My Portable Ming Dynasty

Chapter 61 Readers (Thank you for your support)
Zhao Zhenji was a disciple of the School of Mind. After reading Su Ze's "Daily Life Guidelines for the Common People", he almost got angry.

When did daily life become like this?
Wang Gen of Taizhou's daily way of life is actually to put "conscience" into daily life. He advocates living a good life according to one's own desires, and experiencing conscience from daily affairs, so as to achieve the realm of sages.

How could Su Ze misinterpret it into this thing!

Zhao Zhenji wanted to curse, but he couldn't say anything.

If it were in the imperial examination, Zhao Zhenji would definitely give Su Ze's article zero points.

But if it is published in the newspaper, there is no problem with this article.

Is this what ordinary people use in daily life?

Did Su Ze glimpse the truth from the things he saw in daily life?

The key point is that his logic seems to be self-consistent. Even Zhao Zhenji couldn't help but go back to find a piece of glass to try to make the "magnifying glass" that Su Ze mentioned.

His eyesight has deteriorated over the years and he can't even see the boys in some books clearly. If he could really make a magnifying glass, he wouldn't have to ask his son to read to him.

Reading is more interesting when you read quietly by yourself. Listening to others read is always less interesting.

Unlike Zhang Juzheng and Zhao Zhenji, Prime Minister Li Chunfang was more interested in the fourth page of the newspaper.

Xu Wei's "The Female Number One Scholar" has actually been circulated for a long time. Xu Wei worked as a consultant for Li Chunfang at that time, and Li Chunfang himself had read it.

However, compared with the version I have read, Xu Wei's version this time has a more vivid plot, and the fragment is exactly where the plot rises and falls, which just makes people want to continue reading.

The more Li Chunfang read, the more exquisite it seemed to him, and he felt that he had learned something from it.

If I write it myself, can it be published in "Yuefu Xinbao"?

Li Chunfang quickly pushed this idea out of his mind. As the Prime Minister of the current dynasty, it would be a disgrace for him to publish such a vernacular novel in the newspaper. It would be better to wait until he retires before doing so.

Gao Gong picked up the newspaper, but he only read the first page.

His son's official career had been cut off by him personally, so naturally he didn't need to read any eight-legged essays.

Gao Gong was a workaholic and had no interest in opera scripts.

The economic issues in the second edition had nothing to do with him, a senior official in charge of the Ministry of Personnel.

Gao Gong appreciated the first edition of important court news more.

Compared with the long and boring court reports, the important news summarized by Su Ze's editor are concise and can always clearly outline the major events happening in the court.

Moreover, Su Ze seemed to have used a more concise but precise format for official documents, which immediately caught the attention of Gao Gong, who was very sensitive to the work of the Ministry of Personnel.

As the Minister of Personnel, Gao Gong also had to deal with a large number of official documents from the Ministry of Personnel. He was also troubled by those cumbersome documents.

During the day, Gao Gong drafted memorials in the cabinet, and at night he had to go back to handle official business in the Ministry of Personnel. Even though Gao Gong was full of energy, he felt a little overwhelmed.

What’s more crucial is that the officials in the Ministry of Personnel always like to include what they really want to say at the very end of lengthy official documents!

For example, what the Ministry of Personnel likes to do most is called vague promotion.

These are officials who were dismissed by the court. Logically, they should not be promoted at will. For some officials who were dismissed, the emperor would order them not to be promoted for several years.

However, there were so many officials who were dismissed or failed the imperial examinations every year that it was impossible for the emperor and the cabinet to remember them all.

When the Ministry of Personnel promotes officials, it will also include these dismissed officials.

As to whether this was intentional or accidental, everyone knows it.

This kind of illegal promotion, deliberately ignoring the stains of the promoted officials and using roundabout ways to get promoted, is called vague promotion.

Just a few days ago, Gao Gong saw Hu Yingjia, his political enemy who had once impeached him, on the long list of people recommended for promotion in the Ministry of Personnel.

If Gao Gong had not read the official documents carefully that day, Hu Yingjia would have gone to Nanjing Kedao after this promotion!

Gao Gong severely punished the official in charge of the list, but he also knew that this would only serve as a temporary deterrent. With so many officials to be reshuffled each year, and the Ministry of Personnel still having a heavy workload, if a minister who wasn't very responsible was involved, the potential for fraudulent promotions would be countless. Gao Gong put down the newspaper, picked up a pen, and wrote a letter to Su Ze, asking him to summarize the format of the official document from the first edition of the newspaper. Gao Gong planned to promote this refined format throughout the Ministry of Personnel to improve its efficiency.

Most of the cabinet ministers gave positive reviews to Su Ze's newspaper, but among the nine ministries, Yuefu Xinbao received rave reviews!

Although the imperial court had its own gazette, the number of copies printed was small, and one had to reach a certain rank to have one's own gazette.

If ordinary officials wanted to see the court reports, they had to go to the yamen’s cabinet to read them themselves.

Of course, wealthy officials could ask their disciples and staff to copy the court bulletins from the cabinet, but for ordinary officials in Beijing, hiring someone to copy the court bulletins was still too luxurious.

Most low-level officials could only queue up at the Jiageku to read the court bulletins.

The "Yuefu Xinbao" subscribed by all the major government offices was much more than the official gazette, and many middle and low-level officials could also borrow the newspaper.

Compared with the court bulletin, the Yuefu New Report is much better looking.

The officials who were reading the newspapers couldn't put them down, while the officials waiting in line to read the newspapers complained to their superiors why they didn't order more newspapers and didn't know when it would be their turn to read them.

In this way, officials of all ranks in the major government offices in the capital were reading newspapers throughout the afternoon.

Other government offices have newspapers to read, so who doesn’t have one?
Of course, it is the Six Ministries and the Censorate.

In the corridor of the six departments, the six department officials shouted loudly, as if they were ready to fight Su Ze to the death.

Zhang Xianchen, the Imperial Censor of the Ministry of Revenue, also cursed a few words along with his colleagues, but he scoffed at their behavior.

If you scold Su Ze every day, can you really kill him?
If he could be scolded to death, Yan Song would not have been able to run the country for decades!

When Zhang Xianchen, the Minister of Revenue, returned home, he saw the "Yuefu Xinbao" handed to him by the steward.

"Where did this newspaper come from?"

The steward immediately said:

"My Lord, this was sent from the Suzhou Guild Hall."

Zhang Xianchen was from Kunshan County, Suzhou Prefecture. Even if he was placed in Nanzhili, he and Su Ze were half fellow townsmen.

He was also familiar with Manager Huang of the Suzhou Guild Hall, so when he heard that it was him who delivered the newspaper, he was not so resistant.

"Why does the guild hall have newspapers?"

The Zhang family steward immediately said:

"These were all bought by the guilds. The Suzhou Guild took the lead in buying dozens of copies, saying they wanted to help Su Hanlin run the newspaper. Some were sent back to Suzhou Prefecture, and some were delivered to the homes of fellow townsmen in Beijing."

"I heard that the newspaper has received very good response, and many associations have also contacted the newspaper office to subscribe to it."

Zhang Xianchen flipped through the newspaper and was immediately attracted.

After briefly reading a few pages, Zhang Xianchen sighed:
"It's a pity that Su Zilin did so well in the exam."

"?"

"If Su Zilin wasn't a Shujishi, he would definitely be sent to the Ministry of Justice to observe politics. If he were a censor, he would be far superior to the other officials in the six departments!"

The manager of Zhang's house thought his master was crazy. Only those who ranked lower than Shujishi among the Jinshi would go to the Kedao to observe politics. Who would want to be a censor instead of being a Hanlin with a bright future?
He had also read the newspaper before Zhang Xianchen returned home. This Su Hanlin's talent was indeed extraordinary.

According to the Suzhou Guild Hall, a year's subscription to a newspaper like this only costs ten taels of silver.

My nephews and nephews back home are going to take the imperial examinations. Should I ask Manager Zhang to send one to them as well? —
In the Eastern Palace, eunuch Zhang Hong, who was sent to the Eastern Palace by Li Fang, read jokes from the newspaper to Crown Prince Zhu Yijun, making the little fat man laugh out loud.

The little fat man asked with unsatisfied interest, "Master Su is also a lecturer in the East Palace, right? Tomorrow, I invite Master Su to tell jokes to me. No, give me a lecture!"

Four chapters today, thank you for your support!

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(End of this chapter)