On the endless sea, Tang Ping has begun to miss the days of traveling by plane.
He first teleported to the Beiyan Protectorate and took the Royal One to sea from Dengzhou, Henan Province, which was later Weihai, Shandong Province.
This Royal No. 1 is a medium-sized ship driven by a steam engine and specially used for travel.
It is just to facilitate Tang Ping's current situation, so that he can quickly go to his destination after going to sea.
Although it is not equipped with any artillery, the all-steel hull is not afraid of any other warships in this era.
If you are not convinced, give it a try?
The Royal One is the fastest vehicle on the sea in this era, with a top speed of 20 knots, which is about 37 kilometers per hour.
The journey by sea from Weihai to Fusang is about 1,500 kilometers. The sea is windy this season and there is still a headwind.
It took Tang Ping three full days to arrive in Fuso, then he found a hotel and picked up everyone from the convenience store.
"Already arrived at Fuso? It's so fast!" Li Bai said curiously.
"How fast?" Tang Ping shook his head. The three days on the boat made him dizzy: "I'll take a nap. If you want to go out for a walk, go for a walk yourself."
After saying this, Tang Ping buried his head and went to sleep. The other people looked at each other, and Li Bai muttered: "We don't speak Fusang dialect."
"It's okay. We need to hire an interpreter anyway. Let's go out and have a look." Wang Qingluan said.
As a result, when they went out, they all doubted whether they had left the Tang Dynasty.
Because as far as the eye can see, all the buildings are in the style of the Tang Dynasty, and the pedestrians on the road also speak Tang Dynasty dialect, and even the signs on the street use Chinese characters.
"this……"
Just when a few people were a little shocked, Li Bai from Sheniu directly grabbed a passerby and asked, "Excuse me, where is this place?"
The man glanced at Li Bai strangely, but still bowed respectfully and said, "This is Nambajin. How many of our guests are from the Tang Dynasty?"
"Namba Tsu!" Li Bai and the others had done their homework before coming here, and they knew that Tang Ping was indeed going to disembark from here, which would later be known as Osaka Port, but they just couldn't believe it just now.
"We just came from the Tang Dynasty today, but you here... why do you all speak Tang dialect?" Li Bai raised his own question.
"Because we are a vassal state of the Tang Dynasty!" The Fusang man said matter-of-factly, and then said with some pride: "If you can't speak Tang Dynasty dialect in Fusang, you will be ridiculed."
"Ah, thank you!" Several people said goodbye to the Fuso man and walked around Nambajin.
Although this is a seaport, it can already be seen that it is very prosperous, and the main commodities transferred here are various products from Datang.
From expensive perfumes to cheap linen clothes, you can see all kinds of Tang products, many of which are branded with the Tang Trading Company's trademark.
"I really don't feel any difference between here and the seaport in East Vietnam." Li Bai sighed: "Except that the people here are a bit shorter."
The few people who thought they could experience some exotic customs went back after wandering around for a while. Everything looked the same as the Tang Dynasty, but it was also lagging behind Chang'an where they usually lived. What else was there to see?
Back at the hotel, Tang Ping had already stretched and sat up.
Several people told Tang Ping what they had seen and heard today. After hearing this, Tang Ping smiled and said, "This way we won't be so conspicuous!"
"Sir, are we going to open a store here in Nambajin?" Xiao Luo asked curiously.
"Although this place is prosperous, it's still a bit poor. Let's go directly to their capital, Nara Asukakyo."
The Asuka area south of Nara is called "Asuka-kyo" because of the concentration of palaces, and the Asuka Gohongu Shrine, where the currently reigning Emperor Shumei resides, is located there.
Early the next morning, a few people bought a carriage and a few horses in Nambazu and set off towards Nara.
"Uncle Cui, you seem to be riding a dog, hahaha!" Li Bai looked funny enough riding on Little Fatty, and Lao Cui and Lao Du bought the tallest horse in the market. After riding on it, a man from Guanzhong could almost scratch his feet on the ground. He was even more ridiculous than Li Bai.
When Lao Cui talked about this, he became very angry: "Young Master also said that Nambajin is one of the top three prosperous places in Fuso, and you can't even buy a good war horse."
Tang Ping smiled helplessly and said: "The horses here are actually Mongolian horses imported from our Tang Dynasty. However, due to the difficulty of shipping, it is difficult to introduce new stallions. Over time, these Mongolian horses have been inbred. That's all." Taller."
In fact, it's not that Fuso doesn't have tall war horses. It's just that they were snapped up by the nobles as soon as they appeared, and they won't be circulated in the market at all.
Wang Qingluan thought for a while and said, "In this case, selling horses to buy fusang will be a good business in the future."
The Tang family will soon have a large steam cargo ship sailing to the sea, which is much faster than other merchant ships. The survival rate of transporting war horses will naturally be greatly improved.
"My wife knows how to make money!" Tang Ping flattered her, and then said: "When we get to our destination, we will leave the business of our convenience store to my wife."
"Sir, when we get to Nara, will we still open a convenience store? Or will we sell the same things in the store?" Xiao Luo asked curiously.
"Of course we are opening a convenience store. Our name is Datang Convenience Store, but the things in the store are naturally different from those in Chang'an." Tang Ping said with a smile: "We keep the good things for our own people, but we don't sell them to them. These Japanese."
"Then what should we open a store to sell?"
"Just sell the oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, tea and some needle-shaped things produced in Datang. I have asked about them. As long as these things are produced in Datang, they are not cheap." Tang Ping said jokingly : "When the time comes, I will set up a stall for you at the door, and you will sell some oden..."
"Oh, no, this is Kansai, then you can sell some Kansai cooking!"
At this time, there was no such thing as oden cooking, so Tang Ping changed the name casually.
This thing is simple to make and there is no secret recipe. With Xiao Luo’s skills, I’m afraid it will become popular very quickly.
It is estimated that in the future, the world will no longer have Kanto cooking, only Kansai cooking.
"Master, what should I do?" Li Bai also asked curiously.
"I'll set up a stall for you and help people write. I've also asked about it. Good calligraphy is quite popular here. How about I find you a wife here?"
"No, no!" Li Bai quickly waved his hand: "According to the genetic inheritance you mentioned, master, if I want to marry a girl here, my future children will be so short!"
"Hmph, it's good to know. Now that you know, you can stop messing with girls here. Do you understand?"
A few days later, the group came to Nara. Although it was not as good as Chang'an and Luoyang, it was as good as many cities in the Tang Dynasty.
However, it can be seen from the streets that the gap between the rich and the poor here should still be very large. The rich are walking around in swagger, while the poor are in ragged clothes and have nothing to eat.
You must know that in Chang'an, as long as you are willing to work and get paid, you can definitely live a comfortable life.
Tang Ping found a little beggar on the street and threw a pancake to him. He was a little sad to see him stuffing it into his mouth hungrily.
"Are you familiar with Nara Castle?"
"I grew up in Nara Castle. There is nothing I don't know about. Your Excellency, you want me to be your guide?" Beggar's Tang dialect is not fluent, but he can still understand it.
"Okay, then you can be my guide for a few days." Tang Ping took out a few Kaiyuan Tongbao and said, "Can you accept these copper coins?"
The beggar's eyes lit up when he saw Kaiyuan Tongbao: "You may not know something, but this Kaiyuan Tongbao is the hardest money in Nara."
You must know that the earliest national currency independently issued by Xiaozhi was in 683 AD. At that time, a law was enacted to prohibit the use of silver coins and copper coins had to be used instead. This is "rich capital".
Again, the currencies circulating in the early days came from other surrounding countries, among which Datang's Kaiyuan Tongbao was one of the most important currencies in this period.
"Okay, how much is your guide fee? And what's your name?"
The little beggar rolled his eyes: "To tell you what to say to the adults, everyone usually calls me Jiro. As for the guide fee... look at... eight cents a day, how about it?"
Jiro was a bit careful. He saw that Tang Ping was new here. Not only did he follow two knights, but he also had a carriage. He was naturally not a poor man, so he offered a relatively high price. Even Tang Ping was not satisfied with this. Price, there is still room for bargaining.
Tang Ping didn't expect the prices here to be... so low!
You know, now Chang'an hires any odd job, and if you don't make twenty cents a day, no one will care about you at all.
"Okay, as long as you do a good job, I'll give you ten cents a day."
"Yes!" Jiro took five copper coins from Tang Ping. This was today's guide fee. Tang Ping paid him half in advance.
"Do you know who I should look for to buy it in this city?" The first thing Tang Ping had to do was to build a branch of the convenience store.
"I know, I know." Jiro nodded repeatedly: "Sir, are you going now?"
"Well, go now."
"Yes, sir, follow me!" Although Jiro was thin, he was not slow in his movements. He led the way through the streets and alleys, and after a while, he brought Tang Ping to the front of a shop.
"My lord, this looks like a rice shop on the surface, but the Mapo boss of this rice shop heard that behind it was Minister Toyoura. He usually lends money to people in the city, and he also holds the land deeds for most of the shops in the city. Here, it’s the most cost-effective if you buy it directly from him.”
Tang Ping originally thought that Jiro would take them to a place similar to an agency, but now there are many sycophants similar to agencies in Datang.
Unexpectedly, he brought him here directly. If the Mapu boss of this store is really behind Minister Toyoura as he said, then he may indeed have the most land deeds in the city.
Because Minister Toyoura is Souga Ezo, the most powerful official in Fuso now, and he supported the reigning Emperor Shumei.
"Okay, then let's go meet the Mapo boss."
