My Portable Ming Dynasty

Chapter 58 Broken Chapter Dog

The newspaper's editorial office was located in the History Museum in the Forbidden City, but the printing department was set up by Su Ze in the Ministry of Rites Printing House outside the palace.

This is naturally for the convenience of distributing newspapers. Otherwise, just transporting the newspapers out of the palace would be a troublesome task.

Su Ze looked at the newly printed newspapers and distributed them to Xu Wei beside him. Then the newspaper staff delivered the newspapers to various government offices.

"Mr. Qingteng, can the magazine be published in three days?"

Xu Wei thought about it, then nodded and said:

"It should be possible if we hurry up."

Su Ze said:

"Everything is difficult at the beginning. We are short on manpower now, but once the framework is set up, the pressure will be much less."

Xu Wei also nodded. From Su Ze raising funds to the newspaper's craftsmen completing the woodblock printing and drying the prints, Xu Wei personally participated in the entire process.

Later official documents always like to talk about "optimizing business processes", turning this sentence into empty talk. However, if we really want to get things done, optimizing business processes is essential.

For example, how to arrange the layout of the newspaper, what is the order of engraving, how to review and proofread, all these processes must be designed from scratch.

For example, this first page contains important court news excerpted from the court gazette. This part only needs to be copied by a clerk who is familiar with the court gazette.

However, the transcribed official documents need to be reviewed and verified by someone. If they are published incorrectly or mistakenly, it would be a big political taboo.

The second edition, named by Su Ze as "Voice of the City", contains some city news in the capital city, which also needs to be proofread and verified.

The third edition was the eight-part essay model that Su Ze promised to the students of the Imperial College. The first issue only published Luo Wanhua's article.

Su Ze insisted on paying Luo Wanhua the royalties. Luo Wanhua initially refused to accept it, but later Su Ze mentioned the story of "Zi Gong redeeming people" and said to Luo Wanhua that if he, the top scholar, insisted on not accepting the royalties, then no one else would accept the royalties if asked to write articles in the future.

But writing articles is a time-consuming and laborious task. Everyone who has passed the imperial examination has a job. If this continues for a long time, no one will be willing to write for the Yuefu Xinbao anymore.

After listening to Su Ze's words, Luo Wanhua not only accepted the royalties, but also spread the news in the Hanlin Academy that he could get royalties for writing for Yuefu Xinbao.

What surprised Su Ze was that Luo Wanhua's publicity effect was even better than Shen Yikuan's promotion in the same year.

Su Ze thought about it and thought that it was probably because Luo Wanhua had always been cautious and low-key, so he had established a reliable personality. Unlike Shen Yikuan's nosy personality, what he said was more convincing.

Su Ze couldn't help but sigh, this is the advantage of character setting.

Once it is established, others will look at your personality first and then what you do.

So what is your own personality?
Su Ze didn't know that everyone has their own unique face, and his image in everyone's mind was probably different.

The fourth edition is "Voice of Quyuan", which serializes Xu Wei's female top scholar.

Although "The Female Champion" was not long, Su Ze still asked Xu Wei to divide it into six sections and publish it in six issues.

Su Ze also found inspiration from later online writers, and asked Xu Wei to interrupt the story at key points in the plot, so that these Ming Dynasty scholars could also experience what it means to be a "interruption dog."

This is exactly the effect of following the updates that Su Ze wanted. In his previous life, when he was a child, Su Ze always started reading the newspaper from the entertainment section.

Even if you don't like reading other pages, the fourth page can guarantee the "reading rate" of the newspaper.

In addition to Xu Wei's play, Su Ze also wrote a piece himself, recalling a joke from the later "Xiao Lin Guang Ji", and published it on page 4. Now, all four pages of the newspaper are complete.

Among these four editions, for the first edition, it was enough to copy the court bulletin, and for the third edition, Su Ze first took advantage of the Hanlin Academy and his peers.

The fourth edition is also simple. Xu Wei has many quyi works, and there are many dramas and storybooks in this era. The well-known "Three Words and Two Shots" in later generations, although it was not written until the Tianqi period, many of the stories in it have become popular and are scattered in various officials' miscellaneous notes.

The only thing that Su Ze needs to personally take charge of is the second edition of "Voice of the City". After all, this is the focus of his newspaper, and it is also the little bit of money he uses to break the monopoly of the censors.

However, Su Ze used some clever tricks, and the first issue of "Voice of the City" was absolutely flawless for everyone!

However, because Su Zela brought so much "sponsorship", all the government offices in the capital had to deliver newspapers, and the newspaper office had insufficient clerks.

It was almost noon, and Su Ze became a little anxious.

He underestimated the traffic congestion in the capital, and many vehicles and horses that went to deliver newspapers early in the morning never returned.

If nothing unexpected happens, "Yuefu Xinbao" will definitely become a hot topic of discussion in all major government offices during lunch break. If there are still government offices whose newspapers have not been delivered at this time, they will definitely be resented.

Right, they are all government offices. Why should the Ministry of Personnel next door have newspapers to read while I, the Honglu Temple, don’t have any?
What? You're saying the Honglu Temple is more important than the Ministry of Personnel? We all serve the emperor. Where in the Ming Dynasty Code does it say the Ministry of Personnel is more important than the Honglu Temple?
The customer is God, and Su Ze naturally does not want to offend God because of this.

Just when Su Ze was worried, the entrance of the newspaper office suddenly became lively.

Su Ze walked out of the public housing and met Shen Li, the director of the Imperial College, whom he had just met a few days ago. Following Shen Li were his tribute students.

"Shen Siye?"

When Shen Li saw Su Ze, he bowed to him immediately. The tribute students behind him all gave Su Ze a big gift as if he were their teacher.

Su Ze hurried forward, grabbed Shen Li and said:
"Shen Siye, what's going on?"

Shen Li said excitedly:

"Today, His Majesty has issued an edict, graciously allowing tribute students and the children of officials in Beijing to participate in the provincial examination for students registered as officials in Shuntian Prefecture."

Zhang Chun, a tribute student who had contradicted Su Ze before, said to Su Ze in shame:
"Mr. Su, for letting bygones be bygones, has spared us the trouble of traveling to take the exam. I, Zhang, have come to apologize to you, sir!"

Su Ze also pulled him up and said:

"It is His Majesty who is sympathetic to you. What has this to do with me? You must remember this imperial grace, as well as the kindness of Shen Siye in teaching you, and prepare well for the provincial examination."

Zhang Chun and other tribute students were very ashamed. They had been misled by the censors and surrounded Su Ze's house three times.

After exchanging pleasantries for a while, Shen Li asked:
"Has the newspaper been published yet? Why is it such a mess?"

Su Ze sighed and told the newspaper about the lack of transportation capacity. At this time, Zhang Chun stood up and said:

"Su Hanlin, if you don't mind, we can help you deliver the newspapers!"

Su Ze took a look and found that these students of the Imperial College were sometimes assigned to help in various government offices. They were indeed familiar with the distribution of government offices in the capital.

"Then I'll trouble you all!"
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The cabinet's newspaper was naturally the first to be delivered. Zhang Juzheng rubbed his eyes and picked up the newspaper that the clerk had just delivered.

(End of this chapter)