No war in the Northern Song Dynasty

Chapter 51 Planning a Newspaper
Early the next morning, Su Ze entered the Peach Blossom Spring.

The ears of rice hung low in the three mu of farmland, and Anong was harvesting rice with two farm boys.

A small granary has been built, and the Lingyun boys, including the guiding boy, are helping to transport the harvested rice into the granary.

After a month, the day of harvest finally arrived.

Su Ze walked to the granary and looked at the plump rice, feeling much more at ease.

With this paradise here, I can live a leisurely life no matter what.

Su Ze called the guiding boy over and asked:
"It's been a month. How do I pay the spiritual energy required to hire Lingyun Tong?"

The guiding boy shook the radish sprouts on his head and said to Su Ze:

【As long as you unfold the scroll and agree to the payment, the payment will be automatically deducted. 】

Su Ze unfolded the scroll and agreed to pay, and the cultural energy was automatically deducted.

Now in the Peach Blossom Spring, there are a total of five agricultural boys including Anong (3 farmlands, 1 flower field, 1 chicken coop), as well as Azhi, a craftsman boy, Ayuan, a traveler boy, and another woodcutter boy.

There is no fee to guide the boy. Su Ze's fixed expenses for guiding the Lingyun boy alone have reached 40 points of Wenmai Qi every month.

Su Ze originally had 75 points of cultural energy left (-5 for building a granary), plus the 10 points he gained from Cai Xiang's calligraphy. Now, after deducting his salary, he only has 45 points of cultural energy left.

My flesh hurts so much.

Su Ze looked at the printing house. He must increase revenue as soon as possible to increase the fixed income of Wenwenqi.

The solution Su Ze came up with was to publish a tabloid.

Just like the tabloid run by Zhang Yaozuo, with the development of the commodity economy and the popularization of literacy, running a tabloid in the city of Bianliang was actually a profitable business.

There are many professional newsboys on the streets who make a living by selling tabloids every month.

In addition to tabloids such as pirated court gazettes that specialize in publishing news and court affairs, there are also entertainment tabloids that publish novelties and folk tales.

What Su Ze hopes to do is to establish a tabloid that writers can join, so that he can gather the spirit of literature through submissions.

This is also the reason why he spent money to build a printing house in Taohuayuan.

However, the publication of tabloids was a gray area in the Song Dynasty.

Zhang Yaozuo secretly published a tabloid. After being discovered, he immediately surrendered to the government and personally disbanded his printing house.

To run a tabloid, one has to do it secretly, and Su Ze, who owns the Peach Blossom Land, has a natural advantage in this regard.

However, there were many tabloids in the city of Bianliang. If one wanted to establish a reputation and attract scholars to submit articles, that would be something that required long-term planning.

As Su Ze removed the spiritual energy, balls of light flew out from the scroll. These balls of light danced around the Lingyun boys and were finally absorbed into their bodies.

Su Ze felt that the radish sprouts on the heads of these little radish men had become greener. It seemed that the cultural energy was the food for these spiritual boys.

The guiding boy said:

Congratulations to the owner of Peach Blossom Spring for successfully spending a month in Peach Blossom Spring! The Spiritual Boys feed on the Qi of the Cultural Vein. If their wages are delayed, their work enthusiasm will decline. If they are delayed for a long time, they will leave Peach Blossom Spring. Please gather the Cultural Vein Qi carefully!

Su Ze nodded. He saw that after Anong harvested the Champa rice, he began to till the land and then planted the sugarcane seedlings that had already grown buds into the soil.

The remaining two plots of farmland are ready for further planting of Champa rice, and sugarcane will be harvested next month.

Looking at the chickens in the chicken coop, they have started to lay eggs steadily, and some of the hens are ready to eat.

If he had more cultural energy, Su Ze would also like to grow some vegetables.

Also, I don’t know whether buildings like restaurants will appear after upgrading Peach Blossom Land. It would be so nice if I could make delicious food in Peach Blossom Land.

We still need to quickly gather the cultural essence.

Su Ze left Peach Blossom Spring and tidied his clothes. Today was the day he had an appointment with Wang Anshi and Zeng Gong to meet, so he must bring back some cultural spirit!

Su Ze was not wearing his official robes. Today was not a day off. If he were to wander around the streets in his official uniform, he might be caught and impeached by the censors.

Moreover, since Zeng Gong failed the exam this time, Su Ze did not want to upset him, so he changed into his ordinary Confucian robe. Su Ze also picked up a bunch of spring bamboo shoots from the Peach Blossom Spring and came to Zhang Yaozuo's stable.

Zhang Yaozuo's house was a bit far from Wang Anshi's house. The servant guarding the stable knew that Su Ze was a younger generation that Zhang Yaozuo valued, so he selected a docile pony from the stable.

Horses were an important means of transportation in this era. Su Ze had also practiced riding these days. Anyway, he couldn't ride a horse in the city of Bianjing, but riding as a means of transportation did not require high riding skills. Su Ze rode his horse to Wang Anshi's house.

Originally, Wang Anshi's family's courtyard was in a relatively remote alley, but before Su Ze reached the door, the alley was already crowded with carriages.

Su Ze had no choice but to dismount. He soon discovered that these carriages were all heading towards Wang Anshi's house.

When they were almost at the gate of Wang Anshi's house, they could no longer even walk or lead the horse. At this moment, the gate of Wang Anshi's house creaked open, and Wang Anshi, dressed in a coarse scholar's robe, walked out and said to the people at the door:
"Wang has already made an engagement with a woman from his mother's clan. He will be returning home to get married soon. Please return."

It turns out that it is about finding a son-in-law from the list.

Su Ze suddenly realized.

After all, Wang Anshi was the fourth-ranked Jinshi with a bright future. Naturally, no one would dare to use the idea of ​​knocking someone unconscious at the bottom of the list and then going back to get married to someone else.

However, after learning that Wang Anshi was unmarried, people came to propose marriage one after another.

Wang Anshi had clarified more than once that he was already engaged, but the alley was still crowded with people coming to propose marriage every day.

Su Ze remembered that Wang Anshi's fiancée, Mrs. Wu, was from the Wu family of Jinxi, Jiangxi, just like his mother, Mrs. Wu, and was Wang Anshi's cousin.

When Wang Anshi was thirteen years old, his grandfather passed away. He followed his father to his hometown of Linchuan to observe mourning. At that time, he often went out to play with his cousins ​​from the Wu family in the neighboring county. He and his fiancée must have been childhood sweethearts and had already decided on their marriage.

The Jinxi Wu family was also a prominent family, and the number of Jinshi graduates from the family was more than that of the Wang family. This kind of marriage between close relatives was also normal in the Song Dynasty.

Su Ze couldn't help but sigh that Wang Anshi really had the script of a winner in life.

The young man passed the imperial examination and had a smooth official career, with people recommending him along the way.

He also has a cousin who is childhood sweetheart. If this isn’t the hero of a cool novel, then what is?
After hearing this, the people waiting for marriage proposals in the alley gradually dispersed, and Su Ze finally squeezed to the door of Wang Anshi's house.

Wang Anshi was delighted to see Su Ze. He quickly said:
"When did Brother Su come?"

"When Brother Jiefu said he wanted to get married."

Wang Anshi rarely showed any expression, but his face was too dark to show it. He said to Su Ze:

"Zeng Zigu has arrived. Today, we have several new friends to introduce to Brother Su! Come in!"

(End of this chapter)