The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

Min Xi took a small official with him, left the Honglu Temple, and strolled to the nearby Siyi Pavilion. Most of the time, the Siyi Pavilion was empty. Although the Ming Dynasty had more than 30 vassal states, they did not come to pay tribute every year.

The court stipulated that vassal states could pay tribute every few years. The only exception was Korea, which was close to the Ming Dynasty and was originally only allowed to pay tribute every two or three years. However, Korea, which considered itself the great son of the Ming Dynasty, often violated the regulations and sent people to pay tribute almost every year.

The tribute was just some local products such as Korean ginseng, but what they received from the Ming Dynasty was silk and other items worth several or even dozens of times the original price of the tribute. To put it bluntly, it was extortion. It can be seen that being shameless is an ancient tradition of the Koreans.

When Min Xi arrived at the Siyi Hall, he was told that the Spanish envoys had gone out shopping. These Spaniards were quite relaxed and had arranged themselves very clearly.

Min Xi asked: "Do you know when they will be back?"

The clerk at the Siyi Pavilion replied, "Your Excellency, I don't know. Sometimes they wander around until the evening before returning."

"Then you tell them, I will come to see them tomorrow." Min Xi did not stop and turned and left.

The clerk who came out with Min Xi asked, "Sir, where are we going now?"

Min Xi thought for a while and asked him, "Do you have anything else to do? If you don't, come and have dinner with me." He didn't want to go back to work and was ready to go back to do his own thing, but he didn't want to go back to eat alone, so he asked the clerk to eat with him and to improve their relationship.

When the clerk heard this, he hurriedly said, "I have nothing to do. I will let you pay for it."

The weather in Beijing was not cold at this time, and Min Xi came to the government office by bicycle. He pushed his bicycle out and went to Qianmen Street with the clerk named Xue Lai. The government office was not far from Qianmen Street, at most two miles away.

Xue Lai looked at Min Xi's bicycle again and again and asked, "Sir, I heard that this bicycle is very valuable? One bicycle costs more than a hundred taels of silver."

Min Xi smiled and said, "I didn't spend much money on this car."

"I also think this is too expensive. How much did you spend, sir?"

Min Xi patted the seat and said, "I made this car myself."

Xue Lai opened his mouth wide and said in disbelief: "You, you did it yourself?"

Min Xi nodded: "Yes. I made this bicycle."

Xue Lai couldn't stop stuttering: "Then, then all those cars they bought were made by you?"

"To be precise, I designed this car, but I didn't make it. The craftsmen made it according to my requirements."

Xue Lai was immediately impressed: "Sir, you are so amazing!"

Min Xi laughed: "It's just a little thing, not worth mentioning."

The two walked all the way to Yunxiang Restaurant. Xue Lai saw Min Xi hand the bicycle to the waiter and asked him to park the car. Only then did he realize that they were going to Yunxiang Restaurant for dinner. He was very surprised: "Sir, are we having lunch here?" Meals at Yunxiang Restaurant are not cheap. If he had to pay for it himself, he would probably never come to eat there in his life.

"Yes, go in." Min Xi walked into the store.

The shopkeeper came out from behind the counter when he saw him and greeted him warmly: "Mr. Min, what brings you here today? You haven't been here for a while."

Min Xi said: "I went to Yingtian Prefecture some time ago and have not been in Beijing for a month or so. Is the business in the store good?"

"TOEFL, business has always been good. Lao Liu has developed a few new dishes, and I would like to ask you to comment on them." said the shopkeeper.

"Okay. Then serve me the new dishes. There are two of us. Is there an empty seat?"

"Yes, yes, please come this way." The shopkeeper welcomed Min Xi to a table inside. "Please wait a moment, I'll ask the kitchen to cook for you. Is there anything else you want to eat?"

Min Xi turned his head and looked at Xue Lai: "Do you have any favorite dishes? Chicken, duck, fish, meat, etc."

Xue Lai said quickly, "I can do anything."

"Is there anything in particular you want to eat?" Min Xi asked.

Xue Lai hesitated for a moment and said, "I heard that the roast chicken at Yunxiang Restaurant tastes especially good."

Min Xi said, "Okay, give me a roast chicken."

"Okay, I'll go and give the order right away." The shopkeeper responded and went to the kitchen.

Xue Lai lowered his voice and asked, "My Lord, it seems that you are very familiar with the people at Yunxiang Restaurant?"

Min Xi took a sip of tea and said, "Most of the dishes in the restaurant are made by me, including the roast chicken you ordered."

Xue Lai felt that his brain was a little confused: "Did you open this restaurant?"

"No, it's my brother's restaurant, and I gave him some ideas."

Xue Lai looked at Min Xi, and the word "unbelievable" could not describe the shock in his heart: "Sir, you are too talented."

"Haha, huh? It's always good to have many skills."

They arrived early, and there weren't too many customers, so the dishes were served very quickly, especially the roast chicken, which was prepared in advance and served directly. Min Xi carefully tasted the new dishes made by Chef Liu. Not to mention, he had mastered the dishes taught by Min Xi over the past few years, and after mastering them, he became more proficient with practice, and the new dishes he created were still remarkable.

Min Xi tried to find faults while eating. After all, he was asked to comment as a diner, and he had to find faults so that the food could do better.

Halfway through the meal, the waiter came over and said, "Master Liu, do you have any suggestions for these dishes?"

Min Xi said, "I'll go to the kitchen and talk to him later."

Xue Lai waited for the waiter to leave before saying, "Sir, I think these dishes are all delicious. There is nothing to complain about."

"It's good, but this is Yunxiang Restaurant, the best restaurant in Beijing, so every dish must live up to the restaurant's reputation and price. We must strive for perfection. I see that there are still areas that need improvement."

"Adults are really good! The little ones can't tell what's wrong with the food."

When they were almost done eating, they suddenly heard a commotion outside. Min Xi pricked up his ears, as if someone was speaking a foreign language. He took the last bite of the dish, put down his chopsticks, rinsed his mouth with tea, took out a handkerchief to wipe his mouth, and said to Xue: "I'm done eating, I'm going to go outside to see what's going on. You eat slowly."

Xue Lai didn't dare to eat slowly, so he quickly finished the last few mouthfuls of rice and put down his bowl and chopsticks: "My lord, I'm done too."

Min Xi walked around the screen that separated the small space and saw several Europeans standing in the hall. The shopkeeper was negotiating with a Ming man. Min Xi thought, there should be no other Europeans in the capital except Diego. Could these people be the Spanish envoys?

Xue Lai was two steps behind. He could see those people clearly now. He quickly ran forward and whispered to Min Xi, "Sir, these are the envoys from Greater Luzon."

Min Xi nodded. It was indeed the case. He walked over and said to the shopkeeper, "Shopkeeper, what's going on?"

The shopkeeper said, "These guests came to eat, but there were no empty seats. I asked them to wait a moment, but they refused."

The man who was negotiating with the shopkeeper pointed to an empty table and said, "Why are there no seats? There is clearly an empty seat there. Are you bullying us because we are foreigners and not letting us eat here?" The man spoke Mandarin with a distinct accent. It seemed that he was either from Fujian or Guangdong and Guangxi. He should be the translator for this group of Spaniards.

The shopkeeper said awkwardly, "That was reserved by a guest, and he will be here soon."

The Spaniards looked visibly impatient. One of them waved at the translator and said, "I've had enough. We've been here for so many days and haven't seen your emperor. They didn't even receive us when we came out for dinner. They look down on us Spaniards and don't take our great king seriously. Wait, I'll go back and report to the king about the arrogance of the Ming Dynasty."

The translator tried to comfort him in Spanish: "Mr. Marquez, don't be angry. I'll talk to them."

The translator turned around and said to the shopkeeper, "Since he hasn't arrived yet, we should eat first. You are so rude, old man. This is an envoy from Luzon. If you neglect the guest, the foreigners will think that we Ming people don't know how to entertain guests, which will be a loss of face for our Ming. If it causes a dispute between the two countries in the future, will you at least take responsibility?"

Min Xi walked over and said, "Boss, we are done eating. Let the waiter clear our table and let these guests sit down."

Min Xi turned to the Spaniards and said, "I'm sorry, sir, we kept you waiting for a long time. You can eat now. It's not that we don't want you to eat, we just want you to wait for a while. This is always the case in our restaurant. You need to make a reservation in advance. If you don't make a reservation, you won't have a seat if you come late. I'm not targeting you."

The Spaniards looked at Min Xi and found that he could speak Spanish, and he spoke it much more fluently than their translator. The man named Marquez asked, "Who are you? How do you speak Spanish?"

Min Xi raised his hand and bowed to them. "I am Min Xi, an official of the Honglu Temple, who is responsible for receiving envoys from Europe. I happened to be away from Beijing a few days ago, so I am really sorry for keeping you waiting. I came to look for you today, but unfortunately you were out. I didn't expect to meet you here. The store neglected you, so I will give you a 20% discount on this meal today as an apology."

"Who did you learn Spanish from?" Marquez asked.

"I learned it in Portugal. What is your name, Excellency?"

Marquez said: "My name is Marquez, and these are my companions Banderas, Robes and Domingo."

The Spaniards were all paying attention to Min Xi's words: "Have you been to Portugal?"

"Yes, I have not only been to Portugal, but also to Madrid and Valencia in Spain." Min Xi said with a smile.

The men looked more eager: "Have you really been to Madrid and Valencia? How did you get there?"

Min Xi saw from the corner of his eye that the waiter had already cleared the table, so he raised his hand to signal, "Gentlemen, please take a seat. Let's order some food and chat slowly."

The five people sat down in the seats before Min Xi, and Min Xi explained: "I was rescued by a Portuguese merchant ship at sea by chance, and then went to Portugal, where I lived for several years, learned several European languages, and also visited several neighboring countries, including France, Britain, and Spain. Are you gentlemen really here on behalf of the King of Spain to visit the Ming Dynasty?"

The men looked at each other, and Marquez said, "Of course, we are here on behalf of His Majesty the King to request that the Ming Dynasty allow us to trade with Spain. We want to obtain the qualification for merchant ships to dock at the Ming port."

Min Xi smiled and said, "This is a serious matter, and it concerns the diplomatic relations between the two countries. We will discuss it in detail after we return to the inn. Please order your food first. I am a frequent customer here, and I can recommend some dishes to you."

Marquez said, “Thank you.”

Min Xi said, "If you have enough budget and don't care about the price, you can try Buddha Jumps Over the Wall and Boiled Cabbage, which are our signature dishes. If you want to eat affordable dishes, you can try everything else except these two. But you must not be used to spicy dishes, so don't order the ones marked in red on the menu."

"Sir, won't you eat with us?" asked Marquez.

Min Xi smiled and said, "I have already finished eating, so I won't eat with you. You guys take your time eating, I will wait for you in the store, and we will go back to the inn after we finish eating."

Min Xi gave the translator a few more instructions, suggesting that he order some sweet and sour pork, roast chicken, Dongpo pork elbow and the like, then he got up and left. He still had to talk to Chef Liu about the new dishes.

After explaining the dishes to Chef Liu, Min Xi took Xue Lai to the accounting office to have tea and wait for the Spanish envoy to eat.

Xue Lai asked: "Sir, do you think His Majesty will really receive these foreigners?"

Min Xi shook his head: "There's no way to be sure. I have to look at the documents they brought to see if they have the seal of His Majesty the King." Although he had never spoken to Philip II, he still knew the emblem of the Spanish royal family. If the other party could not produce a letter with the king's seal, they were most likely Spanish merchants who were trying to extort money from them, using a small amount of tribute in exchange for a reward far exceeding the value of the tribute.

In fact, there was a period in history when Spain was eyeing the Ming Dynasty and tried to conquer it and break through the Sino-Western channel, so as to attack the Ottoman Empire from both the east and the west and realize its ambition to conquer the world. According to Min Si's understanding of Philip II, it was probably something he could do. However, he didn't know the exact time, but no matter when it was, it must have been a few years later.

The Spanish envoys came to Ming Dynasty, but who knows whether they came to test the truth of Ming Dynasty?

Of course, Min Xi was not worried about Spain's ambitions. After all, in a few years, the Invincible Fleet would collapse, and Spain's good days at sea would be gone forever. What he had to do now was to build a good relationship with the Spanish envoys so that it would be convenient for Ming merchant ships to go to Luzon to buy timber in the future.

When the Spanish envoys finished their meal, the waiter came to inform Min Xi. When Min Xi came out of the accounting office, the Spaniards had red faces and seemed to be very happy. When they saw Min Xi, Marquez said excitedly: "Sir, you haven't left yet?"

"Of course not. We agreed to wait for you to return to the inn together. Are you satisfied with the meal?"

Marquez laughed and said, "I'm very satisfied. The taste is really good. This is the best restaurant I've ever eaten in Daming."

"I'm glad you like it. Let's go back to the inn now. Do you want to take a carriage or walk?" Min Xi asked.

The translator said: "We walked here."

"Okay, then let's walk back. The posthouse is not far away." Min Xi pushed out his bicycle.

The attention of several Spaniards was immediately attracted, and they gathered around curiously: "You have this thing too?" When they were strolling in Beijing these days, they often saw people riding bicycles on the streets. They watched curiously for a long time but were unable to observe them closely. Therefore, when they saw Min Xi's bicycle, they could not suppress their curiosity.