After traveling through time, I led the whole village to become rich!

Zhang Hulan whispered, "Think about it, by then our people will have to gather information from all over the country.

We can collect all kinds of gossip and interesting things, but we can also collect other intelligence from all over the place. Wouldn't this be of great use to the court and the emperor?"

When Zhang Hulan said this, Ye Hongyun realized that this could indeed help collect intelligence for the court.

Zhang Hulan continued, "Let the Empress discuss this with the Emperor. Running a newspaper isn't just about gathering information; there are also issues like typesetting and printing. The two of us definitely can't handle something this big."

"Okay, I'll go to the palace and talk to the Queen."

Zhang Hulan then told Ye Hongyun how newspapers can make profits.

If you want to become famous, you can publish your poems and articles in newspapers, and then you will get advertising income.

Zhang Hulan handed the matter over to Ye Hongyun and left it alone.

She only provides ideas and suggestions, and lets others do the rest.

The next day, Ye Hongyun entered the palace and told the Queen about the matter. The Queen then went to find Emperor Yongxing.

Emperor Yongxing said after hearing this: "This is a good idea. The officials of the Inspectorate are all in the open. Wherever they go, those guys will hide and nothing will be found out.

My spies are limited and it is impossible for them to monitor all officials in the world.

If this newspaper is established, it will be openly for the purpose of seeking entertainment in the marketplace, and since it is not affiliated with the imperial court, those people will not be on guard, and the news it passes back will be the most authentic."

Emperor Yongxing then said, "However, running a newspaper is not easy, as it requires a lot of talented people.

This matter cannot be left to an unreliable person. You, Queen, will be responsible for this matter openly, and Qin Aiqing will be responsible for it secretly.

Call Zhang Hulan back to the palace and ask her about the matter in more detail."

"Okay, Your Majesty, I will call her into the palace right away."

On the other side, Zhang Hulan arrived at the village and had just made tea when Xie Bangwen came over.

"Good morning, Lord Xie, come and have some tea!" Zhang Hulan also made a cup of tea for Xie Bangwen.

Xie Bangwen smiled and said, "Master Zhang, when can I meet your nephew?"

"Of course." Zhang Hulan said with a smile, "How about this, let's have dinner together when we have a day off."

"Okay, okay, then it's settled."

In the afternoon, someone came from the palace and called Zhang Hulan into the palace.

In the imperial study, Emperor Yongxing, the Empress and Qin Bingrong were all there.

"Your humble servant greets the Emperor, the Empress, and Lord Qin."

After Zhang Hulan saluted, Emperor Yongxing asked, "Zhang Hulan, please tell me more about the newspaper you mentioned."

Zhang Hulan knew that once the Empress told Emperor Yongxing about the newspaper's idea, he would definitely take it seriously. She said, "Your Majesty, this newspaper's main purpose is to collect information about various events in various places and then disseminate it in written form.

The information collected is all-encompassing and anything can be collected.

Some gossip, such as whose house was burned down;

If someone marries a daughter-in-law, she should weigh three hundred pounds;

Someone's sow gave birth to a litter of twenty piglets.

There are also issues concerning people's livelihood, such as which family had a good harvest this year, yielding 500 kilograms of rice per acre;

Wherever there is flooding, rivers burst their banks;

Where the murder happened, etc.

There are also some things about local governments.

The officials in that place oppressed the people;

Which local officials accepted bribes?

Where the people suffered injustice;

In addition, whether the policies issued by the court in various places have been implemented, etc., these things can be reported.

Then there's the question of how newspapers make money.

Some young talents want to become famous, so they can spend money to publish their poems and articles in newspapers.

Some businesses that run a store or have launched a new product can spend money to advertise in newspapers.

We have to charge money for selling newspapers, but the price can’t be too high…”

Zhang Hulan roughly told Emperor Yongxing and others about the role of newspapers and how to make money. Emperor Yongxing, the Empress, and Qin Bingrong all nodded after listening.

Qin Bingrong said, "According to your idea, I'm afraid a large number of people will be needed.

It takes people to collect all kinds of information, it takes people to make newspapers, and it also takes people to sell them.”

Zhang Hulan nodded, "Yes, it requires a lot of people.

However, you don’t need your own people to sell the goods. You can just let the people or vendors sell them.

For example, each prefecture would set up a newspaper office, print newspapers, and merchants in the city could go to the newspaper office to buy them, and then they would sell them.

Zhang Hulan paused, then said, "Although under the emperor's rule, the people can basically live and work in peace and contentment.

However, there are still beggars who are displaced for various reasons in various places. They can be asked to go to the newspaper office to pick up newspapers and sell them on the street. This way they can have a job and support themselves, reducing the burden on the court or local governments.

The Queen and Qin Bingrong's eyes lit up when they heard this. This was a great idea.

Emperor Yongxing also nodded frequently.

Qin Bingrong then asked, "How much does this newspaper cost? And how big is it?"

Zhang Hulan gestured to the size of the newspaper and said, "The size of the newspaper can be determined according to the actual situation. The newspaper publisher sells a newspaper for a maximum of two wen, and retailing for an additional wen is about right. If it's too expensive, I guess no one will buy it."

Qin Bingrong frowned and thought for a while, then said, "Isn't the price too low? It takes a lot of manpower and material resources. With such a low price, I guess we'll lose money, right?

Even if we add the advertising you mentioned, it would be difficult to make a profit.

Paper and ink are very expensive, and the content of each newspaper is definitely different. A template has to be carved for each issue, which is very time-consuming and laborious.

Zhang Hulan had no idea about paper and ink, as she didn't know how to make paper, but she knew about woodblock printing.

"Sir Qin, I don't understand the ink used for paper. But I've come up with a printing method that doesn't require carving new blocks for each issue."

"how do I say this?"

Zhang Hulan said: "We can make the woodblocks alive, make all the characters first, and then piece them together.

We can simply piece together the words needed for each issue of the newspaper, and it’s very convenient to print any article we want.”

Qin Bingrong's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he excitedly said to Emperor Yongxing, "Your Majesty, may I borrow some paper and pen?"

Emperor Yongxing pushed the paper and pen on the dragon table forward and said, "You can use it."

Qin Bingrong picked up the pen, dipped it in ink, quickly wrote a few words on the paper, and then cut the words one by one.

He shuffled the individual pieces of the characters and then put them back together.

After those scrambled word pieces are put together again, they can form several different sentences.

Qin Bingrong's expression became even more excited. "Great, great, great!"

Emperor Yongxing and the Empress also understood what was going on, and they both looked at Zhang Hulan in surprise.

The Queen said, "Hu Lan, how come you are so smart?"