The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

On the way back, they hunted three emus and took them back for dinner.

Everyone was relieved to see that everyone had returned safely. Min Xi announced that everyone would rest here today and move to a place closer to the river and the indigenous village tomorrow morning. It would be much closer to go upstream than starting from here.

Not only did they have to mine gold and iron, they also had to ask the local indigenous people what they could eat. After all, with so many people, they couldn't just eat meat all the time, they also needed to eat cereals, fruits and vegetables.

This place is only a few days' sea journey away from Timor Island, but the indigenous people on the island use primitive slash-and-burn farming methods, and their productivity is extremely low. Their food output is not sufficient to support the consumption of their team of several hundred people.

The local Aboriginal people in Australia did not know how to farm and were still in the primitive gathering and hunting mode, so they had to ask each other which fruits were edible.

However, Min Xi was a little worried. The land in western Australia is barren and the resources available to humans are scarce. With so many people coming, collecting wild fruits is not enough to support the consumption of their team.

If we want to survive here for a long time, we can only rely on farming for food, so it is very necessary to teach the local indigenous people how to farm.

Min Xi showed the ore brought back by General Yan to two craftsmen sent by the Ministry of Works. After careful inspection, the craftsmen were sure that it was gold mine, and they began to smelt the gold that day.

We knew we were here to dig for gold, so there was a craftsman who knew how to refine gold and even brought tools and materials for refining gold.

So that night, they extracted the gold from the ore. It must be said that the gold content of this gold mine was quite high, as could be seen from the excited expressions of the craftsmen.

Min Xi asked: "What is the gold content? What is the quality?"

The craftsman surnamed Liang could hardly contain his excitement: "Sir, the gold content here is much higher than that of our Ming Dynasty, and the gold is also of high quality."

"Is that true? Seventh brother, then we have found the gold mountain!" Min Xi said happily to Yun Ji.

Yun Ji was also very happy: "It seems that there is a gold mine here just as you expected."

Min Xi had never thought that Australia was so rich in mineral resources. However, compared to gold mines, he valued iron mines more, because gold is a precious metal. Although it is more valuable, it is not as practical as iron. At this stage of the Ming Dynasty, iron is obviously more useful.

Because the increase of gold and silver will only accelerate the depreciation of currency, cause inflation, and burden the lower-class people. But iron is different, it can be made into production and living tools, improve production efficiency, and create more social wealth.

Early the next morning, the fleet set out for the river mouth. They found a convenient place to go ashore near the mouth of the river, then went upstream, opened up a new road, and opened up the road between the beach and the indigenous village.

However, if they really wanted to mine, they would have to open up another road that could be used by horses and carriages. Whether it was gold or iron ore, they couldn't just carry it to the seaside by human labor, they had to use horses and carriages to pull it.

When they reached the river mouth, the water problem was solved. There were indigenous people living upstream, and the river water might not be clean. Min Xi asked everyone to boil the water before drinking it, so as to avoid diseases caused by water pollution.

Min Xi told everyone that they had discovered a gold mine nearby, so they decided to stop here temporarily to make sure that if the gold mine could be mined, then this would become a point for the Ming people to mine gold in the future.

When the merchant ships that followed heard the news, they could no longer hold back. The main reason they followed was because Min Xi had said at the beginning that he would go overseas to find mountains of gold and silver. Now that the gold mountains have really been discovered, does the original agreement still count?

A captain asked, "Sir, how should the gold mines be divided?"

Yun Ji glanced at Min Xi and said, "You all can dig the gold mine and refine it yourselves, and hand over half of it to the Ming government when you return." This was the decision they made after discussion, and it was similar to the collection standards of European countries.

Min Xi added: "However you dig depends on your own ability, but there is one thing you must remember, the Ming caravans must not fight, compete or hurt each other, and peace is the most precious thing! Otherwise, they will be disqualified from mining gold and will not be allowed to land on this land again! You must remember that overseas, all Ming people are your own people, and your common enemy is the foreign race that is unfriendly to the Ming people. Remember?"

Everyone answered in unison: "Remember!"

Min Xi said, "Okay, let's rest here today. Tomorrow we will go to see the gold mine. You should arrange the number of people. Each merchant ship can only have five people at most. The rest will stay here to dig wells, hunt, fish, and dry salt."

After hearing Min Xi's arrangement, the boatmen who had only brought one merchant ship regretted their decision. Some boatmen brought two or three ships. Does this mean that the area of ​​the mine they can get will be larger?

In the evening, someone actually came to see Min Xi and Yun Ji about this matter, and they came together.

After listening to their doubts, Min Xi said, "That's about it. The more ships that come, the more they will get. Even if they get a larger share, that's normal. After all, they send more ships and take greater risks, so they naturally want to earn a higher return. If you also want to make more profits, when we go to look for mines elsewhere in the future, you can also send more ships and people to follow us."

“Will you continue to look for mines?”

"Yes." Min Xi knew that the place he had arrived at was in the northwest of Australia. There were indeed gold mines and iron mines in this area, but Australia's best quality and most concentrated gold mines and iron mines were all near Port Hedland and Port Dampier in the west. Since he had arrived in Australia, he naturally could not miss those places.

After hearing this answer, those people felt a little relieved. Next time they go out to sea, they will definitely ask their employer to send more ships to follow them.

They mainly ate seafood these two days, because seafood is easy to obtain and easy to prepare. As long as they clean it, steam or roast it, add some salt and you can eat it. The emu, kangaroo and other meats they shot were all dried into jerky.

The time they arrived was winter in Australia, which is also the dry season. The temperature was relatively low, there were fewer mosquitoes and flies, and it was very suitable for drying meat.

The salt they brought might not be enough, but they were at the seaside and might stay here for a long time, so Min Xi asked people to dry the salt. Drying salt was not unfamiliar to the sailors on the coast of Fujian, and some of them had experience in drying salt.

The next morning, Min Xi and Yun Ji set out with their team. Today, there were more people than the day before, including not only the navy officers and soldiers carrying weapons, but also members of the merchant ships.

The merchant ship members brought some goods with them, intending to see if they could exchange them for something valuable. Min Xi and Yun Ji also asked the people on the Yun Xiang to bring some things, but they did not intend to exchange them, but to give them to the local natives, or to exchange them for their trust and information.

Min Xi planned to make friends with these natives and improve their lifestyle, so that they could change from a primitive life of gathering and hunting to a life of farming and breeding. In the future, these native villages could become food supply stations for the people of Daming. As for the breeding poultry and livestock seedlings, they were not available yet and would be brought from Daming or Nanyang in the future.

They walked along the path they had opened up yesterday, which saved them more than half the time of the day before. When they arrived at the indigenous village, the sun was only high in the sky.

The natives saw them from a distance. As soon as they came down from the mountain, many natives came to greet them. When they saw them, smiles broke out on their dark and simple faces, and their teeth looked particularly white against their dark faces.

Some people couldn't help but dance to express their welcome. Min Xi greeted them: "Hello, we meet again! We are back again."

The natives didn't understand what he was saying, but they just enthusiastically led them to the village.

When they arrived at the entrance of the village, the old man who led the group was already waiting there. He should be the leader of the tribe. Min Xi and Yun Ji saluted the old man with their fists clasped together, and the old man also saluted in return.

After entering the village, the old man led them to the shed where the two injured people lived last time. Min Xi understood and asked Doctor Qiao to come over to help check on the two injured people. After taking the pulse of the two patients, Doctor Qiao said, "The situation is better than last time. It seems that Panax notoginseng is useful."

"Didn't you bring medicine for them?" Min Xi asked.

Doctor Qiao nodded: "Yes, I brought some. Should we give them now? But they don't know how to make medicine."

"Not yet. We'll give it to them after we come back from the mine and teach them how to decoct the medicine." Min Xi said.

Min Xi handed the gifts he brought to the old man personally, including the dagger that the old man had always coveted, as well as a small knife, scissors, coarse porcelain bowls, earthenware jars, coarse cloth, sugar, salt and other daily necessities.

He intentionally brought these things on the ship, and brought a lot of them, because he knew how low the productivity of the Australian aborigines was. These things were much more practical than fine goods such as silk, tea, and fine porcelain. Therefore, when he came here, most of the things were loaded on the ship.

The other merchant ships did not understand much about these things, and they still carried conventional goods for trading with foreigners. When they arrived in such a wild place, they were basically of little use.

When Min Xi gave the things to the indigenous leader, he also taught him the general usage.

The native chief couldn't let go of the thing and kept saluting to Min Xi with his fists clasped.

After giving the things, Min Xi took out a piece of gold ore and said that he wanted to find a gold mine and hoped that someone could lead the way for them. The leader quickly understood his meaning and called a native man to lead the way for everyone to find the mine they had last time.

The man called a few villagers to lead the way. Before setting off, Min Xi gave each of the people who led the way a dagger. For a primitive tribe like theirs, knives were obviously the most precious supplies, and they needed them for hunting and logging.

When these people received the gifts, they were so excited that they also saluted them like their leader.

Min Xi smiled and said, "You're welcome. You lead the way."

The leading man nodded and walked in front. General Yan was quite familiar with him, so he took the initiative to shake hands with him and say hello.

The man raised his hand and shook hands with General Yan, appearing very excited.