It was July 26th, the first year after the establishment of the Vine Tribe.
"Chief, the road to the river has been opened."
In the bamboo house, Undeng stood in front of Jiang Xuan and reported to him with great excitement.
More than a month ago, Jiang Xuan asked them to open a road directly to the river and clear all the shrubs, reeds, weeds, etc. on the road.
In fact, when the Vine tribe opened up farmland, they had already left a road about three meters wide in the center of the farmland. Now they just continue to open up along this road.
The reason why a road to the river was opened was because as the population increased, food consumption also increased, and the fish caught in the creek was no longer enough to meet the demand.
After the road is opened, the Vine tribe can try to fish by the river in the future.
This river is more than 20 meters wide and very deep. Because it has not been fished, the fish resources in the river are very rich.
If the fishing industry can be successfully developed, the fish in this river alone can feed many people.
After Jiang Xuan's order was issued, Undeng and five or six people spent a month and a half using digging, chopping, and burning methods to finally open up the road.
"Thank you for your hard work. Come on, take me to see you."
Jiang Xuan walked outside, followed closely by Uncaria.
Where the bamboo house is located, the terrain is relatively high and the open land is relatively low. From the front of the bamboo house, you can see most of the open land at a glance.
Jiang Xuan looked around, and the first thing he saw was a large pond, and then there were fields arranged in a ladder shape until they reached the open land. They were about thirty acres in size. The crops in the fields were already growing lushly. It looks very pleasant.
Further ahead, there is a large open area in the shape of a half-moon, with a large number of shrubs, reeds, and weeds growing lushly.
In the middle of the crop fields and open areas, there is a road about three meters wide, starting in front of the bamboo house and extending hundreds of meters straight to the river.
Although this road is not big and is even blocked by tall grass and trees in many places, it connects the bamboo house with the small river, which is of great significance.
When the people of the Vine tribe want to go to the river, they no longer have to go through thorns and waste a lot of time. They can just walk along the road.
As the saying goes, if you want to get rich, build roads first. This principle also applies here.
After Jiang Xuan read it, he took Uncaria on this road.
He walked past the pond, walked through the crop fields, and followed the road into a large open area.
The surrounding vegetation was very tall, the road was bumpy and not smooth, and there were many tree stumps on the ground, but Jiang Xuan was still very excited.
"Wow!"
After walking hundreds of meters of open land and passing through tall reeds, Jiang Xuan and Uncaria finally arrived at the gravel-covered river beach.
Ahead is a small river more than 20 meters wide. The water is running non-stop. The water is relatively clear, and countless fish are swimming in it.
Not far away, a group of waterfowl were swimming in the shallow water. From time to time they would get into the water to eat small fish and shrimps, but they would not run away even when people came.
"Hey, that water bird looks...a bit like a duck!" Jiang Xuan exclaimed.
This kind of water bird has a flat beak like a duck, its feathers are colorful, it is big, and it looks fatter.
"Chief, what is a duck?" Uncaria has never heard of this word.
"A duck is..."
Jiang Xuan suddenly didn't know how to explain it, so he said vaguely: "It's a kind of water bird whose meat is delicious and can lay eggs."
"Oh." Undo scratched his head, instinctively feeling that it was not that simple, but he did not continue to ask.
Jiang Xuan's eyes shone when he looked at this water bird, which was much larger than a duck.
After July, although the weather is still hot, the world is entering autumn, because the more than 30 acres of crops planted in the fields are gradually beginning to mature.
At the same time, the caves dug by Dajiao became larger and larger, and more and more bugs were raised.
Once food is sufficient, the Vine tribe will have the conditions to carry out breeding.
Jiang Xuan has been thinking about which animals should be domesticated by the Vine Tribe.
As for livestock, he first thought of a large bamboo rat in the mountains, because bamboo rats are vegetarian and have a very mixed diet.
It eats not only bamboo, but also reeds, small shrubs, various plant tubers, leaves, vines, etc. Its food sources are extremely wide.
In addition, bamboo rats are less likely to get sick, are easy to feed, have strong reproductive capabilities, and have a lot of meat, making them a very good breeding target.
As for poultry, Jiang Xuan initially chose a kind of pheasant from the bamboo forest. Some time ago, he also caught a few cubs and raised them.
But what is very embarrassing is that the young ones were very fragile after being separated from the mother bird, and they were accidentally raised to death. This also announced the first breeding failure of the Vine Tribe.
Now, Jiang Xuan is eyeing this kind of water bird that looks like a large wild duck.
Compared with pheasants, waterfowl obviously have a wider range of food habits, are more resistant to diseases, and can go to the water to forage independently.
As long as the water area is wide enough, they can feed themselves in the water without even feeding them much food.
"Find a way to catch a few and try to breed them!"
Jiang Xuan licked his lips. If this water bird really had similar habits to a duck, he would be very confident that he could tame it.
Even if the first generation cannot be tamed, they can be tamed into poultry by locking them up, allowing them to breed into the second generation, and raising them from an early age.
Of course, there will definitely be difficulties in this process, which need to be overcome with patience.
"Wow..."
A ferocious big fish in the water unknowingly approached the group of water birds, and suddenly rushed out of the water, opening its huge mouth, trying to bite one of them.
"Quack quack..."
These waterbirds were very alert. When the big fish broke out of the water, they had already taken off and screamed in panic.
The big fish took a hit, flicked its tail, and swam quickly to the deep water area. The duck-like water birds fled into the reeds, obviously surprised.
Their sounds really sounded like ducks quacking, and their feet were also webbed, which made Jiang Xuan even more excited.
"Let's go back."
Jiang Xuan planned to go back and call Chi Shao. It would be difficult to catch such a water bird alive, and Chi Shao was relatively familiar with it.
Jiang Xuan and Uncaria immediately returned to the Teng tribe. Later, Jiang Xuan told Chi Shao about his idea of catching waterfowl alive.
"Since that kind of waterbird has got into the reeds, it means they usually live in that place."
Chi Shao thought for a while and said: "Generally, birds eat bugs. Let's go to Dajiao to get some bugs. We will set up some noose traps in the reeds and try to catch them alive."
Uncaria was very interested in catching waterfowl, and he said excitedly: "I'm going to get bugs."
After saying that, Uncaria ran away to the place where Big Horn kept the insects.
Chi Shao said: "I'm going to get some ropes and branches."
Soon, Uncaria came back with a dozen fat white bugs, while Chi Shao prepared some bark ropes and tough branches.
Taking these things with them, the group came to the river again, preparing to set up lasso traps to capture the duck-like waterfowl alive.
Chi Shao walked along the river beach covered with sand and gravel to the reeds where the water birds were hiding.
She observed on the ground and found a lot of footprints and feces, and under the reeds, there were also some paths that water birds often drilled.
"The reeds are too dense and it's difficult to place the noose, but we can put it in places where water birds often move, and the effect will be the same."
Next to the red peony reed bush, outside the path that water birds often drill, first insert a thick and tough branch, then tie it with a rope, and carefully arrange a noose trap.
Then, she placed two crushed large bugs in the middle of the noose trap.
To be on the safe side, Chi Shao placed a total of three lasso traps, all on the paths frequently traveled by waterfowl.
"Okay, now let's hide aside and wait for these waterfowl to come out."
Chi Shao, Jiang Xuan, and Uncaria returned to the other side of the road and waited quietly.
Hunting is a job that requires a lot of patience, and if you want to catch prey alive, you need enough patience.
If they don't stay here, but choose to go back and wait.
Then, the noose trap may catch the waterfowl's neck and hang it up. By the time they come over, the waterfowl will either be dead or eaten by other predators.
Therefore, they can only wait patiently.
While waiting, Jiang Xuan continued to observe the river. He found that some fish in the river were ridiculously large and swam in the river from time to time. Only a large black shadow could be seen from the water.
These big fish are very ferocious. They not only eat small fish in the river, but even birds that forage by the water are sometimes eaten by big fish.
In addition to these big fish, Jiang Xuan also saw a water beast chasing small fish in the river.
In the water, the water beast looks large, with long limbs and a long tail, looking a bit like an otter.
Jiang Xuan sighed: "There seem to be more prey in this river than in the forest."
Chi Shao said: "Maybe it's because the forest is relatively large and the wild animals are scattered. The fish and water animals in these rivers have smaller activity ranges, so they seem to be more numerous."
"That makes sense."
Jiang Xuan agreed with Chi Shao's statement. In the final analysis, it was because the fish in the river had less space to move. If they were in the sea, the situation would be different.
Uncaria asked: "Chief, are we going to fish in the river in the future?"
"You can set up some fishing traps on the river beach to attract fish. The river is too dangerous and you cannot launch it until you have a strong enough boat."
"What's a boat?"
Undou found that Jiang Xuan said words he had never heard before.
Chi Shao also looked at Jiang Xuan, hoping he would explain.
Ever since Jiang Xuan made up a story about a mysterious witch who imparted knowledge to him through dreams, Chi Shao would no longer find it strange no matter what he said.
Jiang Xuan thought for a while, pointed to a piece of driftwood by the river, and said, "Have you seen that piece of wood?"
"I saw it." Undo nodded.
"A boat is a watercraft made of many pieces of wood spliced together. It can float on the water, and people can also sit on it and use oars to paddle the water to control the direction of the boat."
Jiang Xuan used a small wooden stick to draw a simple paddle boat on the ground so that Chi Shao and Undeng could understand what the boat looked like.
"With the boat, we can go to the water to fish, and we can go further along the river."
Uncaria's eyes sparkled when he saw it, and he said, "Chief, will our tribe have ships in the future?"
Jiang Xuan smiled and said: "Yes, as long as the tribe develops and grows, everything will be possible."
Just as Jiang Xuan was describing the prospect of the tribe, suddenly, there was a sound of flapping wings coming from the reed bush.
"It's a trap!"
Chi Shao immediately ran towards the noose trap, followed closely by Jiang Xuan and Uncaria.
Soon, they saw a water bird that triggered the trap and flapped its wings desperately to escape.
The water bird apparently stretched its neck to eat the bugs in the middle of the trap, then triggered the trap and was caught by a rope around its neck. The tough branches bounced up and hung it up.
But the more it struggled, the tighter the rope around its neck became, and it couldn't even make a sound from its throat.
Chi Shao walked over and accurately grabbed the wings of the water bird with both hands, preventing it from flapping anymore.
"Chief, tie its feet quickly."
"good!"
Jiang Xuan took out a rope from the animal skin bag he carried with him and tied the two webbed feet of the water bird together so that it could no longer walk.
Uncaria untied the noose around the water bird's neck to prevent the water bird from suffocating to death.
Later, the water bird was put into the large animal skin bag brought by Chi Shao.
The waterfowl was panicking in the animal skin bag, but its feet were tied and its wings could not spread. It could only hide its head in the corner.
Chi Shao tied the mouth of the animal skin bag and said happily: "It's good luck that I caught one alive so quickly."
Jiang Xuan lifted the animal skin bag and estimated that the water bird should weigh more than ten kilograms.
In addition to its larger size, this water bird really looks like a duck in other aspects.
Jiang Xuan noticed that the feathers on this water bird were intertwined with various colors, which was very beautiful.
He thought for a while and said: "Since I brought it back to tame it, I had to give it a name. Its feathers are colorful, so let's call it Colorful Duck from now on."
"Colorful Duck, this is a good name." Chi Shao felt that Jiang Xuan's name was very appropriate.
Uncaria agreed.
Chi Shao looked at the colorful ducks in the animal skin bag and said: "I caught one today. Those colorful ducks should not come out from here. Let's go back first and change the location to set up traps tomorrow."
"good."
Jiang Xuan and the others temporarily removed the other two lasso traps, and then returned to the tribe with the captured colorful ducks.
After returning to the tribe, the first thing Jiang Xuan did was to weave a large rectangular cage with rattan, put some hay in it, then tie one foot of the colorful duck with a rope, and put it in the cage to raise With.
In the next few days, Chi Shao caught three more colorful ducks one after another, and Jiang Xuanguan raised them all in the same cage. He usually fed them some worms, small fish, shrimps and aquatic plants.
Strange to say.
When there was only one colorful duck in the cage, it was obviously depressed, had a low appetite, was very lethargic, and was always squawking.
But when four colorful ducks were locked together, although they also barked, they were in much better spirits and had a stronger appetite.
Sure enough, social animals need companionship.
This made Jiang Xuan breathe a sigh of relief, and finally didn't have to worry about being able to feed him.
Next is the patient taming process.
Because the captured ducks were all adult colorful ducks, it was impossible to tame them directly. Jiang Xuan could only place his hope on their next generation.
As long as these four colorful ducks are raised well, they will lay eggs and hatch into ducklings. If they are exposed to people from an early age, they can slowly be domesticated into poultry.
