The beach, the coconut grove, the sea and the sky are the same color.
In the clear blue, there are white clouds in the sky, and huge ships are quietly moored in the water.
Because many wealthy merchants came from the Ming Dynasty, many locals came to the sea to do business with the Ming people.
After Xia Xun went ashore, he bought two coconuts at a stall, and the black-faced and short old man quickly cut off a piece of coconut skin with a knife, and rolled a green and clean leaf, inserted it into the mouth of the cut coconut, and it became a straw.
Xia Xun handed the two coconuts to Su Ying and Tang Sai'er, and the two of them sucked them with relish and accompanied him all the way to the place.
The guards were scattered, dressed as tourists, and the interpreter walked behind him, dressed like a butler.
There are many goods sold on the beach, but the variety is limited, most of them are birds, animals, dried fish and shells, and the most important ones are, of course, coconuts.
Wine made from coconut milk, oil from coconut meat, sugar, food and cups made from coconut shells, coconut palms are an important daily necessities for the locals, and their houses are also made of coconut trees, including boats.
The houses of the wealthy here are also made of bricks, but the buildings in the courtyard are still built according to the characteristics of this place, and most of them are wooden structures, with rattan straw mats on wooden planks and hardwood planks as tiles, while ordinary homes have thatched roofs.
Most of the wealthy people here wear bright clothes on their upper bodies, cloth skirts on their lower bodies, and a flower crown on their heads, while ordinary people cover their heads with square handkerchiefs, wear short shirts, and a cloth towel around their lower bodies, revealing a primitive taste.
The folk customs here are very simple.
Although there are so many customers coming to the beach at once, they don't raise prices, and they sell things very happily, basically you can take it away if you drop some money.
If some goods are sold for two pounds, you only need to take out some of them to weigh it, and then estimate the total price, as long as it is not too outrageous, they only smile and help you move things.
Xia Xun and his entourage walked away, and occasionally saw a shed built with palm branches and leaves, and there was a courtyard behind the shed, which seemed to be a restaurant, and the environment under the shed was quite clean, and the various cooked foods placed on the table were fragrant and fragrant, tempting and coveted, Xia Xun smiled at Su Ying: "Do you want to stop and rest, eat something I heard that the food here is quite flavorful, especially the rice wine here, most of which is made of coconut, sweet and delicious, and the price is very low." ” Su Ying smiled: "It's delicious, it's delicious, it's cheap and it's not cheap to laugh at the dead people when it comes out of your mouth, if you pretend to be a businessman, do you really think you're a businessman?"
Xia Xun laughed and walked under the shed.
There was a man sitting under the shed, who was supposed to be the owner of the restaurant, who looked to be in his early thirties, but he was not necessarily that old, and the man here was thin and dark, and he looked older.
He wrapped his head in white cloth and sat there innocently, the folk customs here were really simple, and the guests stood up, and he didn't know how to get up to solicit guests, but just sat on the horse and watched with his eyes.
Seeing Xia Xun walking in front of him, the man stood up and smiled shyly, Xia Xun pointed to the various cooked foods placed on the table: "Cut some of everything for us, taste it, and have a jar of rice wine."
Oh, do you know Chinese?"
Xia Xun finished speaking before he realized that this person might not be able to understand his words, and was just about to turn around and call for an interpreter, when the shopkeeper smiled honestly: "The villain understands, master, madam, miss, please take a seat." ” Xia Xun was surprised and said: "You know Chinese" The shopkeeper replied honestly: "We often have Han people coming and going here, and those who do business know some Chinese."
Xia Xun suddenly heard that although the official merchant ships of the Ming Dynasty had just begun to appear in the Nanyang area, the Han people, who were half-smugglers and half-pirates, had been very active in this area.
Before he went ashore, he heard that there were two groups of Han people on this island, each with more than 1,000 people, who had lived here for hundreds of years, but they were Chinese immigrants in the late Song Dynasty and early Yuan Dynasty, and it was not surprising that the natives here knew Chinese.
Xia Xun sat down at the small table in the square and asked, "Daming treasure money, do you collect it here?"
The shopkeeper had already picked up the knife and cut the meat for them, and when he heard the question, he nodded busily: "Collect, collect, Daming treasure money, we use it here." ” There was no country here before, and this real estate tin, so the common currency of the people is the tin block, but other currencies can also be circulated, in addition to gold and silver, the most circulating is China's coinage, which is not only the Ming treasure money, in fact, they are now even the ancient money of the Tang and Song dynasties is still circulating and used, and the exchange ratio is also a folk convention, but it is not known to outsiders.
Xia Xun smiled and said, "Okay, the rice wine you have here is all self-brewed, bring me a jar of the best quality, and bring two cups." ” The shopkeeper's business came to the door, and he was very happy and agreed one after another.
Tang Sai'er put aside the unfinished coconut, licked the sweet taste at the corner of his mouth, and said, "Father-in-law, I also want to drink." ” Xia Xun glared at her and said, "What kind of wine do girls drink?"
Tang Sai'er pouted: "This coconut milk has no taste, you said that the rice wine is sweet, I want to taste it."
Xia Xun still didn't allow it, Su Ying smiled and said, "Just drink it, the rice wine is not strong."
Don't talk about rice wine, it's the strong wine, I drank it when I was thirteen years old, why am I not a woman?"
Tang Sai'er got Su Ying's help, and proudly grimaced at Xia Xun, and shouted to the shopkeeper: "Shopkeeper, bring three cups" The shopkeeper agreed, leaned over and took out a cup made of coconut cord from under the cabinet, and held a jar of coconut wine and brought it to the table.
At that moment, there was a creak, and the door behind the shed opened, and a man and a woman stepped out of it.
This shed was originally built at the gate of this house, and the inner wall of the shed is actually the outer door of the courtyard.
At this time, a man and a woman came out of it, the woman wore a bright flower crown, a brightly colored short shirt, and a long knee-length patterned tube skirt tied on the lower body, revealing a pair of calves that were wheat-colored and had beautiful lines, which were firm and tight.
Her complexion is a little dark, but her facial features are very standard, her eyes are shining, and her short shirt and skirt show a round abdominal muscle in the middle, which is even more playful, cute and energetic.
It's just that if such a woman came out, it wouldn't have attracted the attention of Xia Xun and the three people at the table, the problem was that the one who came out with this woman was actually a Han person, and he was also an officer and soldier This officer and soldier was about ten years old, very handsome, but faintly childish, and on him, he was wearing a set of uniforms of the Ming army's sailors.
Not to mention, when he came out, his hand was wrapped around the woman's waist, and when he saw someone outside, he was probably not used to being so openly affectionate, so he retracted his hand, Xia Xun noticed that his face was slightly unnatural, but the woman's demeanor was calm and uncolored.
Xia Xun's pair of discerning eyes, which had been trained by many years of occupation, only swept it in a hurry, and he noticed that the officers and soldiers of the sailor division were disheveled, and the young woman who didn't know whether it was a girl or a young woman had messy hair, flushed cheeks, sweat stains on her forehead, and watery eyes Xia Xun and Su Ying glanced at each other and came to this conclusion in unison.
Then the two of them became empty-hearted: "This annihilator is a person on the Ming warship, why did he run out so grandly, if he was caught, wouldn't he even be ashamed of himself?"
But the shopkeeper who was busy cutting meat glanced at the pair of "silver women", and actually greeted the soldier very warmly, shouting that the sailor colonel stayed for dinner, the colonel did not recognize Xia Xun, only looked at their outfits, all dressed as Han people, thinking that they were rich gentry who came with the ship, and their expressions were a little unnatural, and they refused the shopkeeper's kindness, and left in a hurry.
Xia Xun and Su Ying couldn't help but look at each other: "Could it be that this woman has nothing to do with this shopkeeper" But the woman's call to the shopkeeper shattered their last bit of illusion, and when they were on the boat, they also simply understood some local languages, if they heard it correctly, this woman's name to the shopkeeper should be called his father-in-law.
Xia Xun and Su Ying glanced at each other in shock, and suddenly reacted together, and Su Ying suddenly showed a disdainful expression.
This kind of thing also exists in Daming, some people's families, the wife is a secret prostitute, and the husband looks at the door, I can't imagine that I met such a family here, for a while, Su Ying didn't even have a meal, her low voice said with a thick disgust: "Shameless" At this time, there was a shout not far away, Xia Xun turned his head to look, only to see that the sailor who had just walked out was scuffling with a man, the other party's dress seemed to be from the Nanyang area, but it was slightly different from the locals, and he also had a few companions who also came up to help, the sailor was difficult to defeat with four hands, and couldn't help but pull out the knife, and the other party also had a sharp blade at the waist, and he also pulled it out when he landed, and the two sides fought again.
Xia Xun saw it, took the case, just about to rush out to help, the soldiers who protected him in the light and dark also wore military uniforms, pretending to travel slowly, as soon as they saw this situation, they did not wait for Xia Xun to command and drew their knives and rushed up, they can take on the responsibility of protecting Xia Xun, a body of kung fu is stronger than ordinary soldiers, more than a chip and a half, with their help, the two fights, only a moment of effort to see blood.
Although the Nanyang people were fierce with their fists and feet, and the fight was fierce, they couldn't stand the kung fu of these guards, and there were many people, and they all hung up colors, or they were stabbed in the arm, or the blood flowed from their legs, and finally they were knocked to the ground.
Those Nanyang people were knocked to the ground, and they abandoned the knives in their hands to admit defeat, and they still did not spare each other, and they punched and kicked fiercely, making those people's noses and faces swollen, and their flesh and blood blurred.
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Since the arrival of the Ming fleet in the port, Baili Misura also sent people to maintain order along the coast, these people are some poorly dressed natives, with a bare backbone, wearing a grass skirt, barefoot, carrying a spear that is not very straight, black and thin and malnourished, as soon as they saw a brawl here, these native soldiers who had the functions of soldiers, police and city management immediately rushed over, shouting for the two sides to separate.
Although these native soldiers do not have much combat effectiveness, but after all, they are the head snakes, and their king is the Ming Emperor's fate, these Ming officers and soldiers can't help but give some face, they stopped stupidly, and still scolded and scolded.
In fact, they don't know why the two sides are fighting, anyway, they see that their own people are suffering, so they will do it, help their relatives or not, it's as simple as that.
It took a long time for the beaten Nanyang people to get up from the ground, and they called out from time to time, pointing at the soldier who had just come out of the shop, and then pointing to the humble restaurant here, as if they were complaining to the local soldiers.
As soon as the native soldiers saw that the people who were doing the work were wearing the Ming military uniforms, how could they offend them, a small leader waved his hand and croaked a few times, and the native soldiers rushed up and tied up the Nanyang people who were beaten with blue noses and swollen faces and wounds.
Those Nanyang people were extremely angry, and they were screaming again, and those native soldiers didn't pay attention to them, and they were anxious to scold them, and stabbed them a few times with a spear, or kicked them a few times, and when they tied up people, they took people away, and the little leader nodded to a few Ming adults and smiled and handed over a small talk for a while.
At this time, Xia Xun, Su Ying and Tang Sai'er all stood in the shed and went there to watch, and the shopkeeper and his wife also stood in front, seeing that the soldier who had just come from the store was slightly injured, the woman rushed over, supported him, and comforted him in a low voice.
Xia Xun was puzzled, and couldn't help but ask the shopkeeper: "Shopkeeper, what's going on?"
The shopkeeper said angrily: "Those people are Siamese, a group of merchants from Siam, and the leader just now is one of their leaders, named Sawan Susi. ” Xia Xun couldn't help but suddenly think: "No wonder they are fierce and fierce when they move their hands, fists to the flesh, especially good at elbow strikes and knee hits, it turns out to be Muay Thai." ” The shopkeeper said, "My wife is beautiful, and she is very fond of Nasawan Susi when she sees him, and my wife loves him for being strong, so every time he comes here to do business, he often corresponds to my wife."
My wife saw that he was handsome and talkative, which was very different from Nasawan Susi's rudeness, and she liked him very much, so she stopped associating with Nasawan Susi. ” "What's what" Xia Xun plucked out his ears and looked at the store in amazement, seeing that he still had a look of disdain and anger on his face.
"Dude, you are still fighting for the beaten Ming sergeant" Su Ying exploded his lungs early, such a man, for a few stinky money, let his wife hold the skin and meat business and let others stay in the house, it was simply a human skin in vain, and he was embarrassed to say it Su Ying couldn't help but sneer bitterly: "Since you are in this skin and meat business, as long as the guests have money, do you still have to pick the fat and the thin?"
The shopkeeper was stunned for a moment, and said in surprise: "What kind of skin and meat business" immediately reacted, and said very unhappily: "That person likes my wife, and my wife also likes him.
Su Yingdeng froze: "I don't want money, so why is there any atmosphere here, is it possible that my wife has a fancy to anyone, she can make peace at will, and the husband doesn't care about this, this seems to be more than Xianggong said, that on the grassland of northern Xinjiang, let the man get into his own felt tent, and his daughter is upside down, and the parents are more unrestrained if they don't care."
Su Ying really guessed, the shopkeeper was misunderstood by her, regarded as a great humiliation, and immediately explained the atmosphere here, and the atmosphere here is really like this, if the wife is good with others, the husband is not angry, and he is proud that his wife's beauty can attract men, and he will also treat the "annihilator" with wine and rice.
Of course, this "annihilator" also has a prominent status, and it is not worse than her man's status, so it is regarded as humiliation, but this humiliation is only because of the other party's low status, as for chastity, if they have a dictionary, then there is no such word in their dictionary.
In the past, Manraka was under the jurisdiction of Siam, and the Siamese people were naturally superior people, but now in the hearts of their locals, it is tantamount to being the most precious as Chinese.
The soldier named Li Zhijue was comforted by the woman, and then returned to the warship, the shopkeeper saw that there was no major incident, Shi Shiran returned to the desk to cut meat and stir-fry vegetables, Su Ying stood there, and was so frightened that she couldn't wake up for a long time, as for what the shopkeeper said, she didn't believe it at all.
Tang Sai'er blushed, and it took a long time before he scolded angrily: "It's shameless" Xia Xun hurriedly covered her mouth and reprimanded: "Silence" If it weren't for Xia Xun covering her mouth at the moment, this heroine who went down in history as a rebel would probably immediately pull up the banner, raise her arms and shout: "Light the sky lantern and ride the Trojan horse to dip the pig cage and light the sky lantern to ride the Trojan horse and dip the pig cage with a thousand knives to kill, kill, kill, kill."
When Tang Sai'er's murderous value was about to burst, a Westerner suddenly came to the door, this person was attracted by the brawl between the two groups just now, and he had been standing there watching.
The soldiers guarding Xia Xun saw that their own people were being bullied, and they rescued the soldiers, and the merchants from Siam were taken away by the local soldiers, and they walked back.
Two soldiers were very clever, and felt that such an action, everyone was still so scattered, and they might be seen that they were on a mission, so they also walked to the restaurant, trying to hide their identities by dining, but they had just walked to the canopy made of palm branches, and they were stopped by the foreigner.
This foreigner has black hair, brown eyes, and a big nose, is not tall, his hair is naturally curly, and he has a thick beard.
"Hello."
The foreigner smiled and greeted them in strange Chinese.
The two soldiers stood with their knives pressed and asked alertly, "Who are you and what are you going to do?"
The man hurriedly explained to them, but unfortunately, although his movements and tones were extremely exaggerated, and he had changed several languages, there were few Chinese characters mixed in them, and the two soldiers were at a loss to understand them.
Xia Xun beckoned to the interpreter and asked in a low voice, "Do you understand what he said?"
The interpreter replied, "He has only spoken several languages, and one of them is the Great Food Language, which I understand." ” Xia Xun bowed his head and said, "Well, you go and ask him, what do you want to do" "Yes" The interpreter agreed, stepped forward to let the two soldiers go, and asked in the big food language, "Who are you and what are you going to do?"
The man was scratching his ears and cheeks in a hurry, and when he heard that someone understood his words and could speak the same language fluently, he couldn't help but be overjoyed, and hurriedly said: "Hello, I am a traveler from the far west, I heard that your ship is going to the west, can I take it?"
The interpreter turned his head and translated to Xia Xun, and the two soldiers next to him became impatient first, and waved his hand: "Go, go, go to our warship, understand."
The man probably only knew a few words of simple greeting in Chinese, and he couldn't understand what they were saying, but looking at their fly-like movements, he guessed a few points, and hurriedly said: "I heard that there are many merchants and women in your fleet, and it doesn't matter if you carry one more traveler, can you introduce me to your commander?"
Xia Xun looked him up and down a few times, and said to the interpreter: "Please come in."
As soon as Xia Xun spoke, the two soldiers didn't say much, but just pretended to be tourists and entered the shed, asked the shopkeeper for a few side dishes, and sat down to eat at another table.
The man was allowed to approach, looking very happy, he walked into the shed, looked at Xia Xun a few times, and asked, "This honorable gentleman, can you help me generously?"
Xia Xun said, "Sir, please take a seat."
I'm a merchant, and I think if I agree, our fleet might allow you to join, but I need to know who you are, where you're from, and why you're here, and tell me about your experience before I can decide."
The man was very happy after listening to the interpreter's interpretation, he was a merchant in the West, and his knowledge of the East was obviously limited, so he had no doubt that a big businessman could influence the ability of a commander who commanded the most powerful naval fleet in the world.
After getting Xia Xun's permission, he happily sat down beside Xia Xun and explained endlessly: "Hello, noble sir, I am from the far west, a place called Venizia, my name is Fayingron Da Kandy, I have traveled the world and come to this place, unfortunately, my ship was ransacked by pirates" This Westerner gushed and said that the interpreter could translate his words, but the names of people and places he said could only be transliterated.
Xia Xun listened to the translation and said this, thought about it carefully, and had no impression of the name "Venizia", thinking about it, even in modern times, all he knows is some famous places in the West, and he can't be familiar with every place, God knows where this guy named Fei Yinglun comes from where birds don't.
What's more, in this era, the names of many places in the West are probably different from modern times.
Xia Xun frowned and said, "Mr.
Fei Yinglun, what kind of place are you talking about Venizia?"
Fei Yinglun danced and explained: "Venezia is our national capital, known as the Water City, it is a city built entirely on water, it is a miraculous existence, I have traveled to so many places in the world, I have never seen a place like ours, our country has the most powerful navy in the world, of course" Fei Yinglun hung his head and said: "After I saw your battleships, I think, we have to be second" "The city of water is built entirely on the water, unique, Venezine, Veney" Xia Xun suddenly understood, and said in a lost voice: "Venice, you are from Venice" Fei Yinglun's eyes widened in surprise: "You know that we are there, Venice, that's what the English call us, but, God, I've been in the Far East for so long, and it's the first time I've met someone who knows our country."
Xia Xun smiled and said, "Your Excellency is not the first person to come to the East, I want to go to the West to do business, of course I have to know something about the West."
Well, this friend from Venice, how did you get here?"
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The very talkative Fei Yinglun, with the help of an interpreter, told Xia Xun his legendary story.
According to Fei Yinglun's introduction, he was a Venetian merchant, more than ten years ago, because of poor management, he went bankrupt, and what was on his shoulders was a huge debt that could not be paid off at all, and he could not continue to survive in Venice, so he had to leave Venice and go to Alexandria, Egypt, wanting to use his wisdom to make a comeback and make money to pay off his debts.
In his opinion, if you want to make a lot of money, you have to sail far away and bring back rare local goods to make a lot of money.
However, the ruler of Egypt at that time was a devout Islamist from the Asian savannah, and in his mind, the entire Indian Ocean was a great lake, a sacred lake that belonged to them, so Christians were not allowed to cross Cairo and enter their holy lake.
So he lived in Egypt for a few years, learned Arabic, married a local woman, and converted to Islam.
In this way, he could continue to travel the world as an Islamic merchant without being hindered.
After some preparation, he and a group of like-minded friends joined forces to buy a boat and set off on his voyage, and after a lot of hardships, they came to Guri, India, and they had made some money along the way, and in Guri, they peddled the goods they had brought with them, and bought a large number of local goods.
Then they heard that there was a country farther east, rich in splendid silks and fine porcelain, and that if they were to be brought back home, each of them could be sold at a very high price as a priceless work of art to the wealthy, whose storehouses were full of gold coins and had nowhere to spend them.
It was not easy for them to sail once, and it was already a very fortunate thing that they were not buried in the sea by a storm along the way, and if they wanted to come again, they did not know when they would have the opportunity, so after some deliberation, they decided to continue their journey eastward, and they met a group of eastern robbers off the coast of Manraka.
The robbers had many warships and soldiers, they were just a merchant ship, they could not resist at all, all the goods and the whole ship were robbed by the pirates, his companions were brutally killed by the pirates, he was also cut and fell into the sea, fortunately, he did not die, he drifted here along the sea, and was saved by the natives here.
Now that he had lived on the island for more than two years, he was looking forward to returning to his hometown at night, and his wife was still looking forward to him, and he was crying tears of sadness.
Fei Yinglun said, while also showing Xia Xun the scars on his arms and legs, his complexion was tanned, and there was a deep scar on his cheek, but most of it was covered by his beard.
When Su Ying heard him talk about his wife who was still waiting for him to return from afar, she couldn't help but be touched by her heart, and her compassion rose, so she whispered to Xia Xun: "Master, there is no one on the boat, just take him with you, this person's experience is really pitiful." ” Xia Xun thought for a moment and said to Fei Yinglun: "Okay, we can take you."
How far our fleet will go this time is uncertain, maybe we'll send you to some port, where you'll find other merchant ships to continue westward, or we'll sail all the way to your homeland. ” Fei Yinglun was overjoyed after listening to the translation and thanked him again and again.
Xia Xun smiled slightly, waved his hand and said, "You don't have to thank you, I want to bring you, it's not to help you for free."
You will be employed by me to pay for your ship's fare, and for all your expenses on board.
You must follow my orders in full before terminating your employment.
It's up to me to decide when to terminate the employment relationship, and you don't have the right to make your own decisions."
Su Ying was a little displeased when she heard this, and said in her heart: "The old man is so stingy, saving people in danger, and he has to put forward conditions."
This man is so pitiful, he's still he, doesn't he really think of himself as a businessman?"
Fei Yinglun lowered his head and thought for a moment, and said to Xia Xun: "Okay, I am willing to sign a contract with you, as long as you can take me back, I am willing to serve you" Xia Xun smiled and said: "Very good, the last time our fleet went to the sea, it only went to Kezhi and Guli, which is exactly the end point of your ocean, I hope that this time with your help, we can sail far, far away."
Come on, let's eat something first."
Su Ying and Tang Sai'er were disgusted with this family, and even the food they sold was dirty and refused to eat it, Xia Xun knew their thoughts, couldn't help but smile, and asked Na Fei Yinglun, knowing that he had been here for two years, and already had a simple place to live, a few simple household goods.
Xia Xun asked the interpreter to leave him a bamboo waist tag on the ship used to identify his identity and the ship he belonged to, and told him to turn around and get his own things, and take this waist tag to the port, and naturally someone would lead him to board his ship.
After the instructions were finished, Xia Xun would leave the account, and the meals on that table were naturally given to Fei Yinglun.
Leaving the small restaurant, the three of them walked back, and seeing that Su Ying and Tang Sai'er still had a look of disdain and disgust, Xia Xun couldn't help laughing: "Traveling thousands of miles and reading thousands of books, now you know how strange it is beyond the four seas, I see that the shopkeeper is not lying, and the customs here should be like this."
You don't know that there are many places where customs are even more incredible than here.
In some places, guests come to the door to entertain guests with their wives, and in other places, daughters have to sacrifice themselves to the head of the clan before they get married.
The place where our boat will go next, where the monks are more noble than the royal family, before the woman gets married, she must first go to the temple and hand over her innocent body to the monks, even if her status is as expensive as a princess, she must accompany the monk for three days.
We can not get used to it, but it is also a tradition formed for thousands of years, and there is no need to impose our concept on others.
There may be all sorts of unbelievable things along the way, so don't comment indiscriminately and cause unnecessary disputes. ” Tang Sai'er listened to what he said, and it was even more unbelievable than the behavior of the shopkeeper and his wife that he had seen today, and he couldn't help but say in horror: "There really is such a thing in the world."
Xia Xun glanced back, and Na Fei Yinglun was gobbling up a table of food.
Xia Xun smiled slightly, and said meaningfully: "Of course, the world is so big, there are no surprises, and what you think is incredible may not be true; What you think is true is not necessarily false."
To be continued: