He changed Tiwat

Chapter 102 Is the power of the Salt God really such an inconvenient thing? [4k]

For Han Fulai, drawing a topographic map and inferring geographical evolution from historical records were just basic skills he had practiced in school.

Some of his history classmates could even hand-draw maps showing the changes in the territory of various dynasties over thousands of years of Chinese history.

As for the formation of Luhua Pond, he also referred to the evolution in Chinese history—the Yellow River once diverted into the Huai River and flowed into the sea, forming Hongze Lake in the depression near Huai'an City.

Luhua Pond, located on the northern slope of Tianheng Mountain, is also situated in a depression. It is entirely logical that if the Wangshu Mountain Range collapsed during the war between the demons and gods, causing the Bishui River to be silted up and diverted to the southwest, eventually reaching the northern slope of Tianheng Mountain and forming Luhua Pond, this geological formation would perfectly align with the current state of the Bishui River basin.

Therefore, Han Fulai made the above deduction with almost no effort.

But for Keqing, it's a different story.

Based solely on records in ancient books and fragments of legends, it is possible to deduce the topography of Guili Plain a thousand years ago, and even replicate the terrain that no longer exists in current records. The reasoning behind this deduction is so logical and well-founded...

Ke Qing felt that Han Fulai was sometimes really not human. If she hadn't gotten to know him well, she probably would have thought he was some kind of divination immortal.

This thought made her feel slightly frustrated.

Fortunately, he is human.

This further proves that humanity can build Liyue on its own! What he can do, I can do too!

Ke Qing's fighting spirit was ignited.

She composed herself and asked again, "But you only explained that the pool here was formed by the Biyue River changing its course and overflowing. How did this spectacular sight of Luhua Pool come about?"

Ke Qing was naturally referring to the "Five-Colored Pools," a collection of colorful, tiered pools. The vast, gray-veined embankments enclosed various pools of varying heights and interconnected levels, resembling the terraced fields of Qingce Village. How did the Luhua Pools form such "tiers," and why was the water so multicolored? These were the mysteries Ke Qing was more interested in understanding.

Han Fulai was about to speak when Shen He interrupted him.

"Because there are plants in the water. This used to be a garden, so there are plants growing underwater, and different plants will make the water change color."

“That’s right.” Han Fulai smiled.

The impact of aquatic plants and microorganisms on water quality is an important topic in geography, especially in relation to fisheries, where aquatic bodies rich in microorganisms tend to have a greater abundance of fish. The color of the water surface can also vary depending on the water quality.

In addition, the varying shades of chlorophyll in aquatic plants can also cause the pond water to display different colors, which is particularly noticeable in relatively enclosed bodies of water like Luhua Pond.

Of course, Shen He knew nothing about these things.

Shen He is simple-minded and always chooses the most direct solution when considering problems.

Her line of reasoning was roughly this: Brother Han just mentioned two reasons that influenced the formation of Luhua Pond. One of them was that there used to be a garden here, and the plants in the garden affected the color of the water. It's that simple.

"However, there is another important factor that affects the color of the pool water, which is... salt."

Han Fulai pointed to the edge of Luhua Pond, or more precisely, he was pointing to the concentric "steps" along the edge of the pond that resembled a dam.

"Salt?" Ke Qing tilted her head. The Biyue River is freshwater, not seawater, so how could it be related to salt?

“The pond water isn’t salty.” Shen He was even more direct; in her mind, salt was salty. The pond water wasn’t salty, so it had nothing to do with salt.

"Hmm..." Han Fulai stroked his chin. According to common sense on the Teyvat continent, this matter was indeed difficult to explain.

“In my hometown, the terrain of Luhuachi is called ‘karst landform’ or ‘karst landscape’, which refers to the landform formed by water dissolving rocks and then depositing the sediment or by rocks collapsing and accumulating. Luhuachi is a typical ‘karst landscape’.”

"Formed by water dissolving rocks and then settling... That makes sense." Keqing looked at the various pools of water in Liyue. There's an old saying in Liyue, "Constant dripping wears away a stone." Water can slowly erode rocks and form unique terrain, which isn't unusual. The question is... "What does this have to do with the 'salt' you mentioned?"

“Do you see the grayish-white ‘dam’? That’s ‘salt’,” Han Fulai said.

“That’s limestone, not salt,” Ke Qing said with considerable certainty. Limestone is a common building material, and Ke Qing has seen it many times. The white kind is called “Hanbaiyu” (white marble), and the light gray kind with patterns is called “Aiyeqing” (green wormwood)... Although the grayish-white limestone in front of her did resemble the color of coarse salt, Ke Qing could distinguish between salt and stone.

"I told you before, right? I now have remnants of the Salt Goddess Heuria within me, which gives me a portion of the Salt Goddess's power."

Ke Qing and Shen He both nodded. Han Fulai had informed his allies and close associates about this matter; Gan Yu, Ke Qing, and Shen He all knew about it.

"So... well, because of the power of the Salt God, I can distinguish salt and also make salt. To me, limestone is also a kind of salt."

He was only half telling the truth. The truth was that he did indeed have the power of the Salt God and could produce salt. The lie was that the fact that limestone is salt had nothing to do with the Salt God's power, but was related to the chemical knowledge that Han Fulai had acquired from basic education in China.

For the native inhabitants of Teyvat, salt is simply a seasoning used in cooking, at most divided into coarse salt and fine salt, with the only difference being the taste, nothing more.

However, for a modern person who has received nine years of compulsory education in China, salt is one of the essential knowledge points in the middle school entrance examination chemistry.

In chemistry, a salt is defined as "a compound composed of a metal cation or ammonium cation and an acid radical anion," a concept that can be described as all-encompassing.

The salt that people commonly refer to is just one type of salt; chemically speaking, it is "sodium chloride".

Of course, people on the continent of Teyvat wouldn't understand if you said "sodium chloride"—in fact, even among modern people in China, there are those who missed out on nine years of compulsory education.

For example, there is a famous person in China with the surname Cui who is nicknamed "Cui Huana" because he mistakenly believed that sodium chloride was a toxic substance. He said, "KFC hamburgers contain sodium chloride, but no one has been found to be poisoned yet, just like genetically modified food," which became a joke.

Limestone is also a type of salt in chemistry, scientifically known as "calcium carbonate". Chemically speaking, limestone is "a white solid that is difficult to dissolve in water and can be used as a building material and calcium supplement".

Although limestone is difficult to dissolve in water—it is not insoluble in water; limestone will dissolve in water if soaked for a long time. A large part of the spectacular scenery of Luhua Pond comes from the calcium ions released after the limestone dissolves. These calcium ions in the pond water scatter sunlight, giving the water its magnificent and varied colors.

However, Han Fulai does not intend to give a chemistry lecture on site.

Most things on the continent of Teyvat belong to the empirical discipline, which is in the stage of "having skills but no principles, and being limited to techniques," often knowing what happens but not why it happens.

Just like most Teyvats have coexisted with the elemental forces for thousands of years, but still don't understand where the seven elements came from or why they react with each other. They can only understand these things as gifts from the gods.

In fact, Han Fulai was in the same situation after obtaining immortal power. He knew nothing about meridians, meditation, or cultivation. He didn't understand the principles of "intercourse and energy transfer" either. When he used immortal power, he was more like a clumsy programmer, thinking, "Although I don't know how this program runs, it just runs."

The best way to make Shenhe and Keqing understand that limestone is a type of salt is naturally to use the power of the Salt God to create limestone for them to see. An even better way would be... to make it look more magnificent.

"Didn't Lady Keqing say before that she wanted to move Luhua Pool to Liyue Harbor? Although I can't move Luhua Pool, I can make one for you."

"Huh? Really?" Keqing's cat ears twitched.

"Of course it's true."

As Han Fulai spoke, he picked up some fallen branches from the surrounding trees.

He arranged the withered branches on the ground into a crescent shape the size of a bowl, and then activated the power of the salt god's remnants within his body.

His hand traced the ring of withered branches, and white limestone particles began to adhere to the surface. With the movement of his wrist, the limestone particles accumulated, eventually forming a crescent-shaped basin made of limestone. At the bottom of the crescent-shaped basin, there were some small, protruding stalagmites, creating a rather unique shape.

With his current abilities, he can't create things at will, let alone make something like a "perpetual motion machine for salt cups." Even when making a limestone basin, he needs to use tree branches as the internal framework to shape it; otherwise, all he'll make is a pile of scattered limestone.

Then, he took out a water jug ​​from his blank divine eye and filled the stone basin with clean water.

Ke Qing and Shen He looked closer, but it was just a grayish-white crescent-shaped stone basin filled with water, nothing special.

At this moment, Han Fulai extended a finger and touched the water surface. A fine powder of calcium carbonate mixed into the water and slowly settled, while some of it dissolved in the process.

Like turning stone into gold, this miniature Luhua Pool suddenly turned into a magnificent turquoise blue under the sunlight.

In a physical sense, this is because calcium ions in the water enhance the scattering of sunlight, while the grayish-white calcium carbonate at the bottom of the basin forms travertine, which acts like a mirror reflecting the sunlight. In addition, the limestone powder deposited on the small stalagmites creates "reflectors" of varying heights, all of which contribute to the beautiful colors of this miniature travertine pool.

Of course, Han Fulai wouldn't go on at length about scientific principles at this time; that would be too unromantic—especially when giving a gift to a girl.

“I remember you really liked ‘Crystal Crescent Moon.’ Although this isn’t made of crystal, I’d like to call it ‘Luhua Crescent Moon.’ This Luhua Pool is a gift for you.”

Han Fulai handed the "Luhua New Moon" to Ke Qing.

"……Thanks."

Ke Qing blushed slightly, held it to her chest, and looked at it again and again with great affection.

"I want one too!" Shen He raised his hand without hesitation.

"Yes, yes, we have everything..."

Han Fulai wiped the sweat from his forehead and began to work on the second "Luhua New Moon".

Ever since he obtained the remnants of the Demon God and the power of the Salt God from Zhongli, Han Fulai has been working hard to explore how to use the power of the Salt God.

Heuria, the Salt Goddess, is perhaps the weakest of the Daedric Lords in the legends of Liyue. While her ability to create salt is undeniably practical, and her power far surpasses that of humans—and she could potentially use salt as a weapon of mass destruction if she controlled underground water veins—ultimately, these uses are all directed against humanity.

If the other demon gods did not have the shackles to protect their people, Heuria, relying on her weak power of producing salt, might not have been able to defeat any of them. This is also the weakness that Zhongli once lamented.

However, power can be transferred. Zhongli also said that a demon god can have multiple divine duties, which is equivalent to composite power.

Just like Zhongli's primary role is the God of Contracts, but he also possesses the powers of the Rock God. Moreover, he can create Mora and forge weapons...

Han Fulai then wondered if the power of the Salt Demon God was not limited to "table salt"? Heuria was the "Salt Demon God," but not the "Table Salt Demon God," but the "Sodium Chloride Demon God."

When he fought Clement in the ruins of the salt god, he commanded the salt on the ground, treating it as a type of rock in the geological sense. At that time, he had not yet obtained the powers of the salt god, but he successfully commanded the salt.

In nature, metals are often found alongside rocks. Pure metals, while different from rocks, are the result of processing and refining. According to the understanding of the Teyvat continent, gold and silver are mined from gold and silver mines, and are therefore types of ores. Ores thus fall within Zhongli's purview.

Ultimately, this is a difference in definition, a difference in concept—a difference in cognition.

In the minds of the native inhabitants of Teyvat, "salt" means "table salt".

There's a saying that goes, "You can't make money from things you don't know, unless you're lucky." From an economic perspective, this is a warning to be aware of the risks of investing and not to blindly invest in projects you don't understand, because the probability of failure is very high.

Just as Mora functions as currency, fulfilling the function of a general equivalent, this is a uniquely Teyvat concept. For animals like cattle and sheep, Mora is no more useful than grass, and they wouldn't even think of creating Mora.

Similarly, the people of Teyvat wouldn't think about salt having categories other than table salt.

But Han Fulai was a time traveler who had received a Chinese education. In his understanding, salt was not just table salt, but a type of compound!

At Shen He's birthday banquet, Han Fulai sprinkled salt made using the power of the Salt God into the pot. But the dough he had prepared beforehand for making noodles was made using another kind of Salt God power—baking soda, scientifically known as sodium bicarbonate, an inorganic salt!

What kind of skill is it to only be able to produce salt? How could the power of the Salt God be such a trivial thing?

He's destined for great things! Fertilizer is one such world-changing project!

Chapter 103 Golden Fertilizer and the 43 Plan [4k]

The exploration of Guili Plain has been going on for four days, during which they have traversed every corner of Guili Plain.

They conducted sampling surveys on the flow direction of the Bishui River near Guiliyuan, the salinization of the soil in Guiliyuan, and the growth of plants on the land.

In addition, Han Fulai and Ke Qing also jointly drew a large number of topographical and hydrological maps of Guili Plain. They recorded the first-hand data obtained from this expedition in the most intuitive form, and these drawings will greatly facilitate construction when the project is officially launched later.

That night, the four of them sat around the tent and roasted meat over the campfire.

Besides Han Fulai, Ke Qing, and Shen He, there was also their driver, Lao Luo.

Since her last trip to Mount Ozang, Keqing has taken Han Fulai's advice and learned to be considerate of others. As a result, her staff no longer resign after less than a month.

Old Luo, the coachman, had become quite familiar with Ke Qing and now dared to joke around with this notoriously strict Yuheng Star. During his breaks, he would often chat with Ke Qing about everyday things, which Han Fu noticed and was happy for Ke Qing.

Old Luo was in high spirits today and even took out his homemade rice wine and apples to share with the others.

The rice wine was sweet and sour, and not very strong, so it wouldn't affect their work the next day. Everyone happily accepted it. The combination of apples, rice wine, and grilled meat also had a unique flavor.

The reason Lao Luo was so happy today was that he had finally finished his field research at Guili Plain, and his next destinations were Dihua Island and Qingce Village. These two places offered lodging at Wangshu Inn and in a village respectively, allowing him to finally get a good night's sleep.

Although Guili Plains was once home to settlements thousands of years ago, it is now deserted and uninhabited. Besides wild beasts, only monsters like Hilichurls would live in such a place.

During their time camping on Guili Plain, Shen He readily took on the task of protecting them, and along the way, he fought off two groups of Hilichurls who blocked their path. Last night, a wild boar ran into Lao Luo's tent, and it was Shen He, who was meditating, who heard the noise and came running, turning the boar into roast meat for tonight with a single shot. However, Lao Luo was so frightened that he couldn't sleep for the rest of the night.

The thought that the days of sleeping in the open and living in fear were finally over made Lao Luo regret that he hadn't brought an extra jug of wine.

When older men drink and chat, they always boast about "when I was young".

When he was young, Lao Luo also dreamed of becoming a tycoon. He worked as a traveling merchant for a long time, often driving a horse-drawn carriage to transport goods, which honed his excellent driving skills.

His travels took him to Mondstadt, Fontainebleau, and Sumeru. He attended the badminton festival in Mondstadt, witnessed the steam engine in Fontainebleau, and even ran a business selling "Lannaro" wood carvings in Sumeru. In previous years, he used his savings to invest in ocean trade, expanding his business to Inazuma. Unfortunately, he was unlucky enough to encounter Thor's isolationist decree, losing a lot of money. So he returned to the world of coachmen.

Of course, according to Lao Luo, he used up all his luck to meet his wife.

That's the story of his trade in Mondstadt. Back then, Lao Luo transported a cartload of Liyue spices, such as Jueyun chili, to Mondstadt to sell. After selling them, he would exchange them for wheat from Mondstadt and transport them back to his homeland—this was a common business practice for Liyue traders.

Just as he left Mondstadt, a young girl from Mondstadt emerged from a pile of wheat in his carriage. This was the future Lady Rosanne.

According to Lao Luo's boastful account, Madam Luo secretly boarded the carriage because she fell in love with his handsome appearance in his youth and secretly harbored feelings for him. Moreover, Madam Luo greatly admired Lao Luo, who traveled around doing business, and followed him to learn how to do business and travel all over the country. Later, she took the initiative to confess her feelings to him, married him in Liyue, and had children.

His biggest headache right now is their daughter, Myo Li.

Little Myri seems to have entered her rebellious phase. A few days ago, after leaving a letter, she secretly boarded a Liyue merchant's carriage and went to the Knights of Favonius in Mondstadt to find that boy named Thoth.

"This is what they call 'like mother, like daughter'... Although my wife says not to worry, I just don't understand what Miao Li sees in that guy..." Old Luo sighed as he concluded.

After Lao Luo returned to his tent to rest, Ke Qing also told a story.

According to Ke Qing, who met Mrs. Luo, there is actually another version of Old Luo's story.

The young Mrs. Luo was from a merchant family in Mondstadt. She wanted to travel abroad but was stopped by her family, so she ran away and hitched a ride with a traveling merchant who looked the most honest and kind-hearted. Because Mr. Luo was as honest as his face, he had no talent for business and was always cheated by unscrupulous merchants during transactions. Mrs. Luo couldn't stand it anymore, so she taught him how to do business herself.

Mrs. Luo later felt that without her care, Old Luo would be reduced to begging, so she reluctantly agreed to his proposal and married him. Old Luo always carried apples with him because Mrs. Luo loved them, and it had become a habit.

The inn in Liyue Harbor called "White Horse Inn" is now managed by Madam Luo, and business is quite good; it has already made back the losses that Lao Luo incurred. Lao Luo's decision to work for Keqing was also thanks to Madam Luo's guidance—establishing a relationship with the Liyue Seven Stars naturally benefits business.

"So only one sentence of what Lao Luo was bragging about is true: he really used up all his luck to meet his wife," Ke Qing concluded with a smile.

“That’s true.” Han Fulai laughed as well, glancing at Shen He, who was listening to the story with great interest.

He then adopted a serious expression. "Lady Keqing, the story that Old Luo just told also reveals an important problem that Liyue is currently facing. Do you remember the story of Guan Zhong that I told you a few days ago?"

Ke Qing thought for a moment, her expression turning serious. "You mean, food?"

“Yes, food. Liyue cannot be self-sufficient in food, and its food security is actually completely in the hands of others.” Han Fulai sighed softly. “Just as Lao Luo said, most of the Liyue merchants go to Mondstadt to exchange Liyue’s specialty products for wheat and then sell them back in China.”