I soon got tired of seeing the so-called rare and exotic animals. Just as the drinks and dishes were arranged in Wuying Hall, Lao Zhu led the ministers into the hall. After drinking a few drinks together, they just had a drink while watching the ritual music and dance music.
Already.
The father and son left early, and soon summoned Duke Haiguo away. It was a rare banquet, so it was good for them to have a good time. With the monarch in attendance, they would be a little cautious after all.
Some poor imperial censors, Qingliu, may not have the opportunity to taste meat except for the banquet given by the emperor.
Therefore, filial or loving people often secretly hide some meat and take it home to feed the family. When Queen Ma found out, she ordered the palace guards to turn a blind eye when the ministers came out of the palace after the royal banquet and not to investigate carefully.
I have thought about giving it directly, but I am afraid of favoring one over the other. After all, the salaries of officials of the same rank are the same. If you give someone another gift based on the rich or the poor, there must be something wrong.
The Empress is naturally kind and virtuous, but the moral standards of the warriors are very low, and they are often targeted by Yushi Qingliu, so they are happy to laugh at jokes and make things difficult for them.
"Hey, Chen Yushi, this fire-flavored sheep's head and hoof is so delicious, why can't you take a bite?"
"Young, Mr. Zhao, I have always heard that your Majesty loves to eat fish. As the saying goes, like father, like son. Why can't you put down a chopstick? Is it because the heat is not right?"
Zhang Guanglie, the imperial censor, quickly picked up a piece of pepper-vinegar goose and said to his colleagues: "Today is a banquet given by the emperor, and it is also the occasion when Duke Hai comes back from the ocean. It is a very happy day, and there are foreign guests here. Please enjoy it to your heart's content.
Bar."
Several poor censors glanced at the barbarian envoys not far away who were still unsure of the kuaizi. They thought that it was just a normal day, and it was really hard to lose the dignity of the court today, so they started to use kuaizi one after another.
As the saying goes, if you don't move, you will be fine, but if you move, you will be like the wind and the remaining clouds. This made the few princes who came to provoke you feel sour. Damn it, we Qiu Ba are not as rude as you when we eat.
If you are so greedy, you still pretend to be polite. If you don't impeach me on weekdays, you can still be deprived of your food and wine. Bah, that's despicable.
Several foreign envoys who had made friends on the ship couldn't help but whisper after seeing it: "Look over there, are it rare for officials of the Ming Dynasty to eat such delicious food?"
Another retorted: "The ones who are so bold and bold must be the generals, and the ones who eat politely are the civil servants."
The warriors felt that it was boring, so they all gathered around the envoy to amuse themselves, comparing their drawings and nodding from time to time, not sure if they really understood what he was saying.
Xu Dachao asked the palace maid for a few handkerchiefs, packed the meat in front of him and stuffed it into his sleeve robe, and found an opportunity to stuff it to Zhang Guanglie. He was unwilling to accept it, but he accepted it after all, and prepared to go out after leaving the palace.
To colleagues.
Chang Yuchun walked up to Xu Da with a wine bottle and said with a smile: "Zhang Guanglie is not a person who abandons public service for personal reasons. Not to mention a little food, even a mountain of gold will hardly sway his heart. His memorial to impeach you still needs to be
Up."
"I just pity the young and old of those families. They can't even eat a few mouthfuls of meat during the holidays. As for the memorial, in our position, impeachment without a censor is the most scary thing."
After having a few drinks, the two got down to business. Xu Da said: "Since overseas is really as vast and rich as His Highness said, we shouldn't miss it. There is another way out for the children of each family."
"That's what I mean here too. The king of Jin and the king of Chu became a vassal. Once the local military power was handed over, all the money was cut off. We can't fight for the rest of our lives. Our children and grandchildren will have to end up in the situation of these censors."
"What do the two Wu brothers say?"
"It's all up to His Highness."
"Then what does Your Highness mean?"
"His Highness means that it is okay, but it must be done according to the rules, and taxes must be paid according to the rules, without any deviation."
………
In the side hall of the Jinshen Hall, Duke Hai, who had just eaten half full, bowed respectfully to the Queen. Queen Ma had come to replenish the dishes. She asked the maid behind her to put down a few dishes she had cooked by herself and said: "It's been a few years since I left."
, I feel really haggard.”
Wu Liang hurriedly said: "It's just my duty as a minister, Lady Lao has forgotten it."
Zhu Biao said: "The whale waves are touching the sky, the vastness is boundless, the clouds and sails are high, and the stars are galloping day and night. This kind of hard work is beyond my duty."
Wu Liang was not a man who was good at words, but he just said: "A man of this nature, who has never given up his position, has been able to serve the dragon, and be granted the title of wife, shadow and son, and the glory of his ancestral temple. He should have gone to the mountain of swords and the sea of fire to repay the favor, but now the waves are not enough."
Word."
Empress Ma didn't say anything more and led the people away so that they could eat in peace.
Zhu Yuanzhang was now very interested in overseas affairs and asked many questions, which Wu Liang answered one by one.
For example, the Khmer people like celadon dishes and bowls and silk and silk, and they are willing to exchange them for gold. The Javanese people like celadon, musk, gold-plated ornaments, silk, and burnt beads, and they exchange them with copper coins.
Ceylon was particularly fond of musk, silk, colored silk, celadon, copper coins, and camphor, and they exchanged them for precious stones and pearls.
King Zufar was very fond of silk and porcelain, and was willing to exchange frankincense, dried blood, aloe vera, myrrh, benzoin, styrax oil, wood beetle, etc. for them.
He also talked about some things that he had not brought back, such as a kind of smelly fruit called Gan'eryan. The skin has sharp spines and five or six petals will split when ripe. It smells like rotten beef. There are chestnuts, large crispy white meat inside.
piece.
After Lao Zhu was satisfied, Zhu Biao asked: "The civilian and merchant ships that went with the fleet suffered a lot of losses. How did the merchants make profits? Do they have any complaints?"
"The losses were not much. In addition to natural disasters and illnesses, only a dozen people were killed by barbarians due to misunderstandings caused by the inability to communicate and trade. After communicating with the local leaders, the general led his people and said that killing people to pay back debts and so on.
revenge."
"As for the profit of the caravan, I don't know much about it, but I guess the rare items they brought back overseas could be sold at a high price. Moreover, when trading with the barbarians, they also exchanged a lot of gold and silver for silk, porcelain, etc."
Zhu Biao did not ask what the businessmen had to complain about. Since they had already made profits, there should be no complaints. What's more, they were greedy and wanted to kill the chicken to scare the monkeys.
………
Three months after the fleet returned, ships and merchants gathered at the Yue Harbor of Zhangzhou in the south of the Yangtze River. It was said to be the Pearl of the Bright Moon, the Stone of the Crow Falcon, the Fragrance of the Dragon Speed of Shennan, the wonder of the Linshi Kongcui, and the dew of plum blossoms.
The beauty of treasures, corals, Yao Kun, etc. are all returned to the ship.
But the best-selling ones have to be pepper. The lower-quality ones cost ten taels of silver per catty, and the good ones can be sold for twenty or thirty taels per catty. Ordinary people don't dare to ask the price after smelling the smell.
, but some people just bought it.
In a street teahouse, Jiang Yuan, the leader of the Huizhou merchants, drank tea in an old manner. It seemed that just swallowing it was very difficult, but it was puzzling that such an old man survived another winter without dying.
A middle-aged man said with a smile: "A hundred pounds of pepper from the Sumatra country is only sold for two or three taels of silver. The price of pepper from the Sanfoqi country is also about the same. But as long as it can be shipped to our Central Plains, it will be a hundred times a thousand times more."