The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

The navy officers and soldiers were stunned when they heard this, and they didn't dare to believe their ears: "That ship is to be presented to the navy?"

"That's right. I have already reported this matter to the Ministry of War." Yun Ji said.

The navy listened to his fluent Beijing accent and thought that there might be some truth in what he said. So two navy patrol boats, one on the left and one on the right, sandwiched the Xingyun and Xiangyun in the middle and followed them into the harbor.

As soon as the Xingyun and Xiangyun entered Quanzhou Harbor, they caused a huge commotion. In the minds of the Ming people, all these Western-style sailing ships were foreign ships, which were strictly prohibited by the imperial court from entering the port. But for some reason, these two foreign ships actually entered Quanzhou Harbor openly today.

But looking at the escorting naval ships on both sides, could it be that the invading foreign ships were captured?

When the Xingyun approached the dock, people could finally see clearly that the people on the front ship were all Ming people, and the two big Chinese characters "Xingyun" were painted on the hull. The people on the back ship were foreigners, but the words "Xiangyun" were written on the ship, and the number it was printed on was also Yunxiang.

There is only one trading company called Yunxiang in Quanzhou. Could this be the Yunxiang ship? But how could the Yunxiang ship be a foreign ship?

More and more people gathered around, so Yun Ji and Min Xi got off the boat first and showed their customs clearance documents and trade orders to the navy officers for inspection.

After checking the document, the navy officer asked, "You left the port on the Tengyun, how come it has changed to the Xingyun?"

Min Xi explained: "There are too many pirates on the route to Europe. Our Ming merchant ships don't have cannons, so they are easily targeted by pirates and have no power to fight back. So we bought two galleons in Europe, one for our own use and the other to be donated to the Ming navy as agreed."

Min Xi did not say that the ship was stolen from pirates to avoid causing trouble.

The navy went to check the identities of Reis, Almeida and others. Yun Ji said that they were foreign captains and crew members hired by him to sail the ship. After all the cargo on the Xiangyun was unloaded, the ship would be handed over to the Longjiang Shipyard.

When the navy commander heard that the ship was to be delivered to Yingtian Prefecture, he asked, "Aren't they going to donate it to the navy? Why are they sending it to Longjiang Shipyard?"

Yun Ji said: "Our original intention of donating ships is to enable our Ming shipyard to build warships like galleons, or even better than these ships."

"Do you think our Ming Dynasty ships are not as powerful as foreign ships?" the naval commander said unconvinced.

Min Xi, who was standing by, heard this and said quickly, "General, that's not the case. The ships of both sides have their own strengths. We just want the Ming ships to learn from each other's strengths and make up for their weaknesses, so that they can be better than galleons."

Sending the ship to the shipyard was the result of his discussion with Yun Ji. If it was directly intercepted by the Fujian Navy, it would be impossible to send it to the shipyard, and there would be no point in them donating the ship.

The naval commander then felt pleased and said, "That's good enough. Since it's donated to our navy, we will accompany you to Yingtianfu to deliver the ship." They certainly hoped that this galleon would belong to Yongning Guards. They also wanted to study the advantages and disadvantages of this galleon so that they could defeat the red-haired foreigners in future naval battles.

Since European ships arrived at the coast of Ming Dynasty, they have thought of using cannons to blast open the gates of Ming Dynasty. However, the powerful Ming Dynasty navy successfully defeated the invading European ships. However, the Ming Dynasty navy had to admit that the galleon was superior to the Fuzhou ship in terms of performance. Now that the navy will have a galleon, the Yongningwei navy naturally wants to take advantage of the situation and get the galleon first. If they don't want this ship, they can order a few galleons from the shipyard.

Upon hearing this, Min Xi naturally guessed the navy commander's plan, and said with a smile: "Of course."

Min Xi and Yun Ji led everyone off the ship, and after arranging everyone's accommodation, they went to the Yunxiang. When the shopkeeper of the Yunxiang saw his boss coming back, he started to make arrangements. Yun Ji asked him to take out the silver to pay the sailors first, and then arrange for people to move the goods.

First unload the cargo from the Xingyun and put it into storage, then move the cargo from the Xiangyun, check the list with Captain Almeida, and then slowly settle the bill.

As soon as the cargo on the Xiangyun was unloaded, the Yongning Navy came over and asked, "Boss Yun, when are we leaving?"

Yun Ji was a little amused and said, "Wait until I settle things in the shop, then we'll go over." He was too proactive, as if he was afraid that he would regret it.

Min Xi and Yun Ji agreed that Yun Ji and the navy would go to Yingtianfu to deliver the ship, while Min Xi would take the goods to Macau to buy goods. The goods loaded on the Xingyun might not be enough to exchange for the goods on the Jazz and Xiangyun, so another Fu ship had to be arranged to load the goods and go together.

The situation was quite complicated, but fortunately Min Xi had the help of the shopkeeper of the Quanzhou Yunxiang branch, so he was still able to cope with it. It was just that it might not be possible to collect so much payment for the goods at once, so he had to buy on credit from porcelain and tea merchants. Fortunately, Yunxiang had a good reputation, so he was still able to get the goods on credit.

After Yun Ji personally checked that nothing was left on the Xiangyun, he allowed the naval officers and soldiers of Yongning Guard to board the ship and escort a group of grain boats northward along with the naval ship. Among them were the cargo boats hired by the Yunxiang to transport the goods they brought back from Europe.

The naval officers and soldiers boarded the galleon, feeling extremely curious. They touched it here and looked at it there, as if it were a big toy. Everyone kept aiming at the cannons, trying to test their accuracy and range.

As luck would have it, when the ship reached Zhejiang waters, it encountered Japanese pirates who came to harass them. The navy officers and soldiers operated the galleons to bear the brunt of the attack. The first round of artillery fire hit a Japanese ship. The range of this was farther than that of the Ming navy ship, and the lethality was greater, which immediately shocked the officers and soldiers.

After the Japanese pirates retreated, the naval officers and soldiers of Yongningwei were determined to take the galleon.

Soon after, the fleet encountered the Zhejiang Navy. When the Zhejiang Navy officers and soldiers saw a galleon, they quickly surrounded it. When they saw that the ship was full of navy uniforms, they thought it was captured by the brother navy and asked enviously: "This ship looks unusual. Where did you get it? Was it captured from the barbarians?"

The officers and soldiers of the Yongning Navy naturally did not want to let their brother navy know that this was donated by Yun Ji to the navy. They were afraid that they would come to have a share, so they agreed vaguely.

The soldiers of the Yongning Guard Navy drove the galleon northward, and the Zhejiang Navy did not feel surprised. After all, if they really captured such a galleon, they would definitely use it for themselves, and it was normal to use it to escort grain ships.

The navy fleet and the grain boats entered the Yangtze River together and went upstream. After arriving in Zhenjiang, the grain boats entered the canal and the navy parted ways with them and continued upstream of the Yangtze River. Yun Ji followed the Fujian navy to the Longjiang Shipyard in Yingtian Prefecture.

The Longjiang Shipyard was specially responsible for building warships. The large ships that Zheng He used to sail to the West were all built here, so it was most appropriate to send the galleons here.

As soon as this ship arrived at the Longjiang Shipyard, it caused quite a stir. For most of the craftsmen in the shipyard, it was the first time they had seen a galleon, because European galleons usually only operated in the southeastern coastal areas and rarely went north to Jiangsu and Zhejiang. What's more, Yingtian Prefecture is located on the Yangtze River and not by the sea, so naturally there was no chance of seeing one.

The one who escorted the galleon this time was Han Song, the commander of Yongning Garrison, because the first ship to discover the galleon was the navy ship of Yongning Garrison. Yongning Garrison was determined to get the Xiangyun this time, so it sent its second-in-command Han Song to come in person. If the commander of the Garrison had not had to be in charge of the Garrison in person, he would have come to ask for the ship himself.

Yu Liang, who was in charge of the Ministry of Industry's customs clearance department at Longjiang Shipyard, heard the report from his subordinates and hurried to the shipyard dock in a carriage. When everyone saw him coming, they hurriedly said, "Master Yu is here!"

Hearing this, Han Song raised his hands and clasped his fists: "Master Yu! I am Han Song, the commander of the Yongning Guard in Fujian."

Han Song was a military officer of the third rank, and Yu Liangzhi was a civil official of the eighth rank. Although military officers had a low status in the Ming Dynasty, their ranks were there, so Yu Liangzhi did not dare to neglect them at all: "Your humble servant greets General Han! I wonder why General Han has come to the shipyard?"

Han Song stepped forward and grabbed Yu Liangzhi's wrist: "Master Yu, come and have a look. I have brought you something good. Do you recognize this ship?"

Yu Liang raised his head and looked at the boats moored at the dock, his eyes widening as he asked, "Is this a galleon?"

He was in charge of supervising the construction of warships. Although he had never seen a galleon with his own eyes, he had heard of it.

Several decades ago, the Guangdong Navy seized two galleons from the Fulani people, but they were not sent to the Longjiang Shipyard. Yu Liang was not yet born at that time, so he naturally had never seen it with his own eyes. However, based on written records and the descriptions of people who have seen galleons today, he knew that this four-masted sailing ship covered with copper and with side gun muzzles was a galleon. He did not expect to have the honor of seeing it with his own eyes today.

"Hehe, you haven't seen it before! This big guy is the galleon made by the Fulan robots." Han Song said proudly.

"Where did the general get it? Was it seized from the French?" Yu Liang asked.

"No! This was donated to our navy by Yun Ji, the owner of the Yunxiang. He ordered it from the Fulanji Shipyard and drove the ship back from Fulanji himself." Han Song said, pointing at Yun Ji who was standing next to him.

Yun Ji was called, and he quickly clasped his fists and said respectfully: "I greet you, sir!"

Yu Liang looked at Yun Ji. Although he was dressed simply and looked exhausted, he still looked noble. "Boss Yun, are you the owner of Yun Xiang in Beijing?"

Yu Liang's identity is quite interesting. His ancestor Yu Qian was once an important and famous official in the Ming Dynasty. However, he failed the imperial examinations many times, so he entered the Ministry of Works and became a small supervisor. Although it was only an eighth-rank official position, it was also a real power.

Yun Ji said: "To answer your question, sir, that's right!"

"Is this the donation from Yunxiang to the Ministry of Industry?" Yu Liang asked.

"My brother and I donated it to the Ming Navy."