The Santa Catarina, its hold packed not with silks but with lacquered chests of "Dragon's Treasure" and ceramic urns of "Heaven's Warmth" powder, sailed from Canton on a tide of greed and wonder. Captain Silva spent the long voyage in a state of agitated ecstasy, guarding his cargo like a dragon himself, certain each chest was worth more than its weight in silver.
When he finally arrived in Lisbon, the effect was more explosive than one of the Ming's "firepots." The strange, solid chocolate, with its perfect snap and complex flavor, was a sensation unlike any the Portuguese court had ever seen. It was a luxury that could be held, shared, and savored. It became the currency of favor at court. King Manuel, seeing the potential for a monopoly that dwarfed the spice trade, immediately ordered Silva to return with twice the cargo, and to secure exclusive rights at any cost.
Back in the Forbidden City, the silver began to flow in. Minister Wang presented the latest treasury reports to the emperor with trembling hands. The profit margins from the chocolate were so high they seemed like a clerical error.
"The Portuguese paid how much?" Zhu Haolang asked, looking up from a sketch of a new, more efficient water wheel for the chocolate grinders.
"Enough to fund the northern grain trade for five years, Your Majesty," Wang said, his voice hushed with awe. "And there is more. A new ship has arrived in Canton. Flying a different flag. They call themselves Spanish."
The emperor's head snapped up. "Spanish? Did they… bring anything? Tubers? Strange, knobby things that grow in the earth?"
Minister Wang blinked. "I… believe the manifest mentioned, among other things, 'patatas' from their colonies in the New World. And a large, yellow fruit they call 'maíz.' Though it seems a coarse grain, inferior to our own—"
Zhu Haolang was on his feet. "Stop. Do not let them leave. Send a fast rider. Invite their captain to the capital. Immediately. Offer them…" he glanced at a half-eaten bar of Dragon's Treasure on a nearby plate, "offer them a sample of that."
Wang was bewildered but obeyed. The Spanish captain, a dour man named Vargas, was initially suspicious. But the taste of the chocolate, presented in the same awe-inspiring manner as it had been to Silva, melted his resistance. He was ushered into the emperor's presence.
Zhu Haolang dispensed with the formalities. "Your 'patatas.' Your 'maíz.' I want them. All of them. The seeds, the tubers, everything. In return, you may have a trading concession equivalent to the Portuguese. And this." He pointed to the chocolate.
Captain Vargas, who had expected to have to fight for a foothold, could only nod in stunned agreement. He had been prepared for armed conflict, not for a bizarre emperor who valued strange roots over gold and silk.
As the Spanish departed, laden with chocolate and promises, Minister Liu could contain himself no longer. He stepped forward from the assembled courtiers, his face a mask of righteous concern.
"Your Majesty! Forgive my impudence, but this is madness! First we befriend the Mongols, then we entertain the Portuguese, now the Spanish! We are letting barbarians swarm our shores like flies! They bring strange plants that could carry disease or curses! We are diluting the purity of the Middle Kingdom for… for trinkets and roots!"
Zhu Haolang looked at Liu with something akin to pity. "Minister Liu. You are the head of the Bureau of Technological Verification. Are these plants not a technology? A technology of full stomachs and stable empires?"
Liu spluttered. "They are unproven! Unknown!"
"Everything is unknown until it is known," the emperor said lazily. "The sweet potato was unknown. Now it is the foundation of northern peace. Your job is to prove them. Take these 'patatas.' Plant them. Test them. Verify their yield. Their hardiness. Their taste. Do your job."
He had trapped Liu again. The minister, whose entire platform was based on tradition and caution, was now the official responsible for testing the very foreign innovations he railed against.
"But the foreigners themselves, Your Majesty! Their influence! Their ideas!"
Zhu Haolang's eyes grew cold. "Their ideas are irrelevant. We are not taking their ideas. We are taking their things. Their beans, their tubers, their fruits. We are not learning their philosophy or their religion. We are learning their botany. We are strip-mining the world for anything useful, and we are giving them baubles in return. They are not influencing us. They are supplying us."
He looked around the court, his gaze sweeping over them. "The world is changing. It is getting smaller. We can hide behind our walls and pretend it isn't, until one day their ships are too powerful and their curiosity turns to conquest. Or we can control the flow. We can decide what comes in, and on our terms. We can make ourselves the center of their world, the market they all must come to, the taste they all crave. We will be so valuable, so necessary, that the thought of disrupting us will be unthinkable."
He picked up a potato, a rough, muddy tuber from the Spanish shipment. It was ugly. It was perfect.
"This," he said, holding it aloft, "is worth more than any philosophy. This will feed millions in poor soil. This will ensure no one in the Ming Dynasty need ever starve again. That is not dilution, Minister Liu. That is strength. That is immortality."
He tossed the potato to Liu, who fumbled it. "Now go. Verify it. The future is waiting, and it is covered in dirt."
As Liu scurried away, clutching the hated tuber, Zhu Haolang returned to his divan. The Spanish had brought potatoes. And corn. The final pieces of the agricultural revolution. Now, no corner of his empire would go hungry.
The silver from the chocolate would fund it all. The world was literally delivering the tools for its own stability to his doorstep, and paying him for the privilege.
He closed his eyes. The nap would have to wait a little longer. There was still so much to build. But for the first time, the work didn't feel tedious. It felt like a puzzle, and he was the only one with the box top. All he had to do was look at the picture and tell everyone else where to put the pieces.