The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

After breakfast, Min Xi arranged for people to go to the mountain with axes and hackles to help cut down trees and repair houses, while he and Yun Ji went to plant potatoes.

Farming is not difficult for them. They carry tools such as hoes and pickaxes with them to search for ore, so it is very easy to turn the soil. Even if it has just rained and the soil is wet, it is not easy to sow seeds. But today the weather is good, so they can turn the soil over and let it dry, and then plant it tomorrow.

When they were turning the soil, the natives gathered around to watch curiously, not knowing what they were going to do. Then when they saw them turn the soil over and leave without doing anything, they were even more confused. What were they going to do? Was it to show them their tools?

After turning the land, Min Xi and Yun Ji returned to the village. As expected, the trees were cut down to build a new house for the newcomers in the village. It seems that the custom of this village is to build a new house and set up a new family when someone wants to achieve success.

In order to stand the tree trunk up, the villagers will build a house foundation on the ground with wet mud. The tree trunk stands in the mud foundation, which can not only stand the tree trunk up, but also keep rainwater outside the house, keeping the ground inside the house dry.

But such a house is still just floating on the surface and is not solid. If there is a strong wind, it might be blown down. However, the climate here should be pretty good and there are no particularly strong winds, so there is no need to worry about this.

Min Xi originally wanted to use a hoe to help them dig a trench on the ground and bury one end of the tree trunk underground, but he found that the length of the tree trunk they prepared was fixed. If it was buried underground, the height of the house would not be enough.

So Min Xi finally helped them come up with a solution. He dug a few holes at the location of the house foundation and buried a few thicker and longer tree trunks in them to stabilize the house. They also helped cut down those thick and long tree trunks.

Not only that, Min Xi also took his companions to help peel the bark of the tree trunks used to build the house, because peeled tree trunks have a longer service life than tree trunks with bark, are less likely to rot and get infested with insects, and the house is also more beautiful.

The natives were so envious when they saw the knives in their hands turning rapidly and peeling the tree trunks cleanly. They didn't know what material the knives were made of, but they were extremely hard and sharp, and there was no need to worry about breakage or wear. It would be great if they could have such tools.

At lunch time, several natives came up to Min Xi and Yun Ji, smiling and gesturing, as if they wanted to borrow a knife.

Min Xi was not stingy and gave the knife to the other party. The natives took turns to pick up the heavy axe, and one of them even used his finger to test the blade. Seeing this, Min Xi hurriedly took the knife back, but he was still too slow and his hand was cut by the blade.

Min Xi quickly took the knife back and said, "Be careful, the blade is sharp and can cut people."

Those people looked at the hatchet in Min Xi's hand eagerly. Min Xi thought for a moment, took out a small piece of gold nugget from Yun Ji's satchel, and showed it to the natives: "We want this, do you have it? Or have you seen it? If you have it, you can exchange it for the knife."

He knocked the gold against the knife, making a crisp sound.

The natives took the nugget gold from Min Xi with a puzzled look on their faces. They looked at it carefully, but all they got was a shake of their heads. One of the natives suddenly remembered something, turned around and shouted towards the distance. Not long after, a boy of about 11 or 12 years old came running over.

The man handed the gold nugget to the boy, and the boy's eyes lit up after seeing it. He handed the gold nugget to the adult and ran away. After a while, he came back and opened his palm. There was a round gold bead the size of a marble. It looked like it had been rubbed for a long time, and it was bright and smooth, and the golden color was very beautiful.

When Min Xi and Yun Ji saw it, their eyes lit up. Min Xi took the gold bead from the child and asked, "Where did you get this from?"

The child didn't understand what he said, and after gesturing for a long time, he still couldn't communicate clearly. But his father handed the gold bead to Min Xi, and then took Min Xi's axe, meaning to exchange. It seems that he understood Min Xi's intention of the transaction.

Min Xi saw this, hesitated for a moment, and then agreed. They usually traded with others with daggers and knives, and hatchets were their own tools, not commodities for trading. However, this tribe needed hatchets the most for cutting trees and building houses, so it would be okay to give them one.

The child was reluctant to give the gold bead to Min Xi when he saw his father hand it over. It was his treasure and he had polished it for a long time to make it so beautiful. But when he saw his father holding the hatchet in his hand, he understood that it was an exchange. Although he felt a little distressed, he still agreed. He also liked the hatchet very much. Today, he watched these outsiders chop trees and peel bark for most of the day. They all used this knife. He had long wanted such a knife.

Min Xi took the golden bead and asked the child where he picked it up and asked him to point him in the direction. The child scratched his head, thought for a while, then stretched out his hand and pointed in a direction, which was the east where they were going.

Min Xi picked up the gold bead and gestured to the child, asking him to take him to find gold. Then he took out a dagger from his pocket and said that he could give it to him.

The child was delighted when he saw the dagger. He liked this knife better than the clumsy hatchet. He saw these foreign guests using this knife to cut meat, which was very convenient. Especially, this knife was so beautiful, small and portable, and could be carried with him at any time. If he had such a knife, he would definitely become the envy of the whole tribe. In the future, all his friends would call him the boss. He was excited just thinking about it.

The boy stretched out his hand to take the dagger, but Min Xi retracted his hand, saying that the dagger could only be given to him if he led him to the place where the gold was found.

The boy looked at the dagger, nodded, and pulled Min Xi to go there. But before he took two steps, he was stopped by his father, who pointed to the sky, saying that it was getting late and told him not to go.

Min Xi also nodded: "Let's go tomorrow."

When the other members of the team learned that there was gold in this place, they were all very excited. Did they finally find a gold mine? They had been out for such a long time and thought they would return empty-handed. Unexpectedly, there was light at the end of the tunnel.

So everyone was looking forward to the arrival of tomorrow.

The next morning, after Min Xi got up, the child and his father came over. They also brought luggage and were ready to take Min Xi to find gold. It seemed that the journey would not be too short.

Min Xi was not in a hurry to leave, he wanted to plant the sprouted potatoes first. He cut the sprouted potatoes into pieces, wrapped the cut edges with ashes, and then buried them in the soil.

The father and son followed them all the time. Seeing him like this, they were very curious about what they were planting.

Min Xi then gestured, meaning that after these sprouts grow and bloom, they can be dug out and roasted over the fire. As for whether they can understand what he meant, it depends on the luck of the father and son. Anyway, the potatoes are handed over to them.

After planting the potatoes and eating, Min Xi and the others packed their bags, said goodbye to the native tribe, and followed the father and son to find gold. Everyone was reluctant to see them leave. They had helped them a lot in the past two days. They not only helped cut trees and build houses, but also helped with hunting. They finished in one day what they might not be able to do in ten days or half a month.

When they left, Kum followed them. He also wanted to see what Min Xi and the others were looking for.

It was definitely a good decision for Kum to come along. He taught Min Xi and others how to identify which fruits and grass roots are edible, and even taught them some herbs used by the indigenous people.

Min Xi decided that when they parted, he would give Kum a gift as a token of his gratitude.

They followed the father and son for a long time, but the distance was surprisingly far. They walked until dark but still didn't reach the destination. No wonder they had to bring luggage with them. The distance was far beyond everyone's imagination. They rested on the road for two nights. On the third day, the child said excitedly that the place was just ahead.

How did they find the child when they had to walk so far? Why did his father take him so far? This was something that Min Xi and the others could not understand.

However, Kumu was also very familiar with this road, and he could even find a safe place to spend the night. Min Xi suddenly remembered that the Australian aborigines were nomadic and migrated. Could this be their migration route?

Finally, the boy found the place where he picked up the gold bead. It was a stream between mountains. The mountains were not high, but they were rolling and obviously a hilly area. The gold bead was picked up on the riverbank of the stream, which meant that the gold mine was among these mountains.

The boy excitedly ran to a pile of rocks and began to search for another gold bead. Without waiting for Min Xi and Yun Ji to speak, the crew members and navy officers quickly put down their heavy bags and joined the team in the search for gold.

Only the craftsman from the Ministry of Works was relatively steady. He took out the plate and planned to dig a basin of sand from the river to wash it and determine whether there was really gold.

Before he had finished washing a basin of sand, he heard someone exclaim: "Haha, there really is gold! I found it!"

As soon as he shouted, everyone gathered around him. It was really gold, about half the size of a green bean, but in any case, it showed that there was gold in this place. This greatly boosted morale.

Kum and the boy's father were somewhat puzzled by the excitement of the crowd, and they also lowered their heads to search among the stones, hoping to pick up a piece of gold like the boy and exchange it with Min Si for a knife. However, gold is not so easy to find.

Min Xi and Yun Ji were not in a hurry to look for gold, but instead they cooked a meal to satisfy everyone's stomach first. As for the gold, it was always here and would not run away.

When Min Xi called everyone to eat, someone found gold again. This time, the luckiest boy was the boy, who found a fist-sized stone with a piece of gold the size of a fingernail embedded in it.

He took the stone and ran to Min Xi, asking if he could exchange it for a knife. Min Xi took the stone and looked at it. It was indeed gold, but he had to crack the stone to know how big it was. He gave the stone to Yun Ji, who took out a hammer and broke the stone. He really got out a piece of gold the size of a fingernail, but it was only a thin layer.

Min Xi took out a dagger and a knife and gave them to the boy.

He got two knives at once, and couldn't wait to show them off to his father and Kumu. His father seemed very happy, but Kumu pursed his lips in disappointment, lowered his head and hurried to look for gold, because he didn't want to return empty-handed.