Capital Datang

The 22nd year of Zhenguan has just passed, and the pungent smell of gunpowder smoke released by the fireworks has not dissipated. The whole city of Keelung is still immersed in the joy of the New Year. Even the busy port has stopped making noise, because the port The staff in the Chinese New Year are not willing to be on duty during the Chinese New Year, so they can only take a holiday, and the port is temporarily closed. Usually, it will not be opened again until the fifth day of the Lunar New Year. This is not only the case in Keelung, but also in all ports managed by Han Chinese. .

However, this year Keelung broke this practice. On the fourth day of the Lunar New Year, all Keelung port staff returned to the port from home, and then began to be busy. Not only did they have to debug the various facilities of the port, but Dress up, because today the port will welcome a group of returning warriors from afar.

Before noon, the people in Keelung City who received the news had already rushed over spontaneously. Groups of people stood on the pier, waiting eagerly for the return of the American exploration fleet. All this seemed familiar. Back then, Lu Wan When they set sail, many people spontaneously came to see them off, but today is to welcome them back in victory.

When there are many people on the pier, it is naturally very lively. The loud chatter and laughter among friends, the cries of food vendors, the greetings of acquaintances, etc., fill the entire port, and among these sounds, the loudest is undoubtedly It's a discussion about the American exploration fleet.

"Brother Zhou, I heard that among the American species spread from His Royal Highness King Qi, there is a plant called the rubber tree, which can produce rubber with a wide range of uses, such as bicycle tires, which are now made of the gum of the fig tree. .If there is rubber, the performance is better than that of fig trees. How about it, are you interested in introducing a batch?" A man was wearing a red silk suit.The fat businessman said to his friends.Capital Datang 599

But the friend surnamed Zhou shook his head and said, "Although rubber is a good thing, I remember that rubber trees must be planted for at least a few years to produce rubber. There are not too many seeds or seedlings of crops, so in comparison, it is more cost-effective to plant those plants with a shorter planting period, such as that kind of corn or pepper. If you can get some seeds, you can get a lot of them in less than a year. Seeds. Then start large-scale planting, so that the cost can be recovered faster.”

The businessman surnamed Zhou is obviously a very shrewd person, even including the growth cycle of the crops, which made the fat businessman very admired, and then asked the other party about the advantages and disadvantages of several other crops, and the other party They all analyzed clearly and logically.

The fat businessman and the businessman surnamed Zhou are just a microcosm on the pier. Around them, there are countless businessmen discussing what benefits the return of the American fleet can bring them.Especially some large plantation owners, they have been profiting from planting various cash crops.Naturally, he is more concerned about this.

At noon, Li Min came to the port with Princess Wenxin, Chou Chou, Li Qi and Li Mian's three sons and daughters, and followed their arrival.The noise in the entire port was much quieter, and some of the big businessmen with status and status came forward to pay their respects.If this was the case a few years ago.I can't imagine it at all, but now the status of businessmen in Taiwan has been greatly improved.So even on these occasions, these businessmen dare to stand out.

for these merchants.Li Yin also received him cordially. Occasionally, when he met one or two people he knew well, he even made a point of joking with them, which made the other person feel more honored, and his whole face was about to light up.

However, this situation did not last long, and soon the figure of the American exploration fleet appeared outside the port, and this also made the whole port suddenly quiet, and everyone stood on their toes, stretched their necks and waited for the return of these warriors .

"Boom~boom~boom..." As soon as the American exploration fleet docked, there was a deafening salute on the port, and then the band that had been prepared for a long time also started to play, and then Li Yin and Wen Xin came to the port in person. The bow of the America [-] welcomes Lu Wan and others to disembark.

Lu Wan and the others on the ship also felt flattered. At the moment, Lu Wan took the lead, Feng Shijie and others followed, and teams of thin but energetic crew members disembarked one by one. Among them, Lu Wan was at the front. Holding a tray with both hands, the seeds of various crops such as corn, peanuts, and peppers, as well as seedlings of crops such as potatoes and sweet potatoes are placed on the tray, and then presented to Li Yin with both hands.

Li Yin looked at the various crops that he had been looking forward to for a long time, and his face showed an excited expression. Even when he took the small tray with both hands, his arms trembled uncontrollably.Others may not know the value of these things, but Li Min from later generations knows that several high-yield crops on the tray can save countless people from starvation.

The moment Li Yin took over the tray, there was a tsunami of cheers from the crowd at the port, intertwined with the sound of the music playing, as if announcing that a prosperous age was coming.

During the grand welcome ceremony, Lu Wan and the crew behind him entered Keelung City surrounded by everyone like heroes returning from victory. On the high platform, a speech called "Declaration of Navigation" was delivered.

In this speech, Li Yin first summarized the achievements of human beings in navigation, and then talked about the distribution of the world's continents and their specialties. Finally, he changed the subject and began to talk about Lu Wanzhi The positive significance and far-reaching impact brought about by the trip to the Americas.

Li Yin's voyage declaration is very famous in history, because it not only marks the discovery of the American continent, but also marks the beginning of the Chinese nation's exploration of the Americas, laying a solid foundation for the future American immigration.

Next, Li Yin held a grand welcome banquet for the American fleet, and it was held for three consecutive days. During this period, all residents of Keelung can apply to enter the banquet, have a face-to-face chat with the crew, and the crew will also answer them. The difficulties of the voyage, and of course the conditions in America.

However, at the same time as the banquet, gentlemen from various newspaper offices in Taiwan also flocked. They gathered around one or several crew members, vying to ask about topics they were interested in, and then wrote articles on the spot, which were published in various newspapers the next day. In the newspapers, the result also gave the people who failed to make it to Keelung a better understanding of the voyage.

It is also worth mentioning that just after the banquet, Li Yin held a small distribution meeting in the Wangfu. The amount of investment or effort is allocated. Among them, Li Yin is naturally the one who contributes the most money and effort, so he also has the priority to choose.

Speaking of which, Lu Wan and the others collected a complete set of things this time. Not only did they collect the peppers, corn, sweet potatoes, potatoes and other crops that Li Yin requested, but they also collected some things that Li Yin did not expect, such as cocoa tree seeds, Cocoa beans are the key raw material for the production of chocolate, and chocolate not only tastes sweet, but also quickly replenishes physical strength. Whether it is for civilian or military use, there is a huge market.

In addition to cocoa trees, there are pineapples, sunflowers, etc., and even Lu Wan and the others brought back tobacco seeds. This is mainly because someone in the crew saw that the Mayan priests like to smoke this thing, so they brought some back. At first, Li Yin only looked at the seeds and didn't know that it was tobacco. He didn't understand until the crew told him about the Mayan priests smoking.

The seeds and seedlings of these various crops are well taken care of. Although many seeds were eaten by the crew, the rest are enough for breeding.In addition, when the fleet left America, they brought many live animals, such as turkeys, grizzlies, etc. Unfortunately, due to the lack of food on the road, these food-consuming animals were naturally slaughtered first, so Li Yin and the others saw Seeing a pile of turkey feathers and bear skins made many people cry inwardly.Capital Datang 599

In addition to the animals and plants mentioned above, the fleet also brought a lot of gold, which was enshrined in the temple in Mansa City. Later, the old priest was killed, and the Mayans discovered that Lu Wan and the others liked gold very much, so The Mansa city lord gave them the gold, which weighed a ton. After all, the gold was brought out from the original Mansa city, and it took many generations to accumulate.

The seed distribution of plants is presided over by Li Yin. High-yield crops such as corn, sweet potatoes, and potatoes must naturally be fully promoted, so they are all owned by the Taiwan government. The sponsors will enjoy the exclusive planting rights of these economic crops for three years, that is to say, within three years, these economic crops can only be planted by their sponsors, and it is illegal for others to plant them.

In fact, this exclusive planting right seems very domineering, but in fact Li Min has already calculated it, because there are not many seeds of these economic crops, so it takes at least one to two years of breeding before they can be planted on a large scale. The exclusive planting rights for one year finally fell into everyone's hands, but in fact it was only a privilege of one or two years.After three years, the seeds of economic crops are enough, and the market for new economic crops has been opened, and it will be much easier to promote them.

Of course, those sponsors didn't suffer a loss, even if it was one to two years of exclusive planting rights, it was enough for them to seize the first opportunity market, and when others wanted to compete with them in the future, they would suffer inherently.

As for the feathers and furs of those animals, they were taken away by various sponsors as souvenirs. That ton of gold seems to be a lot, but those who can support the fleet are not rich and powerful, and so many people are not enough. , so in the end everyone carried forward their style and distributed this batch of gold to the crew in the fleet as an additional reward for this voyage.

However, after Li Yin dealt with the matter of the Perfect Continent Exploration Fleet, he finally had to face the problem of Java Island that gave him quite a headache. (to be continued...)