The so-called "Burning Tail Banquet" was something that was thought up by Emperor Xiaohe of the previous dynasty, Li Xian, after his restoration. According to legend, when a carp leaps over the Dragon Gate, fire from heaven will burn its tail, and the fish can then turn into a dragon and fly away. So this emperor issued an edict that all court officials who were promoted must offer food to the emperor.
Originally, this would have been nothing. After all, this emperor had a female emperor as his mother. When he was under house arrest in Junzhou and Fangzhou, he was so scared that he couldn't even eat. And his mother killed her son as if he were killing an unrelated cat or dog. Naturally, the officials guarding him would not treat this emperor, who was in danger of losing his throne, well.
So after Li Xian ascended the throne, he ordered that whenever his ministers were promoted, they had to invite him to dinner. In the end, just to get free meals from the ministers, he frequently promoted ministers. As a result, even the prime minister was overcrowded and often had to leave after only a few months to make room for the people below so that the emperor could continue to get free meals from them.
The Wei Gong mentioned by Alexander Gao was the most famous of the many Shaowei banquets eaten during the reign of Emperor Xiaohe Li Xian. The menu of this Shaowei banquet was also considered by people all over the world to be a feast far superior to that in the imperial palace. However, this menu had always been kept secret by the Wei family and was rarely leaked to the outside world, and very few people could get a glimpse of the full picture.
Ethan Shen didn't expect Alexander Gao to be so powerful that he could even get the menu for the banquet. Although there were only ten dishes, the cost would probably be considerable.
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