Smuggling Daming

Facing Miss Xila's clear gaze, although Zhou Zhong knew that telling the truth might hurt the other party's self-esteem, but he didn't want to bring trouble to the other party's future life because of his lies, so he nodded and said: "Qian Miss La, although this is very impolite, but to be honest, this habit of yours is really unacceptable, and you will live in Shuangyu Port in the future, so you will inevitably interact with people. If you don't change your original habits, I'm afraid it will really make others laugh in secret!"

Facing Zhou Zhong's straightforward truth, Father John, who was in charge of the translation, showed embarrassment on his face. Firstly, he felt that these words were a bit hurtful. A habit of expressing piety to the Lord, so for a while he didn't know whether he should translate it truthfully?

Seeing the expression on Father John's face, Zhou Zhong smiled and said to him, "Father John, you and Priest Nader have changed your bad habits in order to preach, but if Catholics like Miss Shira If you don’t change your habits, then the surrounding Daming people will think that you Catholics are a bunch of dirty guys who never take a bath, do you think if this continues, you will still be able to spread Catholicism in Daming?”

"This..." Zhou Zhong's words pointed directly at what Father John was most worried about, which made him startled for a moment, and then he had no choice but to truthfully translate what Zhou Zhong said to Miss Xila, and added Some of my own words told her that the concept here in Daming is different from that in Europe. Not only do they often take a bath at ordinary times, but they also take a bath during some important ceremonies and other activities.You have to wash your body too. It can be said that this is already a part of Daming etiquette, and now even he himself has begun to follow this etiquette, so if Miss Shira wants to live a better life in Shuangyu Port in the future, it is best to follow Zhou's advice. Heavy suggestion, change the habit of not taking a bath.

What Zhou Zhong didn't expect was that, instead of being angry after hearing what he said, Miss Xila showed a happy expression and said a long paragraph, which even made Father John unable to translate in time.

Waited for quite a while.Only then did Zhou Zhong see Father Ruowang with a wry smile and said to him: "Young Master Zhou, Miss Xila said that she doesn't like the smell on her body, but her father and mother forbade her to take a bath since she was a child, except for religious reasons. The Chilawa couple also worried that taking a bath would weaken their daughter's body's resistance and cause her to die young due to illness. In addition, Ms. Sheila also said that the last time she took a bath was three years ago, when she deliberately fell into the river. That time should be She washed it most thoroughly. But now, if everyone in Daming takes a bath, it means that taking a bath will not weaken the body's resistance. In the future, she will be able to take a bath openly!"

After Father John finished speaking, he turned around and spoke a few words to Miss Sila in Portuguese.It is estimated that he was teaching Miss Shira's irresponsible behavior of deliberately falling into the water. Unfortunately, Miss Shira didn't seem to be very interested in this kind of preaching by Father John. Even Zhou Zhong could see the perfunctory expression on his face. come out.

Zhou Zhong also felt amused by Miss Sheila's bold behavior, and at the same time felt a little emotional for the current Europeans. Although young people like Miss Sheila have been educated not to take a bath since childhood, she loves beauty in her nature. Still can't be wiped out, even in her opinion, taking a bath is risking her life.But Miss Sheila still took the risk of falling into the water on purpose, in order to wash off the bad-smelling dirt on her body.

It is also that Miss Sheila does not exclude bathing like most Europeans do.This made Zhou Zhong feel that his chat with the other party was considered a success. At least Miss Sheila made it clear that she wanted to change the bad habit of not taking a bath. This was equivalent to opening a gap among the new Europeans. Miss La can definitely influence other people to change their old habits.

Next, Zhou Zhong returned to the living room with Ms. Xila and Father John. Although they left for a while, the lively atmosphere in the living room was not affected. After all, most of these people stayed on the ship for several months. , at this time, there is good wine and good food in front of you, so naturally you can't control yourself, all of you are blushing and thick-necked, even the Europeans in Chilawa who are not very used to liquor, after all, they are not like Shila So keen, they didn't notice Zhou Zhong's abnormality before, but now they are staggering when they drink, and people tend to sweat when they drink, which makes the smell on their side even stronger.

Seeing that the people in the living room didn't notice him, Zhou Zhong was also relieved. Miss Xila and Father John returned to their positions again. The two of them had long been accustomed to the smell around them, so they didn't What a special feeling, but Zhou Zhong didn't dare to go to Chilawa again. After asking Father John to greet everyone on his behalf, he fled to Liu Tao's side. After all, he vomited his stomach just now, but now he is a little hungry up.

The reception banquet lasted until the afternoon, and almost all the people in the fleet were drunk. After all, they had been tense on the ship for several months, and now they urgently needed alcohol to relax themselves. Fortunately, Zhou Zhong and Liu Tao were not drunk, and finally Many people from the Chamber of Commerce were called to send back the drunk people in and out of the living room.

The people in Chilawa were also quite drunk. For those who had just arrived at Shuangyu Port, Zhou Zhong had prepared accommodation for them long ago, and it was just on the side of Nanyang Town, a few meters away. The nearest residential area to Father Wang’s church, because Zhou Zhong did not expect that Father John could attract more than 50 people at once, so the preparations for the house were a little less, but it didn’t matter. In addition to the three main rooms in the courtyard, there are kitchens and side rooms on the left and right. Not to mention two people, even the Chilawa family feels very comfortable living together.

After arranging the residences of Curious Lawa and others, it was already dusk, but Zhou Zhong didn't have time to rest, because Liu Tao brought back some things from Nanyang, and these things were before he left Shuangyu Port, Zhou Zhong I specifically told him to pay attention, but I didn't expect Liu Tao to find it easily at the Grape Man Port in India, so I took some thought to bring it back.

In the side hall next to the living room in the front yard of the Nanyang Chamber of Commerce, Zhou Zhong and Liu Tao were sitting under the dim light. Several people from the Chamber of Commerce came in and out of the side hall, moving some things from Liu Tao's boat. Not much, just an ordinary big bag, and a few pots of half-dead green plants.

"Boss, you told me to keep an eye out for several crops from the Frangji people. As a result, I easily found two of the crops you mentioned in their port, namely corn and sweet potatoes. This bag is the corn I bought back. Seeds, and there are several big bags on board. As for sweet potatoes, they are not easy to preserve, so I let them plant them in pots. I didn’t expect them to germinate, but because of the lack of water on board, they didn’t grow very well.” Liu Tao said When he stood up, he pointed to the bags and green plants that had been brought in.

Zhou Zhong also stood up excitedly when he heard this. Ever since he got the peppers from Priest Nader, he has been thinking about the various crops or cash crops brought back by the Europeans from America, so before Liu Tao and the others leave, he will Some American crops that may have been brought back by the Europeans are drawn in graphics. Let Liu Tao pay attention.

I saw Zhou Zhong walked over excitedly, first opened the cloth bag to have a look, and sure enough, he found that there was a bag of corn seeds inside, golden seeds the size of a finger cap, in Zhou Zhong's eyes, they were actually more precious than real gold.Although there is no chemical fertilizer in this era, the yield of corn is definitely not as good as that of later generations, but corn is a very drought-tolerant crop, and it can grow in all kinds of soils. Now there are many disasters in Ming Dynasty, and droughts are more common in the north. If it can be promoted If it is corn, it will undoubtedly stabilize the grain production much.

Zhou Zhong paid more attention to the half-dead sweet potatoes next to the corn than the corn. Although the corn is drought-tolerant and does not choose the soil, it is very troublesome to manage, and in several key growth periods, the demand for water is also very high. It is very large, and the later picking also requires a lot of labor, and without chemical fertilizers, the yield of corn is also greatly limited, not much higher than that of wheat.

But sweet potatoes are completely different. Not only are they resistant to drought and soil, but they are also very resistant to acid and alkali. In saline-alkali land where many crops cannot grow, sweet potatoes are not affected too much, which greatly increases the utilization rate of land. , if it is popularized in Daming, it is equivalent to adding countless fields.

In addition, the output of sweet potatoes is not small. The output of sweet potatoes in later generations is about seven or eight thousand catties per mu, and some varieties can even reach tens of thousands of catties. With a lot of water, if the sweet potatoes are cut into slices and dried into dried sweet potatoes, the output will be reduced by more than half, but even so, there is still a yield of [-] jin per mu. If it is replaced by Daming's land, this output will be reduced. Some, but the yield is much higher than that of wheat and corn, and the disease resistance and disaster resistance of sweet potato are much higher than that of ordinary crops. It can be said that in the age of Daming affected by the Little Ice Age , sweet potato is undoubtedly the most ideal crop!

It can be said that for Daming, which will be plagued by disasters for hundreds of years in the future, corn and sweet potatoes are definitely crops that can change the fate of the country. Think about it, if the two crops can be popularized during the Zhengde period, then the whole of Daming Grain production will definitely increase greatly. In the most disaster-prone areas of Shaanxi, Henan, and Hebei in the north, grain production should also be self-sufficient, and there will be no major uprisings due to famine. I believe that the future generations will destroy the Ming Dynasty. I am afraid that Li Chuangwang will never be used again! (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my biggest motivation.)