The sunken ship is covered with marine life such as seaweed and barnacles, and it is not easy to pass through the cracks and enter the cabin.
Xiang Yang even saw squids of all sizes making their homes on the shipwreck. The entire shipwreck has now become the squids' nest.
Xiang Yang moved very carefully, not daring to make any big movements.
Because within Xiang Yang's field of vision, he had seen at least three giant squids that were more than two meters long. If a fight broke out, it would definitely be an extremely fierce fight.
Xiang Yang carefully entered the cabin through a crack in the overturned part of the sunken ship.
Because it was a wooden boat and had been soaked in sea water for a very long time, the various compartments in the cabin had basically rotted away.
When Xiang Yang entered the sunken ship, he could basically see everything in the cabin at a glance.
The things in the cabin were not the mountains of real gold and silver that Xiang Yang wanted.
But it's not completely empty.
Inside the cabin, dozens of large wooden boxes were stacked in a mess.
Xiang Yang opened one of them.
A stream of black water immediately flowed out of the wooden box.
This is because the seawater has been deposited in the box for a long time and has turned black and deteriorated.
After the water became clear, Xiang Yang discovered that the box contained some containers, mostly pottery bottles and jars, as well as gold and silver utensils.
Without exception, all of these vessels are in the shape of small bottles.
There was a flash of surprise in Xiang Yang's eyes. Could it be that he had discovered the shipwreck of an ancient alchemist
Ancient alchemists were a very mysterious group of people.
They were said to be liars, but emperors of all dynasties supported them well.
But to say that they are not liars, it is not as if they have actually refined any elixirs.
Xiang Yang hesitated for a moment, took out a piece of exquisitely crafted pottery from the wooden box, and then pulled out the cork.
There was no elixir in the bottle as Xiang Yang had imagined. After opening it, there was a dark grey liquid inside.
I opened several bottles in succession, and all of them contained the same substance.
Xiang Yang was a little disappointed. It seemed that there were no extraordinary items in these medicine bottles. At least in the face of the power of time, they had all turned into gray-black liquid.
Xiang Yang continued to open the second box.
Finally, the box no longer contained those bottles and jars, but Xiang Yang was even more disappointed because there was some paste-like stuff inside, as if someone had cooked a big pot of porridge and poured it all into the box.
Next, came the third and fourth boxes.
Except for the bottles and jars in the first box, which might be worth some money, the remaining boxes were filled with things that had completely rotted.
Finally, in the fifth box that was opened, Xiang Yang saw three balls of something, two large and one small, that looked like grayish-white solidified cement.
At first, Xiang Yang thought that these things were some ancient treasures that could not withstand the ravages of time and had been corroded beyond recognition.
As a result, when he touched it with his hand, Xiang Yang's expression instantly became very interesting.
This stuff is not cement, it's a solid waxy substance.
It was grayish white, and was locked in a treasure chest with such caution. It was solid waxy, and its appearance was so much like solidified cement.
"Oh shit!" Xiang Yang was instantly excited. This was ambergris that was at least several hundred years old.
Ambergris, also known as dragon belly incense, is also known as gray amber in the West. It is a solid waxy combustible substance that is dark gray or black in color. It has a unique sweet earthy aroma and is the best among spices. Whether in ancient times or today, those who can afford this spice are either rich or noble.
In fact, the essence of ambergris is a dried product secreted by the sperm whale. The ambergris initially discharged into the sea is light black in color. Under the action of sea water, it will slowly turn into gray, light gray, and finally turn into white like solidified lime. It is an extremely precious spice fixative.
Ambergris of this quality costs almost ten times the same amount of gold.
Xiang Yang instantly turned his head to look at the first box he opened. It turned out that this ship was not a shipwreck of an ancient alchemist, and the contents of those bottles and jars were not elixirs, but spices, essences, and refined perfumes.
“It’s posted. This time it’s really posted.”
Xiang Yang's eyes lit up. Spices were extremely luxurious things in ancient times. Those who could afford spices were either rich or noble. What's more, among these spices, there were top-grade spices like ambergris.
In ancient times, ambergris was not something that everyone could use.
What is ambergris
It is something used exclusively by emperors.
The first country in the world to discover ambergris was the Han Dynasty in my country.
According to legend, during the Eastern Han Dynasty, fishermen caught some grayish-white waxy drifting objects with a fragrant smell in the sea. The waxy drifting objects ranged from a few kilograms to dozens of kilograms, and had a very strong fishy smell, but after being dried, they could emit a long-lasting fragrance, and when burned, the fragrance was even more fragrant, which was more fragrant than the best spices at the time. Some local officials purchased them and presented them to the emperor as treasures, and they were called ambergris in the palace.
For the next thousand years, ambergris has been the exclusive product of the emperor.
Since ambergris can be found on this shipwreck, it means that at the very least it was a ship carrying tribute to the emperor. If some other treasures could be found on it, Xiang Yang would be really rich.
In ancient times, ambergris was mistakenly believed to be dragon's saliva.
The person who truly solved the secret was a Saudi whaler.
It is said that the whaler caught a sperm whale on the island of Cotra, and after opening its stomach, he found a piece of ambergris in the intestines of the sperm whale.
At that time, the whaler just thought that it was a sperm whale swallowing on the sea surface and did not pay attention to it.
But then the news reached the attention of a marine biologist.
The marine biologist found the whaler and took back the ambergris. After experiments, he found that the ambergris was actually the excrement of sperm whales.
However, ambergris did not depreciate because of this, but became more precious.
Because after further in-depth research, it was discovered that not every sperm whale has ambergris in its body.
Ambergris is only present in the bodies of sperm whales that have survived a fierce fight and successfully killed giant squids.
It turns out that in the mouth of the giant creature, there are very tough keratin jaws and tongue teeth. These keratin jaws cannot be digested by sperm whales, and will stimulate the sperm whale to secrete wax to wrap up the physical remains. Each piece of ambergris means a fight between ferocious marine beasts, and represents the sad demise of a giant squid.