"You revealed our identities to the Australians?"

Shen Yourong is an upright person, but it doesn't mean that he doesn't know about accidents, otherwise there would be no gift of knives in the East China Sea Boat back then. Just looking at the pomp and circumstance of this carriage, it doesn't seem like Akashi can arrange it alone, but after thinking about it, he didn't ask the other party to keep it secret, after all, the Australians don't seem to have any ill will towards Da Ming, and he still believes in Akashi's character.

Akashi Daoyou doesn't hide it, this is today's business, since the other party takes the initiative to ask each other, you might as well say it directly.

"Please also ask the military gate to forgive the sin, yesterday after going back to the clumsy person to inform the chief of the military gate and his party, but the military gate can rest assured, in fact, the chief of the military gate in the past is also admired, there is a heart to make friends, so today the clumsy person came to the guide, want to talk to the military gate."

"So your chief is in a hurry, and he will see a guest early in the morning." He Qiaoyuan smiled and accosted him.

"It doesn't matter." Shen Yourong didn't refuse, "It's good to meet, I've always been interested in the head of the Australians." ”

Akashi Daoyou said, "The military gate is not in a hurry, and the chief still has something to do in the morning, so he ordered me to take all the distinguished guests to take a look everywhere first, and it is not too late to see the chief again in the afternoon, and the clumsy person also believes that the military gate will be satisfied with this meeting." ”

Shen Yourong thought about it and felt that it was appropriate to arrange it like this, just to learn about various things about Australians, and also heard what Akashi said and had some expectations, so he said: "It's okay, then there is Lao Mingshijun." ”

Seeing Shen Yourong like this, Akashi Daoyou told Chang Kaishen about his arrangement. As the words were clear, he was much more relaxed, and continued to enjoy himself.

The bamboo curtain in the window was lowered, and the ice cubes in the thermos flask were poured out, and the temperature close to 30 degrees suddenly dropped a lot, which also made the car a little more refreshing. He also took a few small pieces and added them to the glass, and a layer of ice mist hung on the wall of the glass.

The Shen family is a Xuancheng family, and he naturally knows the saltpeter ice making method, and he has also seen the ice cellar in Beijing, but he didn't expect that the Australians actually prepared ice cubes on the carriage, and it was in such a remote place.

He knows more or less about the geography of Dongfan, this place is similar to Fujian, even in the inland mountains, it is rare to see snow all year round, and this ice will naturally not be naturally collected. Most of the Australians also use a method similar to saltpeter to make ice, before they only said that they bought saltpeter from Daming to make firearms, but I didn't expect that it was also used to enjoy, but this saltpeter ice method costs a lot, it seems that the rumors that Australians are acting extravagantly are a bit like true.

Look at this ice cube again, it should have been put in early in the morning, from the station of Akashi Daoyou, and now it has been another journey, not to mention more than an hour, with the temperature outside has already melted. It seems that the container has a thermal insulation effect, which is a very good thing.

Seeing that several people in the car were staring at the thermos bottle covered with bamboo strips in their hands, Akashi Michiyu explained with a smile: "This thing is an Australian periwinkle bottle, which can not only store ice cubes, but also keep the night cold when boiling water, the origin of the so-called name Changchun." ”

Everyone was surprised when they heard this, and Akashi said that this thing is now sold in the shopping malls of the Kaohsiung government, and He Qiaoyuan expressed great interest that he wanted to buy a few.

As he was talking in the carriage, he soon entered the market to the east, and as soon as he entered the square in front of the street, his voice suddenly became noisy.

The stone-paved square is unusually wide and flat, extending towards the surroundings, through the blocked bamboo curtains, the whole town looks clean and tidy from the car window, this kind of neatness has only been seen by Shen Yourong in the city walls of the southern capital before, but it is also inferior to this place. There should be a simple market around the square, which is also quite common in the coastal ports of Daming including Fujian, all of which are wooden sheds, but the difference is that it is still more regular here, and when you look carefully, there is a business outside each shed, which is a bit unique.

Compared with the Han people, although the merchants here seem to wear a simple cotton cloth, such as pockets, but the natives are also used to inserting a few feathers on the top of their heads, Shen Yourong has long heard that the natives in the east like to raise chickens, but they don't eat them, only take feathers to decorate, it seems that although the Australians have changed customs here, they have not been involved too much in these small places.

But when I think about it, it just seems that so many people have come to Kaohsiung to live and trade, which is very different from the situation in the past in Dongfan. It seems that under the rule of the Australians, the Han people really live in harmony, and the scene here is also worthy of a sentence of living and working in peace and contentment. He secretly thought that he would definitely advise the Minister of Commerce when he went back this time, and he should deal with the Australians in Dongfan carefully, and he must not provoke lightly.

And farther outside the square, some whitewashed houses gradually came into view, and the shape of this house was somewhat similar to the building of Hongmaofan, which was a little ugly in the eyes of He Qiaoyuan and others. It's not that the quality of the houses is bad, it's just that this uniform building standard makes people feel less verve. The exterior wall of the house is not decorated except for white, the lines are all horizontal and vertical, there is no song at all, and Fujian across the sea is very different, even in Shen Yourong's hometown Xuancheng, even if the lines of the dwellings will be straighter than Fujian, but it will not be the same as here even the genus of the eaves ridge beast.

But it looks different, many of the houses here have two floors, which is not surprising, there are many two-story shops in the larger streets and alleys of the Ming City, but soon he saw many three- and four-story 'high-rise buildings', and even saw two or three more than five floors on the road, the land here in the east is not scarce, after all, even according to Akashi Daoyou, there are many wastelands outside the port city, and it is not very clear why the Australians built it like this.

He thought that the Australian was building a house, but it was like building a tower, which was incomprehensible.

But I don't understand it, but I also think that this look is not a bit orderly, maybe the Australians do things like they train.

Akashi Michitomo is also always on the way, these people are responsible for cleaning the streets, and those people are responsible for maintaining order.

Australians are praised for the governance of the city, and Shen Yourong and He Qiaoyuan nodded from time to time, both of them looked thoughtful, but Shen Shouyao seemed to find some problems when passing through the densely populated commercial block.

"Why do Australians' ox carts and horse-drawn carts pull on the side of the road?" He happened to see an ox cart in front of him with a load, and it was moving quite slowly, and the carriage passed the ox cart on the left side and quickly returned to the right side of the road, which immediately aroused the young man's interest.

After being reminded by his son, Shen Yourong also reacted, where did the sense of disobedience that had always existed come from, it turned out that the Australian vehicle did not walk in the middle of the road like Daming, but kept leaning on the right side.

Akashi Michiyu said with a smile: "Xiaojunmen is a good eyesight, not only horse-drawn carriages, but also pedestrians, it is said that since the chief of this law in Nanyang, the traffic in Hong Kong and the city is much more convenient, which is a virtue policy of the Australian Song Dynasty." ”

When everyone looked closely, they found that pedestrians generally walked on the right, and since entering the street, the street was also marked with white lines, which seemed to be deliberate.

Shen Shouyao was thoughtful, but immediately said, "But in this case, it should be on the left." ”

"How can Xiaojunmen say this?" Akashi was stunned.

"You think, the groom swings the whip with his right hand, and if he walks on the right, wouldn't the pedestrians on the side of the road be more likely to be injured?"

"This ......," Akashi Daoyou was speechless for a moment, but then said again, "I think it must be reasonable for the chiefs to do this." ”

After coming to Kaohsiung, this was the first time that Shen Shouyao found the inappropriateness of the Australians, which made him feel a little proud.

Naturally, it is impossible for Akashi Michiyu to know that the Senate's move was to prepare for the arrival of the automobile era in the future, after all, it is more scientific to drive on the right side of the human body's operating habits of the car. Since there is a scientific plan for the future, there is no need to deliberately retain the tradition of walking on the left in order to adapt to the transition from horse-drawn carriage to automobile, as the British did in later generations, and in fact there is no need for the city to whip all the time, as long as the driver pays attention.

The carriage quickly came to a halt, and when it was dismounted, it was a magnificent building, two stories long, but it was the height of an ordinary four-story building, and the façade of stone was visible from the front. Although the lines are still as simple as ever, the tall windows facing the street are equipped with large plate glass, which looks very luxurious, which is one of the reasons why Shen Yourong felt that the building was spectacular when he first saw it. And the dense crowd of people coming in and out in front of this building is also reflecting such a spectacular, only in terms of the flow of people in the past, it is more than several times more prosperous than the street market.

Looking at the top of the main entrance of the building, it seems that four red lacquered characters are supported by an iron frame - Vientiane Mall.

"This is the Kaohsiung branch of the Vientiane Mall of the official camp of the Australian Song Dynasty, and the military gate is also coincidental, and it just opened a few days ago."

Avoiding the flow of people, Akashi Michido took everyone to check their identities and entered the mall from the work passage, and the steward had already been instructed in advance to lead the way.

From the heart, even Shen Yourong, who is accustomed to seeing big scenes, has to say a word to himself in his heart, which can be described as shocking regardless of the scale or the number and variety of goods in Vientiane Mall. In the territory of Daming, it is not impossible for large businesses to have branches in several provinces, but it can be said that there is no one that can achieve such a scale of a business.

From food to wine, from clothing to porcelain, and even all kinds of hardware for daily use, everything is available, everything is included, so that Master Shen and his party are dizzying.

And what surprised Shen Lao Yourong even more was that most of the guys here were women, some of them were Fanren, and those Fanren women used to have contacts with Han people, and they knew some Chinese, and after training, they are now quite suitable.

If you want to say that women show up to do things, as long as they cross the Yangtze River, it is not uncommon in the north of the Ming Dynasty, but it is just a rough job to do some rough work to help the cooks in the field, and it is really rare for such female guys to greet people outside. He Qiaoyuan took a cursory look at the containers in the flow of people, in addition to those shelves, many counters were also inlaid glass, which was transparent when he looked at it, and he couldn't help but be secretly speechless.

Soon he found the target - rattan shell ivy bottle, the price is 300 wen a pair, a single piece is slightly more expensive, 175 wen, it is said that it is sold in pairs or because in Nanyang most of the naturalized people buy it for newlyweds, it is especially convenient to get up early to wash.

According to the so-called 'exchange rate' he had asked about at the hotel before, he converted it slightly, and one was about more than seven cents of silver, which was naturally not expensive with his financial resources, so he bought six sticks in banknotes.

Shen Yourong looked around by himself, and felt how this hall was so bright, but when he looked up, he gasped, and the entire roof of the mall was actually made of a whole piece of flat glass and an iron frame. If the large glass windows made Shen Yourong feel that Australians were acting extravagantly, then now this glass roof is really a bit sensational.

And so to be able to see the roof directly on the first floor is because the second floor is just a circle of horse building, just this atrium is about three zhang high, no less than the general city wall, strange is that there is no pillar to support, it is really strange.

I heard the director of the mall say that the second floor is a place for bulk merchants to do business, and if there are wealthy merchants who come, they will be invited to the upper floor, and there is no shortage of private rooms, such as serving tea and snacks.

"Chief Yang of Vientiane Mall is already waiting upstairs, the military gate and He Xianggong can go up with me, as for the generals ......" Akashi Daoyou looked at the two family members, "The first floor can be at your own convenience, there is Qin Steward to lead, and the things purchased by several VIPs are given a discount to Bade, and after the selection, you can hand it over to the guys, and they will pack the goods and send them back to the hotel, if you want to transport them to Fujian, the hotel can also help contact the merchant ship for transportation." ”

As soon as I heard that there was a 20% discount, the family was overjoyed, and just after passing through the store, I saw that the goods were dazzling, and the price was lower than that of Fujian, and I was already itching. He Qiaoyuan is interested in the labels on every goods, this is a rare first-hand information, these things alone are enough to continue a few more volumes of the "Book of Min", but if you think about it carefully, it is better to see the Australians first, after all, he has long been curious about these people.

Walking up the carpeted staircase, you soon came to a tastefully decorated room, where the waiter did not show the refreshments over the tea.

After a while, Akashi came in and said, "Chief Yang has arrived." ”

Shen Yourong and He Qiaoyuan were about to get up to salute, but they were stunned.

It turned out to be a woman......

[References]

1, "Daming Huidian"

2, "Records of Emperor Mingshen Zongxian"

3, "History of the Late Ming Dynasty" Fan Shuzhi

4, "Wanli Ye Ed" Shen Defu

5. "Examination of the Origin of Science in Fujian, Volume 75, Mr. Situ He Jingshan, Qiao Yuan"

6, "History of the Ming Dynasty • The Biography of Shen Yourong"

7, "History of the Ming Palace"

8, "Chronicles in the Middle" Liu Ruoyu

9. "Research on Folk Literature in the Ming Dynasty" Zhang Bo

10, "Records of Emperor Mingguang Zongzhen"

11, "Book of Min" He Qiaoyuan

12, "Quanzhou Mansion Chronicles"

13, "Dongfanji" Chen Di

14, "Minhai Gift" Shen Yourong

15, "Shen Yourong's Three Entry into the East "Annihilation of the Japanese and the Lotus" Examination" Chen Jiuru, Yao Yongsen

16、《Port of Ta-kau (1893)》