Entry

Pang Di-e, an attendant minister from the country of Xi-yang, and others memorialized: "We, together with the late minister Li Ma-dou and so on, a total of 10-plus persons, came 90,000 li across the oceans, to visit and observe the superior country. We have received salaries from the Court and served as ministers for 17 years. Recently, the Nan-jing and Bei-jing officials have submitted impeachment memorials, expressing the desire that we be expelled. Considering that we have devoted ourselves to the cultivation of morality and to scholarship and have respectfully served the Lord of Heaven (天主), how could we have evil plans or be willing to sink to wicked undertakings? It is requested that the Emperor will compassionately re-examine the order that we be sent back when the winds have arrived. If we are sent to reside on an island in the ocean, the suspicions about us will be even greater. It is also requested that the various attendant ministers in Nan-jing and other places all be granted lenience, so as to manifest the Heavenly Court's nourishing grace.