The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

Lord Melo was told of the marriage by the Baron. He didn't give out any gifts, but earned some gifts for nothing. He couldn't sit still because he was too proud to do so. He found an excuse and left early, thinking about going back to think of some gifts to give to Yun Ji and Min Xi.

After he left, the baron talked to Min Xi and Yun Ji about business. Today, he went out and found a client for Min Xi. The client was from France and often came to Portugal to resell goods from Asia and America. The demand was huge and he could buy a whole shipload of goods. The baron reported the market price of the goods to the two and said, "You can raise the price a little higher when the time comes. If he can make a profit, he will definitely buy it."

Min Xi nodded: "Okay, I understand."

Although Britain and France later became major European powers, they were late in their overseas expansion during the Age of Exploration, and their overseas expansion did not reach Asia until much later. During the Ming Dynasty, the sailing ships of Britain and France had not yet reached Asia.

Although France has not yet become a leader in court fashion in Europe, the trend of advocating luxury has always existed among French aristocrats, so luxury goods from Asia have always been popular among French aristocrats.

The next day, with the introduction of the Baron, Min Xi and Yun Ji met the French businessman Francis, a short man wearing a wig, with a small mustache on his lips and a pair of extremely active gray eyes. He looked like a shrewd man.

Baron Fernando intended to serve as an interpreter for them, but he found that Min Xi could actually speak some French. Although his pronunciation was not so pure and even a little weird, it was enough to surprise Francis: "I really didn't expect that Mr. Min could speak French."

Min Xi smiled and said, "I know a little bit, but I don't speak it well. I learned it from an English friend when I was in London." This was of course nonsense. He was speaking 16st century French, so the pronunciation was naturally very different from that of the th century, but fortunately they could barely communicate.

The baron was also surprised: "I didn't expect you to have such a good talent for languages, Min! You even learned French."

Min Xi smiled modestly and said, "I'm sorry to have embarrassed you."

The French businessman was very smart. He went on board to take a look at the samples, but felt that they were not safe enough, so he asked to unload all the goods for a check.

Min Xi said, "If you are not sure you want it, we will not unload it. But I can assure you that the goods are carefully selected by us, and the quality will not be worse than these. We will never let you spend money on damaged goods."

Francis rolled his small eyes and said, "Okay, let's talk about the price first."

Min Xi and Yun Ji had already agreed on the reserve price, and then they quoted a price much higher than the reserve price, so the French naturally wanted to bargain. The two sides bargained, and finally both sides made concessions and agreed on a price that was higher than what they expected, which was considered a good sale.

The baron also said that this price was appropriate, a little higher than the price in Portugal. After all, Portugal has a steady stream of Asian goods coming in, while France does not, so they can only trade second-hand goods from Portugal and Spain, so the price is naturally higher than that in Portugal.

After the price was agreed upon, the goods were unloaded.

Min Xi and Yun Ji called the sailors to unload the goods, moved them to the dock, checked, counted, weighed, and piece-rated. Then, the people hired by Francis moved them onto a carriage and took them to the warehouse he rented near the dock for storage.

Because there was too much cargo, the first day's cargo was unloaded with lighter goods such as tea and silk. After all the goods were counted and shipped, both parties sat in front of the warehouse and began to settle the accounts.

Min Xi used a pen to calculate, and Yun Ji used an abacus. Both of them were fast. After they finished calculating and matched the accounts, Francis was still calculating slowly. The French way of calculation was too slow.

Min Xi and Yun Ji waited until it was almost dark before they barely finished the calculation. After checking the accounts, they were finally right. Then they settled the bill. Because the amount was so large, Francis paid in Portuguese gold coins, escudos. After all, the amount of silver coins was too large and too heavy to be carried.

Min Xi and Yun Ji spent a lot of time counting the gold coins. By the time they finished, it was dark. The baron also knew the importance of this matter, so he sent a carriage and entourage to help them collect the money to ensure the safety of people and property.

Sitting in the carriage back to the manor, Min Xi looked at the box of gold coins in the carriage and couldn't help but open it and grab a handful in his hand. Under the light, the gold coins sparkled and looked very pleasing.

Min Xi smiled and said, "These gold coins do look nice, but they are inconvenient. This is less than half of the goods, but they are packed in two large boxes of gold coins. They are very heavy to carry."

Yun Ji reached out and tapped his forehead: "You don't even like gold, then what do you like?"

Min Xi said: "I like gold, but I like electronic money even more. I don't need to carry a wallet when I go out. I can just swipe my phone. I don't even need to swipe my phone. I can just scan my face or palm print! This way, the possibility of being stolen or robbed is very small."

Yun Ji found it hard to imagine that convenient world and said, "I really want to have a chance to experience the world you live in."

"Then you will definitely like it." Min Xi said. In fact, he hadn't thought about the world he lived in for a long time. It seemed that after being here for a long time, he gradually got used to the lifestyle and conditions here.

Back at the Baron's house, the Baron asked them to move the two boxes of gold coins into his treasure room. There were multiple doors and traps to prevent anyone from stealing the house. Of course, this was just in case. Unless Portugal collapsed, the Baron's house would not be stolen.

Min Xihu suddenly thought of another thing. In a few years, Sebastian I will die and Spain will annex Portugal. He wondered whether the baron could accept the fact that Portugal was ruled by Spain. However, there was no way to remind him of this, and he did not intend to interfere in the historical process of Europe.

However, when he leaves, he can tell the Baron that whenever he wants to come to Ming Dynasty to find them, their doors will be open to him. Perhaps the Baron does not want to be a slave of a conquered country and will go to Asia to seek new opportunities. After all, there are Portuguese people who have settled in Macau.

The next day, they continued to check the goods with the French. The remaining goods were mainly porcelain, and a small amount of lacquerware. Exquisite lacquerware was a luxury in the Ming Dynasty and was very expensive. Naturally, it was sold at a higher price in Europe.

Although wooden lacquerware is light, it is also more fragile than porcelain. Extrusion and bumping will cause irreversible damage, making it extremely inconvenient to transport. They only brought a small amount of goods, mainly women's dressing boxes. The gift for Alice was also a dressing box.

French merchant Francis was particularly fond of the lacquerware they brought. Even if a dressing box was sold for tens of thousands of reais, he would buy it all. The profit was as high as a thousand times, which was much higher than the profit of porcelain, tea, etc. However, things are valuable because they are rare. If there are more of them, the price will naturally drop.

It took three days to finally sell out all the goods. Francis was very satisfied with the goods and paid generously, mostly in gold coins. The profit from this shipload of goods was more than enough to buy a galleon, and the rest was enough for them to load two ships of goods back to Ming Dynasty.

After the goods were sold, Sanvis found a suitable house for them, a house in the same village. The landlord was a country gentleman who inherited a large fortune in Coimbra and moved his family to Coimbra. The house was for sale, but it was also available for long-term rent.

The house was spacious, even bigger than the one where Sanvis lived, with five bedrooms and a large yard. Min Xi took a look and found that the house was well maintained and had been vacant for less than half a year. At least it didn't need to be renovated, and it could be moved in after a cleanup. So he rented the house for a year and let the sailors move in.

Min Xi and Yun Ji did not move in. They wanted to live in a quieter place, and there were not enough rooms here. They stayed in the Baron's house temporarily and planned to find another house.

Diego also moved to Sanves's house so that he could take care of the sailors if anything happened.

Sailors are arranged to take turns on duty on the ship, in groups of two, for ten days at a time, and then others take over.

In fact, if the boat weren't swaying, everyone would prefer to live on it. After all, there are only two people on the boat, it is quiet, and you can see all kinds of new things at the dock every day, which is more interesting than living in the suburbs.

Min Xi also found something for the sailors to do. Since it was spring, he found a lot of seeds, including tomatoes, peppers, sweet potatoes, corn, peanuts, and European vegetables, and asked the sailors to grow vegetables in the yard. Otherwise, it would be hard for them to endure doing nothing for such a long time.

Sure enough, growing vegetables was a great idea. These sailors all came from farming families and were good at farming. They quickly made the land in the yard tidy, as neat as if it had been marked with a ruler.

After selling the goods, Min Xi and Yun Ji returned the interim payment that the Baron had made to the shipyard, and then, accompanied by the Baron, went to the Setubal Shipyard to see the progress of the construction of their ship.

The person in charge who received them said: "The progress of the ship's construction is on schedule and it will be delivered by December at the latest."

"December?" Min Xi's voice was a little high. "According to the time when we signed the contract, the delivery should be in November at the latest."

The person in charge shook his head and said, "Sir, that's not the way to calculate it. You also have to consider the time it takes us to prepare the materials. There may be something that delays us in the middle of the process. All these unexpected situations must be taken into account."

Min Xi frowned: "That's a problem your shipyard needs to consider, it has nothing to do with us. We hope to deliver the ship ahead of schedule, preferably in October. We need to rush back to Daming. If you deliver it in December, our return trip will be too risky."

The person in charge shook his head repeatedly: "Delivery in December is already very early, it is impossible to deliver earlier!"