The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 138 Who can't fool people?
Who doesn’t know how to fool people?

This seems very simple.

In fact, there are many people who don’t fool others.

If we start from the perspective of fooling people, there are two types of people in this world: those who fool others, and those who are fooled.

Many people in this world are actually deceived.

For example, the young and inexperienced people of the Qingliu class who were fooled by Xu Jie.

Those young and foolish people fought hard to overthrow the corrupt official Yan Song. I don’t know how many of them were killed by Yan Song.

If it was not later revealed that Xu Jie owned hundreds of thousands of acres of land in his hometown, who would have thought that he, who was respected as a leader by the young and upright people, was also a corrupt official!
This shows Xu Jie's talent.

This kind of deceiving job is really not something that ordinary people can do.

Fortunately, Wanli was not an ordinary person.

He is the emperor of the time, so it is relatively easy for him to fool people.

As for how to fool.

Since Shen Shixing and the three powerful families of Puzhou like to play, let’s play a big one.

Wanli thought about it carefully, then said decisively: "Send Li Tingji to come to the audience."

Li Tingji is Yu Youcai's senior disciple and the core of the future imperial party.

This job of deceiving people was just right for him to do, which could be considered as some experience.

Li Tingji is living a very comfortable life at the moment.

He was not greedy for fame, wealth or power. His only hobby was writing and painting. He could write more than 140 different versions of a resignation memorial, which shows how much he loved writing.

The position of editor in the Hanlin Academy was just right for him, because the editor's main responsibility was to compile the official records and draft documents related to the grand ceremony.

These are also his hobbies, so he naturally works very hard.

Wanli had seen a lot, because the Veritable Records mainly recorded the words and deeds of the current emperor.

He was fond of writing, but he never wrote randomly. After the Veritable Records were compiled, he would have them reviewed by Wanli. He even asked for Wanli's instructions on how the Veritable Records should be compiled regarding Wanli's words and deeds. Therefore, he met Wanli many times.

This time he thought Wanli wanted him to write some records again.

Who knew that there were quite a few people in the Imperial Study, including not only his mentor Yu Youcai, but also the Minister of War Liang Menglong, the Jinyiwei Commander-in-Chief Lu Yi, the Jinyiwei Commander-in-Chief Luo Sigong, the Imperial Household Department's Chief Secretary, the Imperial Horse Supervisor, and the Eastern Depot's Admiral Li Xuancheng, and many others.

Is this a big deal?

After respectfully performing the etiquette between the monarch and his subjects, he stood there attentively, ready to wait for orders.

Wanli looked at the top scholar he had personally selected and nodded slightly.

You can tell at first glance that this guy is not a greedy person. Once a person becomes greedy, he will be quite scary. Greedy people will be particularly destructive when they come to power.

It is actually very easy to see whether a person is greedy or not. His expressions, actions, eyes, and even the words he often says can all reveal whether he is greedy or not.

To put it bluntly, a greedy person wants this and that, and is never satisfied.

Li Tingji has none of these problems, so it seems that he made the right choice.

He was quite pleased and said, "Er Zhang, you have been working as a compiler for almost three years. It is time for a promotion. How about this? I will promote you to Xima, in charge of the Sijing Bureau."

The position of horse washing sounds a bit strange. Are there officials specifically responsible for horse washing?

In fact, the "wash" in "washing the horse" does not mean giving the horse a bath, but washing it first.

Xima, also known as Xianma, was originally an official under the prince. He served as the pioneer when the prince traveled, hence the name.

Originally, Xima was a military position during the Qin and Han dynasties. After all, leading the prince on his travels was equivalent to being a vanguard, and it was impossible without some martial arts skills.

However, during the Sui and Tang dynasties, this Xima became a civil servant, specifically in charge of the Sijing Bureau, mainly responsible for the editing, classification and storage of books in the Prince's Eastern Palace.

The position of Xima sounds strange, but the rank is not low, it is the fifth rank.

In less than three years, he was promoted twice!

Li Tingji quickly bowed and said, "Thank you for your grace, Your Majesty."

It's not that he is greedy for power or wants to rise quickly, but the position of horse groomer is quite suitable for him.

His Majesty probably wanted to prepare something to teach the Crown Prince, so he asked him to compile it, and he really liked this task.

Unexpectedly, Wanli suddenly asked again: "Er Zhang, do you know the court report?"

Of course he knew about this court bulletin. There was no official who didn't read the court bulletin.

Because the content of the court report at this time is the memorials or imperial edicts officially issued by the cabinet, that is, the important matters or policies that the court is implementing. If you don't read the court report, you will definitely not be a good official.

Li Tingji nodded repeatedly and said, "I know the imperial reports. I read almost every issue of them."

That's good.

Wanli asked, "How often does the Imperial Gazette usually come out?" Li Tingji explained carefully, "According to the rules, it's published every five days. Every five days, the Ministry of Public Administration and the Six Departments of Imperial Censors will submit selected imperial edicts, memorials, and official documents to the Cabinet for approval and selection before publication.

However, this time is not fixed, because the cabinet still needs to carefully consider the content of the official gazette, and generally it is considered good if it can be published every ten days."

The cabinet is too centralized. The contents of the official bulletins are all decided by the cabinet. Isn't this taking away my tool to fool people?
Wanli thought about it carefully, then said decisively: "From now on, you will be responsible for compiling the court reports. The content does not need to be submitted to the cabinet for approval. You can write whatever I ask you to write."

Uh, that's against the rules.

However, my mentor taught me that other things are not important. The most important thing is to be loyal to the emperor and do whatever the emperor says.

Li Tingji was stunned for a moment, then he bowed and said, "Your humble servant obeys your order."

Wanli asked again, "How many copies of each issue of the imperial gazette are usually published?"

Li Tingji explained in detail: "Each issue of the Emperor's Gazette is printed in 10,000 copies. Every official in Beijing is given one copy, and every official of the seventh rank and above in the localities is also given one copy. If other officials want to read it, they can only ask someone to copy it.

In fact, there were quite a lot of people who wanted to read the court bulletin, including many scholars and even merchants. Therefore, there was a special job to make a living at that time, which was copying the court bulletin.

The official reports they copied out are no longer called official reports, but official reports. Now many people buy official reports, and many people sell them as well.

This is the case of not knowing how to use the official report to fool people.

Is it enough to publish only 10,000 points each time?
Wanli pondered for a while, then said decisively: "First, move the Sijing Bureau to the Yangxin Palace."

what?
The Hall of Mental Cultivation was built during the reign of Emperor Jiajing. Originally, Emperor Jiajing intended to use it to handle state affairs, that is, to have a large imperial study with functions such as receiving officials, holding talks, and even dining.

That place is extremely large, covering an area of ​​more than ten acres, with more than ten or twenty halls and houses.

However, Yan Song later renovated the Wanshou Palace for Jiajing, and the Yangxin Palace became useless.

His Majesty probably thought that the Palace of Tranquil Longevity was closer, so he wanted to move the Ministry of Finance to the Palace of Tranquil Longevity.

When you exit the Qianqing Palace and turn right, you will find the Yangxin Palace.

Li Tingji was stunned for a moment, but still bowed and said, "Your humble servant obeys your order."

Wanli then gave detailed instructions: "The format of this court report must be changed. We can no longer use the same 32-page paper as the book. It is difficult to turn the pages.

From now on, official bulletins will be published on folio paper with articles printed on both sides. Moreover, the titles of the articles must be in large fonts. Also, the name of the official bulletin will be changed to "Wanli Official Bulletin". You are to write these four words. Please use your top-ranking scholar level and write them well.

Also, don't use straight single lines to separate the articles in the official gazette. Use patterned lines to separate them and try to make them as exquisite as possible.

From now on, the official gazette will be published every ten days and must be printed and distributed on time. We will first print 100,000 copies of each issue to see if it is enough. If not, we will increase the quantity.

That's all I have for now. Please report how many officials and craftsmen you need."

Folio paper is more than two feet long and one foot wide. How can one print 100,000 copies of each issue on both sides?

Could there be so many imperial edicts, memorials and official documents?
By the way, His Majesty said that the articles for the official gazette need to be compiled.

Li Tingji pondered the matter carefully, then asked cautiously, "Your Majesty, what article is being published in the imperial gazette?"

Well, that’s good, your brain is working.

Wanli explained in detail: "It depends on the needs. Each issue has a theme.

For example, in the first issue, the disaster caused by the Northern Tartars, you go to Qianji and copy down the situation of the Northern Tartars' invasions from the Jiajing Dynasty to the present, and give a brief description of the number and scale of the Northern Tartars' invasions, the number of casualties caused to the border troops, etc. This is an article.

Also, there was the Gengxu Incident in the 29th year of the Jiajing reign, in which the traitor Qiu Luan led Altan Khan to invade the capital. I will write a separate article about this.

In addition, the situation of the northern barbarians' invasion from the sixth year of Longqing to the present day is described in detail, which would be another article.

Also, you can pick out a few of the generals, deputy generals, and commanders-in-chief who died in battle in Liaodong Town over the past decade and write a few articles to commemorate them, mainly writing about their heroic and tragic sacrifices for the country.

You should also write a few articles about the deeds of Qi Jiguang, Marquis of Penglai in Jizhou Town, Dong Yang, the loyal and brave Earl of Xuanfu Town, and Ma Fang, the former general of Datong Town, in resisting the invasion of the northern barbarians.

Remember, the point of this issue of the court report is to let everyone who reads it know that the boasts of the three great families of Puzhou that there would be no war in the northern border after the Longqing meeting were false."

Oh, so it’s targeting the three major powerful families in Puzhou.

Upon hearing this, Li Tingji could not help but nodded slowly.

It was obvious that he had an idea.

There are more than 140 ways to write a resignation letter, so there is no need to teach him how to write the article in detail.

Wanli continued, "The second issue will cover the inside story of the transactions between the three great families of Puzhou and the Northern Tartars. These Jinyiwei are currently interrogating them. When the time comes, I will give you their confessions. You should expose their ugly faces of collaborating with the enemy and selling out their country for the sake of making dirty money."

It turned out to be targeting the three major powerful families in Puzhou.

Li Tingji nodded repeatedly to show that he understood.

This person is indeed a top scholar, no need to say more.

Wanli continued, "The third issue will be about the great victory in the northwest. When the commanders of the Beijing camp return, I will have them tell you about it. This will pave the way for the lavish rewards for meritorious officers and soldiers later. You should prepare the three issues this month. As for when to start publishing, I will tell you then."

Li Tingji nodded repeatedly and said, "I understand."

(End of this chapter)