Damn it, I'm in the garbage book I wrote

Chapter 930 What does it mean to be the strongest man on earth? (Leans back)
The morning mist hadn't yet dissipated when Xia Lin squatted by the pond, a pebble in her hand, skipping it aimlessly across the water. The pebble bounced far away with a "plop, plop, plop," but on the last skip, she misjudged the force and it sank with a "thud."

"I'm out of practice," he muttered, brushing the dust off his hands.

Bean Sprout sat under a willow tree not far away, her gaze falling on the reflections of the new-style waterwheels on the water: "Your leave is quite leisurely. It's already the third day of the ten-day period. Are you really just going to coast through like this?"

"Working?" Xia Lin glanced back at her. "I'm just conserving my energy. Besides, I've worked so hard for so many years, what's wrong with taking a break?"

"Then you enjoy yours, don't enjoy mine. I don't want to have another one, it's too tiring."

Just then, the courtyard gate creaked open, and Tuoba Jing rushed in, followed by a reluctant Tuoba Shang.

"Xia Lin! Bean Sprout! Look at this!" Tuoba Jing slammed the document on the stone table: "Urgent report from Quanzhou! My fleet is back!"

Xia Lin strolled over leisurely, picked up the document, and glanced at it: "Your fleet?"

"Nonsense!" Tuoba Jing glared and said, "You personally approved the voyage permit back then, and the fleet went out flying the Wei Tang flag! Now that they're back, the profits should be split 50/50 according to the rules!"

Bean Sprout took the document and looked at it carefully: "Li Shimin is personally leading the team?"

“That’s right!” Tuoba Jing rubbed his hands together, his eyes shining. “The letter said that the things brought back this time are three times more than previously estimated! The gold and silver alone filled fifty ships! There are also all sorts of overseas treasures. They say they’ve brought back half of the treasures from Southeast Asia!”

Tuoba Shang, who had been silent all along, suddenly interjected: "Father, aren't you going to make a new movie? Don't you want to see such a grand scene in person?"

Tuoba Jing slapped his thigh: "That's right! I was just worried about not having enough material for my new film! This scene of thousands of ships returning to port would be so exciting to film!"

Xia Lin raised an eyebrow: "Seagoing ships can't enter inland waterways."

"Go! We must go! By land!" Tuoba Jing rubbed his hands excitedly. "Xia Lin, you have to go too! This is your fleet!"

Xia Lin leaned lazily against the willow tree: "What's it to me?"

"How can it not concern you?" Tuoba Jing said anxiously, "Isn't this the fleet you organized all those years ago? Now that it's back, aren't you, the one in charge, going to take a look?"

At this moment, Li Chengqian also strode in from outside, his face filled with rare excitement: "Master, I heard... I heard my father has returned?"

Xia Lin glanced at him but didn't say anything.

Tuoba Jing immediately chimed in, "Yes, yes, yes! Chengqian must go too! You and your son haven't seen each other for years!"

Bean Sprout suddenly spoke up: "I'll go too."

Everyone looked at her.

"What are you looking at?" Douyazi said expressionlessly. "The overseas goods brought back by the fleet need to be appraised. Besides, my Dugu family also has a share in the business of Quanzhou Port."

Tuoba Jing laughed heartily: "Alright! It's settled then! Xia Lin, Douyazi, Chengqian, and I, the five of us, will go to Quanzhou!"

Tuoba Shang rolled his eyes: "What would I go there for?"

"Go and see the world!" Tuoba Jing kicked him. "Don't think you're doing anything shady here. You're always hanging out with those playboys in brothels. Today you're pretending to be a scholar in front of Miss Zhang, and tomorrow you're messing around with that androgynous bastard from the Cui family. If you don't leave, I'll take you there in a cage."

The matter was settled. When San Niang learned of this in the palace, she simply said "I know" and continued reviewing memorials. Li Zhi wanted to go with her, but San Niang stopped him in Chang'an: "The court cannot be without someone in charge. You must stay and oversee the country."

Three days later, a well-trained team set off from Chang'an. In addition to Xia Lin and his five companions, there was also Tuoba Jing's photography team and Douyazi's accounting team, plus necessary guards, totaling more than two hundred people.

Along the way, Tuoba Jing was as excited as a child, constantly fiddling with his camera: "I really don't know what kind of good stuff we can come up with on this trip to Southeast Asia!"

Li Chengqian seemed a little nervous, often staring blankly in the southeast direction. Xia Lin noticed this and would occasionally pat him on the shoulder, but said nothing.

Tuoba Shang was quite at ease. Taking advantage of Tuoba Jing's inattention, he secretly said to Xia Lin, "Uncle, I heard that my birth mother is doing very well in Quanzhou, which Li Mi arranged for her. I must go there this time and give her a good thrashing."

Xia Lin glanced at him: "Does your father know?"

"How could I let him know!" Tuoba Shang made a face. "If he finds out, he'll definitely break my legs."

"Okay, I'll help you out then."

After more than half a month of trekking, the team finally arrived in Quanzhou. When they were still thirty miles from the port, the smell of the sea was already overwhelming. These inlanders felt like they were dying when they smelled it.

The closer you get to the port, the more pedestrians there are, their various accents mingling together. The shops along the road are filled with strange and wonderful foreign goods: hawksbill turtles, coral, pearls, spices, and even large, colorful parrots kept in cages.

"It seems that Quanzhou Port is even more bustling than Chang'an West Market." Douyazi said with a smile after looking around. "Merchants have the keenest sense of smell. It seems that there is really a big deal."

Finally, as we rounded the last hill, the entire Quanzhou Port came into view.

At that moment, everyone reined in their horses, dumbfounded.

In the azure bay, countless ships were densely packed, stretching all the way to the horizon. The tallest flagships had masts that seemed to pierce the sky, their massive sails layered upon layer, blocking out half the sky. Sunlight filtered through the gaps in the sails, casting dappled shadows on the sea.

These ships were astonishingly large, with even the smallest being twice the size of an ordinary multi-story ship. The hulls were painted a deep black, and the densely packed cannon muzzles on the sides resembled the sharp teeth of a wild beast. The ferocious dragon head carved on the prow was faintly visible in the waves, with its eyes inlaid with huge gemstones that reflected a dazzling light in the sunlight.

"My God..." Tuoba Shang's mouth dropped open, and the riding whip in his hand fell to the ground with a "thud": "This... this is a ship or a moving city?"

Tuoba Jing was already frantically setting up the camera: "Quick! Film! This scene is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!"

In the bay, hundreds of small boats, like busy worker ants, shuttled back and forth between the large ships. On the shore, piles of wooden crates formed continuous mountain ranges, and tens of thousands of workers bustled about on the docks, their shouts echoing through the air.

What's even more surprising is that among the crowd at the dock, besides the usual Central Plains people, there are also dark-skinned Southeast Asian sailors, Arab merchants wearing headscarves, natives with their faces painted with oil paint, and even a few black men covered in gold ornaments, directing their black humanoid packhorses to carry goods.

"Is this...is this still in China?" Li Chengqian muttered to himself.

Xia Lin squinted, his gaze sweeping over the giant ships, a smile appearing on his face. The giant ships, built with the combined strength of both nations, had finally lived up to expectations, though they were now weathered and worn.

"Let's go, into the city." Xia Lin took the lead and headed towards Quanzhou City. The governor of Quanzhou had been waiting at the city gate for a long time. Upon seeing the group, he hurriedly stepped forward and bowed: "This humble official greets Your Majesty, Commander Xia, His Highness the Crown Prince, Prince Su, and the Heir Apparent of the Prince of Shu."

Tuoba Jing waved his hand: "Stop with the formalities, where is Li Shimin?"

"Your Majesty, His Highness the Prince of Shu is currently checking the goods on the flagship and has already sent someone to inform him."

The group was welcomed into the governor's mansion. They had barely sat down when a loud, hearty laugh came from outside. The laughter was so powerful that it made the window frames vibrate.

"I heard my son is here?"

The curtain was lifted, and a tall figure strode in.

The newcomer had a bronze complexion that gleamed in the sunlight, his messy hair was casually tied back, and a gruesome scar ran down his left brow to his temple. He wore an open short jacket that revealed his muscular chest, and a curved knife was tucked into his waistband, the jewels inlaid on the hilt glittering in the sunlight.

Although the style of dress, appearance, and even skin color were different, everyone here was an old acquaintance of his, so he could immediately recognize that this was Li Shimin, the strongest and most powerful emperor of the 7th century.

Li Chengqian suddenly stood up, his lips trembling slightly: "Father...Father..."

Li Shimin strode over, pulled his son into a tight embrace, and patted him hard on the back: "Good boy! You've grown so tall!"

His gaze swept across everyone's faces, and when he saw Xia Lin, his eyes lit up noticeably: "You're here too!"

Xia Lin nodded without saying anything.

Li Shimin then looked at Tuoba Jing, grinned, and revealed his teeth, yellowed from tobacco: "Jing-ge'er, you've got quite the grand entrance."

Tuoba Jing chuckled: "Oh dear, I never expected you to be alive. It would have been better if you had died at sea."

Finally, Li Shimin's gaze fell on Douyazi, and he narrowed his eyes: "Ah? Brother-in-law?"

His words made everyone around him burst into laughter.

Bean Sprout bowed expressionlessly: "Your Highness, the King of Shu."

"Very well, very well!" Li Shimin waved his hand and laughed heartily, "Since you're all here, come on, let me show you my treasures!"

He led everyone back to the port, and this time they boarded the largest flagship.

Only by standing on the deck can one truly appreciate the sheer size of this ship. Its hull is like a mountain, and the mainmast requires four people to encircle it. Hundreds of cannons are neatly arranged on the deck, their dark muzzles exuding a menacing aura.

“These cannons,” Li Shimin patted the nearest one, “a single volley can blow down a city gate! Back in Malacca, one of my sailors was killed, and I used these cannons to teach those local kings what the majesty of the Celestial Empire is.”

He led everyone on a tour of the ship, finally arriving at the cargo hold. The moment the hatch opened, even Bean Sprout gasped in shock.

The cargo hold was filled with precious metals, which shone brightly in the sunlight streaming through the portholes. Various gems and gold were piled up like small mountains, reaching all the way to the top of the hold.

"This...this is just one of the holds," Li Shimin said proudly. "There are twelve more cargo holds like this on this ship. If the gold weren't so heavy, I would have liked to fill twenty holds!"

Bean Sprout quickly stepped forward, picked up a gold nugget, examined it carefully, and then weighed it in his hand: "The quality is very good."

"You have good taste!" Li Shimin gave a thumbs up. "This is just the tip of the iceberg; the real treasures are on the ships behind."

He led everyone off the ship to a temporary warehouse on the dock. It was filled with strange and unusual things: coral trees taller than a person, natural gold nuggets that required eight people to lift, ivory carvings longer than bean sprouts…

But what's most interesting are the seeds and seedlings packed in specially made wooden boxes.

“This is Luzon rice, three harvests a year! This is Linyi sugarcane, better than the Indian varieties.” Li Shimin casually picked up a handful of seeds: “This strange bean, when ground into powder, can be used to make cakes, and it keeps well. This is called pineapple, it’s prickly on the outside, but sweet and sour inside… but it’s said that it can only be grown in the south, it’s too cold in the north to grow.”

Tuoba Jing's photography team quickly captured all of this, and Tuoba Jing himself was so excited that he danced with joy: "Great! This footage is enough for me to shoot three movies!"

That evening, Li Shimin hosted a banquet for everyone on the flagship. A long table was set up on the deck, with a wide variety of overseas delicacies on display. Dark-skinned sailors played instruments and sang their own songs.

After several rounds of drinks, Li Shimin put his arm around Li Chengqian's shoulder and said to everyone, "You have no idea what we've been through at sea all these years. Storms, reefs, pirates, attacks by natives... how many times we almost didn't make it back!"

He took a big gulp of wine and continued, "But it's worth it! It's totally worth it!"

Bean Sprout suddenly spoke up: "Your Highness, have you estimated the total value of these goods?"

Li Shimin laughed heartily: "I haven't calculated the exact amount, but it's enough for me to build two more fleets like this!"

He suddenly lowered his voice: "And this is just the beginning. We've discovered a new sea route to the west, supposedly leading to a more fertile continent. Once this shipment is sold, we'll set off again!"

Xia Lin, who had been silent all along, suddenly asked, "What about the casualties?"

Li Shimin's smile froze for a moment, then he waved his hand: "Going to sea always comes at a price. We had 120 ships when we went, and only 85 came back. As for manpower... we lost 40%."

The deck fell silent. A sea breeze blew by, carrying a salty, fishy smell.

"But!" Li Shimin suddenly stood up, raised his wine cup, and shouted, "Those who survive are all legends!"

The sailors raised their glasses and cheered, and the atmosphere became lively again.

The banquet lasted until late at night. Li Chengqian stayed by his father's side the whole time, listening to him recount his adventures at sea. When he left, he was just a young boy, and in the blink of an eye, his father had become the Pirate King...

The next morning, while everyone was having breakfast at the governor's mansion, a commotion suddenly broke out at the port. A sailor rushed over and said, "Your Majesty! Three more large ships have arrived at the open sea; they are our follow-up fleet!"

The crowd hurriedly climbed the city tower to watch, and saw three exceptionally large sailing ships slowly entering the bay. Their sails were a rare blood red, which was particularly eye-catching in the morning sun. The three invincible flagships had finally arrived.

"The treasure ship has arrived!" Li Shimin said proudly. "It's loaded with the most precious cargo!"

(End of this chapter)