Chapter 31: Fire Attack

Baifeng still could not bring himself to punish Lu; although in this Wasteland, he was already a strong, able-bodied laborer, he was after all only in his teens, which in later generations would be the rebellious age of fearing nothing under Heaven.

How could he punish him now? It was nothing more than "bamboo shoots fried in cured meat"—whipping the palms and then the buttocks with thin bamboo strips, while lecturing him that he must not leave the Baifeng Tribe without notice, and if he dared to run off again, he should never come back, and so on.

While hitting him, Baifeng watched Lu's expression, not expecting that he could truly endure it, stubbornly refusing to make a sound or yield.

"Are you wrong?"

Lu shook his head.

Baifeng struck with more force: "At a time like this, you should say you're wrong; even if you aren't convinced, you should still say you're wrong. Yield a little and take fewer hits, understand? Take the small stick and avoid the big stick, why are you so stubborn?"

Only then did Lu look up at Baifeng with teary eyes: "If I yield, will you make me a Knife?"

"Yes, yes, yes, but if you don't listen and run off again in the future, I will still take it back."

Only then did Lu say: "Then I was wrong."

He had Yi take the kid into the house to lie down, pointing at the welts rising on his buttocks to use as teaching material for Yi.

"Look, the thickest part of a person's flesh is the buttocks, where there are few and deep acupoints. With my method of hitting, it only injures the skin and flesh to make him suffer a bit, but it will never harm the sinews, bones, or Meridians.

Once we have the conditions later, I will teach you how to prepare medicine to treat these kinds of injuries; for now, just let him recover on his own, and he will be able to get up tomorrow."

Yi nodded while listening and even reached out to touch the wounds on Lu's buttocks; Lu let out a miserable shriek, followed by the two of them cursing each other, while Baifeng clapped his hands and walked away.

The next day, Baifeng told all the tribesmen about the upcoming buffalo hunt, telling everyone to work together; now, all work would revolve around this hunting operation.

Thus, the entire tribe began cutting bamboo and wood to make Spears and Spear Throwers.

To facilitate the transport of Weaponry and the hauling back of buffalo after they were caught, Baifeng designed a Back Frame, which was much more practical for carrying large items than a Basket.

It was not difficult to make, and a batch was quickly produced and immediately put into use, letting the tribesmen carry it to transport bamboo and wood.

Lu was also transporting bamboo, but every time he had to pass specifically in front of Baifeng, and he did it running; if Baifeng didn't know Lu's personality, he would definitely think Lu was provoking him: with that little strength of yours, Laozi can run today even after being beaten yesterday.

When Lu ran past in front of Baifeng again, Baifeng couldn't help it: "Stop, stop, stop, Lu, if you want something, just say it, don't keep hovering in front of me."

He threw the bamboo on the ground, scratched his buttocks embarrassedly, and said: "Tribal Chief, look at my... when will you give it to me?"

"What?"

Lu raised his voice and said: "The Small Knife!"

Baifeng thought to himself that he was indeed no different from a child, and stopped teasing him: "It has to be done in order; there are over a dozen people ahead of you. Once theirs are done, it will be your turn. As long as you don't cause trouble again, I will definitely give it to you."

Having received a definite answer, Lu let out a happy roar, then picked up the bamboo on the ground and ran off in a flurry.

By the evening, there were over 1,300 Bamboo Spears and Wooden Spears in total, though mostly Bamboo Spears with fewer Wooden Spears. On average, each person could get about six, which could be called fighting a wealthy war.

Baifeng told everyone to rest early and set off early tomorrow for the hunt; eat well and sleep well to maintain their strength.

At the first light of dawn, Baifeng gathered the two hundred or so people participating in the hunt, packed their equipment, and prepared to set off.

The other tribesmen staying behind continued with their duties; the Shaman stayed to watch the house, while tough men like Xiong and Chi had to go, and Baifeng was naturally no exception and would also participate in the hunt.

Xiong had a bow hanging on his back, over a dozen arrows in a bamboo Arrow Quiver, and held an Iron-tipped Spear in his hand; if he were wearing Armor, he would look exactly like a great general, but unfortunately, he only had an Animal Skin Skirt hanging at his waist.

Baifeng also held a Spear in his hand, but Baifeng preferred to call it a gun, because his was not for throwing, and he also had a Knife tucked into his waist, which was the longest and best one he had forged so far.

As for the other tribesmen, the strong men were dispersed on the perimeter, each holding a wooden Spear, with more than half having an Iron Spear Tip, while the other tribesmen were in the circle, carrying bundles of Spears as logistics.

Traveling as fast as possible, Baifeng estimated it was eleven o'clock when they finally arrived at that valley. Fresh hoof prints and dung could be seen all around, indicating the herd was still here.

Moving further forward to find a high point with a wide, commanding view, Baifeng finally saw the massive buffalo herd.

The number of cattle was far higher than Baifeng had estimated, roughly estimated at over two thousand.

This valley was wedged between two large mountains; the valley floor was flat and extremely long and narrow. The slopes on both sides extended relatively gently to the valley floor.

Looking at the traces of floods, Baifeng knew this was an alluvial fan plain caused by mountain torrents; combined with the low position, the herd must have treated this as a place to spend the Winter. If nothing went wrong, they would come here again next autumn, which for the Baifeng Tribe was equivalent to a hunting ground with a fixed time and place.

Baifeng led his men to stand downwind, because it was not a narrow pass; although it was a valley, it was wide and long, and it was impossible to surround them with this few people; throwing was still a bit whimsical.

Feeling the autumn wind and looking at the gradually withering Grass, a bold idea sprouted in Baifeng's mind, but Baifeng was afraid it would be uncontrollable.

Under the uncomprehending gazes of the crowd, Baifeng continued to walk downwind until he saw a place that was relatively narrow and almost bare all around, with only stone walls and no vegetation.

This was it; Baifeng had more than half of the people wait here in ambush with Spears, while he would take people to the windward side to set a fire!

As a modern person, Baifeng was actually very afraid of lighting fires in the wild; he had more awe than the primitive people. Fire was uncontrollable, and once lit, no one knew how fierce it would be. This time, Baifeng could only use the fire to drive the buffalo herd to the maximum extent; there was nothing to burn down there, so it should stop there.

If the mountain fire did not stop and continued to burn, it could only be left to its own devices; the damage caused at this time was not as serious as in later generations, as there were simply no people.

Taking dozens of people to a suitable position, Baifeng and his men lit the fire. The dry Grass was excellent fuel, and with the help of the wind, the fire spread instantly. The speed was so fast that even Baifeng was afraid; in any case, he could not outrun the speed at which this fire spread.

The herd below vaguely sensed danger and began to become restless; the wind direction did not change and kept blowing in one direction, so the fire did not spread to the windward side.

In just one minute, the fire had burned from the hillside to the valley floor. Some of the cattle, upon noticing the fire, hurriedly bypassed the wall of fire and ran to the windward side, escaping a disaster, and then walked far away to continue eating grass.

But more cattle had not yet had time to run over when the fire burned over. With the heat and thick smoke, the cattle in the distance also knew what was happening and began to walk slowly into the distance.

However, the cattle close to the fire could not wait and began to stampede, wanting to get away from the big fire, dragging more cattle along as they ran, causing the cattle in the distance to speed up as well.

Soon, in the narrow valley, the buffaloes driven by the big fire ran more and more densely, faster and faster, and buffaloes began to be squeezed down and then trampled to death or injured by their own kind.

Baifeng led his men, following far behind the big fire, cleaning up the battlefield in the still-scorching ashes.