Chapter 1175: Plant Industry

After all, Changle is currently here at his Western Development Group; if any problems arise, he cannot escape responsibility. Furthermore, it is already nearly Winter, and the departure for the Golden Autumn Gathering has drawn away some of the able-bodied labor. Now, in order to protect himself, Changle has drawn away another portion of the able-bodied labor. Although it is not enough to cause fundamental damage, it is, after all, a shortage of much labor.

The number of people working has decreased significantly, yet over at Huaxia, no food has been brought back, but Ce cannot have any objections.

The tasks of Huaxia are always more important than the tasks of their Western Development Group; he must support them unconditionally, not to mention the important task of protecting the Prince.

Every day, Changle has to climb many mountains, searching everywhere for suitable places. This is truly a very arduous task, and Changle must complete it before the food he brought is exhausted. However, he does not hold much hope; it would be strange if it were that easy to find.

Ayuduo has no complaints, just silently following Changle as he walks. They are also searching for new species together. Changle has had a great harvest here, but he no longer has the energy to carry specimens; he can only record them, then show them to his father after returning and describe them. He does not know how many things are actually useful.

However, his father summarized some experience for him: the most useful things for humans, such as plants of the grass family, can all be attempted as food; one can pay more attention when encountering them.

Those of the rose family are fruits, almost one hundred percent edible; it is just a matter of whether they taste good or not.

Those of the bean family also need attention; there are many that can be eaten, and relatively speaking, they have higher yields and larger fruits.

Those of the mustard family are basically all vegetables, and most people can eat them.

As long as one summarizes the characteristics of these plant families, when encountering a new species, first classify which family it belongs to. As long as it is one of these families, pay extra attention, then collect it and hand it to Changle or Baifeng to identify and see if it has value for further cultivation.

As for the characteristics of these plant families, anyone in Huaxia who is learning with Changle has already firmly memorized them. There are also those who want to rely on finding new species to gain merit for themselves and have frequent opportunities to go out.

Like hunters, Soldiers, and fishermen, those among them who have these thoughts will also learn through various channels, knowing how to identify them. Then, every time they go out, they will pay extra attention to plants of these families. As long as they can find one valuable one, their merit can immediately stack up.

According to the size of the value, Nobility is bestowed. One vegetable or fruit can be exchanged for a Baron; if the taste is better and the yield is higher, it can become a Viscount.

If it is like soybeans—a high-yield, important food crop—even if you don't understand cultivation, if you find it directly, you can directly obtain a Marquis, but currently, such a case has not yet appeared in Huaxia.

Like the situation with Gujiao, the main credit lies with Changle, so the Soldier who accidentally pulled out the Gujiao can only obtain Military Merit, not directly obtain Nobility. Their behavior was unconscious, and they didn't even discover the problem first; if they had thought the root of the Gu was special and specifically brought it to Changle...

Then Changle naturally would not snatch credit from a Soldier. Does he still need credit? Credit is all given out by his family. What he needs is people who can create such credit, not the empty thing that is credit.

Along this journey, Changle has also been teaching those Soldiers how to identify different plants, as well as what the names of those common plants are.

If the names he gives cannot spread among everyone, then his act of naming is meaningless, and the names he gives will not be recognized by anyone, making the whole thing a waste of effort.

Furthermore, letting them learn how to identify them will also reduce a lot of his own workload on the road. One hundred pairs of eyes from one hundred people are certainly much better than just his own pair of eyes staring.

Of course, in the days when he is not around, they can also rely on what they have learned now to search for new species in the future, adding some different things to their city. It is best to be able to find the vegetables and fruits most suitable for local planting.

His father also taught this; many vegetables and fruits have strong regional characteristics. Planted in this place, they grow big and good, but if you go to another place to plant them, they might not grow at all, or even fail to survive, let alone talk about taste. The Tea Tree is one such example.

Huaxia has never given up on planting Tea Trees. Back then, Baifeng experimented once, and after failing, he gave up for a long time. Later, after the Agriculture Department was established and grew stronger and stronger, they began to set about trying to plant Tea Trees.

Tea Leaves can be brought back from the Xuanyuan Tribe every year because the trade is very stable, and they had long ago informed the Xuanyuan Tribe that Tea Trees could not be planted in Huaxia, so their secret smuggling of Tea Tree stems and roots back was not discovered.

There are also seeds; all kinds of methods have been tried. The seedlings that could be brought back to Huaxia alive were also difficult to survive in Huaxia for too long. No matter how hard Huaxia tries, now in all of Huaxia, there is only one Tea Tree as tall as a person, and it is being meticulously cared for at every moment, which is why it has survived until now. It has now successfully lived for two years.

But wanting to break the shackles of this "one" is still a bit difficult. Fortunately, there is no need to smuggle branches back from the Xuanyuan Tribe; the risk is a bit high. Although Huaxia's Tea Tree cannot produce much tea, or rather, it has never produced tea.

But using it as a mother plant for cultivation is still no problem. Huaxia's Cuttings technology has become more and more mature, and Tea Trees are indeed more suitable for asexual reproduction like Cuttings; planting with seeds actually has worse results.

Whether Huaxia can achieve Tea Leaf freedom in the future and no longer be restricted by the Xuanyuan Tribe still has a long way to go.

Baifeng himself is thinking that their location here is not suitable for planting Tea Trees. He himself does not hold much hope, unless these Tea Trees slowly adapt to Huaxia's climate.

If Huaxia wants to get rid of the climate restrictions here and plant Tea Trees on a large scale, the only way is to go south, cross the Qinling, or fully control the territory of the Suiren Clan and push the territory of the Suiren Clan further south; this way, there will be enough space to plant Tea Leaves.

Currently, the area of the Suiren Clan's territory that can produce Tea Leaves is not large. Wanting to make the Suiren Clan produce enough Tea Leaves in these few years is also a difficult task.

And Huaxia indeed cannot give up on Tea Leaves. Tea Leaves are not simply a beverage; from the perspective of historical progress, the status of Tea Leaves is extremely important, and not just here in Huaxia.