The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

Fernando said, "Do you want to choose it yourself, or should I choose it for you?"

Min Xi smiled and said, "Of course, Your Excellency will help us choose. We have never shot a gun before."

Fernando said, "Let's all use spring-loaded shotguns. They are the best shotguns available today. Min, I'll give you a German-made one. Yun, you can take this French-made one. I'll use this English-made one."

Min Xi asked curiously, "Your gun is not made in our country, how did you get it?"

"Of course we bought it from the manufacturer." Fernando said, handing each of them an ammunition bag, "It's already filled with ammunition. Put it on your back."

This was much simpler than Min Xi had imagined. He had originally thought that guns were strictly controlled in various countries and were not allowed to be sold abroad. It seemed that if he wanted to buy a gun in the future, he should be able to do so.

Min Xi was excited and thrilled. He never thought that one day he would be able to carry a hunting rifle and bullets to shoot living things. It's not that he has never fired a gun before, but when he was shooting during military training, he used a fully automatic rifle. The instructors had already loaded the ammunition, and he just had to lie down and shoot.

This gun needs to be operated by yourself, which is a very exciting experience for a man.

Yun Ji got the gun and started to fiddle with it. Fernando quickly stopped him: "Don't do it here. I'll teach you how to shoot in the yard later."

When they were outside and made sure there was no one around, Fernando began to teach them how to load ammunition, how to aim, and how to shoot.

Although the spring-wheel shotgun is not as fast as the later automatic rifles, it is very close to the automatic rifle. It is similar to the principle of a lighter wheel. It relies on a spring to drive the iron sheet to rotate rapidly, rubbing against the ore to produce sparks, igniting the gunpowder, and then prompting the bullet to be fired from the barrel.

Min Xi understood the principle at a glance, but the craftsmanship was very delicate, and probably only skilled craftsmen could make it. Fortunately, there should be skilled craftsmen in the Ming Dynasty. If he took a few guns back and had them disassembled, they should be able to copy it. As for whether it could be improved, it would depend on luck.

The range of a spring-wheeled hunting rifle is about 200 to 300 meters, which is not far. Compared with the archers of the Ming Dynasty, the range advantage is not obvious. However, the upper limit of the range of a gun is far more than this, and the range of a bow and arrow has not changed much over thousands of years, and it also depends on the physical fitness of the archer. The gun is not limited to this, so the importance of the gun is beyond doubt.

Min Xi's shooting skills are average. Although he has more experience than Yun Ji, he is still not as good as Yun Ji who has some martial arts experience.

Yun Ji mastered the essentials of shooting after only two shots, and was able to accurately estimate the error between the gun barrel and the target, with almost every shot hitting the target. This is talent.

The baron rode a horse and asked the coachman to drive Min Xi and Yun Ji. Min Xi originally wanted to enjoy riding a horse, but when he thought about having to rely on the coachman to take him back, he gave up.

They went to the Fernando family hunting ground. It was called a hunting ground, but in fact the entire mountain area belonged to the Duke and was fenced off for hunting by family members. Civilians were not allowed to hunt or gather here.

There was such a large forest, and they were the only family that hunted. There were not many people who really loved hunting, so the prey was very abundant. Last time at the Duke's birthday party, Min Xi asked for deer tendons, so they came and hunted a lot of deer.

When they arrived, Min Xi got out of the car, looked at the dense forest, and said with a smile: "I'm probably here just to make up the numbers today. Come on, I'll grill the prey if you catch any."

"It's okay, just look at me." Yun Ji said calmly.

Fernando said, "What do you think is the best thing to grill?"

Min Xi asked: "What animals are there?"

"Wild boars, wild goats, deer, grouse, partridges and pheasants. I usually hunt more pheasants. There are also wolves and lynxes in the mountains. But we usually don't hunt these two animals and wild boars because they are more dangerous," said Fernando.

Min Xi thought for a moment and said, "Goats and deer are fine, as are pheasants."

"Then hit these."

After the three men entered the woods with guns, Fernando separated from them and took the hunting dogs away. He was more familiar with the environment here and knew where the prey was.

Min Xi was with Yun Ji. He didn't care what kind of prey he caught. He was willing to go hunting just to touch a gun.

Soon after they separated, they heard gunshots in the woods. Min Xi said, "The Baron has found his prey, but I wonder if he has hit it."

Yun Ji suddenly made a "hush" sound, and Min Xi stopped. Yun Ji pointed to the bushes in front of him, and Min Xi asked in a low voice, "Is there something?"

Yun Ji nodded, raised his gun and began to aim, while Min Xi slowly squatted down to avoid making too much noise and alerting the prey.

About two minutes later, I heard the sound of a trigger being pulled overhead. After two pulls, there was a "bang" sound. It seemed that the spring-loaded shotgun was not that easy to light.

A gray pheasant fluttered out of the bushes, but it didn't fly far before it fell to the ground and fluttered.

"Haha, I hit it!" Min Xi shouted excitedly, ran forward, caught up with the injured pheasant, and grabbed it, "Seventh Brother, look, I hit its wing! Your shooting skills are so accurate!"

Yun Ji had already loaded the ammunition, with a faint smile on his face: "Next time the prey is yours to shoot."

Min Xi said, "Okay, I'll try hunting, too."

The second prey they found was a deer. Min Xi turned around and asked Yun Ji softly, "Do you really want me to hunt it?"

Yun Ji nodded: "You shoot."

Min Xi aimed at the deer, and seeing that the deer had big and beautiful eyes, he moved the gun tip a little bit, and fired three times before lighting the gun. After a "bang" sound, the deer was frightened and ran away quickly.

Yun Ji was about to fire another shot, but Min Xi raised his hand and grabbed the gun barrel: "Forget it, Seventh Brother, let it go."

Yun Ji understood: "Did you do this on purpose?"

Min Xi said, "At the Duke's birthday banquet some time ago, they killed a lot of deer for their tendons and let them rest for another two years."

"I didn't expect my ninth brother to be so thoughtful." Yun Ji said, "Then we won't hunt deer, just some pheasants will be enough."

"Ah."

Min Xi fired two more shots later, but didn't hit anything. However, Yun Ji hunted a rabbit and a partridge.

After thinking that they had enough to eat, they returned along the same route. Fernando also came down. This guy was ruthless enough that he actually shot a wild goat.

It was definitely impossible to handle the goat in the wild, so they took the prey back to the Baron's estate, lit a bonfire in the yard, and roasted the whole goat.

Fernando took out his treasured wine and wanted to share it with the two of them. It turned out to be Shaoxing rice wine, and no one knew when it was brought here.

Yun Ji saw the familiar wine and did not refuse. Before the meat was ready, he started toasting with the baron.

Min Xi drank a little less because he was having a barbecue.

As night fell, a half-moon hung in the sky, making people feel that this moon was not much different from the moon in their hometown.

People get drunk by themselves, even if it's not wine. Yun Ji drank the wine from his hometown and couldn't help reciting poems, from "Singing to the wine, how long is life" to "Raising the cup to invite the bright moon, and the shadow and I become three people", and then from "Looking up at the bright moon, looking down and thinking of my hometown" to "When will the bright moon appear, I raise my cup to ask the blue sky"...

It was the first time for Min Xi to hear a real ancient person reciting poetry, and it was quite beautiful and rhythmic.

Fernando was drunk and was a bit noisy at first, but when he heard Yunji reciting poetry, he quieted down, listening with his head tilted, his mouth opening and closing from time to time. If you listened closely, you could see that he was actually imitating Yunji's reciting poetry.

Fernando walked over to Min Xi and asked, "What is Yun thinking about?"

Min Xi said: "He was reading ancient Chinese poetry."

"That sounds great!" said Fernando.

"Yes, the artistic conception is also very beautiful. If you are interested, you can learn Chinese and understand Chinese culture and thought," said Min Xi.

"Okay, I'm free anyway." Fernando agreed with a smile.

The wine was good tonight and the roast lamb was delicious.

Yun Ji got drunk in the end. When he went back, he leaned on Min Xi, hugged his arm, and rested his head on his shoulder.

Min Xi said, "Seventh Brother, are you missing home?"

Yun Ji did not answer, but closed his eyes and said: "Ninth brother, I'm lucky to have you, it's great to have you!"

Min Xi felt a little disappointed. After all, it was him who was too willful and dragged him to wander in a foreign country.

The next day, Yun Ji woke up with a headache. Thinking about what happened last night, he still remembered getting in the car, but he had no recollection of how he got back or how he went upstairs.

He looked down at his clothes and found that he had changed into his usual pajamas. He sniffed himself and found that there was no strong smell of alcohol, so he had obviously been cleaned.

Yun Ji looked at Min Xi and said, "Ninth brother, can you help me change my clothes?"

Min Xi, who was combing his hair, said, "What else? You were already fast asleep and I couldn't wake you up, so I carried you upstairs without even taking a shower. I changed your clothes and roughly wiped you off. Don't mind it."

"What should I mind? Ninth brother, just don't blame me for losing my composure after drinking." Yun Ji said.

Min Xi waved his hand: "Not really, Seventh Brother is a very good drinker. When he gets drunk he just sleeps and doesn't go crazy."

Yun Ji breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good." Fortunately, he didn't say anything nonsense when he was drunk.

Min Xi quickly tightened the hairband and asked, "Seventh Brother, what do you think of the shotgun from yesterday?"

"Not bad. But the ignition is still a little unreliable." Yun Ji said.

"This does need to be improved, and there should be a lot of room for improvement. Which one do you think is better compared to the bow and arrow?" Min Xi asked.

Yun Ji said: "For me, the bow and arrow is naturally better. There are not so many uncertainties."

"But this gun still has a lot of room for improvement. When the technology improves in the future, it can fire instantly or even continuously, and the range will be longer and the accuracy will be higher. This is not the case with bows and arrows. There is an upper limit to it. Even the most brave archer has a limited range." Min Xi said.

Yun Ji nodded: "What you said makes sense."

Min Xi said, "From the tone of the baron yesterday, it seems that it is not difficult to get guns. We can just buy them from the manufacturer. Before we go back, I want to buy a few and bring them back to our Ming Dynasty armorer for research."

Yun Ji looked at him and suddenly laughed: "Ninth brother, sometimes I feel like you are an imperial envoy of the court, and you are always considering the court in everything."