Chapter 370: The Sparrows That Cover the Sky
Hearing He Daqing's promise to cook for whoever catches the snake,

The neighbors were satisfied and began to actively dig out the rat holes, preparing to catch the snakes after finishing the work.

Some good locations can be dug directly with a hoe.
In some tricky places, neighbors would not dare to do something as reckless as Liu Haizhong did when he dug into his own house.
Instead, a hose with a large cover is inserted into the mouse hole, and half-dry and half-wet firewood is placed on the end of the cover.

The more evil-minded ones even sprinkled some sulfur powder on the firewood.

Thick smoke poured into the rat holes through the hoses. Every now and then, rats would jump out of the holes, and then be caught by the neighbors with tongs and beaten to death with hoes.

After cutting off the rat tails used as proof of exchange, the carcasses were piled up in the corner of the wall.

Maoer Hutong itself is only a few hundred meters long.
Thanks to the efforts of many neighbors, the place was cleaned up in no time.

After cleaning the rat holes,
The neighbors took the dead rat and scattered like birds and beasts.
Those who were brave and greedy carried their hoes and shovels and went straight out of the city to catch snakes, while those who were timid went home and continued to catch sparrows.

When He Jianguo saw Li Qingshan follow Xu Damao and the others out of the city, he wanted to follow them too.
However, He Yushui stopped him.

"Jianguo, you are not allowed to follow Brother Qingshan and the others out of the city. They are running all over the mountains and fields. What if you can't keep up and get lost?
My brother told me to go play with him later, and you should come with us too."

After saying that, He Yushui turned to look at He Yuzhu and asked,
"Brother, where are we going later?"

"Go home first. You and Jianguo go back and get two enamel basins. I'll go back and carry my guns. We'll meet up with the militia later and go shoot sparrows."

When he heard his brother say he was going back to carry the gun, He Yushui didn't even bother to ask what he was going to do with the enamel basin.
He said with surprise,
"Brother, don't we use slingshots to shoot sparrows? Why do you militiamen use guns?
Sparrows are so small, aren't you afraid that you'll kill them with one shot? "

"How could it be?
Some time ago, the Public Security Bureau found some shotguns that had been confiscated in previous years from the armory.
They are all iron sandsmiths, they definitely won't smash the sparrows to pieces.

Okay, don't ask so many questions now, let's go back quickly, grab our things and set off, my comrades are still waiting for me."

Seeing that his brother didn't allow him to ask, He Yushui didn't say anything more. He called He Jianguo and walked towards the courtyard.

When He Jianguo heard that he could watch the gun shooting, he was no longer as resistant as he was at the beginning, and happily followed He Yushui home.
I was thinking about going to the militia to watch the gun battle later.

The three siblings took their things out. He Jianguo looked at the enamel basin in his hand again and again, then looked at He Yuzhu curiously and asked,
"Brother, what are we doing with this basin? Are we going to use it to catch sparrows?"

"Yes, brother, you haven't told me yet what we are going to do with the enamel basin."

Seeing He Yushui also tilting his head to look at him, He Yuzhu smiled and knocked on the enamel basin they were holding with his hand.

"Do you hear this sound? It's very loud.

When we see a sparrow, we knock on the pot hard to make a noise. Sparrows are very timid creatures and will definitely fly away!
As soon as the sparrows stop we knock, as soon as they stop we knock,
The sparrow has no chance to rest. If it gets tired of flying, it will fall from the sky.

Isn't this much easier than Qingshan and the others shooting sparrows with slingshots? "

He Yushui also knew that sparrows were indeed timid and would fly away immediately at the slightest noise, but she still felt that what her brother said was not so reliable.
"But brother,

If we knock on the pot, the sparrow will fly away, right? We may not be able to catch it even if we try for a long time, so what's the point of doing this!"

"hehe,
How come you, a little girl, can't draw inferences from this?
If you are the only one banging pots, you must chase them vigorously. But what if all the people in Beijing are banging pots, if there are people everywhere in the mountains and fields, making noises, then you don't have to chase them, right?"

Hearing what He Yuzhu said, He Yushui's eyes immediately lit up, and he nodded heavily while knocking on the enamel basin.

The clang clang clang sound startled many sparrows resting on the roof. At the same time, the neighbors who were digging rat holes on both sides of the street also looked over.

After understanding the cause and effect of the incident, they all agreed with He Yuzhu's statement and thought about going back to get the basin to knock on the rat hole after digging it out.

While knocking on the enamel basin and chatting with the neighbors on both sides of the street, He Yuzhu and his two siblings soon arrived near the first shooting area.
At this time, Zhou Yiming was already waiting here with the militia from the steel rolling mill.

Seeing He Yuzhu brought his brothers and sisters over, he first greeted them with a smile.

After finishing the work, he reported to He Yuzhu.

"Captain He, all the comrades are here. Except for a few people who stayed here, the rest of the comrades went to the nearby shooting areas.

Now we are just waiting for the first shot to be fired as a signal."

He Yuzhu nodded to show his understanding and put his rifle down from his shoulder.
"Okay, I think it's about time, let's get started!

Everyone, pay attention.

Although the range of a shotgun is not far and it is not likely to be fatal, everyone still needs to pay attention to safety and try to shoot in places where there are no people to ensure safety! "

"What team is it?"

The superior leaders designated a shooting area and asked He Yuzhu and other militiamen and police officers from the police station to go out with shotguns and air guns to shoot sparrows. The main purpose was actually to scare and drive them away.
Therefore, He Yuzhu and his men did not fire very frequently.

As the shotgun fired towards the open space, it would always scare away flocks of sparrows that had just landed and fly back into the sky.

At the same time, the sound of gongs and drums gradually rang out on the road the three siblings were on.

And slowly spread to the entire city of Peking.

Then everyone saw sparrows flying up and down in the sky above Peking, so dense that they almost covered the entire sky, giving people the feeling that dark clouds were pressing down on the city.

Seeing this, He Jianguo stopped banging the basin and pointed at the sky in amazement.

"Brother, sparrows, so many sparrows."

He Yuzhu also saw the sparrows circling in the sky.

Although the exact number is unknown, it is definitely at least 200,000 or 300,000.

If there were so many sparrows circling in the sky for no reason on an ordinary day, such a doomsday scene would definitely indicate that a major disaster was about to happen.

However, I heard the constant noise and occasional gunshots in the city.

He Yuzhu held a gun in one hand, pointing it at the sky, and touched He Jianguo's head with his other hand, smiling.

"See, without Jianguo, the noise made by the people of the city would be much faster than Xu Damao and his men shooting sparrows with slingshots."

(End of this chapter)