The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

Chapter 462 Catching Crocodiles

Nothing happened that night. The next day, the person in charge of cooking went to the river to fetch water and suddenly shouted in panic: "Crocodile! There's a crocodile!"

He ran back while shouting, alarming Min Xi, Yun Ji and others.

"Where is he?" Everyone drew their weapons, each one as if they were facing a formidable enemy.

The man stammered, "Right by the river, next to our boat, biting a kangaroo."

When Min Xi heard this, he quickly pulled Yun Ji and said, "Let's go and take a look. It should be a crocodile hunting."

They ran to the river, but before they got there, they heard the sound of splashing water. When they got closer, they saw a crocodile biting the kangaroo's head and performing a death roll, trying to twist the kangaroo's head off. Because the noise was so loud, the crocodile stirred the river water and made a splashing sound, and its tail occasionally slapped the small boat parked by the river.

It was the first time for everyone to see crocodiles hunting, and they were all shocked. Min Xi had seen videos of crocodiles hunting, but seeing it with his own eyes was still an eye-opener.

Yun Ji looked at it for a moment and said, "I'll go move the boat a little further away to prevent it from getting damaged."

After hearing this, everyone hurriedly advised: "Sir, the crocodile is too ferocious, it is better not to bother with it!"

"It's okay. I think it has a clumsy body and slow movements. It poses no threat to me." Yun Ji said as he put the sword into the scabbard and went to tow the boat next to the crocodile.

Min Xi also went over to help. Seeing this, the others also went over to help. However, the boat was too close to the crocodile, and they were worried that it would release the kangaroo in its mouth and attack them.

The crocodile had its prey in its mouth and was obviously not interested in anything else. The crowd successfully dragged the boat to the shore, away from the crocodile. When they dragged the boat to the shore, the kangaroo's head had been twisted off by the crocodile. The river carried the kangaroo's body downstream, and the crocodile also chased the prey away.

The smell of blood soon attracted other crocodiles that were foraging for food. They scrambled to catch the kangaroo and left, and were not very interested in the people on the shore.

Min Xi said, "Okay, it's okay, the crocodile is gone. Let's quickly make breakfast and get ready to leave."

After seeing the scene of crocodiles hunting, people are still frightened, but they can also be sure that although the crocodiles look ferocious, they will not actively attack people. They are just hunting for food.

After breakfast, everyone set off. The amount of gold sand in the mud and sand washed yesterday evening had increased significantly, so they should be getting closer to the gold mine.

So on this day, in addition to being on guard against crocodiles, they also increased the number of times they washed the mud and sand, trying to find the location of the gold mine as soon as possible. When it was almost evening, when they were looking for a place to rest, they saw a dozen natives who were hunting. The natives were holding spears and fighting a crocodile.

The natives also discovered their boats, but it was a critical period of hunting and they did not dare to be distracted, so no one stopped to watch the fun.

The crocodile was over two meters long and huge in size. It was obviously an adult crocodile. It was very ferocious. Its two front limbs were tied up by the natives for some reason. It was obvious that the natives were hunting crocodiles.

The natives had dark skin, wore very little, and had white patterns on their faces and bodies, which was quite different from the natives they saw in Jinshan. They probably couldn't communicate with the natives, so Min Xi didn't plan to communicate with them.

The stone spears of the natives stabbed the crocodile again and again, but the crocodile had thick skin and flesh, so although its skin was broken, it was not really hurt. The crocodile felt the pain and burst out with amazing strength, rolling back into the water, dragging several natives who had tied up its front limbs to the ground. One of them was thrown into the water and was hit hard by the crocodile's tail. He fainted all of a sudden and floated away with the current.

Seeing this, Min Xi and Yun Ji quickly rowed over to rescue people.

The natives who were hunting over there were also a little panicked when they saw this. They wanted to save the person, but they were afraid that if they let the crocodile go, the person in the river would be eaten by the crocodile, so they could only desperately shout the man's name.

Min Xi and Yun Ji quickly stepped forward, rescued the person who had fainted in the water, and dragged him to the shore. At the same time, Min Xi also ordered other boats to dock.

The natives breathed a sigh of relief when they saw their companions being rescued, and continued to concentrate on dealing with the crocodile. The adult crocodile was difficult to deal with, and now that one person was missing, it was even more difficult to deal with the crocodile.

Min Xi and Yun Ji reached the shore and checked the unconscious person. They found that he still had a pulse and probably just choked on some water. It wasn't a serious problem.

Yun Ji looked up at the natives and said, "I'll go help."

He went there with his sword in hand, but Min Xi stopped him and said, "Seventh brother, crocodiles have thick skins, bring your axe."

Yun Ji thought it made sense, so he turned around, picked up a long-handled axe from the boat and walked over there. The natives were fighting hard with the crocodile, and some of them were injured, but they still couldn't cause any substantial damage to the crocodile.

Yun Ji walked over, raised the axe high and chopped it down on the crocodile's head. The crocodile, which had been hit by countless spears but could not break through its defense, was finally chopped into by the axe, and blood splattered everywhere. The crocodile rolled around in pain. All the natives were shocked and could not care about controlling the crocodile, and jumped away one after another.

Yun Ji almost didn't have time to pull the axe back, but he was very skilled in martial arts and managed to pull it out in time. He chopped the crocodile again before it entered the water, this time with more force, and almost chopped off half of the crocodile's head.

The crocodile rolled over for a while, then slowly stopped struggling.

When the natives saw that the crocodile was motionless, they all ran over to check. When they found that it was really dead, they screamed with excitement and some even started dancing.

Two natives were still thinking about their companion who had fallen into the water, so they ran over to see that the man had woken up. Several natives grinned at Min Xi and shouted something, which was obviously to express their gratitude.

Min Xi saw that the man had woken up, and quickly ran to Yun Ji and asked, "Killed him?"

Yun Ji turned around and smiled at him: "It seems so. This thing is really thick-skinned and tough. I almost couldn't cut into it."

"Crocodile skin is thick. In our place, it is used to make leather shoes, belts and suitcases. This is an adult crocodile. I wonder why these people want to hunt such a big crocodile?" Min Xi saw several natives surrounding the dead crocodile.

Those natives were obviously curious about the axe in Yun Ji's hand. They kept turning their heads to look at the axe in Yun Ji's hand, and they were babbling and talking and gesticulating something.

Unfortunately, Min Xi didn't understand a word of what was said. He tried to say a few words in the native language, but the other party remained indifferent and obviously didn't understand what he said.

Obviously, Australia is too vast. Even if the Aboriginals were of the same origin, after they separated over a long period of time and no longer interacted with each other, their languages ​​would evolve into very different languages.

A leading native walked up to Yun Ji and pointed at his axe and then at the crocodile.

Seeing this, Min Xi asked: "Does he want you to help separate the crocodiles?"

"What do they want the crocodiles for?" Yun Ji asked puzzled.

"I don't know, maybe it's time to eat." Min Xi said.

“Can crocodile meat be eaten?”

"Of course. I've eaten it before and it tastes pretty good, almost the same as chicken." Min Xi savored it.

A navy soldier heard him and asked curiously: "Sir, have you ever eaten crocodile meat? Where did you eat it?"

Min Xi lied, "When I was in Yingtian Prefecture, someone killed a Yangtze alligator and I got a piece of the pie." In fact, what he ate was not a Yangtze alligator, which is a first-class protected animal in the country. Eating its meat would probably result in life imprisonment. What he ate was just a farmed crocodile.

The man really didn't doubt it, but stared at the crocodile: "Why don't we get some to try and see what it tastes like."

"Okay, let's skin the crocodile first, and then cut the meat."

Min Xi and Yun Ji drew their daggers, walked to the crocodile, bent down and began to peel the crocodile's skin. The dagger was forged from fine iron and was extremely sharp, making it very handy for peeling the skin.

Seeing this, the natives looked at the daggers in their hands with shining eyes. They were really good things, much faster than the clam shells and stone knives they were using.

The natives did not stop them from skinning and cutting the meat, but when they were cutting up the crocodile, they took away some of the crocodile's internal organs, probably for some special use.

While Min Xi and Yun Ji were cutting up the crocodile, the others were busy preparing a meal. Since they had crocodile meat, they would eat it in the evening. They stewed a pot of broth and also roasted a bunch of crocodile meat.

The natives did not leave, but watched them operate, feeling extremely amazed.

By the time Min Xi and Yun Ji had finished dissecting the entire crocodile, the meal was almost ready.

It was already late, the sun was setting, but it wasn't dark yet. The natives didn't leave, so Min Xi invited them to have a meal together. They drank soup and ate barbecue. The natives nodded vigorously while eating, chattering something. Although I couldn't understand what they were saying, I could tell from their expressions that they were very satisfied with the meal.

After dinner, Min Xi pointed at the crocodile meat and signaled to the natives to take it. The natives took the crocodile head and asked for the crocodile skin, but not much crocodile meat. It was obvious that they were not hunting crocodiles for the meat.

Min Xi ordered his companions to pack some crocodile meat, salt it and save it for tomorrow. The weather was too hot and the meat could not be preserved. At most, it could only be eaten for one or two meals tomorrow. There were many mosquitoes in this place in summer. When they were cleaning up here, countless flies and horseflies came.

The natives got the crocodile head and crocodile skin and prepared to return to the tribe. They looked back at Min Xi and others, mumbling something and gesturing with their hands.

Min Xi and Yun Ji naturally didn't understand what they meant, and could only guess: "Are they inviting us to their tribe?"

"Maybe. Shall we go?"

Yun Ji said, "It's getting dark now, and we don't know what will happen. It's not good to disperse. Why don't we not go? If they come again tomorrow, we can go and see them."

"also."