After resting for a day in this palace-like mansion, the next day they rode elephants towards the forest. This time, the elephants carried not only hunting supplies but also excavation materials needed by Liang En.
"What are you thinking about?" Jeanne d'Arc leaned over and asked softly as she saw Liang En staring pensively at the elephants. "It seemed like you had something on your mind since we set off today."
"Yes, I am thinking about something," Liang En turned to her with a smile and said, "I was thinking about how the British colonizers, over a hundred years ago, rode elephants like these to hunt tigers during the Victorian era."
Over a hundred years ago, the British aristocrats, who were passionate about hunting, did not forget to expand their "hunting territories" in the colonies. From fox hunting in their homeland to tiger hunting in the Indian colonies, the British displayed their hunting fervor to the world.
During nearly 200 years of colonial rule in India, the British brought Western modern civilization to this land, along with the indulgence and bloodthirstiness of a strong nation.
In this backward yet fresh territory, the British colonizers quickly discovered the local entertainment—hunting. In the late 19th century, one of the most popular pastimes for British colonizers in India was hunting the local majestic wildlife, especially the Bengal tiger.
Originally a traditional pastime for Indians, the British turned this activity into a large-scale extermination of the local beasts.
To demonstrate the power of the white race and the royal authority of the British aristocracy, especially their dominance over India, the British started a tiger hunting frenzy in the 19th century.
The British came to the relatively backward India to hunt tigers, no longer using ancient bows and spears but powerful firearms.
At that time, hunting seemed no longer to require "bravery," often with scenes of noble "hunters" shooting tigers from the backs of elephants, surrounded by dozens to hundreds of followers, without any danger or excitement.
In such "hunting" methods, it was not surprising for a "hunter" to kill several tigers in one day. For instance, in 1911, during a 11-day hunting expedition in India, King George V killed 39 Bengal tigers.
For the British gentlemen of that time, traveling to the ancient and mysterious colony of India without hunting a few tigers was almost a shame. Returning to London without a photo of themselves holding a hunting rifle next to a dead tiger meant you could hardly claim to have been to India.
Due to the increasingly popular tiger hunting, people even set bounties for killing tigers. Local Indians also joined in the tiger hunting, turning it into a means of making a living.
This tiger hunting fervor lasted a long time, even after India's independence in 1947. Amateur hunters, hunting travel agencies, professional hunters, and even ordinary farmers and herders continued to participate in tiger hunting.
The unrestrained tiger hunting and the ever-increasing demand for tiger products led to a sharp decline in the number of Bengal tigers in India. From 1870 to 1970, in just 100 years, the number of Bengal tigers dropped from 40,000 to less than 2,000.
In 1971, the Indian government finally realized the seriousness of the situation and issued a ban on tiger hunting. Prime Minister Gandhi advocated the implementation of the "Project Tiger," designating nine national parks as special tiger protection zones, later increasing to 14.
Under such circumstances, the decline in the tiger population in India finally stopped, making it the country with the most tigers in the world today.
The wild boar population explosion is directly related to the lack of tigers. For wild boars, in the absence of large carnivores as natural enemies, they reproduce rapidly, affecting the local ecosystem.
"Who are those people, and why are they joining the team?" Seeing some Indian villagers with wooden sticks and spears joining the group from all directions, Liang En grabbed the walkie-talkie and asked. He soon received an answer from Mr. Verma.
It turned out these people were also under Mr. Verma's leadership. This time, they were mobilized to drive the game, including wild boars, out of the forest.
At this time, Liang En also learned that the territory area mentioned by the driver sent by Mr. Verma yesterday was only the area of direct control. Besides this, there were many lands owned by high-caste elders and landlords.
Most of these elders and landlords were former retainers of the Verma family. Although there was no longer a hierarchical relationship, they still belonged to the same interest group, all respecting the will of the Verma family.
If you added the lands owned by these scattered forces, you would find that all the rural areas outside the city belonged to this family. This explained why the Verma family could mobilize so many people.
However, the hunting process was somewhat lackluster because the game had already been driven to the open field by these zoo-like farmers. Liang En and the others only needed to aim at the game and pull the trigger.
"It feels a bit boring." After shooting down five wild boars with six shots, Jeanne d'Arc put down her rifle with a bored expression because this hunting did not excite her at all.
"This is how aristocrats hunt—safe but somewhat boring." Liang En also put down his rifle and smiled, "The nobles might find this way thrilling, but for us, it's purely dull."
Just as the two were thinking about when to have lunch, the situation suddenly changed. A herd of wild boars, instead of fleeing upon being discovered, went berserk and charged at the surrounding people, with some heading towards nearby farmers.
Since the bodyguards were all around the lead elephant, protecting the masters and guests, their view was obstructed by the elephants and some obstacles, so they could not react in time.
Although Liang En and the others noticed this scene, they had unloaded the bullets from their guns for safety reasons, so it was too late to reload and shoot.
As for handguns, they hadn't brought any. After all, there was no need to worry about sudden wild boar attacks on the elephants, and carrying handguns seemed cumbersome at this moment.
Realizing that firearms were unusable, Liang En immediately leaned forward, grabbed an armor-piercing spear from a rack on the elephant's back, and hurled it forcefully at the wild boar charging into the crowd.
The spear traced a beautiful arc in the air before hitting the wild boar's neck, pinning it to the ground. Then, the people who reacted stabbed their weapons into the wild boar's body, killing it.
"This is amazing, just like the legendary warriors." When they arrived in front of the dead wild boar, Mr. Verma said in an astonished tone.
After all, being able to throw a spear over a distance of nearly 20 meters and accurately hit the wild boar's neck, pinning it to the ground, was not something an ordinary person could do. This force surpassed that of 99% of humans.
Therefore, Mr. Verma's praise was heartfelt. After all, when a scene that only appears in novels and movies happens in real life, the impact is immense.
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