The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

The reason why we have to hurry is that December marks the beginning of summer in the southern hemisphere. There will be typhoons near northern Australia, and the fleet must leave Australia before December.

They arrived in Australia in late July and spent almost two months building the house. It was already late September when they started mining, and they had to leave before December, so they only had less than two months left to mine gold.

Mining doesn't take long, so it's impossible to return with a full load. You can only dig as much as you can. The merchant ships came here mainly to explore the way, and they also brought goods on board, which can be traded in various islands in the South Seas before returning. Next time they come, they can dig more gold and bring it back.

The climate here is quite pleasant, not too hot, not too cold, but too little rainfall, too dry. Food is sufficient, with enough meat and seafood, but the biggest problem is the lack of vegetables and fruits, but they can solve these problems by themselves.

After discovering the gold mine, Min Xi arranged for people to open up the land and cultivate it. When he decided to come to Australia, he did a lot of preparation work and brought some common vegetable and fruit seeds with him, but he didn't know whether the soil and climate in Australia were suitable for the growth of these crops.

The people of the Ming Dynasty were experts in farming. After two months of careful care, the vegetables they had sown were finally ready for harvest. The cabbages and radishes were edible, the cucumbers and tomatoes were blooming and bearing fruit, and the soybeans and mung beans were growing well, but it was still too early to harvest.

The potatoes, sweet potatoes and corn, which are staple foods, are not yet in season and need to wait for some time. Potatoes and sweet potatoes were brought from Daming, and Min Xi asked people to use all the uneaten ones as seeds for planting. Corn seeds were intentional seeds brought by Min Xi, and they are growing well. As for seeds such as rice and wheat, they were not brought this time and need to be brought back from Daming next time.

After eating meat for more than two months, when everyone saw two large pots of stir-fried cabbage and radish stewed with meat on the table, they were so happy that they were as happy as seeing their relatives. If Min Xi had not had the foresight to ask the cook to share the food with everyone, I am afraid that the people who came later would not have been able to eat cabbage and radish.

After eating a piece of radish, Min Xi said to Yun Ji with a smile: "Seventh brother, everyone has their own preferences for radish and cabbage, which one do you like?"

Yun Ji thought for a moment and asked, "Can't I love both?"

Min Xi laughed and said, "I never thought that one day radishes and cabbages would be so popular."

General Yan said, "I would rather eat radishes and cabbages all my life than meat. I am almost sick of eating meat! Your Excellency was thoughtful enough to bring so many seeds. Otherwise, I would not be able to survive."

"It can be seen that big fish and meat are not as good as radishes and cabbages!" Min Xi smiled.

If you eat well, everyone will work harder.

After the gold mine was excavated, Min Xi and Yun Ji did not go down the mine to dig. Their main task was to monitor and avoid mine collapse and other safety problems. They came here from thousands of miles away to seek wealth, and they could not die in a foreign land for the sake of wealth.

In addition, he helped the indigenous tribes of Jinshan build houses, which aroused the envy of the indigenous people of the Tulu tribe. They naturally thought that these outsiders could help them build equally sturdy adobe houses. They believed that their relationship with outsiders was closer than that with the other tribe.

But Min Xi and his people were not here to help the poor. They just had conflicts of interest with the Jinshan tribe and wanted to expropriate their land, so they helped build houses to compensate them. However, Min Xi did not refuse to teach the people of the Tulu tribe how to build houses, and lent them all the tools for building houses.

Tulu followed Min Xi and watched for two months, and even participated in it himself, and learned the specific process of building a house. With the guidance of Min Xi and others, the people in their tribe also began to learn how to build houses.

Building a house is not a complicated matter, but it requires skills to build it well. But even without skills, it is definitely much better than their original grass and wood huts. Practice makes perfect, and the more you do it, the better the house you will build.

Gradually, this tribe also had adobe houses. Although they were not as beautiful as those built by outsiders, they were much better than before.

Seeing the gold ore being transported out of the mountain bit by bit and smelted into golden nuggets, everyone had a gratified smile on their face, and felt that their work was not in vain.

From September onwards, it is spring here. Everything starts to grow. Rains come one after another, and the weather gradually becomes warmer. The planted vegetables grow rapidly, and the types of vegetables they can eat increase.

By October, potatoes can be harvested and young ears of corn can be eaten. Only sweet potatoes have a long growth cycle and will take at least one or two months to be harvested.

Everyone's bowls became fuller and fuller, and they ate better.

In early November, Min Xi and Yun Ji discussed and decided to return the merchant ships to Ming Dynasty in the middle of the month. They called all the warship captains to a meeting to discuss the next itinerary.

Yun Ji cleared his throat and said, "After discussing with Lord Min, we decided to split our forces into three groups: one group will return to Daming, one group will stay here, and another group will continue to explore along the coastline of this land. What do you think?"

When the people present heard this, they couldn't help but be stunned. They could understand going back or staying here, but as for continuing to explore, it was beyond their expectations.

"Should we continue exploring? Why not wait and explore slowly later?" said a captain.

"Which ships are continuing the exploration?"

Yun Ji replied: "Yun Xiangji's two galleons and three warships will continue to explore. Leave one warship here to guard, and the other six will escort the merchant ship back to Ming."

A captain stroked his chin and said, "Isn't it too little to leave only one battleship to defend here?"

Min Xi shook his head. "Quite a few. The merchant ships will definitely leave people here to guard the mines. The people who stay here are mainly waiting for the merchant ships to return, and they also need to be on guard against the natives coming to cause trouble. Of course, this possibility is very small. The two native tribes nearby have good relations with us. We have never had contact with the natives farther away, and there is no conflict of interest, so the possibility of causing trouble is very small. Even if they come to cause trouble, we have knives and guns, which is more than enough to deal with them. If it doesn't work, we can get on the ship to avoid them and wait for the main force to return."

"Are you two adults not going to come back this time?"

Yun Ji shook his head: "We won't go back for now. Lord Min and I finally came out once, but we only found a gold mine and left. It's a pity. We want to look around more and see if we can find more. If we find a gold mine, we will note the location first and call people from Daming to mine it later."

"But there is no food supply here. How long can we survive just by eating meat?" Someone expressed his concerns. Those who are going back naturally don't have to worry. As long as they return to Nanyang, they don't have to worry about food. But what about those who stay here?

Min Xi said: "Don't worry, potatoes and rice are ready to be harvested and can be used as staple food. Sweet potatoes will be ripe in a while and can also be used as staple food. These can be planted and the food supply can barely be met. The only problem is that there is no rice and flour. We have to wait for people returning from Daming to bring rice and wheat seeds and sow them before we can solve this problem."

All the captains were silent. It seemed that the two envoys had already made arrangements.

Seeing that no one was talking, Yun Ji said, "This is the general plan. As for which ships go back and which stay, I will make the arrangements, or you can decide after discussion."

Several captains looked at each other. They had been out for so long, and they must all want to go back, but who should go back and who should stay?

"If you can't make a decision, then let's draw lots." Min Xi gave them advice.

General Yan said, "Sir, let's discuss this for a while. It's probably not the time to make a decision yet, right?"

Min Xi nodded: "Okay, I'll give you two days to think about it and give us an answer. Then you can prepare for another two days. Those who need to go back will leave. It will be smooth sailing as the southeast wind is blowing now. It will be summer here next month. The wind direction will change and there will be hurricanes on the sea, which will greatly increase the risk of the return trip."

After the meeting with the captains, they summoned the person in charge of the merchant ships to explain the situation and let them make their own arrangements, including whether to leave people on duty and who to leave behind, and how to hurry to load cargo and resupply.

In fact, the problem of supply is not big. As early as when we first landed on this land, Min Xi asked everyone to dry meat and fish. Now the main thing is to prepare fruits and vegetables. We can't take too much, but fortunately, Timor Island is only four or five days away. Once there, there will be no shortage of fruits and vegetables.

Two days later, the captains drew lots to decide whether to stay or go. General Yan's Yongning ship was chosen to stay, and another three ships were chosen to continue sailing and exploring with Min Xi and Yun Ji. The remaining six warships were responsible for escorting the merchant ships back to Ming Dynasty.

In theory, the merchant ships returning to the Ming Dynasty were the happiest because they could go home. But in fact, they were under the greatest pressure because they had to face the attacks of pirates. When they came, they had twelve fully armed galleons and battleships, but when they returned, there were only six left, and they had to escort more than ten merchant ships without combat capabilities. Such a large target was easy to be targeted by pirates, but fortunately they had the entire Ming Dynasty as a backing.

Min Xi and Yun Ji gathered the captains of the six warships and the decision-makers of the merchant ships together and held several meetings with them. They explained all the possible accidents they could think of and taught them how to avoid risks.

Yun Ji even personally taught the captain of the warship his experience in fighting pirates, and even repeated the details of his original battle with the enemy. Min Xi also talked about their experience of bombarding pirate ships. Although he did not have much experience in participating in battles, he had indeed fought in naval battles.

Even Captain Reiss was brought in to share his naval combat experience with everyone. In terms of experience in fighting against galleons, Captain Reiss undoubtedly had the most experience.

Min Xi also made a list, wrote down all the things they needed to bring, and asked them to bring it when they returned.

Finally, in mid-November, six warships escorted merchant ships and set sail, leaving the Australian continent and embarking on the journey back to Ming Dynasty.

When the sun rose from the eastern horizon, Yunji stood on the bow of the Xingyun and blew the departure horn to send the returning ships off. All the ships set sail with full sails and headed towards home.

Those who stayed here stood on the shore or on the boat, watching their companions leave. Some even touched their eyes secretly, not knowing whether they were reluctant or sad because they could not go back.