The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 140: Re-creating the Treason Case
The Hall of Mental Cultivation was first built in the 16th year of the Jiajing reign.

The purpose of Jiajing building the Hall of Mental Cultivation was to handle state affairs.

At that time, Jiajing sincerely wanted to be a wise and benevolent ruler who revived the Ming Dynasty.

Unfortunately, he entrusted his work to the wrong person.

The two people he valued most were extremely greedy.

After Wuding Hou Guo Xun came to power, he unscrupulously eliminated dissidents and amassed wealth crazily.

After Yan Song came to power, a wave of corruption swept through the Ming Dynasty court.

What's more, in order to make Jiajing indulge in spiritual practice and ignore state affairs, Yan Song specially renovated the Wanshou Palace and invited Jiajing to live in it to practice.

Later, Emperor Longqing focused all his attention on the harem and had little interest in state affairs.

Therefore, no one used the Hall of Mental Cultivation after it was built, and it was still brand new.

This place is really huge. There are four main halls alone. The main hall of the Hall of Mental Cultivation in the middle is as large as four or five hundred square meters, and the east and west side halls on the left and right are no less than two hundred square meters.

Li Tingji did not dare to use the main hall. He and several officials worked in the east side hall, and the west side hall was converted into a workshop specializing in typesetting and printing.

The Hall of Mental Cultivation is extremely close to the Palace of Heavenly Purity. After exiting the Yuehua Gate on the west side of the Palace of Heavenly Purity, the Zunyi Gate on the east side of the Hall of Mental Cultivation is just a few steps away.

Early in the morning at about 1 a.m., when the sky was just getting light, Wanli couldn't help but run to the Yangxin Palace to check the progress of the new palace report.

Li Tingji was quite diligent. At this time, he was already sitting in his duty room and starting to write articles.

He was writing there when Wanli suddenly walked in with Li Xuancheng and Shan Sinan.

This was really beyond his expectations, so he quickly stood up and prepared to salute.

Wanli waved his hand and said, "Alright, let's not be so formal in private. Er Zhang, how are things going with the new palace report?"

Li Tingji quickly picked up a large sheet of paper on the table and said respectfully, "Your Majesty, I have written the title of this official bulletin and have had a wooden mold carved and printed. What do you think?"

Wanli took it and looked at it. The four words at the top were written neatly and had a sense of solemnity. However, the four big characters "Wanli Dibao" looked a bit monotonous.

Moreover, Li Tingji wrote vertically, which was different from the newspapers he saw later.

He thought about it carefully, then turned the manuscript paper over and gave detailed instructions: "Write horizontally in the center of the left side, from left to right."

Uh, this is a little different from the current writing style.

Li Tingji felt a little awkward, but he still carefully wrote the four big characters "Wanli Dibao" according to Wanli's requirements, and it looked almost the same as the printed one.

Seeing this, Wanli nodded slightly, then pointed to the left and right sides of the large characters and said, "Add a stamp-like frame on each side, roughly 60% the size of these characters. On the left, write the main content of this issue, and on the right, write the date and the total number of issues."

Do I need to draw two stamps?

Upon hearing this, Li Tingji hurriedly drew two stamps on both sides of the four big characters. The four words "Northern Tartar Disaster" were written on the left stamp, and today's date and the first issue were written on the right stamp.

This guy, even the stamp and the words inside the stamp are written exactly like the real stamp.

You know what, it looks much better this way.

Wanli pointed to the bottom of the large characters and said, "Write down the names of editor-in-chief, proofreader, typesetter, etc., and add your names at the end. Write them in small letters, about the same size as the date."

Upon hearing this, Li Tingji quickly added another row of small words below.

Wanli took a look, pointed to the bottom of the small characters and said, "Add a dividing line below this."

Li Tingji simply took a fine brush, dipped it in ink, and drew a line. What he drew turned out to be a straight line!
I have to say that this top scholar's calligraphy and painting skills are extremely high.

Wanli looked at it carefully, then nodded slightly and said, "Well, this is almost the right way to write the title. Use various patterned lines to divide the article below and see the effect. Just arrange the layout properly and it will be fine."

This look is much more comfortable, just like a piece of calligraphy.

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

Wanli pondered for a moment, then asked, "How about the articles? How many have you written?" Upon hearing this, Li Tingji quickly picked up a stack of manuscript paper and respectfully handed it over, saying, "I have written a few articles on the disaster of the Northern Tartars. I hope Your Majesty will review them."

Wanli took it and looked at it carefully, and couldn't help but admire it inwardly.

This guy's writing is really good. In just a few articles, he has clearly described the ins and outs and details of the Northern Tartar Disaster.

Moreover, every piece is a top-notch essay, with neat parallelism and brilliant writing style, which is simply breathtaking.

Wanli nodded in approval and said, "Well, the article is very well written. I guess all the scholars will be eager to read it just based on your top-ranked article."

Oh, thank you for your praise. Thank you for your praise.

Li Tingji quickly said modestly, "Your Majesty, this is a realistic essay, not a policy paper. My writing is not very good and cannot be considered the top scholar. I need to practice more."

Isn't this good enough for you?
Wanli shook his head slightly, then explained in detail: "There is one more thing I forgot to tell you. You know about the Li Fuda case in the early Longqing period, right?
Li Fuda of the Maitreya Cult, under the pseudonym Zhang Yin, bought the position of Commander of the Taiyuan Guard from Guo Xun, Marquis of Wuding. From then on, he secretly colluded with the Northern Tartars and engaged in extensive business with Altan Khan. This incident was recorded in the first issue.

what?
Isn’t this disrespectful to the late emperor?
Li Tingji carefully reminded him, "Your Majesty, the late emperor ruled that the Li Fuda case was fabricated by Yang Tinghe and his gang. Zhang Yin is Zhang Yin, not Li Fuda."

What this means is that the late Emperor Jiajing was clearly calling a horse a zebra. If you ask me to write down the truth about the Li Fuda case, wouldn't that be a slap in the face of the late Emperor Jiajing?

Wanli explained in detail: "You can put the blame on the traitor Wuding Hou. Wuding Hou Guo Xun was afraid that his selling of official positions would be exposed, so he did everything he could to deceive the emperor."

Oh, push it onto Guo Xun, the Marquis of Wuding.

Upon hearing this, Li Tingji nodded repeatedly and said, "Your Majesty is wise. I understand."

This top scholar is really good.

Wanli nodded slightly, and then explained in detail: "This is actually to pave the way for an article in the second issue.

Li Fuda of the Maitreya Sect bought an official position from Guo Xun, the Marquis of Wuding, and Yang Bo also bought an official position from Guo Xun, the Marquis of Wuding. Otherwise, how could he, a Jinshi at the bottom of the third class, who had been sent to serve as a county magistrate for two terms without any political achievements, suddenly be transferred to the Ministry of War to serve as the head of the Arsenal Cleaning Office?

Moreover, during Yan Song's reign, Yang Bo's position was rapidly promoted. Yan Song came to power in the 27th year of Jiajing, and Yang Bo became the Minister of War in the 34th year of Jiajing. Moreover, Yan Shifan also said that he, Lu Bing and Yang Bo were the only talented people in the world. There must be something fishy here.

You know about Lu Bing's story. Because he was very close to Yan Song and his son, the Lu family was confiscated and exiled during the Longqing period. You don't need to write about this. Instead, focus on writing about Yang Bo's buying of official positions. He bought his way to the positions of Minister of War and even Minister of Personnel.

Otherwise, how could he, a low-ranking Jinshi from the Three Families, be qualified to serve as the Minister of the Six Ministries, and the most important of the six ministries, the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Personnel? "

Uh, this.

Li Tingji pondered, "Your Majesty, I dare to say that buying an official position is at most bribery. Compared with treason, it seems to be nothing, right?"

This is a bit of a waste of space.

I haven't finished yet.

Wanli explained in detail: "Didn't I say that the Li Fuda case in the first issue is related to the Yang Bo buying official positions in this issue?

Think about it, Yang Bo bought the official position from Wuding Hou Guo Xun together with Li Fuda in the beginning, and the Yang family was a big merchant. They must have been doing business with Altan Khan through Maitreya Buddhism since then.

However, later Yang Bo and Wang Chonggu successively became governors of Xuanda, and Li Fuda passed away, so the Maitreya Sect no longer had anyone in the officialdom to protect it.

Therefore, when Longqing was deliberating, Wang Chonggu did not ask Altan Khan to return the border people he had looted. Instead, he insisted that Altan Khan hand over the Maitreya people. In fact, they were trying to steal the Maitreya business and completely monopolize the benefits of the northern barbarians' trade.

In addition, Yang Bo bought the official position from Wuding Hou Guo Xun, and Wuding Hou's mansion seized thousands of shops in the capital. The three major wealthy families in Puzhou are all big merchants with sufficient supply of goods, so they must have business dealings.

The three great families of Puzhou were definitely closely connected with the Wuding Marquis Mansion. Later, Wuding Marquis Guo Dacheng was definitely involved in the rebellion against the three great families of Puzhou.

Furthermore, Zhang Siwei and Zhang Cheng have a close relationship, which is also known to everyone in the officialdom. It would be strange if the three great families of Puzhou did not participate in the rebellion! "

Oh, you mean to implicate the three major wealthy families in Puzhou into the case of Wuding Hou Mansion and Zhang Cheng’s rebellion!
This is suspected of being a rumor, but if it is polished using the Spring and Autumn style of writing, it can be written to sound like the truth.

Li Tingji pondered for a while, then slowly nodded and said, "I understand. The three great families of Puzhou must have participated in the rebellion."

Very good, you have a promising future. It was the right decision to let you run the official newspaper.

Upon hearing this, Wanli nodded in approval and said, "Well, write well. Don't worry. The relatives of the three great families of Puzhou who were sent to serve as governors have not been captured yet. You still have plenty of time."

(End of this chapter)