Chapter 835: Even Feces Are Fragrant

In the end, he could only helplessly mark all the places where he had found scattered ore, and then prepared to return in frustration. Even if Baifeng wanted to bring him the news, it would take more than twenty days; he simply did not have that much time to wait, and Huaxia needed him as well.

After receiving Zhong's letter, Baifeng was also at a loss, because he knew absolutely nothing about these things. His understanding of this knowledge came entirely from his high school geography class, but by now, he had basically returned it all to his teacher.

It seemed that when he remembered it clearly in the past, he had told his two sons similar knowledge, or perhaps it was the answer to this question, but he was not sure.

Right now, Yulong was busy with his affairs at the Ministry of Revenue, and this point in time was just a few days after Changle had left Huaxia for the Xuanyuan Tribe; the Shaman was also still alive at this time.

Perhaps the young man Changle still remembered it clearly in his head, but he was not here now, so Baifeng had to rack his own brains to think. Thus, he drew two mountains on paper, with layers upon layers inside the mountains.

He only remembered a term called syncline and anticline, but whether it was the syncline that formed the mountain or the anticline that formed the mountain, he could no longer remember; he could not even remember which was the syncline and which was the anticline.

Finally, he racked his brains frantically and remembered that in order to distinguish between these two things at the time, he had memorized that the one bending downward should be a syncline, and conversely, it was an anticline. But what exactly it was no longer mattered; it was just a name anyway.

But between syncline and anticline, which one was more likely to produce mineral deposits? And did this mineral include copper ore? Everything in front of Baifeng seemed to have become unknown again.

After racking his brains frantically, he only drew a diagram that was almost useless. On it, he drew the ground being squeezed and then bulging up; the originally flat strata had also become curved. Perhaps it was originally a flat layer of copper ore, and because of the squeezing, it had become distributed in such a slanted plane; even the fact that the ore was in broken pieces was due to this reason.

Everything was just a guess. To get verification, he could only rely on Zhong to try it himself. But the team going to Xiao Town had not returned yet, so he could only wait.

Zhong believed in his own ability, and there were still a small number of Soldiers left here to protect him, while the others had already returned with Xi and some of the scorpions they had caught. So, Zhong decided to set off with these Soldiers and return to Huaxia.

With a team of over a dozen people, plus six oxen and three carts, and sufficient food prepared, Zhong believed he would have no problems, and the carts also felt like there would be no issues. After all, the road surface had been leveled along the way, there were houses to stay in for the night, and there was not much danger.

If they encountered any wild beasts, their many Soldiers could handle it; the Weapons in their hands were not just for show. Furthermore, although they were the first small team to walk this road, it would definitely not be the last. In the future, more such situations might appear on this road, perhaps even with fewer people, as any kind of situation could happen.

And so, Zhong and his group set off, following behind Xi, carrying a cart of the small amount of newly found ore and scorpions.

Xi's team returned to Huaxia to rest for a few days, and the Ministry of War drew people again, preparing to transport supplies to Xiao Town for the last time. They had also already received the letter Baifeng had prepared for Zhong to take back.

But Zhong had returned on his own. Although he was travel-worn, he did not seem to have suffered any accidents, which left everyone puzzled. Why had Zhong suddenly returned?

The first thing Zhong did upon returning to Huaxia was, naturally, to report his work to Baifeng. Baifeng did not blame Zhong for returning on his own; instead, he felt that he had done the right thing. After all, his work was clearly restricted, and without a solution, staying in Xiao Town was a waste of time, so it was better to return early.

Thus, Baifeng explained his hypothesis to Zhong in person, but Zhong felt extremely shocked and found it completely inconceivable.

"King, how could this Earth be folded? That would require how much power! And, and isn't this Earth one whole piece? If it were folded, wouldn't one end be shorter? What would happen to the short end? Would it become a cliff?"

It was difficult for Baifeng to explain the theory of a round Earth to Zhong again, so he used the "Spring and Autumn" style of writing—explaining only what he could, as long as the principle was correct.

"Why can't it be folded? You know about earthquakes, and you have experienced them. The fact that even the Earth can shake so much shows that there is also power that can fold the ground."

"As for how it is folded, sigh, let me use these two pieces of paper to demonstrate for you."

Baifeng then picked up two pieces of paper from the table and placed them together: "Look, these two pieces of paper are our ground, and you can imagine the table below as water, because our Earth is seven parts water and three parts land."

Just as he said this, the curious Zhong had another question: "King, but I haven't seen that much water. It feels like there is much more land than water."

Baifeng could only explain patiently, as if teaching a primary school student: "Just because you haven't seen it doesn't mean it doesn't exist; it's just because you haven't reached the edge of the land. If you keep going east, you will be able to see a boundless body of water, which is the ocean. Our Earth, or rather the land, floats on such a sea, but because the continent is large and heavy, it floats very slowly, so you can't feel it at all."

Baifeng did not tell him that the continent was actually floating on the asthenosphere, otherwise he would have to explain for a long time. Telling them it floated on water was something they could accept more easily.

As for talking about the theory of a round Earth and the universe in this era, it was still a bit too early. After all, with the limitations of human vision, if there was not enough evidence to prove it, they would be very stubborn, and it would cause some unnecessary trouble. As for what the Earth looked like, it was better to let them imagine a version they liked.

After all, even with the advanced technology of later generations, with satellite photos and space photos, there was still a huge group of people who firmly believed in the Flat Earth theory, and if you pulled any one of them out, their level of knowledge would likely be higher than Zhong's. Rashly promoting the theory of a round Earth would only bring unnecessary trouble to these humans.

"Wow, so that's how it is. Now that you've said it, I understand." Zhong was amazed by Baifeng's wisdom.

And Baifeng was already immune to this kind of situation. Even if Baifeng said that feces were fragrant and it was just that people's noses were not sensitive enough to smell that they were stinky—otherwise why would dogs eat them? —as long as he could round it off reasonably, they might also say: "Wow, it really seems to be the case!"

Although feces do contain a type of aromatic compound and are indeed fragrant to a dog's nose, humans are not dogs after all; Baifeng was unwilling to accept this point of view—feces are just stinky.