Ming Dynasty: I, Yan Maoqing, am truly radiating auspicious energy!

Chapter 126 Rebellious Writing!

When Manager Liu of Luming Pavilion received the first issue of "The Record of Defeating the Japanese Pirates" manuscript sent by Yan Maoqing, he was overjoyed!

Now, like those who have read "Xuan Po Cang Qiong," he is also experiencing a reading slump.

However, the difference is that he suffers from a book shortage because there are no books to print, rather than a book shortage because there are no books to read.

Ever since Yan Maoqing resolutely became a eunuch, the bookstore, which had finally shown some signs of improvement, immediately fell back into a state of barely surviving by selling its old stock of books.

He had no choice but to continue shamelessly going to the Duke of Yi's mansion every month to "beg for food" in order to cover the wage shortfall of the printing craftsmen below.

Who the hell doesn't want to earn money while standing up?
But Yan Maoqing insisted on becoming a shameful eunuch, and he couldn't continue the story. What could he do?
Fortunately, Yan Maoqing suddenly had a change of heart and, considering the favor he had done for him twice, sent the manuscript back for publication. Luming Pavilion can finally get back to work!

the most important is.

Shopkeeper Liu was astonished to find that the quality of "Breaking Through the Japanese Pirates" was significantly higher than that of the previous "Breaking Through the Heavens"!

Therefore, even with his previous dark history of eunuchs, Manager Liu was still full of confidence, believing that most people who were hurt by "Xuan Po Cang Qiong" would still buy the book while cursing it.

So this time he gritted his teeth and printed 500 copies of the first issue of "Breaking the Japanese Pirates"!

It turns out.

Although he lacked the skill to write storybooks, his market judgment on books remained sharp.

Five hundred copies!
It sold out in just three days, and now we have to print more overnight!

This time, however, they threatened him to his face that if the book was interrupted again without cause, more people would smash up the Deer Pavilion.

whispering sound!
He might as well just ignore such a threat; would he be afraid?

Why don't they go out and find out who owns Luming Pavilion? How many people in the capital would dare to mess with the Duke of Yi?
Although that's what Manager Liu thought, he also sincerely prayed that Yan Maoqing wouldn't become a eunuch this time.

If he were to become a eunuch again, not only would the reputation of Luming Pavilion be ruined, but his self-chosen name "Niubi Shanren" would also become utterly discredited, perhaps even becoming synonymous with vulgar terms like "your mother's maid."

In the future, when scholars in the street get into arguments, they might start with things like "You're a Niubishan person," "You're the real Niubishan person," "Your whole family are Niubishan people," or "Your entire clan are Niubishan people!"
He believed that those intellectuals were capable of such a thing.

After all, the insults wielded by scholars are truly vulgar, and the more books they read, the vulgar their insults become...

"Sigh, we still need to keep urging Young Master Yan, reasoning with him and appealing to his emotions, lest he become indifferent now that he has plenty of money."

Looking at the busy printing craftsmen in the back room, Manager Liu felt his life become fulfilling again, and he muttered to himself...

"I'm only doing this for Young Master Yan's reputation..."

……

In a few more days.

When Wu Cheng'en delivered the second draft of "The Record of Defeating the Japanese Pirates" to Yan Maoqing.

Yan Maoqing's heart, which had been filled with unease and guilt for publishing the book under a false name, finally settled down completely. He took out a silver ingot and praised Wu Cheng'en highly.
"Brother Ruzhong, you're writing very well! Keep writing like this!"

"This is the royalty payment from the last issue of Luming Pavilion. With such a good start, the royalties will only increase in the future. We must continue to work hard."

He was right about Wu Cheng'en.

This guy did indeed harbor the treacherous thought that "it's easier to storm into the capital than to pass the imperial examination."

However, considering his frustrating life, he should be classified as someone who had the desire to steal but lacked the courage.

Of course, it is also possible that during the Jiajing reign, the emperor and his ministers were all extremely powerful, leaving him no opportunity or space to realize his "ambitions".

Anyway, we've only written the second installment, and Wu Cheng'en has already started to subtly satirize current affairs by "smuggling in his own opinions."

This issue's articles are still excellent, even more so than the first issue.

But it also begins to formally introduce the world-building to the readers. In Wu Cheng'en's descriptions, we see high-ranking officials from Southern Zhili, powerful merchant families who dominate the southeast, a general in charge of maritime affairs, and historians of the sea routes…

Although these officials, prominent families, and merchants used pseudonyms in the book, their official titles corresponded one-to-one with the official positions in the Ming Dynasty bureaucracy.

The storylines involving them all revolve around accepting bribes to facilitate their activities, violating maritime bans and tacitly approving pirate trade, colluding with Japanese and Western barbarians, and posing as pirates to participate in smuggling for profit.

Once this plot is released...

This was tantamount to openly removing the fig leaf covering the heads of officials in the south and aristocratic families and merchants in the southeast of the Ming Dynasty, bringing unacceptable matters into the sunlight.

It's no exaggeration to say that if this kind of book were in the online literature scene of later generations, it would be directly banned by 404.

In today's era...

This is a slap in the face to Zhu Houcong, and a slap in the backside to those southern officials and aristocratic merchants.

Its widespread dissemination might even incite reactionary sentiment among the people of the Ming Dynasty…

This was a "rebellious book" for the imperial court!
Although the literary inquisitions in the Ming Dynasty were not as severe as those in the Qing Dynasty, it did not mean that the court could tolerate such a "rebellious book"!
Therefore, Yan Maoqing's heart was completely at ease.

How can he be considered to have impersonated Wu Cheng'en and stolen his book?

He was clearly shielding Wu Cheng'en from disaster. How could Wu Cheng'en not take responsibility for such a painstaking effort?

At worst, once this matter is completely over and Wu Cheng'en is no longer implicated by this "rebellious book," he can publicly vindicate him, since he's not after fame anyway.

……

However, what Yan Maoqing did not know was that...

Although Wu Cheng'en did not question this approach in front of him, after thinking about it for two days, he couldn't help but confide his dissatisfaction to Shen Kun:

"Brother-in-law, I think Yan Maoqing might just be using me."

"how you said that?"

Shen Kun asked, puzzled.

“A few days ago, I wrote an article as he suggested and handed it to him. He then took the article to Luming Pavilion for printing and publication.”

Wu Cheng'en frowned deeply, and said with some frustration,
"Although he gave me a considerable share of the profits afterward, he was the only one credited, and I was not mentioned at all."

It's only natural that any writer who considers their own writings as their own offspring would find it difficult to accept such a thing.

"This……"

Shen Kun pondered for a moment, then frowned and said,
"Although this matter is indeed immoral, we already personally promised him that the article would be entirely under his control when we were at his residence that day, didn't we?"

"A person should not break their word. Since you have already agreed to this, how can you raise any questions now?"

Wu Cheng'en nodded:
"So I didn't mention it to him, I only talked about it privately with you, brother-in-law."

"Let's take it one step at a time. If he can really make the Emperor take the southeastern Japanese pirate threat seriously, then your suffering won't be so bad..."

Shen Kun had only spoken halfway through his sentence.

Then they suddenly heard the servant's voice from outside:
"Master, Cui, the censor, has come to pay his respects!"

Immediately following was the excited voice of Cui Heng, one of his few confidants in the court and a supervising secretary in the Ministry of War:

“Brother Bozai, your Hanlin Academy has recently produced a forthright and honest official.”

"Come out and take a look at this book! Finally, someone is speaking out publicly about the Japanese pirate problem that you always talk about. This is definitely more useful than your memorial to the throne!"

(End of this chapter)