Capital Datang

Not long after Li Yin got married, it finally ushered in the 8th year of Zhenguan New Year's Eve. At the end of the year, every household cleaned the house, kept the New Year's Eve, paid New Year's greetings, and set off firecrackers. It is also worth mentioning that the custom of eating dumplings during the Spring Festival was originally in the Tang Dynasty. The era has not yet formed, but because of the influence of Li Min, many people in the north, especially in Dengzhou, have become accustomed to making delicious dumplings during the Spring Festival.

In fact, with the improvement of living standards, the diet of the people in Datang is gradually enriched. Meat such as chicken, duck and fish also appears on the dining table of ordinary people. Even in the cold winter, northerners can also eat some fresh vegetables. , but the price is much more expensive, and there are all kinds of canned food. Now that the canning factories are blooming everywhere, the price of canned food has already dropped. Taking the cheapest canned sea fish as an example, it only costs five cents Just buy a can.

In fact, Li Yin already has a solution to the difficulty of eating vegetables in winter in the north. This solution is the Chinese cabbage of later generations. Originally, cabbage is a hybrid variety, which can be said to be the original creation of the Chinese people, and it has already appeared in the Tang Dynasty. Unfortunately, there are not many people planting it. Li Yin saw this kind of Chinese cabbage by chance, and immediately ordered people to collect the seeds. I ate the vomited Chinese cabbage.

People on land naturally eat whatever they want during Chinese New Year. Even if they don’t have it at home, they can buy it at the market with money.But it's a pity that for the crew on the sea ship, no matter how much money they have, they have no place to buy what they want to eat.

The night of wind and waves has passed, and the dark clouds in the sky were blown away by yesterday's strong wind. When the sun rises, the whole sky is blue, like a piece of flawless jade, and under this blue sky, there is a vast and endless sea , It is also a blue ocean.Connected with the sky, it looks magnificent.Capital Datang 421

It's a pity that Feng Shijie on the Nanyang was tired of seeing this kind of beauty. Before dawn this morning, he got up according to his usual habit. If he was on land, he would have to wash up. What a pity here is on board.Surrounded by the boundless sea, the fresh water on board is extremely precious, so it is very difficult to wash up on land.

But people always have a way. Feng Shijie took a bucket of seawater, mashed it in his mouth with a toothbrush bought in Dengzhou, and rinsed his mouth with the bitter seawater.After returning to the cabin, he poured some precious fresh water on the towel. According to regulations, he could get one cubic meter of fresh water for drinking every day, but he squeezed out a little of the fresh water every day for scrubbing.After wetting the towel.He just wiped his face with a wet towel, but his extravagant behavior.But it made the people in the same cabin feel distressed.

After cleaning up the personal hygiene, the sun outside had already risen. Feng Shijie picked up the measuring tool and measured their latitude and longitude first. He found that the ship was a little off its original course, probably because it was blown away by the wind and waves last night, but the problem is not big.He immediately reported to the captain Lu Wan, and Lu Wan immediately asked the helmsman to correct the course, and the whole fleet continued to move forward.

Today is New Year's Eve.Although everything on the ship is simple, this year is still to be passed. After most of the crew got up, the whole fleet began to get busy. A material ship that also functions as a fishing boat immediately lowered its nets, and each net caught hundreds of catties. Although everyone on the boat ate fish and felt sick, but for those who celebrate the Chinese New Year, they can't miss a fish dish, and get a lottery that is more than enough every year.

However, the captain, Lu Wan, was also considerate of the crew, so he only prepared one fish dish in the kitchen, and the rest were all kinds of canned food. In addition, he also took out a lot of honey and sucrose, and made desserts with canned fruits.In addition to preparing these dishes, the most important thing is to make dumplings. Taiwan is Li Yin's territory, and he is the most influenced by him. Moreover, Lu Wan's crew are all from Taiwan's slave hunting team, and Taiwan's slave hunting team Among them, quite a few are from the Dengzhou slave hunting team, so most of the crew members on the ship have the habit of eating dumplings during the Chinese New Year.

At noon, all the crew members ate some hastily, and then went on to prepare the New Year's Eve dinner.When Lu Wan and the others left Keelung, they knew they would celebrate the New Year at sea, so they prepared a lot of flour on board. In fact, flour is more susceptible to moisture than rice, so rice is usually the staple food on board.

The cook on board took out the well-preserved flour, and rolled the dumpling wrappers with the noodles. As for the dumpling fillings, he opened canned mutton, pork, and a large number of canned vegetables, and then chopped them together, although the taste was not fresh. It's delicious, but it can only be done.

Feng Shijie was the surveyor on the ship, and his status was only below the captain. There were five large ships and dozens of small boats in their fleet, but there were only two surveyors. This shows the importance of this position.Each big boat in their fleet has five small boats, and the kitchen is only available on the big boat. If the people on the small boat want to eat, they usually take turns to eat on the big boat.It is precisely because of this that there are so many dumplings to be made on the big ship. As long as the crew members on the ship are not on duty, they are all called by the master chef to help in the kitchen.

Feng Shijie grew up in the Japanese country, and his father was from the south, so he had never eaten dumplings, let alone made dumplings, so he couldn't help in the kitchen, he could only sit and watch the crew Being busy, I felt a little interesting at the beginning, but unfortunately it gradually became a little boring.

The work of the surveyor is not heavy. Usually, the position of the fleet is measured three times in the morning, noon and evening, and two people take turns, so the daily work is lighter.In fact, in real terms, only one surveyor can do the work of a surveyor, and it is enough to carry a surveyor on a general fleet.However, their exploration fleet has important responsibilities, and there are also unknown risks, so they have prepared two people, mainly to prevent that if one of them has an accident, the other can still be on top, so as not to affect the sailing of the fleet .

It is still early for the evening measurement. Feng Shijie left the kitchen and strolled to the deck. Most of the people on board were preparing for the New Year, even the captain Lu Wan. Some crew members from Dengzhou said they would post Spring Festival couplets. This is a rule handed down from Prince Qi's mansion, but the number of people on board who have drunk ink is really limited, so they had to turn to the captain Lu Wan for help.

Lu Wan is from the south, and has never heard of Spring Festival couplets. After a few crew members told the appearance of Spring Festival couplets, and casually mentioned a few pairs of Spring Festival couplets that were widely circulated, Lu Wan immediately understood what Spring Festival couplets were, and immediately He didn't refuse, and after he had his pen and ink ready, he wrote a few well-meaning Spring Festival couplets after a little thought, and then ordered them to paste them on several important cabin doors.

It was precisely because of this that the deck on the ship seemed a bit empty, and Feng Shijie felt very bored after turning around twice, so he simply went back to the cabin to take out the binoculars, and boarded the watchtower on the ship to watch in the distance.

Feng Shijie and his fleet headed south all the way. After crossing Luzon Island, they did not head to the familiar southwest direction, that is, the direction of Borneo and Java Island, but to the relatively unfamiliar southeast direction. Now they are going along the An island chain is advancing, and this island chain is also the Maluku Islands in later generations. Because this island chain is rich in spices, it is now called the Spice Islands by businessmen from Datang, Tianzhu, Persia and other countries.

The Spice Islands consist of more than 1000 islands, and Datang’s demand for spices is not very large, so merchants from Datang rarely come here, and they are not very familiar with the sea routes here.Lu Wan and his fleet mainly wanted to explore the sea route of this island chain.

Now they have been sailing for nearly three months. They stop and go along the way, and found many islands along the way. Among them, as long as the islands are larger, they are generally inhabited by natives, and at the beginning, they Most of the natives I met were very docile and willing to make deals with them.For example, Feng Shijie brought a large amount of cotton cloth and silk, and now almost all of them have been replaced with gold or gemstones of various colors. The income from these transactions alone is roughly estimated to reach tens of thousands.

In addition, they have basically explored a reliable sea route, and it is through this sea route that they have now reached the southernmost end of the island chain, and they have not seen a new island for more than ten days, which means , this island chain is likely to have come to an end, there is no need to go on, so if there are no accidents, Captain Lu Wan is already considering arrangements for the return trip.

Feng Shijie couldn't help showing a smile when he thought that he could redeem his sister's freedom after going back. He felt that it was worth participating in this exploration operation. Although there were many storms along the way, because of the existence of the Spice Islands, As long as they don't deviate from the course, they can usually find islands to anchor, so they didn't suffer too much loss along the way, but a few small boats were damaged in several strong winds and waves, and some personnel were lost. During the break, they were attacked by cannibals several times and lost some manpower. After all, these people were only a minority, and if they were face to face, they would not be afraid of those damned cannibals at all.

Thinking of the risks and gains encountered along the way, Feng Shijie also felt a little emotional. In fact, their biggest gain along the way was not their own private goods transactions, but the discovery of the natives on the various islands. The number of people is huge, and the area of ​​each island is also small, there is no room to hide, and it is easy to arrest, so as long as they go back and report to the association, they can get 421% of the total profit of the slave trade here as The remuneration, although he couldn't figure out how much this one percent was, it was definitely much bigger than what he got from the private goods exchange.Capital Datang [-]

It's a pity that the further south the natives of the Spice Islands go, the more cannibals among them, and the attacks they encounter are all on the southern islands. If there is a chance in the future, the association must send people to kill those disgusting people. All the cannibals were wiped out, in order to avenge those brothers!

Just when Feng Shijie was thinking about how to deal with those barbaric cannibals, the telescope in his hand just moved to the south of the bow of the ship, and at this moment, he suddenly saw in the lens that in the distance where the sky and the sea meet, a A touch of black!

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Chapter 420 Spice Islands