The Tanka boats at the mouth of the Pearl River in Guangzhou Prefecture were laden with salted fish. Shen Xitang’s black boots crushed the charred edges of a copy of the *Yue Da Ji*. Xiao Heng’s Xiuchun Saber cleaved through the cabin boards of a black-awning boat, and crates of oyster shells shattered upon meeting the river breeze—wrapped within the calcium textures was not mother-of-pearl, but thirty volumes of manuscripts on the silver-plating of Venetian glassware. Beside the Italian text marked "Eleventh Year of Chongzhen" on the parchment, there were even annotations in Cantonese: "Murano Island furnace temperature curve"!
"Lord Thousand-Householder, look at this oyster knife." Her fingertips brushed the spiral quenching patterns on the iron blade. "This 'Seven Stars Oyster-Shucking' technique is a coastal defense method improved by the Dongguan Garrison during the Hongwu reign. How could it be mixed with the paw-print emblem of the Winged Lion of Saint Mark?"
A conch shell horn suddenly sounded on the river. Twenty two-masted fishing boats emerged from the mist; the Mazu flags hanging from their bows, once soaked with water, revealed the patterns of smoothbore cannons from the Venetian Arsenal. Shen Xitang’s silver silk shredded a crate of pearl shells, and a fallen, hidden page of the *Adriatic Sea Secret Ledger* was revealed—next to an official document claiming "False report of 100,000 pearls collected for tax," there was a Dalmatian annotation: "Resold to the Rep…
Chapter 188