Chapter 521: Could It Be Fire?

The season without rain allowed the Workers clearing the roads to proceed smoothly, but the Agriculture Department was in a state of distress. It was currently the season for the Wheat to fill its grains; if it did not rain soon, the Wheat this year might not be a total loss, but it would likely only be enough to barely recover the Wax Seed, as the yield of Wheat in this era was still very low.

Baifeng naturally would not wait for Heaven to provide; the Dahe was right nearby, so how could he sit and wait for death? Thus, Baifeng had the Agriculture Department organize manpower to cut down sufficiently thick bamboo, connect them, and prepare to irrigate the fields using waterwheels by the river.

The current water requirement was much greater than during the spring sowing; relying solely on people carrying water or pulling carts could not satisfy the demand, so naturally, the power of tools had to be utilized.

Xuanyuan felt that this year was going very smoothly; there was rain when it should rain, and clear skies when it should be clear, making him feel that the Heaven gods were also helping him.

The Wheat and Sorghum were growing wildly, and the Wheat had already become plump. Before long, it would be the season for harvesting. The Wild Rice in the marshland, though not abundant, was also growing extremely well. Xuanyuan felt that if things continued this way, the Xuanyuan Tribe would definitely not have to worry about food this year; even if it could not make everyone eat their fill, it would definitely allow everyone to successfully survive this Winter.

Xuanyuan did not like the Wheat on the hillside very much because the growth was not good. Xuanyuan also wondered if there was any way to turn this sloping land into flat land. The growth of Wheat required water, but the slope could not retain water, so the growth was much worse than on the plains.

The plain that was contested with the Lieshan Clan last year was now an endless field of Wheat, but every day, countless birds, mice, and squirrels came to snatch their unripened grain.

This grain was too important to allow for any loss, so Xuanyuan arranged for thousands of people on that plain to cut down all the surrounding forests, forming a large open space so that those birds and the like would have no place to roost, which would naturally reduce their numbers significantly.

Although Guangchengzi had taught him to follow Nature, he preferred to utilize the laws of Nature. The forest was currently blocking the development path of their Xuanyuan Tribe, so it naturally had to be cut down. With the cut timber, Xuanyuan had people build many houses here; in the future, this would be a city for their Xuanyuan Tribe, only without city walls.

Qingqiu City was already beginning to take shape. As Xuanyuan watched the city walls rising day by day, his back would straighten a bit more. Surpassing Huaxia was just a matter of time. One might ask, did Huaxia have as many tribesmen as their Xuanyuan Tribe, or such vast, endless arable land?

Although the road was quite long, Xuanyuan still liked to go to the plains to look at the Wheat every so often. However, every time he went, he would discover a patch of Wheat that always grew better than elsewhere. From not caring at first, he was now full of confusion.

He used his hand to rub off some Wheat grains that were still green; they were indeed plump and large. He then went to look at the other Wheat; the grains rubbed off, while not bad, were clearly inferior to the previous ones. Xuanyuan was extremely puzzled.

He summoned the tribesman who managed this farmland and asked him if they had done anything special to that patch of Wheat. The tribesman had long since noticed the peculiarity there, but had not taken much interest in it. Perhaps the Wheat there used seeds from Huaxia? Who knew.

Everyone could not explain why, but Xuanyuan felt this was a very important matter. If he could figure out why, the Xuanyuan Tribe's grain could also have a Harvest as abundant as Huaxia's, and he would never need to ask Baifeng again in the future.

Xuanyuan had that person ask all the tribesmen who looked after the Wheat fields there to see what exactly was special about this place. Not long after asking, a tribesman came over and said, "Tribal Chief, this piece of land caught fire last year; all the Wheat was burned away, and many tribesmen were burned to death as well."

Xuanyuan's eyes lit up. Could it be fire? Thinking carefully, it seemed that in places where mountain fires had occurred, the Grass there would grow exceptionally lush afterward. Could this be the same principle? But what role did fire play?

Xuanyuan cautiously crept into the Wheat field and warned others not to enter, lest they trample the Wheat. To avoid trampling more Wheat himself, he only walked a short distance before stopping, then he squatted down and grabbed a handful of soil from the ground.

Afterward, he went to the field with ordinary Wheat and dug up a handful of soil as well. After a comparison, the soil in the land that had been burned by fire seemed somewhat different. Although there was no major difference, the reason the Wheat could grow better should lie in this slight discrepancy.

Xuanyuan silently dropped the soil in his hand. He recalled an experiment he seemed to have long forgotten; he had once tried to look at the factors affecting the growth of Grass at the entrance of a cave, but a year had passed, and he had long since forgotten it.

But now, a ready-made example was right here. Since burning might have an effect, why not burn a larger area after the harvest this year to see if there is an effect next year? If it is the same as this year, it would mean he had mastered a method to increase production. Perhaps, this was the "fertilizer" Baifeng spoke of? But it could not be linked to fire at all.

Xuanyuan had also accomplished a major feat this year. Besides building city walls and working hard to farm, he had been building houses for everyone. Houses built with a combination of earth, stone, and wood were much better to live in than Tents and wooden sheds. However, because the population was too large, he had not been able to build many yet, and due to poor technology, if they were built too large or too carelessly, there was a risk of them collapsing and crushing people.

This year, he had not gone to trade with Huaxia. The main commodity was still Tea Leaves, but because he was too busy this year, and because a Harvest for the Xuanyuan Tribe was already foreseeable, Xuanyuan did not waste manpower to risk going into the mountains and forests to pick Tea Leaves. He figured Huaxia probably was not too short of Tea Leaves.

Unfortunately, Xuanyuan guessed wrong. The demand for Tea Leaves in Huaxia was now arguably very high. Almost everyone who had lived in Huaxia for a long time was accustomed to drinking tea, and some even had a tea addiction; if they did not drink tea, they would feel sleepy and weak, and only after drinking a cup of tea could they recover their spirits.

The elders pursued higher-quality tea because Tea Leaves had also been divided into three, six, and nine grades by Baifeng; otherwise, how could he collect grain from those wealthy households?

Daily food and clothing were already at their peak. With better Tea Leaves, they would naturally think of buying some to taste. Regardless of whether they could truly appreciate it, after drinking a cup of high-priced tea, everyone had to say, "The taste is truly excellent."

However, the Qingming tea that Baifeng was most looking forward to this year had not been sent by the Xuanyuan Tribe. Baifeng could only speculate that perhaps Xuanyuan was still with Guangchengzi and had not returned, and the Xuanyuan Tribe was leaderless, with no one daring to make the decision to trade.