting for the water level of the Dahe to become stable and safe so they could fish from the large ships.

The people of the Bow and Blade Team remained the main force for hunting, and all the Soldiers were also equipped with Long Bows; they even had a Repeating Crossbow for everyone now, making their hunting success rate even higher.

But because the population had increased so much, they had to divide into several teams to hunt in different areas, even going very far away from the tribe to search for prey; sometimes it was normal for them to go out on a hunt and not return for several days.

The women gathered wild vegetables outside; as soon as spring began, the wild vegetables all grew up together, and there were countless varieties; the amount of wild vegetables the tribespeople could gather back every day was very large, and with the Slaves also being arranged to gather wild vegetables, the wild vegetables of the Baifeng tribe could be described as being piled up like a mountain every day.

Because they gathered so much, the distant mountains were already lush with green, and there was hardly any green to be seen around the Baifeng tribe; however, they were not worried that the wild vegetables would be dug to extinction, as they were all wild Grass with extremely strong vitality and very fast propagation speeds; if the roots were not completely dug out when gathering, they would grow back in a few days, and there were also tiny Wax Seeds brought by the wind that would sprout immediately upon hitting the ground.

After the wild vegetables were brought back, except for those eaten immediately, the rest were basically pickled for long-term preservation; of course, the tribespeople of the Baifeng tribe would not eat such things, and they only ate some fresh wild vegetables during this period when the old crops were exhausted and the new ones had not yet ripened; by the time the wild vegetables grew old and could no longer be eaten, the vegetables in their Baiyuanzi would be ready to eat.

The tribespeople made up a very small percentage of the entire Baifeng tribe, so they were not afraid that the planted vegetables would not be enough to eat; in fact, because the vegetable garden had expanded significantly this year, it was estimated that these people would not even be able to finish them.

Meanwhile, Changxu, who lived next to the vegetable garden, finally achieved some results; he spent the entire Winter constantly enticing—no, attracting and domesticating wild birds; because the birdhouse he built there could shelter them from the wind and Snow, it was warm inside and had plenty of food, making it easy to attract birds to settle down.

Among them were pigeons, and Changxu recognized them, so he focused on raising the pigeons and gave them even better treatment; the pigeons did not disappoint his expectations and began to recognize their nests; he tried taking the pigeons to a place very far from the birdhouse, and after releasing them, the pigeons were able to return to the nest with ease; this achievement filled him with hope for his future, at least he didn't have to worry about Baifeng cutting off his head.

However, Baifeng also told him that it would be best if he could domesticate some birds of prey, as pigeons were relatively weak and easily targeted by predators when released; eagles and peregrine falcons would attack pigeons, and the success rate of their hunting was very high; if too few pigeons were taken out at once, it would be easy for problems to occur when releasing pigeons to deliver messages during war.

Of course, Baifeng did not rush him too much; just the pigeons alone made Baifeng feel that this Changxu was still very useful; at least his investment had already broken even, although it seemed that not only had he failed to earn back food, but he also had to invest more grain to feed the pigeons; the work done by the other Slaves had basically allowed Baifeng to break even by half, and the investment in exchanging for Slaves was not much; the work they did now was basically enough to cover the value of the supplies they needed.

The chickens they raised had reached their breeding period again, and many eggs were laid every day, but their numbers were already too high; the way the Baifeng tribe kept them in pens was truly a waste of grain, and they were almost unable to afford to keep them, but they dared not let them roam freely; even if their wing feathers were clipped, there was no guarantee they wouldn't escape, not to mention the various birds of prey that often circled in the sky at this time; if they were let out, in an open place like the Baifeng tribe with no cover, an eagle could swoop down and snatch away the chickens the Baifeng tribe had worked hard to raise for a long time, and the hunting success rate would certainly be over ninety percent.

Baifeng had heard his elders say that when they raised chickens back then, they would put the chickens in a Basket and take them along when they went out to work in the fields; when they were busy, they would let the chickens out to scratch for bugs in the dirt, and as soon as they spotted an eagle or something, they would immediately cover the chickens with the Basket; even so, they were easily snatched away; as for why they didn't keep them at home in cages, it was because there was a Yehu-jun back then who would steal from homes.

The Baifeng tribe had dogs that often wandered around the chicken coop because they had caught foxes and such stealing chickens more than once; every time a dog caught a chicken thief, Baifeng would reward them; verbal praise was nothing, the main thing was letting them eat good meat.

Usually, they ate the intestines and stomachs of prey, and not necessarily every day, because those things the tribespeople didn't eat were given as extra meals to the Slaves after being cleaned; another point was that Baifeng did not dare to give the dogs too much meat, and even if he did, it was cooked before being given, just for fear of bringing out their wild nature.

Like stray dogs abandoned in rural mountain areas, they would hunt in packs like wolves, basically focusing on wild rabbits and wild chickens, but even then, after a long time, they would no longer recognize people; stray dogs in cities rarely hurt people and even remain friendly, but if you encounter a pack of stray dogs in the mountains, it is actually the same as encountering a pack of wolves; they will truly attack people.

For the dogs that caught chicken thieves, regardless of who owned them, Baifeng would reward them equally, and even the owners would receive rewards; so as soon as those dogs had free time, they liked to run toward the chicken coop, just waiting to perform a meritorious deed; the tribespeople who kept dogs were the same, often playing with their dogs near the chicken coop; one must know that a single reward from Baifeng was basically enough for them and their dogs to eat well for several days.

Even because the number of chickens was too high now and Baifeng could not afford to keep them and wanted to control the population, the chickens became one of the rewards; for example, in previous competitions, chickens were also given out as prizes, and whether they took them back to eat or raised them themselves, Baifeng would not ask.