Ming Dynasty: Ask Zhu Yuanzhang to abdicate at the beginning

Chapter 86 The Technological Age! The Power of Technology!

The candle flame flickered.

Zhu Yunhuan thought that people's joys and sorrows were indeed not shared.

He felt that it was really tiring to deal with these cunning old foxes in the court all day and rack his brains for them.

However, Yang Shiqi felt that this was the beautiful scenery at the highest point and a joy in life.

This kind of person is probably what the legend says is born for politics.

Fortunately, we are one of our own.

The two talked for a while longer, and it was already three o'clock in the morning when Yang Shiqi said goodbye and left.

The next few days were calm and peaceful.

Still no memorials were sent to him.

It seems as if all the officials in the court suddenly stopped writing memorials in the past few days.

The six ministries did not send officials to report on local affairs, saying that they were afraid of disturbing His Royal Highness the Prince of Wu's recovery.

Zhu Yunhuan knew that this was the calm before the storm, and he was happy to be free, taking this opportunity to do his own thing.

The technical research on paper money is still progressing in an orderly manner.

Although the process of copperplate engraving is complicated, the principle is very simple. Zhu Yunhuan had some understanding of the technology of currency manufacturing in his previous life, so he was also clear about this.

After imparting his skills to the artisan painters, he left them to their own devices.

These people are the best craftsmen in the Ming Dynasty. There are highly skilled painters and sculptors. After being taught, they can create works of art quite well in just a few days.

There have also been great advances in ink technology and paper manufacturing.

After repeated experiments, craftsmen have gradually figured out the tricks of color-changing ink.

As for papermaking, since Zhu Yunhuan proposed adding cotton to it, the paper produced has undergone a drastic change.

This brings us to the convenience brought by the identity of regent.

Although the officials in the court are now holding their breath and suppressing memorials under the pretext that he is injured and needs rest, in fact it is equivalent to not allowing him to handle the affairs of state.

However, no one dared to openly defy the orders he issued in the name of regent.

Many of the papermaking workshops in the Ming Dynasty were official.

Zhu Yunhuan, in the name of regent, ordered that some of the paper mills be kept secret and isolated, and sent heavy troops to guard them strictly. The development of a new type of paper also went very smoothly.

The same is true for ink.

These things were made in different places.

In this way, if there is an accidental leak at any link in the future, it will not cause any major harm.

Of course, this is just in case.

The confidentiality measures in every link are very strict.

Ever since Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Gaoxu received the beating, they have been extremely flattering to Zhu Yunhuan, and their flattery was deafening.

Be as flattering as you can.

Even Zhu Yunhuan had to admire the shamelessness of these two young men, which was amazing.

Ma He had come over and had been watching the two of them all day.

Zhu Yunhuan was not in a hurry to subdue him.

Anyway, once you are in my house, you can't escape from my control.

If the duck is cooked, are you afraid that it will fly away?

Why should we rush for this moment?

Yao Guangxiao has been helping Yang Shiqi in recent days, handling the work of the "Da Ming Daily".

When the newspaper was first published, there was a shortage of editors, and the initial articles were all written by Yang Shiqi alone.

This workload is too heavy and naturally cannot be maintained for a long time.

In particular, Yang Shiqi also had to help Zhu Yunhuan with advice and handle affairs of the court.

After Yao Guangxiao joined, his burden became much lighter.

It should be known that Monk Yan was well versed in Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism and had extensive knowledge.

Otherwise, the Yongle Emperor in history would not have asked him to edit the Yongle Encyclopedia.

Such a high-level talent would naturally be able to easily serve as the editor-in-chief of the Da Ming Daily.

Yang Shiqi was also able to spare time to recruit literati to serve as editors for the newspaper.

He now works at the residence of Prince Wu and has been appointed as a lecturer in the Hanlin Academy. This overnight rise to fame has caused a huge sensation in the entire Jinling City and even among scholars all over the world.

Although most of the civil servants in the court opposed Zhu Yunhuan, they did so secretly and no one dared to do so openly.

Fame and fortune have always been the most tempting.

Those scholars who have not yet passed the imperial examinations, or those who have passed the imperial examinations but have not yet been assigned to official positions, would still flock to them if they had the opportunity to work in the Prince of Wu's palace and take orders.

Zhu Yunhuan’s status was too high, so many things were difficult for him to do.

Yang Shiqi was a scholar, and he also had many classmates and old acquaintances among scholars in Jinling City.

When he went out to invite them, those people were flattered and ecstatic, and almost no one would refuse.

The King of Wu is the regent.

What His Majesty said in the court that day has also spread quietly.

Everyone knew that he would most likely be appointed crown prince and rule the Ming Empire in the future.

If I can work in his palace now and be of service to him, when the King of Wu ascends the throne and becomes emperor one day, I will be an old minister in his palace and my future will be limitless.

Not to mention scholars who have not yet held official positions, even low-ranking officials who already have official positions, if they have the opportunity to get close to the King of Wu and be looked at differently by His Majesty the King of Wu, it would be a blessing earned in eight lifetimes, and no one could refuse it.

Your Majesty is already old and frail, and everyone knows that your Majesty may not live long.

At this time, officials would be more than happy to let a seventh-rank county magistrate exchange his status for a servant in the palace.

As for the high-ranking civil servants in the court, they are not completely united, and many of them have begun to waver quietly.

Only some of them were deeply bound to Zhu Yunwen, while others might not be.

However, as important officials in the court, they still have the capital to remain on the sidelines for the time being.

With the continuous addition of new people, Yang Shiqi and Yao Guangxiao were able to free themselves from the heavy task of daily writing and only had to review and approve it.

In order to prevent accidents and writing things that should not be written, Zhu Yunhuan established a strict three-review and three-proofreading system when new people joined.

Before the final draft can be published, printed and distributed, it must be signed and confirmed by Yang Shiqi himself.

Today's Daming Daily is divided into four pages.

The first edition still writes about Lao Zhu’s story, and the second edition is still about popularizing the law.

The third edition records the court's dynamics. Of course, it does not involve any secrets. It is mainly to publicize the good things that the Ming court has done recently to help the people.

For example, a section of river embankment was reinforced, a new road was built, or a city wall was repaired.

Or when a certain place was hit by a disaster, the imperial court would issue an order to reduce some taxes to publicize the great grace of heaven.

Or if a corrupt official breaks the law and oppresses innocent people, we can kill him to uphold the law and bring peace to the people.

...This is to occupy the position of public opinion.

It may look insignificant on the surface, and many people may not take it seriously at first glance.

But through long-term publicity and subtle influence, over time, the people will gradually be left with the impression that the court is doing practical things for them and benefiting them.

This one is crucial.

Patriotic education must start slowly from these little things.

In this era, apart from the Confucian scholars who talked about being loyal to the country, most ordinary people had only a very simple sense of right and wrong and did not have much affection for the country and the court.

The so-called change of regime is nothing more than a change of emperor.

Ordinary people only want to have food to eat and don't care about those things.

The purpose of propaganda in newspapers and periodicals is to gradually cultivate a simple patriotic outlook among the common people.

Let them spontaneously support the Ming Dynasty court.

To further stabilize and strengthen the Ming Dynasty's rule.

The fourth edition is the most special one, mainly reporting some things in the folk, including how low-level officials handle cases, how yamen runners act... This is both happy and sad.

There are publicity and praise, as well as serious criticism.

In order to collect materials, Zhu Yunhuan brought in reporters.

He actually had a more important purpose in doing this.

That is to understand the following situation through these reporters.

Zhu had the Embroidered Uniform Guards and the Inspectors, and he knew everything about the city of Nanjing and the movements of all officials.

But he lacked eyes and ears.

Journalist interview is a good excuse
Under the guise of interviews, we can gain an in-depth understanding of the people's sentiments and the movements of officials.

You don't have to say it's an interview, you can find out secretly.

As for whether the information obtained from the interview should be published in the newspaper, that is another matter.

Anyway, the news that was not published in the newspapers would be summarized and reported to him every day.

The Ming Daily was the only daily newspaper officially permitted by the Ming Dynasty to be distributed to ordinary people. In addition, the articles were written in vernacular Chinese and contained extremely interesting things, such as the emperor's past, the court's movements, folk anecdotes, etc. Therefore, it quickly became popular and loved by countless people.

On the streets and alleys, people were talking about the content and reports published in this newspaper.

The daily print volume of newspapers and periodicals is also rising steadily.

In a short period of time, the number of copies printed per day increased from 10,000 to more than 100,000.

This number is still rising every day and constantly breaking records.

You have to know that at that time, the total population of Jinling City was only about 700,000 to 800,000.

A newspaper that is printed and distributed daily can actually have a circulation of 100,000. You can see how terrifying it is.

This is mainly because the population structure of Jinling City is very special.

For example, there were more than 6,000 students in the Imperial College.

There were more than 100,000 soldiers, as well as more than 100,000 scholars who came from other places to take the imperial examinations and stayed for a long time, merchants who came to do business, and craftsmen who completed the court's shift tasks.

This includes a lot of migrant population.

The literacy rate among them is relatively high.

It goes without saying that there are students and scholars.

Even for businessmen who travel far away for business, although they do not need a high level of education, they must be able to read and write.

With a large number of literate people, there is a sales foundation.

There is an extreme lack of entertainment in this era, and being able to buy a newspaper every day and read the stories in it is something that countless people dream of.

Moreover, although there are only 700,000 to 800,000 people in Jinling City, the entire Yingtian Prefecture has a population of more than 3 million.

Because there are still a lot of people in the suburbs!

A copy of the Ming Daily cost only four cents, which was extremely cheap compared to other books.

This is the power of technology!

Otherwise it would be impossible to push the price down so low.

As the printing volume increases, more and more paper and ink are required.

With mass production, the cost is further reduced.

Stimulated by huge demand, selling newspapers has become a very profitable job.

There were too many newspaper sellers in the city, and the market was saturated, so many people sold their newspapers in the suburbs.

There were even some businessmen who came to the capital from other places and saw huge business opportunities.

Some businessmen even purchased thousands of newspapers at a time, preparing to ship them back to other places to sell and make a profit.

As for the timeliness of newspapers?
In fact, people of this era don’t care that much.

Who cares whether the story of His Majesty the Emperor was printed and published a few months ago or was released today?
It’s good to watch!
With the combined effects of these aspects, it is no surprise that the sales of Ming Daily continue to rise.

One hundred thousand copies are printed and distributed a day only because the time for publishing a newspaper is too short and the speed of expansion cannot keep up with the speed of the surging market demand, resulting in supply far exceeding demand.

Otherwise, I'm afraid the number would not be 100,000 copies per day, but 200,000 copies, 300,000 copies, or even 500,000 copies or 1 million copies!

With the popularity of Ming Daily today, it is really true that no matter how many copies are printed, they will be sold!

Recruiting editors and reporters has resulted in considerable additional expenses.

However, the increase in sales diluted the costs, so that the profit of a newspaper that cost four cents a copy remained at two and a half cents.

As for free delivery.

Now, apart from Lao Zhu's place, which still sends one free copy to the palace every day, there is no other place.

Officials can buy it or not, and if they want him to give it to them for free, that’s impossible.

One hundred thousand newspapers can earn more than 250 strings of coins every day, which is more than 250 taels of silver based on the current exchange rate of one string of coins to one tael of silver.

In a year, the net profit was more than 90,000 taels of silver.

It was much higher than the annual salary he received as the King of Wu.

And this is just the beginning.

The scale of issuance is still increasing, growing exponentially!
Since recruiting a group of reporters, Zhu Yunhuan finally had a better understanding of the developments outside.

While he was busy dealing with his own affairs, during this period of time, undercurrents had already surged in the court and a storm was about to come.

October 1st.

Zhu Yunhuan has been recuperating in his mansion for more than ten days.

The government was in disarray and rumors were spreading.

On this day, Prince Xian Zhu Yunwen came to visit.

……

(End of this chapter)