Not long after Li Min got married, New Year's Eve finally arrived in the 14th year of Zhenguan. At the end of the year, every household cleaned their houses, stayed up late, paid New Year greetings, and set off firecrackers. It is also worth mentioning that the custom of eating dumplings during the Spring Festival originally dates back to the Tang Dynasty.

It hasn't been formed yet, but because of Li Min's influence, many people in the north, especially in Dengzhou, are already accustomed to making delicious dumplings during the Spring Festival.

In fact, with the improvement of living standards, the diet of people in the Tang Dynasty has gradually become richer. Meats such as chicken, duck, and fish have also appeared on ordinary people's tables. Even in the cold winter, northerners can also eat some fresh vegetables.

, but the price is much more expensive, and there are also various kinds of canned food. Now with canning factories blooming everywhere, the price of canned food has already dropped. For example, the cheapest canned sea fish only costs five cents.

You can buy a can.

In fact, Li Min already had a solution to the problem of difficulty eating vegetables in winter in the north. This solution was Chinese cabbage in later generations. Originally, cabbage was a hybrid variety, which can be said to be original to the Chinese people, and it had already appeared in the Tang Dynasty.

, It’s a pity that not many people grow it. Li Min saw this kind of Chinese cabbage by chance, and immediately ordered people to collect the seeds. Now he is ordering people to promote it. I believe that in a few years, this kind of winter-making cabbage will become popular throughout the north.

I ate cabbage that made me vomit.

People on land naturally eat whatever they want during the Chinese New Year. Even if they don’t have it at home, they can go to the market to buy it with money. But it’s a pity that for the crew members on ships, even if they don’t have it at home, they can eat it.

No matter how much money they have, they still have nowhere to buy what they want to eat.

The stormy night has passed, and the dark clouds in the sky have been blown away by yesterday's strong wind. When the sun rises, the entire sky is blue, like a piece of flawless jade, and under this blue sky is the vast and boundless sea.

, is also a blue ocean, connected with the sky, looking extremely magnificent.

It's a pity that Feng Shijie on the Nanyang has long been tired of seeing this beautiful scenery. This morning before dawn, he got up according to his usual habit. If he was on land, he would have to wash up. It's a pity that here

It is on a ship, surrounded by the boundless sea. The fresh water on the ship is extremely precious, so ordinary washing on land becomes very difficult.

But people always have a way. Feng Shijie took a bucket of sea water, mashed it in his mouth with the toothbrush he bought in Dengzhou, and then rinsed his mouth with the bitter sea water. After returning to the cabin, he poured it on the towel again.

Some precious fresh water, according to regulations. He can drink it every day

He received one cubic meter of fresh water for drinking, but he squeezed out a little of it for scrubbing every day. After wetting the towel, he wiped his face with a wet towel, but his extravagant behavior made him feel uncomfortable.

The people in the same cabin felt heartbroken when they looked at it.

After finishing personal hygiene, the sun outside had risen. Feng Shijie picked up the measuring tool. He first measured the longitude and latitude of where they were, and found that the ship had deviated somewhat from its original course. It was probably blown by the wind and waves last night, but the problem was not

Da. He immediately reported it to the captain Lu Wan, who immediately asked the helmsman to correct the course, and the entire fleet continued to move forward.

Today is New Year's Eve. Although everything on the ship is simple, this year still has to be celebrated. After most of the crew members got up, the entire fleet began to get busy. A supply ship that also functioned as a fishing ship immediately lowered the net.

Hundreds of kilograms of fresh fish were caught in one net. Although everyone on the boat felt like vomiting after eating the fish, they couldn't miss a fish dish during the Chinese New Year to get a bonus that would be more than enough every year.

However, the captain Lu Wan was also considerate of the crew, so he only prepared one fish dish in the kitchen, and the others were all kinds of cans. In addition, he also took out a lot of honey, sucrose, and canned fruits to make desserts. In addition to preparing these dishes

, the most important thing is making dumplings, Taiwan

It is Li Min's territory and is most influenced by him. Moreover, Lu Wan's crew members are all from Taiwan's slave-catching team, and a considerable part of Taiwan's slave-catching team are from the Dengzhou slave-catching team.

Therefore, most of the crew members on the ship have the habit of eating dumplings during the Chinese New Year.

At noon, all the crew ate something hastily, and then went on to prepare the New Year's Eve dinner. When Lu Wan and the others left Keelung, they knew they would celebrate the New Year at sea, so they prepared a lot of flour on the ship. In fact, in comparison, flour

It is easier to get damp than rice, so rice is usually prepared as the staple food on the ship.

The cook on the ship took out the well-preserved flour, then mixed it with the dough and rolled out the dumpling wrappers. As for the dumpling fillings, he opened canned mutton, canned pork, and a large number of canned vegetables, then chopped them up and put them together, although the taste was not as fresh.

It's delicious, but it's just about making do.

Feng Shijie is the surveyor on the ship, his status is only below the captain. There are five large ships and dozens of small ships in their fleet, but there are only two surveyors, which shows the importance of this position. Every member of their fleet has

A big ship has five small boats, and the kitchen is only available on the big ship. If people on the small ship want to eat, they usually take turns to go to the big ship to eat. It is precisely because of this that there are so many dumplings to make on the big ship, and the crew on the ship only needs to

They were not on duty, so they were all called to the kitchen to help by the master chef.

Feng Shijie grew up in the Japanese country, and his father was from the south, so he had never eaten dumplings, let alone making dumplings, so he couldn't help in the kitchen and could only sit and watch the crew.

Being busy, it seemed interesting at first, but unfortunately it gradually became boring.

The surveyor's job is not heavy. He usually measures the position of the fleet three times in the morning, noon and evening, and two people take turns, so the daily work is lighter. In fact, in real terms, only one person can do the surveyor's job.

It is enough for a general fleet to carry one surveyor. However, their exploration fleet has important responsibilities and unknown risks, so they have prepared two people, mainly to prevent one of them from having an accident.

The other one can be put on top so that it will not affect the navigation of the fleet.

It was still early for the evening measurement. Feng Shijie left the kitchen and strolled to the deck. Most of the people on the ship were preparing for the New Year, even the captain Lu Wan was no exception. Some crew members from Dengzhou said they wanted to post Spring Festival couplets. It is said that

This was a rule spread from Prince Qi's palace, but the number of people on the ship who had drunk ink was limited, so in the end he had to turn to the captain Lu Wan for help.

Lu Wan is from the south and has never heard of Spring Festival couplets. When several crew members explained the appearance of Spring Festival couplets and casually mentioned a few pairs of widely circulated Spring Festival couplets, Lu Wan immediately understood what Spring Festival couplets were.

Without refusing, I asked someone to prepare some pen and ink, and after a moment's thought I wrote a few well-intentioned Spring Festival couplets, and then ordered them to be posted on several important cabin doors.

It is precisely because of this that the deck of the ship seemed a bit empty. Feng Shijie felt bored after walking around twice, so he simply went back to the cabin to take out the telescope, and boarded the observation tower on the ship to look into the distance.

Feng Shijie and his fleet headed south. After crossing Luzon Island, they did not go in the familiar southwest direction, that is, the direction of Borneo and Java Island, but in the unfamiliar southeast direction. Now they are traveling along

An island chain moves forward. This island chain is the Maluku Islands in later generations. Because this island chain is rich in spices, it is now called the Spice Islands by merchants from Tang Dynasty, Tianzhu, Persia and other countries.

The Spice Islands consists of more than a thousand islands, and the demand for spices in the Tang Dynasty is not very large, so merchants from the Tang Dynasty rarely come here, and they are not very familiar with the sea routes here. Lu Wan and his fleet

The main purpose is to explore the sea route of this island chain.

Now they have been sailing for nearly three months. Along the way, they stopped and found many islands. Among them, as long as the larger islands are usually inhabited by natives, and at the beginning, they

Most of the natives he met were docile and willing to trade with them. For example, Feng Shijie brought a large amount of cotton and silk, but now almost all of them have been replaced with gold or various gemstones. The income from these transactions alone is roughly estimated to be

Tens of thousands of dollars.

In addition, they have basically explored a reliable sea route, and it is through this sea route that they have now reached the southernmost point of this island chain, and they have not seen any new islands for more than ten days in a row, which means that

, this island chain has probably reached its end, and there is no need to go any further, so if nothing unexpected happens, Captain Lu Wan is already considering arrangements for the return trip.

Thinking that he would be able to redeem his sister's freedom after returning, Feng Shijie couldn't help but smile. He felt that participating in this exploration was very worthwhile. Although they encountered many storms along the way, because of the existence of the Spice Islands, they only needed to

As long as you don't deviate from the course, you can usually find an island to anchor, so there are no obstacles along the way.

There were too many losses, but several small boats were damaged in several big storms and some personnel were lost. In addition, while resting on some islands, they were attacked several times by cannibals and also lost some personnel. These people

After all, they are only a minority, and if they are face to face, they are not afraid of those damn cannibals at all.

Thinking of the risks and gains encountered along the way, Feng Shijie also felt a little emotional. In fact, their biggest gain along the way was not the gains from their private goods transactions, but the discovery of the natives on each island.

The number of people is huge, and the area of ​​each island is also small.

There is no room to hide at all, and it is very easy to capture, so as long as they go back and report it to the association, they can get 1% of the total profit of the slave trade here as a reward, although he cannot calculate that 1% is

How much, but it is definitely much larger than what he got from private trading.

It's a pity that the farther south the natives of the Spice Islands go, the more cannibals they have. The attacks they encounter are all on the southern islands. If there is a chance in the future, the association must send people to kill those disgusting people.

All the cannibals were wiped out to avenge those brothers!

Just when Feng Shijie was thinking about how to deal with those barbaric cannibals, the telescope in his hand happened to be moved to the south of the bow of the ship. At this moment, he suddenly saw in the lens that at the intersection of the sky and the sea in the distance, there appeared
Chapter completed!