Start as a farmer from an ordinary world

Chapter 178 Catching a Badger

Everyone followed Wang Qingming all the way forward to search, and from time to time they could see scattered corn kernels scattered on the ground.

After walking more than ten meters, they stopped in front of a cliff.

This Sichuan land is not short of water and fertilizer, not only the corn grows vigorously, but also the weeds on the edge of the field are quite dense.On the edge of the grass, a hole as thick as a washbasin appeared in front of everyone.

There is a pile of loess not far away, and some animal claws can still be seen.

"The hole dug by something is too big, so it can't be a wolf?" Shang Zhimin moved his head to the hole and looked at it curiously.

This guy didn't realize at all how dangerous his actions would be if he was really a wolf.

"Wolves travel thousands of miles to eat meat. Have you ever seen a wolf stealing corn? It should be scallops. Look, there are also excrement left by scorpions here... This thing is very clean, and it usually doesn't pull it in the hole." The feces were all disposed of outside the cave," Wang Lianshun said, pointing to the columnar feces around him.

Hearing this, Shang Zhimin immediately turned his head: "Brother Wang, what is a bean?"

"It's the badger that people often say outside, also known as pig badger, we pronounce it cross-talking here." Wang Manyin knows a lot about this knowledge.

The pig badger has a big head and a thick neck, with three white hairs on its head and a pig nose. The overall shape looks like a little piglet that hasn't grown up.

This thing usually likes to dig holes and live near water sources, which is relatively rare in the Loess Plateau.

However, Guanzi Village is close to the Dongla River, and hog badgers can be seen occasionally, and people are no strangers to it.

In the eyes of farmers, this thing is no different from chinchillas and zokors, and it is a proper pest.As soon as summer and autumn come, they will go to the fields to steal crops.

Like corn, peanuts, sweet potatoes, etc., are the food of pig badgers.

The most hateful thing is that this thing is eaten and ruined.Especially stealing sweet potatoes can destroy half of the land in one night.If a large family appears in groups, an acre of sweet potatoes can be destroyed in a few days.

Wang Lianshun checked carefully and confirmed that the hole had just been drilled, and then he breathed a sigh of relief: "This thing is used to store grain during the autumn harvest. Fortunately, we discovered it early. It will be three or five days later, so how much corn will be wasted."

The hog badger is very similar to the woolly civet, and stores food in the hole before hibernation.In the previous memory, corn, beans, buckwheat, etc. can often be seen in the badger holes dug by the villagers of Guanzi Village.

"It's a bit early to catch fennel seeds now. We should wait for the frost after autumn, and the fennel seed oil will be good."

"At that time, fur was also valuable. If you got it from a supply and marketing cooperative, it would be worth at least 20 yuan, including fennel oil."

"Don't think about it, we can't let it ruin the crops..."

Several members present were discussing in a hurry, and they all looked very excited.

For them, although fenzi is a pest, it is a treasure.Fur can protect against cold and keep warm, and cockle seed oil is a magic medicine for treating burns and frostbite.Just get some and apply it to the wound, and the dry skin will be lifted in a few days.

People often say "seven catties of scallops and eight catties of oil", which is also a cross-pronunciation, it should be "seven catties of scallops and eight catties of oil", seven catties of pork and badger meat can boil one catty of oil.

Now the supply and marketing cooperatives are buying them, and the price is not low. Even the belt oil can be sold for 20 yuan, which is worth a half goat.

In winter, badger seed oil is thicker and more expensive.

It's a pity that everyone won't let this guy live to hibernate.

On the one hand, the spinach spoiled the food, and on the other hand, if the news got out, other people would definitely be watching.It's better to catch it early and put it in the bag.

"Cuizi is a stubborn, dead-headed person who likes to follow the old road. If you walk here today, you will pass by nearby tomorrow.

I'll go back and get a few iron clips, and I'll go to the cornfield at night, and when the time comes, I'll catch them and sell them for money, and give each person a dollar, how about it? "Wang Qingming said.

He had a small calculation in his heart, if he could really catch the scorpion, there would be ten people on the scene including Director Zhao, and even if each of them split a piece, he would be able to get more than half of it.

"Brother Qingming, what kind of dream do you have, why should you catch it." Wang Yanqiang retorted immediately.

"That's right, we can't wait until tomorrow. If we don't catch it at night, we will lose a lot of corn. It's better to catch it earlier." Wang Qiusheng also said.

Wang Lianshun thought for a while and said, "Why don't you do this? If anyone wants to catch the scorpion and keep it, you will be credited with a day's work. Let's make it clear first, if you catch it, return to the team... If you don't catch it, there will be no work points."

With the Chinese New Year only a few months away, it's time to repay the credit union loan.Wang Lianshun attaches great importance to money now, so he naturally didn't want to miss this prey, so he simply offered a reward with work points.

Badgers sleep during the day and come out to steal crops at night. They should still be in the cave now, so it is not difficult to catch them.

Everyone thought about it and decided to stay.

Wang Manyin is no exception, after all, this is much more interesting than doing farm work.

At this time, Zhao Jianhai, who had been keeping silent all this time, suddenly spoke up and asked with a serious face: "Second Captain, are you sure it's Yuzi, isn't someone sabotaging food production?!"

"Officer Zhao, this obvious thing, you can't force it on the bad guys... or you wait here, after digging out the scorpion, we take it to the village for a meeting to criticize it and relieve our hatred. How about it?" Wang Lianshun suggested angrily.

After this white chicken shit got the news, he bluffed to the door without knowing it, and pointed at Wang Mingqiang's family openly and secretly, saying a lot of things.

At that time, Wang Lianshun was taken aback.

If he hadn't stopped him in time, the other party would have brought people to search directly.

Now that the truth is revealed, Wang Lianshun naturally has a bad face.

"No, you can just catch him and kill him. There are other things in the village, so I'll go back first."

According to Zhao Jianhai's original plan, he wanted to make things bigger and catch a typical one.Now that he learned of the corn stolen by Jizi, he was of course very depressed and didn't plan to stay any longer.

Seeing Officer Zhao leaving, Xu Kongxian wanted to follow, but stopped after taking two steps.

If you stay here for a day, you will get work points, don't waste it.

Without Zhao Jianhai, the rest were much more relaxed.

"This pile of soil doesn't look big. It should be dug by Jizi just now. Let's dig directly along the hole. Maybe we can get a lot of corn."

Wang Qingming searched along the entrance of the cave, and suggested it again.

Wang Lianshun didn't have any other opinions, and immediately ordered Wang Manyin to go home to get a shovel and a shovel.Everyone came in a hurry, without tools at all.

When Wang Manyin took the tools, he brought the big net bag for catching fish with him.

When he returns, start working immediately.

Digging badger holes is also considered a technical job, and it is not a random digging.

At the beginning, a shovel was used to clean up the soil layer near the entrance of the cave to facilitate later operations.When digging to a certain depth and the shovel can no longer be used, it is necessary to use a shovel to dig the soil from the hole a little bit.

Wang Manyin was very strong, and in just half an hour, he dug a big hole along the badger hole.

Watching the cave go to the depths of the cliff, Wang Qingming took the shovel and was busy again.Before digging, he deliberately stuffed a twig into the hole and poked it as he dug.

On the one hand, it prevents the cave from being buried by floating soil, on the other hand, the cave is dark and dark, so it can be used to sense the position of the badger.

The space in the cave is small, and it is very difficult to dig soil on your stomach.

In less than ten minutes, Wang Qingming retreated out of breath, with sweat all over his forehead, and streams of dirt flowed out.

Then, Shang Zhimin went out.

Afraid that he would not know how powerful it is, Wang Lianshun deliberately explained: "When you hear something, immediately poke it forward with a shovel, and don't let the badger bite it! The teeth of this thing are very sharp, and it is not safe to bite people."

After digging for a few minutes, Shang Zhimin also left covered in plaster.

Then, another person.

The cave is narrow and Wang Manyin is too big to go down, so he can only stay on the side to help clean up the floating soil.

As the digging went deeper into the cliff, Wang Qingming finally got into the depths of the cave, barely exposing his two feet.

At this time, people think of rhubarb again.

If there is rhubarb, there is no need for such trouble.In the evening, I brought Xunmo directly, and kept and caught the badgers.

Being busy, Liu Xiangyang didn't know where he got the news, so he also ran over to join in the fun.

It took almost an hour, and everyone dug a two-meter-long hole.

Finally, when it was Wang Qingming's turn, he had just dug for a few minutes before crawling backwards with a frustrated face: "There is no hole in front, and I haven't poked a scorpion yet!"

"Uncle Qingming, did you block the hole? How could there be no hole?" Wang Manyin said speechlessly.

"I have been digging along the hole, and there is no sub-hole in the middle. If you don't believe me, find someone to go in and have a look."

"I'm coming!" Wang Licheng immediately jumped off.

Two minutes later, he reluctantly returned and said: "I checked carefully, the inside is solid, and there is indeed no hole."

After busying for a long time, now that there are no badgers in the cave, the educated youths seem very depressed.

"It's probably a fake cave." Of course Wang Lianshun was not reconciled, he told the crowd, "Everyone, look carefully and see if you can find other caves nearby?"

Badgers are cunning, not only have real holes, but also dig fake holes.Most of them have four or five holes, and only one for daily living.

"Everyone, keep looking. As long as this thing is in the cornfield, there must be holes nearby."

After listening to Wang Lianshun's instigation, a group of people began to search carefully along the cliff ditch.

Soon, there was a voice of surprise: "I found it, there is a hole here."

When everyone rushed to the vicinity, they discovered that this new hole was even more hidden.At the entrance of the cave, there is a large piece of echinacea, which is very luxuriant. The branches as long as one person are covered with small red fruits, which continue to spread towards the surrounding area, completely covering the large area of ​​the cliff.

If you don't go up close, you can't see the cave at all.

More importantly, many corn kernels were found at the entrance of the cave.

Everyone remembered that there were no corn kernels near the fake hole before.

"What should I do, are you still digging?"

The tossing and tossing just now made several people so tired that they didn't want to do it anymore.

"Forget it, no food, let's use smoke!" Wang Lianshun said helplessly.

He originally wanted to dig out the more than ten catties of grain lost last night, but now that the situation is underway, it's not realistic at all.The location of this cave is even more tricky. It takes an hour to clean up a large piece of rhizome of Ma Ruzi.

It is simple to use smoke, as long as the fire is lit, it basically takes nothing.

After Wang Manyin dug a groove, the smoke billowed up and drifted toward the depths of the cave.

Soon, there was another place to smoke.

Everyone rushed to the vicinity and found another exit in the hidden place.

This made them breathe a sigh of relief, indicating that the cave in front of them was indeed a real cave.

Wang Manyin quickly buckled the net bag on it, while the rest of the people stood beside them, holding weapons and waiting.

Badgers are afraid of fire, so there is no need to guard the main cave, as long as they keep adding firewood.

After two or three minutes, Wang Manyin heard a slight cough coming from inside, and immediately reminded everyone to get ready.

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw a black thing rushing straight into the net pocket, struggling violently.

Before the badger could break free, Wang Yanqiang had already swung the shovel and photographed it.

A few times in succession, the prey was silent.

Everyone also breathed a sigh of relief, and leaned over to observe with great interest.Don't tell me, this thing is really similar to Little Piggy.

Suddenly, another one popped out of the smoke.

Before they could react, the guy had already rushed into the cornfield.The crowd chased for a distance and quickly disappeared.

It was a pity for several people that they lost the 20 yuan they got.

As long as there is a dog, you can't let this guy get away.

But as long as it dares to go back to the cornfield, it will be caught sooner or later.

The pig badger that was killed was relatively large, weighing 24 to [-] catties.It's a pity that it's not particularly fat when it's not autumn fat.

Wang Manyin squatted down and took a look, and suddenly said: "It's not right, there is something wrong with this fur!"

"What's wrong?" Wang Lianshun mentioned the pig badger and looked back and forth, but found nothing abnormal at all.

"Didn't you notice that there is a lot of mud on the fur of this fenzi, and the lower part of the stomach is wet."

"Mud, you mean!?" Wang Yanqiang became excited immediately, and his voice couldn't help but get louder.

The faces of several other Guanzi villagers also had joy on their faces.

"What's wrong, what's so strange?" Liu Xiangyang asked in confusion.

"There is mud, which means that there may be groundwater near Badger Cave. We might be able to dig a spring." Wang Manyin explained.

"That's right, no wonder that piece of echinacea grows so vigorously, I thought it was the reason we watered it before."

Hearing Wang Qingming's reminder, everyone felt that the nearby Ma Ruzi was indeed a little too much.

It seems that the badger chose to dig a hole nearby for consideration, after all, this kind of guy usually needs to drink water.

"Dig, start digging now!"

Wang Lianshun also thinks that there is a great possibility of springs.Seeing that Wang Manyin was too slow digging a hole by himself, he asked Liu Xiangyang to go back to the thatched shed to bring two shovels.

The three of them worked together, and the speed was much faster.Just after digging more than one meter deep, the soil at the bottom became wet.

Squeeze it with your hands and it will turn into a mud ball.

Everyone was even more convinced that there must be springs underground.

Around noon, they dug a large pit more than two meters deep, with glistening blisters oozing from the bottom of the pit.

Seeing that the depth was almost reached, Wang Lianshun asked everyone to stop and rest.

But within ten minutes, the spring water at the bottom of the pit was already four fingers deep and extremely clear.

Wang Lianshun went down the soil slope, took some water to taste, and shouted excitedly: "Sweet, so sweet! With this spring, our seven or eight acres of Sichuan land will be able to make a few more bags of grain in the future."

Others are also very happy, at least it will save a lot of trouble in watering the land in the future.Although there is a water pump, diesel is needed after all.

"Let's get some stones here in the afternoon and build a well here." After climbing out of the pit, Wang Lianshun came up with another idea.

There are a lot of stones left over from the previous construction of the reservoir, which just come in handy.

After eating at noon, when the people came to build the well with stones, the water in the pit was already half a person deep, and they could carry more than ten loads at a time.

This situation shows that the groundwater is sufficient.

(End of this chapter)