The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

Min Xi saw that he might be more reliable since he had hair on his face, so he took the basket from Diego and opened the lid. "These are sweet potatoes, rice, and peanuts. Sweet potatoes and rice are both grain seeds from the New World. They can be planted on hillsides and dry land. The yield is higher than that of rice and wheat. Peanuts are oil crops. They can be eaten as nuts or pressed for oil."

The doorman picked up a fist-sized sweet potato and said, "This looks a bit like a big potato. Is it also grown in the ground?"

"Yes, it is very easy to grow. Bury it in the ground and wait for it to sprout and grow into seedlings. Cut off a half-foot long seedling and plant it. It will produce several rhizomes when it is harvested. It has a wide adaptability and a high yield. It has a slightly sweet taste and can be eaten raw or cooked." Min Xi patiently explained to the old doorman.

"It's indeed a good thing! Come with me." The old gatekeeper led Min Xi into the yamen.

The doorman said, "Why did you ask him to come in? He must be a liar!"

Min Xi was too lazy to argue with him and followed the old gatekeeper into the government office. An official who was working in the government office happened to hear the noise and looked over here.

As Min Xi walked, he respectfully asked the doorman, "Excuse me, sir, what is your name?"

"Your surname is Huang," the old doorman replied. He led Min Xi to a door and said respectfully, "Master Wu!"

"What's the matter?" asked the person inside.

"There is a man who claims to have returned from overseas. He brought some grain seeds from overseas and said he wanted to present them to the government. Do you want to meet him?" The doorman named Huang asked respectfully.

After a while, the insider said, "Then let him in."

The doorman surnamed Huang lowered his voice and said to Min Xi, "Come with me. The Lord Wu inside is the Tongzhi Lord. This matter should be under his jurisdiction."

Min Xi knew nothing about local official positions, and it was fine as long as someone was willing to take care of this matter. He stepped into the threshold with a basket in his hand. There were three people sitting behind a desk working. The middle one was a middle-aged man wearing a black gauze hat and a blue round-collared robe. He looked at Min Xi who came in and scolded him, "How dare you! Why don't you kneel when you see me?"

Min Xi was dumbfounded. He wanted to promote sweet potatoes and corn quickly, but he forgot that in ancient times, people without official titles had to kneel when they met officials. But he really didn't want to kneel, kneel to the sky, kneel to the earth, kneel to his parents, and even the emperor, let alone the officials.

The doorman named Huang at the side quickly pulled Min Xi's sleeve and said, "Kneel down!"

Min Xi seemed not to hear it.

The doorman surnamed Huang had no choice but to make amends: "Please forgive me, sir. I am a country boy and I don't know the etiquette."

Wu Tongzhi saw Min Xi standing there in a daze, with a tall-nosed, deep-eyed foreigner following behind him. He couldn't help but frown: "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

Min Xi then bowed and said, "Your Excellency, I am Min Jiu, a sailor from Yingtian Prefecture. I just came back from Fulangji in Europe a few days ago. I brought back some crop seeds from there and wanted to present them to the court."

Wu Tongzhi thought he was a fool, but when he spoke, he was very clear. He didn't know why he was unwilling to kneel when he was scolding him. Seeing that he was a sailor, he thought he might be ignorant, so he didn't argue with him and said, "Show it up."

Min Xi was about to go forward with the basket in his hand, but the doorman named Huang took the basket away, placed it on the table of Wu Tongzhi, and opened the lid of the basket: "Please have a look, sir."

Wu Tongzhi looked at the basket and saw that there were indeed several things he had never seen before, so he picked up a corn cob and asked, "What is this?"

Min Xi took a look and said, "Your Excellency, I call it rice or corn. It is native to the New World and is the staple food of the locals. The Europeans brought it back. It looks like sorghum, but the fruit grows on the stalk. It can be eaten raw or cooked when it is tender. When it is old, it can be ground into flour to make various cakes and steamed buns, or it can be used to feed chickens and ducks."

Wu Tongzhi peeled off the corn cob with skin on, reached out and squeezed it, it was as hard as a rock, smelled it, and had a strange aroma of grains: "Have you eaten it?"

"Common people have eaten it. Fresh corn is a bit sweet, and it is ground into powder and made into steamed buns, which is similar to flour. It is drought and heat resistant, and can survive if sown on a narrow hillside," said Min Xi.

This sentence touched Wu Tongzhi. Fujian has a saying since ancient times that "eight mountains, one river, and one piece of farmland". There are hills and mountains everywhere, and the per capita arable land is very small, which cannot support the locals, so they go to sea to make a living: "Is it true? How is the yield?"

“No less than rice.”

Wu Tongzhi put down the corn, picked up the sweet potato, and asked, "What about this?"

"Sir, this is sweet potato, grown in the ground. It can be propagated through vine cuttings, and is very drought-resistant. It can be planted on hillsides, but the maturity period is a bit long, about half a year. The yield is very high. If the water and fertilizer are good, it is not a problem to produce more than a thousand kilograms. It tastes a bit sweet and is delicious when eaten raw, boiled, or roasted."

"Can we eat this?" Wu Tongzhi was skeptical.

Min Xi said, "If I had a knife, I could peel it now and let the adults taste it."

Wu Tongzhi asked his colleagues, "Who among you has a knife?"

A colleague rummaged through the drawer: "I have a dagger here. Let me try it."

He stood up and took the sweet potato from Wu Tongzhi. Seeing that there was still some mud on it, he took it outside to wash it, peeled it, brought it in again, and cut it into several pieces.

Min Xi had already told Wu Tongzhi about the peanuts. He took the sweet potato from his colleague and took a bite. He found it was a little harder than expected, but after a careful taste, it was indeed a little sweet. "It tastes good. You said you brought it back as seeds. How many are there?"

Min Xi said: "To be honest, sir, in order to catch up with the season, I have already sown the seeds I brought back from Europe as soon as I returned to Quanzhou. There are also vegetable and spice seeds, and they have all sprouted now."

"Since you have already sown the seeds, why are you still coming to the government office to offer treasures?" Wu Tongzhi didn't quite understand his behavior.

"Please forgive me, sir. I wanted to wait until all the seedlings were planted before distributing them to the people nearby. Unfortunately, something happened to my family and I had to leave Quanzhou for the capital. By the time I return, the planting season will have been missed, wasting the seeds I brought back from thousands of miles away. I also wanted to ask someone to take care of them, but I was worried that the seedlings would not be distributed to the people. That's why I came to beg the government to arrange for someone to plant them so that I can promote them to the people in the future."

When Wu Tongzhi heard this, he looked at Min Xi in surprise and asked, "You are offering these to the government, what do you want for yourself?"

Min Xi shook his head: "I don't want anything. I just want to promote these food crops as soon as possible. If there is a flood or drought in the future, maybe it can save lives."

As soon as these words were spoken, Wu Tongzhi and several of his colleagues were shocked. Wow, he was so noble!

"Why do you do this?" asked Wu Tongzhi.

Min Xi said: "I have seen famine before."

"You are from Yingtian Prefecture, why don't you take these to Yingtian Prefecture? Instead, plant them in Quanzhou?" Wu Tongzhi continued to ask.

"I dare not lie to you, sir. The seeds in the basket are what I plan to bring back to Yingtianfu. I also gave some to a pair of boatmen in Guangzhou. I asked a friend of mine to take some back to the capital. The seeds were not easy to come by. I hope they can take root in Ming Dynasty, bloom everywhere, and benefit the people soon."

When the adults in the room heard what he said, they were speechless. When others got such precious seeds, they would keep them for themselves in order to monopolize the market, but he was giving them away everywhere, fearing that everyone would go without them.

Wu Tongzhi originally thought that if the fruit was as good as he said, he would report it to the court after it was grown, and it would be used as a political achievement during the examination. He did not expect that this guy would so easily give away a chance to get promoted and make money.

After Min Xi stated his purpose, he saw that Wu Tongzhi actually responded with a long silence, so he had to break the silence: "I hope that the adults can help me and send someone to take over the seedlings I planted. I will explain the planting methods of these crops one by one."

Wu Tongzhi came back to his senses and sighed: "Okay, I'll send someone to take over the seedlings you planted."

"Thank you, sir!" Min Xi clasped his fists and bowed happily.

Wu Tongzhi looked at Min Xi and asked, "Your name is Min Jiu?"

Min Xi nodded: "Yes, my parents died when I was young, so I have no name. I am the ninth child in my family, so I am called Min Jiu. I named myself Min Xi, the familiar Xi."

"Have you ever studied?"

“I have never studied seriously, but by chance, I have learned a few words and heard some teachings of saints.”

Wu Tongzhi nodded. This was more like it. Otherwise, this kid's awareness was higher than those of them who were well-read in the books of sages. It was really shameful.

Wu Tongzhi asked again: "You said you went to Fulangji, how did you get there?"

Min Xi then told the story of his shipwreck, and sure enough, this experience was quite legendary, and the adults listened with great interest. Others might still lie, but Min Xi brought personal testimony and physical evidence such as sweet potatoes and corn, which was enough to prove that his experience was true.

Later, Wu Tongzhi gave him a seat and some tea, and asked him to sit down and talk slowly.

By the time Min Xi left the government office, it was almost noon.

Tongzhi Wu said that he would send someone to the inn to find him in the afternoon and take over the seedlings he had planted.

As for the samples that Min Xiti had brought over, he left them to the adults. It was up to them to decide whether to eat them or plant them.

When he came out of the yamen, the doorman who had kicked him out earlier almost popped his eyes out. He never expected that the Tongzhi would keep him talking for so long and even personally send him to the door.