Protect Our Clan Leader

Chapter 394: Chapter 89: Troll! Shotgun_1

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That’s right, Wang Shouzhe doesn’t know much about animal husbandry.

But he understands the basics of it, which is converting plants into meat, milk, wool, leather, draft horses, war horses, and so on! Therefore, he only needs to get hold of the root of the matter, increasing the quality and reducing the cost of food.

As for the rest, he leaves it to the clan members and old herders.

For Wang Shouzhe, he began to suspect a decade ago that the disaster he observed had the Celestial Clan’s fingerprints all over it.

Therefore, as he started his investigation, he also began specifically researching the Celestial Huangfu Family and Celestial Lei Family’s industry characteristics and weaknesses.

To deal with Huangfu Clan, the best method is to start from the grassroot level of the animal husbandry industry, that is, the most key fodder in animal husbandry—alfalfa. Even a slight increase in its yield can cause a significant impact on the livestock industry.

Not to mention, Wang Shouzhe, in his spare time over the years, has been selectively cultivating alfalfa, gradually increasing its unit yield by seventy percent, with better palatability too.

If to contend with the Lei Family, there are naturally different strategies. But now as the truth has been revealed, the incident had nothing to do with the Lei Family, so the tactics against them will naturally be kept in reserve.

“Zongwei, don’t be too pleased yet,” Wang Luotong seriously said. “A century worm dies but doesn’t stiffen, let alone the Huangfu Clan is currently only handicapped by the injury of their old master, Hua Ye. They still have the wealth accumulated over five hundred years. This battle will inevitably be a marathon.”

“The current head of the Huangfu Clan, Huangfu Jinhuan, is not that competent, yet has countless shrewd tricks,” Wang Luotong said it with both disdain and solemn expression. “There has been plenty of scheming in our animal husbandries around Qianma Town.”

“Fourth Aunt’s words are sound,” Wang Zongwei felt quite a headache as well when mentioning this matter, “After the beginning of spring, our new alfalfa had shown impressive improvements, which had attracted a lot of wolves. These are all lawless independent cultivators who act individually, spreading a ravenously toxic pesticide known as the herbicide in our fields. This pesticide is very deadly, any place where it scatters will lead to the wilting of all plants, no grass growing for many years.”

Wang Shouzhe was already aware of this.

The geographical location of Qianma Town is very beneficial. It is the thoroughfare between Changning and Anyuan. To the north is Anyuan Pass, to the south is Qianma Fort. Over the mountains to the east, is the territory of Donghai.

Thinking about it, only the west border adjoins the Huangfu Ranch of the Huangfu Clan, without any barriers between them. Furthermore, the boundary line spans dozens of miles, making it impossible to guard against any infiltrations from there.

In this world, the least valuable are the independent cultivators who dare to take risks for a small benefit. As long as the Huangfu Clan is willing to spend money, there will be countless desperados they could hire.

These people operate in secret. Whenever they scatter herbicide, they run away. By the time Wang Luotong and other experts rush over upon hearing the news, they are long gone.

How can Guangtian Hong Ranch, with as much as three million acres of pasture, be guarded against such?

This loss of dozens of acres of pasture every now and then is undoubtedly a very annoying matter. In the long run, it will not only cause huge losses to the Wang family, but also make the ranchers feel insecure and depressed.

Wang Clan also sent out patrols with fully armed men and crossbow arrows, each consisting of ten people, to guard the perimeter of the ranch.

However, most independent cultivators are slippery, and they are good at movement techniques. The patrols were of low power and couldn’t keep up with their dazzling movements. More often than not, the crossbow arrows do not hit their targets.

To deal with them, only the well-skilled household head and clansmen, or similarly hiring a large number of independent cultivators, could achieve it. Wang Shouzhe has always had a low opinion of independent cultivators, as it creates a situation where it’s easy to hire but difficult to dismiss them.

And there is already a shortage of household heads and clan members. If directed towards Qianma Town, other places will be short of manpower.

“Fourth Uncle~” Wang Zongwei carefully suggested, “I have thought about this problem. Currently, there are only two solutions. The first is to borrow men from other families, but this involves a long-term confrontation. This might take ten or twenty years, which is certainly not a permanent solution.”

“Secondly, can we properly absorb some independent cultivators? I know that Fourth Uncle has trust issues with them since you were bitten by them once. However, as long as we can form a mutual interest with them, it can work.”

“Fourth Brother, Zongwei is right,” Wang Ruotong also advised. “True, most independent cultivators are slick and go with the flow. But given the right price and opportunity, they are still willing to take risks and fight. Moreover, we can perform long-term observations and assessments by hiring many independent cultivators. If truly there are those with impeccable morals, they can gradually be incorporated into household heads or the guest elder system.”

While sipping his tea, Wang Shouzhe pondered. Both Ruotong and Zongwei’s suggestions are grounded in reality. The current situation Wang clan is facing is that their land and wealth are expanding too fast, but the clanspeople and household heads are unable to keep up.

Based on the past experiences with the Liu Clan and Zhao Clan, Wang Shouzhe has little trust in independent cultivators. But extensively hiring independent cultivators and selecting quality ones from them to be guest elders is manageable.

“Ruotong, you can try to organize this,” Wang Shouzhe said after thinking for a moment. “Regarding independent cultivators, even if it’s a partnership, we can’t let any stragglers come in. We, the Wang family, also have ways to resolve the current crisis. Look at this—this is the new weapon that our Science and Innovation Research Room developed some time ago-a shotgun!”