Chapter 140: Ambition
Editor: Atlas Studios
As Mu Yangling led them all the way into the mountain, some rabbits not far away ran past them. Without thinking, Qi Haoran jumped up to catch them. Grabbing one in each hand, he looked at Mu Yangling proudly. “How is it? I’m awesome, right?”
Mu Yangling asked him, “Didn’t you discover anything along the way?”
Fan Zijin said, “There are a lot of rabbits.”
Frowning slightly, Qi Haoran looked around. Finally, he lowered his head to look at the grass by his feet. Fan Zijin followed his gaze and also frowned slightly.
At this moment, everything was reviving, but more than half of the grass on the ground had been eaten. Some of the grass stems had even been dug out.
The brothers looked at each other before asking Mu Yangling together, “What’s going on?”
“It’s exactly as you see it. You’ve heard of the locust plague, but you must have never heard of the rabbit plague, right? This is the rabbit plague.”
Qi Haoran and Fan Zijin widened their eyes. “There’s even such a thing as a rabbit plague?”
“Anything that exceeds the limits of the environment will culminate in a disaster. My father and I had a premonition long before winter, which was why we brought the people from Nearhill Village into the mountains to hunt. However, we didn’t expect the situation to be more serious than we thought. It’s just early spring now, and the rabbits in the forest have already bitten their way to the periphery. In a month or two, there won’t be any grass to eat in the forest. When that happens, the rabbits can only go down the mountain, and at the foot of the mountain are our crops.”
Since this concerned military rations, Qi Haoran and Fan Zijin immediately became serious.
Mu Yangling continued, “Moreover, the overpopulation of rabbits in the forest will definitely affect other animals. I’m worried that the food chain of Chef Mountain will be destroyed. This is a serious matter that will affect future generations in Xingzhou Prefecture.”
Qi Haoran asked, “What’s a food chain?”
“It means that big fish eat small fish, small fish eat shrimp. In the context of the forest, it means that ferocious beasts eat small animals, small animals eat herbivores, and herbivores in turn eat grass. Now that the grass has been eaten by rabbits, the other herbivores will definitely have no room to survive. Carnivores may be able to eat rabbits now, but once the rabbit plague passes, how many rabbits will a tiger have to catch to fill its stomach? As for deer, wild boars, and other herbivores, they might die in this disaster, and their numbers could decrease drastically…”
Fan Zijin nodded. “I understand. It means the bottom levels of the food chain affect the upper levels. Moreover, such an impact will only become even more serious as time passes.”
Mu Yangling nodded.
Qi Haoran waved his hand and said, “Isn’t that simple? Can’t we just capture all the rabbits?” Qi Haoran drooled. “I love rabbit meat prepared in all ways—stewed, braised, or roasted.”
Speechless, Fan Zijin and Mu Yangling looked at him and said, “You can catch so many rabbits?”
Mu Yangling brought Qi Haoran to see just how many rabbits there were in the forest.
“Actually, since rabbits are animals that hide during the day and come out at night, there’s relatively fewer rabbits out and about right now. Perhaps it’s because there’s not enough grass that so many rabbits have appeared in the day recently. In the past, if I wish to catch rabbits, I had to either dig holes or set traps the day before. Because of the traps set during the day, when the rabbits came out to move at night, I could more or less reap some prey.”
Mu Yangling carefully led the two of them through the forest as she observed a few rabbit groups. Finally, she said, “Do you grasp the gravity of the situation now? If you can capture half of the rabbits, I’ll already be very impressed.”
Mu Yangling squatted on the grass and said worriedly, “Moreover, what should we do with the rabbits after catching them? We definitely won’t be able to eat so much by ourselves. Even if we bring them to the prefectural capital and a few nearby county cities, there’s still too much to be consumed. Though rabbit skin can be kept, rabbit meat can’t be kept now that the weather is gradually getting hot.”
Fan Zijin’s eyes lit up. He looked at the two of them and said, “If you have a way to catch rabbits, I have a way to get rid of these rabbit meat and rabbit skins.” Fan Zijin looked at Qi Haoran seriously and said, “Don’t you still owe the Sun and Zhao families a lot of silver and grains? We have to think of a way to repay them, right?”
Shocked, Qi Haoran and Mu Yangling shouted in unison, “You can’t be so evil as to use rabbit meat and rabbit skin as repayment, right?”
Fan Zijin rolled his eyes at the two of them and said, “It’s not that I don’t want to, but do you think they’re that stupid?”
Seeing that there were only the three of them and countless rabbits in the dark, Fan Zijin said, “Haoran, do you still remember that on the way to look for Cousin, we met a kind farmer who gave us a bag of jerky?”
Qi Haoran nodded repeatedly. “Yes, yes. Other than Mu Yangling, she’s the only other good person we encountered. It’s just that the quantity wasn’t even enough to fill the gaps between my teeth. In the end, she even pointed the wrong way for us…”
Fan Zijin was speechless. “Alright, it’s good that you remember. I’m saying that the jerky is rabbit jerky. Since it’s something that even you and I think is delicious, do you think others won’t find it delicious? Moreover, it’s super easy to preserve. I’ve long felt that we shouldn’t place all our hopes on the harvest of the fields. Just as Mu Yangling said, farming depends on the heavens. If the heavens don’t give us face this year, does that mean we won’t be able to survive? You can force the Sun and Zhao families to lend you grains once, but can you always force them to provide grain? Therefore, we have to find other ways.”
With eyes as bright as stars, Fan Zijin clenched his fists and said, “Mu Yangling, you think this is a disaster, but I feel that this is an opportunity given to us by the heavens. Haoran lacks everything, but he doesn’t lack manpower. The healthy, the timid, the brave, the scheming, the cunning, the disabled, the old, and even those who haven’t even turned 12 years old. Aren’t you worried that it won’t be easy to help settle down those old, weak, and disabled people? Hand them over to me. Not only can I settle them down, but I can also alleviate your worries about the debts owed to the Sun and Zhao families.”
Qi Haoran and Mu Yangling stared at him in shock. In the end, Qi Haoran jumped up and hugged him as he shouted, “Good brother, I’ll give you all the manpower you want. Tell me how you want to go about doing it and I’ll definitely get it done for you.”
Mu Yangling stammered, “Y-You guys aren’t going to do market research or something first?”
Qi Haoran looked at her in disdain. “Zijin has never failed in anything before. Why would we need to do market research? Speaking of which, what is market research?”
Mu Yangling: “…”
Ignoring Qi Haoran, she asked Fan Zijin seriously, “Then what do you think I can do?” Regardless of whether the rabbits could be sold in the end, her crops would be saved after the rabbits were captured.
Fan Zijin looked at Qi Haoran and said, “We’re not familiar with hunting and most of the soldiers under his command are farmers.”
“There are many hunters in Xingzhou Prefecture. My father is one of them.” Mu Yangling paused before continuing, “However, it seems that all the hunters have been chosen to go to other camps. In the 5th Division, only my father is a hunter.”
Qi Haoran’s face darkened and he said angrily, “I’ll look for Big Brother tomorrow and get him to transfer the soldiers who were hunters previously over.”
This time, Fan Zijin and Mu Yangling did not object and nodded in unison. Mu Yangling even said, “Since General dotes on you so much, he will definitely agree as long as you pester him long enough.”