Lady of the Lord From the East - Chapter 149

In the world that originally belonged to Wei Wei, the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea were not adjacent, but the artificially excavated Suez Canal linked them together.

But in the parallel world she came through, the Eurasian continent was divided into two disconnected continents, and there was even a strait called Suez between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea.

At this time, on this strait that borders Asia and Africa, and which will also become the main channel for people from Asia, Africa, and European countries in the future, there is a unique fleet riding the wind and waves, heading for the Mediterranean Sea. go with.

More than 50 ships of different types, sizes, and purposes sailed on the sea, led by several huge treasure ships with a length of 44 feet and 4 feet and a width of 18 feet (151.18 meters in length and 61.6 meters in width). This ship is as tall as a building and can carry thousands of people. There are 12 giant sails hanging on 9 masts on the ship.

In addition to the treasure ships that are commanded by the commander and the envoys to ride and carry treasures, there are also “horse ships” used for large-scale rapid water warfare and transportation, as well as food and logistics supplies for the fleet. The “grain boat” of the army, the “water boat” for the soldiers to live in, and the “war boat” that can be called the originator of the army.

If someone who is familiar with history and has some knowledge of ships sees this fleet, they will surely exclaim that it is impossible, because this configuration and type of ships should have been completed in the Ming Dynasty more than 100 years ago. Only the configuration of the “Zheng He Fleet” that appeared.

But now it is so miraculously early in history.

Seeing this, you should know where this super-large fleet came from.

This is a fleet set up by the current emperor of China personally. The entire fleet has a total of more than 20,000 people. Their task is to go all the way to the west. develop trade.

This fleet has been in preparation for a long time, but it was only able to set sail at the beginning of this year. Because the battle between the Great Song Dynasty and the Great Mongolian Kingdom was at the most critical period, and now, the Great Mongolian Kingdom was defeated. Although the country was not destroyed, it was He also retreated to the northwest, trapped in a corner and difficult to recover.

After winning the war, it is natural to begin to cultivate and recuperate, and because of the excessive consumption of national strength during the war, Da Song will naturally find a way to make up for it, but without Mongolia’s obstruction, Da Song wants to cross the strait to communicate with European countries. It was much easier, so the long-planned “Going to the West” activity began like this.

This voyage is the first voyage of this fleet, and the destination is the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, and this is the first time that a Chinese ship has entered this sea area.

Since then, trade exchanges between people of various countries in the three major sectors of Asia, Europe and Africa have been opened.

Such a huge fleet that has never been seen before suddenly appeared in the Mediterranean, and naturally attracted the attention of people from all over the world. Before that, European countries had been devastated by the Mongolians, and the strange fleet from the Far East made them extremely vigilant, but looking at Look at the other party’s huge treasure ship that is more than 100 meters long and can accommodate thousands of people, and then look at the “small boat” that is only a few dozen meters long, what else can you do? Of course it was received with care.

Fortunately, the people from the Song Dynasty are here to do business. The members of the delegation headed by visiting the lords of various countries in a friendly manner, while rudely slaughtering the fat sheep with the Chinese products they brought, and earning a boatload of gold. silver.

Shortly after entering the Mediterranean Sea, the fleet heard from another maritime caravan that there was a very famous countess in the Prady Empire, and the other party was actually from their Song Dynasty.

This attracted the attention of the embassies, especially after I heard that the Countess’s Sardinson County has many precious and rare commodities, and the embassies who originally intended to visit the Prady Empire discussed it. , decided to make a stop in Sardinson to visit the lady.

And when the fleet arrived, the pier in Sloot County had not been fully built, but some ships could already be docked, but this small semi-finished pier was naturally impossible for all the fleets to dock, so in the end most of the ships They only stopped on the sea in the distance, and only sent a boat to contact the workers on the dock.

But when she received the biography of flying pigeons from Slot, Wei Wei wondered if she had heard it wrong.

“What did you say?”

Felix, who ran to inform his wife after receiving the letter, repeated: “The knights of Slot have sent news that a fleet from China has appeared in the waters, and they should be from your homeland. “

For a moment, Wei Wei felt that the world was mysterious. She never thought that she would meet a fleet from China one day.

But after she calmed down a bit, she quickly accepted this reality.

After all, she didn’t forget that in China, there is still a senior, and the other party is now the emperor of the Great Song Dynasty. Since this senior can lead the Song people to defeat Mongolia, then it is nothing to get a fleet to go to the West. Impossible.

Wei Wei: “Are they just passing by, or are they going to stay with us for a while?”

“It should be staying for a while. They seem to plan to do some business with us.” This is also the main reason why Fei Ge passed the book. If the other party wants to go ashore to have a look, they must first ask the owner’s meaning.

Hearing that those people were coming, Wei Wei was both happy and nervous. She was happy that although these people were ancients, they were all Chinese people with yellow skin and dark eyes. She had not seen the faces of the East for a long time. She really missed them and was nervous. It was Wei Wei who didn’t forget that her origins were fake. Although the system had guaranteed that there would be no problems, she was still a little worried that she would be exposed.

But thinking about it, it shouldn’t be possible. The identity that the system made up for her is still a daughter of a wealthy family in China, and she left her homeland with her parents because of the war when she was very young to avoid disasters. In that so-called homeland, she has If someone asks about her life in the past, she only needs to say that she doesn’t remember a lot of things when she was young. After all, she is a girl, and she was raised in her boudoir when she was a child. .

Prepare yourself mentally, Wei Wei is no longer nervous. As soon as she looks up, she sees Felix looking at herself with a worried look, and some doubts: “What’s wrong?”

“You…will you want to go back with them?”

Although he knew it was unlikely, Felix couldn’t help but start worrying about this issue when he heard that Huaxia’s fleet was coming.

Wei Wei was stunned: “What are you thinking? You and little Anthony are here, why should I go back with them?”

Wei Wei didn’t have any feelings for the so-called Da Song. Before, she wanted to go back because she felt that life in Europe was not good, and she still wanted to see some familiar faces.

But now, she has a family and relatives, and life in Sardinson is going well. She is stupid to leave these back.

And there is a senior there. It is estimated that this time the Da Song fleet will go to Prady and go back, and that senior will find her like her. After all, what Wei Wei has done over the years is the same In front of the transmigrators, she could not stand scrutiny, and the crops she brought out did not belong to the crops that Europe and Asia should have at this time, which is the best proof.

Wei Wei didn’t want to bet on her senior’s attitude towards her, let alone now, even if her senior died in the future, she didn’t plan to set foot on the land of China. Who knows if he would leave any secrets to his descendants.

So, never seeing each other is the best way to save your life.

Of course, it is okay for the king to see the king, but friendly exchanges are still necessary.

If nothing else, as long as she thinks about the value of Huaxia’s silk, porcelain, tea and other products in Europe, she can’t wait to meet those people and talk about business.

With Wei Wei’s assurance, Felix’s little worries naturally disappeared.

Although Wei Wei can’t wait to fly to the port now to see what good things the people of Song Dynasty have brought, it takes three days to travel by carriage from Sardinson to Sloter, and two to fly pigeons. It’s been an hour, and when they receive a reply, they will naturally agree to let them go. When they go there, Song people come to them, maybe they will bump into them on the road.

And people said it very clearly that they hoped to visit Sardinson.

So after thinking about it, Wei Wei finally decided to stay in the castle and wait for the guests.

However, after the release, the number of people still needs to be controlled. After all, there are more than 20,000 people in the whole fleet.

“It’s best to limit the number of people to less than 200. Too many people can easily cause problems.” After Wei Wei finished speaking, she asked him, “Would you like to send someone to pick you up?”

After all, it is a guest. Although the time is a bit rushed, it is still necessary to be enthusiastic.

Felix nodded: “I asked Kingsley to lead the team for a run, and he happened to be in Melk right now, close by.”

Kingsley and Beerus have been promoted to the commander and deputy commander of the Knights since the last bandit suppression. He has not participated in the monthly replacement of the Knights. In most cases, he is in Sardinson County, instead of inconvenient travel. Felix patrols the territory, keeping everything safe.

Although Kingsley is not a noble, his identity as the head of the Knights is still very suitable to replace Felix to welcome guests.

Kingsley, who received the summons, quickly took the soldiers to meet the Song Dynasty mission.

Originally, he was a little worried about the language barrier on the way, but after meeting people, he found that although most of these people from the same country as the Countess did not speak Prady’s language, they brought with them proficient Latin. The translation of the embassy, ​​and the ambassador in charge of the embassy will also say that the accent is a bit strange.

Latin was the living language used by Europeans to communicate in daily life during this period. It was also the international language of Europe and the official language of the church. Basically, people of some identities could speak Latin well.

The members of the Knights can basically speak Latin, and with the help of translators, communication between the two sides is not a problem.

The members of the mission were curious about everything about Sardinson, especially the countess.

They have traveled to a lot of places along the way, with different customs and customs, but in the eyes of the Song Dynasty people, who are self-proclaimed kingdoms of the Celestial Empire, although these countries are still interesting, they are all uncivilized and wild places. Still look down on these western countries.

And the most important point is that the food culture of Song Dynasty is very different from that of other countries. Although they have tasted a lot of specialties from various countries along the way, there are very few that can really be called satisfying.

And the Great Celestial Dynasty is known as a food-loving country, but not in later generations.

If you don’t eat well, you will be in a bad mood, and if you are in a bad mood, you will naturally be more ruthless.

But after entering Slaughter, that kind of bad mood because of bad food is gone.

The various delicacies that are popular in Sardinson today all originated from Wei Wei. She was originally a foodie in the Chinese Dynasty, and her taste is in line with most Chinese people, and the recipes of later generations can be more perfect than today’s, plus The food is abundant and rich, and it accommodates all kinds of special spices and seasonings from China and the West. Today’s Sardinian cuisine is definitely the most suitable for the Song Dynasty mission in the entire European continent.

Therefore, it is natural to eat all the way along the way, from Thrott’s seafood to Melk’s canned instant noodles and fish, and then to Dingle’s various delicacies, which almost overwhelmed the goodwill of the delegation.

What they saw and heard along the way was an eye-opener for them.

At the time when they came, the high yield of crops such as sweet potatoes, corn and potatoes was still the subject of gossip among the residents. Although ordinary residents could not speak Latin, there were translators proficient in Latin in the mission. They don’t understand Prady’s language, but they can ask Kingsley and others, and the latter will not hide when they are asked what the territorial people are discussing. They hear what they say, so about sweet potatoes and potatoes The news of corn just reached the ears of the Song people, and attracted their shock and side glances.

As I said before, the emperor of the Song Dynasty was also a transmigrator. He was a military enthusiast himself, and he also had golden fingers when transmigrating. One of them was that, like Wei Wei, he was reborn as a prince with high-yield crops.

However, the system that sent the emperor over was different from the rookie system Wei Wei encountered. It was a system that was proficient in business and would not be fooled. Therefore, when the emperor crossed over, he only got two crops, corn and rice, and not later generations. The high-yielding varieties are relatively earlier varieties, and their yields are naturally not comparable to those of later generations. At present, the highest yield of corn planted in Da Song is about 800 catties per mu, and it is still the yield that can only be grown in high-quality fields.

And potatoes and sweet potatoes, they don’t have them there.

In addition to trading with other countries this time, the emperor also gave them an order to bring back as many plants as possible that were not available in China, the more valuable the better.

And along the way, they did find a lot of valuable plants, and collected a lot of seeds to bring back to China. But after hearing about the high-yield crops in Sardinson, everyone realized that they were promoted and made a fortune. Here comes the opportunity.

Such a high-yield crop, if you take anything back, you can make the emperor’s heart very happy, not to mention that there seems to be more than one here.

Especially in addition to these three grains, they also found a lot of special fruits and vegetables in Sardinson, such as strawberries, tomatoes, watermelons, which have begun to popularize in Sardinson.

Along the way, apart from the delicious food, what impressed the delegation the most was the lush green vegetable and fruit fields in front of and behind the houses of the Sardinsons.

And because they came just in time, most of these fruits and vegetables are in the ripening stage. For these foreign guests who come from the same excessive as the Countess, although they have never seen them before, it does not prevent the residents from giving out 100%. Twenty people warmly entertained them, so those fruits and vegetables they have never seen before can be said to have been eaten along the way.

Each of them feels like a variety that will be rewarded when brought back.

The more they walked, the more they felt that they had come to the right. Originally, they were just curious about what the woman who came from the same place as them could get from this temporary operation, but they didn’t have much hope. The perfumes and cosmetics of the company are very famous, but Huaxia also has these now. At most, the fragrance is different. For them, these things are not really attractive.

But seeing those crops in Sardinson, those thoughts changed completely.

The members of the mission discussed privately and agreed that this time, no matter what the cost, they would bring back those high-yielding crops.

They even regretted that they were late. If they were earlier, they might have caught up with Sardinson to sell those high-yielding crops, which would make it much easier to buy them. Now, most of the output is sold by Other merchants bought it, and those merchants have probably contacted the seller. If they want to buy, they can only hope that there is still excess production in Sardinson County.

But at the same time, they also wondered where the countess got so many strange plants. The people of Sardinson all said that the countess brought them from China, but they know for themselves. Except for corn, there are none of those crops in Huaxia. It is said that they were found from other countries on the road, but they also came all the way from Huaxia, but why have they never heard of these plants along the way?

The people in the mission are all human beings. As soon as they think about it, they know that there must be secrets here, but they are just tacit, and they don’t even know the identity of the other party. Now is the time to ask others, and they are from others On the site, it’s better not to inquire about this kind of thing.

The news that the Song Dynasty embassy appeared in Sardinson spread quickly, and their appearance and dress that were different from others also attracted everyone’s attention, especially the clothes on their bodies were cut from silk and satin, and these In the eyes of others, clothing is not only novel but also unusually luxurious.

In the past, everyone said that everyone in the Silk Country in the East wore clothes made of silk, but they thought it was impossible. Now, after seeing the delegation, they found that this is actually true (not). Thinking about it this way, that The country is worthy of being a big country that can defeat the Mongols, and it is indeed rich and powerful.

The arrival of the Huaxia mission also attracted the attention of the merchants. They naturally knew that these people were the best sellers and customers. Even if they just bought a piece of silk from them, they could sell for a good price. Waiting eagerly to do business with them.

It’s a pity that the delegation did not plan to do business with these people. They did it with the owner of Sardinson County.

Wei Wei waited for three days at the castle, and then she saw the Great Song mission.

This sailing team formed by the emperor of the Song Dynasty is not only male. When they visit various countries, they need to have a good relationship with the leaders of the countries. It is natural for this lady to communicate with each other. Therefore, many members of the embassy brought wives and concubines. Since the main purpose was to deal with Wei Wei, they naturally brought their family members over.

These people naturally wear official uniforms when they visit, and the Song Dynasty officials’ black gauze caps are very distinctive. Compared with the men’s clothing, the ladies’ dress is dazzling, and the clothes are full of pearls, which is completely different from the simplicity and conservativeness advocated in Europe at this time.

And when Wei Wei looked at them, these people were also observing Wei Wei.

They were surprised by Wei Wei’s youth, but also by her beauty. These messengers of the Song Dynasty were born in the powerful, and they had seen countless beauties in the past, but few of them could compare with Wei Wei.

“The humble house is shabby, and I hope all adults don’t dislike it.” Wei Wei performed a standard Wanfu ceremony (not the Manchu kind), while speaking in pure Song Dynasty official language, without a trace of local accent, listening to it as if The pearls fall on the jade plate, which is pleasant and crisp, and elegant and gentle.

“Where, Madam, you’re welcome.”

Afterwards, Wei Wei recommended each other for them and Felix. After a while, the people on both sides had a very good first impression of each other and entered the castle together.

Entering the castle, food has been prepared for them in the castle.

In the past three days, in order to receive the delegation from the Great Song Dynasty, Wei Wei spent a lot of time making preparations. First, she asked the servants to clean up enough guest rooms, and then taught the kitchen to prepare pure Chinese dishes. Forgot to find a carpenter to make a batch of bamboo chopsticks out of bamboo for their use.

Today, the capital of the Song Dynasty is still Kaifeng, so Wei Wei’s specially prepared Chinese dishes are mainly Kaifeng dishes, such as white grilled tofu, sweet Dongpo pork, spiced fish, braised meatballs, yellow braised chicken, etc., can be prepared according to the original recipe. Just follow the original recipe, and use other seasonings if the ingredients are not together, but the taste is similar.

In order to cater to the eating habits of Chinese people, the restaurant does not have long tables, but separate tables. Although this table is not a round table, but looking at the delicious dishes full of aroma, who has the heart to care about it? what about this.

The mission members, who had eaten all the way, saw the unusually familiar dishes on the table, and their favorability to Wei Wei soared by another level. To be able to see familiar food in such a foreign country, right? For them who have been floating at sea for almost a year, they are really nostalgic.

In particular, these dishes are not only delicious, but also very authentic in taste. If they don’t look at the surrounding environment, they will think that they have returned to Bianjing.

“I originally thought that I would be able to eat familiar dishes after I went back, but I didn’t expect to be here to be so pleasantly surprised. It’s really thanks to the hospitality of my wife.”

Huaxia pays attention to different seats for men and women, but the members of the embassy know that when entering a foreign country, they naturally follow the customs here, so everyone takes their wives to the seat, and when they talk to Wei Wei, they do not taboo.

In the face of such a compliment, Wei Wei naturally smiled.

Chinese people like to talk about business and affairs at the dinner table. Although they are in a foreign country now, obviously, this habit has not changed, especially these mission members have been thinking about those crops, so after three rounds of wine, I feel that the atmosphere is just right. Naturally, some people feel that the opportunity is suitable, and can’t wait to turn the topic to those crops.

The author has something to say: the contact between China and the West begins.