Chapter 491: Xuanyuan Learns the Dao

After the coldest period passed, spring arrived slowly, yet the still-arid land left Baifeng very annoyed; there had been no snow all winter, and to proceed with spring plowing, one had to wait for a spring rain or perform irrigation.

The land was gradually thawing, and the tenants, who had been strictly supervised and had no work all winter, finally had a use for their skills; the agricultural departments of Huaxia City and Lema City hired most of them to reclaim wasteland for Huaxia, and the fields reclaimed this way would serve as a source of income for the National Treasury, as well as population fields to be distributed to newly born citizens in the future.

The remaining tenants were hired by farmers who still had surplus grain to reclaim wasteland for them or to plow their own fields.

Those tenants had never done such work before, so they inevitably got scolded; because they still held the status of Citizen, everyone did not go too far, but verbal abuse was inevitable, and if they slacked off or truly lacked the ability to work, their wages would be docked and their grain rations reduced, and if there was no improvement after a few more days, they would be dismissed directly—if they were not afraid of starving to death, they could just drift along like that.

Of course, to avoid having people who could do nothing and were unwilling to work just rot away waiting for relief, if they did not find work within a month, they would be forcibly assigned jobs; naturally, such jobs were likely the kind where one did not know if they would return.

The tenants were afraid of cattle and did not know how to cherish or handle them, so these people were not qualified to use draft cattle and could only obediently use human labor to turn the soil, break it up, and pick out grass roots bit by bit.

But what they did not expect was that such precious Ironware was distributed to each of them very casually, and the amount of Iron used was substantial, which led everyone who received farm tools to spend their first moments hugging the tools and rubbing them vigorously.

Although their behavior was somewhat disgusting, one benefit was that after they finished their work, they would very carefully wipe the mud off bit by bit, first scraping off the weeds and large clumps of soil, then using their own clothes to wipe away the fine soil bit by bit; the officials of Huaxia, finding that the farm tools they collected at the end of each day were as shiny as new, also did not know what to say.

Moreover, there was no fear of the farm tools being lost or hidden, as it was made very clear when the tools were distributed that loss or private hoarding were serious crimes and they must be guarded carefully; of course, those wooden farm tools, like the soil-breaking mallets, were not included in this.

Because the requirements were strict, everyone insisted on not letting the farm tools leave their hands, and even when eating lunch, they had to hold the tools tightly in their hands; if they lost them, their lives would be over.

The land reclamation work went on for a long time, and the sowing time for the first round of crops was almost here, but not a drop of rain fell from the sky; everyone knew the severity of the situation, especially the people in the agricultural department, who were all anxious and agitated, even suggesting that Baifeng perform a sacrifice to pray to Heaven for rain.

Baifeng had never actually performed a sacrifice to pray for rain; ever since he took charge of this tribe, everyone, whether willing or sincere, had stopped viewing the sacrifice as that important, though the Heaven and Earth Stone shrine in the plaza still had thriving Incense.

One of the products Baifeng used to harvest the wealth of ordinary families was Incense, specifically stick incense; although Baifeng could not make very high-quality incense, Cypress Seed Incense was not difficult, and Baifeng had gradually devolved the power of sacrifice to ordinary people, giving them the opportunity to communicate directly with the Heavenly Gods, though whether the Heavenly Gods could hear them was unknown—in any case, they had never heard the Heavenly Gods reply.

Baifeng was very repulsed by the idea of sacrificing for rain because he simply did not know how to pray; how does one pray, and to whom? He did not know how to perform shamanistic dances, and if he actually prayed for rain, that would be fine, but if he could not, what would he do? Would his prestige not be greatly diminished?

The shamans in Huaxia who could perform sacrifices probably had no intention of doing so now; they had been fooled by Baifeng in the past and felt they were not suited for this, and now they were working full-time in finance, having forgotten all their previous duties entirely.

As for letting the shamans of other tribes who had been taken in perform the sacrifice, first of all, even if Baifeng agreed, the others certainly would not; why should the shamans of other tribes sacrifice to the gods of Huaxia? Could they even communicate with the spirits of Huaxia?

Baifeng was finally driven to desperation by everyone's repeated urging; it was not that he did not want it to rain, but he had no other choice, so he could only tell the crowd: "Divining by the gods is not as good as taking charge oneself; wait three more days, and if there is still no rain, all work in the country will stop, and everyone will participate in diverting and lifting water to irrigate the fields to ensure spring sowing!"

Although this would greatly waste productivity and was not what everyone wanted, since the King had said so, they could only accept it; having a plan was much better than just waiting.

At this time, Xuanyuan, having visited Guangchengzi, had also set out on the road back; on this journey, he had lost seventeen Soldiers, but compared to the knowledge learned from Guangchengzi, he believed that even if ten times as many people died, it would be worth it, because Guangchengzi's knowledge could allow him to feed more than dozens of times that population.

Guangchengzi's mystery made Xuanyuan feel even more surprised than what he had seen in Huaxia; now he felt that what he had seen at Baifeng's place could serve as a transition for things he could accept.

Xuanyuan also asked Guangchengzi if he knew this Baifeng; after hearing Xuanyuan's account of Baifeng's deeds, Guangchengzi also showed a look of surprise, and after performing divination, Guangchengzi was actually unable to divine who Baifeng was, which also moved Zhishou, who had always somewhat ignored Baifeng.

Even when Xuanyuan mentioned that the country Baifeng built was named Huaxia, even Guangchengzi was startled; after a brief silence, Guangchengzi said: "The name of this country, Huaxia, should be yours, Xuanyuan."

Xuanyuan was greatly shocked: "Do you mean that I should conquer Huaxia and then use that name?"

Guangchengzi did not answer Xuanyuan's question again, only saying: "Let me continue to preach the Dao to you; and that Qibo, listen carefully, this 'Dao' I speak of is something that can truly extend human life..."

Because a change had occurred that even Guangchengzi had not foreseen, he had Zhishou and the other two attendants brought back by Xuanyuan to help Xuanyuan develop; because Xuanyuan had truly received benefits, he did not doubt Guangchengzi at all and accepted the arrangement very happily.

Because it was already close to the beginning of spring when they returned, and there had been no Snow, Xuanyuan's return journey was very smooth and lacked the dangers of the trip there.