The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 142 Civilian Tricks

Winter is approaching and the weather is getting colder.

The capital city became lively.

The Jinyiwei and the Beijing Army started to search and rob houses again, this time they searched dozens or even hundreds of houses.

Many ordinary people don’t care why their homes are searched, and they can’t do anything about it. They just watch the fun, just like watching a play.

However, officials have to take care of such matters.

The little emperor was so unscrupulous that he was not subject to their control at all. He could arrest whomever he wanted, raid whose house he wanted, and kill whomever he wanted.

Is this still available?

If they don't do anything and let this kid continue to be so arrogant, one day it will be their turn.

Because there are not many people who follow the rules these days.

They wanted to turn the court's money into their own money and live a life of superiority, so they had to abuse their power for personal gain.

This is a struggle for interests.

They are just trying to steal money from the little emperor.

They are all very clear about this.

If the little emperor listens to them, nothing will happen to them. If the little emperor doesn't listen to them, something will happen to them sooner or later.

This is the fundamental reason why they seized the imperial power.

The essence of power is who obeys whom.

They must make the little emperor obedient in order to seize the benefits that do not belong to them.

If they allowed the little emperor to continue to rebel like this and not listen to them, then when the little emperor found out about them, they would be the ones to have their property confiscated or even beheaded.

So, just as the confiscation of property began, the next day memorials of "admonition" flew into the palace like snowflakes.

Early in the morning at about noon that day, Wanli was sitting in the imperial study, watching several eunuchs in the Imperial Household Department deal with the backlog of memorials from the past period of time. Suddenly, Yu Youcai came in with a sad face and a pile of memorials in his arms.

After the emperor and his ministers exchanged greetings, Wanli asked directly, "What's the matter, Bingzhong? Is there a problem with today's memorial?"

He also noticed that there were a little more memorials today than usual.

There is a high probability that so many memorials are not good things.

Yu Youcai nodded solemnly and said, "Yes, Your Majesty, I have many words of advice for you."

Advise me, what are you afraid of?
Wanli raised his hand and said, "Sit down and pick one out for me to see."

This sitting down does not mean sitting on a chair, but kneeling in front of a small table.

These days he had to keep an eye on several people in the Imperial Household Department who were handling the backlog of memorials from the past period of time. Therefore, the three small tables on the left and right of the dragon case had not been removed. The one on the left belonged to Yu Youcai.

Yu Youcai quickly knelt down, flipped through the pile of memorials, and soon found one.

Wanli ordered Sun Hai to hand it over and took a look, and couldn't help but sneer.

These guys brought out their best skills again, talking about benevolence, righteousness and morality, and advising him not to set up such a large-scale imperial prison and confiscate property at every turn.

Can I listen to you?
He simply threw the memorials onto the table and said coldly, "Bingzhong, pick out all the memorials of advice and remonstration and keep them all. You don't need to approve them. I'm too lazy to read them."

Uh, I'm afraid this won't work.

Yu Youcai said with a worried look on his face, "Your Majesty, I dare to say that they won't let me go."

So what if they won’t give up?

He already knew the routines of this group of civil servants very well. At the beginning, these guys were full of benevolence, righteousness and morality, and submitted memorials to advise and persuade. If the advice was not listened to, they would start to make trouble. If the advice was still not listened to after the disturbance, all kinds of strange things would happen.

Their reliance is that the law does not punish the masses, and the Ming Dynasty still needs them to govern. If they are all dealt with, the Ming Dynasty will be in chaos.

If these guys still dare to make trouble, it means they haven’t been killed enough!

I have military force in my hands, so why should I be afraid of you?
If it’s not enough, then keep killing!

The Ming Dynasty needed people to govern it, but it did not necessarily need a group of Jinshi to govern it. Juren, Xiucai, or even anyone who could read and write would be enough.

There were not so many Jinshi scholars during the Hongwu Dynasty. Anyone who could read and write could become an official after studying in the Imperial College for a few months or even a few days. Wouldn't the country be well governed at that time?

You still think I can't leave you, right?
The world will continue to turn without anyone.

Wanli sneered and said, "Don't worry, they can't turn the tables."

They may not be able to turn the world upside down, but they can make a big fuss!
Yu Youcai couldn't help but shrink his neck when he thought of that scene.

Wanli raised his hand and said, "Okay, everyone has worked hard. Let's go back and rest for an hour before coming back."

Uh, I've been busy for a while and now it's time to take a break!
Upon hearing this, Zhang Hong, Zhang Jing, Chen Ju, and Sun Xian hurriedly stood up to take their leave. Wanli then stood up and said, "Bingzhong, please take a moment to divide the memorials among them."

After saying this, he walked towards the Yangxin Palace.

At this moment, the west side hall of the Hall of Mental Cultivation was bustling with activity. Li Tingji was directing dozens of craftsmen to print the court bulletin frantically.

As soon as he saw Wanli coming in with Li Xuancheng, Shan Sinan and others, he hurriedly went to greet them, bowed and said, "Your Majesty, your humble servant pays respects to His Majesty."

Wanli nodded slightly, then asked, "How is it going? Has the first issue been printed?"

Uh, this.

You want 100,000 copies!
Li Tingji said rather embarrassedly, "Your Majesty, I'm afraid the first issue won't be finished until tomorrow."

This won't work. It will take four or five days to print 100,000 copies. If it's 200,000 copies, it will take eight or nine days. 300,000 copies will not be able to be printed. One issue is ten days.

Upon hearing this, Wanli couldn't help but look up and glance around.

At this moment, there were ten lead type tables in the west side hall, and each lead type table was surrounded by five craftsmen. One was responsible for applying ink, one was responsible for placing paper, two were responsible for carrying things to press, and the other was responsible for taking out the printed court bulletin to verify the printing effect.

The five craftsmen worked together very efficiently. Their speed was just like a machine. They printed one page in less than five seconds.

By this calculation, one hour is 720 sheets, one hour is 1,440 sheets, four hours of printing a day is 5,760 sheets, and ten tables are 57,600 sheets.

If it is single-sided, it will be printed in less than two days.

The problem is that he asked for double-sided printing, which would take three or four days, plus typesetting and material preparation. Four or five days to print it out was already fast enough.

It seems that Li Tingji thought that 100,000 copies would be enough.

He estimated that it was not enough, and 100,000 copies was probably far from enough.

Wanli pondered silently for a moment, then decisively said, "Er Zhang, recruit another fifty craftsmen, and work in two shifts, printing non-stop day and night."

what?
Li Tingji was stunned for a moment, then asked carefully: "Your Majesty, can we let them stay in the palace at night?"

Wanli nodded without hesitation and said, "I can just send eunuchs to watch over it. The Yangxin Palace has everything anyway, so they can eat, drink, defecate and urinate there without any problem."

This, okay.

If you say it's okay, then it's okay.

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

Wanli pondered again and said, "Let's send out the first batch tomorrow. 20,000 copies will be sent to Northern Zhili, 15,000 copies will be sent to Southern Zhili, and 5,000 copies will be sent to each of the remaining thirteen provinces.

You will start printing the second issue tomorrow, and continue to print day and night. I have ordered the secret guards to check the effect of the first issue and then decide how much to print for the second issue.

If printing more than 100,000 or 200,000 copies is not enough, you can add ten more type stations and hire another 100 craftsmen."

Oh my god, how much is that going to cost?
Li Tingji estimated for a while, then said carefully: "Your Majesty, the wages of two hundred craftsmen are four hundred taels a month, and there is also paper. Even if we use the cheapest paper, ten thousand sheets will cost seven taels of silver, and one hundred thousand sheets will cost seventy taels. If we print six hundred thousand copies a month, that will cost four hundred and twenty taels.

There's also the ink consumption, the oil lamps that need to be lit at night, the lead type, the several engraved plates for each issue, and so on. It's at least over a thousand taels a month, and probably over ten thousand taels a year."

This little money is nothing. You don't know the power of rumors.

Wanli said without hesitation: "Uncle, I will first allocate two thousand taels of silver to Er Zhang every month. If it is not enough, I will add more."

The first issue of this official gazette really set off a sensation when it was published.

The news spread like wildfire in the capital.

This new official gazette is printed in an extremely beautiful style. You should take a look at it even if you just want to keep up with the fashion.

Besides, the threat from the Northern Tartars is inherently attractive.

After all, the disaster caused by the Northern Barbarians had tormented the Ming Dynasty for dozens or even hundreds of years, especially the northern border of the Ming Dynasty. The capital had been invaded by the Northern Barbarians, and the emperor had even been captured by the Northern Barbarians.

More importantly, all the articles were written by Li Tingji, the top scholar in the imperial examination, and they are so wonderful.

The scholars were scrambling for the copies, and distributing 10,000 copies in the capital alone was not enough.

The capital of the Ming Dynasty has a population of over a million, and most of the families have some connection with officials. There are probably tens of thousands of scholars.

The people want to read it even more. They already want to know what happened to the Northern Tartars. And since all of them are top-ranked essays, they want to read it even more.

Luo Sigong soon found out that the people in the capital who were in charge of copying the documents were too busy to handle it. They had to copy all day long and people were vying for the documents.

It is definitely too late to print more copies at this time, as the second issue is more important.

It was impossible for Wanli to let Li Tingji stop the second issue and go back to print the first issue.

He could only ask Li Tingji to recruit people quickly, prepare materials quickly, and add more type platforms quickly.

(End of this chapter)