The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

Min Xi was eating fish with porridge. Seeing that he took a sip and stopped drinking, he asked, "Is it not tasty?"

Yun Ji came back to his senses and coughed lightly to cover up: "No, it's delicious! It's the best porridge I've ever had."

Min Xi laughed out loud: "It's not that exaggerated, maybe it's because you are too hungry. This raw fish fillet porridge needs to be boiled until it is very soft, and the fish meat needs to be marinated. It's best to add shredded ginger to remove the fishy smell. But now the conditions are limited, and it's not easy to have a hot bite."

Yun Ji raised his eyes and said seriously: "It's really delicious!"

Min Xi looked at his sincere eyes and couldn't help but soften his tone: "Then drink it all quickly. By the way, Captain Reis asked us where we were going to get off the ship this morning. The next stop they will be at Phoebe Island for supplies, and further south is the Cape of Good Hope." Phoebe Island is Madagascar.

Yun Ji asked quickly: "Can we take a ride back after we get off the boat?"

Min Xi shook his head, "It's hard to say. We don't know when we'll meet a ship going to Nanyang. Generally speaking, there are ships going from Europe to Nanyang, but we don't know how long it will take for one to appear, whether they will replenish supplies at the port where we disembark, and whether they will agree to take us. And after returning to Nanyang, we still have to find a way to return to Daming."

During the Age of Discovery, the sailing routes of European countries were mainly to the New World. There were far fewer ships coming to Asia, and it was not known whether those ships would be resupplied at the ports where they disembarked. If no ship docked for supplies, they might have to wait for several years.

Yun Ji asked: "What do you think?"

Min Jiu was originally just a errand boy, but Yun Ji trusted him immensely at this moment, because he was the one who saved her life. If he hadn't insisted, she would have been eaten by the fish by now. Moreover, he could speak French, so he was obviously an underestimated errand boy.

Min Xi said: "Actually, I have an idea. We can follow this ship to Portugal. And then follow it back." Portugal was the ancient Chinese name for Portugal.

Yun Ji's eyes widened: "Shall we go to Fulangji?"

Min Xi nodded: "Yes. Don't you want to go to Europe? Since ancient times, the farthest place people from our country have traveled to the west is the West, which was visited by eunuch Sanbao, and Europe is even further west."

Yun Ji was moved by these words. He was originally very interested in the unknown world. Otherwise, he would not have risked going out to sea since he was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. After a little hesitation, he said, "I have thought about sailing to a place further west and doing business with the people there. But I didn't expect to go there this way."

Min Xi sighed: "We are indeed in a bit of a mess now. But we are also blessed with good fortune. If you survive a disaster, you will have good fortune in the future. Since this is an opportunity, why don't we go over and take a look?"

Min Xi thought that since he had the opportunity to go to Europe, he should go there to take a look. At this time, the New World had been discovered for decades, and many important crops originating in the Americas had spread to Europe, such as sweet potatoes, corn, potatoes, peppers, tomatoes, etc. He could take this opportunity to go to Europe and bring them back to China, so that it would not be in vain for him to travel through hundreds of years to get here and suffer so much. He couldn't return empty-handed.

Yun Ji said: "In that case, let's go and take a look."

Min Xi said, "I'll go tell the captain and ask them to take us to Portugal."

Min Xi was actually very worried that Captain Reis would not agree to their request. After all, for a fully loaded ship, adding the two of them would actually be quite a burden, especially when the ship was restocked, there would be even less weight left for the two of them.

Min Sit told Captain Reis that they did not want to be abandoned midway because they were worried that they would never meet a captain as kind and benevolent as him again. They wanted to follow the Shark to Portugal and then return to Malacca with their ship as sailors.

Captain Reiss was very pleased with Min Xi's praise, but he was a little embarrassed: "Young man, I really want to help you. The food you cook is very much to my taste. If you were alone, I would take you with me, but there are two of you. After I finish resupplying, there will not be much space left for you. I must first ensure the safety of my ship."

Min Xi felt very disappointed. Did he really have to stay on Phoebe Island? The result of staying on Phoebe Island was that he would most likely not be able to return to Ming Dynasty. After all, even if there was wood on the island, he and Yun Ji could not build a large ship that could sail across the ocean under the current production conditions in Africa.

Min Xi did not immediately tell Yun Ji the news that Captain Reis had rejected them, as this would not be conducive to his recovery.

Three days later, they arrived at Phoebe Island. There was no harbor on Phoebe Island, so the ships could only anchor in the waters near the coast. The sailors went ashore in small boats and exchanged small industrial products such as scissors and knives with the locals for what they needed.

After not being on shore for a long time, everyone couldn't wait to go ashore to relax and eat some fresh fruits and vegetables.

According to Captain Reis's request, Min Xi and Yun Ji should go ashore here and wait for their next unknown fate. But everyone was eager to go ashore and didn't want to stay on the ship to guard, so Min Xi took the initiative to ask to stay and take their place and go ashore last.

The people on duty naturally wanted someone willing to take over the shift, so the only people left on the boat were Min Xi and Yun Ji, and an old sailor with some mobility problems.

Yun Ji can get out of bed now. In the past two days, he has been following Min Xi on the boat to do things within his ability so as not to become a complete burden to Min Xi.

Looking at the land in the distance, Yun Ji said, "Don't you want to go ashore and take a look?"

Min Xi hesitated for a long time before telling the truth: "Captain Leis did not agree to take us to Fulangji. We have to get off the ship here and wait for the opportunity to go back. There will be plenty of time to see it later."

Yun Ji was stunned when he heard this: "Not going?" He had been envious of Min Xi's ability to speak Fulangji and had thought about learning from him, but it seems that it is no longer necessary.

Min Xi pretended to be relaxed and said, "The ship is too full of cargo. If we load the supplies, there will be no room for us. So we have to go ashore and wait for an opportunity. Maybe a ship will pass by here someday and take us back to Southeast Asia. If no ship comes, the young master can get married and have children on the island. I heard that the women on the island are as black as ink and have a unique charm."

When Yun Ji heard this, he looked embarrassed: "What a joke!"

Min Xi laughed, then said seriously: "It's not a joke, but it's possible that we really can't go back."

Yun Ji's slender hands grasped the side of the boat, his knuckles turning white, and he said, "There will always be a way."

Min Xi leaned against the side of the boat, looked up at the blue sky and white clouds, and said, "Yes, it depends on human efforts. It may not be a dead end. Maybe there will be a ship to Southeast Asia tomorrow."

The people who went ashore delivered the supplies to the ship, but did not return to the ship to sleep that night. In addition to replenishing supplies, the sailors went ashore to have fun.

In the middle of the night, Min Xi was still asleep when he was awakened by the sound of "bang bang bang". While Min Xi was still wondering what the sound was, the old sailor in the same cabin jumped up from the hammock like a frightened rabbit, as if his leg was not lame.

He grabbed his rifle in panic, cursing: "Hurry up, those bastards on the shore must be having a conflict with the monkeys again. Light the torches and lamps, weigh anchor, hoist the sail, and prepare to leave." The monkeys he was referring to the natives on the island.

Sure enough, when Min Xi and Yun Ji arrived on the deck, the group of sailors who had gone ashore during the day were all rowing their boats towards the big ship, and a group of natives holding torches and spears were chasing them on the shore.

It turned out that the local chief was marrying his twelfth wife that night and invited the sailors to celebrate with a drink. Although the thirteen-year-old bride was as dark as the bottom of a pot, it could not hide her stunning beauty. A daring sailor got drunk and sneaked into the wedding room and slept with the bride. He was discovered and then the two sides had a conflict. The sailor was beaten to death by the natives, and the others were also injured. They also killed several natives.

Now that the Shark has been reduced in crew, Min Xi and Yun Ji don’t have to get off the ship.