Qi Niang was originally a shipbuilder, and Zhang Shiyi also had her shares in the sea trade business, so she still had some understanding of sea trade. As far as she knew, although the Tang Dynasty attached importance to the land Silk Road, it also encouraged sea trade, especially port cities like Quanzhou and Guangzhou, which opened the door to sea trade. After all, their biggest tax comes from sea trade. Although it is not impossible to seize goods, it is also very rare, unless it violates the laws of the Tang Dynasty and transports some prohibited things.

It was precisely because of the above that Qi Niang was curious about the seizure of Li Chengdao's goods. At this time, Li Chengdao smiled mysteriously and said, "If you want to know what goods, Qi Niang, you will know it just by looking at them. I guess you will definitely not think of it!"

Seeing what Li Chengdao said so mysteriously, Qi Niang couldn't help but feel curious. She followed Li Chengdao to the ship. The cargo was not only wrapped in linen like other cargoes, but was kept in wooden boxes. After being carried on the ship, it was transported to the upper cabin and built up layer by layer. Because the cabin on the lower cabin is relatively humid, only the more expensive cargo will be kept on the upper layer.

At that moment, Li Chengdao moved a box down and then tore the seal on it open. Then he gently opened it, revealing layers of "goods" in the box. When Qi Niang saw the things in the box, she couldn't help but stared at her eyes in surprise and said, "Books? The goods you have been waiting for for many days are these books?"

I saw that there were stacks of books after books in the box that Li Chengdao opened. Compared to Qi Niang's surprise, Li Chengdao gently stroked the books in the box with great care, and then explained: "Qi Niang, you don't know. These books seem inconspicuous, but in fact they are various experiences summarized by the ancients over the past thousands of years. My fourth uncle and others went overseas, and now they have gradually stabilized. The soldiers brought with them have married and had children. However, these children grew up overseas. If they don't learn the culture of our Han people, they will sooner or later become like local people, so these books are more expensive than any goods!"

Qi Niang just didn't react at first, but now when she heard Li Chengdao's words, she immediately understood what he meant. After all, she and Li Chengdao were both students of Li Xiu. The things she learned were connected, so the communication was naturally smoother than usual. Therefore, Qi Niang immediately nodded and said, "I understand, no wonder you have been waiting for these books for so many days."

After Qi Niang finished speaking, she reached out to pick up a book in the box and looked through it. She found that this was Zhang Zhongjing's "Treatise on Febrile Diseases". In addition to this book, the rest were also some books related to medicine. At this time, Li Chengdao also spoke again: "The Americas is too backward and cannot be compared with our Tang Dynasty in all aspects. For example, in medicine, it can be said that the biggest problem in the Americas is that no one will treat it after getting sick. After all, there are too few doctors. Only the adoptive father has a few doctors. This time I brought these medical books over, and with the experience of those doctors, I hope to cultivate some doctors!"

When Qi Niang heard this, she couldn't help feeling more distressed by Li Chengdao, and then said with regret: "I know some superficial medical skills. They were learned from my elder brother and Master Sun when I was bored. Unfortunately, I didn't work hard at that time. If I had known this, I should have learned more at the beginning!"

Hearing Qi Niang's words, Li Chengdao smiled and held her in his arms, and said with a doting look on his face: "Silly, you are not a god, how can you be proficient in everything? Moreover, your attainment in shipbuilding can be called a master. When the Eleventh Brother left, he said that when you left, the shipbuilding workshop would not be able to be opened."

"Hehe~, Brother Eleven is not short of that little money, but when it comes to shipbuilding, your shipbuilding technology is indeed too bad. I looked at the several ships you brought from America. Not only were the design poor, but the craftsmanship was also poor. It was not easy to not fall apart on the sea. When you arrived in America, you will leave me the shipbuilding matter and see if I build a batch of top sea boats for you!" When Qi Niang said the last, she also showed a confident expression on her face.

Speaking of which, Qi Niang is not the only one who went to America this time. In addition, she also dug some top old craftsmen from the shipbuilding workshop. Although these craftsmen are old and may not be very good at working, but their experience and skills are top-notch. They usually don’t have to work in the shipbuilding workshop and specialize in taking apprentices.

Qi Niang knew that shipbuilding in the Americas needed to build ships, so she spent a lot of money to recruit shipbuilding craftsmen. Young craftsmen usually don’t want to go there. Instead, these old craftsmen felt that they would not live for a few years and their children and grandchildren had grown up. Instead of waiting for death at home, it would be better to take over this heavy money, which can be regarded as leaving a family business for their children and grandchildren. This is equivalent to Qi Niang buying out the rest of their time with a lot of money. When they arrive in America, they only need to pass the craftsmanship to their apprentices there.

Li Chengdao was also very convinced of Qi Niang's ability to build ships. When he returned to the Americas last year, he took away several sea ships designed by Qi Niang. As a result, those sea ships were indeed excellent in performance, not only fast, but also very stable, and simple in operation. They were much better than the small broken ships they built themselves in the Americas.

"By the way, since these are all books, why should the Quanzhou government seize them?" At this moment, Qi Niang suddenly thought of this key question, and she also spoke again, after all, books should not be prohibited goods?

"It was because it was a book that was detained by the government. This matter was related to the teacher. It is said that he did not want the culture and skills of the Central Plains to be out of order to avoid the enemy's advantage, so he investigated these things more strictly." When Li Chengdao said the last, he couldn't help but smile helplessly, afraid that even Li Xiu would not have thought about this matter.

"As it's now, stop calling me sir, please call me brother!" Qi Niang corrected her with dissatisfaction when she heard Li Chengdao still calling Li Xiu a sir.

"This... I'm used to it, and I can't change my words for a while." Li Chengdao couldn't help but blush when he heard his wife's words. Although he is now Li Xiu's brother-in-law, he has been a student of Li Xiu since he was a child, so he couldn't change his identity for a while.

Qi Niang could understand Li Chengdao, and she burst out laughing and didn't say anything else. She looked at other boxes and found that it was all of them, including books of various types, such as medicine, agriculture, Confucianism, etc., and even books on divination and astrology. So many books are piled together, which is comparable to a small library.

"The Eleventh Brother is really capable. It is really difficult for him to collect so many books!" Qi Niang closed a box and couldn't help but show an admiration. You should know that books in this era are very rare. Not to mention ordinary people, even scholars rarely have a collection of books. If they want to read, most of them can only rely on borrowing and copying them by themselves. If someone has a rich collection of books, it can be called a rich fortune.

"Yes, but I can't just thank Brother Eleven. I should thank you more. The gold and silver we shipped from America, such as the books in front of us, can be compared with the same volume of gold and silver!" Li Chengdao couldn't help but show a look of distress when he spoke at the end.

Last year, Li Chengdao transported a lot of gold and silver from the Americas, and half of the income was handed over to Zhang Shiyi, asking him to buy books as much as possible. If he couldn't buy them, he would borrow them, and then hire someone to copy them. In the end, it took him a full year and countless money to collect so many books. If the money he bought the books was exchanged for food, they would probably not be able to hold the entire fleet.

"Are books so expensive?" Qi Niang couldn't help but ask in surprise when she heard this. She had been a wealthy family since she was a child, especially when she was sensible, she followed Li Xiu. She had never been worried about her livelihood. As for books, they could be seen everywhere at home. Even if they didn't, they could buy them. She never cared about the price.

"Qianniang, you are really the same as me. I didn't know the price of books before. Later, when I went to America, I didn't have the chance to get in touch with books. It was not until I was able to send someone back two years ago that I was going to buy some books. As a result, when I learned about the price of books, I was also shocked."

When Li Chengdao said this, he reached out to take out a book from a box and continued: "For example, this "Zuo Zhuan of the Spring and Autumn Period" has a total of 35 volumes, each volume costs 1,000 es, which is a one-month money, and a single book costs 35 stakes. The food in the Tang Dynasty is only a few cents a dou. How much food can this book be exchanged for?"

"A book costs thirty-five stakes?" Qi Niang couldn't help but widen her eyes and said in shock when she heard this. More than thirty stakes were enough to allow a family of seven to live a prosperous life for a year, but this was just the price of a book. No wonder there were so few scholars in the Tang Dynasty, because most people couldn't even afford books, let alone study.

"Actually, there are many books in the Americas, but I can't exchange all my money for books, so I can only buy these for the time being. I will collect more gold and silver in the future, and then ship them to the Central Plains to exchange books!" Li Chengdao sighed at this time. Even if the Americas produce a lot of gold and silver, he felt a little overwhelmed in the face of the high price of books.

Qi Niang had not yet woken up from the shocking price of books. She nodded in a daze. At this time, the books were almost moved onto the boat. So Li Chengdao took Qi Niang back to his residence and began to pack up his things. He was preparing to set off for America the day after tomorrow. Qi Niang had a lot of dowry, and some less important things had been moved onto the boat, but some more important things needed to be packed by her. Li Chengdao also came to help. As a result, what he never expected was that there were many surprises hidden in Qi Niang's dowry.
Chapter completed!