The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

At noon they ate some dry food on the mountain for lunch.

Yun Ji couldn't help but complain: "This place is also weird. The rats are taller than humans, but there are no rabbits or wild goats. The local customs are very different from those of the Ming Dynasty, and they are also different from those of Europe."

Min Xi looked at the other people present and said, "I guess this is an isolated continent. It must have been separated from other continents a long time ago, so the plants and animals here are completely different from those on our side."

A person in charge of a merchant ship casually sighed: "How long will it take for this situation to occur?"

Min Xi said: "It will take several - tens of thousands of years."

"Tens of millions of years?!" Everyone present was surprised.

Min Xi shrugged: "Maybe even earlier."

"Lord Min knows so much!" said a craftsman.

Min Xi smiled awkwardly to cover up: "I just read a lot of books and made my own guesses."

Yun Ji helped him cover up: "I always tell him that if he put all that effort into his job, he would have passed the imperial examination long ago."

Min Xi laughed: "That's right!"

Others knew that Min Xi might be guessing blindly, but Yun Ji knew that what he said was true. This land was a place isolated from the world, so the people here were so primitive and backward, and the animals were very different from those elsewhere.

After lunch, they continued their survey. After they determined the approximate scope of the gold mine, General Yan sent someone to find them and said that they had found two locations and asked them to make a decision.

Min Xi and Yun Ji had just finished their work, so they went down the mountain to look for General Yan and the others. Doctor Qiao was not idle in the tribe, and he treated many people, giving some medicine and some acupuncture. For those who could not be given medicine or acupuncture, he taught them some Chinese medicine health-preserving Eight-Section Brocade.

People in the tribe were all curious and, regardless of whether they were sick or not, came to learn how to do Ba Duan Jin. Although they could not communicate verbally, the movements still achieved good communication effects.

When Doctor Qiao left, these people were reluctant to let him go. Some gave him meat, some gave him emu eggs, some gave him animal skins and hair, and some gave him beautiful stones that they thought were very precious.

Doctor Qiao couldn't take all of them, so he symbolically took two emu eggs. The eggs were so big that he had never seen them before and was curious.

When Min Xi saw the gifts the natives gave to Doctor Qiao, he took a look at them and then put away some of the beautiful little stones for him.

Australia produces a variety of gemstones, the most famous of which is opal. Although it is not very valuable, it is rare and valuable. If you take it back to Ming Dynasty, you can make jewelry for your family, which is still a good gift.

Leaving the village, they headed to the area selected by General Yan.

The two locations were not close to the indigenous tribes, and it would take at least half an hour to walk there. Because Min Xi said that we should find a place closer to the water source, General Yan naturally tried to find a place close to the river. And he also had to take the terrain into consideration so that he would not be flooded when the water rose. Combining the two, it took a long time to find a suitable place.

Min Xi and Yun Ji compared carefully, and finally chose the higher ground according to the traces of grass and mud. This place is backed by a series of hills, and the mountain body is also red. Although the color is lighter, it should also be iron ore. This place is about two quarters of an hour away from the river. It is a bit troublesome to get water, but it should be better in the rainy season. There is a ditch in the low-lying area, and the ditch should be able to store water.

General Yan said: "In that case, we will start construction tomorrow."

Min Xi said: "This place is not close to the seaside. It takes at least four hours to go back and forth every day. It's too hard, so we have to find a way to build some simple shacks to live here."

General Yan thought for a moment and said, "That's easy. There's a lot of grass here, and it's not shallow. We can cut the grass and build a thatched house."

"Okay, thank you all for your hard work!" said Min Xi.

"I will arrange more people to work tomorrow and solve these problems as soon as possible." Min Xi said.

To build a house, you must prepare materials. Between stone and mud bricks, they finally chose mud bricks, because chiseling stone is too hard, and bricks cannot be chiseled well without skills. And making mud bricks is something that almost everyone in the Ming Dynasty can do. As long as there is soil and water, you can start working directly. The only time-consuming thing is to dry the mud bricks. Even so, it is faster than chiseling stones to build a house.

The next day, Min Xi arranged a group of unskilled people to come and help. Even if they did not know how to make mud bricks, they could do the work of digging soil, carrying water, mixing mud, and mowing grass.

Min Xi and Yun Ji set an example by working with everyone. Yun Ji went to dig soil and mud, while Min Xi helped with cooking and stayed here at night, but they brought tents with them so they didn't have to share the straw hut with everyone else.

There is strength in numbers. Within a few days, a large area of ​​mud bricks appeared on the grass next to the river. Chopped grass was mixed into the mud bricks to enhance the adhesion of the mud.

It is the dry season now and the air is very dry. Although the temperature is not high, it is around 20 degrees during the day. In addition, it is close to the sea and the wind is strong, so the mud bricks dry quite quickly.

After working for nearly a month, the first mud blocks to be dried had already dried. Min Xi divided the workers into several groups. One group started to build the house, another group continued to make mud blocks, and another group was assigned to collect wood for the roof and weave straw mats. In order to speed up the progress, many more people came in, and a total of more than 200 people came.

The noise they were making while building the house here was quite loud, so it naturally attracted the attention of the indigenous tribes of the mine. However, they couldn't communicate in the language, and the indigenous people didn't know what they were doing.

Seeing square mud houses rising from the ground, not only are the mud bricks of the same size, but the bricks are also covered with mud without gaps, which looks neat and tidy, and there is no worry that they will collapse. Many natives come to watch the fun every day, and learn a lot of house-building skills from them, and plan to build houses like this in the future.

After two months of hard work, more than 20 houses were finally built. Except for the lack of doors and windows (due to lack of wood, they did not plan to do it), everything else looked very similar, which was much better than the indigenous houses that were drafty on several sides.

The next step was to get the indigenous tribe to move. Min Xi had learned a lot of dialect from Tulu during this period, and he believed that he should be able to make the other party understand what he meant.

So that day Min Xi and Yun Ji went to the indigenous tribe, found the indigenous leader, and told them very directly: "Those houses are for you."

The native chief widened his eyes, thinking he had heard wrongly. He thought these outsiders were going to settle down here, so they built houses. But it turned out that the houses they built were not for them, but for them?

"For us?" the leader asked in disbelief.

"Yes. We are going to dig rocks on the mountain, and it will be inconvenient for you to get water, so we built a house for you. I hope you can agree to move away." Min Xi explained.

"Digging stones?" The leader was certainly not stupid. He knew that these outsiders must have ulterior motives.

"Yes, those stones are useless to you, but they are useful to us."

The leader was silent for a long time: "What if we don't move?"

"Then we will still dig stones, and you can solve the water problem yourself." Min Xi said, "I hope you will move, and we are willing to be friends."

The leader looked at Min Xi and said, "I want to discuss this with everyone."

Min Xi nodded: "Okay."

The native leader gathered all the men, women, young and old in the tribe and conveyed Min Xi's intention. When the natives heard that those sturdy and beautiful houses were built for them, they were all very happy. They had been coveting them for a long time and never thought that such a good thing would happen to them. Most people agreed immediately and didn't even ask the reason. They just thought that these outsiders were really good people who actually built houses for them.

Of course, some people still asked for the reason. After the leader explained the reason, some people disagreed to move.

The chief said, "They said that whether they move or not, they will dig up the rocks, and we won't be able to get water from the back hill anymore."

"Why can't you let us get water? I won't move!"

In the end, there were still a few stubborn residents who were unwilling to move. Those who were willing to move packed up their belongings and moved to their new homes with their families. Although the new home is a bit far from here, it is a good house and close to the river, so there is no need to worry about drinking water. What is there to miss about this shabby hut with a wall here?

Min Xi saw that most people had moved away, so he quickly arranged for people to start work in Jinshan. Everyone began to mine and refine gold enthusiastically, and they started from the mountain stream.

The natives who were unwilling to move soon discovered that the outsiders were really digging rocks. It was not that they did not allow people to draw water, but the puddles where they drew water were muddy and the water was not drinkable at all. These people were very angry and wanted to retaliate, but they were completely at a disadvantage in the face of the outsiders who outnumbered them.

Finally, after a few days of stalemate, these people moved away, because it was not only a problem of water, but they also could not get enough food if they left the entire tribe.

When they moved to their new home, they found that the more spacious houses had already been occupied by others. They, who came later, could only live in the smallest house, and even needed others to vacate their houses for them.

This was a problem between their tribes, and Min Xi and his men would naturally not care about it anymore. They were seizing the time to smelt gold so that the merchant ships could return to Ming Dynasty as soon as possible.