Because of the deliciousness of this soup, even the small belly of Xiaodoudou was poured into two large bowls, and he praised it even loudly.

"I said, brother, where did you learn your ability to cook snakes and insects? The taste, alas, is amazing. Li Xuan straightened his belly and snorted, looking satisfied, this product not only ate and supported, but even drank a little, so that he ran to the toilet a few times on the way to eat.

"It was taught by my teacher in the past, at that time, in the barren mountains and mountains, it was extremely difficult to go down the mountain once, so it was generally what to eat, whether it was a snake or a variety of game, they all had their own cooking methods......" Duan Shaojun could only talk nonsense, he couldn't say that his ability came from the twenty-first century, right?

"I said brother, can you get another meal at this snake banquet if you are free, I can't get enough of it today." Li Xuan was looking forward to it, and Xu Xiangjun and Gongsun Su Su, who were also drinking soup and had a tendency to roll their eyes, also stared at Duan Shaoqun, their beautiful eyes blinking.

"This, this is hard to say, now it is mid-autumn, the snakes are about to hibernat, if it is in the north, there will be no snakes at this time. Therefore, it is luck to be able to bump into it today, and besides, ordinary people do not dare to catch this thing, if they are not careful, they will hurt their lives, and if they take a bite, unless they can cut the wound in time to absorb the venom, otherwise, it is easy to die. Duan Shaojun also snorted with satisfaction, but still told these people about the danger of poisonous snakes.

"That would be a shame." Li Xuan couldn't help but shake his head regretfully.

"However, in the land of Lingnan, the climate is hot, snakes are found in all seasons, and because the climate is humid and hot, Lingnan people like to catch snakes and insects to cook to remove dampness and detoxification. If you want to eat, then someone will go to Lingnan to buy it. Duan Shaojun rolled his eyelids and glanced at the tea in front of him, just that, he drank too much snake soup, and he really couldn't drink this tea.

"Lingnan? God, do you really think, such a far, such a difficult journey, back and forth for more than a month, just to eat snakes? Xu Xiangjun said with a shocked face.

"How is that possible?" Duan Shaojun rolled his eyes helplessly. "It's hard to walk by land, I know this, can't you take the sea route?"

"Eh, is it close to Lingnan by sea?" Xu Xiangjun asked curiously.

"Of course it's close, don't you know that there are even Persian merchants thousands of miles away who have appeared in Lingnan in my Tang Dynasty on sea ships?" Duan Shaojun could only be disappointed with these ancient people who did not understand the importance of sea power at all.

It seems that since ancient times, the only emperor who has ambitions, that is, Zhu Di of the Ming Dynasty, became the Ming Dynasty to send Zheng He to the West, and other dynasties have almost never organized any ocean trade in the official, and some only think of using ships to PK when they fight abroad, and in peacetime, they will not pay attention to it at all.

Even in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, when encounters with Japanese pirates were very frequent, the court only thought about how to fight on its own territory, but it didn't even have the idea of going to sea to raid the other party's lair. In this regard, Duan Shaojun can only express deep regret.

If the fight against piracy is valued by the court, then the Ming Dynasty may have been able to use the experience of seven voyages to the West, earlier than the West, to start the Age of Discovery.

"The Persian ship can actually sail to the Lingnan of our Tang Dynasty?" Li Xuan jumped in shock. As a prince, he also knows some things at the diplomatic level of a country. The Persian Empire, which had almost declined and was finally reborn because of the support of the Tang Dynasty, was very clear.

It is also known that the land distance between Persia and the Tang Empire is thousands of miles. People have to walk for at least half a year, and they can't imagine that their fleet can actually come to Datang, which is the sea, the endless and helpless sea, how can they come to Datang?

Duan Shaojun sighed leisurely and began to speak slowly. "You may not know, I actually didn't know before, but later I asked Huang Qianbai to know that those Persians are willing to come from thousands of miles away, precisely because of my gorgeous silk and exquisite porcelain in the Tang Dynasty, in Persia thousands of miles away, and the Roman Empire farther away, the price is ...... than gold."

"The price is better than gold, don't think I'm joking, let me tell you, in the Roman Empire, a fine silk produced by my Tang Dynasty can be exchanged for the same weight of gold, and it is often priceless. Such goods have even become a sign used by the princes and nobles of those countries to show their identity. ”

The latter ones were not told to Duan Shaojun by Huang Qianbai, but made up by Duan Shaojun based on the history he was familiar with, but even if there is a difference with the history of this different time and space, the difference is not too big.

#####

"Even in the eyes of the small states to the south, silk and porcelain are equally precious, and only nobles or those in power can use and obtain them."

"And in Lingnan, even the most expensive silk is not worth more than twenty taels of silver, but it can be exchanged for the same weight of gold thousands of miles away and further west, so why those Persian merchants appeared here, don't you understand?"

"If there is a profit of ten percent, capital is guaranteed to be used everywhere; With twenty percent of the profits, capital can be activated; With fifty percent of the profits, capital will take risks; For the sake of 100% profits, capital dares to trample on all the laws of the world; With more than 300 percent profits, capital dares to commit any crime...... The benefits of silk are not limited to a hundredfold, no wonder these Persian merchants would come so far and wide. Li Xuan thought of this classic quote that Duan Shaojun had said many times.

And the behavior of these Persian merchants just puts a solid example and footnote on this sentence.

"Since those Persians were able to come to my Tang Empire, why didn't the merchants of my Tang Dynasty sell goods to Persia, even the Roman Empire you mentioned?" After Li Xuan paused, he began to think about the problem from the perspective of a superior person.

"That's because we're short-sighted." Duan Shaojun raised his hand and gestured in front of his eyes. "We, or the people of our time, can only see the present, we can only see the present. They can't stand taller and see farther. ”

"Brother Tai, what you said has offended all the people with lofty ideals in the world." Li Xuan said disappreciatively, he was already very accustomed to Duan Shaojun's way of speaking, and he was very much looking forward to this guy being able to throw some dry goods out, so that he could learn some useful ideas and experiences from it.

"Have you offended the light?" Duan Shaojun smiled contemptuously, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw Xu Xiangjun and Gongsun Su Su looking at him with unkind expressions, and then touched his nose with a smile. "Actually, there are still some people, especially women, who look at things from a very different angle than us men, so how high they can stand and how far they can see, it's not for me to comment, don't you say?"

Xu Xiangjun glared at Duan Shaojun with a warning gaze, and Gongsun Su just pursed his lips and continued to maintain a quiet appearance. Duan Shaojun secretly breathed a sigh of relief, fortunately, he had a high IQ and could round out his words at any time, otherwise it would be a headache if these two girls lost their temper at him.

Li Xuan, who was next to him, finally held back a smile and quietly gave Duan Shaojun a thumbs up to express his admiration. "Brother Tai, what you said seems to be reasonable, but it doesn't make it clear why the merchants of my Tang Empire don't travel thousands of miles?"

"Quite simply, because we lack the spirit of adventure." Duan Shaojun raised a finger and shook it for a long time before explaining. "Our businessmen prefer a conservative business strategy, to put it simply, that is, no rabbit and no eagle. And there is another point, businessmen are more concerned about how to protect their property from being violated and exploited by others or the official class......"

“…… Brother Tai said cautiously, this is too much. Li Xuan's face couldn't help but change slightly, and he hurriedly declared.

"Okay, God knows this, you know it, I know it, everyone knows it, but it's not easy to announce it, right?" Duan Shaojun blinked and smiled at Li Xuan. Li Xuan could only be stupid and laughed. Although he knew that Duan Shaojun was right, he could only continue to pretend to be deaf and dumb.