Reborn as King of South America

Chapter 54 Hunting
The South American savannah is sparsely populated, and many wild animals live on the vast savannah.

In a grassland on the edge of the desert, a group of antelopes were eating grass while vigilantly observing their surroundings. Two cougars were lurking on both sides of the antelopes, waiting for an opportunity to attack.

The puma, also known as the American golden cat, is similar in size to a leopard, but has no markings and a smaller skull. It is 130 to 200 cm long, with a tail length of about 100 cm, a shoulder height of 55 to 80 cm, and weighs 35 to 100 kg, making it the largest cat of the subfamily.

Unlike African lions, the small cougar likes to live alone and has a gentle personality. Under normal circumstances, it does not actively attack people. It will only injure and kill the attacker in self-defense when people attack it.

In America, some families catch young puma and domesticate them. When they grow up, they can live peacefully with cats and dogs and guard the door like dogs. They have earned the reputation of "friend of mankind".

The antelope that was eating grass suddenly pricked up its ears in alertness, as if it had discovered danger. At this moment, a gunshot broke the tranquility of the grassland, and an antelope that was close to the puma was shot dead to the ground.

Li Mingyuan put away his smoking rifle, waved his hand, and the cavalry around him immediately stepped forward to surround the herd of antelopes.

The cavalry unit was conducting an exercise, and Li Mingyuan was left with a guard force of more than 300 people. When he had nothing to do, Li Mingyuan took his men hunting.

The roaring cavalry surrounded the area from three sides, driving more than a hundred antelopes and two cougars to the north.

The panicked antelopes could not find a way out and could only be driven to run by the cavalry. In a few minutes, the antelopes ran more than three miles. The two cougars were not as fast as the herd and were forced to run around by the soldiers with guns.

"Don't shoot, damn it! I want to live." While surrounding a herd of antelopes, Li Dawei unexpectedly discovered two cougars. He was in a good mood and loudly stopped the soldiers who were about to shoot.

"Commander, this beast is very responsive. We can't catch it without shooting."

"Idiot, people on both sides should increase the distance and drive them towards the antelope." Li Dawei shouted loudly when he observed that the antelope was not far from the ambush circle.

"Yes, sir." The cavalry on both sides quickly distanced themselves and drove the puma forward.

To the north of the antelope herd is a dense grassland with tall water plants half a person's height. If you don't look carefully, it would be difficult to find that there are more than a hundred people hiding there.

A dozen antelopes ran to the edge of the grassland first. When they were still five or six meters away from the grassland, more than a hundred people suddenly stood up, leaving a ten-meter gap between each person. More than a hundred people formed a one-kilometer-long net, completely blocking the antelopes' escape route.

"Puff, puff." One after another, the antelopes could not control their inertia and crashed into the net.
"Squad leader, there are too many sheep. I can't hold on any longer."

"Hold on, don't let the antelope get away."

The squad leader turned his head and saw that more than twenty antelopes had crashed into the seven or eight meter long net, dragging the soldiers holding the net forward.

The power of the twenty or so antelopes was too great. The soldiers holding the nets on both sides did not hold on for long before they were dragged on the ground by the antelopes, and they also tripped five or six soldiers around them.

"Brothers, hurry up and catch up. Don't let the prey escape." Li Dawei saw the situation in front and immediately shouted to the cavalrymen who were surrounding them. He turned his horse's head and headed towards the two cougars on the left.

The two cougars fled separately at first, but were forced by the cavalry behind them, so they ran together. However, they were not as fast as the antelopes, so when the antelopes hit the net, the two cougars noticed something was wrong and quickly turned around and ran to the left.

Lions can attract the soldiers' attention more than a group of antelopes. As soon as the two cougars turned around, the soldiers holding the net in front immediately tightened the net, and Li Dawei and a group of cavalrymen behind them also arrived quickly.

"Spread out to both sides immediately and drive them into the net." Seeing the two cougars right in front of him, Li Dawei screamed excitedly.

The cavalrymen who followed spread out and immediately drove the two cougars towards the net, where they were eventually caught.

The herd of antelopes in front were gradually stabilized by the soldiers, with no possibility of escape, while Li Mingyuan hung far behind the cavalry, watching them hunting with a smile.

Hunting on the grassland is one of the rare fun things to do in the army. Li Mingyuan hunting with the soldiers can not only encourage them to show their bravery, but also relax the soldiers' emotions.

Just as Li Mingyuan was about to speed up his horse, he suddenly heard a faint "grunt" sound, which sounded like the cry of a house cat. Li Mingyuan turned his horse's head and carefully headed towards the source of the sound. The sound was getting closer and closer. Li Mingyuan jumped off the horse and walked into a bush. At this time, the sound suddenly stopped.
"They must have heard the movement of strangers. That's why they stopped barking."

Li Mingyuan pondered secretly and then stood still. Li Mingyuan was not wrong. In less than two minutes, the cat-like cry was heard from the bushes again.

The cry was very close to Li Mingyuan. Li Mingyuan heard the source of the sound clearly, pulled aside a patch of grass not far away, and found four small gray animals.

The four little animals were very shy. When they noticed Li Mingyuan coming, they immediately buried their heads together and made "gulu, gulu" sounds.

"What a cute little creature." Li Mingyuan picked up one of them with a smile. The little animal in his hand struggled restlessly, not daring to look up at the person who held it.

Based on the sound and their appearance, it was not difficult for Li Mingyuan to determine that they were the famous cougars.

"Haha, don't be afraid, little guy. I will raise you to be a guard lion for me." Li Mingyuan said with a smile.

In the previous life, the wealthy people in the Middle East raised eagles and lions, and Li Mingyuan was no worse than them. He already had an eagle, and now he had discovered four cougars. Although cougars were not as big as African lions, the cougars with gentle temperaments were more suitable for raising, and cougars raised from childhood were more suitable for guarding the house.

Imagining his future life of raising eagles and walking lions, Li Mingyuan couldn't help laughing. Then he put the four little guys in a cloth bag and rode forward on his horse.

"Prince, look what I caught!" Li Dawei boasted to Li Mingyuan who had arrived.

The two cougars were tied to the ground by the soldiers and could not move, and they roared from time to time.

"Haha, Dawei is very good. He knows that I like to raise animals, so he specially gave me two cougars."

"Don't get me wrong, Prince. These two lions are not for you," Li Dawei explained quickly.

"It's not for me, do you want to keep it all for yourself?" Li Mingyuan pretended to be angry.

"At worst I can give you one."

"Don't worry, I only want the small one, the big one is for you."

"That's more like it." Li Dawei muttered.

Female cougars are half the size of male cougars. The smaller cougar that Li Dawei caught was most likely the mother of the four little lions, so Li Mingyuan took it.

After resolving the issue of the puma's ownership, Li Mingyuan asked about the results of the hunting in the past few days.

"Sir, this time we captured 132 antelopes, two wild deer, and 15...what's that called?"

As Li Dawei was talking, he forgot the name of the last animal.

"You mean the alpaca?"

"Yes, it's the animal that looks like both a camel and a goat." Li Dawei slapped his head and said.

"Prince, why are the animals here different from those in the Central Plains? There are not only alpacas that look like both camels and goats, but also small lions, and pangolins that eat ants and have no skin or armor..."

"This question is difficult to explain." Li Mingyuan smiled and shook his head. Many animals in America are different from those in other regions. Even if Li Mingyuan talked to Li Dawei about the animal geography knowledge of the 21st century, he would not understand, so Li Mingyuan did not explain it to him.

(End of this chapter)