Chapter 1515: The Yellow River Will Beat You Until You Call for Your Mother

If it were possible to extract all the Tung Seed from the Xuanyuan Tribe at once right now, that would be quite good. As for Alum, if we run out, we can keep digging and refining it; the mine is right there after all. Besides, the amount of Alum that can be transported back in one trip is far more than just a few dozen catties. What would a few dozen catties of Alum even be enough to do?

But ten thousand or even tens of thousands of catties of Tung Seed could potentially solve a major problem for Huaxia. Tung Oil would suddenly become abundant. Because of issues with temperature and humidity, Tung Seed cannot grow at all in Huaxia. Only by crossing the Qinling can one find a climate where Tung Seed can be planted.

However, Huaxia currently has no way to take such a big risk for such a small thing, purely torturing itself. If we can trade with the Xuanyuan Tribe, let's just trade for now.

Furthermore, we should also look for a place in the territory of Suiren to see if there is any suitable land for planting Oil Tung trees. If there is, we should clear it out and specifically plant a grove of Oil Tung trees.

But generally, where a certain plant can grow, it naturally exists in the wild. So, as long as we can find wild Oil Tung trees in the territory of Suiren, then that place can also be used to plant Oil Tung.

This type of cash crop, or industrial plant, must be planted in large quantities and kept in our own hands. Planting is not just as simple as growing food, vegetables, and fruits.

The hemp fields of Huaxia also stretch on endlessly, just so that there can be a sufficient output of hemp every year, which is the only way to provide Huaxia with enough raw materials for the Weaving Department.

Besides industrial hemp, there is also ramie, which is now being planted. Although it is a wild Grass that grows everywhere in the south, it is still very important as a textile crop. It wasn't until cotton appeared that the proportion of hemp gradually decreased, and the use of cotton in the textile industry gradually increased.

Baifeng would like to use cotton. After all, cotton is something that produces finer thread, and the cloth woven from it is thicker and more useful. But cotton is just too, too far away from Huaxia.

It's just that Baifeng, after all, does not know everything and understand everything. He thought cotton was introduced to the country from the Western Regions very late, but in reality, cotton was introduced to the country from India, Vietnam, and Southeast Asia, and then through the southeastern coast. Moreover, the time was also very early, having been introduced during the Qin and Han dynasties. However, there are many types of wild cotton, and there are several types currently in use; long-staple cotton is a seed that came from the Americas.

If Baifeng knew that by continuing to go to Southeast Asia, he could find the cotton he desperately needed, he could sacrifice thousands of people for these seeds. He could cooperate with any tribe; after all, no one would abandon a plant that can make better clothes.

What can attract Baifeng in Southeast Asia now is only high-yield Rice. Unfortunately, the territory of Huaxia is not suitable for large-scale Rice cultivation. In the future, the climate will gradually become drier and colder, and the area where Huaxia City is located will have to abandon Rice and turn entirely to dry-land agriculture.

However, it is not a complete abandonment. Many people might feel very surprised, and even the locals do not know that on the Longyuan land, known for its drought and desolation, there are actually some Rice cultivation areas distributed. The area is small, but it is not non-existent.

Huaxia having high-yield seeds now is of no great use, because its high yield is related to the climate of its origin—high temperature and high humidity, three harvests a year. The fertile land and lack of food shortages allowed them to pass through thousands of years, and even under the constant influence of the Central Plains dynasties, they remained as barbaric and primitive as monkeys, not much better than the black ghosts. Overly fertile land, on the contrary, will hinder the progress of humanity.

Huaxia civilization originated from the Yellow River and Wei River. It was not fertile, but it truly nurtured a great nation. Now Baifeng knows that Xuanyuan wants to move to the vast plains, which is indeed a good place to develop agriculture and a good place to expand strength.

But is the Yellow River really a mother river? Or is it that you get beaten by the Yellow River until you call for your mother?

It changes its course when it's in a bad mood, and it floods from time to time. Even the estuary is not fixed. If you don't build water conservancy, your dynasty will be finished; if you build water conservancy, your dynasty will still be finished. Although it sounds very scary, for the current Xuanyuan Tribe, it is truly a good place, and even Baifeng covets it.

However, according to the timeline, I'm afraid it won't be stable for too long. Dayu controlling the floods—that was a worldwide great flood. Baifeng will have died long ago, and Xuanyuan won't live that long either. Conservatively estimated, that will be a matter for a hundred years later. Baifeng doesn't need to worry about it. Moreover, here in Huaxia, it is almost the source, and it is also the source of flood control. Dayu controlling the floods started at Hezhou, which is not particularly far from the current Huaxia City.

To speak of a closer situation, Kuafu chased the sun. He drank the water of the Yellow River and the Wei River dry, but was it really drunk dry by him? Can such large rivers as the Yellow River and the Wei River really be drunk dry by a mythological figure?

Combining the fact that myths will have some historical color, it is very likely that a great drought occurred, and the Yellow River and the Wei River both stopped flowing, causing the Kuafu tribe to need to constantly migrate northward. Whether it was the great marshes of the north, Qinghai Lake, or Lake Baikal, this is unknown, but in any case, he did not reach it.

This historical time is not too far from the present. By then, a great drought will appear across the entire Central Plains, the Yellow River will stop flowing, and the following year it might change its course again, causing damage to Xuanyuan's country once more. In any case, taking root in the Central Plains is only a short-term benefit, not a long-term one. Any dynasty finds it difficult to take root in the Central Plains for a long time; it is either half the country or moving the capital, moving the capital.

Baifeng's thoughts drifted very, very far. Looking back at the conditions given by Xuanyuan, he naturally agreed without hesitation. But he still had to bargain: "To trade, of course, is no problem, but that thing is also very rare in our Huaxia. If it is such a large-scale trade, our Huaxia might not be able to dye such fabric again for the whole year. Therefore, the price still needs to change."

"Since you are willing to give all those Tung Seed to us, I will also be generous. The first... the first fifty catties. I will exchange the first fifty catties for you at the price I just mentioned. After that, I think it will have to be one catty for two hundred catties of Tung Seed. Otherwise, my tribesmen will definitely have objections. What do you think?"

"Not good. Baifeng, we are such familiar friends. Just as you said, we exchange what we have for what we lack. You still want to negotiate the price with me like this. Either you follow the price of one catty for one hundred catties, and you can exchange as much as you can, and if you are reluctant, then you can exchange next year; or you bring Weapons to exchange."