The Age of Discovery: Chinese cuisine swept across Europe

On the night of the Lantern Festival, Min Xi and Yun Ji accompanied the emperor to the lantern festival and released Kongming lanterns. They played until midnight before returning home.

At 9:00 p.m. the next day, Min Xi and Yun Ji had to get up and go to the palace to attend the court meeting.

While waiting for the emperor to arrive, Min Xi met the Minister of the Honglu Temple, who raised his hand and greeted him enthusiastically: "Lord Min, you are here too?"

Min Xi quickly saluted and said, "Greetings, sir. Sir, is there anything that I need to attend to in our yamen recently?"

"It's nothing serious, Lord Min, don't worry. Are you used to working in the Censorate?" The Minister of the Ministry of Rites asked with a smile.

Min Xi looked around. He couldn't recognize all the supervisors in the Censorate, but the censors usually stood together. He found that they were still some distance away, so he lowered his voice and said, "It's okay, but the working hours are too long. I can't be absent-minded like before. I really miss our government office."

The Minister of the Ministry of Rites smiled and patted him on the shoulder: "Lord Min, His Majesty values ​​you, so you must serve the court well and don't let His Majesty down. Come back to the yamen when you have time, our door is always open to you."

Min Xi had no choice but to nod his head helplessly. If there were no Western envoys coming to Beijing in the future, he probably would not go to work in the Honglu Temple.

While they were chatting, the emperor came to court. He was sleepy and obviously had not rested well. He even couldn't help yawning.

When the emperor arrived, the meeting naturally began. First, the cabinet ministers mentioned the major issues that the court needed to solve recently, one of which was the development of the South Sea continent.

Wanli became interested when he heard about the development of the Nanyang Continent: "The development of the Nanyang Continent is indeed worthy of attention. This matter still needs the participation of Lord Yun Jiyun and Lord Min Ximin. They are the ones who really understand the situation. After the court is dismissed, the two Lords will go to Wenyuan Pavilion to discuss with several elders."

Min Xi and Yun Ji quickly saluted: "I accept your order!"

Other officials also reported some things and everyone discussed them together.

Wanli saw that no one was talking: "Do you have anything else to say? If not, let's adjourn the court."

At this time, Xie Mengqian, the Left Censor-in-Chief, stood up and said, "Your Majesty, I have something else to report."

"Go ahead!" Wanli had already leaned forward, ready to stand up, but after hearing what he said, he sat back in the dragon throne.

Xie Mengqian took out the memorial and said, "Recently, my Censorate has received several reports, all of which accuse Shuntian Prefecture Daxing County Dianshi Dai Liang of favoritism, corruption, bribery, breaking the law knowingly, and taking human lives lightly. I have investigated and found that this is indeed the case. Dai Liang has committed many bad deeds, which are too numerous to list."

"There is such a thing! Fang Xi, Daxing County is under your jurisdiction, are you aware of this?" Wanli looked at Fang Xi, the prefect of Shuntian Prefecture.

Fang Xi felt his whole body getting hot: "Your Majesty, I have never heard of it."

The Dianshi was not an official, but a clerk who was in charge of the county government's judicial system. Although he was not a high-ranking official, he did have real power. When a county Dianshi committed a crime, it should have been under the jurisdiction of the Supervisory Censor. However, Min Xi did not know about this matter, and it was not reported by his colleagues who were also Supervisory Censors. Instead, it was the Left Censor-in-Chief of the Fourth Rank who told Min Xi that this matter was a little unusual.

Wanli waved his hand and said, "Since we have investigated, we can punish him according to the laws of our dynasty."

Xie Mengqian continued, "It should have been so, but someone obstructed it in every way, allowing Dai Liang to escape punishment several times. Your Majesty, this Dai Liang is the nephew of Minister of Rites Pan Ge Lao."

When Min Xi heard this, he immediately realized the source of something wrong. This was the beginning of the impeachment of Zhang Juzheng's faction.

When Minister of Rites Pan Sheng heard this, he was shocked and looked at Xie Mengqian with wide eyes: "Master Xie, don't talk nonsense! My nephew is far away in Zhejiang, how could he be a Dianshi in Daxing?"

Xie Mengqian said: "He is the nephew of one of Lord Pan's concubines."

Pan Sheng's beard trembled. "Your Majesty, please understand. I don't know about this matter, nor do I know the existence of Dai Liang. I suspect someone is deliberately throwing dirty water on me."