Chapter 381: Xuanyuan's Questions

Xuanyuan could not help but follow the cart, because he wanted to see clearly what kind of operating principle this was. The person driving the cart was somewhat flustered and involuntarily quickened their pace, because just by looking at the clothing, they knew this was not one of their Huaxia people, and anyone who could follow the King must certainly have an extraordinary status.

Baifeng was afraid of causing any jokes, so he hurriedly said: "This thing is called a cart, it is what we use to pull things. Look, that wooden board-like thing on top is called the cart box; whether it is for hauling grain and goods, or for carrying people, it is no problem. The two things underneath are wheels, used for moving. Looking at the whole cart in use, pulling things is easier than human transport, and it carries more. Plus, having an ox pull it in front saves even more effort; there is no need for people to exert themselves."

Xuanyuan nodded thoughtfully, but he seemed to immediately grasp a key point: "You can use oxen to pull carts??? Aren't oxen used for eating? How can they replace people to do work?"

Before Baifeng could speak, a Soldier sneered: "You probably don't even have oxen, so how would you know that oxen can't work?"

Baifeng turned his head to take a look and told him with his eyes to shut up. Such words could not be said recklessly, especially since Xuanyuan was not just any small tribe that could be mocked at will.

Sure enough, without even needing Xuanyuan to speak, a Soldier of the Xuanyuan Tribe retorted: "When our Xuanyuan Tribe was raising oxen, you Huaxia didn't even know which tree you were in, fighting monkeys for wild fruit. We are the descendants of Shennong; what are you?"

Seeing that the Huaxia Soldier wanted to speak again, Baifeng hurriedly said "shut up" to avoid them speaking without restraint and causing any trouble. Xuanyuan also stopped his own Soldier and said: "Although we raised oxen earlier, we didn't know they could be used for work. In this point, we are not as good as Huaxia, so you must not look down on Huaxia."

Afterwards, Baifeng and Xuanyuan acted as if this matter had just never happened and continued chatting: "Oxen can indeed be used for work, but making them willing to work is not a simple matter. You know the temper of an ox; let alone commanding it, if you just get too close, you might be attacked. As for how to make it willing to work, that is the secret of our Huaxia; it cannot be told."

Xuanyuan was naturally tactful and stopped asking. Just knowing the one fact that oxen could work made him feel that this risky visit was worth it. They had a large number of oxen, and if they could all be raised to work, they could abandon more Slaves and use oxen that ate only Grass instead of grain to do the work.

Xuanyuan's gaze remained fixed on the cart, but Baifeng interrupted him: "There is no need for you to study it. The cart looks good, but the limitations are also very great. Unless there is a road as flat and wide as ours here in Huaxia, the cart is of no use; if you build one, it is just a big piece of wood. Otherwise, why haven't you seen me use it? It is because there is no road to travel on. You can't just cut down trees to make a road just to pull a cart, right?"

Xuanyuan thought about it and it was indeed so. Even if his tribe wanted to use it, they had no way to. Their tribe did not have such wide and flat roads, and the layout was chaotic, with people and earthen pits everywhere; there was simply no way to drive a cart. No matter how good this thing was, they lacked the conditions to use it, unless he could renovate the entire tribe, build roads, and move the places where people lived.

But this was an extremely large amount of engineering. Currently, they simply did not have the ability to do it. To do it would mean that for a very long time, they would be unable to go out to obtain food and could only do that one thing.

Including the city wall, he had already seen that it was piled up with earth. He was very envious and also wanted to build one himself, but he was equally powerless. However, he could build a very short city wall for the area where he lived to protect himself.

Baifeng dispelled Xuanyuan's desire to keep looking, but he knew that Xuanyuan would definitely do it in the future, because the cart was an invention of Xuanyuan in history. Huaxia also had more compact wheelbarrows, but this was something that truly could not be let Xuanyuan see; this Xuanyuan really had use for.

Baifeng asked Xuanyuan with a smile: "How is this cart? Do you want one? If you want, we can sell you some."

Xuanyuan paused, then slowly said: "Let's see. Next time we trade, I will consider it carefully."

Baifeng smiled slightly and said no more, then led Xuanyuan to continue walking. He wanted to take Xuanyuan to their old meeting room; it was relatively spacious inside and was currently idle, intended to be used as an office after various departments expanded in the future.

That place was most suitable for receiving guests, far away from some important areas, and there were no confidential things there. Baifeng had already sent people to clean and prepare it in advance.

Along the way, Baifeng led Xuanyuan on a long detour, just to avoid areas that might expose their hidden strength. Areas like the residential district could be looked at freely; after all, they were just houses. Letting Xuanyuan learn that would not matter; it would merely let his tribespeople live a little better, and it would not improve their tribe's strength much. On the contrary, it would consume their power due to large-scale construction.

Just as Baifeng guessed, Xuanyuan developed a strong interest in the houses, walking straight up to touch and knock on the walls, because the wall he saw was not made of earth, but rather more like a kind of stone he had never seen before.

He looked closely and saw things with small holes. They were very neat, all the same size, and in the gaps between every two, there was a grayish-white substance. It looked very familiar. He picked at it, but it was hard and would not budge. Looking closely, it was actually the same material as the road under his feet.

This greatly shocked Xuanyuan's perception, and at the same time, he guessed that these things were not stone at all; they were definitely products made through special processing, just like Glass.

Once Xuanyuan thought this way, his train of thought immediately opened up. Looking closely again, it seemed a bit like Pottery. He speculated: if one took fired Pottery and made it into such thick blocks before firing, would the result be this thing?

He asked Baifeng directly: "Did you use Pottery to build this wall?"

Baifeng was just about to say no, but felt that what Xuanyuan said was not far off. Pottery and Brick were actually not much different, so Baifeng said: "This can also be considered Pottery; it's not much different, but it's not exactly the same."

Xuanyuan asked curiously again: "Then what is this thing in the gaps? Why is it the same as the one on the ground? I feel like it's stone, but there shouldn't be stones this wide and long, right?"

Xuanyuan pointed at the road as he spoke. Baifeng naturally would not reveal such an important thing: "Oh, this? It's just a kind of mud, it's just relatively hard."