People in the Ming Dynasty are lawless

Chapter 733 The tribute ship from Nanyang has arrived!
At the same time, in the alley in the south of the city, Zhao the butcher in the butcher shop was staring with a pair of copper bell-like eyes at the fifteen strings of precious banknotes that his wife brought back from the Women's Workshop.

"This...is this really what you earned from weaving?" he asked stutteringly, forgetting to put down the boning knife in his hand.

The young wife held her head high, a smile on her lips: "The shopkeeper said that the 'book blue' I dyed was more even than the old master, and he gave me an extra three strings of cash as a reward!"

Butcher Zhao opened his mouth, wanting to scold her, "Women shouldn't show their faces in public," but when the words came to his lips, they turned into: "Tomorrow...tomorrow I will also go to the workshop to sign up for the yarn transport team. I heard that meals are provided and there is salary..."

Old man Wang, who was selling pancakes across the street, wanted to laugh at him for being "henpecked", but when he turned around, his daughter had already blocked his mouth with the Songjiang fine cloth bought with her dividends: "Dad, didn't you say that a woman's virtue lies in her lack of talent? But this word 'virtue' can be exchanged for money now!"

……

In the back hall of the Ministry of Rites, several old scholars gathered together, their faces livid.

"A woman earns more than a seventh-rank county magistrate. This world is really messed up!" An old man with a white beard slammed the table, his beard shaking with anger.

"That's right! My nephew works in Yingtian Prefecture and only earns 20 strings of cash a month. Now, he's not even as good as a weaver!" Another thin official said indignantly.

But at this moment, footsteps were heard outside the door, and Yang Kuang, the Minister of Rites, walked in with a gloomy face. Everyone immediately fell silent, but he took out a recruitment brochure of the Women's Workshop from his sleeve and slammed it on the table.

"Everyone, my wife...went to register yesterday."

The whole hall was silent.

……

On the bank of Qinhuai River, several scholars were still talking about "women's virtue lies in their lack of talent", but in the blink of an eye, they saw a long queue in front of the women's workshop on the other side. Many women in coarse cloth clothes, and even unmarried girls, held recruitment brochures in their hands, their eyes full of eagerness to try.

"Ridiculous! Ridiculous!" A scholar stamped his feet in anger. "If women all go to weave and do their homework, who will take care of their husbands and children?"

But just as he finished speaking, the girl selling flowers next to him replied crisply: "Sir, if you think women earn too much money, why don't you go and sign up for the workshop? I heard that the yarn transport team is still short of people!"

The scholar blushed and wanted to retort, but he saw the female workers on the other side had already lined up to get their work badges and walked into the workshop, chatting and laughing. The morning light shone on them, making the red seals on the banknotes particularly dazzling.

……

At the fifth watch, black smoke suddenly rose from the backyard of Xuji Cloth Shop amid the sound of clappers. The night watchman rushed in, only to see the young master leading his men to burn the engraved plates of "Instructions for Women", with the firelight reflecting the brand new "Essentials of Weaving" in their hands.

"Burn these useless things!" The young master gnashed his teeth, "Let's go to the Women's Workshop tomorrow to learn from them! If they can dye 'Ticket Blue', so can we!"

……

In the early morning light, outside the Fengtian Hall, Zhu Yuanzhang stood with his hands behind his back, looking at the smoke rising in the distance, with a slight smile on his face.

"Biao'er, look, the world...is going to change."

……

Before the morning mist had dispersed, Chen Han was awakened by the urgent knocking on the door by the young eunuch of the East Palace. He put on his clothes and pushed the window open, and saw the young eunuch stamping his feet outside the courtyard gate, holding a gilded copper cylinder tightly in his arms.

"My Lord! We have to rush from Nanyang to the south for 800 miles!" The eunuch's voice was moist with morning dew, "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince wants you to enter the palace immediately!"

The copper cylinder shone darkly in the morning light, and the wax on the mouth of the cylinder was clearly imprinted with a private seal of a blue jade tiger. As soon as Chen Han's fingers touched the cylinder, he felt a burst of sea odor coming towards him - this copper cylinder must have been soaked in the cabin for several months, and even the grain was salty and bitter.

In the warm room of the Eastern Palace, Zhu Biao was using a silver knife to pick open another secret letter. When the prince saw Chen Han coming in, he accidentally knocked over the celadon cup on the table, and the brown tea soaked all over the memorial.

"Look!" Zhu Biao grabbed the account book and stuffed it in. "The tribute ship from Johor alone brought 2,000 dan of pepper and 800 dan of sumac!"

Chen Han's fingertips trembled slightly on the account page. Those densely packed numbers suddenly came alive, transforming into the scorching sun of the South China Sea, the salty sea breeze, and the bloody shadows of "kill seven and leave three" mentioned by Lan Yu in the battle report. He seemed to see the Fuzhou ship loaded with spices breaking through the waves of Malacca, and the sailors on the deck shouting slogans in stiff Chinese.

"Xia Yuanji is using this trick of keeping the enemy at bay..." Zhu Biao suddenly chuckled and shook out a crumpled piece of straw paper from his sleeve. "Do you think this is what was found on the Malacca spy?"

Chen Han took it and took a look. It turned out to be a crooked coastal defense map. Next to the cinnabar arrow that marked the weakness of the Ming army, there was a grinning skull, and next to it was a note that read "The range of the Ming army's artillery was falsely reported by 30%."

Suddenly there was a rustling sound outside the warm room. When Chen Han turned around, he saw Zhu Yuanzhang's dragon-patterned boots stepping over the shadow of the threshold. The old emperor was holding a string of Ceylon coconuts that were still dripping with water.

"Try it!" Zhu Yuanzhang put the coconut on the table. "The Malacca envoy knelt down to offer it. He said it was something..." He squinted at the wooden sign tied to the coconut stalk. "Oh, golden coconut!"

The coconut rolled to the side of the account book, knocking over the list of Siamese tribute that Zhu Biao had just sorted out. Chen Han suddenly found some white powder on the hem of the old emperor's dragon robe, and upon closer inspection, it turned out to be coral sand unique to the South Seas - this was clearly just back from the dock.

“Dad, you…”

"I went to see the tribute ship from Johor." Zhu Yuanzhang poked the coconut shell with a dagger, not caring about the juice splashing on his dragon robe. "Guess what's hidden under the deck?" A cold light flashed, and a half-iron arrowhead rolled out of the coconut shell. "Java's new arrowhead can penetrate three layers of leather armor!"

The warm room was suddenly quiet. Chen Han stared at the blue-glowing fine iron arrowhead, and suddenly understood why Lan Yu specifically mentioned "deliberately letting the scouts go" in the battle report. The sea breeze passed through the window lattice, carrying a rare salty smell in Yingtian City.

Zhu Biao suddenly slammed the table and stood up: "Come here! Send the seal of the Ministry of Works and Military Equipment Bureau!" When he grabbed the broken arrow, his fingertips turned white from the force. "Within three months, I want to see an arrowhead sharper than this!"

But Zhu Yuanzhang held the prince's shoulder and took out a wrinkled piece of paper from his bosom. Chen Han took a closer look and saw a string of strange symbols - 7/22/3.14 - like some kind of calculation draft.

"The Johor craftsmen secretly memorized it." Zhu Yuanzhang scratched "3.14" with his fingernail. "The pi used by Javanese to make arrows is more accurate than Liu Bowen's calculation back then!"

Suddenly, a woman's laughter came from outside the warm room. Chen Han turned around and saw Zhu Youwei standing outside the beaded curtain holding a pile of account books, with the ends of her hair stained with the indigo dye unique to the Women's Workshop.

"What a coincidence." She raised the account book in her hand, "The School of Physics just verified it yesterday. Using this number to calculate the center of gravity of an arrow can increase the range by 7%." The sunlight passed through her fingers, revealing the "22/3.14≈" marked on the corner of the account book.

Zhu Yuanzhang suddenly laughed so hard that dust fell from the beams. He grabbed the coconut and drank it, the juice flowing down his dragon-patterned collar in a golden stream.

"Biao'er, there will be a grand court meeting tomorrow..." The old emperor wiped his mouth and suddenly threw a half-broken arrow to Chen Han, "Explain to those old stubborn people why we keep the South China Sea pirates!"

When the evening drum sounded, Chen Han stood on the tower of Xuanwu Gate and looked into the distance. In the direction of the Yangtze River estuary, a few sails could be vaguely seen - they were foreign merchant ships that were moving faster than the tribute ships, and their decks were filled with cargo boxes with Chinese characters written on them.

"What are you looking at?" Zhu Youwei's voice drifted in with the fragrance of dye. She held a strange copper compass in her hand, with the needle tip pointing to the south. "Want to try the new nautical mile meter made by the School of Physics?" Chen Han looked at the thin calluses on her fingertips - they were caused by using an abacus, exactly the same as the calluses on the hands of the dyeing women in the women's workshop. The river wind suddenly turned fast, bringing the unique salty smell of the ocean-going fleet to his face.

"Let's calculate..." He held his wife's hand holding the compass, and together they pointed in the direction of Malacca, "How many nautical miles does it take to get from Yingtian to Nanyang?"

Zhu Youwei's eyelashes trembled slightly, drawing a graceful arc in the twilight. She suddenly tiptoed to Chen Han's ear and said, "It's 20% less than the Zheng He Navigation Chart - General Lan deliberately let the pirates go and carved a fake route on the compass of the foreign merchant."

As the last ray of sunset sank into the bottom of the river, the Imperial City Office sent an urgent report: the Champa delegation seeking help had passed Quanzhou, and hanging on the bow was the sun and moon flag that was pierced by pirates' arrows.

Chen Han unfolded the blood-written letter and suddenly laughed out loud. How could this be a letter for help? It was clearly a gift list that Xia Yuanji had made using a pirate's stolen goods account book, with a half piece of blood-stained shark skin stuck to the corner.

"Oh, right." Zhu Youwei suddenly pulled his sleeve and said, "The Institute of Physics will test a new arrow tomorrow, using fine iron shipped from Southeast Asia..." She blinked and said, "Who do you think we should invite to the ceremony?"

The fifth watch drum sounded, and through the river fog came the horn of the tribute ship entering the harbor.

……

The morning mist at Longjiang Wharf has not yet dissipated, but the river is already crowded with boats of all shapes and sizes.

A tribute ship from Java slowly approached the shore. The ship was made of ironwood, a wood unique to the South Seas. The dark planks were covered with traces of seaweed and barnacles. The bow was carved with a ferocious crocodile god with a string of dried shark teeth in its mouth. The deck was piled with pepper wrapped in palm leaves. When the sea breeze blew, the spicy smell hit the face, choking the people on the shore and making them sneeze.

"Oh my God, how much pepper is this!" A porter carrying a load widened his eyes and forgot to put down the pole in his hand.

Old man Wang, who was selling pancakes nearby, stood on tiptoe to look around, and exclaimed in amazement: "I heard that pepper in Southeast Asia is like weeds, you can pick it at will, but here, one or two ounces of pepper can be exchanged for half a bushel of rice!"

Farther away, a Siamese merchant ship was unloading. Its hull was narrower than that of the Javanese ship, and its sails were woven from palm fibers, already tattered by the sea breeze. The boatmen came down the gangplank barefoot, carrying bundles of sappan wood, with sweat dripping down their dark backs. The dark red juice of the sappan wood oozed out, leaving blood-like marks on the deck.

"Make way! Make way!" Several shop assistants pushed through the crowd, holding account books in their hands, but their eyes were fixed on the goods, "We want this batch of sumac from Xu Ji! The price is negotiable!"

But before they could get close, a merchant in shorts had already taken the lead, took out a few silver coins from his sleeves and stuffed them into the Siamese ship owner's pockets, mumbling something in a half-understood foreign language. The ship owner grinned, revealing a mouthful of teeth stained black by betel nuts, and waved his hand to signal the clerk to move the goods to him.

The dealer was so angry that he stamped his feet, but when he turned around, he saw another small boat from Malacca unloading, which was full of dried shark skins and tortoise shells. Several jewelers from Jinling City had already gathered around, vying to buy the colorful tortoises.

"Once this thing has been polished and inlaid on a hairpin, the young ladies from wealthy families will be scrambling to get it!" An old craftsman rubbed his hands excitedly, wishing he could buy the entire shipload of goods immediately.

The noise on the dock was getting louder and louder, and more ships were docking. A Srivijaya merchant ship slowly sailed in. The hull was lower than the other ships, and the deck was filled with cages made of bamboo strips, filled with lively peacocks and hornbills. The brightly feathered birds fluttered in the cages, causing the children on the shore to scream.

"Mom! I want the red-haired one!" A little girl with pigtails tugged at her mother's clothes and pointed at the most beautiful parrot in the cage.

Before her mother could say anything, a skinny foreign merchant came over with a smile and said in stiff Chinese: "My dear, this bird can talk. It only costs... five strings of cash!"

"Five strings of cash?!" The people watching the excitement around gasped.

But before the foreign merchant could feel proud, a wealthy businessman dressed in silk and satin squeezed over and took out a silver ingot: "I want this bird!"

The foreign merchant's eyes lit up, and just as he was about to take the silver, he suddenly heard a rapid sound of a gong.

"Get out of the way! Get out of the way! The official ship is here!"

The crowd immediately parted like a tide, and a team of yamen runners in uniform walked over quickly, waving water and fire sticks in their hands to disperse the crowd. On the river, an official ship with a sun and moon flag was slowly approaching. The ship was much taller than the merchant ship, and there was a black cannon on the bow.

The people on the shore suddenly quieted down, and even the merchants who were fighting for the goods shrank their necks and stepped aside.

After the official ship docked, as soon as the gangplank was lowered, several people in official uniforms hurried down, followed by a team of soldiers, escorting several pirates chained in iron chains.

"Is that... the Japanese pirates?" someone whispered.

"No, look at that dark-skinned guy, he's probably a pirate from the South Seas!"

The pirates hung their heads, their clothes were tattered, but their eyes were fierce, and they glared at the onlookers from time to time. The escorting sergeant said nothing, swung his scabbard and hit them on the back, shouting: "Be quiet!"

The pirates groaned and dared not look up again.

Behind the official ship, there were several small boats following, which were filled with seized goods - boxes of spices, ivory, coral, and even several large boxes locked with iron chains, and no one knew what treasures were inside.

"Oh my goodness..." A fish vendor stared at it with his eyes wide open, "How much is this worth?"

An old merchant who traveled far and wide sneered, "Valuable? Hey, you may have never seen a real treasure!" He lowered his voice and said mysteriously, "Do you know? A few days ago, a foreigner's ship was hijacked at sea. The ship was loaded with a box of diamonds! I heard that the smallest one was as big as a pigeon egg!"

The people around were immediately in an uproar, asking for details.

The old merchant stroked his beard proudly and was about to continue bragging when he suddenly heard a commotion at the dock.

"Look! That's... a tribute?!"

The crowd's attention was immediately drawn to the scene where several soldiers were carefully carrying down a golden Buddha statue from the deck of the official ship. Between the Buddha's eyebrows was an egg-sized ruby, which sparkled brightly in the sun.

"Hiss——" A gasp was heard on the shore.

"This...this must be a tribute from the King of Siam, right?" someone stammered.

"More than that!" An experienced old man narrowed his eyes, "Look at the style of the Buddha statue, it looks like the craftsmanship of India. It's probably stolen from Ceylon by the Malacca Sultan, and now presented to our Ming Dynasty!"

The common people were stunned, while the businessmen's eyes rolled around, and they had already started thinking about how to connect with these foreign merchants and get a piece of the pie.

……

(End of this chapter)