The twenty-fifth day of the twelfth lunar month.
The patrol team gathered near the big locust tree.
Mrs. Zhao and Mrs. Li Zheng looked puzzled and looked very ugly.
"It's winter, it's still snowing, and they want to go up the mountain to catch wild boars. Are they crazy or are the wild boars crazy?"
"Let me tell you, it's just that I'm too idle. Men are full of energy and they have to do something to make things happen."
Winter is a slack time for farming, and all workshops are closed. The exits of the village are also blocked, and it is impossible to visit relatives' houses even if they want to.
When a large group of men are extremely bored, they will naturally come up with new tricks.
When Li Zheng proposed catching wild boars, almost all the men nodded, especially Zhao Orion, who was the most excited.
Zhao Orion was chosen as the commander-in-chief because he was relatively familiar with the prey on the mountain.
He stood next to Li Zheng and said with high spirits: "There are a lot of wild boars on our mountain. I see a family of wild boars wandering around on the mountain every now and then. But I am alone and am no match for the wild boars. When encountering such a situation, They will find a tree to climb up and hide. When a wild boar encounters a single person, it will hurt them, but if it encounters a group of people, the wild boar will turn around and run away. They also know that there are too many people and they cannot win... So we use This characteristic of wild boars is used to catch them.”
Zhao Orion's policy is to have hundreds of people go up the mountain at the same time, form a half circle, drive wild boars away, and drive the wild boars into traps dug in advance.
It took two hours to dig this trap, with sharpened bamboo inserted upside down and covered with branches and dead leaves. If a wild boar fell in, it would definitely die.
Everything seems perfect.
However, for three or four days in a row, on the 29th day of the twelfth lunar month, no one in the village even saw a single wild boar hair.
Wu Huiniang couldn't help but said: "Da Shan, please advise Mr. Li Zheng not to catch this wild boar."
Zhao Dashan hugged his little girl and said, "Anyway, it's idle at home. Going up the mountain is quite fun. Some people caught rabbits and some pheasants yesterday. It would be nice to have a tooth festival."
Cheng Wanwan twitched the corners of his lips.
Every time when wild boars were rounded up, all the men in the village, ranging from sixty-nine to just old enough to walk, would go up the mountain to join in the fun.
The wild boar is not a big fool. Why is it still trying to get into the trap when there is such a big movement?
This method of rounding up is only good if you can catch wild boars.
But it’s not a problem to make trouble like this every day.
Cheng Wanwan also wanted to eat fresh meat.
She said: "When will we go up the mountain again today?"
Zhao Sanniu replied excitedly: "We will gather together in a moment. Zhao Orion said that if we use food to lure wild boars today, the wild boars will definitely be fooled."
Cheng Wanwan: "..."
Silly boy, pigs are actually smarter than many animals, so they are not so stupid.
"I'll go up the mountain to join in the fun." She smiled and said, "I'm lucky, maybe I can pick up two rabbits."
Wu Huiniang said hurriedly: "If you want to eat rabbit meat, don't you raise some in the backyard? You can catch one and kill it."
Zhao Ergou frowned and said, "Mom, it's too cold on the mountain. Be careful of getting sick."
"If I feel cold, I will go down the mountain without you telling me." Cheng Wanwan got off the kang and put on the warmest rabbit fur cloak. "Uncle Li Zheng started shouting outside, let's go, gather together."
Many people have gathered outside.
One can imagine how busy everyone was.
Hearing that Cheng Wanwan was also going up the mountain, everyone's enthusiasm became even higher. Even the Suiru people agreed with them to round up the wild boar, which showed that they had done something right.
Hundreds of people walked up the mountain with great vigor.
Cheng Wanwan took a look and saw that there were four or five huge pits halfway up the mountain. If she hadn't known about them in advance, she might have stepped into them.
When she reached the halfway point of the mountain, she refused to leave and gasped: "I'll just stay here and watch the fun. I really can't climb anymore."
The mountain road is full of snow and mud. I don’t know how these people insist on going up the mountain every day.
There was actually not much danger halfway up the mountain. The group of men gave a few warnings and then went up the mountain. The lively voices gradually faded away.
Cheng Wanwan looked back and saw no one in front or behind.
It is very convenient for her to operate.
She clicked on the mall and selected the wild boar in the mall.
Wild boar is really expensive, more than twice as expensive as domestic pigs. The key is that wild boar is not as delicious as domestic pigs.
She struggled over and over again, and finally chose the wild boar.
There are 14,500 people in the village, and two wild boars should be enough to feed her. She clicked to buy live wild boars.
Suddenly, two black wild boars appeared at her feet. Fortunately, they were tied with ropes and would not attack her suddenly.
She took out a knife, quickly cut the rope, and kicked twice. The two wild boars instantly rolled down the trap, let out a short scream, and became silent in an instant.
She was about to pretend to exclaim and lure people over.
Then I heard screams coming from the mountain.
"I saw a wild boar!"
"Three wild boars, one big and two small!"
"Block the southeast and prevent them from escaping!"
"It's blocked, and there's no way out!"
"You can't let the two little ones go. When they grow up, they will become our village's crops!"
"..."
The sounds on the mountain are getting closer.
It was obvious that the wild boar had been driven down.
Cheng Wanwan was so frightened that she hurriedly walked down the mountain. She didn't want to be used as a target by the wild boar.
Although the road was difficult, she quickly reached the foot of the mountain.
The men on the mountain were extremely excited. They held tools in their hands and surrounded the wild boar in a semicircle.
The big wild boar and its two cubs fled down the mountain quickly.
Just halfway up the mountain.
One of the traps had collapsed. A man hurriedly went to check it and suddenly exclaimed: "My mother, there are two wild boars in the trap."
These two wild boars were so stupid that they jumped into the trap on their own.
He was lying next to the trap to check, completely forgetting what was behind him. A small wild boar suddenly rushed towards the man.
Zhao Sanniu reacted the fastest, raised the hoe in his hand, and smashed it hard.
With a bang, the little wild boar fell to the ground and died.
"Ouch——"
The big wild boar immediately went crazy.
It lowered its head, gathered strength, howled, and pushed towards Zhao Sanniu.
Zhao Sanniu was standing next to the trap. If he was hit like this, he would fall into the trap and be pierced by the bamboo tips.
This happens in an instant.
The wild boar came roaring.
It was too late for Zhao Sanniu to react.
Just when he thought he would fall into a trap, someone grabbed him by the collar.
It's He Xiao!
Cheng Wanwan went up the mountain, and he followed him to see the excitement.
He originally had no intention of taking action, but when he saw Zhao Sanniu standing there like a fool, he could only jump on tiptoes and fly over.
He pulled Zhao Sanniu away, expecting the wild boar to rush into the trap.
Unexpectedly, the wild boar stopped in time.
The front hooves were about to go down, but it was forced back, then turned around and stared at Zhao Sanniu fiercely.
The other little wild boar that was left scratched the ground with its hooves and roared.
Zhao Orion whispered: "Don't be afraid, everyone, come together!"
Hundreds of people can still be afraid of two wild boars.
Indeed, with the strength of many people, and wielding the hoes and shovels in their hands at the same time, the two wild boars died without any struggle, and the soil on the ground was stained with blood.
There were five wild boars in total, three big and two small, weighing more than 700 kilograms in total. However, after draining the blood and removing the bones, there was not so much pure meat.
The men carried the wild boar and went down the mountain happily.
Seven or eight skilled men are responsible for killing the pigs, and some careful women are responsible for cutting the meat. Pure meat, ribs, big bones, offal, pig blood... these are all prepared separately.
Li Zheng said loudly: "Each family sends one person to receive the meat, and each person has three taels of meat. One tael of meat can be exchanged for a pound of bones or half a pound of viscera and pig blood..."
The villagers lined up with bowls in hand, from the beginning of the village to the end of the village. The crowd was laughing and chattering, and the parents chatted non-stop. It was extremely lively.
