After initial setbacks in his career, Zhao became a close confidant to Grand Secretary Yan Song, eventually becoming a vice minister.
After being accused of accepting bribes, exaggerating his victories, and diverting lumber meant for the Forbidden Palace towards the construction of his own personal estate, Zhao lost the Emperor's favor and was removed from his post.
Both he and Yan Song are listed as "Treacherous Ministers" (奸臣傳) in the official historical work History of Ming by Zhang Tingyu.
A native of Cixi, Zhejiang, Zhao Wenhua passed the imperial examination as a jinshi in 1529, whereupon he served as a secretary in the ministry of justice (刑部主事).
[1] In the Office of Transmission, Zhao Wenhua was to intercept all communications that put Yan Song in a negative light and hence foil any impeachment attempts.
Zhao Wenhua presented a number of memoranda suggesting solutions to the problem of the Jiajing wokou raids, in which he showed a deep understanding of the root causes of the crisis.
[3] He did not agree with the sort of heavy-handed suppression in the name of the maritime prohibition laws that was carried out by the Zhejiang grand coordinator Zhu Wan (and had tried to coerce the latter into leaving his post to no avail),[4] and instead vouched for an eventual opening of trade as the means to solve the wokou problem.
He plotted against grand coordinator Cao Bangfu (曹邦輔), whose rapid action against bandit forces at Lake Tai prevented Zhao from claiming credit for the success there.
Zhao Wenhua retaliated by writing a memorial to the throne accusing Zhang Jing of deliberately delaying the operation for his own profit.
Too late to recant his earlier statement, Zhao was quick to claim the credit for himself and his protege Hu Zongxian; as a result he was able to successfully petition the Court for the execution of Zhang Jing.
[10] Zhao tried to set up Hu Zongxian in Yang's place,[11] but the Minister of Personnel Li Mo (李默), who detested Yan Song's clique, picked Wang Gao (王誥) instead.
The infuriated emperor threw Li Mo in prison and promoted Zhao Wenhua to Minister of Works and Grand Guardian of the Heir Apparent (太子太保) on May 3, 1556.
Around this time the emperor heard rumours that Zhao had taken bribes and exaggerated his victories in the south, and lost faith in the man entirely.