My Pen Pal Zhu Yuanzhang

Chapter 101 The Power of Newspapers

The impact of the Ming Dynasty's first newspaper was greater than Zhu Yuanzhang had imagined.

Since it was distributed for free, the first edition was quickly sold out and many people were discussing the newspaper.

On the streets, there are often people interpreting articles in newspapers, and many people will stop to listen, which further expands the influence of the newspaper.

Soon, the newspaper article overshadowed the academic conference, and now the hottest topic in Yingtian Prefecture was that the literary scholars were bullying and suppressing the craftsmen.

Although many common people and craftsmen still feel inferior when they see scholars and literati, they are not as afraid of them as before.

The imperial court said that the skills of craftsmen also require profound knowledge, so they, the craftsmen, are also people of learning!

In addition, many interesting short stories in the newspapers also make people feel extremely fresh and interesting.

Most of these stories are about craftsmen working in factories, and the protagonists of the stories are real, but some interesting adaptations have been made to the things that happened to them.

For example, a young man was just an apprentice in a blacksmith shop before entering the factory. Not only did he have to work for his master for free every day, but he also had to endure the contempt of his master's wife.

But the master and his wife gave birth to a good daughter, who was a pretty girl from a small family and very lovable.

The young man and his master's daughter fell in love with each other over time. Unfortunately, the young man was too poor to give a dowry to his master, and the master intended to marry his daughter to the stupid son of a rich man because the rich man had money!
The young man couldn't bear to see his beloved girl being ruined by the rich man's stupid son, so he left the blacksmith shop, determined to start a career and marry her when he returned home in glory.

But the young man had nothing but the skill of blacksmithing, so it was not easy for him to start a career.

At this time, the imperial court opened a factory. The young man saw hope. After entering the factory, he suddenly became a person who was paid by the emperor.

The young man's status was rising steadily, and the number of people who came to his house to propose marriage was almost breaking down the threshold.

The master and his wife were also very jealous, so they betrothed their daughter to the young man and even gave him a large dowry.

It is these cliché stories of life's comebacks that have aroused great interest among the people!
Isn’t such a fresh and interesting story much more interesting than those stories about talented men and beautiful women?

Although they don’t know what immersion is, when they see the blacksmith and the beautiful woman finally getting married in the story, they feel as if they are the protagonists of the wedding night.

Although the story has some fabricated elements, the prototype of the protagonist would not care about these things. He has been featured in the court newspaper, which is such a great honor and has brought honor to his family. Who would care about the truth of the story?

For a time, newspapers were in great demand, and the Imperial Bookstore rushed to print several editions over several days, and began to charge money, from one cent, to two cents, and then to five or ten cents, but they were often sold out in less than half a day.

The owner of the bookstore also did some calculations. From the time the bookstore started printing newspapers for free until now, not only has it not lost money, but it has actually made a huge profit!

Even among the common people, the price of newspapers was driven up to thirty or forty cents.

Seeing that the momentum of academic discussion was overshadowed by newspapers, scholars and Confucianists followed suit and found a private bookstore to print so-called newspapers.

At the beginning, because of its name as a newspaper, it attracted many people to buy it. But after reading the content, it was either about the principles of nature, the study of things, or talented men and beautiful women, and they suddenly felt that it was tasteless like chicken ribs.

But after all, I spent money to buy it, and it would be a pity to throw it away, so I could only take it home and use it to paste windows.

However, what the literati and scholars did not expect was that the story had changed again in the new edition of the court newspaper.

The protagonist of the story is still a young man working in a factory. However, before the boy entered the factory, his fiancée, who had been betrothed to him since childhood, broke off the engagement because she wanted to marry a more talented scholar.

Then the boy went to work in a factory and turned his life around. His fiancée regretted her decision, cried bitterly, and begged for his forgiveness.

Such exciting and dramatic stories once again caused a sensation among the people. These stories greatly satisfied their fantasies, and after reading them, they felt refreshed from head to toe.

To the extent that nowadays storytellers in teahouses have started talking about newspapers.

The Confucian scholars were so angry that they jumped up and down. Such a vulgar story was not worthy of being accepted in a high-class hall. They just hated the common people who did not understand the fine arts of the high culture and only liked these vulgar things!
The instigator of all this was naturally Li Han. Fang Xiaoru could not have written such a story!

According to the standards set by Li Han, Fang Xiaoru selected several story prototypes in the factory and wrote the prototype information to Li Han through Zhu Yuanzhang.

Then Li Han processed the prototype of the story through the artistic methods of Internet culture and mailed it back, and it became the story in the newspaper.

Not to mention the common people, even Zhu Yuanzhang himself couldn't stop reading these stories. He wished Li Han would write tens of thousands of words for him every day so that he could satisfy his fascination.

Although Li Min also criticized these stories, saying that they were too utopian and could easily make people fall into endless fantasies, every time after criticizing them, he would compete with Xu Da, Li Wenzhong and others for the original manuscripts of the stories.

"The Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors were virtuous, and their achievements were great. The Five Hegemons made history in the Spring and Autumn Period, and the Qin and Han dynasties rose and fell.

There are only a few names in the history books, and countless barren hills in Beimang. The land of the ancestors is harvested by the descendants, so what is the point of talking about dragons fighting with tigers?

With a crisp "pa" sound, in a high-class teahouse in Yingtian Prefecture, the storyteller slammed the wake-up stick on the table and said:
"Let's get back to the point. Continuing from the previous story, the eldest daughter of the Song family, Song Yanran, came to the dilapidated house of the Xiao family and threw the token of love that Xiao Sanhuo had given her on the ground!

As for Song Yanran, she wants to cancel the engagement!
Xiao Sanhuo picked up the dusty token, cleaned it, and put it away carefully.

But that handsome face was full of anger and unwillingness!

After a long while, he resolutely said: "Thirty years in the east, thirty years in the west, don't despise the young and poor!"

"it is good!"

The audience sitting below suddenly burst into warm applause.

"Thirty years in the east, thirty years in the west. Don't despise the young because they are poor. That's a good saying!"

"Xiao Sanhuo will definitely make Song Yanran cry bitterly and feel full of regret!"

The audience was talking about it, and the storyteller was getting more and more excited. However, in the private room on the second floor, there were two people who had no interest in listening to the story.

"Humph, what a cheesy story! Only those vulgar people would like to listen to it!"

Hong Wenchang drank tea in big gulps, as if he wanted to use the tea to dispel the nameless anger in his heart.

"Although the story is vulgar, the people like it. Your Majesty's move is in line with the people's wishes."

Although he said this, Qian Hongming's tone was full of contempt.

"The court's official newspapers are gaining momentum. Now ordinary people on the street dare to openly discuss the craftsman's skills, which is also a science!"

Hong Wenchang became more and more angry as he spoke, "How can these common people have the right to discuss state affairs!"

Qian Hongming sneered, "The newspaper incident may seem to have reversed the momentum of the literary world, but it actually sows the seeds of disaster. Your Majesty is so foolish to create momentum like this. Sooner or later, you will be backlashed by public opinion!"

(End of this chapter)