Chapter 285: Rice from Shennongwang

It turned out that Fuxi created the Later Heaven Bagua. Countless human beings practiced some corresponding Bagua runes according to their different environments, deduced disasters and avoided chaos, which led to a population explosion and an unlimited increase in demand for food.

The art of animal husbandry can no longer meet the needs of the human race, simply because the breeding time is too long, and in order to prevent livestock from escaping, many humans have to go out to cut grass. The investment and effort are too great, but the rewards are too little.

Originally, humans could meet their needs by going out hunting and gathering, but after the population explosion, these three channels seemed too weak.

As a result, some tribes had to begin to forcibly restrict or even stop marriages, and some even went so far as to directly expel the elderly and leave them to die in the mountains.

Such means are even more powerful than those of the devil, but Fuxi, as the emperor, remained silent, which is unusual for him.

He has a hundred ways to solve such problems, but this is the help that Taishang Laojun left to Shennong, so he naturally won't interfere too much.

Lieshan clan, also known as Shennong, was the tribal leader, and what he worried about was naturally how to keep his people well fed and clothed.

With the example of Fuxi, Shennong took over the tribe very smoothly despite being young. Only after taking office did he realize how difficult this position was, and the first and foremost problem was food.

He once tried to expand the scope of livestock breeding, but this brought about many chain reactions. The first was a shortage of fodder, which forced the tribesmen to seek fodder further outside. Countless green grasses and shrubs were cut down, and the sand had no roots to entangle and bind it, so it immediately floated in the wind and turned into sandstorms, burying countless rivers.

The second is the danger in the wild. If you enter an unfamiliar area without permission, you can easily become a meal for wild beasts. Even if the wild beasts can be killed, the poisonous insects cannot be avoided and cannot be completely killed no matter how hard you try.

Upon learning of this, Shennong immediately stopped this behavior. After pondering hard one day, Shennong learned from Fuxi's deeds, sat on a mountain top, looked up at the endless bright starry sky, and felt very confused.

"Oh my God, oh my God, how can I solve this problem? I thought I could learn from the Emperor's actions and bring supreme benefits to the tribe, but because of me, many rivers have been buried. In order to get water, the tribe members have to go to more difficult and dangerous areas. Should I not be the chief?"

Shennong said to himself.

Just when Shennong was confused, a middle-aged Taoist wearing a Bagua Taoist robe and a Yin-Yang fish crown on his head suddenly appeared in front of him. The Taoist was holding a small fiery red flag and had a peaceful face. It was his master, Master Xuandu.

Seeing the arrival of the great master Xuandu, Shennong quickly stood up and saluted, saying: "Disciple greets Master, I did not go out to greet you, Master, please forgive me."

Master Xuandu waved the small flag in his hand, and a red lotus pulled Shennong up. He smiled and said, "It's okay. I saw you were thinking about something, so I didn't want to disturb you. What are you thinking about?"

Shen Nong sighed, "Master has thought a lot about me, but I haven't been able to repay you. I am really ashamed. However, due to the lack of food in the tribe, many people have starved to death, and some elders have even been deliberately murdered. I am really worried, but I don't have a good way to solve this problem. I can only come here to be in a daze and think of some solutions."

At this point, Shennong's eyes lit up, and he said anxiously: "Master is the ancestor of ancient mankind, and he is also a disciple of the leader of the Human Religion. He has boundless magical powers and great supernatural powers. I wonder if Master can conjure up some food to feed the people in the tribe?"

Master Xuandu shook his head and said, “Of course I can easily solve the food problem of your tribe, but my magic power is not strong enough to solve the food problem of the entire human race.

This is because the increase in the number of human beings has led to a sharp increase in consumption, which cannot be changed by magic power and magical powers. We must come up with methods like Emperor Fuxi, such as animal husbandry and the Eight Diagrams, which can promote the human race. This is the real benefit to the human race. "

Shennong was a little discouraged after hearing this. The art of animal husbandry and the Eight Trigrams were such great feats. How could he possibly come up with a method that could rival them?

The reason why the human race has food problems is because of this unprecedented event, but this is also a happy trouble. As long as the number is reduced a little, we can return to the happy days of the past.

But this is very different from his purpose of developing the tribe.

Although the human race today respects Emperor Fuxi as the common leader of the human race, this position will change sooner or later. Moreover, from time to time, news of the Emperor's intention to abdicate has been heard in the Fengyan tribe.

Although it was only a rumor, if the emperor really abdicated, the entire human race would be plunged into war once again. If he reduced the number of his people now, wouldn't that be like cutting off one's own arm before the war even started?
Other tribes had the same idea. Even though they knew that they could return to normal by reducing the number of people, they still gritted their teeth and fought hard to increase their military strength. Only when they had no other choice would they order a ban on reproduction.

This is also the patriarch's worry.

No matter what, we must lead every member of the tribe to survive.

Master Xuandu also saw Shennong's worries, smiled and said, "You don't have to worry so much. There will always be a way. For example, when I traveled in the wild in my early years, I heard about a thing called rice. Rice is a plant. It only needs to be planted, and it can take root and sprout by itself. The fruit it produces can also fill the stomach. It can be planted on a large scale and mature in one year. It is not like fruit trees that need to be planted for several years or even more than ten years before they can bear fruit, and they have to wait several years to bear fruit."

After Shennong heard this, his eyes lit up. He asked Master Xuandu for more details and immediately realized that this rice would definitely solve the food problem in the tribe.

Although they also planted some fruit trees.

Moreover, fruit trees cannot be planted too densely, as the waiting time will be too long. However, rice can be planted densely in one area and will mature once a year. And according to Master Xuandu, the fruits of the mature rice can be used as seeds, which can be planted to grow a new rice plant.

Although rice will die once it matures, its advantages outweigh its disadvantages. The dead rice can be used to feed livestock, which is really killing two birds with one stone.

But when Shennong asked the great master Xuandu where the rice was, the great master shook his head and said, "I have seen this rice from afar once, but I didn't get a few plants. Firstly, I didn't need it at that time, and secondly, these rice plants are guarded by the Tiangu Divine Bull Clan, and no one can steal them. I just took a few glances and left."

Shennong did not give up and asked again: "Can we exchange a few rice plants with the Tiangu Divine Bull Clan? I am willing to pay any price!"

Master Xuandu shook his head again and said, "This Tiangu Divine Bull clan is very peculiar. When they are born, they will have some spiritual root seeds in their wombs. These seeds are different. There are as many kinds of seeds as there are Tiangu Divine Bulls.

Rice is one of them. These Heavenly Valley Divine Bulls cherish their own spiritual roots very much and regard them as treasures. They will never exchange them with outsiders. "

A hint of murderous intent flashed across Shennong's eyes, and he said coldly: "Then I will go and rob!"

Master Xuandu was amused by Shennong's words and said with a smile: "You still want to rob the rice of the Tiangu Divine Bull Clan? Do you think the Tiangu Divine Bull Clan is a race without any foundation?"

Shen Nong asked: "Can this race be greater than Master?"

The great magician Xuandu said calmly: "The ancestor of the Tiangu Divine Bull clan was the mount of the Saint Hengming. Not long ago, the entire clan moved to Yingzhou Island. If you want to rob rice, the first step is to enter Yingzhou Island. Not to mention that there are saints living on Yingzhou Island, the two star masters in the sky are always watching Yingzhou Island, and the three ancestors of the human race are also in charge of the island. Even the witches and liches in their heyday did not dare to offend Yingzhou Island. Do you still want to rob things from Yingzhou Island? Even I dare not say such a thing."

Shennong was also deflated when he heard that the ancient divine bull actually had such a background.

If he could even steal the saints' things, then why would he worry? He could probably become the next leader of the human race. At this moment, an ordinary-looking yellow cow passed by with a strange grass in its mouth.

The ox was quite courageous. It didn't care about the location of the two men at all. It just wagged its tail and walked past them. However, when it passed Shennong, it spat out the grass in its mouth and then disappeared into the forest.

Shennong was not in the mood to hunt at the moment, so he let the ox go. If it were a normal day, he would have killed an ox to satisfy his hunger.

"what?"

The great master Xuandu uttered a sigh, picked up the grass plant on the ground, and said in surprise: "Is this rice? I didn't expect that the yellow cow could actually eat rice? Could it be that it was left out from the ancient divine cow clan?"

Shennong was suddenly shocked. He had been searching for it for a long time but finally found it without any effort.

The rice, which he had regarded as a delusion, suddenly appeared in an unusual way at this time.

Master Xuandu handed the rice to Shennong and said, "There are only dozens of seeds on this rice. You can use this as a basis and plant it first. After a few years, you should be able to spread it to the whole tribe."

Shennong held the rice plant carefully as if it were a treasure, fearing that one mistake would cause this extremely rare plant to turn into ashes.

For the human race, if what Master Xuandu said is true, this grain of rice is truly a well-deserved treasure.

After the yellow ox entered the forest, it transformed into a fair-skinned boy in green clothes. In the forest, there had been a boy in colorful fairy clothes waiting for a long time.

The Five-Colored Deer asked, "Can this be done?"

Qing Gu nodded and said with a smile: "It's just a Taiyi Golden Immortal and a mortal. It's easy to catch them."

Then it asked in confusion: "Why did the master ask me to deliver the rice? Isn't Shennong the emperor of the earth chosen by Taishang Laojun? Why should we help him?"

The Five-Colored Deer replied, "Helping Shennong is not helping Taishang Laojun, but helping the Emperor of Earth. Since Shennong's position as the Emperor of Earth is set in stone and no one can deprive him of it, why don't we do him a favor and help him solve this problem? Even if there is no rice, Shennong will come up with a second solution sooner or later. Instead of doing that, why don't we come forward to solve it and share some of the luck of the human race."

Qing Gu thought about it and it made sense. Since the problem had to be solved anyway, they might as well solve it first.

But somehow it still sent down rice instead of some better plants.

After it told the problem, the Five-Colored Deer said helplessly: "We are here to solve the problem of food shortage for the human race. If you send those high-quality plants, firstly, the growth conditions are too high, and secondly, the waiting time is too long. The human race can't grow them, and can't wait that long. It won't solve the problem at all. That's just being too smart. Well, although it's still the time of the Heavenly Emperor, the Earthly Emperor will soon take the throne, so we don't have to stay any longer."

After the Five-Colored Deer finished speaking, it immediately returned to Yingzhou Island with the ancient green light.

Shouyang Mountain, Bajing Palace.

Seeing the yellow ox delivering rice, Taishang Laojun, who was refining the Nine-Transformation Golden Pill, paused for a moment and then continued to refine. Jinjiao and Yinjiao did not notice this change and continued to concentrate on making the fire.

It was just an act of skirting the law. Although Taishang Laojun was unhappy, he didn't say anything in the end.

After Shennong got the seeds, he immediately called many tribesmen to spread them. After a year, the rice was ripe. Shennong ate the seeds of one of the rice plants, but found the taste was hard, so he added water and cooked it with fire. After eating it, he felt relaxed both physically and mentally, which was a feeling that could not be achieved by eating meat or fruit.

Although rice cultivation does not require a harsh environment, it cannot be too harsh. Also, because rice matures too quickly, its roots and rhizomes do not develop deeply and cannot compete with weeds and trees.

To this end, Shennong ordered people to remove all trees and bushes in a large area, and developed agricultural tools such as plows and hoes.

But simply eradicating trees and bushes would easily cause the same bitter consequences as before, so Shennong led his people to divide the surrounding mountains into sections, with one area used for animal husbandry and another for planting. The planting areas were divided into fruit trees and rice, while the rest of the area was planted with trees to prevent soil erosion.

Rice was planted for five whole years. During these five years, Shennong never thought of letting these tribesmen taste the rice.

It was because he knew that the rice was too delicious. If the tribesmen tasted it, they would eat it up desperately. However, the amount of rice now was too small and it was not enough for the tribesmen to swallow. So he naturally planted as many plants as the fruits were produced, and only accumulated some from the fourth time.

It was not until the rice matured for the sixth time that Shennong took out some rice for the tribesmen to eat.

This dish was incredible. All the people in the Lieshan tribe were shocked by its amazing taste. For a moment, they didn't even want to eat meat and only wanted to eat this delicious rice.

Fortunately, Shennong stored a large amount of rice in the past few years, and he also knew that although rice was delicious, it was still inferior to meat. The tribesmen were now eating it crazily, but they were just trying it for novelty.

Sure enough, after eating it for several months, the people of Lieshan tribe gradually calmed down and felt that the deliciousness of meat was irreplaceable by rice, but they also formed the habit of eating rice.

Rice matures faster and in greater quantities than livestock. Once there is plenty of food, the tribesmen can reproduce without restraint. The terrifying number alone is enough to make some tribes submit to the Lieshan tribe.

Gradually, the reputation of rice spread. Shennong did not keep it to himself, but chose to directly announce the existence of rice and gave some seeds to many tribes so that they could plant it.

There is no point in keeping it to yourself. After all, as long as you get a seed, you can grow a rice plant, and a rice plant can produce dozens of seeds. Sooner or later, it will be obtained by outsiders.

Rather than being considered stingy and not remembering the gift after receiving it, it is better to give it away generously and earn a reputation.

When Shennong sent away a handful of rice, his reputation immediately rose several levels, almost to the level of Emperor Fuxi. He was considered by many human beings to be the first choice for the next leader of the human race.

However, others did not know that Fuxi knew many of the secrets, but he was also happy to go with the flow and praised Shennong many times. He even summoned Shennong to the Fengyan tribe and asked him to teach various methods of planting.

Fuxi's kindness disappointed some people with ulterior motives, but in front of an emperor who could develop the Eight Trigrams, they had to put aside their thoughts.

(End of this chapter)