Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 376: A Daily Issue in the Future? Old Zhu Asks About New Crops [Subscription Request]

"Your Majesty, since the court already has a gazette, this newly created newspaper must be distinct from it and have its own functions."

"Currently, the imperial gazette is read by officials in the various government offices of the imperial court, while the newspaper Your Majesty is going to create is primarily for the vast number of scholars outside the imperial court. This is a very good distinction, namely, the distinction between the reading groups."

"Secondly, the Imperial Gazette basically publishes official documents. So even if this new newspaper is mainly used to publicize imperial policies, it cannot directly publish official documents like the Imperial Gazette."

"It should explain and publicize the court's policies from a side perspective, quoting at most one or several paragraphs from court documents."

"And in order for readers to accept and even welcome new newspapers and periodicals, their articles should be readable, that is, they should be interesting to read."

"Finally, newspapers and periodicals must be timely. After all, some of the court's policies must be disseminated within a certain period of time in order to achieve the desired effect."

"Based on current printing technology, I suggest that the court's newspaper be published every ten days."

Upon hearing this, Zhu Biao, who was familiar with both Natural Science and Overseas Scenery, couldn't help but ask, "Published every ten days? Isn't the schedule too tight?"

Liu Kuan said: "The time for publishing a new publication every ten days is indeed tight, but under the current conditions, we can give it a try."

Upon hearing this, Old Zhu and Zhu Biao realized that Liu Kuan was going to reveal some useful information again, and both showed expressions of interest.

As expected, Liu Kuan continued, "A newspaper company, that is, an institution that publishes newspapers and periodicals, can train a professional editing team to be responsible for collecting folk songs and writing articles needed by newspapers and periodicals."

"In addition to explaining and publicizing the court's policies, newspapers and periodicals can also report on important and new happenings among the people, preferably those related to people's livelihoods, the economy, and other issues that concern the entire nation."

"If we train this editorial team to be able to produce the articles needed for a full issue of a newspaper every ten days, then this will naturally be accomplished."

"Of course, the new newspaper cannot be as thick as Overseas Scenery. It can be octavo, octavo, or even quarto."

This time, it was Zhu Yuanzhang who voiced his doubts, asking, "Even if it's a quarto newspaper, it would require quite a lot of content, right? Can it really be completed within ten days?"

Liu Kuan smiled and asked, "Your Majesty, do you know how often newspapers will be published in the future?"

"how long?"

"daily!"

daily?!
Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao were both extremely surprised when they heard this.

Liu Kuan then continued, "That's why many newspapers and periodicals in later generations were called 'Morning News,' 'Daily News,' and so on, because they published new issues every day."

Zhu Biao murmured, "Published every day? Even if it's only four pages, how do they do it?"

Liu Kuan said, "Some things can only be done after trying."

Zhu Yuanzhang then asked, "Even if a newspaper can publish an issue every ten days, it would be difficult to deliver the newspaper to too many places for sale in such a short time, right?"

Liu Kuan said, "Given the current transportation conditions in the Ming Dynasty, a newspaper can only be distributed to this province and a few neighboring provinces within ten days."

"But Your Majesty, don't forget that the Ming Dynasty now has wireless telegraphs. If we can use wireless telegraphs in Peking, Xi'an, Chengdu, Kaifeng, Hangzhou, and Guangzhou to receive telegrams from the Beijing General Newspaper Office, it will be possible to distribute newspapers to the seventeen provinces of the Ming Dynasty within ten days."

Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Biao's eyes lit up - after all, they were not as accustomed to long-distance instant communication as Liu Kuan, so they did not think of using a wireless telegraph to spread newspaper content.

While the father and son were imagining the scene of transmitting newspaper contents using a wireless telegraph, Liu Kuan talked about something more important.

"Your Majesty, if the imperial court wishes to establish a newspaper for civilian distribution, it must regulate the newspaper and periodical industry, and indeed the entire publishing industry." "Currently, in addition to Natural Science and Overseas Scenery, many other publications have emerged in the Ming Dynasty newspaper and periodical industry. Some of these publications are not standardized, from the content they publish to the methods of distribution."

"If this continues, not only will the Ming newspaper industry become chaotic, but it may even lead to things that harm national interests in the future. We must be on guard."

Zhu Yuanzhang already understood the importance of propaganda, and now he realized that newspapers were an important form of "mouthpiece." After hearing Liu Kuan's words, he immediately took them seriously. "Oh, how do you think we can prevent it?"

Liu Kuan said, "First, we need to establish a government office specifically to manage such affairs, just like the Publishing Bureau in later generations that managed publishing affairs, the News Agency that managed news affairs, and so on."

"Secondly, the court must explain to the newspaper industry what kind of content cannot be published - for example, articles that seriously damage the reputation of the Ming Dynasty cannot be published, articles that slander court officials cannot be published, articles that spread rumors cannot be published, and so on."

"The final step is naturally to establish relevant laws - such as publishing laws, royalty laws, copyright protection laws, and so on."

Zhu Yuanzhang paused for a moment and asked, "Which ministry do you think should best place the News Agency and the Publishing Bureau?"

Liu Kuan said, "If we were to choose from the nine current ministries, the Ministry of Rites would be the obvious choice. However, I believe Your Majesty could take this opportunity to establish a tenth ministry, one dedicated to national propaganda."

Zhu Yuanzhang nodded. "We will give this matter careful consideration. Adding a new department is no small matter."

"However, according to what you said, our Ming Dynasty must definitely establish institutions such as the News Agency and the Publishing Bureau. Since you know these things, please go back and write a relevant memorial and submit it to me. How do you think?"

Liu Kuan didn't expect that he would be cheated again this time. His face suddenly turned bitter, but he still agreed.

Then, Zhu Yuanzhang talked about another thing.

"Liu Kuan, tomorrow is the third day of August again. Do you still want to go to that bridge?"

"Your Majesty, I will go."

Zhu Yuanzhang asked, "If the strange fog doesn't appear again this year, it will have been four years. Does that mean it will never appear again in the future?"

Liu Kuan shook his head, "I don't know either."

"Well, you can leave now."

"Yes."

After Liu Kuan left Fengxian Hall, Zhu Yuanzhang said, "Biao'er, I'm sure you know how important propaganda is to the court. Therefore, you must personally take charge of establishing the Publishing Bureau, the News Agency, and other government offices in the future."

Zhu Biao nodded, "I am awake."

"By the way, the sweet potatoes and corn in Jiangnan should be almost harvest season, right? How are the sweet potatoes and corn that Yingtianfu promoted growing?"

When Zhu Yuanzhang asked about this, Zhu Biao couldn't help but smile and said, "Your Majesty, I just visited some villages that have adopted the planting of new crops a few days ago. Although it will take ten days or half a month for the sweet potatoes to be harvested, they can already dig up abundant fruits now."

"The corn is also growing well. Farmers who were initially reluctant to plant sweet potatoes and corn are now grinning from ear to ear as they see these two new crops."

Zhu Yuanzhang laughed and said, "Then the farmers in Gejiakou, who you promised, must be grinning from ear to ear."

　Second update.

　　Good night~
　　
　　
　
(End of this chapter)