Ming Dynasty: Domination of the World from the Imperial Examination

Chapter 410: What they are worried about is that the newspaper will ruin their business!
Three days later.

It was just getting dark.

Zhu Biao was awakened by someone.

Zhu Biao narrowed his eyes and said in a bad tone: "What's wrong? What happened in the palace?"

The maid outside the palace whispered, "Your Highness, just now Eunuch Park came to pass on a message saying that His Majesty wants Your Highness to go to Wuying Palace."

Zhu Biao's eyes suddenly opened wide, and his sleepiness disappeared in an instant.

He asked a maid to help him change his clothes, and then got into the carriage driven by Park Gouer and headed towards Wuying Palace.

Sitting in the carriage, Zhu Biao frowned, but he didn't know why his father called him so early.

Did something happen in Northern Xinjiang?

Zhu Biao secretly guessed in his heart that, in his impression, the only thing that could make His Majesty so anxious was the border threat in the north. However, it was only January now, and the branches in Nanjing had just shown signs of sprouting. The mountains in the north were still blocked by heavy snow, and the roads were blocked. Even if Nahachu wanted to go south, he could not carry out a large-scale march.

But if it wasn’t something happening in northern Xinjiang, what else could it be?
Zhu Biao thought of other possibilities in his mind, but in the end he rejected them one by one.

Think about it.

Zhu Biao was too lazy to think about it. He would know it when he got to the palace. He also urged the coachman to go faster.

About a quarter of an hour.

Zhu Biao arrived outside the Wuying Palace.

Entering the hall, Zhu Yuanzhang was wearing an overcoat, his hair and beard were a little messy and not well trimmed. He sat casually on the chair, his eyes fixed on a memorial in his hand. Zhu Biao glanced at the memorial and bowed respectfully.

Then he asked anxiously, "Father, is there something wrong in the north?"

Zhu Yuanzhang raised his head and smiled, "There is nothing going on in the north. Even if Nahachu has the guts, he won't be able to attack us even if we give him ten times the guts. Besides, the northeast is freezing cold, and we have a strategic location, so he won't be able to go south."

"Then why did Your Majesty summon me in such a hurry?" Zhu Biao breathed a sigh of relief, but was also puzzled. As he spoke, he took a few steps forward and came close to Zhu Yuanzhang.

Zhu Yuanzhang did not explain.

He simply put down the memorial in his hand, picked up a piece of paper filled with writing below, and handed it to Zhu Biao.

Zhu Biao did not dare to delay and quickly reached out to take it.

Zhu Yuanzhang said: "Look, this Xia Zhibai has given us another trick."

Zhu Biao raised his eyebrows, but his eyes were fixed on the long piece of paper in his hand. The words on it were not big, three points smaller than ordinary articles, but such a long paper was densely packed with words, and there were no less than five articles just at a glance.

Moreover, he didn't recognize most of the names signed on it, but he felt like he had heard of them before.

Zhu Biao unfolded the "long paper" completely, stood in place, and read it carefully. He read it quickly, briefly, and put the "long paper" down. The confusion in his eyes not only did not dissipate, but became even more intense.

He looked at Zhu Yuanzhang blankly and said, "Father, I don't quite understand."

Zhu Yuanzhang laughed, patted Zhu Biao on the shoulder, and said, "Don't say you didn't understand it at first. I didn't understand it at first either. It was only after I read Xia Zhibai's introduction that I understood what he was telling me."

Zhu Yuanzhang handed the memorial in his hand over, and Zhu Biao took it again.

He put the "long paper" aside and read the memorial carefully. The content of the memorial was very brief and the number of words was very few, but in just a few words, Zhu Biao understood that what Xia Zhibai presented was called "newspaper".

It is used to report the decrees issued by the imperial court and official analysis of current affairs.

However, Xia Zhibai's idea was obviously not to summarize and organize, but he had a greater ambition. He wanted to print and distribute this "newspaper" and let it flow into the public so that the common people could also see what had happened in the court recently.

Let the people have a more intuitive understanding of the government policies.

Zhu Biao frowned, pondered for a moment, and said solemnly: "I think this seems to be a solution. From Xia Zhibai's memorial, Xia Zhibai believes that the decrees issued by the court to the local governments have gone through too many "hands". Under the interpretation of officials at all levels, many decrees are not only distorted, but twisted."

“In short, there are too many intermediaries.”

"There is an information gap between the upper and lower levels!"

"This gave many unscrupulous officials the opportunity to deceive their superiors and subordinates. The 'newspaper' he created was intended to reduce the number of intermediaries and publicize the court's decrees in an official manner, without going through local government offices. It was announced directly by the court."

"And it's not just about issuing an announcement, but also attaching the Hanlin academicians' analysis and opinions on the policy, so that the people can better understand the policy direction."

"This is indeed a good idea."

Zhu Biao nodded.

After the initial confusion, he finally understood the real purpose of these newspapers.

Zhu Biao smiled and said, "Xia Zhibai has considered everything. He not only took into account the manpower, material resources and financial resources spent by the court, but also thought that the main sales targets of these newspapers are scholars and some literate people. Most of these people have a certain amount of family wealth, so they don't need to be distributed directly, but need to be purchased with money."

"In this way, the burden on the court will be much lighter."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded slightly and said, "That being said, let's ask Pu Gou'er to check. The Hanlin Academy itself does not agree with the newspaper."

"why?"

Zhu Yuanzhang sneered and said, "What else can it be? Because this matter was previously the business of the Ministry of Rites. How dare those scholars of the Hanlin Academy to provoke the Ministry of Rites? Isn't Confucianism the most concerned about 'propriety'? They dare not do such a thing. Even if Xia Zhibai appealed to their emotions and reasoned with them, he still failed to convince Liu Sanwu, Fang Xiaoru and others."

"This is the scholar from our Ming Dynasty."

"When they are asked to do something, they all hesitate, fearing that they will offend others. But when something good happens, they are afraid that they will be left behind. In my opinion, these scholars are not afraid, but they think that if the imperial decree is issued in this way, it will offend many local officials. They only care about themselves and have never considered the imperial court at all."

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at him with disdain.

He saw through the thoughts of scholars like Liu Sanwu at a glance.

What's the fear of offending the Ministry of Rites? If he was really afraid of offending, he wouldn't have impeached him so desperately before.

After all, they came from the local areas, had connections with many local officials, and even received favors from these people. The court's move made the originally unclear political situation in the local areas suddenly clear, especially allowing many local literate scholars to know a lot of "truths", which undoubtedly ruined things.

This is what these maesters are really worried about!
Zhu Biao sneered and said, "I think this newspaper must be published."

(End of this chapter)