My Portable Ming Dynasty

Chapter 121: Tangtang Serialization
Li Chunfang's face was as gloomy as water, and his eyes were fixed on Su Ze. The strong sense of oppression made Su Ze's back cold. So this was the pressure from the Prime Minister of the Cabinet?

After a long while, Li Chunfang finally said:

"I happen to have a book of folk stories in my hand. I'll send it to the newspaper tomorrow. As the editor-in-chief, you can decide for yourself whether it's suitable."

After saying this, Li Chunfang simply sent the guest away and kicked Su Ze out of his mansion.

Su Ze wiped the sweat from his forehead. It turns out that Lord Li, you are really that!

Su Ze then laughed and said, "Lord Li, you don't want your cabinet colleagues to know that you were slacking off at work and writing novels, right?"
But no matter what, my goal was achieved.

No creator can resist the temptation to have their work passed down through the ages.

When Li Chunfang reached his position, he had power, wealth and status. What he lacked was just a reputation, right?
If I can fulfill his wish, won’t his favorability increase rapidly?
What's more, this is a win-win situation for both parties.

The number of subscribers to Yuefu Xinbao has reached a bottleneck. Relying on government offices and local guilds, the number of subscriptions has reached its upper limit.

In order to break the upper limit of newspaper sales, it is necessary to expand the readership circle.

There is a great need for the serialization of a work of popular literature that can cause a sensation.

The most famous example is Ming Pao. This original Hong Kong tabloid eventually became a famous newspaper after Jin Yong published his martial arts novels in Ming Pao.

If Su Ze wants to use Yuefu Xinbao to leverage public opinion and truly turn it into a newspaper that can influence the entire urban class, he also needs Li Chunfang's novel.

Su Ze thought further, Li Chunfang has already confirmed whether the author of "Jin Ping Mei" is Wang Shizhen?
Wang Shizhen should have just finished his mourning period and is preparing to take up the post in Zhejiang to participate in politics, right?
Wang Shizhen's father, Wang Rong, served as the governor of Ji and Liao during the Jiajing period. Because of his discord with Yan Song and the failure of border battles, Wang Rong was ordered by Emperor Jiajing to be executed in Xishi.

After Emperor Longqing ascended the throne, he rehabilitated Wang Rong, and Zhang Juzheng played a role in this.

Yes, Zhang Juzheng and Wang Shizhen still have a good relationship and are still good friends.

The two men turned against each other when Zhang Juzheng arranged for Wang Shizhen to serve as the Censor of Huguang. Wang Shizhen was recommended by Zhang Juzheng to be an official in Huguang. After taking office, he was the first to impeach Zhang Juzheng's brother-in-law, and the two became enemies from then on.

Su Ze shook his head. Our Yuefu Xinbao is a serious newspaper. How could it be possible for it to publish a book like Jin Ping Mei!

But Wang Shizhen was a leader in the literary world. While Zhang Juzheng and Wang Shizhen had not yet fallen out, Zhang Juzheng could ask Wang Shizhen to write for him someday, which would help improve the reputation of Yuefu Xinbao.
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On November 25, Shi Duchen, deputy envoy of the Liao expedition, escorted the King of Liao into the capital under the protection of Yu Dayou, deputy commander of Huguang.

Emperor Longqing was furious about the Liao prince's rebellious behavior and ordered the Ministry of Rites, the Censorate and the Dali Temple to jointly try the Liao prince's case.

Since the matter involves a prince, it is normal for the Ministry of Rites to attend the trial.

The Dali Temple was also one of the judicial departments of the Ming Dynasty, and attendance was a common practice.

However, the Censorate replaced the Ministry of Justice to attend the case. The Ministry of Justice, which advocated criminal law, could not attend such a serious case. This was enough to illustrate the emperor's attitude towards the Ministry of Justice.

Those officials who once supported the Ministry of Justice were heartbroken. The emperor had used this trial to show his attitude.

As for the King of Liao, who cared about his life or death? How could the officials in the capital really care about the life or death of a prince from Jingzhou?

On November 26, King Zhu Xianwei of Liao pleaded guilty in court, and the three courts quickly reported to the emperor.

Emperor Longqing sent the chief minister, the noble Duke of Chengguo Zhu Xizhong, to offer sacrifices to the ancestral temple on his behalf, enumerating the crimes of the King of Liao. After that, he abolished the King of Liao's fiefdom according to the laws of his ancestors, set an end to the precedent of the King of Dai, confiscated the land of the King of Liao's palace, distributed the land to the Liao royal family, lifted the ban on the Liao vassal states, and reformed the Liao vassal states.

As for Zhu Xianwei, the King of Liao, he was sentenced to death by the Three Courts. Emperor Longqing approved the execution of Zhu Xianwei, the King of Liao, in Xishi.

After the trial of King Liao was concluded, Hong Chaoxuan, the assistant minister of the Ministry of Justice, hurried back to the court.

When Hong Chaoxuan heard from the Ministry of Justice officials that the case of King Liao had been decided, he fainted after a long journey.

With the execution of the King of Liao, Hong Chaoxuan, who had always protected the King of Liao, was already politically dead.

No one cares about Hong Chaoxuan's life or death. The ministers from the ministries and agencies are in a panic, worried about the cabinet's liquidation.

The person who benefited the most from this Liao Wang case was Shi Duchen, the former deputy censor of Huguang.

Shi Duchen was specially commended by Emperor Longqing and was directly appointed as the fourth rank Censor-in-Chief.

The Deputy Censor was also of the fourth rank, but the Chief Censor was a Beijing official, and the Censorate was a second-rank official in the Nine Ministers' Office.

The high level of the Censorate proves that there are many ways to be promoted in the Censorate.

Officials in the capital are more valuable than local officials. Officials in the capital who are appointed to other posts are generally promoted three levels. So for Shi Duchen, he gained a lot from the Liao Wang case this time and directly took the key step from the local area to the capital.

With this qualification, Shi Duchen could continue to be promoted in Beijing, and if he moved to another province, he could serve as the chief official of a province, such as the provincial governor. He was on the road to becoming a senior official.

Compared to Shi Duchen, the rising political star, the other appointment was much more low-key.

Yu Dayou was transferred to the post of commander-in-chief of Shandong, and concurrently served as the Denglai Maritime Patrol Envoy, becoming the supreme commander of Shandong's army and navy.

The position of Commander-in-Chief has always been held by nobles or military generals, and his promotion path is different from that of civil officials, so this appointment did not attract much attention.

But anyone who pays attention to the opening of the Denglai port understands that Yu Dayou held these two positions just to provide escort for the opening of the Denglai port.

Yu Dayou made great achievements in the Southeast War to Suppress the Japanese, and was later transferred to Guangdong to pacify the sea, where he had a strong deterrent effect on major maritime forces.

Some merchants and pirates who wanted to take advantage of the opening of Denglai Port to fish in troubled waters and create trouble on the Denglai waterway were frightened and stopped after hearing the news.

Naturally, Su Ze fought for this appointment.

Gao Gong was happy to send a famous general like Yu Dayou to Shandong to maintain order, and Zhang Juzheng also needed Yu Dayou to intervene in the Denglai port affairs.

The least noticeable thing in this storm is several other personnel appointments.

Shen Yikuan received the emperor's grace and was exempted from the Hanlin Academy selection and was directly appointed as a seventh-rank Hanlin editor.

Immediately afterwards, Shen Yikuan was stuffed by Zhu Dashou into the team of lecturers in the Eastern Palace.

Luo Wanhua had already entered the Zhanshi Mansion, but had not been appointed as the Prince's Lecturer. This time, he was specially appointed by Emperor Longqing to be the Prince's Lecturer.

However, unlike Shen Yikuan, Luo Wanhua wrote to the emperor, stating that his main focus was currently on compiling "The Illustrated Book of the Emperor", and hoped to complete the book as soon as possible and compile it into a textbook for teaching the prince, and resigned from the position of lecturer for the prince.

Emperor Longqing was very satisfied with Luo Wanhua's attitude towards academic research, and ordered him to submit the first draft of "The Illustrated Explanation of the Emperor's Mirror".

After reading it, Emperor Longqing was even more satisfied. He issued an edict to commend Luo Wanhua and the entire "Imperial Mirror Illustrated Explanation" compilation team, and promoted Luo Wanhua to the position of Right Vice Minister of the Right Spring Office, catching up with Su Ze in official rank. As for Su Ze, considering that he had only been in office for half a year and his promotion speed was too alarming, Emperor Longqing did not give him a direct reward.

Li Chunfang, the chief minister of the cabinet and the chief executive officer of Yuefu Xinbao, wrote a letter to the emperor, saying that the workload of the newspaper had greatly increased due to the addition of pages to Yuefu Xinbao, and requested that two deputy editors-in-chief be added to the newspaper, who would be officials from the Hanlin Academy or scholars.

Emperor Longqing directly approved Li Chunfang's memorial, and when the news reached the Hanlin Academy, it immediately caused a sensation in the academy.

The Hanlin Academy is a place of nobility, but there are also old Hanlin scholars who have endured for decades without being able to make a breakthrough.

Through Su Ze’s example, smart people also understand that if you want to stand out, you must make the emperor and ministers remember you, which is the so-called "Jian in the emperor's heart".

Luo Wanhua and Shen Yikuan, who were in the same year as Su Ze, both benefited from it and took a key step that many old Hanlin scholars could not take in years.

The circulation of "Yuefu Xinbao" was growing, and its influence in the capital was also growing. It was said that the emperor, cabinet ministers, and the nine officials of the capital would read "Yuefu Xinbao" every day, and the crown prince was a loyal fan of the newspaper.

If I could become the deputy editor-in-chief, I might be remembered by these bigwigs.

Of course, for those Hanlin officials, the position of deputy editor-in-chief did not have much appeal.

However, for those scholars of the same age as Su Ze, seeing the example of Shen Yikuan who skipped the imperial examination and was directly appointed as a Hanlin, they began to find Shen Yikuan or Luo Wanhua to use their connections in order to squeeze into the newspaper office.

And all this was the "reward" from the emperor and the cabinet to Su Ze.

The two newly appointed deputy editors-in-chief had a superior-subordinate relationship with Su Ze, and the newspaper, a virtual institution, began to transform into a physical institution.

Newspapers themselves are tools of great influence. Su Ze now has funds and personnel, and it is very likely that a political force called "New Newspaper Group" will emerge in the court in the future.

Su Ze looked at the visiting cards that were piled up like snowflakes, and finally chose two people of the same age, namely Wang Jiaping, whose ancestral home was Datong, Shanxi, and Zhang Wei, whose ancestral home was Nanchang, Jiangxi.

The reason is naturally very simple. Both of them entered the cabinet during the Wanli period and served as the chief minister of the cabinet.

Wang Jiaping was thirty-one years old, a tall scholar who was a little overweight. Perhaps because his ancestral home was in Shanxi, he was straightforward and impatient, but he had a strong Shanxi accent and was not very famous among his peers.

Zhang Wei was 29 years old and had a more radical personality than Wang Jiaping. He was also one of the few newly-appointed Jinshi who was very interested in military affairs. He often talked about military affairs in the Hanlin Academy and was regarded as a weirdo by his peers.

Shen Yikuan didn't interact much with the two of them, and didn't know why Su Ze chose these two people, but he was now completely impressed by Su Ze. Since he was chosen by Su Zilin, he must have something extraordinary.

Luo Wanhua and Wang Jiaping unexpectedly hit it off. Both of them were very interested in compiling "The Illustrated Book of the Emperor". Su Ze simply handed Wang Jiaping over to Luo Wanhua. If "The Illustrated Book of the Emperor" was completed as soon as possible, he, as the initiator and nominal editor, would also get considerable benefits.

Su Ze handed the important news section of the first edition of "Yuefu Xinbao" to Wang Jiaping, and asked him to be responsible for selecting the important news in the newspaper.

Zhang Wei preferred his job of running a newspaper. He also suggested adding a military section to the "Yuefu Xinbao", but of course this was rejected by Su Ze.

Are you kidding? Do you want to publish the geography of mountains and rivers or the military strategies and weapons in the newspaper?
In the Ming Dynasty, leaking military secrets would result in the death penalty.

But Zhang Wei did give Su Ze an inspiration. The military of the Ming Dynasty cannot be discussed, but foreign countries can!
Japan was in the midst of a civil war known as the "Warring States Period". As we all know, wartime was also a time when various new military ideas and technologies emerged.

It is entirely possible to write some articles about the civil war in Japan, and to collect intelligence in advance for the future war against Japan.

In addition, Europe is currently experiencing a period of rapid change.

Ever since Martin Luther put forward the Ninety-Five Theses, the German Protestant princes and the traditional Catholic forces in Europe have been gearing up for battle, and a Thirty Years' War that will sweep across the European continent is about to begin.

Before the Thirty Years' War broke out, there were constant conflicts on the European continent, which also accelerated the development of various military ideas and technologies.

Once I have established an external intelligence network, I can let Zhang Wei set up a separate section to discuss the latest military ideas and technologies.

Of course, the time has not come yet, so Su Ze handed the layout of the third edition of the imperial examination model essays to Zhang Wei, and also handed the review of the sixth edition of mountains and rivers and geography to Zhang Wei.

With the addition of two new oxen and horses, plus Shen Li who was tricked into doing the work before, and Xu Wei who assisted him in handling the fourth edition of "The Voice of the Garden of Music", Su Ze was finally able to spare some energy to be responsible for the fifth edition of "Investigating Things and Seeking Knowledge".

The article Su Ze wrote this time was about cotton.
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After a new issue of "Yuefu Xinbao" was delivered to the Eastern Palace, Zhang Hong, the personal eunuch of Crown Prince Zhu Yijun, hurried to Zhu Yijun's bedroom with the newspaper.

"Your Highness, a new newspaper has arrived."

Zhu Yijun was bored when he heard that a new newspaper had arrived. He quickly stood up and urged Zhang Hongxian to start reading the short stories on the second edition of "Voice of the City".

Zhu Yijun was still young, and the future emperor did not need to take the imperial examination. He could not understand the excitement of scholars winning the imperial examination, so he was not very interested in the fourth edition of "The Female Number One Scholar".

The second edition's short, bizarre stories in vernacular language fascinated Zhu Yijun even more.

It was a pity that the story was too short. Zhu Yijun was still not satisfied after listening to it. He snatched the newspaper and started reading it himself.

The sixth edition of "Investigating Things to Gain Knowledge", this time it talks about cotton seeds?
Su Ze introduced the characteristics of cotton seeds. In addition to talking about several overseas varieties of cotton, Su Ze also talked about cottonseed oil.

"Cottonseed is the seed of the cotton plant. While its oil is edible, long-term and excessive consumption of this oil can cause sperm deficiency in men. This is not an exaggeration. In Suzhou Prefecture, where I live, there was a village that loved to eat this oil. After a few years, the number of babies crying in the village gradually decreased."

After reading this, Zhu Yijun almost threw the newspaper to the ground. You have to know that in this era where "the three unfilial acts are to have no descendants and the worst one is to have no offspring", infertility is a serious crime that will be punished by the ancestors.

Zhang Hong quickly said:

"Your Highness, don't worry. I know that cottonseed oil has a strange smell and is only consumed by poor families. There is no such thing in the Eastern Palace!"

Zhu Yijun finally breathed a sigh of relief and continued reading:

"The proper way to study nature is to make the best use of everything. Although this oil is not suitable for food, it does have its place. Cottonseed oil, combined with wood ash and brine, can be saponified to make soap. This can significantly reduce the cost of washing clothes and provide a new source of profit for oil mills. Cotton fields are expanding in the southeast, and cottonseed is piling up like mountains. If we could turn this waste into something valuable, it would be a boon for both the people and the nation."

After reading it, Zhu Yijun was deeply moved and said:
"Cottonseed oil can actually be used in this way. If used well, it benefits the people, but if used poorly, it harms them. Master Su is truly talented!"

But Xiao Pangjun quickly said:

"But you can't use this cottonseed soap on my clothes."

"Your servant understands!"

Zhu Yijun really had nothing else to read, so he could only turn to the "Voice of Quyuan" section.

Huh? Is the top female scholar finished?

What is this? Journey to the West?
Is the author the owner of Huayang Cave?

(End of this chapter)