Beiyang new warlord

Central officials, the White House.

Mao Jue abolished the sit-in-the-government system. Anyway, it is not very efficient for everyone to discuss together, and it has become a weapon for party struggle. The central government does not meet every day in later generations. It is better to solve the problem with the regent's staff alone. A month-end summary meeting is held at the end of the month, which is very efficient.

Today, it is also rare that the adults from the six divisions and nine ministers gathered together, filling Mao Jue's large conference room.

But people are all gathered together, looking at the few behind with pens, even Song Xiance, Fan Wenju and other Dongjiang veterans dare not speak for a while. In the past, Jin Yiwei made small reports, only the emperor knew, and some people were not afraid of the emperor. You know, in order to highlight your clean life, you gnashed your teeth and scolded the emperor, but now you have said a wrong sentence and everyone knows it, no one dares to speak!

It was also the first time he encountered such a situation, and Mao Jue waved his hand with a headache.

"This meeting is a secret of the empire, so the interview is prohibited, you all retreat!"

"As ordered!"

More than a dozen reporters put away their notebooks and exited the room, which relieved the tense officials. Finally, Zhao Hede, the censor of the right capital, spoke first tremblingly.

"Your Highness, I really think it's inappropriate for His Royal Highness to publish the Imperial Daily Daily recently! How decent is it for the dignified court to order officials to let the people judge them? It really hurts the court's face!"

"I believe that newspapers should be banned!"

"Face of the court?"

After hearing this, Mao Jue couldn't help but sneered, stood up and asked, "Master Zhao, why are you an official?"

"I will be the regent, and I will serve as an official in order to be loyal to the regent!"

"Since this is the case, this king Kaihai encourages business, why did you write a letter to block criticism?"

"Business and commerce open the sea, it really disturbs people's hearts, and the minister is also thinking about the world"

Habitually, he brought out the big hat of the world again, but he had to wait for Zhao Hede to finish speaking, and Mao Jue interrupted him with a sneer: "Since it is for the sake of the world, why not be afraid of the people in the world's comments, you are not afraid of shadows Slant! Have you never heard of it?"

"Since you call yourself Qingliu, are you ashamed of others?"

After Mao Jue questioned him, the group of officials and censors who asked the question were speechless.

The days of talking nonsense relying on the innocence of officials are over. Indeed, the imperial court still can’t punish the censor. As long as you are not afraid of the world’s people poking your back, go ahead and talk!

"General!"

Hesitating, Song Xiance couldn't help but speak. Although he was against the newspaper in his heart, what he said was a little more reasonable.

"Newspapers are so influential! They even influence people's population. If they fall into the hands of people with ulterior motives, wouldn't it harm the world and shake the country?"

"Besides, the court's secrets are clear to the people at a glance. Once they fall into the hands of the empire, it will be of no benefit to the country. The emperor of the Chongzhen Dynasty lost his country without secrets, but it is vivid in our memory!"

"Song Qing's words are very true! But you can't give up eating because of choking! The legislation of the Imperial Press and Publishing Department on news reports is also in progress. The most basic regulations are prohibiting anti-Ming works and anti-social ones. Military secrets or important economic secrets can be Refuse to publish the interview, post it later! Newspapers only report on people's livelihood issues!"

"Besides, this newspaper is not my king's word! Opposition opinions can also be written and published in the newspaper. This king believes that people in the world are still reasonable! As long as your words are convincing, people in the world will naturally applaud Respond!"

"What's more important is the newspaper, which puts a shackle on you and me!"

His expression suddenly became serious, and Mao Jue said solemnly: "Everyone, we are in power. Mencius said: water can carry a boat, but it can also overturn it! When the power is too great to control, the emperor and ministers lose their sense of awe and do whatever they want. When squandering power for self-interest, the world will be turned upside down, there will be yellow scarves at the end of the Han Dynasty, there will be yellow nests at the end of the Tang Dynasty, there will be Mingjiao at the end of the Yuan Dynasty, and we still have Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong making waves in the Ming Dynasty!"

"Letting public opinion supervise us is not to make you uncomfortable, but to let everyone pick up the lost sense of awe, so that the court can go further! Everyone!"

Confucianism is really a classic, even Mao Jue couldn't help quoting the principles of Mencius. However, the simple truth is that the whole court became silent.

But in any case, since public opinion has come out, it is impossible to shrink back!All officials, including Mao Jue, can only slowly get used to accepting it!

Chapter 669. New style confrontation

Mao Jue’s move to the newspaper really hit the weakness of the traditional stubborn forces. There is no way, just like the capitalists, these big landlord families with Confucian scholarly families and beautiful skins are also rampant in their bones. Dirty things that bully men and women, otherwise, in the age of land, which is precious to everyone, how can they rely on normal means to monopolize the land of many entire places across townships and counties?

In the past, the sky was high and the emperor was far away. The central government actually had no good way to deal with this kind of local cancer. It could only watch them invade the country's taxes and harass the common people's lives and pretend to be deaf. But it is completely different.

First of all, the Feng-shaped railway network was built. During the Chongzhen period, it was expedited for [-] miles. It took twelve to fifteen days for the emergency military situation in Shaanxi to reach the capital. Now it only takes about six days for ordinary information. Although it is still not as fast as a phone call in later generations, But for the integration of ancient information, a revolutionary improvement has been achieved.

This also means that Ming's effective rule can last even further.

Secondly, there is the profession of being a reporter that people love and hate.

Regarding the establishment of a national newspaper, Mao Jue has obviously planned for a long time. When he was in Hangzhou to supervise the East India Company, he had secretly recruited literati for training in the name of the company, and at the same time tied it with the East India Company's storehouse and sent it to various places. Therefore, the construction of the General Administration of Press and Publication in the capital is just like pressing a switch to activate the body that has already been built.

Henan, Zhengcheng County, railway station.

It is considered lucky here, the fourth main railway line of the Ming Empire just passes through here. However, compared to the bustling railway stations in other counties, it is deserted here for some reason, and there is no one in the street. At night, there are many ghosts and shadows, only the Maritime Chamber where the East India Company opened here is solitary with lights on.

The business is cold, and the light is only slightly on in the private room on the second floor.

But the person sitting here is not a big person, a few mud legs in tattered clothes cowering in front of the lamp do not know what to say, a man in a black robe is hurriedly recording something.

Suddenly, there was a hasty knock on the door, and an employee of the East India Company panicked and said a few words in a low voice, the black cloak flew to the window in astonishment and looked down. flickering.

Turning around, the black cloak also said a few words hastily, and those ragged farmers immediately became confused as if they had lost their souls, but among them, an old farmer with a particularly solid body and an honest look seemed to have made a lot of decisions. Say something, at the end of the crowd, silent.

The crowd quickly went downstairs, ran from the back door to the small alley near the train station, pinched the pocket watch of Xiyang Lilai, stood guarding the door with black cloaks sweating profusely, and walked towards the dark train track from time to time Looking around, however, the train that was supposed to appear has been silent until now.

There was a knock on the front door, and several company boys were shouting anxiously behind the door, but here, the East India Company's face could not be opened. There was a bang, and the wooden door was smashed with a hammer. It was a mess, and then, a large group of gangsters with swollen faces, one high and one low with shoulders and heads tilted, broke in one after another.

The first batch of journalists recruited was interviewed by Mao Jue in person, and the Prince Regent also personally said that journalists are not a comfortable job, and you are welcome to join if you can afford excitement. If you are greedy for comfort, please seek other positions in the company! Black The cloak also has this psychological awareness.

But looking at the heavy knives and axes, this is too exciting!His body was pressed against the back door, and he didn't dare to make a sound.

But when a group of thugs were about to rush into the house to search, a shout suddenly sounded on the dark county street, and immediately, almost a black cloak disappeared into the intricate alleys in a hurry.

"Chasing! Don't let that banner get away!"

Hula took the guys and turned around and left. Watching these guys go out, even the local East India Company manager sat limply on the ground and let out a sigh of relief.

This era is far from being as brightly lit as later generations. In the dark county town, the streets and alleys are lit with torches tonight. The long-overdue train rushes into the station weakly. The yelling sound, the black cloak squeezed the hard-covered book in his arms, as if it was about to shatter.

The morning in the capital was still so noisy and lively, even more lively than before. Children from poor families popped up like larks carrying newspaper baskets, chirping and hawking.

Since it is impossible to force Mao Jue to seal the newspaper, let's face it! Who is afraid of who writes tabloids?A group of old-fashioned, old-fashioned and small-minded stubborns were holding their pens, jumping up and down and publishing newspapers themselves. For a while, the newspaper industry in the capital was also flourishing.

However, the literati and bureaucrats who have always held the right to speak, are a bit out of control this time!

Putting aside the content, the Imperial Capital Daily had the absolute upper hand in terms of cost alone. Mao Jue imitated the methods of Zhang Jian, the father of industry and commerce of the famous Tonghai Company in later generations, and planted cotton on the barren tidal flats of more than ten counties in Nantong. It supports the gradually rising light industry in the capital. On the other hand, the cotton paper industry is also flourishing. A large bale of thousands of sheets of paper costs only a few pennies for a newspaper office.

But what about those tabloids that followed suit?Regardless of the literati playing with pens, this paper is really unaffordable. The commonly used lake paper rice paper costs a few pennies a piece, and for the same thousand newspapers, the paper selection alone costs two-thirds of the price.

Even if they tightened their belts, dozens of landlords and old money dug out all the silver in the hoard. In terms of efficiency, they were thrown out by the Imperial Capital Daily for eight blocks.

As for the printing machine owned by the central government, six people worked continuously day and night, and a small hundred thousand newspapers was no problem, but it was hand-printed with movable type, just like stamping a seal, and a hundred people worked hard all night, exhausted. Even if you vomit blood, you can't print [-] copies. As for the poor, it's even more pitiful. Dozens of scholars copied it with dozens of pens, and only a few hundred copies were copied overnight.

The last thing is the content, which is also the most criticized point of the Imperial Capital Daily. The whole article has no artistic or literary talent.In order to compare with the Imperial Capital Daily, the children of the aristocratic families quoted classics, and their literary talent was endless, but they forgot that the circulation of the newspaper is so large, and it mainly deals with the masses of low-level people. The illiteracy rate in this era is frighteningly high Well, it is still a bit strenuous to read newspapers in vernacular, let alone their gorgeous parallel prose.

I don't understand who bought yours?