Chapter 603: Changle's Efforts

Since Xuanyuan is willing to bear the cost, Baifeng naturally will not refuse; doing this is merely to make things more convenient for his own people.

Throughout the process, Changle had been staring at Baifeng with eager eyes, but Baifeng had not noticed; this time, when Baifeng turned his head, he saw Changle's expectant gaze, and Baifeng immediately understood what it meant.

So, Baifeng said to Xuanyuan: "Xuanyuan, it is like this: my youngest son, Changle, is skilled at identifying various plants and then classifying and naming them. He has already finished cataloging all the territories of Huaxia, so he wants to go to your Xuanyuan Tribe to explore. What do you think?"

Changxian was the first to disagree: "How can that be? What we have in the Xuanyuan Tribe—how can we let you know about it?"

He wanted to continue speaking, but was stopped by Xuanyuan raising his hand: "Oh, Baifeng, then can you explain why Changle wants to do this? Whether it is cataloged or not doesn't really matter, does it? It grows there regardless."

Baifeng did not explain directly, but instead took out the book *Statistics of Common Wild Plants in Huaxia*, which he had prepared long ago and which was edited by Changle, and handed it to Xuanyuan.

Xuanyuan was somewhat amazed to see the book, which was beautifully bound with a cover made of some kind of animal hide; Cangjie was even more envious—this was the thing he wanted, not stones.

Xuanyuan took the book, but he could not understand the contents at all; he could only see many very detailed illustrations, the kind where you could recognize what plant it was at a single glance.

Holding the book, Xuanyuan still asked Baifeng in confusion: "This? What does this mean?"

Only then did Baifeng explain: "Most of the plants in our Huaxia are recorded inside. Every kind of grass, even the most inconspicuous one, has its own name. If it can be used as medicine, there is a general description of its efficacy; if it cannot be used as medicine, even if it is just used for firewood, there is a description, and there is even a judgment on which plants are close relatives or siblings."

"These are not the most important things; the most important thing is that once a certain grass is given a name, it will be fixed, and it will be very easy to describe and communicate about it in the future."

"Changle's dream is this. Of course, if you are willing, Changle will go to your Xuanyuan Tribe to do this, and at the same time, a copy of all the plants cataloged and recorded will be left for the Xuanyuan Tribe, including the naming of the plants, which you can also do entirely on your own."

Xuanyuan still did not quite understand: "I feel that the significance of this matter is not very great."

Baifeng smiled and said: "It is very simple. Let me ask you, your Xuanyuan Tribe has *ji* grass, right?"

Qibo nodded: "Yes, we do, which is what you call Astragalus."

Baifeng continued to ask: "Then, before this, did you know that this *ji* grass is a very good medicinal herb?"

At this moment, Xuanyuan already understood a little, and Qibo also understood Baifeng's meaning: "You mean that if we don't give all plants a unified name, then even if you say a certain grass is a good thing, because of the difference in names, we might not recognize the things we have, right?"

Baifeng replied: "Yes, that is exactly what I mean."

Qingyun had been listening for a long time and could not help but ask: "But we can do this too. Why must your son be the one to do it?"

Baifeng narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at Qingyun: "Do you know how many types of plants grow on this earth? Can you clearly remember the appearance and characteristics of each one, then give it a suitable name, and still remember it the next time you see it? Furthermore, different plants look very similar; how would you distinguish them?"

Qingyun was still somewhat unconvinced: "Then you tell me, how do you distinguish them?"

Baifeng looked at Changle: "Changle, you explain it to them roughly. You have to fight for this opportunity yourself."

Changle stood up from behind Baifeng and said calmly: "My name is Changle, and I am the second son of the King of Huaxia. Under my father's guidance, I have been learning about Nature and recognizing Nature since I was young. Afterward, I began to classify, catalog, and name plants. As of now, I have already identified over 3,700 different types of plants in Huaxia and named them one by one. Now, if you bring me any plant at random, I can accurately call out its name."

Qibo was somewhat shocked: "Huaxia actually has over 3,000 different types of plants?"

Changle respected Qibo, for Qibo was someone who truly used his own body to distinguish the medicinal properties of plants. Although Changle also identified many poisonous plants and dared to climb to very dangerous places to search for new species, he still put his own safety first.

Changle looked at Qibo: "Yes, and this is only the plants I have found so far. There are many places I have not been able to go due to limitations in ability and tools, and for the sake of my safety, my father also does not let me go to many places, so there are only over 3,000 types. I estimate there are at least 2,000 more that I have not yet found."

Qibo clicked his tongue in wonder: "I thought there were only a few hundred or a thousand types on a piece of land; I didn't expect there to be so many."

Changle explained: "There are only a few hundred common ones that everyone notices; almost no one pays attention to the others, or they look too much like each other, which is why people think there are few types. But if you truly use your heart to look, you will have many discoveries."

Qibo also asked his own question: "Then with so many plants, how are you able to remember them one by one?"

Changle showed his white teeth and said proudly: "I listened to my father and designed a method of division into Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species. By starting from the Kingdom and defining a grass all the way down to the Species, the kinship can be found. Usually, when I see a new plant, I can identify it down to the Family at a glance."

After thinking for a moment, Qibo said: "Then, you mean this is a division from coarse to fine, right? Can you demonstrate? For example, for this tea, how do you define it?" Qibo pointed at his cup.

Changle said very confidently: "Tea belongs to the Plant Kingdom, Angiosperm Phylum, Dicotyledon Class, Theaceae Order, Theaceae Family, Camellia Genus, Tea Tree Species."

The people of Huaxia did not have much of a feeling about this because what Changle said was like a heavenly book to them, but Huaxia had truly felt the benefits that Changle's work brought to Huaxia, so everyone highly approved of Changle's work.

However, the people of the Xuanyuan Tribe did not quite understand yet; the main few terms were enough to make them unable to remember them. They only heard "Camellia, Camellia, Camellia..."

Xuanyuan asked: "Why so many Camellias?"

Changle pointed at Baifeng and said: "This is very easy to explain. For the Order, whoever is discovered first or whoever is the most prominent is used for the naming. It is like our family; our family is named after my father, but when it comes to us, we are my father's sons—we cannot be separated from my father, but we are not my father."

"I have only seen the Tea Tree and have not seen its other relatives, so I can only use Camellia. In the future, more plants of the Theaceae Family will appear."

Qibo asked in confusion: "Why are you certain that tea has other closely related plants?"

Changle then said with a smile: "There certainly are. As for why, I cannot say; this has a great deal to do with grain breeding."