The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

No one was happy about finding the coal mine except Min Xi and Yun Ji. After all, they all came here to look for gold mines. Now they didn't see a single grain of gold sand, but only a pile of black coal. Who could be happy?

Since they didn't find the gold mine, they had to continue looking. However, this coal mine seemed to be very large. They searched for two days and still found the coal mine. As a last resort, Min Xi and Yun Ji had to change direction and go directly east from the coal mine.

Because going south means going to the sea, the scope of searching for gold mines is greatly narrowed. Going east is the northwest and north of the bay, where we may meet up with another exploration team.

Everyone abandoned the cave, took all their luggage and left. Now they were looking for gold mines and heading back.

However, our luck was not very good. It rained again the next day after we left the cave. Fortunately, the rain was not heavy and stopped in the afternoon.

They planned to find a dry place to rest for the night, and chose a hilltop, hoping to find a dry cave in the mountain. However, this mountain was not as rocky as the previous one. Instead of finding a cave, they encountered a group of natives who were cutting trees on the hillside.

When the natives saw them, they stopped what they were doing and looked at them with great surprise. Their clothing and appearance were very different from those of the natives, and it was obvious at first glance that they were outsiders.

Min Xi was very happy. The presence of indigenous people meant that there must be a village nearby and maybe he could find a place to settle down. Unfortunately, the two sides could not speak the same language and could not communicate.

Min Xi noticed that the natives used stone axes to chop down trees. The trees they chopped down were not as thick as their forearms. Perhaps thicker trees would be too difficult for the stone axes to chop down. Even if the tree trunks were not thick, it was not easy to chop down a tree with a stone axe.

Seeing this, Min Xi said to Yun Ji, "Seventh Brother, let's go up and help. Maybe we can find a place to stay."

"Okay, I'll go." Yun Ji nodded, took off the bag and handed it to Min Xi, took out an axe from the tool bag and walked over, waved at the natives who were staring at them in a daze, signaling them to move aside.

Although the natives didn't quite understand what he meant, they naturally made way for him when they saw him coming. Yun Ji pushed a native who was too close to him a little, then raised the axe high, and with only three strikes, he chopped down the small tree. He also easily supported the fallen trunk with his hand to prevent it from hitting anyone.

The natives were completely shocked. In such a short moment, he cut down a tree that they didn't know how long it would take to cut down. What tool did he use?

Yun Ji put the tree down, found another tree of similar size next to it, turned around and asked the native: "Do you want to cut more?"

Although the natives did not understand what he said, they understood what he meant when they saw him holding the tree. They nodded vigorously and said something.

Yun Ji followed suit and chopped down another tree with a few axe blows. The natives were overjoyed and soon divided the work into two groups. Some went to select trees, while others were busy dragging the felled trees to the edge of the forest.

Min Xi asked someone to bring axe to help chop the branches clean. This move surprised several natives. They thought these people's tools were amazing. How could they be so easy to use? Chopping trees was just like cutting mud. It was effortless.

By the time the natives finally stopped Yunji from cutting down trees, it was already late. It was estimated that it was past the time for them to go back, but seeing someone using such good tools to help cut down trees, they were reluctant to waste such a good opportunity.

Min Xi was not idle either. While the trees were being cut, he took people to hunt a kangaroo and picked some finger oranges, so dinner was secured.

The natives carried the collected tree trunks back. Normally they would carry two trees at most, but today because there were no branches, each person carried at least three trees, and the stronger ones even carried four.

Min Xi and others carried their bags and prey and followed, intending to find a place to rest.

When the natives saw them catching up, they were all very happy. They smiled and nodded frequently, and even sang excitedly along the way. Their spirits were extremely high.

The indigenous village was not far from the hillside, and we arrived there soon after descending the hill. This indigenous tribe was not big, and the houses were all built with wood, which were made of the trunks of the small trees they cut down. They seemed to be more solid than the bark houses we had seen before.

However, there are not many tree houses, only a dozen or so, which shows that the village is not very big.

When they arrived at the village, a native carrying four trees shouted loudly, and soon people ran out of their houses. There were men, women, old and young, but not many people, only about a few dozen. This was a small tribe.

The natives in the village saw Min Xi and others following the tree cutters, and they looked at them with scrutiny and curiosity, and couldn't help but say something to the people around them. The native who carried back four trees threw the trees on the ground, pointed at the bare trunks and said something, then turned around and pointed at Min Xi and others, and made a gesture of swinging an axe, meaning that they helped cut down the trees.

The trees they cut down today were the work of several days. Thanks to Yunji's help, they cut down so many trees in just one afternoon, and they also removed the branches to make it easier to move.

A white-haired old man walked up to Min Xi and others and bowed deeply to them.

Min Xi clasped his fists in return to the old man, then pointed to the sky, put his hands on the sides of his face, closed his eyes and made a sleeping gesture, meaning that he wanted to stay here for one night.

The old man understood Min Xi's meaning, turned sideways, and stretched out his hand in an invitation gesture.

The people in this village are quite hospitable. Min Xi said to his companions, "Let's stay here tonight."

The old man invited Min Xi and others to his home, which was the largest in the village. After entering, Min Xi found that the trunks of the tree house were covered with mud, and only on the inside, so there was no need to worry about wind leakage in winter. Min Xi also noticed that the mud in the gaps was not particularly dry, and it seemed that the mud had not been there for a long time.

Because the tree trunks were covered with mud and there were no windows, the lighting in the room was not very good and it was pitch black. The only source of light was the fire pit in the middle of the room, which looked like it had been burning for a long time, and the ground was dry and flat.

Min Xi guessed that the mud on the wall was not permanent, otherwise it would be applied on both the inside and outside. The natives should apply the mud on the inside when it was cold, and remove the mud when it was hot to increase the ventilation and light transmission of the house.

When the natives who were cutting trees saw that Min Xi and others had gone to the leader's room, they knew that there would be no room for them, so they followed behind. When they saw several people standing outside the door and unable to get in, they started shouting and invited them to their home.

Min Xi had just put down his luggage when he heard some noise outside. He walked out and saw a native pulling two naval officers aside.

Min Xi said, "Follow him and see what he is going to do."

The man pulled the two naval soldiers into his home. The layout of his home was similar to that of the leader's, except that it was slightly smaller, but cleaner.

The natives motioned for them to put down their things and invited them to sit down by the fire.

Min Xi said, "He probably invited you here because we don't have enough room. You can stay here tonight. I'll call a few more people."

In this way, more than a dozen people finally found a place to spend the night.

By this time, it was getting dark. Min Xi, Yun Ji and others found firewood, lit a bonfire in an open area of ​​the village, and began to prepare the kangaroo for dinner.

The natives of the tribe gathered around curiously, wanting to see what these outsiders were going to do.

As expected, the natives were very interested in Min Si's tools, especially when they saw them using daggers to deal with kangaroos, the sharpness of which was really enviable.