The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

Min Xi and Yun Ji were already familiar with Wanli, and the monarch and his subjects no longer just sat and chatted like they did in the first two years. Wanli couldn't ride a bicycle, so he wanted to find something else to do to pass the time, after all, there were only a few days of free time throughout the year.

"What entertainment activities do you have during the New Year?" Wanli asked the two.

Yun Ji said: "During the New Year, I visited relatives and friends and went to temple fairs to see lanterns."

Min Xi smiled and said, "In our hometown, we eat and drink, and friends and relatives gather together to watch plays and play cards."

After hearing this, Wanli gave up the idea because he had to report to the Empress Dowager before going out of the palace to visit the temple fair, which would be troublesome. He asked Min Xi, "What play did Min Qing watch? What cards did he play?"

Min Xi thought about it, what kind of drama is watching movies and TV series? Then he changed the statement to fit the current situation: "It is a festive drama that everyone raises money to invite a troupe to perform during the Chinese New Year, and they play bamboo cards."

Wanli had never played bamboo cards before, so he said, "I haven't played bamboo cards yet. Why don't we play bamboo cards and you teach me how to play."

Yun Ji hesitated for a moment and said, "It's not appropriate for your majesty to play bamboo card games." The Queen Mother and Zhang Juzheng were very strict with the emperor, and they didn't allow him to touch anything that would ruin his life, and Pai Gow was one of them. Although it was the New Year, if they taught the emperor to play cards, and the Queen Mother and the Prime Minister blamed them, they, as officials of the seventh or eighth rank, would be in big trouble.

Wanli frowned and became obviously unhappy.

Min Xi quickly said, "Your Majesty, I have a game to pass the time."

"What game?" Wanli asked.

Min Xi said: "This game is called Werewolf, a card reasoning game from the West..." He repeated the rules of the Werewolf game.

As soon as Yun Ji heard it, he knew it was Min Xi's game, because he had never heard of this game when he was in Europe.

Wanli became interested after hearing this: "Then make some cards to play with."

Min Xi and Yun Ji quickly made cards. In order to avoid suspicion, Min Xi also changed the identity settings of some characters. In order to play the game, Wanli called all the palace servants to come over and gathered twelve people.

After making sure that everyone could read, Min Xi explained the rules and specific ways of playing the game in detail. Everyone found it novel and eager to try.

After one round of the game, everyone learned the rules of the game and then immersed themselves in the game.

So that day, the Qianqing Palace was very lively, and even the Empress Dowager in the Cining Palace and the Empress in the Kunning Palace knew that they were playing games.

When Empress Dowager Li heard that the Emperor was making a big fuss, she couldn't help but frown and said, "Is the Emperor playing cards? Playing with things is a waste of time. How shameful!"

The palace maid replied, "Your Majesty, it's not Pai Gow, it's cards, a game that Lord Yun and Lord Min learned from Europe." The palace maid repeated the rules of the game to the empress dowager.

Empress Dowager Li also became interested: "It sounds interesting. I'll go take a look."

So Empress Dowager Li went to the Qianqing Palace. When she arrived, she stopped the palace maid from going to report and went straight into the hall. Everyone, regardless of age or status, sat on the futons and voted to catch the werewolf. Everyone looked very excited.

Empress Dowager Li stood outside the door for a moment, and it seemed that she was not playing cards, so she walked in. The emperor was about to speak when he suddenly saw the empress dowager. He hurriedly stood up and saluted respectfully: "Mother!"

When everyone saw the Queen Mother coming, they all knelt down to pay their respects.

Empress Dowager Li looked around at them and said, "Everyone, get up. I heard that it's very lively here, Your Majesty, and that they are playing interesting games, so I came over to take a look. You guys continue and let me see if it's fun or not." After she said that, she found a chair and sat down.

So everyone sat back down, and the emperor also sat down on the futon and continued playing. Because the queen mother was there, no one dared to act rashly, and this time the werewolf was caught quickly.

Empress Dowager Li looked at it for a while and said, "It doesn't seem to be that difficult. What's so fun about it?"

The emperor said, "With the queen mother here, everyone is a little reserved. It's not as interesting as before."

"Are you blaming me for disturbing your fun?" asked Empress Dowager Li.

Wanli said hurriedly: "That's not what I meant!"

Empress Dowager Li said, "Lord Yun, you brought this game here. Please tell me what it is about. I will learn more about it."

"I obey your order!" Yun Ji quickly collected all the cards, showed them to Queen Mother Li, and explained to her the role of each card and the rules of the game one by one.

After listening to this, Queen Mother Li nodded and said, "Okay, you guys continue to play. Don't worry about me."

She actually just wanted to see what kind of card game the emperor played in the Qianqing Palace. At first, she thought it was a gambling game like Pai Gow, but it turned out to be a reasoning game, which seemed quite interesting.

Although this game is a bit disrespectful when played noisily, for people who have been trapped in the palace for a long time and have difficulty finding fun, the Werewolf game is indeed a good game. At least it is healthier than gambling. In the future, they can play this game together in the palace.

Fortunately, Empress Dowager Li did not sit for long. She left at lunch time.

Min Xi and Yun Ji originally wanted to leave, but the emperor insisted that they stay and play Werewolf for an entire afternoon. The emperor only had two days off for the New Year, the first and second day, so they had to have a good time.

After leaving the palace, Min Xi couldn't help thinking that Empress Dowager Li didn't seem to be as strict with the emperor as before, but the emperor was still very afraid of her. The strict image established since childhood was difficult to change. I just hope that after experiencing so many things, the emperor will not be like his original trajectory, and finally give up.

After the Chinese New Year, Min Xi finally refined the steel he wanted. By adding trace amounts of carbon and silicon to the steel, the hardness and flexibility achieved relatively good results, barely solving the problem of material for making muskets and steam engines.

Zhao Shizhen also completed the design of the musket, which was the result of repeated discussions between him and Min Xi. They took advantage of its strengths and avoided its weaknesses, trying to optimize the musket's performance.

Next, they would try to make a musket. Compared with a bicycle, the production of a musket is much more delicate. It is really handmade and polished bit by bit. Those parts are more delicate than a bicycle chain. For this reason, Yun Ji also found a goldsmith from his own gold shop to polish the parts of the musket.

After all, blacksmiths do rough work. Although they have enough strength, they may not be able to do fine work, especially precision tools such as firearms.

The goldsmith was not happy at first, thinking that his boss did not respect his profession. He was a goldsmith, and he was asked to polish iron. Wasn't that an insult? However, the boss was sincere and said that no one else could do this job except him. With a compliment, he came.