The journey of the only child of a peasant family to take the imperial examination

Speaking of this, Green Bean Eyes really wants to shed a tear for himself.

"Don't even mention it. The food at sea was terrible. I couldn't get used to the food from those small countries overseas. I was starving myself to death!"

Green Bean Eyes stretched out his hands and showed them to Zhang Pingan, "Look, look at my ten fingers. They are all covered with barbs. They bleed when they are torn. It's all caused by not eating well!"

Zhang Ping'an took a closer look and found that Green Bean Eyes' ten fingers were indeed in a terrible state. The backs of their nails were all curled up and there were dried blood stains. It was obvious that it was caused by vitamin deficiency.

"You should eat more vegetables and fruits. I'll ask Jianqiu to prepare some ointment for you. Try applying it," said Zhang Ping'an. He also felt sympathy for Green Bean Eyes. This was probably the first time that the young master had suffered so much since he was born!

"Jianqiu? Who is that?" Green Eyes asked curiously when he heard the unfamiliar name.

Zhang Ping'an patted his forehead, then he remembered that he had just met Chen Jianqiu when Green Bean Eyes went out to sea, so he introduced him, "He's an old friend of mine and also my best friend. I met him at the county school after you went out to sea. His family fell into poverty and some misfortunes happened. He only had one friend around him and no relatives or friends. So I kept him by my side as my advisor. His family used to be a well-known family of doctors, and he is a very good doctor. He can treat your headache or fever without any problem!"

"Oh, so that's the case. I'd like to meet him if there's a chance," nodded Green Eyes.

"By the way, where are the people who followed you out to sea?"

"Alas, half of them are dead and half are alive. The living half and the goods are in the inn, and the ship is at the dock. I couldn't wait to come to you as soon as I entered the city," replied Green Eyes with a sigh.

"Fortunately, you are fine. That's a blessing. What was the situation along the way?" Zhang Pingan asked with concern.

"When I first set sail, I headed south according to my original plan, passing through the Ryukyu Islands and the Qiongzhou Strait, and visited small countries such as Dai Viet, Laos, Siam, and Pagan. Although those countries were weak and their people were poor, their nobles were very fond of the silk, tea, porcelain, and precious Chinese medicines shipped from Daxia, and were willing to exchange them for gold and gems.

I don't have much capital, so going to a small country like this is the best choice for me. It can maximize profits and the journey is not too far.

"Everything went smoothly at first. I used some of the gold and gems I'd exchanged to buy sugar, spices, and some valuable wood locally. I also found you some high-yield grain seeds you were looking for," Green Bean Eyes recalled.

"The incident happened on the way back. Our ship passed through Ryukyu and was on its way to Penghu Island for supplies when we were forcibly extorted by the locals. It was called extortion, but in fact it was half robbery. Their country was poor and weak, and the people mostly made a living by sea trade and were not good at farming.

Moreover, merchant ships from surrounding areas generally do not go to Ryukyu to trade, because the people there are not only poor, but also barbaric and uneducated. The living gap between the upper-class samurai and the lower-class samurai and ordinary people is very large. The upper-class samurai can make profits through private trade, while the lives of the lower-class samurai and ordinary people are very hard.

Therefore, although they have a special geographical location and are a supply transit point for maritime trade, our merchant ships usually don't go there easily. This time, we really had no choice, and we ended up being robbed. The robbers were from the lower class nobles, and we almost died there!

"Ryukyu..." Zhang Pingan seemed to be lost in thought after hearing this. He remembered that in his history class in his previous life, his teacher had said that Ryukyu was a transit point for trade between Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia in ancient times, and was known as the "Bridge of All Nations."

It turns out that this "bridge of all nations" made a living by robbery in ancient times!

"Then you must have suffered a lot of losses this time you came back," Zhang Pingan asked.

"There were some losses, but they're still acceptable. Overall, we still made a profit, just not that much," Green Bean Eyes replied. "When we were in Ryukyu, we were lucky enough to run into another merchant ship from Daxia. We fought a battle with the Ryukyu people together, winning and losing half of them. The Ryukyu people also lost a lot of men. Seeing our desperate attitude, they finally sat down to negotiate. We paid them some tolls before we were able to leave."

"Then you should take a good rest this time when you come back," Zhang Ping'an patted Green Bean Eyes' shoulder and advised.

"After I've recovered a bit and sold the goods to exchange for silver, I'll have to continue my journey. Next time I'm going to Japan and Goryeo. High returns naturally come with high risks," said the man with green eyes narrowing his eyes.

He looks much more stable than before, and has the aura to stand on his own.

Zhang Ping'an could see that he had experienced a lot during this trip, and life in Ryukyu was definitely not as simple as he said, and the whole process must have been extremely thrilling.

"Oh, that's the friend Chen Jianqiu I told you about. He has a friend named Wu. It is said that his family has been doing business for generations and doing overseas trade. You can get to know him and learn from him. He was also captured by pirates when he was doing business on the sea. Then he happened to be rescued by people from our government when they were suppressing the pirates. Now he works in the county post house." Zhang Ping'an suddenly thought of such a person, who might be able to help Green Bean Eyes.

"The surname is Wu, and they have been doing business for generations. Could it be the Wu family from Jiaozhou?" Green Bean Eyes asked in surprise.

Zhang Pingan waved his hand: "I don't know if it's the Wu family in Jiaozhou that you know, but the household registration card is indeed in Jiaozhou."

"That's probably true. Most businessmen won't easily become maritime merchants without some strength and connections. I didn't expect the Wu family to be so bold. The north has been beaten into a sieve, but they still dare to send ships out." Green Eyes smiled, and there was some appreciation in his eyes.

After resting for a while, Green Bean Eyes had almost recovered and stood up, saying, "Come on, let's go to the inn. I brought back a lot of seeds this time. You can try planting them in your experimental field to see if these seeds can adapt to the climate and soil of Ci County. If they can, many people will no longer suffer from hunger."

"So magical?" Zhang Pingan stood up and said.

"The Annam rice I brought back this time was specifically sourced from Dai Viet. This variety of rice is highly drought-tolerant and adaptable to arid environments, making it particularly suitable for growing in hilly and mountainous areas with poor water resources. It also requires low soil fertility and isn't finicky. Most importantly," Green Bean Eyes emphasized, "Annan rice only takes about two months from sowing to harvesting, and the shortest variety takes just over fifty days. In Dai Viet, they harvest two or even three times a year, greatly increasing grain production."

"Champa rice?" Zhang Ping'an suddenly thought of something and blurted out.

"What?" Green Bean Eyes didn't quite hear clearly. After realizing what was happening, he asked in confusion, "Where is that?"

"Nothing," Zhang Pingan shook his head, "Take me to see it!"

"Hehe, these are the seeds that I, Ge Li, have carefully selected. I picked them all carefully locally. As long as the situation like 'oranges grown in the south of the Huai River are oranges, while those grown in the north of the Huai River are tangerines' doesn't happen, then I can't go wrong," Ge Li said with a smile.