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Chapter 239: Starting from Breeding Bamboo Rats

Before starting to cut down, everyone first searched for resources in the bamboo forest, including various fungi, bamboo shoots, and fat-headed and big-eared bamboo rats.

Men understand the habits of bamboo rats and know that these rats like to eat thatch roots and bamboo roots. When they eat underground stems, they will also bite off the stems on the ground. If a bamboo is found dead for no reason, its roots are likely to be Bamboo rat's nest.

Despite their stupid appearance, bamboo rats are actually very smart. They know how to cover and camouflage their nests. Those open holes are the "suspicious formations" they have laid. Most of them are old burrows that have been abandoned for a long time. They have no experience. Hunters are easily fooled.

The best way to find bamboo rat nests is through the traces they leave.Bamboo rats have sharp claws and leave smooth paths wherever they crawl. It is not difficult to spot if you look carefully.If there is a large amount of fresh soil and mouse droppings sealed at the hole, it means that the bamboo rats are still in the hole. You can use smoke to smoke them out and use tree branches or other tools to subdue them.

Zhang Tian specifically asked to catch more people alive, and the men did as he was told.

Because bamboo rats eat bamboo and their diet does not overlap with humans, they are easy to feed. In the past, they often caught some alive and raised them as reserve food.

However, we caught a lot this time. This bamboo forest is also an unexplored virgin land. Bamboo rats thrive here, and the number is far greater than in their former home!
In just one morning, we caught hundreds of them, and they were all fat and strong!Everyone once again felt the abundance and abundance of the Peach Land, and their excitement was beyond words.

I took a break at noon and started working in the afternoon.

Zhang Tian arranged for the men to cut down the bamboo along both sides of the stream. The young and strong men cut the bamboo, and the old and young men cleared the branches and leaves, and then chopped each bamboo into small sections of about three meters and tied them with ropes for easy transportation.

Bamboo has been highly praised by literati since ancient times, not only because it does not wither in the winter, but also because it has a straight and proud figure. The bamboo with a thick mouth can grow to more than ten meters high, and it can not bend its knees or bend its waist, which shows its strength. !
If one has a saw, it will be much easier to saw. Stone axes require more physical strength and skills. Only experienced hunters can ensure that each swing of the ax hits the same position.

Even so, it would take at least dozens of swings of the ax to chop down a bamboo. Thick bamboo would require longer time and more physical effort.

The sound of felling and the heavy breathing of men echoed in the bamboo forest.

He worked non-stop until the sun went down. Before finishing the work, Xiao counted the number of bamboo joints. There were ten bundles of three-meter-long bamboo joints, a total of 36 bundles, or 360 bamboo joints. Each one was about ten centimeters in diameter, and the thick ones could be to twenty centimeters.

Assuming that the house is five meters long and four meters wide, these bamboo materials can almost build three bamboo houses!
Zhang Tian plans to complete the project within a month and let everyone sleep in Datongbu.

According to today's efficiency, the building materials needed for 38 bamboo houses can be gathered within two weeks, and the remaining two weeks are enough to build the houses.

Zhang Tian directed the men to lower bundles of bamboo into the water.

It would be impossible for ten people to drag the same volume of wood. Although bamboo has high strength, its texture is very light. It can be called the "graphene" of plants. One person can easily do it.

Using the power of water to transport bamboo is a genius idea!Everyone was amazed that the Sky Priest could always think of ways they couldn't think of!

Zhang Tian, ​​Xiao and several other men with relatively good water skills rode these tied "bamboo rafts" down the river.This natural waterway is about one kilometer long. It is not straight all the way. There are turns, and there are places where the width and water flow change. Therefore, it needs human guidance and push to avoid being blocked halfway.

No one had ever seen Sky Priest swimming before, so Zhang Tian had to show off his skills and jump into the water to swim freely on his back.

This is a swimming style that no one except Abba has mastered yet. He can even swim more easily and freely than Abba!
Xiao Xiao asked in surprise: "When did you learn to swim?"

"Lin can swim, she taught me."

Zhang Tian didn't want to get entangled with this issue, so he immediately pushed the bamboo into the water and said, "We'll see you at the bottom of the mountain!"

……

It was evening when we returned to camp.

It is much easier to drag bamboo on flat ground. The bamboo is very wet when it is just taken out of the water. After two weeks in the sun, it will dry out no matter how wet it is.

It is just a transitional shelter that may be used as a warehouse or dismantled for firewood in the future. His requirement for himself is that it does not need to be perfect, but at least it must maintain quality and quantity.

For a high-intensity physical job like logging, modern people would probably be useless after doing it for an afternoon, and they would be unable to get off the ground without lying down for two or three days.Primitive people are much more resistant. Although their hands and legs are numb, they recover quickly. After enjoying a sumptuous dinner, they feel energetic again.

The men, as always, brag to the women about their experiences today.

Seeing Xiao Xiao joining them, joking and playing with Snakeberry, He, Songzi and other sisters, Zhang Tian couldn't help but sigh, this boy has really grown up, no longer green, running wildly on the road to the scumbag, as soon as he left Never again.

However, Xiao obviously still pays more attention to Tian's instructions.

When Zhang Tian shouted, he immediately left his sisters and ran over.

"What are you going to do?" Xiao Xiao's eyes were shining with anticipation.

"You mentioned before that you can raise some bamboo rats or rabbits and let them have babies, so that you will never lack meat. After seeing the prairie people raising sheep, you should know that this method is feasible."

Xiao nodded vigorously.During the time he stayed on the grassland, he learned to herd sheep from the people in the mountains. It was a very special experience and he was deeply impressed.

He said excitedly: "Are we going to raise bamboo rats? Just like the prairie people raise sheep?"

Zhang Tian gave an affirmative answer.

How can we develop agriculture without engaging in breeding?
Traditional livestock and poultry breeding has the theory of six livestock and three poultry. The six livestock are horses, cattle, sheep, pigs, dogs and chickens, and the three poultry are chickens, ducks and geese. They are all common domestic animals. Among them, wolves and dogs were the first to be domesticated as assistants to humans, followed by wild boars. , as an important source of meat.

Pigs are the main livestock in agriculture and animal husbandry. They have fat bodies and short limbs, docile personalities, strong adaptability, and rapid reproduction. Like bamboo, they are "full of treasures": their meat is edible, their bristles can be made into brushes, their hides can be used for tanning, and their excrement is Good fertilizer has always occupied the most important position in my country's meat resources.

If you want to domesticate wild boars, you must first capture a sufficient number of pig species. Before that, raising bamboo rats is a good choice. From small to large, step by step, it is easier for the tribesmen to accept it.

Thanks to the popularity of Huanong Brothers, Zhang Tian has a certain understanding of the methods of raising bamboo rats.

Bamboo rats are resistant to low temperatures, timid, and prone to heatstroke. They like to grow in a dark, cool, and quiet environment.

The most important thing is that bamboo rats have very strong digestive abilities and can digest crude fiber and lignin, making them easy to feed. When food is sufficient in the future, you can also feed them some grains. Grains contain a lot of carbohydrates and are good for gaining weight.

Zhang Tian has already thought about it. Before catching jungle chickens suitable for domestication, bamboo rats can be raised as chickens. The bamboo houses built now will be eliminated sooner or later, and then they can be used as breeding farms for bamboo rats and other livestock. .

About a hundred of the bamboo rats caught today were still alive. They were being stared at greedily by three lynxes and the wolves. The rats were trembling with fear.Lin Yu, however, stayed away. Bamboo rats were also rats, and she didn't like rats.

Zhang Tian and Xiao select excellent breeding rats from them.

The larger the size, the higher the reproduction rate.The basic requirements for a good breeding rat are: the female rat is medium fat and thin, with exposed lactation organs, docile temperament, and strong feeding ability; the male rat is strong, with exposed reproductive organs, not aggressive, and should be slightly heavier than the female rat.

The remaining bamboo rats that were thin, inactive, overactive, or suffering from heatstroke were taken to the river.

The first batch of [-] breeding rats that finally passed the screening were divided into half male rats and half female rats.

Zhang Tian built a temporary rat pen and put the rats in it.

When you have free time in the future, you should build a single room for them and separate them to prevent male competition and random mating.

The task of taking care of the bamboo rats is left to the women. There are not many things to do. They feed food once every morning and evening, and keep an eye on them to prevent them from fighting.Of course, we must also focus on guarding against lynxes to prevent them from sneaking in to eat the free buffet.

The next morning, before setting off, Zhang Tian called the children together again.

These days, women knead the pottery at night, and their children watch the firing process during the day.

The pottery is almost finished, and now Zhang Tian wants to give them a new task.

He drew three five-meter-long and four-meter-wide squares on the scorched land. He did not change the tape measure, but he drew it by guessing. His intuition about the length of the lines was always relatively accurate, and he expected that it would not be too far off. many.

"Today's task is: dig a hole!"

In fact, it is digging the foundation. These little brats who talk about the foundation cannot possibly understand it, nor can they explain it clearly, so they can just think of it as digging a hole.

The children have dug holes before and know how tiring it is. The main reason is naturally that the tools are not good, they are heavy and dull, and it is very difficult to use them.

At this time, seeing Brother Tian take out the engineering shovel, the children were overjoyed and scrambled to grab the right to use this only artifact.

"Don't worry! Let me show you first."

Zhang Tian stopped the noisy children, waved his engineering shovel and started digging.

He first swept away the surface layer of charred leaves, twigs and feathers, revealing a mixed layer of partially decomposed grass blades, buds and fine roots beneath the soil.

These broken branches and leaves are covered with bright yellow and snow-white fungal threads. The thin threads are intertwined with each other to form a huge underground network, which looks like gauze used to wrap wounds.Snails, worms, spiders and ants that narrowly escaped death crawled in and out of the gaps in the fibrous covering.

Zhang Tian said: "Just dig down until you are half as high as you. Dig slowly and stop and rest when you are tired. If you dig hard rocks, don't use brute force. Forget it if you can't dig. It doesn't matter. Wait until I come back." Tell me again."

As he spoke, he swung the shovel like flying, as if he was digging water instead of soil. After a while, he dug a small hole without even taking a breath.

The children's eyes were straight.

Zhang Tian handed the engineer shovel to Bai and told him: "You guys use them in turns. No fighting or grabbing. The sky is watching you. I know who is disobedient."

After explaining the task, he went up the mountain with the men and started felling for the next day.

After all, the physical strength consumed yesterday has not been fully recovered, and today's efficiency is lower. However, yesterday I only cut for half a day, and today is a full day, and I got more bamboo.

The next few days were just like today. The men went up to the mountains to cut bamboo at sunrise and returned with bundles of bamboo at sunset. The children dug the foundation with great enthusiasm, not digging much, only digging three pieces a day. It’s already a lot of exercise for them.

After working at high intensity for two consecutive weeks, even though he was a primitive man, he was exhausted.

Although it was very hard work, everyone felt a strong sense of accomplishment when they saw the piles of bamboo in the camp.

Zhang Tian counted the bamboo materials, and there must be enough. There should be a lot of surplus. The excess materials can be used to build a small breeding farm for bamboo rats.

Regarding the planning of the camp, we are not considering it for now. Even the houses are transitional. What else is planned?It won't be too late to think about it again when we get rid of the collective dormitory and turn it into a small family.

But one thing is certain. When the small rural areas develop to a certain scale in the future and become big cities, their current location is the center of the entire city. During this period, they will definitely undergo many changes and reconstructions. This is can be expected.

Zhang Tian has many ideas in his mind. Before implementing these ideas, he must first let everyone have a full stomach, wear warm clothes, and live in a comfortable house. Only when the basic material needs are met, the tribesmen will have energy and Willing to do big projects.

Zhang Tian plans to use the simplest "mud wall bamboo bone" structure for the bamboo house, which is to use bamboo to build a skeleton, apply a layer of clay on the outside, and use smoke to dry it to shape to increase the thermal insulation of the wall.

The bamboo house is positioned as a winter shelter, not a residence for long-term use. Therefore, it is not necessary to have all the daily utensils such as stoves, tables and chairs, and even the windows are not intended to be opened. Existing materials and technologies are used to open the walls. Windows will greatly increase the cold wind penetration coefficient, which is not worth the loss.

Zhang Tian's idea is to build two rows of large pavilions in the house, built according to the northern style of earthen kang, with heating under the kang, a fireplace to heat the house, and a chimney to exhaust smoke and ventilate. With these things, it's almost enough.

It's easy to say, but it's never easy to do.

Zhang Tian was also unsure. He had never built this kind of house with his own hands, but he knew some great people in the outdoor circle. They had posted technical posts, and there were many similar videos on the Internet. He knew the principles.

He drew detailed design drawings on his notepad and demonstrated the process many times in his mind. What to do first, what to do next, what to do last... Maybe something will go wrong. This is inevitable, but it shouldn't happen. Too big a problem.

Before the official start of construction, everyone spent another three days chopping and cutting the bamboo into suitable sizes.

After finishing the last preparatory work, Zhang Tian gave the men a day off, a working holiday. The work content was to go fishing in the river, which was much easier than cutting bamboo, so it was treated as a vacation.

The next day, the men began to build the first bamboo house.

(End of this chapter)