Chapter 40: Whaling

Zhu Xiongying secretly said in his heart: "I learned." ”

He secretly compared He Xi with the ancient famous generals, and saw what the methods of buying people's hearts between them were superior and inferior. pondered He Xi's expression carefully, and felt that He Xi's acting skills were too good. Don't talk about these soldiers, even he felt a little moved.

It's just that he didn't feel it, and unconsciously, he raised He Xi's status to the level of a famous general in the ancient times. On the contrary, the contempt for He Xi who had just come to Liaodong had almost completely dissipated without a trace.

Here he saw something that was not in the scriptures. Real, fluid, lively world. Living a different life than in the scriptures.

Zhu Xiongying was a little wrong and blamed He Xi.

It is undeniable that He Xi will inevitably be fraudulent in some matters. For example, that salted fish rice. The disgusting He Xi had no appetite for several days. But in this matter, it is not enough to let He Xi be a fake.

In the eyes of many Ming people, iron is very precious. Even if it is said, the price of iron has fallen a lot in recent years. But this impression over the years is not very easy to dispel. And He Xi's eye iron is very, very cheap.

Nail a few iron plates on the ship, and it's only a few dollars. Even if you have to change it once a month or two, it's nothing. Not to mention, now the Shenyang Iron Works has a considerable amount of productivity. Just the right blend.

Measured from the perspective of value alone, He Xi is telling the truth.

Iron is cheaper than people, and before He Xi came to the Ming Dynasty, it may not be good. But a few years after He Xi came to this era, it still became a fact.

This kind of cheapness, not about ethics, only about the economy.

When it comes to ethics, human life is priceless. But compensation for human death has a price. At least in Liaodong, the price of a skilled worker's or sailor's life has exceeded more than a thousand catties or even more of steel.

He Xi continued to ask, "Is the bed crossbow any good?" ”

Shi Cheng said: "It's okay. ”

He Xi asked, "What else does it mean?" ”

Shi Cheng thought for a while and said, "You can kill whales with a bed crossbow." It's just that the power of the bed crossbow at sea is different from his power on land. I suspect that this crossbow will not work well at sea. It will get wet, but it's hard to verify it yet. It's going to take a while to find out. ”

He Xi frowned, sighed, and said, "I'll find a way." ”

The limitations of the crossbow bolt are too great.

Shoot a spear with a bed crossbow with a rope behind it, or a closed barrel. When the whale is first released, the spear and barrel are nailed to the whale, because there is air in the barrel, and it becomes difficult for the whale to sink.

Of course, if the whale is too big, one or two barrels will not do.

Just go on more.

Once the whale cannot dive, the whaling ship follows the whale all the time. This process is like fishing for a yoyo, but the whale is too big.

The whale struggled, and when he bled profusely, exhausted, or died, he would float above the surface of the sea, and then he would fire a spear with a long rope, and he would nail the rope to the whale, pull the whale over, and fix it to the side of the boat. Over this towed back to port.

This is the whole process of whaling, and when two crossbow arrows are used, it is possible to use them together. In short, the bed crossbow is at the heart of the whaling process.

It can be said that the power of the bed crossbow has a direct impact on the success or failure of whaling.

But crossbow arrows, no matter what kind of crossbow arrows, have a fatal problem, and this problem has been talked about at the beginning. That is, it cannot adapt to the humid climate. No matter how powerful the bolts are. Even if it was a bed crossbow, they used cowhide and cowhide.

Once wet, the power is greatly reduced.

He Xi thought about it carefully, and he remembered that Westerners hunted whaling, as if using a kind of cannon to hit whales, which could also produce a similar effect. But how was this cannon designed. He Xi couldn't figure it out for a while. However, he was no longer bothered by this matter.

After all, he has been out of front-line scientific research for a long time.

He already has a scientific research team headed by Ge Tiangong and about a few hundred people. The ability of such a scientific research team will be very funny in the eyes of future generations. But in this era, it is already a luxury celestial group. He Xi decided to delegate this subject to them.

See how it works.

In addition to these two problems.

The problem of whaling is almost solved. How to find whales, how to catch them, etc., has developed a set of feasible methods. Although there is no guarantee that in the future, every voyage will be fully loaded, but it is already considered to be regular.

He Xi doesn't have to worry too much.

After some condolences, He Xi left here. Zhu Xiongying couldn't help but ask a question that he had been thinking about for a long time. said, "My lord." Since ancient times, it has been said that whales represent the nobles of men. Aren't you worried that the matter of killing whales has spread to the capital like this? ”

He Xi was stunned for a moment, he really hadn't thought about this question.

Zhu Xiongying's question is not without reason. The most famous thing is Qin Shi Huang, Qin Shi Huang shot a big fish, and this big fish is likely to be a whale. But what happened to Qin Shi Huang? Needless to say.

Even what Zhu Xiongying said was subtle enough.

Among the nobles, it clearly refers to the princes.

He Xi killed whales on a large scale here, once something happened to a nobleman. Isn't it a sin that has been confirmed? There will be unexpected opposition.

He Xi said: "The son is silent, and the strange force is confused. Then He Xi smiled and said, "Moreover, the sky and the earth are big, and the meal is the biggest." Your Majesty knows this. You think Your Majesty knows. What would you think? ”

When Zhu Xiongying was in Nanjing, he had a lot of contact with Zhu Yuanzhang, and he also followed Zhu Yuanzhang to farm, and he also had his own judgment on what kind of person his imperial grandfather was. I also think that anyone should hinder the people from eating meat because of such strange things.

It is estimated that the people of the world will see him peeling the skin and filling the grass.

When He Xi got off the boat, several whales had already been dismantled by many people. Large pieces of meat began to be cured, and various practices were made, and the surplus was distributed among the people as a reward for the people. There are many other products, such as whale skin, whale oil, and whale bones, etc. It's all useful.

It's really a whale falling, all things are born, and many people are fed.

Although, whaling is a sin in the Hereafter. That's because the whales of later generations killed too much. And there were a lot of whales in this era. He Xi has no psychological burden at all, and any environmental protection concept must put people's survival first.

And not the other way around.

It's just that He Xi looked at the bloody scene. I always feel like I've forgotten something.

Suddenly, a foul smell came. But it's something white. He Xi saw it from a distance and asked, "What is this?" ”

Zhu Xiongying covered his nose and said, "What can it be?" It should be in the gut of a whale. ”

After all, I have read a book, and I say so elegantly.

He Xi's heart moved, and he said secretly: "I thought of it." ”

He Xi thought of nothing else. It's ambergris. This is the best of the best. Not to mention the taste, there is a function that is not easy to explain, which is to help entertain men and women. This kind of function He Xi turned out to be unknown. Because He Xi in later generations has never heard of ambergris, seen pictures, and never touched the real thing, let alone used it.

Don't know why ambergris is so expensive? Of course, it is because ambergris can only be picked up from the coast of the head in ancient times, and cannot be obtained steadily, but more importantly, I am afraid that this is it.

After all, for men, what helps in these things has never been stingy with money. It's as if a woman pays for beauty and doesn't care about the bill.

And ambergris, what is it? Isn't it whale droppings? And when you think of ambergris, you can meet an unobtainable price. He Xi estimated that one or two catties of ambergris would be more expensive than an entire whale. He Xi felt the violence of the whaling industry.

Of course. Ambergris is not the feces of your average whale. But with this direction it is enough.

It's always happening.

Not to mention that it's just a by-product of whaling.

For a while, He Xi paid off all his debts within this year and had more confidence. In his opinion, only if there is really ambergris, there will be an unknown number of people waving silver tickets. For this true luxury. There is simply no upper limit to the price.