Chapter 549: The Great Roundup

Lu got to work immediately and submitted an application to Xiong. When Xiong saw it, he realized this was a major matter and that it was indeed necessary to proceed, but it also required coordination with other departments, so he hurriedly submitted a report to Baifeng.

Baifeng looked at the report on the table, already having a plan in mind. After refining Xiong's plan, he approved it directly and summoned Xiong, Lu, and the official in charge of hunting from the Ministry of Agriculture: "For this Great Roundup, I am giving you half a month. In this half month, your logistics will be fully guaranteed."

"If there aren't enough houses there, I will have the Ministry of Works send people to build some temporary ones for you. Saltpeter will be supplied without limit to ensure the meat stays fresh. You only need to hunt; however much you kill, haul it to the Battalion, and people will naturally be arranged to process and transport it. The most important point is that you may use Bombs. Do not worry about blowing the prey to pieces or ruining the hides; your safety is the most important thing."

"Like these past two days, wasn't there a young hunter near Lema City who was injured by a wild boar and couldn't be saved? We cannot sacrifice ourselves for the sake of a little meat."

The few people nodded repeatedly, indicating they understood.

"As for large beasts, catch as many as you can. Do not fear upsetting the balance. I have discovered that I used to overthink things. With just this many of us, how much impact can we cause? It is not even as significant as the impact of a heavy rainstorm. You should go all out; it would be best to clear the road to Xiaocheng in one go."

"In that forest, wipe out all the beasts that have claimed the mountains as their own. We, our people, shall be the kings ourselves."

Because there were currently no crops needing to be harvested and they were just waiting for the soybeans to mature, while other grains were basically contracted out to tenant farmers, the Great Roundup operation was mobilized rapidly. Everyone had nothing to do at home anyway, and it was not the right time for land reclamation—that would just be loosening the soil for weeds—not to mention that by participating in the Great Roundup, every family could receive a lot of meat.

Xiong, as the commander-in-chief, took one-third of the Soldiers of Huaxia and over three thousand able-bodied men, setting off quickly while armed with various Weapons. With so many people conducting a carpet-search and hunt, although many prey would be scared away, as long as they appeared in their field of vision, not a single one would be able to escape.

Young people without experience liked to hunt wild rabbits, pheasants, and the like to add some fun and practice their archery. If they could shoot such small prey directly, their aim would not be off when encountering large prey.

The Ministry of Works also quickly dispatched a Large Team to build many camps for the hunters in places where roads had not yet been opened. Ice cellars were also standard equipment, so they would not have to worry about spending the night.

From the first day, they had a bountiful harvest. The prey groups they found were basically all captured. As soon as a batch was hunted, some people would be assigned to transport it back. There were laborers at the camp to process it, and then, after rapid ice-chilling, it would be transported by manpower. Once it reached a place where carts could pass, it would be sent directly to Lema City by ox cart.

What surprised Lu was that he discovered rhinoceroses again. It was a small group, or perhaps a family; there were four of them, and their size was very large. Most people were seeing this creature for the first time and were quite excited. They were also considering whether or not to shoot these rhinoceroses.

Xiong saw that the rhinoceroses were actually eating Grass, so thinking of what Baifeng had said, no matter how rare they were, killing them was the right thing to do. The rhinoceroses had originally discovered such a large number of humans and were slowly planning to leave this place to find a more suitable spot to bask in the sun, never expecting that this group of humans had actually set their sights on them.

Thus, they demonstrated to the Huaxia hunters what speed was. Once they started sprinting, it gave Xiong and the others a shock; they had not expected such seemingly clumsy creatures to run so fast.

Because they had hesitated, it was too late to chase them now, so they could only give up on the rhinoceroses and focus their targets on other prey.

The wolf pack that had previously followed Lu appeared again, but they discovered that the number of this human team had expanded to an absurd degree, and since they were not left even a single scrap of offal, after following for a few days, they were planning to leave and hunt on their own, abandoning the idea of picking up leftovers.

However, Lu had his eyes on them. Prey delivered to one's doorstep shouldn't be ignored, and furthermore, if they kept operating in this area, it would be too dangerous for people traveling between Xiao Town and Lema City in the future. They had to be cleared out. Thus, they decided to set a Trap, using the prey they had caught to lure the wolf pack in, and then wipe them out in one fell swoop.

But perhaps because there were too many of them, the wolf pack did not take the bait. As long as they were close, the wolf pack would stay far away, but by the time they had moved far enough away and discovered them again, the bait had already been eaten.

This time, Xiong and the others had to catch the wolf pack, otherwise their bait would be wasted. Thus, they planned to utilize the wolves' habit of being more active at night and go to ambush them in the evening.

The place they chose was near the camp, because the area had a very strong smell of blood due to the prey piled up there for several days, and it had already been visited by several waves of predators. If they were lucky, there might be other gains at night.

Their Soldiers hid in the rooms of the camp in different areas, with bait at the doorways. It depended on which camp the wolf pack or other beasts would come to. Because they could use Bombs, the windows, which served as the only firing ports, were mounted with Strong Crossbows aimed at the location of the bait. A large bundle of Bombs was tied to the Arrowheads. As soon as a target appeared, the lit Bombs would be shot out rapidly to cause damage to the target.

And the facts proved that their approach was indeed feasible. For some reason—perhaps because they had tasted success—the wolf pack became bold again. They followed Lu once more and successfully discovered the bait Lu and the others had prepared.

After testing repeatedly and finding no danger, the wolf pack began to step forward to feast according to their status. Some wolves even began to bite and fight each other to ensure they could eat more.

Just as Lu saw that the wolf pack had gathered sufficiently, he lit the Fuse. The wolf pack, busy eating, did not notice anything wrong at all. By the time the sound of wind-breaking rang out, it was already too late.

Amidst the howling of the wolf pack, the neighboring houses also quickly shot their Bombs. Several loud explosions in succession left the wolf pack with little movement left.

Everyone quickly changed their Weapons, then lit the prepared Torches and rushed over to collect the prey.