I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 508 I can’t handle this case!
In the early morning of the first day of February in the first year of the Wanli reign, all the gods and the Emperor of Heaven came down to earth to congratulate the Emperor on his ascension to the throne. This miraculous scene will be forever engraved in the hearts of millions of officials, common people, soldiers and civilians in the capital.

From that day on, common people came in an endless stream, holding incense sticks, to Chengtian Gate or Nanhua Gate, and kneeled and worshiped facing the Forbidden City and the Western Garden, just like devout believers going to Taoist temples and Buddhist monasteries to burn incense to the Three Pure Ones and the Buddha.

Wang Lin was in a state of panic at home. He walked back and forth in the study with his hands behind his back, muttering to himself, like an ant on hot pan.

From time to time, I turned my head to look at the door, hoping that the savior would appear.

"Master," a steward hurried to the study door to report.

Wang Lin stood still, turned around and asked impatiently, "What did Gao Suqing say?"

"Master, Master Gao said that he is now unemployed and can't do anything!"

Wang Lin's face turned red, his beautiful beard flew up in anger, and he cursed without any courtesy.

"Gao Da Hu Zi, you are so ungrateful! Back then you were sent back to Xinzheng to study. If it weren't for us, would you have been able to return to Beijing? Would you have been able to become a cabinet minister?
Now I am in trouble, but you just stand by and watch! You ungrateful bastard! "

The steward said, "Master, it is said that Master Gao has also offended the emperor and has been ordered to reflect on his mistakes at home. He can't even protect himself, so I'm afraid he can't really help you!"

Wang Lin said viciously: "You know nothing!

A lean camel is bigger than a horse! Gao Suqing was the teacher of the late emperor after all. How could the emperor take action against his teacher when the late emperor's body was still warm?

It will be fine. As long as Gao Suqing is willing to be with us, I can rest assured!"

He walked around the room a few times, then stopped and asked, "Did you really see a miracle in the early hours of yesterday morning?"

"real!"

As soon as this matter was brought up, the manager was no longer sleepy and started talking incessantly.

"The scene was quite stunning. Fairies, gods, and even the Emperor of Heaven, all glowing with golden light, stood in the clouds one by one and greeted the emperor in the Forbidden City."

"You are not seeing clearly."

"Master, I may be dazzled, but it is impossible that all the millions of soldiers and civilians in the five cities of the capital were dazzled. In the early morning of that day, the commotion was so loud that except for people like you who were drunk and couldn't get up, everyone inside and outside the city got up and saw it clearly."

Wang Lin still didn't want to believe it: "Is it really the gods and immortals, the Emperor of Heaven?"

"Sir, this is Taoist Liang on the street, who is famous in Beijing for painting gods. He swore to heaven that the gods and the emperor of heaven who descended to the earth in the early morning yesterday looked exactly like they had walked out of the painting, exactly the same."

Wang Lin raised his eyebrows and his eyes lit up, as if he had found the biggest flaw. "It's exactly the same as in the painting? This is the biggest flaw."

"Master, why is this the biggest flaw?"

"You don't want to, who in this world has ever seen a fairy?

The gods in the paintings were all imagined by the painters. The gods and immortals who descended to the earth in the early morning yesterday were the same as those in the paintings. It seems that someone copied the paintings in the paintings and used some magic to cast them into the sky. "

"Master, you don't understand.

Painters who paint statues of gods all fast for three months, worship sincerely for three months, and then sit in meditation in a single room. The gods in heaven will then give them inspiration and project their appearance into the painter's heart. Only then can they paint lifelike statues of gods. When everyone sees them, they think they are real. This is the power of gods.

The gods who came down to earth look like the ones in the portraits, which proves that they are indeed real. You said that the painting was copied from the portrait and then thrown into the sky. If there is such a method, then what is the difference between them and gods?"

The steward who insisted on his belief was arguing with Wang Lin when a doorman came running in.

"Master, the Jinyiwei people are here."

Wang Lin's legs went limp and he reached out to hold onto the door, but his body involuntarily collapsed onto the ground like a piece of boiled noodle.

Here comes, finally here!
It really is true that if you don’t succeed you will die!

The steward and the doorman hurried forward to support him.

"Master, what's wrong with you?"

Before Wang Lin could say anything, a group of people came in. The leader bowed and said, "I am the 500th officer of the Jinyiwei Zhenfu Division Jingji Bureau. I have been ordered to invite Master Wang Lin to the Zhenfu Division for questioning."

Wang Lin had been helped up, and he asked calmly, "Captain Wu, why did you call me?"

"Master Wang, you have been temporarily suspended by the Ministry of Personnel. You are not qualified to call yourself an official now." Wu Bai first corrected a mistake made by Wang Lin, and then explained: "Master Wang, I want you to go to the Zhenfu Division to question us about those books and the posters."

Wang Lin said angrily, "What's wrong? Are people in our country now being punished for their words? In the two hundred years since the Ming Dynasty was established, no one has ever been imprisoned for writing. I never thought that I would be the first person."

Wu Bai disagreed.

There are many people in our dynasty who have been convicted for their words. I don't know how many people our Jinyiwei Zhenfu Division has arrested for this crime in the past two hundred years.

However, Wu Bai was too lazy to refute him and just answered according to the new case handling rules and the new laws.

“Master Wang, you can write whatever you want at home, no one cares.

However, if you write something without approval, print it without authorization, and distribute it everywhere, it is illegal.

According to Chapter 41 of the Criminal Law and Paragraph 4 of the Regulations on the Administration of Written Publications, any person or organization that prints and distributes written reading materials, whether newspapers, books, hinged pages or single pages, must report to the Propaganda and Education Bureau for approval and obtain a publishing approval number before printing and distributing them.

Mr. Wang, your steward Wang Erfu has been arrested. He confessed that you provided the funds and the manuscript, and instructed him to find private printing craftsmen and illegal book dealers to privately carve the woodblocks, and illegally print and distribute the books.

Now, according to Article 7 of the Regulations on the Administration of Written Publications, I am calling you back to the Pacification Office for questioning."

Wu Bai’s words made Wang Lin’s head swell.

Why are there so many laws and regulations now?

In the past, we only needed to be moral to handle everything, so why did we need all these laws? It’s like taking off your pants to fart!
Wang Lin's wives and concubines surrounded him, pulled him, and cried and called "Master", without any trace of misery.

Jinyiwei Zhenfusi, it used to be the imperial prison, people went in alive, ghosts came out dead. Now the master is going to be arrested, the sky is falling at home, what should we do!
Wang Lin was still trying to stay calm, and he comforted his wife and concubines, saying, "Master, I just wrote and printed a few books privately, it's no big deal. These days, private engraving is thriving, and there are countless people printing and distributing private books on the market. Master, I was just unlucky and was caught. Don't worry, nothing will happen to me, I will be back soon."

Wu Bai chuckled and said, "Master Wang, there are things in this world that weigh only two taels if not weighed, but once weighed, they weigh a thousand jin. Let's go back to the government office first."

Wang Lin was taken back to the yamen by the people from the Pacification Office, but Gao Gong's mansion was visited by Song Gongliang, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, and Wang Cheng, the chief supervisor of the Eastern Depot.

Gao Gong expected that the emperor would take revenge on him later, but he did not expect it to come so soon.

Today is only the second day of February, and the emperor's coronation ceremony was just yesterday, and the emperor's counterattack came so fiercely and swiftly!

Gao Gong said calmly, "I am honored that the Song capital envoy and Wang Dujian have come to summon me. I will pack up before going to the imperial prison."

Song Gongliang and Wang Cheng looked at each other and said, "Mr. Gao has misunderstood. We two are just here to ask you something in person."

Asking something in person?

Gao Gong was stunned for a moment.

Isn't it just putting yourself in prison?
However, thinking of the emperor's methods, Gao Gong, who knew that he would not be imprisoned, became uneasy.

When you go to the imperial prison, you can predict the result.

But the emperor didn't put me in prison. What tricks did he want to use against me?
Killing people is so cruel that I really can’t bear it.

Gao Gong said carefully, "What is it? Please speak directly."

Song Gongliang took out three books and held them in both hands.

"Mr. Gao, please take a look first."

Gao Gong took it suspiciously and glanced at it.

Yes, there are two storybooks.

"The Record of Minister Xu's Retribution" and "The Record of Grand Master Zhang's Splendid Affairs".

But when Gao Gong saw the name on the cover, he secretly felt something was wrong. When he saw the name on the cover of the third book, "Dream of Spring in Xiyuan", his face changed drastically.

"What does this mean?"

Song Gongliang replied, "These three books are private editions of storybooks that have been circulated from Jiangnan. The author is anonymous, and the printer and bookseller are also anonymous. Mr. Gao, I will not elaborate on the contents of these three stories. One of them alludes to Xu Shilang of the Ministry of War, one alludes to Zhang Gelao of the Cabinet, and the content of the third one is extremely disrespectful."

Gao Gong's Adam's apple couldn't help but tremble up and down, "What do these three books have to do with me?"

Damn, these three books, especially the third one, are like thunder. Whoever touches them will die.

Song Gongliang continued, "These three books were discovered by the Pacification Office when they were investigating the illegal publication case of Wang Lin and others who privately printed books and posted posters and distributed them to various places without authorization.

Wang Lin's book was posted southward, and these three books were posted northward. They appeared almost at the same time, and can be said to be a distant response. "

Gao Gong couldn't sit still anymore.

It is a common practice among writers to compile articles expressing dissatisfaction into a book or write them as notices.

There are also some writers who are so full of literary talent that they can't hide it. They pick up a pen and make up stories out of nothing, adding fuel to the fire, and alluding to someone.

The more bizarre and erotic the story is, the more people will love to read it. The wider it spreads, the greater the impact will be. Then they can say black is white and white is black.

That's how Chen Shimei came to be.

But it’s fine to allude to Xu Wei and Zhang Juzheng, but why did you write "Dream of Spring in the Western Garden" for no reason?
Is that something you can write?
If you feel itchy, just chop your hands off!
It just so happened that these three privately printed vernacular books and Wang Lin’s privately printed books and posters appeared almost at the same time, one in the south and one in the north, as if they had been agreed upon to echo each other.

Everyone in the court and the country knew about the relationship between Wang Lin and him.

No, this matter has nothing to do with me, no one can frame me!

Song Gongliang said calmly: "These three vernacular books are printed beautifully. Ordinary private printing houses can never print such books. There are not many printing houses in the world that can print such beautiful books.

The Zhenfusi found experienced printers, who identified that the three books were printed using woodblock printing techniques from the Jiangnan region. There were no more than ten families in Jiangnan who could carve such good woodblocks.

So the Zhenfusi sent someone to the south to continue the investigation together with the Nanjing Branch. In the end, they found out that these three vernacular books came from the Jinling Printing House.

Gao Gong's body bounced up and he stood up suddenly, waving his hands in horror: "Impossible, this is impossible!"

Song Gongliang continued, "Mr. Gao, our people from the Pacification Office have arrested all the people related to the Jinling Printing House. The engraver, the printer, and the general manager of the Jinling Printing House, Gao Wenchang, Mr. Gao's nephew.

In the confession obtained so far, Gao Wenchang insisted that he was lured by a bookseller with a large sum of money and, out of greed, agreed to let the woodblock carvers and printers of Jinling Printing House print these three books for the bookseller.

He said that after receiving the three thousand silver dollars, he did not care about anything else and had not even seen the samples of the three books. He just told his subordinates to print them.

Wang Cheng, who had been silent just now, spoke up at this time: "Mr. Gao, Jinling Printing House was formerly a printing house under the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue, specializing in printing yellow books and fish scale books, and also printed treasure notes in the early years. It ranks among the top five printing houses in Jiangnan.

After the Nanjing Ministry of Revenue was withdrawn and merged, the printing house was separated and directly under the Ministry of Revenue, with government supervision and business operation, and the Jinling Printing House was established. Business was booming and making a fortune. At the beginning of the second year of Longqing, Mr. Gao arranged your nephew Gao Wenchang to be the general manager.

In the past two years, Gao Wenchang has made a lot of money. He bought a large house with five entrances in Xinzheng and also bought a famous prostitute from Qinhuai River as a concubine. He lives a very happy life.

"Mr. Gao, your nephew is on his way back to Beijing. When he comes back, please persuade him to turn over the mysterious bookseller. He can't take the blame for this case!"

Gao Gong's forehead was covered with sweat, his face was full of fear, and his breathing was rapid, as if invisible hands were grabbing his neck.

My nephew can’t handle this serious case, and neither can I!

(End of this chapter)