Reborn Ming Dynasty as Emperor

Chapter 223 Zhang Dai is the Chief Writer

With the spread of newspapers and periodicals in Ming Dynasty, the profession of newsboy came into being.

Since the late Ming Dynasty, a large number of self-cultivating farmers have gone bankrupt, and it is more common in affluent places such as Jiangnan. A large number of landless people have poured into Nanjing, Suzhou and Hangzhou, and there are also many wandering orphans. Before that, Many orphans can only rely on begging to survive, but now that they have a job as a newspaper boy, it has solved the survival problem of many newspaper boys.

Zhu Youxiao saw a boy in short jacket shouting while carrying a cloth bag, so he said to Wang Chengen with some interest, "Go and buy one."

As Zhu Youxiao spoke, he asked Wei Zhongxian who was on the side: "How old are these newspaper sellers, how much income do they earn, and can they survive?"

"Returning to Your Majesty, they are all only twelve or thirteen years old. Most of them are the children of some poor people. Instead of letting them work long-term jobs for the big households in the city without staying up day and night, it is better for me to call them together to sell newspapers. They don’t have money for big households and can only take care of one meal, while our "Daming Daily" pays money according to the number of newspapers sold. A newsboy can earn five or six taels of silver in one month, which is enough for them to supplement their families or live on their own. .”

Wei Zhongxian replied.

Zhu Youxiao nodded: "After all, you are still a child, and you should focus on your studies. Since you, Wei Zhongxian, can think of using them to sell newspapers to make a living, you should also support them in their studies. Whether my Daming's Qianqiu foundation can be passed on forever? It's not about you, a clueless guy, but about them, understand?"

"Weichen understands that Weichen has funded the construction of several private schools in Nanjing City, providing free education to the children of these poor families, and the newsboys are also selected from these children, and they just sell newspapers after school every day", After Wei Zhongxian said this, Zhu Youxiao didn't say anything more.

At this time, Wang Chengen had already thrown a silver ingot to the newsboy, and then walked towards Zhu Youxiao with a newspaper.

When Zhu Youxiao saw this "Daming Daily", it has improved a lot from the previous "Daming Daily". The font is obviously much thinner, and the content capacity has increased a lot. He smiled and said, "Okay, Wei Zhongxian, this font is as thin as a mosquito. It seems that the improvement of the printing technology by the Royal Academy of Engineering has also helped your Daming Daily a lot."

As soon as Zhu Youxiao said that, he ordered to go to the location of "Daming Daily". For "Daming Daily", it can be said that Zhu Youxiao's biggest hero in Jiangnan has done a lot of merit for his political propaganda over the years. Zhu Youxiao came Jiang Nan had to go and see this great hero.

Wei Zhongxian was naturally very happy. The most successful thing he did after he came to Jiangnan was to establish the "Daming Daily", and even though he left the capital, he never reduced his influence in the political and literary world , and even now he has become the main controller of the Ming Dynasty's ideological circle.

Because of the growing strength of the "Daming Daily", Wei Zhongxian also has a large group of literati groups of his own. Some literati not only no longer call him a castrate, but regard him as a leader in the literary world. With his own prestige, he also began to do some good deeds within his capacity with great fanfare.

When he arrived at a three-entry courtyard, Wei Zhongxian came to Zhu Youxiao first: "Your Majesty, this is the Daming Daily, because there are too many editors recruited now, and the guardian eunuch's mansion of Weichen can no longer live, so I decided to buy it." A mansion was specially provided for Da Ming Daily."

Zhu Youxiao ignored this issue. At the beginning, he only proposed to Wei Zhongxian the purpose of setting up a newspaper, but he didn't tell Wei Zhongxian how to do it, or what status he should give to Daming Daily after it was done. The emperor has a lot of affairs.

Thinking about it now, Wei Zhongxian is now able to turn one of his ideas into reality, and let the "Da Ming Daily" play an important role in many major events. I have to admit that Wei Zhongxian still has strong comprehension and execution.

However, there are indeed many problems with the "Daming Daily". For example, although the "Daming Daily" is already an important mouthpiece of the imperial court, it does not have a clear administrative and functional positioning. In many cases, it is more like a private workshop of Wei Zhongxian.

Zhu Youxiao looked up and saw that the mansion was magnificent and solemn. There was a plaque of "Da Ming Daily" hanging on a black lacquered gate, and under the plaque was Wei Zhongxian's own postscript, so he said with a smile: "Special dial It would be a good thing to give the mansion to the Ming Daily, but the words on the plaque are not enough. However, I said Wei Zhongxian, you don’t know how to find a great Confucian to inscribe the words, and using your own inscriptions will drop the price. "

Hearing what Zhu Youxiao said, Wei Zhongxian smiled a little embarrassedly: "Your Majesty is very right. I originally wanted to invite a picture of His Majesty's Royal Treasure, but I was afraid of profaning it."

After hearing this, Zhu Youxiao stared at Wei Zhongxian speechlessly. He didn't have any good calligraphy skills, so he turned to Li Mingrui and said, "Li Mingrui, you can write these four characters."

Li Mingrui is a scholar of the cabinet and enjoys a high reputation in the literary world, and he has been a popular figure recently, so it is appropriate for him to write a plaque for "Da Ming Daily". Wei Zhongxian is also very happy to see this, and he is busy Prepare to serve with the Four Treasures of the Study.

So, everyone walked into the house where the "Daming Daily" was located. As soon as they came to the big screen wall in the front yard, Zhu Youxiao smelled a smell of ink, and waited until Wei Zhongxian took him into a study room, and waited for Li Mingrui to inscribe When the word "Daming Daily" was four words, Zhu Youxiao also asked Wei Zhongxian to report the current basic situation of Daming Daily.

"Reporting to Your Majesty, the Daming Daily is now mainly divided into four groups, one is the editorial group, which mainly collects useful news from various places; the other is the text editorial group, which is mainly responsible for collecting various manuscripts and suggesting review and revision; the other is typesetting The group is responsible for typesetting and matching pictures of all kinds of articles and news to be reported; then it is correction, correcting mistakes, and then printing. After printing, it will be handed over to the newsboy or the delivery group will send the newspaper to the subscriber In the hands, it is mainly the yamen and academies at all levels, as well as the families of the gentry."

Wei Zhongxian said again: "The editors of all these groups add up to hundreds of people in Nanjing alone, but they are still too busy every day. Now more and more people subscribe to newspapers, and there are more and more newspapers in Suzhou, Hangzhou, Songyang and other places. There are also branches, and the scale will be even larger.”

"Who is the editor-in-chief of the Great Ming Daily now?" Zhu Youxiao couldn't help asking.

Wei Zhongxian hurriedly replied: "Zhang Dai, this person has a long-standing reputation in the literary world. His writing style and talent are naturally excellent, and he knows everything. I paid a lot of money to invite him to be the chief editor of this Daming Daily, but this person also has shares. Arrogant, unwilling to be flexible, a few days ago because my minister wanted him to write an advertisement for Luoji Liangpu in Daming Daily, but he sternly refused, and left angrily, scolding me for falling into Qian's eyes The newspapers and periodicals in which the common people got a glimpse of the political affairs of the dynasty have been turned into a tool for making money."

(End of this chapter)