The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

Min Xi hadn't been out to sea for a few years, so he was very excited to embark on this trip. The only regret was that Yun Ji couldn't leave and couldn't go out to sea with him.

Yun Ji also wanted to go. He knew that Min Xi's trip would not be easy, especially since the baron had to arrange the whereabouts of so many Portuguese sailors. If he was not careful, it would cause a riot. But he was helpless now and could not leave easily. He could only repeatedly remind Min Xi to take care of himself and be cautious in doing things, and asked Tao Xing, who was going with him, to take good care of Min Xi.

Min Xi and his companions set out from the capital on a canal boat and headed south. Yu Liang and Zhao Shizhen were very curious about Baron Fernando's identity and background, so Min Xi served as their translator and built a bridge of communication.

The baron was an extrovert by nature, and he was very happy to have someone willing to chat with him, and he learned to speak Chinese. After traveling from the capital to Quanzhou by water, the baron could speak many Chinese sentences.

Yu Liang and Zhao Shizhen also heard a lot about Min Xi and Yun Ji's legendary experiences in Europe from the Baron, and they both felt that it was very worthy of writing a legendary story.

After arriving in Quanzhou, they changed to the Xingyun and informed the local Fujian Navy of the ship purchase. When the Fujian Navy learned that three tall ships were to be purchased, they immediately sent naval officers and soldiers to follow and prepare to take over the three galleons.

They arrived in Macau smoothly from Quanzhou.

The baron's four galleons were filled with goods brought from Europe and Southeast Asia, as well as gold, silver, jewelry and other property he brought from home.

These goods and gold and silver all need to be processed, but because the baron agreed to sell the ship to the Ming court, these goods can be directly unloaded at the Ming port and taxed according to the standards of Ming merchant ships. This is a preferential policy given to him by the court, and it was also fought for by Min Xi for him.

These four galleons brought a lot of Portuguese sailors. After the baron returned to Macau, he organized this group of sailors and told them face to face that he planned to sell these ships in Ming Dynasty. If any sailor was willing to stay in Ming Dynasty, he would give him a resettlement fee.

If they are unwilling to stay in Ming Dynasty, the Baron will arrange for these sailors to board the ships back to Portugal one after another. The waiting time may be long, but the Baron will still pay their wages during this waiting period until he helps them find a ship back to Portugal.

When the news came out, the Portuguese sailors were shocked. They had never expected that this trip would be a one-way trip. The baron actually stayed in Ming Dynasty and sold all the ships. This was equivalent to cutting off their way home. It was really shocking! It also made these sailors very angry, thinking that they had been betrayed and deceived.

Some sailors were about to cause trouble. However, Min Xi had foresight. When they spoke to the sailors, they were on land. Moreover, they took the opportunity to have the navy board the ship and control it to prevent the Portuguese sailors from rioting and seizing the ship.

There were four ships, and even if each ship had only a dozen crew members, there were still dozens of them in total. This was indeed a large group of people, but fortunately, there were quite a few naval officers and soldiers who followed them, just to deal with this situation.

Baron Fernando, Min Si and Captain Reis came out to appease everyone, promising to arrange for their departure and ensure that they could board the ship back to Portugal. The baron immediately paid everyone their wages, and it was a round-trip wage. Originally, the wages were to be paid after returning to Lisbon.

In addition to wages, the baron also gave each crew member a compensation. The payment of wages and compensation temporarily calmed the angry crowd.

There happened to be three Portuguese ships docked in Macau during this period, and these ships were going back to Portugal. The Baron and Captain Reis, together with the four captains of the Baron, went to the captains of the three ships to discuss and ask them to help bring some people back to Portugal.

More than twenty people were immediately sent out, and of course, the baron also compensated for the losses of the three ships.

Some of the remaining people were anxious, some were not, and some even thought about staying in Ming Dynasty.

Many sailors these days were desperate people. Although sailors were paid well, their mortality rate was alarmingly high, especially in the middle and late stages of the Age of Discovery. Sailors died in large numbers due to sepsis and accidents such as wars and shipwrecks, resulting in a serious shortage of sailors. This was also the reason why the three Portuguese ships were able to accommodate more than 20 sailors.

Originally, the number of sailors on their ship was barely enough, and this time they could just make up for it, and there would be compensation for losses, so why not?

Unfortunately, there were only three ships and more than half of the people had not been arranged. They could only stay in Macau and wait for an opportunity.