Chapter 117: The value of the candied fruit is equal to that of a princess

When everyone sat down in the hall, the obedient official looked at Sister Chiyo beside him, and he couldn't help but want to laugh.

At this time, sitting in the hall were the middle and high-level leaders of this huge interest group, and the highest authority was obviously Zhongli Zhong's guerrilla, and the obedient official was similar to Emperor Fusang, the nominal mascot, after all, everyone had to rely on him to glue together, and the Yan family who was a good official in Zhong's guerrilla eyes sacrificed his life to save each other, there was actually no one, not even the nominal father-in-law of Zhongli's obedient official.

Zhong Li also asked the good official, why didn't he invite the head of the Yan family to sit, and the good official told the elder brother that it was already interesting enough to leave 10,000 gold for Lao Yan, Zhong Li couldn't help but be surprised in his heart, my brother worked hard to save the Yan family, why didn't he want to fight for more benefits for the Yan family

You know, he was still a little guilty, the Yan family brought more than 200,000 cash silver into the pocket of Ningbo Bawei, now looking at his brother's attitude, but he put out the original guilt, and whispered to the good official: Also, this overseas business has to be done by Li Yufu and others, the Yan family is still honest in the Ming Dynasty to do Ansheng business, brother This is also the heart of the fist, presumably the head of the Yan family will understand in the future.

Zhongli is also very disgusted by the Yan family's behavior of mixing with the local government to buy and sell arms to foreign countries, how big a hat you wear, you have to participate in the arms trade of the governor and the Fusang people, don't you think that you have a lot of money and want to be raided, this kind of business, Jade Jiaolong Li Yufu can do it, what qualifications do you have to do it, I really think that there are a few fast boats, and there are hundreds of strong people who can survive in the open sea.

For example, the Yan family's usual petty fights, and Fusang also have business dealings, but they are just some raw silk, silk and the like, and the pirates on the sea are not as normal people imagine, they really kill people and burn ships to steal goods, such as normal Fusang to do weaving, raw silk, silk and other transactions, these pirates are equivalent to collecting taxes by force, and they draw one out of ten, which is why Zhongli gave Li Yufu 6,000 taels of gold.

It looks funny, the merchants of the Ming Kingdom have to pay taxes to the pirates, and if the imperial court collects their taxes, they jump up and down one by one, which can only be described in one sentence, remember the fight or not.

Therefore, many times the Ningbo fleet itself has to make a cameo appearance as a pirate, otherwise, what will the huge fleet feed on? Zhongli's hatred of merchants naturally has a reason for him. Mud horse, Lao Tzu finally recruited from the big brother of the green forest, and turned into a court official, you dog merchants, actually forced me to do those robberies, if you pay taxes honestly, why do you secretly ask your subordinates to make a cameo appearance as a pirate.

This situation waited until the end of the Ming Dynasty, the situation became more and more serious, and the merchants armed themselves to resist taxes at every turn, but the real robbers came, but they didn't dare to let go of a fart, and honestly paid for all their lives. Like Zheng Yiguan at the end of the Ming Dynasty, of course, this Zheng Yiguan has nothing to do with Zheng Yiguan, he is a successful pirate, nominally subservient to the imperial court, but he collects taxes by force, all ships on the South China Sea have to pay taxes (2,000 gold per ship) to him Zheng Yiguan, so he has a huge fleet of 3,000 ships, and later foreign scholars generally believe that Zheng Yiguan has accumulated huge wealth by relying on the first business tax, rich more than his monarch, and even the Dutch have to pay taxes to him.

This Zheng Yiguan later befriended the Matsuura family, the daimyo of Fuso, in Hirado Town, Fuso, and married a girl named Tagawa Matsu, and after marriage, he gave birth to his eldest son, Fumatsu Maru, and the second son, Nanazaemon, the following year.

Zheng Yiguan's eldest son, Fumatsu Maru, later changed his name to Chenggong.

Like these situations, the good official is also very clear in his heart, so he really doesn't feel that there is anything wrong with his eldest brother swallowing the Yan family's silver, and it is interesting enough that people are willing to leave your Yan family a way to live. You must know that later, his own big pirate Zheng Yiguan had an annual income of tens of millions, while Zhang Juzheng only collected 5 million taels a year after reforming and working hard, and later Wanli engaged in mining supervision and taxation, and historical records record that he collected more than 5 million taels in bits and pieces for ten years.

Poor Wanli worked hard all his life to make about 7 million silver, but the son Taichang was not angry, as soon as he became the emperor, first [all the world's mining taxes], and then, whoa, send the wealth boy generally, all the silver to the household, it was really brainwashed by the scholars ruthlessly, and the emperor of the Ming Dynasty could not take silver from the household to his own treasury according to the rules, that is to say, you can only spend your own money, the money of the household is the world, and you spend it is a faint king, In history, the emperors who took silver from the household were recorded by the historians and scolded bloody, and we read the history books are actually just a few strokes [200,000 taels of silver from the Tai warehouse], but Wanli's own coffin was returned to the household by his son who was not angry, but he didn't mention it. ,

has the money to eat a few hundred gold for a meal, but has no money to pay taxes, like this kind of person, who knows himself and sees that he wants to die, after all, it is human life, it is indeed unreasonable, but the obedient official feels that he has done well enough, it is interesting enough, and he is worthy of his conscience, and he has already paid it back to the Yan family.

Therefore, he didn't plan to get closer to the Yan family, even the British pirates robbed the gold, silver and jewelry, and they knew that they would go back to honor their king, the Ming merchant of the mud horse, when would you be enlightened to be on par with the British pirates

He sighed long, don't care about the Yan family, it's easy to save one person in the world, it's difficult for one person to save the world, the Yan family, to put it bluntly, is a businessman, where can I care about the life and death of the entire merchant class.

At this time, it was getting late, and there were about dozens of people sitting in the hall, including Li Yufu's second-in-command He Kang'an, a few pirate leaders, and many military attachés of Ningbo Bawei, naturally, there were also Ono Zhenyuki and Tachibana Genga and those veteran retainers and samurai.

We have to describe the huge living room where everyone gathers for dinner, there is no table, everyone sits cross-legged on the table, you must know that the place where they are is Ryukyu Island after all, many habits have been assimilated, and then a small table is put in front of each person, and a lot of wine has been served, but the food has not been served for a long time, waiting for these Ningbo Bawei officers all have a gurgling stomach, and they are not happy to sit on the ground, and they have not served food for a long time, which is really even more frustrating.

"I said Brother Yufu, your brother is also a dignified King of the Sea Yama, say it, a meal has not been prepared until now, what are you doing" Some officers couldn't help but ask Li Yufu, Li Yufu's face was full of embarrassment, it's not that he doesn't work hard to serve, this has to start from the eating habits, they are by no means the kind of big bowls of wine and meat that ordinary people understand, you must know that this is an island, resources are scarce, even if you have money, you can't spend it, and as an old camp, you can't make it too dense, otherwise you can't eat regularly every day, the smoke is faint, are you a paradise or a pirate's nest here?

Therefore, Li Yufu's small life is actually bitter, just like those Fusang daimyos, eat a chazuku, get a small fish and eat a pickled radish strip or something, he can pat his chest and say [not bad money], but when it comes to eating and drinking well, he can develop like this, a little belly, he is already very happy, and it is impossible to dream of a waist circumference like Niu Dehua, the deputy of Ningbo Bawei.

And the ships of Ningbo Bawei, the ballast stone at the bottom of the ship has always been replaced by pigs, pigs are easy to feed, slaughtered is meat, these military attaches of Ningbo Bawei got silver, but also kindly sent Li Yufu a lot of pigs, this thing, but happy to those pirates, especially the pirates who have a mother-in-law at home, are all pouted by their own mother-in-law to keep up with the head to ask for one or two to come back to raise.

Well, in fact, this is actually Li Yufu's unqualified chef here, and there are a few mothers-in-law who can serve pigs in the water, but it is really a headache for Li Yufu to make so many dishes that the military attaches of the Ming Dynasty eat, so it is understandable that the food is served late.

At this time, he was embarrassed not to say it, Ai Ai, said the reason, laughed so that these Ningbo Bawei generals fell, one by one, they staggered, and Niu Dehua, who had a big belly, couldn't help but shout loudly to blame Li Yufu for dying to save face and suffer from the crime, to be a good cook, just call my old cow, mud horse, make everyone wait for so long.

As he spoke, he got up and hurried out, called his own soldiers, and then asked Li Yufu to take people out, and when he returned to his position and sat down, he couldn't help but pat his stomach and boast, "It's not that my old cow is bragging badly, I have thirty personal soldiers under my hands, and every one of them is the master of the restaurant......

Zhongli laughed at him for being a foodie, as soon as he said this, everyone made fun of him, but he didn't think he was angry, but he touched his stomach and enjoyed himself, the obedient official looked at him coldly, and then looked at Li Yufu, and couldn't help but secretly praise this Li Yufu for being sleek.

He didn't believe that Li Yufu really didn't even have a cook under his hands, maybe there really weren't so many cooks, but your Li Yufu's city government, didn't you know how to prepare early?

It's nothing more than to make this one, blow up its shortcomings, let the generals of Ningbo Bawei laugh, everyone can immediately get closer to each other, expose one of their shortcomings, this is one of the good ways to quickly get closer to friends, just like the so-called college dead party in later generations, what you can think of is definitely the shortcomings of the dead party, and those who show their advantages from time to time have to be called idols, which will only make people respect and stay away. ,

This is a really sleek guy, no wonder it has been on the sea for decades, and the owner of the Yan ship can't compare with Ah, the good official couldn't help but sigh.

Chiyo sitting next to him sat honestly kneeling, like a delicate and lovely puppet, which has to admit the docility of Fusang women, just like the so-called [heaven is the salary of the United States, Chinese cuisine, British housing, and Japanese wives] when sitting next to him, the general argument at that time was that Japanese women had the aftertaste of the Han and Tang dynasties, and had ten advantages, and these advantages were now gradually being covered up in China, so if you want to reflect the afterglow of traditional Chinese women, you can only go to Fusang to find it.

She naturally didn't understand what these Ningbo Bawei generals said, and the obedient official, as a young man with the five-character mantra of Pan Donkey Deng Xiaoxian, naturally took the initiative to whisper to her, but she didn't explain Li Yufu's mind carefully, these things are too deep and dark, so it's better not to say it to Sister Chiyo.

However, when he was there to carefully ponder Li Yufu's thoughts, his hands suddenly warmed, and then there seemed to be something more, he looked down, but it was the cover of Chiyo's wide sleeves, and an unknown thing stuffed in his hand, looking like a rice ball, wrapped in brocade, he opened it and looked, and sure enough, it was a small rice ball wrapped in seaweed outside, which was the so-called sushi in later generations.

The origin of this thing is the food that Fuso and the Warring States War carried out, to put it bluntly, it is equal to the instant noodles of later generations, and the good official couldn't help but slander his stomach, but he couldn't ignore the kindness of Sister Chiyo, and he smiled at the moment, and threw it into his mouth, chewed it, and it tasted good, and there seemed to be a lot of ingredients in it, he was a little surprised, shouldn't it be that the sushi at this time should only be in its infancy, and Toyotomi Hideyoshi is only worthy of eating chazuke, why does it taste so good?

He couldn't help but turn his head and ask Chiyo, he didn't pay attention to the volume of this speech, and his voice was a little louder, and suddenly everyone looked over, and Chiyo was a six-year-old girl who was a family governor, and he was a little embarrassed at the beginning, but at this time, he was actually generous, and whispered to the good official if he had nothing to do, this is a tonic made by Kashima Shrine to nourish strength.

The obedient official immediately understood, at this time, Fusang generally ate two meals, and Sister Chiyo has practiced swordsmanship since she was a child, and her appetite must be not small, this thing is equivalent to beef jerky for us to replenish our physical strength.

You must know that at this time, the samurai of the Fuso Warring States were samurai masters in the eyes of the peasants, but there were still people above the samurai, that is, what the samurai called the [** Gongqing class], this class not only refers to the minister, but also monks and priests, and the ministers, as representatives of this class, are actually not happy, but the monks and priests are definitely the richest people at that time.

Oda Nobunaga burned Koyasan on the grounds that the monks ate meat, and at that time Fuso was the so-called Buddha country, and normal people were not allowed to eat meat, of course, this was just an excuse, in fact, it was to covet the monks to have money.

Monks、Priests, these are typical rich second generations in Fuso.,Their profession and net worth can be passed on to their sons.,Sons and grandsons.,Much richer than the samurai class.,Chiyo's teacher Tsukahara Hikoshiro Hidegan's father Tsukahara Tosa Shou Pu's father is the priest of Kashima Shrine.,This sentence looks more awkward.,In fact, to put it bluntly.,It's a rich man's swordsmanship.,Refusing to eat two meals a day.,You have to carefully serve the delicious food, As a result, Chiyo himself also carries the so-called Kashima Jingu secret nourishing tonic for strength.

At this time, it was impossible for the Fuso samurai to eat white rice in one meal, but Chiyo could carry it with him, and it tasted so good, in fact, it was a small snack, and of course, ordinary samurai would never be able to afford it.

Chewing on this delicious little rice ball, the good official felt lucky, there was no entertainment in these years, and it was definitely the greatest pleasure to be able to eat something delicious, if this fun was gone, it would be really painful, so he couldn't help but take out a flat porcelain plate the size of a baby's palm from his arms, open the lid and stretch it out to Chiyo, which was full of preserved fruits.

Chiyo reached out and twisted a piece and put it in her mouth, the taste was sweet and sour, it was a delicacy she had never tasted, and she couldn't help but squint her beautiful big eyes. You must know that Fusang does not have such a good preserved fruit, even in the Ming Dynasty, this thing is also very expensive, not to mention, the so-called Western sugar produced in China is a fist product that generates foreign exchange for export, and the candied fruits made by the Ming Dynasty themselves are relatively expensive, it is conceivable what the price is if it is sold abroad, it is not good to say, it is estimated that at this moment, several European royal families can afford to eat, as for the princess of the Tachibana family, she really can't afford to eat this. ,

Don't look at the Tachibana family is rich, take 60,000 gold to buy a Franco cannon, but the sugar thing, the price is better than gold, you take it to pickle the fruit, the landlord's family has no surplus grain so bad under normal circumstances, for example, the retainer samurai was given two sweet bean bags, that is a great gift, this thing is equivalent to the ginseng fruit to Zhu Bajie for the Fuso samurai, and it will take a few decades later for the Shimazu family to attack the Ryukyu Kingdom and force the Ryukyu Kingdom to grow sugar cane throughout the country, and sugar has only gone down the altar to become popular, even then, due to the sugar boiling technology, Mingguo sugar is still expensive.

So when Sister Chiyo ate this candied fruit, she only felt that her mouth was fragrant, and her saliva kept secreting, so she couldn't help but squint her eyes slightly, enjoying the deliciousness, and after a while, she came back to taste, and when she saw the good official smiling and looking at her, she couldn't help blushing, oops, too embarrassing.

Stuffing the small porcelain plate with the lid into Chiyo's hand, the obedient official smiled and whispered, "Give it to you." ”

Chiyo was suddenly surprised, and then, he was moved, you know, the price of this candied fruit is very expensive, when he went south, the big head disliked Xiaoqian eating too many candy, thinking that she was too loser, this palm-sized small porcelain plate, put together and play with it, it looks very beautiful, and it is a precious candied fruit, if you take it to Fusang to sell, it is estimated that it will have to be sold for six hundred taels of silver, don't laugh, don't bargain, as if the price of European spices is more than gold directly gave birth to the Great Voyage.

This stuffed past is a heirloom knife, to say something unpleasant, it is very problematic to tell Chiyo whether the family heirloom thunder cutting knife that refuses to give Xiong Zongmao is worth six hundred taels.

For example, fried chestnuts with sugar, which can only be eaten by the people in the Ming Dynasty, after crossing to Fusang, I don't know what the cold looks like, just this, it is the Fusang imperial offering, I want to eat, and I have to give it to the emperor, which leads to the daughter of the princess's family to say to the daughter of the samurai family: I have eaten the sugar-fried chestnuts and roasted white potatoes of the Ming Kingdom...... This is equivalent to the petty bourgeoisie of later generations showing off French foie gras, Bordeaux red wine, and Black Sea caviar to others.

It is conceivable that this small plate of various colored candied fruits is very precious to the Fuso people, although Chiyo has never eaten such delicious candied fruits, it does not mean that she does not know the goods, Fuuchi Town and Hakata Town are on the territory of the Otomo family, which is the two major gathering places for the Nanban trade at that time, she has also eaten the kind of hard sugar cubes of Nanban, just a few small pieces wrapped in paper, it takes more than 20 yuan to buy, ordinary Fuso people can not afford to eat a piece in their lifetime

Holding a small porcelain plate with body temperature, Chiyo felt that there was something hot in her eyes, as if something was about to roll down, so she quickly blinked, and then carefully put the porcelain plate in her arms, and then smiled softly at the good official, at this moment, she felt that although her brother Tachibana Genga had previously suggested that her father let her marry Xiong Zongmao was hateful, she decided that from now on, she would no longer hate her brother.

The good official didn't expect it at all, a little preserved fruit completely touched the heart of Sister Chiyo, from this moment on, Sister Chiyo completely stood by the side of the good official, and never retreated in the face of countless reproaches in the future, the price of loyalty was actually just a small plate of candied fruit worth one or two silver in the Ming Dynasty.

Watching the two of them handing things back and forth to each other on top, Ono Zhenyuki and Tachibana Genga, who were sitting below, were happy in their hearts, and looked at each other, feeling that this time they had really made the most cost-effective deal, and those who were sitting farther away The retainers and samurai of the Tachibana family also felt that there was a rush, who had ever seen Princess Chiyo laugh so many times in a day? Perhaps, it was a mistake for the princess to marry Takahashi Chikumaru in the first place......

The psychological changes of these retainers are so great that they don't even notice it, Lord Somo has become Takahashi Chikumaru, and it is conceivable that Tachibana Soshige's status in the hearts of everyone has dropped at this moment.

Zhongli watched his brother and the princess of Fusang come and go, he couldn't help laughing, and secretly happy, after all, these princesses of the Fusang people became their own brother's women, and it would be easy to talk in the future, and it would not be difficult to swallow it slowly, just like this brother said, planning overseas, it can be regarded as the credit of opening up the territory and sealing the wolf, and there may not be my Zhongli Zhong Wuying's name in the history books in the future.

As a former elder brother of the green forest, he is really satisfied with the current situation, this kind of thing is famous in history, that is, civil officials have that qualification, or to achieve Qi Shaobao's position may also be famous in history, but Zhongli does not dare to hope that he can go to the point of Qi Shaobao, and now he has found another way, and he may also be famous in history, whether the reputation is good or bad is not known for the time being, but he can leave a mark in the history books, no matter what, it is already amazing, so he is looking forward to the future development. ,

After waiting for a while, at this time, the food finally began to be served, and the maid who had been kneeling behind poured the wine for Chiyo and the good official first, this was the screaming maid Xiao Chu, the good official couldn't help but look at her twice, the maid who was younger than the good official glared back at him with her eyes, so that he couldn't help but smile, so he turned his head and asked Chiyo, "Sister, your maid should be twelve years old, why haven't you married yet." ”

It's not rude for him to ask this, for example, at the age of 11, he married Maeda Toshi's family, and at the age of 12, he gave birth to his eldest daughter, Maeda Yuki, of course, he just deliberately scared and scared this little girl, Chiyo glanced at him, and then said to the maid: "Xiao Chu, after the New Year, you will be thirteen, you have been serving by my side for many years, and when you go back home, I will ask your father to find you a suitable samurai to marry."

Xiao Chu was so frightened that he knocked the wine bottle to the ground, and immediately fell to the ground with his forehead on the ground, crying: "Princess, Xiao Chu has sworn not to marry since the day he served the princess. ”

The eyes of everyone in the hall immediately swept over, and the obedient official was immediately embarrassed, pulling Chiyo's sleeve and whispering, "I'm joking." ”

At this time, Chiyo didn't pay attention to him, just looked at Xiao Chu who was prostrate in front of her, she was preparing to put up a stand for the good officials in front of all the retainers, so as to save the retainers from offending the good officials in the future, which would be even worse.