The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

Going south, you will reach the southwest corner of Australia, which has a Mediterranean climate and is more suitable for human habitation. In Min Si's time, this was the capital of Western Australia. There should be more Aboriginal people here than in the northwest and western regions they visited before.

As expected, when they were about to stop in a bay to resupply, they discovered traces of natives before they even reached shore.

The natives were fishing in the shallow sea. Their boats were canoes carved from whole wood. There were two people in each canoe, one for rowing and one for spearing. They threw something into the water to attract fish to eat the bait, and the spearer held the spear high to spear the fish. Their spearing tools were extremely simple, some were bone spears, some were wooden spears, but they rarely failed, which showed the rich seafood resources.

They had already experienced the abundance of resources. In the previous bay, they had all kinds of large abalone, sea urchins, and oysters to eat. If they wanted to eat something fresh on the boat, they would just pick up the net and throw it into the sea. There was almost no time for them to get nothing.

The natives who were fishing also discovered their big boats. Seeing such a huge ship, their jaws dropped. They stopped what they were doing and watched those huge boats slowly approaching without blinking.

There was no way to communicate because of the language barrier. Min Xi commanded the fleet to dock in the bay and said, "Everyone, please pay attention. There may be crocodiles here too."

There is also a river in this bay, but the water flow is not large. The Mediterranean climate is characterized by hot and dry summers. This season happens to be a season with little rain, so it is normal for the water flow in the river to be small.

They lowered the boat, got off the ship, and rowed to the shore.

The natives who were fishing also paddled their canoes over, but out of caution for strangers, they did not come closer and just watched from a distance.

Min Xi and his companions could not communicate with the natives, so they had to concentrate on their own business. Some people found a place to build a stove to prepare to cook, some set up a small boat to cast a net and catch fish for lunch, some dug shells on the beach, and some took weapons and went ashore to find prey and fruits.

The natives observed for a long time and found that the behavior of these strangers in the big boat was surprising. They quickly lit a fire even though there was no fire, and they could easily catch fish without using a harpoon.

The natives looked at them and even forgot their own business. They looked at them for a long time and felt that these people in the big boat did not mean any harm, so they slowly paddled their canoes towards them.

When Min Xi saw the natives coming, he smiled at them in a friendly manner and ignored them, allowing them to explore on their own.

The natives looked curiously at their cooking pots and stoves, and at their use of knives to kill fish. All this was too incredible and had a strong appeal to them.

Because there are so many people, they usually cook in several pots at the same time. Frying, stir-frying, stewing and roasting are done at the same time, and various spices are sprinkled on the beach, and the fragrance instantly fills the air. This fragrance is so tempting that even Min Xi and his men can hardly resist it, and their saliva is secreted crazily. They can't help swallowing their saliva, just waiting for the meal to start.

The natives were drooling with greed, they couldn't imagine that the fish cooked by these people could be so delicious. They also ate fish, but theirs had never been so delicious.

After a long busy time, it was finally time to eat. Everyone took their bowls and chopsticks and began to drink soup and eat meat. The natives watched from a distance, not approaching, but not leaving either, just watching them.

Seeing this, Min Xi took a few grilled fish and walked towards the natives. The natives stepped back a few steps when they saw him coming. Min Xi stretched out his arms, meaning, "I'll give you the fish."

One of the natives seemed to understand what he meant, and said something to his companions. They did not retreat anymore, and Min Xi walked forward and handed the fish to them.

The natives hesitated for a moment, but still reached out to take it and nodded at Min Xi with a smile.

After eating the grilled fish presented by Min Xi, the natives felt that the fish they had eaten before were wasted. How could these strangely dressed outsiders grill the same fish so deliciously?

Yun Ji asked Min Xi: "They haven't left yet. Should we go to their tribe?"

Min Xi said: "It doesn't matter whether we go or not. Our main purpose is to get supplies. Let future generations explore these places. I don't plan to look for gold mines again." He now wanted to go to the southeast corner because the climate there was the most suitable and the food should be more abundant.

"If they are willing to lead the way, let's go and take a look. Maybe we can find something to eat." Yun Ji said.

They had little staple food left, and they were reluctant to eat it. They ate it at most once a day, and only put a few potatoes in the soup. Without staple food, they could survive on meat alone, but they would not be able to adapt. Fortunately, they brought a lot of sugar on the ship, so they could eat some sugar to supplement their sugar intake as a substitute for staple food.

After dinner, seeing that the natives had not left yet, Min Xi took out two pearls to show them, and asked them if they had similar things that he could exchange with them. He drew out a dagger to test the blade, and then took out a tinder to show them.

The eyes of the natives were shining. The things these outsiders brought were all good things. They just happened to have the pearls they needed. The natives nodded happily and gestured to take them back to their tribe.

Min Xi and Yun Ji boarded the big ship to pack up some things, then called some naval officers to be bodyguards, and followed the group of indigenous canoes upstream along the river.

After walking for less than two miles, they arrived at a village. The houses in this village were more like houses than those of the tribes they had seen before. Their houses were tents built with kangaroo skins, which did not leak air. This was probably because the climate here was different from other places. The Mediterranean climate was colder in winter, and if they still had houses that leaked air on all sides, it would be very difficult to endure the winter.

After the natives brought them to the tribe, they started shouting loudly. Soon, many people came out of the tents, including men, women, young and old. They were not wearing much, but it was obvious that they were wearing more than the natives they had met before.

Soon, the whole tribe was in an uproar, everyone called their friends and almost everyone came, they surrounded Min Xi and others, because they had never seen people with such strange clothes and hair ornaments. These people simply treated Min Xi and others as monkeys.

I don’t know how long it took, but the native who talked to Min Xi on the beach squeezed into the crowd, raised his hand and shouted a few words, and the crowd slowly quieted down. It seems that this person has a high status in the tribe.

The man walked up to Min Xi, handed him a stick, and pointed at the dagger at his waist, meaning to let him show how sharp the dagger was.

Min Xi understood, drew out the dagger from his waist, and cut the stick the other party gave him a few times, and the stick soon broke into several pieces. When everyone saw such a sharp knife, their eyes lit up.

The man reached into the leather bag hanging on his body again, took out five pearls and placed them in front of Min Xi.

Min Xi smiled, nodded vigorously, and gave him a thumbs-up. He looked at the five pearls in the other's hand, which were of different sizes and good and bad quality, and then he discussed with Yun Ji and gave him a dagger, a fire starter, and a piece of cotton cloth.

The other party had already seen the dagger and the fire starter, so when he saw the cotton cloth, he didn't quite understand what it was. Min Xi unfolded the cotton cloth for him to see, let him touch it, and then grabbed his sleeves to show him that it could be made into clothes.

The other party understood and liked it very much. He had a newborn baby at home and could only wrap him in old kangaroo skins that had been softened by adults. Kangaroo skins would indeed become softer over time, but they were not that warm. This cotton cloth was extremely soft and warm, and was perfect for making clothes for children.

He happily put the things away, then said something to the other natives, and soon some of them turned around and left to get the pearls.

Yun Ji said to Min Xi, "Why don't we try using gold to see if they have ever seen gold?"

"Sure, you can try." Min Xi smiled. He didn't have much hope that the natives would find gold. After all, he was not sure if there would be gold here.

Yun Ji took out a golden ingot and showed it to the native who had just exchanged things. The native looked up at Yun Ji, picked up the ingot in his hand, weighed it, and said something in a babble. Yun Ji put the gold ingot and the pearl together to show that they were of the same value.

The man saw this and ran away.

Min Xi turned to look at Yun Ji in surprise: "Does he really have gold?"

Yun Ji smiled and said, "It's hard to say. Didn't you say that this place is full of minerals? Maybe there really is a gold mine here."

"There are indeed many good minerals, but the natives may not know how to dig them." Min Xi still didn't quite believe that the natives had gold.

Not long after, those who had gone back to get pearls turned back. They were close to the sea and lived off the sea. Some of them could find pearls from the shells they picked up. These things were of little use to them. Some people threw them away directly, while others might have kept them because they were round and beautiful. Therefore, many families could take out a few pearls.

Min Xi and Yun Ji were busy collecting the pearls and exchanging them for a lot of things, including knives, fire starters, clay pots, porcelain bowls, cloth, and some people even exchanged them for candy.

Some of the pearls received were of good quality, but most were of average quality. Some were even yellow, and it was unknown whether they were accumulated over several generations. Min Xi also collected yellow pearls because Yun Ji said that some pearls used for medicinal purposes needed to be aged, and even needed to have been worn by someone.

While they were busy exchanging things, the person who had first exchanged things with them ran back. He was holding a piece of golden object in his hand. He squeezed into the crowd and handed it to Min Xi and Yun Ji to see.

Min Xi looked at the golden piece and was very surprised. They could actually produce gold!