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Chapter 57
Yes, it was related to the harem, and she was the late emperor's noble concubine. The Jin Yiwei immediately couldn't deal with this matter, and went to Shu overnight to ask the emperor for tactical guidance.Hong Tao did not issue an order immediately, but took the confession to the cabinet the next day and asked several bachelors to provide valuable opinions.

The bachelors are really touched. Look, the young emperor trusts us old ministers so much that he even shakes off the family scandal.Nothing to say, just do your best to share the emperor's worries.Of course, Shen Yiguan and Shen Li had to avoid it because they were all involved.

The result of the discussion was that they could neither cover up nor be too public, so the secret interrogation of the Jin Yiwei alone was not enough to control the situation, so the prisoner was handed over to the Ministry of Punishment, Dali Temple and the Metropolitan Procuratorate for a joint trial by the Three Justices.

As a result, Tang Gao Shengguang recanted his confession again, denying his original confession and not admitting to writing the demon book.When I first confessed, I had to make up a story because I was afraid of being punished by Jin Yiwei.In fact, he did write a few poems that satirized Concubine Zheng for wanting to change the prince, but he never wrote a demon book.

What to do?The presiding officers of the Criminal Department, Dali Temple and the Metropolitan Procuratorate were at a loss for ideas. Among them were Donglin Party members, Zhejiang Party members, and grassroots. Their energy was not on trying the case at all, but on how to use the case and the prisoners to achieve other goals. Purpose.

There were those who advocated eliciting confessions and those who advocated extorting confessions through severe torture. You just have to sing and I will appear on the stage, but no one can keep their word, so the trial went on intermittently, and the case was never concluded.

In fact, there is no need to examine whether it is a demon book written by Qi Shengguang. It is enough to look at the origin of this person. The contents written in "Continued Concern and Crisis Hongyei" are all about the attitudes of senior officials and various parties in the inner palace, and the sources of information are very confidential.

Even though the dispute over the country's origins lasted for more than ten years, the scope was limited to the relationship between the emperor and the courtiers. Even the people in the harem may not have a complete understanding of it. How could a down-and-out scholar write it so vividly, unless he has someone familiar with it later? Guidance from those in the know.

Seeing that the two cabinet bachelors were implicated in this case and stayed at home without going to work, all the departments in the DPRK and the Central Government were also panicking, fearing that Qi Shengguang would take advantage of them casually, and they would not be interested in handling official matters.Hong Tao felt that the time was about to come out and act as a referee to completely end this case that spanned two dynasties.

At the end of March, Emperor Jingyang ordered Jin Yiwei to compare the handwriting of Gao Shengguang and the demon book. It was proved that they were very similar, so he sentenced Gao Shengguang to be beheaded. The demon book case was over, and no one was allowed to cause more trouble.

The person was killed and the case was closed, but the impact was not completely eliminated.Less than ten days later, Li Zhizao suddenly sent a message through Li Zhi, saying that he had something important to do and wanted to meet the emperor.

Hong Tao thought it was about building a church, so he summoned Li Zhizao in the Yangxin Hall that afternoon.But when this person came, he didn't say a word about the church. Instead, he strongly vouched for a friend named Zhao Shizhen and begged the emperor for help.

What's the problem?It’s still the demon book case.The court temporarily calmed down, but the people didn't buy it.I don’t know who started it, and said that the author of the Demon Book Case was Zhao Shizhen, who lived in the library in Wuying Palace.After Zhao Shizhen heard about it, no one listened to his explanation. He was frightened even if he didn't explain. He was suspicious all day long and was almost driven out of his mind.

"What's so special about him that he deserves to be recommended to me?" Hong Tao has nothing in his memory about this name, but for Li Zhizao's sake, he can save him.But he has never been a kind person. Regardless of people or things, the first thing that comes to mind is value.

"Wang An, please inform me that Zhao Shizhen, the scholar in the Wuying Palace, has been transferred to the Ministry of Works' Maintenance Department as a doctor to assist in the construction of the Europa Temple. The cabinet will handle it immediately!" Before Li Zhizao finished his introduction, Hong Tao issued an order to Wang An.

Talents must be talents. Unexpectedly, in the Ming Dynasty, in addition to Xu Guangqi who was keen on playing with cannons, there was also Zhao Shizhen who liked to tinker with muskets.Isn't that all there is? Just take it and hold it in your hand. You can use it when you are busy.

As for whether the cabinet agrees with the emperor's appointment of officials at will, if they are ministers or deputy ministers of the Six Ministries, they will definitely be hesitant, but they are not interested in positions where they have no say in actual work. The emperor should appoint them all. Save them the trouble.Who is this Zhao Shizhen that Hong Tao recognizes so much?According to Li Zhizao, they are both fellows from Zhejiang and a great talent.

Zhao Shizhen's handwriting was good, so he was favored by Emperor Wanli while he was studying in the Imperial College. In the sixth year of Wanli, he was appointed as the chief registrar of Honglu Temple.

In addition, Zhao Shizhen's grandfather Zhao Xinglu was also very famous. He was the deputy of Dali Temple and participated in the compilation of "Da Ming Huidian". He was especially good at calligraphy, which can be said to be the origin of family learning.

But these points alone will definitely not win over Hong Tao. He does not need a great writer, a great calligrapher, a great poet, let alone a speaker with precise words and firm ambitions.But the most important thing is technology. There is no real material at hand. No matter how famous you are, you have to stand aside. At most, you can only give false praise.

Coincidentally, although Zhao Shizhen was from Zhongshushe, he had the ability to be an academician of the Academy of Sciences, and he was also very concerned about the country's military construction.To put it simply, he was a military fan and self-taught. In the 25th year of Wanli, he wrote the "Eight Harms in the Use of Soldiers" and recommended that the Wanli Emperor manufacture large quantities of muskets to equip the troops.

It was not just talk on paper. In order to fear that the Ministry of War would delay things, he actually paid for craftsmen himself. He made a special trip to visit the commander of the Jinyi Guards, the Turk Dosima, and met Rumi Fangun.

With the help of Duosima, he started trial production and successfully created many new guns such as the lightning gun, the thunder gun, the Ying Yang gun, the Zhen stack gun, the Yihu gun, the Sanchang gun, the Qisheng gun, the Xuanyuan gun, and the Sanshen gun. Firearms, drawings and instructions were drawn and presented to Emperor Wanli as the "Book of Divine Weapons".

Later, he wrote "Bibian Tuntian Chariot Gun Discussion", which specifically discussed the possibility of combining muskets and chariots, and analyzed the strategic situations of North Korea, Japan, and the Bohai and Yellow Sea areas.

Hong Tao didn't have time to read these books, let alone those fire guns with ridiculous names.But just by hearing about it, we can conclude that Zhao Shizhen is a talent, at least a military talent.If coupled with his own guidance and inspiration, he will be able to stand alone in the future, and his achievements will be no lower than Xu Guangqi's.

The demon book case is over, and the courtiers no longer have weapons to attack each other, and they will all stop for a while.Zhao Shizhen was transferred to a new position. He was holding the musket and shotgun blueprints designed by the emperor and was working hard on the second phase of the Europa Temple project. He was no longer depressed for a while.

Does the church still have a second phase of construction?Yes, the real Europa Temple has been completed. It is actually a small temple in the Imperial Mansion that has been modified. There is neither a church with a pointed roof nor a chapel with colorful windows.

In fact, Matteo Ricci and others did not expect to be able to establish a European church in the Ming Dynasty soon. They would be very, very satisfied with a place to live and a formal identity to preach.

As for the second phase of the project, it was completely a small mechanical processing factory secretly built by Hong Tao in the name of the Europa Temple. There is currently no mechanical equipment, but in the future it will be a venue for trial production of firearms.

(End of this chapter)