The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

After the natives had dispersed, Min Xi picked up the bag of pearls and weighed it in his hand. It was heavy, and the sound of the pearls hitting each other was really nice. Min Xi grabbed a handful of pearls and looked at the bright and lustrous pearls with joy. He said to Yun Ji, "Seventh Brother, I think there will be more natives coming to exchange things. Should we stay here for another day?"

Seeing that he was smiling like a money-grubber, Yun Ji readily agreed, "Sure, I can wait two more days."

Min Xi looked at the pearls of different sizes in his hand and said, "I plan to collect enough and give one pearl to everyone on our five boats."

Yun Ji looked at him in surprise: "I thought you would take it back to present to the emperor." Pearls are not cheap. Even a small pearl worth one cent can be worth more than ten taels of silver. The larger it is, the more valuable it is. The pearls they exchanged today are not small. Any one of them can be worth dozens of taels. The larger ones can be worth hundreds or even thousands of taels. Those that are particularly large and have a good shape can be sold for tens of thousands of taels without any problem.

Min Xi shook his head: "Leave a few good ones for him, and give the rest away. They have followed us all the way, and it's hard enough. It would be a bit unreasonable not to give them some sweet treats."

Yun Ji nodded: "What about the extra reward?"

"You don't have to pay the bounty. You can keep the nugget of gold and take it back to present to the emperor. Such a large piece of natural gold is rare." Min Xi said this because Yun Ji had mentioned at the beginning that he wanted to cut the nugget of gold into pieces and distribute it to the crew members.

Yun Ji thought about it and said, "I think it's OK!"

As expected by Min Xi, in the afternoon, there were still many natives bringing pearls to exchange for things, but the pearls they brought were not as good as those at noon. Some were irregular in shape, and some had flaws. Min Xi exchanged things for them, but the value was cheaper.

They also saw natives paddling canoes out to sea. Judging from the direction they were heading towards the island reef, they were probably going to fish for pearls. This kind of sea is really competitive.

The people on the boat also discovered the natives' intentions. Some of them were tempted and said, "Let's go and catch pearls. If we can catch one, we will make a fortune."

Min Xi looked at him and said, "Can you dive? Pearl-bearing shells live at least several feet deep in the sea. Without special training, it is difficult to sink into the water. Even if you can dive to the bottom of the water, you won't be able to find a shell. Even if you find a shell, there may not be a pearl inside. This kind of pearl-bearing shell may produce only one pearl among tens of thousands of shells."

Those who were preparing to go pearl fishing were shocked after hearing this and gave up the idea.

Yun Ji whispered to Min Xi, "Pearls are so rare, aren't we giving too little?"

It was only when Min Xi talked about the production of pearls that he realized how expensive pearls were. He nodded and said, "It's a little little. We'll give them some sugar and salt. We'll also leave them some potato seeds and rice seeds. As for whether they can survive, it depends on their luck."

They did not leave immediately, but stayed for another day the next day. Min Xi and Yun Ji went to the indigenous tribe with seeds and other things. They planted potatoes in front of the indigenous people and kept the corn seeds. They asked Yun Ji to draw a picture of the process of sowing, growing and harvesting potatoes and corn and gave it to the other party as a gift, hoping that there would be smart people in this indigenous tribe who could understand the meaning of the picture.

They stayed one more day, and the natives who went out to fish for pearls found nothing. They fished up a lot of pearl shells, but after prying them open, they didn't find a single pearl, which shows how low the pearl yield is. Those who were able to collect several pearls didn't know how many shells they had fished, how lucky they must have been!

The supplies had been completed, and there was no point in waiting any longer, so they weighed anchor and set sail to continue on their journey. After this experience, Min Xi could not help but hold out hope again, thinking that the natives in the northeast should be able to salvage pearls, so they docked more frequently, hoping to trade pearls from the natives.

However, the other tribes he met did not have the tradition of pearl fishing. Instead, he met a tribe that liked opals. Those opals were the local specialty iron opals. Opals were attached to the surface of black iron ore and were very bright in color. They were used by the locals for decoration.

Min Xi exchanged some opals with the locals for small commodities, but he didn't get much because it was a new thing and not very valuable, just like the jadeite of this era. Although it was incredibly expensive when Min Xi lived, it is not worth much now.

However, we came across an indigenous tribe that was particularly fond of corals. The indigenous people used the brightly colored corals as decorations, wearing them on their heads, hanging them on their bodies, and placing them in their homes.

Min Xi had intended to cover up the coral reefs, but now he couldn't. The locals had exposed him. Min Xi didn't hesitate to exchange knives and other supplies for a lot of corals, both large and small. Compared with pearls, corals are easier to get, so they are cheaper than pearls.

After trading corals with the tribe, before the fleet weighed anchor and left, Yun Ji called several captains and ship captains to the Xingyun: "You have been with us for more than half a year, and it has been really hard work for everyone. Lord Min and I have always had an idea to give everyone a gift as a reward for accompanying us on our adventure. These are for you." He gestured to the pearls in Min Xi's hand.

Min Xi gave each captain and ship captain a pearl of similar size. The pearls were about five or six centimeters in size and all of them were flawless. Each pearl was worth about seven or eight hundred to one thousand taels of silver.

After getting the pearls, the captains were all surprised. They were all knowledgeable people and knew that if these five pearls were put together, they could be sold for several thousand or even tens of thousands of taels of silver. They didn't expect that they would be given all of them.

"Thank you very much for your kindness, this is too precious!" Several captains were surprised and happy. Min Xi and Yun Ji were too generous.

Min Xi opened several boxes in front of him, which were filled with pearls and corals. "These are for the people on your ship. Everyone has a share. Some are pearls, some are corals. The values ​​are as close as possible, but of course they can't be exactly the same. I need you to take them back and distribute them to everyone. Please help explain it to everyone."

As soon as these words came out, the captains were really shocked. They actually prepared gifts for everyone. How much silver would they have to spend? This kind of generosity is really not comparable to ordinary people.

Yun Ji said: "This is a gift from my ninth brother and I. Since it is not gold or silver, the value cannot be exactly the same. Please forgive me."

Min Xi smiled and said, "It depends on how you arrange it. The captains can decide on their own how to distribute it, or they can draw lots to distribute it to everyone. Whatever they get depends on their luck."

"Thank you, my lords! We will make the arrangements ourselves. You two lords are so generous that you actually gave us such valuable things." A navy captain said sincerely.

"It's not easy to come out. You have been wandering outside for such a long time. You deserve some compensation. The court will not treat you unfairly." Min Xi said.

The captains who had some complaints about this journey now had no complaints at all. This one pearl was worth several years of their salary, not to mention that all his brothers had a share. Although it was a bit hard, it was not in vain. This trip was worth it!

After these captains left, cheers were heard from the ship soon. Min Xi and Yun Ji kept hearing voices of thanks from several ships: "Master Yun, Master Min, thank you very much!"

"Thank you, sir! May you two live long and healthy lives!"

"Thank you, sir. I wish you two good luck in your official careers!"

……

"You two adults have many children and grandchildren!"

After hearing this, Min Xi and Yun Ji looked at each other and made a face secretly. Forget about this blessing.