The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

"What should we do then?" Yun Ji asked.

"We have to find another way to solve the fuel problem," said Min Xi.

Yun Ji looked around at the bare hills. The hill where the Tulu tribe was located still had some trees, but it was not a dense forest. The trees on the endless grassland below the hill were even more scattered. These were far from enough for burning charcoal and smelting iron. Yun Ji thought of the Nanyang Islands he passed by on the way here. There were lush vegetation. Did he have to burn charcoal there and bring it here? The cost would probably not be low.

Min Xi patted his shoulder and said, "Okay, don't think too much. There will always be a way. Can a living person be killed by holding his urine?"

Yun Ji nodded and stopped worrying about this issue. Min Xi said there was a way to solve it, so there must be a way.

When they walked back and reached the mountain stream where the gold mine was discovered, the people who had stayed there earlier had already left. Yun Ji had already arranged for someone to go back and report the news, so he asked everyone to go back first.

Min Xi had no idea how big the gold mine was and how much gold it contained, so he could only start mining. Traditional gold refining also relied on fire, which also required a lot of fuel. At that time, it would depend on the merchants' skills.

Maybe they cut down local trees to make charcoal, or maybe they brought it from the northern rainforest. If they cut down trees to make charcoal, they should remember to arrange for people to plant trees to prevent the local ecology from being damaged too seriously.

After returning to Tulu's village, we met with the people from the merchant ship. After some discussion, we decided to return to the camp by the sea to discuss countermeasures.

It would take at least an hour and a half to walk from the seaside to the gold mine, so if they decided to mine, they could not live by the seaside, but had to build a camp near the mine. They also needed to choose a suitable place to build a dock, or build an artificial dock on the seaside, so that it would be convenient to load and unload goods in the future. It was too inconvenient to always rely on small boats to carry goods up and down.

All of these are huge projects, but if you want to make money, these infrastructures are unavoidable.

They returned to the beach and it was getting late. Min Xi asked everyone to prepare dinner. After dinner, the captains and the leaders of the merchant ships stayed for a meeting.

When they went to the indigenous village today, the people who stayed there had already repaired the salt fields, but the wells did not work as Min Xi had expected. The main reason was that it was too close to the sea and the altitude of the shore was not high enough. The wells that were dug leaked seawater, so everyone could only use water from the creek.

But the water in the small river is easily polluted, because the natives live in the middle and upper reaches of the river. If they deal with animals or defecate in the river, the lower reaches will be polluted, especially in the dry season when the water volume is reduced. This kind of pollution can be fatal. Although Min Xi asked everyone to boil water to drink, there will always be people who are unwilling to boil it because it is troublesome, so it is better to find another suitable place to dig a well.

After dinner, Min Xi and Yun Ji called a meeting with the captain and the person in charge of the merchant ship. Those who were willing to listen could stay and listen, but they were not allowed to speak at the meeting. There were already many people talking, and if irrelevant people continued to talk, the problem would not be solved.

It was not dark yet, but the night wind had started to blow. Being at the seaside, the temperature dropped sharply. Min Xi and everyone lit a bonfire and held a meeting around it.

Yun Ji spoke first: "We gathered everyone here to discuss what we need to do next. It would be best if we could clarify the division of labor. Although the merchant ship is not subordinate to us, since you followed us here for the purpose of making money, you must obey our arrangements. Does anyone have any objections?"

The people in charge of the merchant ship were stunned for a moment, and then they all expressed their opinions: "Of course, we will listen to you, sir."

"I have no opinion!"

"I will follow your orders!"

Yun Ji saw that everyone said this, so even if there were some who did not express their opinions, they would naturally ignore them, and the minority obeyed the majority. He continued: "Today everyone has seen the gold mine. Next, do you want to open the mine and dig for gold directly, or go back and inform your boss first?"

When everyone was asked this question, they were all a little stunned. Right, should they go back first, or dig directly? None of them had any experience in mining, and they didn't know how to refine the gold ore after digging it out, but the gold mine was here, so they had to bring some back to convince the boss.

Someone raised a question: "Sir, none of us know how to do alchemy."

Min Xi said: "We have brought alchemists with us, maybe they are willing to teach everyone the alchemy method."

"If the master is willing to teach, we are certainly willing to learn. We should also bring back some gold so that the boss will trust us." Someone said.

"That's right, that's right!" These words touched everyone's heart. After coming here from thousands of miles away, they couldn't go back empty-handed.

"Okay, I'll go talk to the craftsman."

Refining gold is indeed a secret skill of the craftsmen, but they are craftsmen from the Ministry of Works, serving the imperial court, and half of the gold produced by these gold mines belongs to the imperial court. It is impossible for the two of them to refine the entire mine, so they have the obligation to teach these merchants the method of refining gold.

Min Xi believed that he could convince them, because these two craftsmen would definitely not be willing to stay here and make gold.

Someone else asked, "Sir, how should the gold mine be divided?"

Yun Ji said, "Lord Min and I will go to the mine again tomorrow to fully investigate how big the gold mountain is. We will discuss the specific division later. But before we dig for gold, there is a problem we must solve first, which is the resettlement of the indigenous village under the gold mountain. The place where we are going to mine is their water source, so we have to solve the water problem for them."

Min Xi looked at the fire and said, "In fact, I think it would be best to move their entire village away. We can dig as much as we want there. But this will definitely be very difficult, after all, that is where their ancestors lived. But it is not impossible. The houses in their tribe are all very simple, and some do not even have four walls. We can help them find a place close to the water source, build some houses that can shelter them from the wind and rain, and let them move there. In the future, when we open mountains and mine there, we will not interfere with each other."

"Do we have to help the natives build houses? How long will that take?" A merchant ship manager thought it was too troublesome.

Min Xi looked at him seriously and asked, "If someone found a gold mine on your land and started digging it up in your house without telling you anything, would you agree?"

These words made the man lower his head in embarrassment.

Min Xi frowned and said, "They are the host, and we are the guests. If guests come uninvited and dig treasures on someone else's territory, we can't let the host have trouble eating and drinking. That's not being a guest, but being a robber. Our Ming Dynasty is a country of etiquette, and we can't do such immoral things. And if we offend the natives, can you ensure that there will be no trouble in the future?"

Yun Ji seconded the proposal: "Lord Min is right, we must first settle the natives. Do you have any suggestions for building a house? Who knows how to build a house?"

A battleship captain said: "Building a house shouldn't be difficult. Even if you haven't built one before, you've seen it before. If we all work together to find a solution, we can always solve this problem."

Min Xi nodded: "Yes, I also think that building a house is not difficult, the difficult part is how to convince those natives to move. We can't speak their language, so it's hard to convince them to agree to move."

Yun Ji pinched his brows and said, "Then build the house first, prepare everything, and then take them to visit. Maybe they will agree to move."

"I think it's a good idea!" Min Xi also thought that the house they built should be attractive to the natives. "Then when you go back to the ship, ask the people on your ship if there are people who know how to build a house or do carpentry. Call them all tomorrow. General Yan will take them to find a place to build a house. Find a place that is close to the water source, but not too low, so that the house will not be flooded during the rainy season."

"I obey your command!" General Yan agreed readily.

Min Xi and Yun Ji were not the type to dawdle, so after deciding on these things, they let everyone go back. They also boarded the boat and went back to the boat to draw up a work plan, figuring out what to do next and which ones to prioritize, and it would be best to list them one by one and solve them one by one.

The only thing that made Min Xi feel at ease was that there were many people coming this time, and they were all young and middle-aged. As long as they worked diligently, their efficiency should be very high.

Min Xi hopes to build all the houses before the summer comes here, and to refine some gold so that merchant ships can set off back to Ming before the summer in the southern hemisphere arrives.