nashuaworldcup Chapter 273 Arrival in Quanzhou
Chapter 273 Arrival in Quanzhou
Min Xi was holding two boxes, neither of which was light. He said through the screen, "Mr. Huang has brought us a gift."
Yun Ji snorted upon hearing this: "He doesn't do serious work, but instead studies evil practices. I'm his boss, and it's enough for him to make money for me. Why should I give him a gift?"
1 Min Xi said, "Let me open it and see what it is."
"Look. He sent a beauty to Fei Yunxiao, look what he gave me." Yun Ji was also a little curious.
Min Xi took the box to the table in front of the window and opened the small box given to him first. Inside were four golden ingots. They felt heavy in his hands. This was the first time Min Xi had seen gold ingots. He picked them up and looked at them carefully. There was an official seal on them: "You actually gave me four gold ingots. This one must be ten taels, right?" He estimated that it weighed more than half a pound.
Yun Ji snorted coldly: "You are really rich. I gave you 400 taels of silver. What did you give me?"
Min Xi put the gold ingot back into the box and opened Yun Ji's box. His box was a long strip, and it looked like it should contain calligraphy and paintings. When he opened it, it was indeed a painting: "Yours is a painting."
"who?"
Min Xi opened the painting. It was a painting of peach blossoms and eyebrows. It was painted on silk. The color of the silk was a little yellow. It must have been a long time. He leaned over to the signature and carefully identified it. Then he exclaimed: "Oh my God, it's Tang Yin! Is this a painting by Tang Bohu? Is it an authentic one?"
Don’t blame Min Xi for being naive. This was the first time he saw Tang Bohu’s authentic work.
Yun Ji continued to snort, "Most likely. He gave Yun Xiao, the acting head of the family, a beauty, so what he gave me must not be cheaper than Yun Xiao's, so he naturally had to give me something good. But he seems to have forgotten that he is just a shopkeeper, and his annual salary is only a few dozen taels of silver. Even if he gets dividends, where does he get so much money to buy such expensive things? I can only suspect that his money comes from an illegal source. The money he earns from the shop will only be more than this."
"So he must have falsified the accounts and enriched himself," Min Xi said. "Why do I feel like he's a bit stupid? Isn't this just admitting it?"
Yun Ji said: "It's just that I'm too concerned."
Min Xi asked: "How much is this Tang Yin's "Peach Blossoms" worth?"
"There is always a few thousand taels of silver. The key is that Tang Yin has been dead for nearly fifty years, and his paintings have all been in the hands of collectors. They are rarely circulated on the market and are often unsalable." Yun Ji finished his bath, came out of the bathtub, and said while wiping the water off his body.
"He knows that you are good at painting, so he specially gave you a painting?" Min Xi suddenly thought of something.
"I'm afraid so. But what does this idiot mean by giving me the painting at this time? Does he want me to take it to Europe?" Yun Ji said unhappily.
"That's right. Why would your father choose such a person to be the shopkeeper?" Min Xi asked curiously.
Yun Ji said, "He is a distant relative, and he is capable. He is just too greedy. I asked my father about this at the beginning, and he said that whether the shopkeepers from other places are loyal depends on their conscience. If they are all greedy, it is better to let relatives come."
Min Xi was silent. The problem Yun Ji mentioned existed from ancient times to the present. For example, no matter how powerful the emperor was, his orders still needed people to execute them, so there were civil and military officials. How the emperor controlled the civil and military officials was also a big question. A capable emperor was good at deploying troops and generals, and driving capable officials to serve him. An incompetent emperor would be sidelined by the court officials and become a puppet emperor.
There are too many such things in history. In fact, there are not many emperors who are capable of controlling civil and military officials, so there are very few wise rulers in history.
Zhang Juzheng was a capable minister, and his power even exceeded that of Emperor Wanli. That was why Emperor Wanli feared and resented him. After his death, his house was immediately raided and all the officials promoted by him were cleared out.
The so-called Wanli Restoration was short-lived. Wanli soon squandered the wealth and political achievements that Zhang Juzheng had worked so hard to accumulate.
"As expected, when the water is too clear, there will be no fish." Min Xi sighed.
"Right." Yun Ji had already put on his clothes. He walked over to sit next to Min Xi and looked at Tang Yin's paintings with him. "The paintings are nice, but I don't like the person who gave them to me. After I come back from Europe, I'll take a good inventory of the situation of the branches in various places. Those big borers have to be cleaned out."
Min Xi asked a realistic question: "What should we do with the painting? It's impossible to take it to Europe." If it happens to encounter a storm and gets wet like last time, it will be completely ruined.
Yun Ji said, "Since these are paintings and calligraphy by famous artists, they cannot be taken to Europe. Pack them up and take them to Quanzhou. Give them to Yun An and ask him to help take them back to Beijing."
"This is the only way." Min Xi said.
The next day they left Yangzhou and headed for Suzhou. As soon as they arrived in Suzhou, they encountered a typhoon, with strong winds and heavy rain. It was so dark that they could not continue their journey. Everyone went ashore and found an inn to stay.
According to the Gregorian calendar, it is now August, not yet September, and it is still the typhoon season. Fortunately, we haven't gone out to sea yet, otherwise it is hard to say what will happen.
Because of heavy rain, there was water everywhere and they couldn't go anywhere, so they had to stay in the inn.
Another particularly troublesome thing was that old Zeus got caught in the rain and fell ill. He was seriously ill and bedridden. Yunji's medical skills were not enough to deal with it, so he had to ask the best local doctor to treat him. It was raining heavily and the low-lying areas were flooded. The doctor was unwilling to go out, so Yunji had to pay several times the consultation fee to get the doctor to come and take a long detour to get back to the inn.
The doctor gave Old Hughes an injection and prescribed some medicine, but after taking it, it only slightly relieved his condition. When the typhoon completely passed and the rain stopped and the sky cleared up, when they were ready to set off, Old Hughes' condition was still very serious.
Min Xi and Yun Ji were in a dilemma: should they stay and take care of old Xiu Si, or continue on their journey with him.
Old Hughes knew that his time was up and insisted on getting on the ship and leaving: "I am dying soon, please take me away. Even if I die, I would rather die on the ship, on the sea. When I die, just throw me directly into the sea, that is my best destination."
Min Xi and Yun Ji had thought about taking care of the old man until his death, but they didn't expect that day would come so soon. They suppressed their inner sorrow, took old Hughes on the boat, and sailed down the Yangtze River. In less than half a day, they reached the sea and the boat turned south.
When old Hughes heard that he had reached the sea, he seemed relieved, his expression became much calmer, and his spirits seemed much better, but he could not eat or drink, which was a sign of his last breath. As expected, before reaching Quanzhou, old Hughes died, and just as he wished, he died at sea.
Diego cried bitterly. Although he had not been with Old Hughes for a long time, he was probably the closest person to him psychologically because they were both from Portugal. Old Hughes was gone, which meant that he would be left alone in Ming Dynasty from now on.
Min Xi and Yun Ji were naturally very sad. Although the old man didn't talk much, he was a really nice person. After getting along with him for such a long time, they really treated him as their elder.
Finally, they followed the old man's wishes and buried him at sea. He was Portuguese, and it was more appropriate to bury him at sea than to bury him in the Ming Dynasty. Perhaps one day, his soul would return to his hometown with the ocean currents.
Diego was depressed for several days because of the death of old Hughes. Min Xi and Yun Ji not only comforted him, but also understood his depression. When they were stranded in Europe together, they also felt that they depended on each other. Because of each other's presence, even in a foreign country, they felt that they had someone to rely on and were not so lonely.
After old Hughes left, Diego was left alone, and there was no way he could hear his hometown accent anymore.
Min Xi and Yun Ji felt that it was right to take him back because it would give Diego a chance to choose. Maybe without Old Hughes, Diego would no longer insist on staying in Ming. No matter what choice he made, the two would firmly support him and provide him with security for the rest of his life.
In fact, Diego has the skill of making snacks, which allows him to gain a foothold no matter where he is.
A few days later, the ship arrived in Quanzhou safely.
Yun'an has already purchased most of the supplies, but they have not yet been loaded on board, because the typhoon that passed through Suzhou some time ago also passed through Quanzhou, but it was not as severe as Suzhou. However, for safety reasons, the goods will not be loaded on board until just before departure.
It was just right that the boat had not been loaded yet, as Min Xi and Yun Ji were planning to modify the boat. They consulted with a shipbuilder in Quanzhou and decided to convert the Chinese-style sails into Western-style ones.
When the time comes, if their ship follows the Jazz, it will definitely not be able to keep up with the speed of the Jazz, so the Jazz will need to cooperate with their ship. However, they cannot simply ask the Jazz to accommodate them, and they must also try their best to increase their own speed.
The shipyard had never made Western-style sails, but Min Xi and Yun Ji were familiar with them. They drew the sail pattern and asked the shipyard craftsmen to modify the mast. The canvas was woven with coarse cotton thread and then treated with oil and wax for waterproofing, which significantly improved the strength of the canvas.
In order to make the canvas stronger and more wear-resistant, Min Xi also taught the shipyard craftsmen to use iron sheets to punch metal air holes on the canvas. In this way, the holes for the ropes would not be easily torn apart by strong winds.
The craftsman made this process according to Min Xi's request, and was very surprised when he saw the finished product: "Is this also the method of Western-style sails?"
Min Xi said, "It's about the same." This kind of eyelet is also called a shoe eyelet. Min Xi couldn't figure out who invented it first, but using an eyelet on the canvas not only makes it easier to pierce the rope, but also makes the rope more flexible and can increase the service life of the sail.
The craftsman obviously also noticed this point. He thought that although it was a small point, the method was indeed very good. He planned to use this in making sails in the future.