Lady of the Lord From the East - Chapter 151

After Felix was laughed at by Wei Wei, he also felt that his question was a little naive. Although he was not curious about how those seeds came from, he still kept his promise and never asked about it again.

The drawings of the ship were hidden by Felix’s news. He originally planned to invite a shipbuilding team to work for him after the dock was built. Now that he has this treasure, he decided to increase the safety of the dock to the highest level. The workers inside are all slaves, and it must be kept secret.

However, it is not an easy thing to buy a slave who can build a ship. After thinking about it for a while, Felix sent someone to send a letter to the slave trader Baird Baritt, asking him to help him pay attention.

Today, the number of slaves in Sardinson has increased to nearly 3,000, most of which were sent by Baird Bartlett, and most of them were slaves from other countries. However, since the end of the foreign war, slaves The number has been significantly reduced, only a few dozen or so at a time, he does not need to make a special trip, just let the boat to and from Sardinson drop by the way, but although the number is much smaller, but the slaves The quality of the slaves has obviously improved a lot. Basically, they are slaves with good skills. The price is naturally much more expensive than ordinary slaves, but it is worth the money.

It would take several years to find this ship. As soon as the drawings were handed in, Wei Wei ran back to look at the tea she bought.

The 50 tons of tea leaves are quite a lot. Wei Wei checked the batch of tea after it was delivered. There are many kinds of tea leaves. Wei Wei can’t distinguish the specific types of these tea leaves if she doesn’t understand tea leaves, but black tea and green tea can still be distinguished. It came out, probably to cater for the tastes of Westerners. Most of the tea sold by the Song Dynasty Mission is black tea, green tea only accounts for a small part, but the quality is very average. Wei Wei tried to make it, and it felt like an ancient costume. The kind sold by the country shop in the play can drink a big bowl for a penny.

But the price they brought out and sold was about one tael per pound or even more expensive. She no longer wanted to calculate the difference in price.

Moreover, these tea leaves have been floating on the sea for more than half a year, and it is inevitable that some of them are damp, and even some of them are seriously damp. When you squeeze them with your hands, the tea leaves that should have been broken still remain as they are. It can be seen that although these tea leaves have not yet become moldy, they are coming soon.

The knight who received the goods didn’t understand this, so naturally he couldn’t find the problem with the tea leaves when he received the goods, and thought that these tea leaves were supposed to be like this.

Although she had already made some preparations for the situation of these tea leaves, Wei Wei’s face turned green after seeing it.

As long as there is no mold, the damp tea leaves can still be drunk after drying, but the color and fragrance will be affected. If this is placed in Huaxia, I am afraid that it will not be sold. Wei Wei feels that her asking price is still too low, she should be more ruthless a little.

But what if you buy it all.

Taking advantage of the good weather, Wei Wei hurriedly organized people to dry the tea leaves. Da Song Tea likes to make tea cakes, which is also convenient for transportation, but it is a little more troublesome to dry. The situation is much better than those loose teas that are not suitable for making tea cakes.

And those that are really too wet to drink don’t need to be thrown away, they can be disposed of and used as deodorant conditioners.

When the tea leaves were almost dry, Wei Wei began to teach everyone how to use these tea leaves.

There are many benefits of drinking tea. When it was first introduced to Europe, it was used as a medicine. Wei Wei naturally did not forget to introduce the benefits of tea to everyone, but the most important reason why she bought so much tea was because of tea. Can get rid of the fishy smell of milk.

At this time, dairy products were indispensable in Europeans’ eating habits, especially fresh milk. Almost everyone in a good family would drink a cup every day. They were used to the milky smell of milk, but when Wei Wei let people soak it well The tea was mixed with milk, and some sugar was added to make milk tea for everyone to taste. The castle and the castle immediately fell in love with the taste.

When most people don’t understand health care, it is false to say that drinking tea has any benefits. From the beginning, tea leaves are similar to the herbal tea they often drink in summer, and many people don’t like the slightly bitter taste. Yes, but as soon as milk tea appeared, it was immediately liked by everyone.

Dolores was the first person to be addicted to it. She often drinks tea with Wei Wei. She can accept the taste of all kinds of scented tea and herbal tea after drinking. The same is true for tea, but she doesn’t like it much, and there are many Luo Lisi can usually drink tea grown by Wei Wei herself, and she can taste the difference between new tea and damp old tea. For the newly bought tea, she doesn’t want to drink it again after drinking it once.

But young girls don’t like to drink milk tea. Milk and sugar cover up the shortcomings of tea leaves after they are wet, and this drinking method was invented by European countries themselves, and it is the most suitable for their tastes. Wei Wei soaked it at first. A pot of milk tea for everyone to drink, she killed half of it by herself, even the youngest Caroline, after taking a sip, she held her cup, and even after drinking, she held it up Looking at Wei Wei with an empty glass, she begged her to pour another glass.

Wei Wei was so cute that she gave her another half cup. The little guy quickly drank the half cup. He burped milk and wanted to ask for more. Wei Wei had to coax her gently this time. She will drink it next time.

The quality of these tea leaves was damaged, and the shelf life was more than half passed. They could not be stored for too long and had to be used up early. Therefore, after everyone in the castle tasted black tea and said they liked it, Wei Wei kept a batch of tea leaves for the castle’s own use. She also gave some to the knights and servants. In addition to these, there were about 20 tons of tea leaves, which she sent to make milk tea and sell.

People who came to Sardinson recently found that there is another good thing here. It is said to be a drink called tea from the East. The taste of tea alone is a bit bitter, but adding milk and sugar to make milk tea, It will become very delicious, and if paired with a sweet and soft cake, it will be a supremely enjoyable afternoon tea.

Yes, the Countess who started to sell milk tea did not only sell one drink alone, but made it together with afternoon tea, and even made cakes with the baker of the castle, and then on the edge of Dingle Square. After opening a cake shop, there is a row of tables and chairs at the entrance of the shop, a awning is placed, and some flowers and plants are arranged beautifully and neatly. Coupled with a pot of milk tea, three or two friends sit and chat together, the most relaxed and leisurely.

This kind of leisure was quickly welcomed by everyone. The cake shop quickly became another leisure place for everyone besides the tavern. Not only in the afternoon, but all day long, the seat at the door was full of people. In a place with many people, everyone consciously lowered the volume so as not to disturb other people. Here, people can feel a completely different atmosphere from that of a tavern.

The emergence of cake shops is especially popular with ladies. It is impossible for women to go to the bar every day like men. They usually don’t have any suitable leisure and entertainment places. They usually have to take care of the old and young at home. The days are busy and monotonous. I couldn’t be happier to have a more suitable place, and as long as you order the same product, you can sit at the door for as long as you like. Gradually, this place has become one of the holy places that young men and women must come to on a date.

However, if there are too many guests, there will always be not enough seats. Fortunately, the store also provides packaging services. They will pack the delicate and delicious cakes in cardboard boxes. For milk tea, you can rent a container for a small amount of money and return the deposit. You can also bring your own container to pack, one-hand cake and one-hand milk tea, take it home, and you will immediately become the most popular person. All children, no matter how big or small, will turn around you, just want to eat a cake and drink a sip of milk tea.

Although the prices of cakes and milk tea in this cake shop are a little expensive, they are still within the acceptable range of everyone, and everyone’s life is better now, not to mention going every day, go there once a week or eat or buy by yourself You can go home.

Soon the cake shop also opened a branch. The remaining two towns, Slot, and even Princia opened a branch at the invitation of Allen, and the business in each place was booming. Profits are excellent.

After the cake shop opened, not only will new cakes be served every once in a while, but so is milk tea, and unlike cakes whose recipes are kept secret, there are no secrets in the making of milk tea. What everyone lacks is only tea leaves. That’s it.

Moreover, the shelf life of the cake is only a few days, and without the recipe, it can only be eaten in the cake shop in Sardinson, and the milk tea seems to be sold anywhere as long as there are raw materials.

Business people are most interested in making money.

Wei Wei originally intended to promote tea, and if this large amount of tea is not sold out as soon as possible, it will be bad sooner or later. It is impossible to use up the consumption of the Sardinians before it expires, so Wei Wei naturally needs to find more buyers. So she asked the cake shop people not to hide when they made tea, and she generously announced the production process. In this way, when someone asked, she would specially introduce the origin and benefits of tea. Interested in tea.

Many people know the origin of tea, and the Song Dynasty mission is still wandering around the Mediterranean Sea, but their tea was wrapped up by Wei Wei, and naturally there is no way to sell it to others, so if everyone wants tea, they can only find Wei Wei. Wei.

Wei Wei calculated the inventory. After ensuring that the five stores were enough for a year, the rest were sold. As for the fact that they would not have any tea for the mission after they were used up, there was no need to worry about the fact that her tea trees were already available. It has been planted for three years, and it can be harvested normally next year. The scale of planting has also been expanded in the past few years. It may not be possible to sell in large quantities, but it is no problem to ensure the normal use of several stores.

And the price she sells tea is slightly lower than that offered by the Song Dynasty mission. After all, the quality of tea is not very good. Even though the price was lower than what the mission gave, she still made a lot of money, which made up for the feeling of being cheated.

After these teas were sold, they were indeed very popular, and because the quantity was too small, the prices were raised a lot by the merchants again. In this way, there were still many nobles waving their money bags to buy them.

Tea was known in everyone’s rush to buy it, and everyone’s acceptance of it is very high. I want to wait for the Song Dynasty’s fleet to come back in the future, and their tea will become as popular as silk and porcelain.

Speaking of silk and porcelain, Wei Wei also bought a lot from the Song Dynasty embassies. Of these two items, the former has a very high value in Europe. It has not been introduced to Europe before, but its brilliance will not be concealed anywhere. It attracted the attention of European countries almost as soon as it appeared. It is regarded as a treasure and its value is no lower than silk.

It is said that after the Song Dynasty embassy arrived in the capital of Prady, the king bought a lot of silk and porcelain from them at a high price, and even held a court banquet to show off his new collection.

Seeing that people put the purchased china on the shelf for people to enjoy, and then look at the china tableware used to hold food on the dining table in her castle, Wei Wei silently sighed at her luxury, and then continued to be so extravagant.

In this regard, even Felix and others didn’t think it was anything. The first porcelain they saw was Wei Wei’s two sets of exquisite tableware. After marriage, if two people ate alone, Felix and Wei Wei would eat together. He is used to using the two sets of tableware together, and Wei Wei’s tableware is of much better quality than the newly bought china. After watching it for a long time, Felix is ​​naturally not as impressed by the new china as others. .

And the tableware was originally used. They bought so many sets. Why not save a few sets for their own use? If they are used up, they will be placed on the shelves and decorated with the flow.

This time, Wei Wei bought hundreds of sets of porcelain and 200 pieces of silk from the Song Dynasty embassy. They chose some of their favorites to keep, and most of the rest were sold. For this batch of goods , those businessmen almost broke their heads, and Wei Wei made a fortune.

The upsurge caused by the arrival of the Song Dynasty embassy continued until they left the Mediterranean and were talked about by everyone, but when the embassy returned, they took the waterway on the other side of the Mediterranean, and did not pass through Sardinson again, Wei said. Wei quickly left them behind.

After the autumn sowing in September, the attention of the Sardinsons turned to the new year’s exams.

And this month, in addition to the civil service exam, there is also the long-prepared knight promotion exam. Of course, it is not to award knights with knights, but to let knight attendants go through the competition and select a group of outstanding ones to be promoted to knights in advance.

The civil service exam was the same as last year, with questions written by Wei Wei and Felix. The participants took the written exam in the front court of the castle, and then took the oral exam. Compared with last year, the quality of candidates this year has improved a lot, and the number of candidates has also increased. There are more than 20,000 people who have signed up, and three-quarters of them are people who came from other regions to take the test.

The education level of the people in Sardinson is not high, and there are relatively few readers, but that was before. Wei Wei started to focus on education since last year. Although the school is still doing the final repair work, the teachers have already been recruited. These The teacher had replaced the work of the little serfs before and was responsible for teaching the people in Sardinson. Their knowledge was higher than that of the little serfs, and they had more experience in class. After teaching for a year, the children in the manor had all the education level. A small improvement.

However, this improvement has not yet allowed them to take the civil service exam. Last year, many people in Sardinson only wanted to try their luck. They didn’t even pass the first written test. Fewer people took the test in Sardinson than last year.

The foreign candidates are attracted by the benefits of civil servants. Last year, the publicity of the examinations in Sardinson was average. Many people did not know that officials were recruiting here. Later, they found out and regretted that they did not meet them. So when I heard that this year Also, come to Sardinson early to prepare for the exam, and many of these people will find temporary jobs here while waiting for the exam, usually to be teachers, and there are them, the villages and towns of Sardinson. There are so many suitable teachers to teach children.

This year’s exam paper is more difficult than last year’s, but with last year’s exam experience, everyone knows what knowledge to consolidate ahead of time, so the number of passers in the first written exam has increased several times, and almost half of them have passed.

In the second interview, neither Felix nor Wei Wei participated, but handed over to their officials. Dingle’s trial government has been established for more than a year. Now that it is well organized, each department has its own experience, they know what kind of talents they need, and the candidates selected by the interview will be more suitable than those selected by the Earl and his wife.

Of course, beating is unavoidable, and all the possibility of using power for personal gain must be eliminated from the root, so when these people were interviewing, Felix also sent a few confidants to the town. They did not participate in the interview, but would review the interviewer. Whether it is fair or not, with them, the interviewer should be a lot more careful when questioning.

After the final two exams, after the list of qualified candidates came out, the promotion competition for knight attendants officially began.

The knight attendants who follow the knights are actually not too far from officially becoming knights, but the original Earl Williams could not support so many knights, so these knight attendants either make a living after graduation, or You have to wait for a knight to retire before you can be promoted. The former is very difficult, because all nobles like to use knights they have cultivated. For outsiders, except for those who have performed exceptionally well, they generally do not accept knight reserves that they did not cultivate themselves. .

As for Sardinson’s knighthood, it can only be said that the level of knighthood is very average. Raising knights is a costly project. The old earl doesn’t have so much financial resources, and the knights who follow him can only be said to be barely adequate, not to mention those who have no fiefs and only a few Salary knight squire.

Those knight servants also know that it is almost impossible for them to find a master who is willing to accept them when they go out to work hard, so many knight servants, even if they are old and have enough learning, are not willing to graduate and leave, preferring to stay and wait for their teachers to retire and give them the position , and do not want to leave here.

However, since Felix took office, everyone’s living standards have improved dramatically, especially the members of the Knights. After the food has become better, their physique has become much stronger, and they are also strong and strong, and they are not stingy when training. , this level has naturally increased.

Now Felix has decided to promote another batch of knights, and there are still a lot of places. Basically, as long as this group of knight attendants performs well in the competition, they will have the opportunity to be promoted to knights. The so-called competition knights are just a passing game.

Satinson did not have an arena dedicated to the written test, so the knight promotion competition was arranged in the pasture. The flat grass was very suitable for knights to charge, and there was a fence around it. The contestants on both sides were fully armed, with shields in one hand and the other in hand. Guns, face-to-face confrontation in the cheers of the crowd, until one side falls off the horse, the side that stays on the horse is the winner.

Of course, because this competition is mainly to check the training results of the knights and attendants, their opponents are not each other but real knights. If you don’t lose a minute, you will pass the test.

In addition, these knights and servants also have bow and arrow and swordsmanship competitions. After three competitions, there are other rewards for those who perform well, and those who pass can also be promoted. It’s really too bad… Well, it’s really like that, It is estimated that he was driven away by his teacher long ago, and it is impossible to serve as a knight attendant all the time.

The game was held in the manor. It was not easy for the people outside to watch the game, but the people in the manor were fine. Today, Wei Wei specially gave the castle a holiday so that they could go to the ranch to watch the game for at least half a day. Have fun with the people.

Hank was brought here by his younger brother Chimi. Because of his outstanding performance, Chimi was favored by a knight. He was chosen to be a servant boy and studied with his senior brother. This time his senior brother also participated in the competition. If he can be promoted By becoming a knight, Chimi will be the only student by the teacher’s side, and he can be taught by the teacher himself.

Although he doesn’t hate the teaching of his senior brother, but if he can get the teacher’s personal guidance, Chimi looks forward to it even more.

There are also many children who are similar to his guests. Among the small serfs at the time, many talented boys have been selected to be servants. As long as they are willing to work hard, they will be the new generation of Sardinson in the future. the knight.

With his little stature, Chimi pulled his brother and squeezed into the crowd of high spirits, sticking in front of the fence, watching the contestants inside, and when his senior brother came on stage, he immediately waved and shouted. , When the person on the horse also waved to him, the screams burst out.

“Look Hank! It’s Charlie! He’ll win! He’s the best!”

Hank, who was squeezed out of the body, glanced at the knight attendant who couldn’t even see his face with his mask down. He didn’t know how he recognized the person.

But that didn’t affect his good mood.

In the past, it was impossible for people born like them to have the opportunity to become knights. When Hank heard Chimi express his wish, although he gave him encouragement, he also knew that it was almost impossible. He wanted to work hard at that time. Make yourself better to be appreciated by the Count, and earn a lot of money to find a knight teacher for Chimi.

But now, before he started to make money, Chimi has become a knight’s servant, thinking about it is like a dream.

But the loud cheers and cheers in his ears told him that all this was true.

This is great.

The author has something to say: After reading the message in the previous chapter, I really feel that my mood is very delicate. I don’t know how some people associate shipbuilding with fighting the Great Song Dynasty. Don’t say that shipbuilding technology should not be taken out , To tell the truth, this is not a battleship, and there is no cannon or anything. What else can it be built except that it can be equipped with more materials to facilitate business?

Just because Wei Wei is not in Huaxia, can’t she use these? She also has golden fingers. Just because she uses it to benefit her own people, does it become unpatriotic? You said to yourself that if you changed yourselves, you would not give people close to you good things?

And even if it is a ship used by Zheng He’s voyages to the West, it takes two years to travel back and forth. Would you use such a ship to fight a superpower in the distance? is it possible? It is estimated that the grain and grass on it will be eaten up before it reaches the place and must go home, okay?

Moreover, the population of Da Song is larger than that of all the people in Europe combined. The soldiers of Prady’s country may not have as many soldiers as Da Song’s army. Are they crazy or stupid to fight?

Not to mention what is patriotic or not. First of all, this is a parallel world. Wei Wei is still a modern person, and she really has no feelings for the Song Dynasty. Second, if she is not patriotic, she will not take into account the interests of China. There is an alchemist who can make gunpowder next to Wei Wei. Why don’t I arrange for him to study firearms, and she knows how to make porcelain, why don’t I let her do it? It’s not to not delay Huaxia’s business, otherwise I can even make silk for it! It’s not that there are really no silkworm babies in Europe. European silkworms understand the silkworm raising technology passed down from China in the sixth century! (Well, this can be considered to be written)

I was hesitant about this issue when I opened the pit. I would separate the two continents to avoid such a situation, but it seems that some people still refuse to accept it. Let me state once again that there are also travelers in China. Please do not bring the progress of development into real history, there will be no such situation as the opium war, can you not think about things that will not happen in hundreds of years?