Chapter 502: The Beginning of Medicine

Because of the maintenance of last year's stored grain, plus the fact that the tribespeople would still use their greatest ability to hunt and gather, the days of the Xuanyuan Tribe were not considered difficult; at least, they passed the Winter smoothly. The stored grain was not much, but it was enough to give Xuanyuan the confidence to carry out the enterprise he had envisioned.

First of all, Xuanyuan gathered many people, wanting to build a city for himself on their Qingqiu Mountain, just like Huaxia. Because it was a position of looking down from a height, Xuanyuan believed that Qingqiu City only needed a short section of city wall built at the foot of the mountain to be sufficient; it would be enough to briefly keep enemies out, and for the rest, they could completely rely on the terrain to resolve it, and it could also defend against the attacks of large wild beasts.

Ever since Xuanyuan entered Huaxia City, he had been unable to stop thinking about everything in Huaxia. He believed that he also had the ability to build a city.

Then there was that kind of house in Huaxia. Although it was unclear where Huaxia got so many stone-like materials that could make houses and the ground so sturdy, they could also use stone and mud to build houses.

He kept the external structure of the Huaxia houses firmly in his heart, and Guangchengzi also lived in a house, not a cave. Although it was built with wood and thatch, it gave him a clearer understanding of the structure inside the house.

He had also asked what that strange material in Huaxia was, and Guangchengzi actually could not explain it either, but he told Xuanyuan that mud could also be used to build houses. They used wood and grass to build houses just to experience Nature, just like Youchao learning from birds to build nests in trees; it was learning from Nature, and Youchao's method was not something taught by people like them.

Xuanyuan understood it in his heart, so he was not obsessed with learning to manufacture that kind of material from Huaxia now, but instead drove the Slaves of the Xuanyuan Tribe to build mud and wooden houses for the tribespeople of the Xuanyuan Tribe, with the roofs covered with dense thatch, layer by layer, to block out rainwater.

Xuanyuan learned many things, but more of it was how to learn from Nature. Guangchengzi did not teach him too many ready-made things, but spent the whole time explaining the "Great Dao" to him, hoping that he could perceive everything through the "Great Dao."

Among the people who traveled with them, Qibo learned a very important piece of knowledge, and that was "medicine." Qibo understood the human body structure and understood how to use herbs, wood, gold, and stone to treat people's pain and injuries instead of waiting for death. This made Qibo and Xuanyuan clearly know that, as it turned out, people should not die so inexplicably.

At the same time, Xuanyuan also learned the method of longevity. Xuanyuan did not know if it was true, but looking at the appearance of Zhishou, it should not be fake. Xuanyuan was somewhat proud of this, because this meant that he would live longer than Baifeng. When Baifeng died, he would still live in the world and develop the Xuanyuan Tribe. He did not believe that Huaxia would have a second Baifeng who could make Huaxia continue to develop as it did now, but he himself could.

After Qibo returned, he began to embark on a journey of endless searching for medicine, just like Shennong in the past, only now what Qibo was looking for was not things that could be eaten, but he turned his target to those things that were clearly known to be inedible.

The "Great Dao" says that all things grow and restrain each other. When a person is sick, it is because there is "Evil Qi" of different natures in the body. As long as one uses things with the opposite nature that can restrain the "Evil Qi," one can cure the illness. If one is poisoned, one can also use the same principle to detoxify. Therefore, Qibo was very bold and not afraid at all that he would die from eating poisonous grass like Shennong.

Xuanyuan also learned sufficiently solid theories, but now when he thought about Huaxia's practices and that Large Thistle that could stop bleeding, he felt inexplicably panicked. He felt that Baifeng might have already mastered "medicine" long ago, and perhaps was even clearer about it than they were, and was already able to utilize many local medicinal materials.

Baifeng did not know that Xuanyuan had already returned. He had now completely given up on the matter of Xuanyuan going to Kongtong and no longer paid attention to it, because paying attention was useless; he could only hope that what Xuanyuan learned were some grand principles with no practical use.

After the team of Yishang and the others successfully returned, Baifeng had them put the Sulfur into the warehouse. However, considering that they would store more Sulfur in the future, Baifeng wanted to have the Ministry of Works build more warehouses for storing Sulfur in a more remote place downwind, and they had to be far enough apart from each other so as to avoid the unfortunate event of having all the eggs broken in the same basket.

At the same time, Baifeng was also preparing for the exploration of the Saltpeter Mine. Although no one had ever seen a Saltpeter Mine, including Baifeng, everyone was very clear that as long as the reserves were large enough, it was a mine.

Baifeng would certainly not go personally, so he arranged for craftsmen from the Ministry of Works, Soldiers from the Ministry of War, and those among the Soldiers who went with him last time to serve as guides for this operation.

Baifeng had already made a plan; if that place was really a Saltpeter Mine, then he would build a town there. Of course, not a large city, just a small town specifically for mining saltpeter, and arranging a few thousand people to go there would be enough.

If Huaxia wanted to develop, it certainly could not stay in one place forever. Although it was said that leaving the city would mean facing more dangers, what danger could there be for a place with a few thousand people, possessing city walls, excellent and sufficient Weapons, and a continuous supply of grain?

In the future, Huaxia could not only have large cities; small towns were also necessary. Even if they were only used as transit stations or rest points between cities, it would be no problem. This could not only fully develop Huaxia's territory but also make the connection between cities closer.

The distance between Lema City and Huaxia was still too close, so close that it might hinder each other's development in the future, but for Huaxia, this was unavoidable because their strength was too weak.

However, the next city they planned to build would be located much, much further away, so far that it would be several days' journey from New City, because only at such a distance could they have the ability to infiltrate their power to the northwest and have the ability to divide the territory of the northwest. Otherwise, Baifeng's strategy for developing the northwest would have nothing to rely on.

The high-level officials of all departments actually knew about this idea of Baifeng's, but it had not been put on the table yet, because that New City could not be built at least this year or next year. Because the influx of a large population did not increase Huaxia's strength, but instead, in disguise, briefly weakened Huaxia's power, causing Huaxia to have to focus on developing agriculture and increasing grain in the short term.