The Red Mansion Big Liar.

Chapter 476: Ginger is old and spicy

Gu Dashou's residence.

"Please stay, sir!"

"I'll take you there, sir!"

"Your Excellency's address to me makes me a little nervous!"

“Hahaha! Please come in, little friend Yun Yi!”

After sending Zhang Yunyi to the carriage, Gu Dashou said to his son Gu Guangshan beside him, "You heard what I said. Let's make arrangements according to what I just said!"

"Father!" Gu Guangshan bowed and said, "My family has been a scholarly family for generations, and you are a literary giant. You are promoting the study of immortality. Didn't you say that this is going to dig up our roots? There is no wall that is impenetrable. If this gets out..."

Gu Dashou walked without stopping. When he returned to the side hall where he had just greeted Zhang Yunyi, he glanced at his son and said in a deep voice, "Didn't you hear it just now? Who meant this?"

"Your Highness's intention is good, but... considering my father's reputation and status, the worst that can happen is that he retires and returns home. Why is he playing bother?"

Gu Dashou shook his head and said, "A good father breeds a good son! If any of you or your brothers have any potential, I will not only not help you, but I will also challenge him!"

He was quite stubborn and even swore.

Gu Guangshan seemed to be used to Gu Dashou's foul language and only asked in confusion, "Why is that?"

"Most of the nobles in the court are from the line of Prince Ning. How can you allow others to sleep peacefully beside your bed? Once Your Highness ascends the throne, how can you condone them to continue to control the military power? This time, the Zhen family instigated students from Jiangnan to go to Beijing, which is likely to manipulate public opinion and force the emperor to abdicate. How can Your Highness and Your Highness not be on high alert?"

The older you are, the wiser you are. Just from Zhang Yunyi's few words, Gu Dashou guessed what Emperor Zhengqing and the Crown Prince were thinking.

Gu Guangshan's eyes twitched twice, and he said thoughtfully, "Father is saying that the emperor and His Highness are worried about one family dominating the world, so they want to support the immortal school to compete with the scholars in the world and provide a check and balance?"

"You still have some brains! The minds of emperors since ancient times have been like this!" Gu Dashou took a deep breath and said angrily, "If there is one of you who can inherit your father's legacy, then you can follow the wishes of the emperor and his highness and sing a duel with him. What's the harm?"

"But my Gu family has a hundred-year-old reputation..." Gu Guangshan seemed unwilling to accept the result.

Gu Dashou raised his hand and interrupted, "The court is dangerous. If you are not careful in this kind of fight, you will be used as a gun. Mei Lian is a living example. Since you don't have such scheming and cunning, you'd better be honest. Even if you are a snake and a rat, it is better than being doomed!"

He paused, and continued, "It is wise to retreat bravely when the tide is rising, and it is noble to retire when success is achieved. Now the study of immortality is not yet popular, and it is the will of the emperor and His Highness. If we keep silent, it will not cause resentment. After one or two years, it will be time for us to retire and completely cut off the business of the newspaper and bookstore. Let them do whatever they want!
With my father's reputation in the literary world and this relationship, and with his timely withdrawal, he won't attract too much attention. Even if he's gone, the family can be kept safe!"

"My son knows."

"Your Highness has always had the ambition of Yao and Shun. He has been dormant for many years. Now that his long-cherished wish has come true and he is in his prime, I am afraid he will make a big move. Zhang Yunyi is young and has the merit of following the emperor. It is hard to say who will be the stronger and weaker in the court in the future... But you must remember that the rafters that stick out will rot first. Even if he has the upper hand, when the emperor wants to support the literary world to compete with him, he must not be instigated and become the first bird to come out."

After hearing these instructions, Gu Guangshan couldn't help but feel convinced by his old father.

"My son has learned a lesson!"

"Go! I see he is quite anxious to publish the newspaper after His Highness ascends the throne. You should also mobilize your family connections as soon as possible to arrange things!"

Zhang Yun逸 did have the feeling that time was of the essence.

On the one hand, it is to recruit talents as quickly as possible, and on the other hand, it is to strike while the iron is hot to avoid unnecessary complications if the process is delayed for too long.

Therefore, before Zhen Shiyin returned to Beijing, he made corresponding preparations in advance.

Of course, although he wanted to rely on Gu Dashou, he did not intend to outsource the core business to others. He just used Gu Dashou's connections to arrange the upstream and downstream channels for the newspaper in advance.

In ancient times, transportation was inconvenient. Printing newspapers in the capital and then transporting them across the country was time-consuming and labor-intensive, and had poor timeliness.

Therefore, he planned to temporarily distribute the templates to various places in the form of urgent reports, arrange for cooperative printing factories in various state capitals, print them on the spot, and then hand them over to local cooperative bookstores for sale.

Once the newspaper has gained a certain degree of popularity, we will gradually replace the upstream and downstream channels.

Since the current newspaper business is still a losing business, he even suggested that Gu Dashou use improved papermaking technology as compensation.

On the one hand, it was a way of returning a favor and giving Gu Dashou a chance to do a favor.

On the other hand, it can also reduce the cost of paper and help popularize education.

Of course, there is another reason that Zhang Yun逸 will not admit.

He has always been a narrow-minded person. When the news of impeachment reached the capital, the Minister of War Li Congwen deliberately avoided suspicion. How could Zhang Yun逸 be willing to let him take advantage of him for nothing?
Although this would reduce Zhou Xianzu and Qi Yuandao's dividends, they did not dare to express any dissatisfaction under the pretext of working for the prince.

In the future, if they leave Li Congwen aside and look for help from other places, their relationship will become closer.

He has made external preparations, but the essence of a newspaper still lies in its content.

Nothing can be changed overnight, and changing one's mindset is a long process.

Therefore, although the newspaper is intended to promote Taoism, he does not intend to talk about the relevant knowledge in detail.

Instead, I intend to proceed step by step and gradually increase the content of relevant knowledge.

For scholars, keyboard politics is always a popular and most attractive topic no matter what era.

First, he used the largest amount of space to introduce some court policies and current affairs, and even some gossip about the court in the capital, in order to attract attention.

Secondly, it was about knowledge related to the imperial examinations, and even some model essays from previous years' imperial examinations were printed to attract scholars to buy them.

This is also the reason why he must find Gu Dashou.

Finally, it was the turn to the knowledge points of Taoism, accompanied by some questions and advertisements for recruiting talents.

The reason why we only focus on scholars is because of the limitation of the education level in ancient times.

Those craftsmen and common people who work hard in the fields are lucky enough to be able to recognize their own names. How can we expect them to read newspapers?

That's why he's eager to lower the price of paper.

Of course, when you have your own stall set up in the future, you can also arrange some newspaper reading work.

This is also the reason why he asked Zhen Shiyin to arrange for the recruited refugees to learn to read.

He has almost completed the manuscript for the first issue. Now, he is just waiting for Zhen Shiyin to come back and work with the Gu family to carry out the follow-up work.

……

(End of this chapter)