"You say this big iron ship has no sails and no oars, how did he drive it?"

"Don't you know, these Australians all have the power of ghosts and gods, don't you see that those things are emitting black smoke!"

"I think they're all monsters, and the gods are definitely not like this."

“......”

Listening to the discussion of everyone around him, and hearing the scholar's disapproving tone, Tang Ning suddenly became interested, so he asked him: "Why does Mr. think that Australians are nothing remarkable?" I think they are very powerful, and they have developed this little Lingao so prosperously! ”

The scholar pouted and said: "If you don't obey the teachings of the saints and don't know the wisdom of the sages, even if you prosper, it's just a flash in the pan!" As he spoke, the scholar took out a copy of the high times and pointed at him: "Look at the words on it that lack pen strokes and mistakes, this is also embarrassing to claim to be a descendant of the Song family, Cai Su Mi Huang If the spring has knowledge, he will definitely scold them!" Cai Su Mi Huang refers to four well-known calligraphers of the Song Dynasty, Cai Xiang, Su Shi, Mi Fu and Huang Tingjian.

Tang Ning took a look, and sure enough, what was written on it was Chinese Simplified, not the traditional font common in this era, so he helped to justify: "It is said that they wrote this way for the sake of simplicity, not typos." ”

Hearing Tang Ning help the Australians to justify, the scholar's face suddenly changed: "How can it be that you can change the words created by the sages at will for the sake of simplicity in writing?" And if this love is heartless, is it still called love? ”

Tang Ning replied disapprovingly: "The purpose of words is to facilitate everyone's use, as long as you can understand the meaning." In addition, different calligraphy is written in different ways of writing the same character, so why is it that no one says that it is offensive to the sages? ”

At this time, a middle-aged man dressed as a businessman came over and dragged Tang Ning aside, and said in a low voice: "Sir, don't pay attention to this crazy student, don't look at him looking down on Australians on the surface, in fact, he went to defect to Australians!" ”

Unexpectedly, the scholar's ears were quite pointed, and he shouted unconvinced: "Who said that I went to the Australians?" I see that they have lived in a barbarian land for a long time, and they have forgotten the teachings of the saints, so they are willing to take risks and come here to preach the righteousness of heaven and earth and the way of the saints! I'm saving them, otherwise it would be difficult to achieve great things with just these strange and obscene skills and business tricks! ”

The middle-aged businessman shot back disdainfully: "That's a nice thing to say, in fact, it's not because you can't pass the imperial examination, so you want to come to the Australians to try your luck, but I didn't expect that people wouldn't eat your set, and they would confiscate you in Guangzhou at all, and even compare to those craftsmen. ”

In fact, the middle-aged businessman is not wrong at all, since Lin Gaozhong won the "second anti-encirclement victory", it has attracted the attention of many people, some of them found that Australians here do not want to say Jinshi, not even a move, suddenly felt as if they had a chance, so they pondered that they wanted to mix a half-official position, but sadly found that Australians would rather be lowly craftsmen, than to be such a person of insight who reads poetry and books, so this is the accumulation of anger.

When he heard that someone had exposed his old background, the scholar suddenly became angry and scolded angrily: "What do you know? We read people's business, can stealing books be called stealing......" Of course, the back is Tang Ning's own brain, anyway, in his opinion, the scholar here is similar to Kong Yiji who was exposed for stealing books, so he can't help but think of the years when he was the first to wear through the world of texts to be Kong Yiji, it was really like a different world, and more than 600,000 words passed at once......

Ignoring the scholar who barked incessantly, Tang Ning and the middle-aged businessman walked aside, and the middle-aged businessman asked him curiously: "Dare to ask the old gentleman why he went to Lingao this time?" ”

"Oh, it's nothing, it's just curiosity, so I came here to open my eyes." Downing replied casually.

The middle-aged businessman immediately echoed and praised: "If it is an eye-opener, then the old gentleman, you are really in the right place, although this Lingao is still in our Daming realm, but every place is different from our Daming, I was dazzled when I first came, and I felt that everywhere was fresh." What's even more terrifying is that every time I come, I find that there are changes, how do you say these Australians' brains grow? It's really admirable. ”

"So you often come to high school?" Tang Ning asked.

The middle-aged businessman nodded and said: "I came here to do business, Australian goods are particularly easy to sell in Jiangnan, and Australians buy a large amount of tung oil, so this time the profit is very large, so I will come to Lingao almost every two months, but every time I feel that there is a change here." ”

Speaking of this, the middle-aged businessman seemed to suddenly remember something, and asked Tang Ning: "Oh, I've been chatting with the old gentleman for a long time, and I still don't know what you call it." ”

Tang Ning replied casually: "Oh, my surname is Xu, and my double name is Hongzu." I don't know your surname? "Xu Xiake is just another name, the real name is Xu Hongzu, the word Zhenzhi.

"I can't afford to be Mr. I'm just an ordinary small businessman, Mr. Xu, just call me Chen Shan."

Just as the two were chatting, the ship had docked at the dock, and several small officials wearing clothes embroidered with the word "port affairs" jumped onto the boat, and everyone else was surprised by the clothes of the little officials, but Tang Ning felt funny that it was the rattan helmet on his head, but he also knew that this was made of local materials, and there was no way.

At this time, Chen Shan was still comforting on the side: "Don't be afraid, old man, these Australian officials are very kind, they will not bully people at will, and they will not ask for bribes, they are much better than our Ming officials." ”

Tang Ning nodded and replied with a smile: "I have heard of this a long time ago, otherwise I would not dare to come." ”

The port official checked the list of passengers and confirmed whether there was any intention to emigrate on board before leaving, but although he left, the people on board could not go ashore and had to stay on board for three days, called the quarantine period, during which anyone found sick must be reported immediately to the port staff for treatment.

Chen Shan was afraid that Tang Ning would not understand, so he helped explain: "The Australians are afraid that someone on the ship will get sick and infect them, so they are extremely strict in this regard. But to be honest, I don't think it's really necessary, you see how many people come in and out of Guangzhou every day, isn't there still no epidemic! ”