In Daming, there are two domestic trade routes from Zhejiang to Fujian.

One is to enter the upper reaches of the Qiantang River from various waterways in Nanzhili, then turn to Changshan in Zhejiang and Yushan in Jiangxi, pass through the Shuiguan Hekou Town in Chong'an, Fujian, and enter Fujian. The other is from the Qiantang River into Jiangshan County in Zhejiang, connecting to the Xianxia Ridge in Pucheng.

When Zheng Haizhu took his nephew north to Jiangnan to make a living, although he experienced all kinds of customs and customs along the way, he gained a lot of knowledge, but he also suffered a lot of hardship.

Fortunately, this time I followed Gonggong Liu to the south, and I could choose the third road.

Sea route.

……

The thick wooden walls of the Fubune block the biting cold wind on the sea in winter.

A high-cost East China Sea crystal window fills the cabin with daylight in the day.

Zheng Haizhu sat in front of the window, holding a long skirt in her hand, inspecting the details.

"Sister Azhu, I heard Mr. Storyteller talk about "Journey to the West", in which the palace of the Dragon King of the East China Sea is made of crystal. Now, I'm like I'm in the Crystal Palace. ”

Fan Poyu, the daughter of Tailor Fan, pressed the tip of her nose to the crystal window, staring at the mighty appearance of the sergeants on the deck outside, while expressing her excitement to Zheng Haizhu.

Zheng Haizhu went to Yuegang with Gonggong Liu's fleet this time, and brought Fan Poyu as a female companion, which was not only more convenient to live with, but also did have to use the twenty days on the ship with her to complete some special clothing samples.

The little girl Fan Poyu felt that her luck in this winter was as good as a dream.

Sister Azhu is not only the new patron of her family, but also will take her out and follow the official ship of the imperial court to Yuegang to open her eyes.

When he first boarded this big ship, which was more gorgeous than the pavilions of many rich and noble families in Songjiang, Fan Poyu was still a little trembling, because he heard that the woman would be looked down upon by people on the Shanghai boat.

Unexpectedly, after walking a few steps on the deck with Sister Azhu, I saw several mothers-in-law, either carrying vegetable baskets or holding clean mattresses, shuttling like bees.

Sister Azhu told her at the time that as early as more than 200 years ago, there were dozens of mothers-in-law on the treasure ship of the Sanbao eunuchs in the Western Ocean, who were responsible for cooking, washing and sewing things.

And the general surnamed Ma, who walked in front of them, also turned his head and told her with a friendly smile that in his hometown of Sichuan and Shu, women can not only board the boat, but also fight in the water. Although his mother mainly focuses on cavalry and spears, she has a female navy under her command that is good at jumping and fighting between warships on the river.

Fan Poyu then breathed a sigh of relief, and soon became cramped again.

She was almost in her prime, and when she saw an outstanding man, she was admiring and shy, so she simply lowered her head.

General Ma is so young, so good-looking, as a military general, he is not fierce at all, and when he heard her name, he praised the word "broken" to the ear.

Well, although, he seems to smile only in front of Sister Azhu. And towards the other people on the boat, including the kind-hearted father-in-law Liu, the corners of General Ma's mouth were flat.

In the cabin at this moment, Zheng Haizhu looked at Fan Poyu, who seemed to be thinking about something like an adult, studied the crystal window, and showed a curious look of his little daughter's family, which was really cute and pleasing.

Zheng Haizhu then smiled and said: "This East China Sea crystal, has always been a tribute, now the craftsmen's craftsmanship is more and more skillful, not only can make out the window, but also grind out reading glasses, I heard that the crystal reading glasses used by the pavilion elders cost twenty taels of silver." ”

"Huh?" Fan Poyu was speechless, stretched out his hand and gestured for a moment, and sighed, "Wouldn't such a big window cost a few hundred taels of silver?" ”

Zheng Haizhu pursed her lips and pushed the skirt in her hand over: "Father-in-law Liu, let us live in such a good cabin, little girl, you have to be more competitive, learn from the crystal craftsmen who are diligent in their work, come, weave this row of gold edges, dismantle and sew them again, sew out the feeling of waves, don't be so rigid." ”

Fan Poyu obediently took the skirt and fiddled with it for a while, and was thinking about what the "feeling of the waves" looked like, but saw that Sister Azhu had stood up and squatted towards the hatch.

"Father-in-law Liu, General Ma."

Liu Shimin and Ma Xianglin stood outside the cabin with their hands behind their backs, their faces were easy and gentle, but their bodies did not move.

Zheng Haizhu estimated that the two of them came for the process they had reported on the deck today, but it was inconvenient to enter the woman's cabin.

She then put on another smaller piece of textile and beckoned Fan Poyu out of the cabin.

Liu Shimin stared at the woman's skirt in Fan Poyu's hand, which looked like a palace curtain, and did not hide his surprise.

"Miss Zheng, what you said the Taixi businessman would like, this is it?"

Zheng Haizhu nodded very confidently and said, "Yes, this is called a dress." ”

Then instructed Fan Poyu to pinch the shoulder sleeves and lift the skirt up, while he leaned over to spread out the gorgeous skirt.

"Father-in-law Liu, please see, this kind of skirt is different from our Ming woman's skirt, its upper skirt and lower garment are sewn together, so it is called a dress. When I was in the Han Dynasty and the Han Dynasty, there was a kind of curved deep clothes that were connected up and down like this, but the dress that the Taixi women liked, the top was as narrow and short as a beard, but the skirt was like a curtain like a curtain, and it was a bit like the kind of felt tent that the Mongolian people lived in the grassland. ”

Liu Shimin looked at it for a while, nodded and said: "I said how to look a little familiar, our family remembered, when the Taixi missionary Matteo Ricci presented Western treasures to the Lord of Banzai, the Lord of Banzai asked him about the style of the West, Matteo Ricci took out some paintings, and the woman on it was dressed as if it was this kind of skirt. ”

Zheng Haizhu said in his heart, great, Matteo Ricci is Italian, since you have seen the oil paintings after the Western Renaissance, then I explain the Baroque skirt, it is not so difficult.

She then took out one hand, lifted the sleeve of the dress, and explained: "The people over there in Taixi, more than two hundred years ago, still wore dark robes that were dull and long-winter, but now they are different, that is, ordinary people, as long as they can afford it, they will also wear brighter colors, and the front and back of the skirt must be sewn with layers of lace like waves crashing on the shore, and the sleeves below the elbow must also be sewn like this trumpet flower." ”

Liu Shimin stared at Zheng Haizhu: "The girl really knows a lot. ”

Zheng Haizhu's expression was calm: "Thanks to the grace of heaven, Yuegang can be switched on and off when Longqing Ye is in power." My hometown is not far from Haicheng County, Yuegang, and when my brother was alive, he sometimes went to Zhangzhou Fucheng Wenhui, sometimes to Haicheng County to visit friends, and when he returned to Longxi, he often talked to me and my sister-in-law about what he had learned from the missionaries. In addition, my father-in-law also knew that Xu Hanlin's family opened the Ci'en Hall in Songjiang, and my young lady's in-laws and the Xu family's daughter-in-law were related to each other, and the young lady sometimes sent me to the Ci'en Hall to help, and I also saw some foreign paintings. ”

The deep meaning in Liu Shimin's eyes flashed, and he picked up the cotton skirt held by Fan Poyu with a smile, and commented: "When you see it, you don't necessarily go to your heart." You're a lot of pondering, yes. Not to mention, this water-red cotton cloth is full of lace you said, not only can you not see the wrinkled appearance after wearing it for a long time, but it is indeed very lively with bells and whistles, well, our scribes of the Ming Dynasty may scoff at it, but they are quite pleasing to those Western monkeys. ”

Zheng Haizhu continued: "The Taixi people say that this kind of pile-like shape of the Aoshan Lantern Festival is called Baroque on their side, not only on women's clothes, but also on men's clothes. ”

As she spoke, she spread out the moon-white fabric in her hand and walked towards Ma Xianglin with a smile.