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During the Lantern Festival, Wanli left the palace again and asked Min Xi and Yun Ji to accompany him.

Min Xi had made preparations in advance. This year, he made glass lanterns for Yunlin and Wanli with glass. The shapes of the two lanterns when blown out were different. Yunlin's was a carp lantern, and Wanli's was a dragon lantern.

Wanli was very satisfied with the glazed dragon lantern, which was transparent, bright, beautiful and elegant. Min Xi always managed to give him surprises.

As this year is the year of the imperial examination, the Lantern Festival in the capital is more lively than in previous years. The candidates taking part in the imperial examination arrived in the capital early and naturally would not miss this annual event in the capital.

Min Xi and Yun Ji walked Wanli around the street. The colored glaze lanterns in their hands were undoubtedly the most dazzling lanterns on the street. In the past two years, movable lanterns have become popular on the street. Each one is more exquisite than the other, and many of them are more exquisite than the golden toad lantern and three-legged golden crow lantern made by Min Xi.

If Min Xi still makes movable lanterns this year, it is probably difficult for them to stand out. But the colored glass lanterns are different. These two can definitely be said to be the only two lanterns in the whole city. Even by next year, no one will surpass them. After all, the colored glass firing technology is only in their hands.

Wanli was very happy to visit, and he also went to Yunxiang Bookstore to participate in the Lantern Festival. There are many talented people in Beijing this year, and Yunxiang Bookstore has been doing very well recently. The scale of the Lantern Festival tonight is also very large, and there are many ways to play, in addition to guessing lantern riddles, there are also flying flower orders and current affairs strategies.

Wanli went to Yunxiang Bookstore in order to get close to the candidates who were taking the imperial examination this spring and listen to their private opinions and views.

The topic of current affairs tonight is tax reform, and Wanli just wants to hear the scholars' opinions on tax reform.

The group of scholars were very enthusiastic. Some supported the tax reform, some opposed it, some praised it and some criticized it. They talked freely on the stage, but they never expected that the emperor himself would be sitting in the audience and listening to their opinions.

After listening to the debate among the scholars, Wanli said with some dissatisfaction: "Find out those who hold opposing opinions and do not allow them to be admitted. With such old-fashioned and conservative ideas, even if they enter the court of the Ming Dynasty, I am sure they will not achieve anything."

Seeing that he was unhappy, Min Xi quickly suggested, "I don't think there's anything you can argue about, so let's just stop here and go somewhere else."

Wanli did not object, and they left the bookstore together. Wanli was still a little indignant and said to the people around him: "I didn't expect that there would be so many people who opposed the new policy implemented by the court."

"Reform has always been difficult. Some opponents are trying to protect their own interests, while others are conservatives who lack vision and do not realize the necessity of reform. Fortunately, the decree has been passed, so you don't have to worry." Min Xi comforted him, but he also tended not to accept these opponents, so as not to become a stumbling block to reform in the future.

But overall, he was still very pleased. At least Emperor Wanli himself was still inclined to tax reform. Even if Zhang Juzheng was gone in the future, the new policies he implemented should not be abolished.

After the Lantern Festival, Liulichang resumed work, and the first order was from the Duke of Wei's Mansion.

Duke Wei has enjoyed prosperity since the founding of the Ming Dynasty. He has been favored for hundreds of years and can be regarded as the oldest noble in the capital. The Duke's Mansion is huge, with many buildings. It costs nearly ten thousand taels to replace the entire set of glazed windows. This is a big customer, and it will take at least two or three months to complete this order.

Therefore, Min Xi decided to continue to expand the scale of Liulichang and speed up the firing process. After all, there were still many dignitaries waiting in line to change the glass windows. The larger the scale, the more manpower was needed, which also meant that when they expanded to other places in the future, they could send enough workers and masters to teach their skills.