Kai Fu Han

Chapter 275 Publishing Newspapers
"It's okay. The Propaganda Department is not as busy as other departments. It usually reads announcements to the people, and then organizes some opera singers to perform in villages to promote the good governance and laws of our Xinghan League." Luo Gao replied.

"This return trip, the people lined the streets to welcome him, which shows that the work of your propaganda department is very good." Liu Xinqi praised and recognized Luo Gao's work results.

"Thank you for the compliment, leader." Luo Gao beamed.

The two chatted some more about their respective recent situations, and Liu Xinqi started talking about business.

"I'm going to put you in charge of running a newspaper."

"Di Bao?" Luo Gao replied. Liu Xinqi often said some new words, and the officials of the Xinghan League could only try to understand them literally.

"We should indeed run the Di Bao. Eight counties will be managed soon. With the Di Bao, the league's new policies can be communicated to the following counties in a timely, clear and clear manner."

"Not entirely." Liu Xinqi replied.

"Dibao" first appeared in the Han Dynasty. At that time, the Western Han Dynasty implemented the county system. The country was divided into several counties, and the counties were further divided into several counties.Each county has an office in Chang'an, the capital. This residence is called a "di" and has permanent representatives. Their task is to liaise between the emperor and the heads of the counties, and regularly convey the emperor's edicts, edicts, and ministers to the officials. Official documents such as memorials and relevant political information such as palace events were written on bamboo slips or silk, and then sent to the governors of various counties by messengers riding fast horses through the post roads established by the Qin Dynasty.

With the invention and development of papermaking, during the Eastern Han Dynasty, paper was made from plant fibers, and Di Bao began to be copied on paper, which further developed Di Bao and made it easier to issue and deliver.

Therefore, Luo Gao understood the "newspaper" Liu Xinqi mentioned as the paper "Dibao".

Since the Han, Tang, and Zhao dynasties, although the name of Di Bao has changed frequently, its circulation has never been interrupted, and its nature and content have not changed much.

In the Tang Dynasty, post roads were improved compared to the Han Dynasty, and the transmission of newspapers became faster.

As the economy became more developed in the Zhao Dynasty, the coverage of Di Bao gradually expanded and the content became richer.

At the beginning, Di Bao was only used to convey official documents and important information, targeting officials. By the Zhao Dynasty, the content of Di Bao expanded to include the emperor's edicts and orders, daily words and deeds, court decrees, communiques, official appointments, rewards and punishments, etc. After hearing the news, some gentry and wealthy people also began to purchase Di newspapers through various channels to understand changes in the imperial policy.

Later, a small number of scholars made a living by copying mansion newspapers for others, and finally there appeared businessmen who specialized in copying mansion newspapers and selling them for profit.

In the early days of the appearance of Di Bao, it was real-time. Only if there was important official documents or information, the Di Bao would be published. If there was no such thing, it would not be published.With the development of the Zhao Dynasty, the publication time of Di Bao tended to be fixed, and some approved or failed ministerial memorials were also printed in Di Bao by interested parties to influence public opinion.

"The biggest difference between the newspaper I'm talking about and Di Bao is its coverage. The coverage of the newspaper is much larger than that of Di Bao, and it mainly targets ordinary people." Liu Xinqi explained. "But ordinary people are not literate, so do we still need to hire people to read newspapers?" Luo Gao wondered.

Nowadays, the announcements issued by the Xinghan League are all made by the government hiring some literate people or officials from the Propaganda Department to personally read the announcements to the people who come to watch.But notices have a fixed location. If the newspaper also hires readers, the cost will be too high.

According to the principle of supply and demand, services will be provided when there is a need, and there may be professional newspaper readers in the future, but Liu Xinqi does not intend to incorporate this profession into the government's responsibilities.

"There is no need to hire people to read newspapers. We printed so many leaflets before Xinghan League, but people still wanted them, and the people also found ways to understand the contents. In the future, compulsory education in Xinghan League will gradually Implemented in all towns and villages in the eight counties of Denglai, by then every family will have some literate children. If adults want to understand the contents of the newspaper, the children can read it. And some teahouses and pubs will definitely take the initiative to attract customers. Hire people to read newspapers to customers. So as long as the newspaper is distributed, people who want to read it can see it and understand it clearly." Liu Xinqi explained.

The compulsory education initially planned by Xinghan League is five years of primary school.School children start school when they are seven years old and study for five years until they are 12 years old. If they have good grades, they continue to study in middle school.If your grades are not good, you can go home and find your own way, or find a master to learn a craft, or enter a technical school to learn skills for another four years. You can start working when you are 16 years old.

"Then how exactly do you want to publish this 'newspaper'?" Luo Gao was a little confused.

"The newspaper I am talking about is printed directly on several large sheets of paper, such as one foot long and wide. The paper quality can be a little different. It is printed directly on both sides, and one issue is published every ten days."

The concept of Zhou already existed in this era, but it was not commonly used by the people.It is called the Seven Days, divided into seven days of the sun, moon and five elements. The sun day is Sunday, the moon day is Monday, the fire day is Tuesday, the water day is Wednesday, the wood day is Thursday, the metal day is Friday, and the earth day is Saturday.

The current information transmission is slow and there is no mechanical assistance. It is not very practical to produce daily or weekly reports. Ten days can not only ensure a certain timeliness, but also give the Propaganda Department enough time to collect, summarize, proofread and print. time.

"In addition to publishing the government's new policies and war reports from various places, newspapers can also publish some typical case trials, heroic deeds, good people and good deeds, etc. In addition to these official content, they can also publish some new things from various places, the scientific and technological development of the Han League, and other There are interesting things that happen around the people, and you can even publish some novels, biographies, legends, etc. to attract people to buy."

"Then the content of each issue of this newspaper cannot be published in one or two pieces of paper. Should one issue be distributed for free or sold for a fee? If it is distributed for free, it must cost a lot. How much should it be priced for a fee?" Luo Gao asked.

"It definitely cannot be distributed for free. If it is free, it will definitely not be cherished by others, and it will definitely be used to wipe the butt. Not only is it a waste of resources, it will also reduce the value of the newspaper, and the content published on it will become cheap and unreliable. Liu Xinqi replied: "Sell according to the cost price of printed newspapers, and you can even sell them at a loss, such as pricing a pound of food stamps."

"One pound of food stamps is definitely a loss, and the loss is serious." Luo Gao did some calculations and said to Liu Xinqi.

"You cannot make money by selling newspapers. You can set up a certain page in the newspaper, publish advertisements for merchants, and charge merchants advertising fees. At present, Xinghan League only has this newspaper, and it must be able to balance the books at worst. Liu Xinqi said.

(End of this chapter)