Chapter 501: Planting the Five Grains to Replace the Lives of Birds and Beasts

Yishang and his team traveled at full speed on the road, but the round trip still took basically a month. During this month, a light rain fell within the territory of Huaxia, which finally allowed all the grain in Huaxia to be barely planted.

Although the seeds were in the ground, everyone was worried. Given the dry start to the year, it was hard to say what the harvest would be like; the whole year might be quite dry. Everyone felt uncertain about whether the stored grain would be enough to feed so many people in Huaxia, or whether it would allow the people of Huaxia to continue living at their previous standard of living.

Even though the planting season had passed, everyone used their household grain—that is, their own property—to hire tenant farmers to clear land for their families. The best fields in Huaxia were on the plains, because they could be converted into irrigated land.

Later, in order to ensure that the cultivated land remained within the city, almost the entire back mountain was terraced. Now, if Huaxia wants to continuously increase its cultivated land, it can only go outside the city and leave the protection of the city walls.

Continuing to build city walls is not feasible; Huaxia cannot always remain under the protection of city walls. Of course, people need to be protected by city walls, but cultivated land cannot be. The farmland closest to the city center was gradually encroached upon and became other types of land, especially residential land. There was no other way; the population of Huaxia was increasing, and to ensure they had a place to live, houses had to be built. Once the original residential areas were full, the farmland was converted.

Previously, only orchards and hemp fields were outside the city. Now, Huaxia has completely opened up the clearing of wasteland, which means that all of Huaxia's newly added cultivated land will be outside the city.

What cultivated land fears most is looting from other tribes. Without the protection of city walls, the farmland will face everything in the wilderness directly. However, Baifeng believes that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages; if Huaxia has the energy to expand the city walls, it would be better to build a new city instead.

To facilitate everyone's entry and exit, Huaxia built city gates on both sides of the city wall. In fact, these two gates had always existed, but they were very hidden, very small, and not open to ordinary people; if they wanted to go out, they used the main gate. Now, Huaxia has directly expanded the original two small gates into the East Gate and the West Gate. The gates were also crafted by the people of the Ministry of Works, and their quality is no worse than the main gate.

While Huaxia was constantly clearing wasteland, Xuanyuan, who had visited Guangchengzi at Kongtong Mountain, also returned to the tribe after experiencing many hardships. When the tribespeople saw the Tribal Chief return, they immediately cheered, and with a backbone once again, they dared to do many things. Previously, they could only develop very cautiously under the leadership of Leizu.

Xuanyuan had wanted to put the knowledge he had learned into practice immediately upon returning, but he did not expect that as soon as he returned, he would be given several major pieces of news that left him somewhat bewildered.

For example, their greatest enemy at the time, the Lieshan Clan, had been completely destroyed by the Shennong Clan. The Suiren Clan had also split; this matter could not be hidden, because tribes that left the Suiren Clan and began operating next to the territory of the Xuanyuan Clan accidentally entered the Xuanyuan Tribe. After being captured, they said everything they knew. However, Xuanyuan was not there, and they did not dare to start a war at will, especially against the Suiren Clan, so Xuanyuan did not reap the benefits of the Suiren Clan's split.

What puzzled Xuanyuan the most was that Huaxia had come to trade with them, and had traded a large amount of iron with them. Although it was all scrap iron, the quantity was so large that Xuanyuan found it somewhat hard to believe.

He had learned more advanced smelting techniques from Guangchengzi. Although he did not explain how to smelt iron, he did let him know that iron does not necessarily have to be completely melted to be made into new items or cast into new shapes.

He also had better ideas for bronze smelting. He could at least double the bronze production of the Xuanyuan Tribe. As long as there was enough time, or more people engaged in bronze smelting and the crafting of bronze ware, just like in Huaxia, it was entirely possible to equip all the soldiers of the Xuanyuan Tribe with Bronze Weapons.

But now, he wanted even more to let the people of the Xuanyuan Tribe eat their fill. Only when they were full could his more magnificent vision have a chance to be realized.

Moreover, he also learned a more significant matter: that the generation before Guangchengzi and the others, a man named Dachengzi, had taught Shennong to taste the hundred herbs, and then selected the five most important types of Grass Seed. Originally, he wanted people to sow them, and then for people to eat the grass seeds to replace the lives of birds and beasts. The "Dao" of Guangchengzi and the others held that humans have wisdom, and if they could eat grass seeds and eat fewer animals, it would allow the entire Nature to operate more harmoniously.

However, Shennong did not completely finish his great undertaking. He achieved the great feat of tasting the hundred herbs and selected a great many edible foods for the human race, but he did not truly teach the human race about sowing. Because he ate heart-breaking grass during the process of tasting herbs, he unfortunately died. This led to the fact that from Shennong until now, when they sow, they just randomly scatter the grass seeds on the ground and wait for them to mature before collecting them, which cannot be considered true farming.

Xuanyuan recognized the heart-breaking grass and also learned the true techniques of farming; the confusion he felt when communicating with Baifeng was all resolved.

Moreover, the tribespeople of the Xuanyuan Tribe did not just wait for Xuanyuan to direct them. They knew that their lives were in their own hands, so under the command of Dahong, Leizu, and others, the previous farmland was successfully sown at the appropriate time this year. Now it is already a sea of green, especially the plains near the Lieshan Clan, which look like an endless green lake. They do not need to worry about attacks from the Lieshan Clan this year, and they do not need to fear the Shennong Clan either.

The Shennong Clan is further away from them than the Lieshan Clan, and the Shennong Clan does not know that they are planting grain. Looking at the grain that had already been planted, Xuanyuan still felt very relieved.

However, he was not satisfied with this. The farmland of the Xuanyuan Tribe was far from enough because the yield of the grain was too low. He knew that to have a higher yield, they needed better grain seeds. This meant that the grass seeds they planted in the future must be the largest and fullest, not like now, where the best are kept for eating and the worst are planted. Because in their previous concept, since they would grow anyway as long as they were planted, they just planted the worst ones.

Xuanyuan also understood the importance of tools. He had the Artisans use all the bronze produced from now on to forge all such farm tools according to the style of farm tools that Baifeng had once given them.

As for increasing the production of bronze, Xuanyuan wanted to build larger furnaces for refining bronze. At the same time, he also created a tool that only required people to exert force up and down to drive huge blades, which he used to increase the heat of the furnace and improve the speed of bronze smelting.