Chapter 351

205, Xu Chunming!

Coming out of the palace, Su Qiao felt more exhausted than after fighting a battle himself.

Besides, the appearance of opium made Su Qiao even more vigilant and more urgent.

The immigration to Liaodong has now begun smoothly, and subsequent officials will monitor this.

Su Qiao will not manage it.

Second, the construction of Great Ming's coastal defense, which requires a certain amount of time.

With Sun Chuanting and Lu Xiangsheng and others believing, it is not a major problem.

Third is the construction of sea ships and the issue of opening the seas for exploration.

This is what Su Qiao watches most closely.

Sea ships have already begun construction besides models, and the trial effects are good; currently, the Ministry of Works is building a large shipyard in the Tianjin area.

Preparing to produce sea ships.

Su Qiao knows Zhu Yuanzhang has a group chat system and is already considering whether to ask Zhu Youjian and Zhu Di for nautical charts and some data on the treasure ships.

Previously, he did not ask because the treasure ships had advantages, but their flaws were also very large.

First, the cost is considerable and very huge, yet they rely heavily on wind power; without wind or against the wind, they simply cannot sail.

Second, their flexibility is very poor; with such large-displacement ships, forget about being flexible, especially since they all have square sails.

Third, the ships' adaptability at sea is very poor, and maintenance is laborious.

These are conclusions drawn by later historians from some sunken treasure ship ruins found in the sea and from certain historical materials.

Su Qiao might be interested in some keels, but as for absolute nautical technology, the reliance is not that great.

There are European Sailor skills technicians to help.

Coming out of the palace, Su Qiao strolled slowly onto the street.

He actually saw someone roasting sweet potatoes and calling out to sell them.

Eh?

This is truly fast!

It has only been such a short time, and sweet potatoes can already be roasted and sold.

Su Qiao felt as if he had returned to the situation of the 1990s in the future.

He could not help but step forward and ask for one.

"Give me one!"

"Alright, this one is just right; I'll get it for you."

Gently tearing open the charred black skin of the roasted sweet potato immediately revealed the sweet, fragrant, golden sandy flesh inside.

Taking a bite while exhaling steam was truly comfortable.

Sweet and soft and sticky; the taste is really good!

"Get me two more to take away!"

"Alright!"

Wrapped in paper, Su Qiao carefully held them in his chest and walked toward home.

"Boy, don't run!"

"Little beggar, catch you and beat you to death!"

"I'll make you run!"

Hearing the noise from not far away, Su Qiao looked up.

He saw a dirty child being chased and running toward this side.

Behind him followed two servants wearing blue short jackets.

Who knows which mansion they belong to.

Su Qiao saw that the little beggar running toward him was still clutching a brocade package.

He judged that the child must have stolen money from some noble.

That was what provoked the servants to chase and beat him.

The little beggar was relatively small and relatively agile, but ultimately could not compare to adults.

Looking again at his thin arms and thin legs, he could not hold out much longer.

As expected, when still one zhang away from Su Qiao, he fell flat on the ground.

The money bag he had been clutching tightly flew to Su Qiao's feet.

"Boy, hand over the money quickly!"

Su Qiao had just bent down, picked up the money bag, and intended to return it to them.

Who knew that the two servants rushing over must have eaten explosives, as their tone was extremely domineering.

They looked as if they would beat him if he did not hand it over.

Su Qiao was quite speechless; adopting the attitude of "not my business, stay high and dry," he threw the money bag over and turned to leave.

"Hey, don't go!"

One of the two evil servants grabbed the little beggar by the collar, while the other quickly blocked Su Qiao's path.

Su Qiao, holding the roasted sweet potato and still holding half-eaten sweet potato in his hand, looked at them with some confusion.

"Something wrong?"

"Uh... nothing..."

Seemingly startled by Su Qiao's calm demeanor, or perhaps just acting on a sudden impulse.

Anyway, he had forgotten why he was blocking Su Qiao's path.

Su Qiao had no intention of getting involved; Jingcheng was full of the wealthy, but it also had the poor.

He was merely a passerby, not a saint, and would not help people without reason.

The little beggar was indeed pitiable, but there were many such pitiable people.

If everyone resorted to theft and robbery, the world would truly descend into chaos!

"Esteemed brother, please wait!"

Su Qiao paused, feeling somewhat speechless; he just wanted to hurry home and rest.

Why were there so many troubles!

He turned back with some impatience.

He found the other party to be a rather refined young man, holding a folding fan, exuding an air of calmness and elegance.

And most importantly, this person was the master of those two servants.

To Su Qiao's surprise, this young man was different from the two vicious servants...

He did not step forward to domineeringly punish the beggar child; instead, he took five taels of silver from the money pouch he had just retrieved and tossed it to the boy.

"That's enough, hurry and go; you won't meet someone like me every time."

"Thank you, Young Master!"

The little beggar gratefully kowtowed to this refined Young Master, then turned and ran.

Those two fierce, aggressive vicious servants no longer blocked the way.

"Did you call me?"

Su Qiao, slightly curious, asked a question.

"Yes, my name is Xu Mingchun, and I wish to get to know Mr. Su."

"Get to know me?"

Hearing this, Su Qiao narrowed his eyes slightly.

First, Su Qiao did not know this Xu Mingchun, nor had he ever heard of him.

Among the other descendants of Xu Da that Su Qiao knew, Xu Mingchun was not on the list.

Second, they were already not far from Su Fu; just a few more steps, and Su Qiao would be home.

The other party had stopped him here and even knew his name.

Clearly, they knew him.

Hmm, Su Qiao's vigilance in his heart increased significantly.

"Yes, I have heard some things about Mr. Su, so I have long admired Mr. Su; meeting you today by chance, I wished to make your acquaintance."