Chapter 1336 The Great Voyage Dream Shattered
The fight between Kasim and the others came to an end. Xiao Peng was extremely busy during this period. He took experts from Daxia to inspect the Panda Ecological Museum in Delft University and also supported Delft's project. He was surrounded by reporters.
What is most surprising is that Xiao Peng, who never likes dealing with the media, actually appeared at a social cocktail party in a suit and held a small press conference.
At the press conference, Xiao Peng lived up to his title of "Good Friend of the Dutch People" by announcing the final date for the two pandas' arrival in the Netherlands: The special plane carrying the pandas is currently undergoing final rest and will arrive in the Netherlands in two weeks. They will disembark at Rotterdam Airport and then be transported by land to Delft.
The welcoming ceremony was led by King William, but Xiao Peng did not participate in it.
This is because he has more important things to do.
Xiao Peng told reporters that he was moved by the Dutch people's excellent quality of keeping their promises, so he agreed to King William's request to find the whereabouts of the two missing cargo ships in the Barents fleet.
When Barents led a fleet of three merchant ships north, two of them were missing. Although there were no valuable goods on board, this was a reflection of the importance that Dutch merchants attached to their promises. In view of the fact that the Dutch people showed him the most sincere friendship, and also just to show his respect for King William, Xiao Peng decided to give up the idea of profit and concentrate on this public welfare salvage. He wanted everyone to know the excellent qualities of the Dutch people.
After learning of Xiao Peng's decision, the whole Netherlands became excited, especially history professors from several Dutch universities who came to Xiao Peng with their students, wanting to participate in this project.
But they couldn't find Xiao Peng - Xiao Peng's whereabouts were unknown again.
In fact, Xiao Peng didn't run far. He was in Rijswijk Park near Delft. Rijswijk Park is actually similar to Xiao Peng's current home, Orange Garden: there are rivers, lakes and forests. Of course, no one bothers Xiao Peng here.
Xiao Peng found that he had been doing stupid things recently. Their two ships were there for replenishment, and he had spread the news in advance that he was going to look for the Barents shipwreck. Now people at home and at the dock were looking for him, including reporters, scholars and the like, which made Xiao Peng very annoyed.
So Xiao Peng simply found a quiet place - to play games!
Not to mention, it was also very interesting for Xiao Peng to discover the SWICTH game console connected to the Internet for the first time. He lay on a bench with headphones on and played it enthusiastically.
"Boss! Boss!" Xiao Peng was still playing happily when Walter and Kasim came over and interrupted him.
Xiao Peng sat up from the bench, took off his headphones, and said, "Damn it, why are you bothering me? I'm going to top the Mario Kart ladder in no time."
Walter said, "Boss, Chen Cheng just called and said there was a problem with the replenishment of the 'Calypso'."
"What's the problem?" Xiao Peng asked.
Walter said, "The E. coli in the Calypso's fresh water tank is seriously exceeding the standard. It needs to be disinfected and cleaned. The supply will need to be extended by about five days."
Xiao Peng frowned slightly: "What's going on? How could this happen?"
Walter said: "I don't know. Fortunately, Ma Xiao was careful, otherwise it would have caused trouble for our voyage."
Xiao Peng thought for a moment and said, "Thank goodness there wasn't a case of 'green hair growing in freshwater'. Okay, tell them to ensure complete disinfection. We can't be careless about this!"
"Okay, boss!" Walter turned and left.
Kaxin didn't leave, but asked Xiao Peng, "Boss, what does 'Freshwater Green Hair' mean?"
Xiao Peng put the game console aside and said, "Nowadays, many people yearn for the 'Age of Exploration'. Many people want to go back to that era and sail on the sea. Basically, a ship is a caravan, a ship is a gang."
After hearing this, Kasin's face was filled with longing: "Wow, that's quite exciting to think about! Boss, you're making me want to go back to that era!"
Xiao Peng rolled his eyes at him. "You were in that era? Being a sailor in those days was even more miserable than being a prisoner. For example, during the Anglo-Spanish War, many British sailors were prisoners in prison, forced to do hard labor on board ships. If a prisoner was caught and taken aboard, the other prisoners would sympathize with him."
"Why is that?" Kasim asked in confusion.
Xiao Peng said, "Ships at that time were limited by navigation technology. Once out to sea, it basically meant not seeing land for at least six months. I won't tell you how tiring it was at sea. Let's just talk about the word 'eating'."
"Eat?" Kasim was stunned.
Xiao Peng nodded. "There were no refrigerators back then, so there were no fresh fruits or vegetables for you to eat. Finding a potato on the ship was a miracle. The food on board was basically dry, long-lasting foods like black bread, biscuits, cheese, dried fish, cured meat, and ham."
Kasin thought for a moment and said, "That's right. These things won't go bad even if they are kept for several years."
Xiao Peng shook his head and said, "On land, these foods might not spoil for years. Ham, for example, can retain its unique flavor after several years. But what about on a ship? It's hot and humid, and it might rot and spoil in a few weeks, or even before it's ready to eat. The bread on the ship has been dehydrated multiple times to preserve it longer. It's as hard as a brick and can be used as a weapon! You need to soak it in water to soften it before eating. I suspect the Dutch culinary skills are inherited from the Age of Exploration."
The Dutch have a unique skill, which is that they can make any ingredient into a paste, just like soaking biscuits in water.
Xiao Peng said, "Basically, back then, if you were out at sea for a few weeks, the food you brought with you would rot and get infested with insects due to moisture and other factors. You'd soak it in water and it would be covered in insects, and then you'd eat it without even bothering to eat it, broth and all. The same thing happened with meat. Salted pork that hadn't spoiled for decades was put on board and would rot and grow maggots in a matter of minutes, yet you'd still eat it. And the worst thing was the fresh water. Fresh water back then was stored in wooden barrels, and within a few days it would rot, stink, and grow green moss. Imagine a fish tank that hadn't had its water changed in a long time, and that was basically the same thing they drank. Many people died of illness from drinking that kind of water."
Kasim sighed, "Can you drink this kind of water?"
"Not drinking is death!" Xiao Peng said, "Why do you always carry so much alcohol when you go out to sea? It's not that the captain doesn't know the harms of drinking, but he makes the crew mix alcohol with water to cover up the strange taste, or simply drink it as water! Kaxin, do you still want to go to the Age of Exploration? Okay, don't bother me playing games. I'll rush to the top of the ladder leaderboard and then we'll go back."
"Okay!"
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