The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

"She looked for him, but His Majesty didn't agree. So she went to find Lord Lu." Yun Ji said.

Min Xi stared at Yun Ji: "Your Majesty didn't agree to grant the marriage? Why?"

Yun Ji said: "Your Majesty said that the ages are not appropriate. Princess Furong is only fifteen years old. If I had married earlier, I could have been her father."

Min Xi breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, the emperor did not randomly match couples. In this damn old society, the emperor had the final say. If he granted a marriage, who could change it? He suddenly thought of another person: "Didn't the princess go to the queen mother?"

"I haven't heard of this. I just heard His Majesty tell me so. I'm afraid the Queen Mother doesn't want to offend His Majesty, so she is unwilling to issue an imperial decree."

Min Xi's sense of crisis was not completely resolved. He looked at Yun Ji. Although he was over 30 years old, which was considered a middle-aged man in ancient times, he practiced martial arts and exercised all year round, so his skin was tight and his eyebrows showed no signs of aging. He didn't look middle-aged at all and still looked like a young man. No wonder the princess fell in love with him.

This time, he was rejected because of the age difference. If he meets a princess or a princess of the same age next time, will he have to marry her? Is there any way to avoid this kind of trouble? He looked at Yun Ji, then at Yun Lin beside him, and swallowed the words in his mouth.

Yun Ji picked up some food for Min Xi and said, "Let's eat."

Yunlin also kept silent and ate in silence. After the meal, he ran away, saying that he wanted to go back to see the Yuhua Stone.

After Min Xi finished his meal, he sat on the recliner and thought about something.

Yun Ji came over and said, "Why are you sitting down right after eating? Get up and take a walk to help digest the food."

Min Xi said: "No, I'm thinking about the problem."

Yun Ji sat down on the armrest of the recliner next to him and leaned over to look at him: "What are you thinking about?"

Min Xi looked up at him and said, "Think about how to prevent the princesses and county lords from liking you in the future. This time you were rejected because of your age difference, but what about next time? As long as the emperor and the queen mother say so, you will have to marry her even if you don't want to."

Yun Ji grabbed Min Xi's hand and played with it, chuckling, "How could so many princesses and princesses like me?"

"How do you know there are none? Just like this Princess Furong, do you know where she came from? Do you know how many princes there were in the Ming Dynasty and how many daughters they had?"

Yun Ji was speechless after being asked this question. From what he knew, there were indeed quite a few vassal kings in the Ming Dynasty. As for how many daughters they had, it was really impossible to count. "If your majesty really wants to grant me a marriage, you must ask for my opinion. I will explain the reason to your majesty at that time. You can't let princesses and county ladies marry here and become widows."

Min Xi thought of the things he had said to his grandmother. Did he have to repeat them to the emperor? This didn't seem appropriate.

Min Xi couldn't help but cover his face with his other hand: "I still hope that there won't be another princess or something like that in the future. Although you are a little older, with your conditions, you are definitely a good candidate for a son-in-law. You are not married yet, and the position of the first wife is still vacant. I wonder how many ministers in the court want to marry their daughters to you."

"Not necessarily. I come from a merchant family and I'm not young anymore. I'm not a good candidate."

"What if someone with the same good taste as Princess Furong takes a fancy to you?"

"It's OK if I don't agree. The key to this matter lies with me. Just relax and don't worry about such a small matter." Yun Ji pulled him up, "Okay, get up and move around, don't let your food get stuck."

Min Xi thought about it and it seemed to be the case. The key lies in Yun Ji, so he stopped worrying about it. He would just wait and see.

Min Xi took a month's leave. The round trip took a total of twenty-three days, so he still had seven days of vacation. He did not go back to the Honglu Temple to report for leave in advance, but simply rested at home for a few days.

When he had time, he would cook delicious food for Yun Ji and Yun Lin at home. Of course, he was mainly tinkering with his research and inventions, and instructing the blacksmith shop to make the parts needed for the steam engine. The parts of a steam engine were different from those of a bicycle, and required higher steel. The equipment was also much larger, and the difficulty was obviously much greater. These blacksmiths had never made anything similar before, so their speed was very slow.

Min Xi estimated that at this rate, it would take until next year to make the steam engine.

The production efficiency of bicycles has improved a lot. Six or seven bicycles can be produced in a month. One bicycle costs 100 taels of silver, but the demand still exceeds the supply, so the price has not dropped. One bicycle can make a profit of 70 or 80 taels of silver, which can be said to be a huge profit.

So far, no counterfeits have been found. After all, this thing still has some technical content and is not easy to counterfeit, so they can still make a profit.

Min Xi planned to return to work after the holiday. During this time, Zhao Shizhen came to his house once and brought a memorial he had submitted to the court about the situation of battleships, and proposed that battleships be the main battleships of the Ming navy. Zhao Shizhen wanted Min Xi to help him see if the content of the memorial was appropriate.

After reading it, Min Xi said, "You have to list the specific data, such as the speed of battleships, the cost, and the advantages of battleships over Fuzhou ships. You have to let the court know that although battleships are more expensive than Fuzhou ships, they are necessary to build."

"I understand. I'll go back and revise it right away," said Zhao Shizhen.

When Zhao Shizhen came this time, he reminded Min Xi of one thing: if the Ming Dynasty wanted to build new ships, it would need a large amount of strong wood, such as ironwood, nanmu, teak, etc.

China has a very long history and has never been interrupted. For thousands of years, every dynasty has been engaged in large-scale construction and has basically never stopped. The giant trees in the primeval forests have basically been cut down. If the Ming Dynasty wants to build palaces and other large buildings now, it needs to transport them from the far south and southwest, and it has to carefully select the suitable ones.

China doesn't have suitable wood now, but there is some overseas, whether it's Southeast Asia or Africa, there are rich forest resources. It shouldn't be difficult to arrange ships to go there to purchase large and high-quality wood.

He had to tell Yun Ji about this and ask him to arrange for the Yun Xiang merchant ship to go to Southeast Asian countries to purchase timber and then sell it to the court. Although the profit was certainly not as high as spices and medicinal materials, it was time not to talk about making money. Some things could not be measured by money.

Yun Ji listened to what he said and said, "Send people to Luzon, Java and other places to buy timber?"

"Yes. Buy it back and sell it to the shipyard, but the price will definitely not be high. At most we can guarantee that we will not lose money." Min Xi said.

Yun Ji nodded: "I know. I'm thinking about who should be sent there. Luzon is now controlled by Spain. Will they make things difficult for Ming ships?"

"It should be OK. The Spanish are also doing business with us in Luzon. We need to find someone who knows about wood and bring it back."

"Then arrange for someone to test the market first. If it works, then we can do it."

A few days later, Min Xi returned to the government office to cancel his leave and gave the specialties he brought back from Nanjing to his colleagues. They were nothing more than Yuhua tea, paper fans and osmanthus cakes. After all, he couldn't bring anything else.

Everyone drank Yuhua tea and ate osmanthus cake while chatting with Min Xi and asking him about his experiences in Nanjing.

Min Xi briefly told him what he had seen and heard, and asked, "Is the government office busy recently?"

The Junior Secretary of the Honglu Temple said, "You've got to say it, there is something that is waiting for you to come back. A few days ago, the Honglu Temple received several envoys from Greater Luzon. According to the accompanying translator, they were representing Greater Luzon to visit the Ming Dynasty and wanted to see Your Majesty. None of us understand the bird language, so we arranged for them to stay in the Four Barbarians Hall. I will deal with it when you come back."

Min Xi was very surprised. He did not expect that the Spanish envoys had arrived in Ming Dynasty first. "Then I will go back and see what their origins are."

After greeting everyone, Min Xi got up and went to the Siyi Pavilion, which was under the jurisdiction of the Honglu Temple and provided accommodation and food for envoys.