Chapter 303: Knowledge in Nature

After walking more than halfway, they reached a dense forest where their ox carts could not pass, so they had to leave half of their men and horses behind to set up camp and watch over their supplies and oxen, while Baifeng continued on with the rest; since this area was already familiar territory, there were no large beasts of prey, and any that had been there were already wiped out by their concentrated fire, so there was no fear of danger, and Baifeng was not worried about bringing the two children along.

The reason Baifeng brought the children was not so they could be the first to see the "gift from the Heaven gods" and feel that sense of glory, but simply to let them see a rare opportunity that might only happen once in a lifetime; a newly fallen Meteorite is not something you can see just because you want to, as luck plays the vast majority of the role.

By dusk, they had reached the approximate impact site, and then it was time to first find a suitable place to set up camp, collect firewood, build Tents, and light a bonfire; everyone carried a water gourd, which was more than enough for tonight, so they avoided the trouble of finding a water source, though they were all very clear on where water could be found—while there were no small rivers or streams, there were several mountain springs, and because of the heavy rainfall and high groundwater level, springs were very common.

Once everything was packed up and with more than an hour left before sunset, Baifeng had everyone split into groups of twenty to spread out and find the Meteorite's impact point; after finding it, they were not to get too close, but just return to camp to report, and they would handle it tomorrow.

Baifeng's group was relatively important, so there were over forty people in a bustling crowd; Baifeng also made it clear to everyone to keep the search distance under control, and even if they didn't find anything, they had to return to the camp before the sun went down.

The two children had never left the tribe so far since they were born; the furthest they had ever gone was to leave the city walls and go to the banks of the Dahe to watch the tribe's waterwheels and learn about water power, and Baifeng also taught them about the movement of the Dahe, and knowledge about concave and convex banks.

In Baifeng's words, even the mudflats by the river had their own logic, which could lead to a whole host of wonderful and interesting theories for the children; walking through a forest they had never been to before, which was lush with vegetation and even more rich and colorful, the two children's eyes were attracted by everything they encountered on the road.

The two of them had followed along for over an hour of mountain travel and did not feel tired yet, but their pace of exploration had been severely slowed down by the children.

Baifeng was not in a hurry, and he would earnestly answer all of the children's questions; he would even speak openly about a lot of knowledge that other tribesmen were not supposed to know, because without the foundation of the knowledge Baifeng had taught before, hearing it would be the same as listening to a heavenly book for the others.

The other Soldier tribesmen dared not have the slightest complaint, and they were happy to stop and move slowly, without having to exert too much effort.

On the way, Changle asked the most; for example, when he saw a tree he had never seen before, he would ask: "What kind of tree is this, what is its name, and what is it used for?"

Baifeng could not answer most of them; he was not a botanist, nor was he that learned, and he only knew so much entirely because of his love for Nature in his past life, so compared to ordinary people, he knew more, and as a practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine, he also had a thirst for knowledge about every plant he saw on the road.

For things he did not recognize, Baifeng would also very clearly say: "I don't know."

Baifeng would not deceive his children for the sake of face; if he didn't know, he didn't know, and the children would not blame their father, as they also understood that this world was too big, and it was very normal for their father to have things he didn't know.

However, Baifeng also said this to the two children: "If I don't recognize this thing, then there are few people in this world who do, and even fewer who would know what it is used for; it has no name right now, and as for what it should be called, that depends on us; for example, this tree, you can give it a name now, and from now on, this kind of tree will be called by the name you gave it, the people of the entire nation will call it that, and then the world will likewise call this tree by that name."

"As for what it is used for, if Shennong doesn't know, then no one knows; you can go and be the Shennong in this regard, but I will not agree to let you stuff the leaves or anything of this thing into your mouth; the things that can be eaten, Shennong has already picked out, you just need to give it a name and figure out what it is used for, whether it is suitable for building houses, making a Weapon, or if it is useless and can only be used as firewood, it is all up to you to figure out."

Baifeng pointed to a red maple and said: "Look at this tree, its wood is soft and not suitable for building houses, and it can be used as firewood, but its leaves are so beautiful, could it be planted as a landscape?"

The two children were lost in thought, but they quickly understood their father's meaning, and subsequently, along the way, they named over a dozen types of trees and gave names to over twenty types of Grass, and even picked out three types of beautiful trees, saying they wanted to dig them up and plant them in front of their home.

Baifeng smiled and agreed to it all, but he made one request: they must remember clearly the things they had named themselves; otherwise, if they forgot but others remembered, and they gave it a new name the next time they saw it, would others use the first name or the new one?

The two children then stopped their naming journey and spent the rest of the way recalling the things they had already named; unfortunately, they had already forgotten more than half, and Baifeng didn't remember many of the strange names they had come up with either.

Since the children were interested, Baifeng planned to teach them classification methods after returning—the biological Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species—and let them treat this as a discipline to study, develop, and perfect; this discipline would also have to be taught to others, as this could not be kept secret, and for the tribe, it was very important and very practical.

If the tribe could produce a talent in this area in the future, it would be extremely useful for the statistical survey of the world's resources later on.

On the way, they also saw a peculiar cliff where the rock strata were curved and layered; if it were anyone else, they certainly wouldn't care, but the two children saw the peculiarity at a glance and asked Baifeng to explain.

Baifeng then talked about anticlines and synclines, and talked about crustal movement; the knowledge was very broad and vast, and it was unknown whether they understood it or not, but the others who were tagging along for knowledge didn't understand a thing, only roughly grasping that the stones were squeezed and bent, and that only gods could squeeze a whole mountain into a curve.

After this half-hour journey, Baifeng realized that there was still so much he had to teach his children, and just as much he had to teach the Citizens; as long as one talent emerged in these areas, the driving force for the tribe would be enormous, but Baifeng could not be in two places at once, and he did not have the ability to take all the work upon himself.