"Third, fourth, are you two familiar with Ryukyu?"

After the third and fourth master of the money were sealed, they should have returned to their flagships, but these two people had to rely on the Taihao ship.

Tang Ping also saw that these two guys were just waiting to show off the snacks and cards they brought here.

The days of sea voyage are boring, and drinking is not allowed, so the crew is divided into several shifts, and those who are not on duty are eating, playing cards or something.

Of course, there are requirements for military discipline, you can play cards, but gambling is not, and if you use it as a bargaining chip, you must not win or lose more than two cents in a game.

These navies are all elite, and their salaries are high, and even if they are unlucky, they can't lose much in a day.

There are several sets of mahjong tiles brought by Tang Ping on the Taihao ship, which is also the favorite of Qian Laosan and Luo Siye.

After learning to play for a few days, the two of them already look like veterans.

Hearing Tang Ping's question, the two hurriedly found two cards to help them play, and then walked to Tang Ping's side.

"Know, but not much."

"Well, it turns out that the two of us came here once when we were still under Brother Beard, and then the East Vietnamese Navy became stronger and stronger, and most of us were active in the north, and we rarely went this way."

"Okay, then tell me what you know."

"This Ryukyu is a small country, and Heikoku Gong also knows that they are an island, and most of the people on the island make a living from farming and fishing, so there is no oil or water."

Tang Ping was like Luo Siye, he realized that he was already a Tang Admiral, not a pirate in the past, and gave himself a slap lightly, and then continued: "The people on the island are not rich, but they have a good weather here, and they have heard that rice can be cooked two or three times a year, so they are not short of food and drink.

"There is nothing else on this island except Tian, and they are always dependent on big countries, so no force has the idea of attacking them."

Tang Ping nodded, he knew this, because every year when the tribute was paid, there were also people from the Ryukyu Kingdom who went to Chang'an, and I heard that they were attached to the Great Sui court during the former Sui Dynasty, and after the Sui was destroyed, Li Tang entered Chang'an, and they quickly wrote that they wanted to attach themselves to the Tang Dynasty.

In general, Ryukyu is still a very obedient kind of subject country, but the Tang Dynasty did not rely on the sea in the past few years, so there were not many people coming.

"How many days are we left in the Ryukyus?"

"At the current rate, it will be there in the morning in about four days."

"Okay!" Tang Ping nodded and ordered: "Let Donghai No. 1 send someone to the Ryukyu Kingdom to inform him first, and say that the Duke of Tang Ping will borrow Ryukyu to supply fresh water and food, but please ask the Ryukyu King to keep a low profile, and we can buy supplies on the island ourselves."

His huge fleet drove out of Ryukyu Island without saying a word, for fear that it would scare others.

On the morning of the fourth day, the sun had just come out, and sure enough, the outline of a continent could be seen in the distance on the horizon.

In modern times, Tang Ping has never been to Treasure Island, and it is too troublesome to do anything like a pass for mainland residents to travel to and from Treasure Island.

In the words of the dog, you still have to apply for a certificate to go to your own place, so don't go, and then you don't have to do it later.

Unexpectedly, when I arrived in Datang, I had the opportunity to take a look at this treasure island more than a thousand years ago.

Tokai No. 1 has already reported that the king of the Ryukyu Kingdom has promised Tang Ping that they will go to Ryukyu to replenish their supplies, and according to Tang Ping's request, no official team will be sent to greet them.

Of course, when it comes to supplies, not all warships will dock, and at this time Ryukyu did not have such a large harbor, but it was enough to use two supply ships in the East China Sea No. 11 and 12 plus a few cargo ships of Qian Laosan and their cargo ships to purchase supplies.

As soon as he came ashore, a young man came up, bowed, and said, "I have seen the Heavenly Envoy Ping Guogong!"

Tang Ping was stunned for a moment, looked left and right, and found that it was just this young man, so he asked curiously, "Who are you and me?"

"Back to the words of Ping Guogong, when paying tribute last year, the subordinates had seen the portrait of Ping Guogong."

So this person is from the Ryukyu Kingdom, and that's right, although Tang Ping said that he wanted to keep a low profile, but if he really didn't come over and ask, he couldn't say it.

And if you have an official person as a guide, it will be much more convenient.

"I don't know what this adult is called?"

"Your Majesty Shang Sixian!"

"Shang Sixian?" Tang Ping frowned and thought about it, always feeling that this name was a little familiar.

Wang Qingluan whispered behind him, "The king of the Ryukyu Kingdom is called Shang Sixian."

Tang Ping was shocked, he didn't expect that a king would come to receive him alone, and this person's age is estimated to be eighteen or nineteen years old, which is younger than himself.

"I've seen the King of the Ryukyus!"

"The subordinates don't dare, just call the ministers by their names." That Shang Sixian said respectfully.

"In this case, Sixian can also call me Tang Ping or Brother Tang." is the king of a country, and he is attached to the Tang Dynasty, Tang Ping is not a domineering person, and he still has to give face.

"Okay." That Shang Sixian was overjoyed, and then said with a smile: "I was very sorry to meet Brother Tang when I went to Datang last time, I didn't expect to see you here today."

In fact, there are too many small countries that are attached to the Tang Dynasty now, and Tang Ping doesn't go to the court much, like Shang Sixian, who thinks he has no friendship, and he is embarrassed to go to Shanghe Village to visit.

Now seeing Tang Ping so kind, he is naturally very happy: "I heard that Brother Tang is going south and wants to supply here, please let me know if you need anything."

"No need, Sixian will take us around, and my people will go and buy them."

Although I have never been to the modern Treasure Island, I have seen the photos, and the Ryukyus more than 1,000 years ago can really be said to be an economically underdeveloped region.

Just look at the small town outside the harbor, you can see that it will definitely not be too rich, and Tang Ping will not take advantage of them.

Shang Sixian nodded: "This is a freshwater port, and the largest seaport in the north of our Ryukyu Kingdom is here, and there is a market over there, and the main trade is grain and other goods."

In the era when shipping was not developed, even if fruits were abundant here, the perennial temperature was still relatively high, and it was not easy to transport it out quickly, so the local people would not use fruits as the main trade goods, and even if there were, they were some fruit products, such as dried fruits and the like.

The bulk trade is still grain, and there is a large area in the port of Tamsui where grain is sold.

Tang Ping followed into a few shops and looked at them, and couldn't help but sigh with emotion: "Brother Sixian, the grain you have here is too cheap."

Shang Sixian smiled bitterly and said, "We produce a lot of grain here, but we buy less grain, and if the price is high, those merchants will calculate the cost of shipping by sea, and if they think it is not cost-effective after shipping it back to China, they will not buy it from us, so they can only sell it at this price."

Tang Ping nodded, thinking about it, if the grain here is transported to Chang'an, the road is far away, if it has to be sold at a high price here, who will do this loss-making business?

With an order, naturally someone will trade with various grain merchants, this price is already cheaper than Tang Ping imagined, and Tang Ping is not going to transport grain back to buy it, so he naturally ordered the people below not to bargain anymore, just buy it at the current price.

Shang Sixian said movingly: "I have long heard that Brother Tang is kind-hearted and cares about the people, and when I saw it today, it was true."

Tang Ping blushed a little from his blow, looked at the vendor at the door of a grain store buying coconuts, pointed to the coconut and said, "Buy the coconut, let's make a coconut chicken to eat today."

Tang Ping, who has been to Hainan a few times, has a soft spot for coconut chicken, and that thing is simple, even if Xiaoluo does not come, he is not afraid of overturning.

"Coconut chicken?" Shang Sixian asked curiously, "What is it?"

"You haven't eaten it?" Tang Ping asked strangely.

"Indeed, I have never eaten it."

"Coconut, you have a lot of them here, right?"

Shang Sixian nodded, "Here."

Everywhere, sometimes when people are thirsty, they climb trees and cut down one to quench their thirst."

"Chickens, I see you have people here too."

"Well, when my father came back from the Tang Dynasty, he also taught everyone how to make salt eggs, which can keep eggs for a longer time. I heard that the method of salt eggs was invented by Ping Guogong."

"I didn't invent it." Tang Ping picked up a coconut: "You have coconuts and chickens, use coconut water to cook chicken, it's coconut chicken!"

"Can it still be like this?" Shang Sixian really didn't expect that these two things that were quite common around him could be eaten in such a combination.

Actually, I don't blame him, don't say they didn't expect it, but now in many places in Africa, they have coconut and chicken, and they didn't think about making coconut chicken to eat.

Qian Laosan and the others listened to the coconut chicken introduced by Tang Ping, and they only felt that their saliva was going to stay, and they followed Tang Ping during this time, but they ate too much food, which was also one of the reasons why the two of them did not leave on the Taihao ship.

So a few people took all the coconuts that could be seen, and those who sold coconuts were collected, and asked them if they wanted them, and after receiving a positive answer, they all beckoned people to run outside the freshwater port.

Because there are many coconut trees outside the port, it is rare to meet someone who is willing to buy so much, of course, they have to cut more to sell it to make money.

At this moment, there was a dispute between Tang Ping and the others in a grain store that they had just come out.

"Hey, you want to sell me food, how dare you sell it to someone else?"

"Dong Ye, the price you gave yesterday is too low, I really can't sell it at that price, if I want to sell it to you, I have to lose to death." Today, these masters are willing to pay our bid price, and I naturally want to sell it to them. If you don't do it, add some more, we really can't sell it at your price!"

"No, you sell them food, how can we supply it?"

Hearing the sound of the quarrel, Tang Ping walked back with someone again.

"What's going on?"

"If you go back to Gongzi, we are about to deliver the grain here, and these people can't sell it to us, but they have to sell it to them."

"Are you the right?" The shouting man turned to look at Tang Ping, and found that Tang Ping was just a young boy, but he was dressed a little luxuriously, his eyes rolled, and he smiled at Tang Ping and said, "Where did you come from? Any idea what this place is? Do you know whose territory this is?"

(In the Tang Dynasty, the treasure island was called Liuqiu, and I was uniformly called Ryukyu.) ）