Fenghou

Under the strong pressure from the government, the turmoil of land expropriation finally subsided.

Chapter 929

In the twinkling of an eye, it was the first month again, and the Lin'an court officially changed the Yuan to Zhengtai, which means Zhengshuo Taixing. Zhao Gou used the change to show that he was Zhengshuo of the Song Dynasty, and immediately pardoned the world.

At present, there are more than a dozen newspapers, large and small, in Lin'an. All factions in Lin'an have seen the huge power of public opinion brought by the "Beijing News", and they have submitted applications to the imperial court to run a newspaper.

Perhaps in consideration of diluting the influence of the "Beijing News", the imperial court quickly approved all applications for running the newspaper.

Soon, more than a dozen newspapers appeared on the streets of Lin'an. In addition to the "Beijing News" and the "Express News" in the arena, "Small Newspaper", "An Bao", "Xin Bao", "Xun Bao", "Yue Bao" were added. ", "Gourmet News", "Su Bao" and other thirteen newspapers, the grand competition of Tokyo Bianliang hundred newspapers appeared again.

These newspapers are basically imitating the "Beijing News", or only doing one of its columns, such as health, parenting, food, cosmetics, etc., but all the newspapers add up to less than half of the sales volume of the "Beijing News".

"Beijing News" has an unstoppable secret skill, that is, it serializes "Journey to the West". "Journey to the West" is absurd, but he read it secretly in private, and was so obsessed with it that Zhao Gou even asked his confidant eunuch to collect the two previously printed books "Monkey King Troubling the Heavenly Palace" and "Nezha Troubling the Sea".

In order to compete with the "Beijing News", the biggest competitor "Express" also launched serial novels, mainly "Yang Jiajiang" and "Hu Jiajiang". It is widely circulated, and the storyteller organizes it into a series of stories, and tells an episode every day in the teahouse, attracting a large number of listeners.

This is a ready-made serial novel. "Express" began to serialize the storytelling "Yang Jiajiang". Although it has attracted some readers, it is still far inferior to "Journey to the West" of "Beijing News". The reason is very simple. "Yang Jiajiang" Millions of copies were printed in the early years, and many families have books in their collections.

A bookstore got the engraving of "The General of the Yang Family" from nowhere, printed tens of thousands of copies at once, and put them in the Lin'an Book Market, which severely impacted the sales of "Express".

The dozen or so newspapers in Lin'an are basically related to current affairs, reporting various major events in the world, but there are many good ones and bad ones, and there are many true and false ones. After the headline on the front page of the "Newspaper" published the news that the Western Army had recovered Datong Mansion and Hebei Road, the entire Lin'an city was boiling, which really annoyed the emperor Zhao Gou for several days.

At noon on the second day of the first lunar month, it was time for newspapers to be published intensively. This was mainly to cater to the habit of people in Lin’an drinking afternoon tea, which was also the habit of people in the Song Dynasty. Many people even drank tea while reading newspapers.

Although it is the New Year period, there are still many teahouses open. The Tianqin Teahouse near Dawazi is full of customers as usual.

Most of the guests were drinking tea and reading newspapers, and it was relatively quiet. At this moment, a tea guest suddenly stood up and said, "Everyone, come and read this report!"

The tea drinkers got up and surrounded them one after another, and someone read loudly: "The seven deadly crimes of King Yong, risking his life to report with his real name, ha ha! This title is quite horrifying."

The other person glanced at it and said with a sneer, "No wonder, the article in "Express" is not surprising, it's normal!"

"Express" often publishes articles criticizing Chen Qing, and everyone is no stranger to it, but it seems that this is the first time that the real name risked his death to report.

A thin and tall man read aloud: "Staying in the Palace of the Son of Heaven is extravagant. The imperial palace is unmatched. The walls of the mansion are built like a city wall, with a height of three feet and a width of one foot. Soldiers patrol and guard day and night. It is not an imperial palace, but it is better than an imperial palace. This is a crime." Also, the sin of usurpation..."

At the end of the reading, the tall and thin man frowned, "The whistleblower who risked his life is called Huang Yougong. Everyone, who is this Huang Yougong?"

"It seems that there is an introduction below, here!"

A tea guest pointed to the bottom and said: "The whistleblower Huang Yougong, the former Qianjiang county magistrate, is now Dr. Taichang. He has traveled to Jingzhao and saw many injustices. He is not afraid of power. He wrote a letter with his real name in anger."

Everyone shook their heads, "I've never heard of this person, I guess he's Qin Hui's young man, who is attacking King Yong in different ways."

"That is, look at the fifth crime he wrote. He dumped salt from Sichuan and Shaanxi on the two roads in Jinghu and robbed the court of salt taxes, making the court's finances and taxes difficult and unable to crusade against the Jin soldiers. Didn't the court sign a five-year armistice agreement with the Kingdom of Jin?" What kind of golden soldiers still need to be crusaded, obviously surrendering and compromising, but also smearing gold on their own faces, and shifting the responsibility to others."

At this time, a middle-aged man sitting by the window said calmly: "Speaking of the salt tax, I understand it better. The court's salt tax has dropped sharply in the past two years. The responsibility really does not lie with Sichuan and Shaanxi. Illegal salt is flooding. As early as before and after Yang Yao’s rebellion, the imperial court hardly received any salt tax from Jinghu South Road, which was all illegal salt.

Now Jingbei Road and Jiangnan West Road are also flooded with illegal salt. It is said that they want to crack down on illegal salt. They have been shouting slogans for several years. Local officials and salt lords are colluding. How to crack down?If Sichuan and Shaanxi really sell salt on the two roads of Jinghu, it is actually competing for territory with private salt, and has nothing to do with the imperial court. "

Everyone said: "Sir, if you know the situation so well, you should write a letter to the "Beijing News" to expose Huang Yougong's confusing words."

The middle-aged man stroked his beard and said with a smile: "Don't worry everyone, the "Beijing News" will fight back soon, and they will not tolerate such wanton slander and slander of King Yong."

……

The middle-aged man is called Wang Mu. He was originally Zhang Jun's confidant and his brain trust. After Zhang Jun was demoted to Yongzhou, all his staff members were disbanded, including Wang Mu. Zhang Jun even wrote a letter to him. , recommended him to Chen Qing, but Wang Mu's father had just passed away, and he had been keeping filial piety for his father in Lin'an, and did not go to Sichuan and Shaanxi to seek a job.

Wang Mu bought a copy of "Express" on the street, and came to Lu Yihao's residence without any haste. Although he is Zhang Jun's aide, he has a good relationship with Lu Yihao. Lu Yihao appreciates him very much. He is now in Lin'an Dacha Working as a teacher in Shang Zhuyou's mansion and teaching Zhu You's grandson to read is what Lu Jin helped him find for a living.

Wang Mu came to Lu's mansion, not long after, he was led to the outer study by the housekeeper, but he saw Lu Yihao was chatting with a guest, the guest turned his back to him, it looked familiar, Wang Mu hesitated a little.

Lu Yihao smiled and waved to him, "Young Mansion, come here!"

Wang Mu stepped forward and recognized the guest next to him at a glance. It turned out to be Uncle Zheng Guo. He quickly saluted, "I wish the old man a new year, and wish Uncle Zheng Guo a new year too!"

Zheng Tongquan laughed and said, "Happy New Year, Mr. Wang!"

Lu Yihao asked the two to sit down and asked the maid to serve tea, Wang Mu saw that the newspaper on the table in front of them was the same as his own, he put the newspaper on the table and said with a smile: "It seems that I don't need to buy this newspaper! "

Lu Yihao smiled slightly and said: "Uncle Zheng Guo also came here today to discuss with me the seven deadly crimes of King Yong in the "Express News". What do you think of the Shaofu?"

Wang Mu shook his head and said, "I don't know Huang Yougong, but this is definitely a long-planned attack. It should be to hedge against the influence of King Yong after he regained the Datong Mansion. If I guess correctly, it is very likely that Qin Hui led the attack. Planning, carefully prepared for a long time, and collected a lot of information, and then this unknown Huang Yougong came forward, as if it was a personal act, and reported with his real name. real."

Zheng Tongquan pondered for a while and said, "Then why didn't it be published when the Datong Mansion was recovered, instead it was delayed for almost two months."

Wang Mu said indifferently: "If it was published at that time, it would obviously be a deliberate attack on His Royal Highness Yong. The traces are too obvious, and the effect will be counterproductive, so bear with it for two months. After the influence of regaining Datong Mansion has passed, then choose to attack during the New Year. It just so happens that everyone is visiting relatives and friends, talking about this with each other, the effect will be better, the other party is very strategic, and the trick is bloody!"

9 Chapter Thirty Countermeasures

Lu Yihao laughed and said: "Brother Zheng, I'm not wrong! I can't give you an idea, but someone can give you an idea. I have always been optimistic about the Shaofu, but now he is hidden in the market."

Wang Mu smiled wryly, "Grand Lu, you are no longer invisible."

"Oh! Don't do it anymore?"

Wang Mu shook his head, "That kid is so naughty, my grandmother dotes on him to the sky, and she can't even say a single harsh word. I really can't teach him."

"Forget it, it's a shame to ask you to be a teacher."

Zheng Tongquan rolled his eyes, "I don't know if Mr. Wang has a place to work now?"

"I just resigned this morning, and I don't have a place to go yet."

"Why don't Mr. Wang come to the newspaper office to work! I still need a person in charge of reviewing and editing."

"The newspaper?"

Wang Mu was stunned for a moment. Uncle Zheng Guo also ran a newspaper. He tentatively asked, "I don't know what newspaper Uncle Zheng Guo runs..."

"You must have read it, The Beijing News."

Wang Mu was taken aback, and looked back at Lu Yihao, Lu Yihao nodded, "Uncle Zheng Guo has three members in Lin'an "Beijing News", and His Royal Highness King Yong trusts him very much."

Only then did Wang Mu suddenly realize, he thought for a while and said with a smile: "The content of "Beijing News" is very good now, isn't there an editorial review?"

Zheng Tongquan shook his head, "The content is a matter for the chief writer and reviewer, but Mr. Wang must understand that the "Beijing News" is not just a newspaper, it is the mouthpiece of His Royal Highness King Yong, and a sharp dagger. It is doing well, but it is still too weak in the weapon of public opinion. Last year, "Express" criticized Sichuan and Shaanxi three times, but the newspaper was helpless and very passive.

This time, Huang Yougong reported the seven deadly crimes of King Yong in his real name. The newspaper office thought of sending someone to threaten Huang Yougong and make him admit his mistakes in the newspaper. They actually thought it was Huang Yougong's personal behavior. "

"But didn't the "Beijing News" do a good job before? The price was raised to [-] yuan a share, which made the whole city look forward to it. I felt that there were masters manipulating it."

"You are talking about Hu Yun. He did a good job before, but now he doesn't care about the newspaper. He is now the special envoy of King Yong, in charge of the Sichuan-Shaanxi Pavilion. The current owner is called Yue Chen. During the Xuanhe period, he was the second largest in Bianliang. The deputy chief inspector of the newspaper "Tabao" has rich experience and strong ability, but he lacks power sensitivity, and I am worried that "Beijing News" will gradually lose its direction as it runs."

"I see, what does the editor do?"

Zheng Tongquan said with a slight smile: "The editor is like the helmsman of a big ship. The curator is in charge of the ship's navigation, paper, ink, personnel, distribution, etc., but the direction of the ship's navigation is controlled by the helmsman. Master Jurisdiction."

Wang Mu pondered for a moment and said, "Let me think about it!"

"Okay! Just think about it, Mr. Wang, let's continue talking about Huang Yougong's seven deadly sins!"

Zheng Tongquan pointed to the newspaper and said: "Sir, I read the second crime mentioned in the newspaper, buying land from farmers at a low price, and then selling it at a high price, earning a hundred times the profit, which seriously damages the interests of the farmers. I just asked the old man, and he said that there is such a thing. thing."

Wang Mu asked puzzledly: "The land in the hands of farmers is farmland. No matter how you buy and sell it, you won't earn a hundred times the profit, right?"

Lu Yihao said slowly: "I heard that it is expanding the city. Farmers' land used to be farmland, which costs [-] yuan per mu, but after the expansion of the city, it is housing land. The price of housing land in Jingzhao is as expensive as Lin'an."

Wang Mu sneered, "This is the same method as Article [-]. Isn't it normal for the government to expand the city and expropriate farmers' land? Before Lin'an expanded the city, it also expropriated thousands of acres of land from farmers, and only gave it to farmland. Compensation at the market price is called expropriation in Lin'an, but it becomes a sale in Jingzhao, which is too disgusting."

Zheng Tongquan slapped his thigh, "I never thought that it was the government that expropriated the land, not King Yong who bought and sold the land. These bastards are so shameless!"

Lu Yihao asked with a smile: "What is the fifth crime of stealing the court's salt tax?"

Wang Mu smiled and said, "Mr. Lu should know the answer better than me!"

Lu Yihao sighed for a long time: "When I get old, I don't remember many things from the past."

Wang Mu knew that he had made a slip of the tongue, and quickly said: "Let's just put it this way! The current Lin'an court has never collected salt tax from Jinghu and Jinghu roads. It was controlled by Yang Yao before, and after that, it was controlled by private salt dealers. Now It should be that the Sichuan-Shaanxi army suppressed the private salt dealers and took back the salt tax from Jinghu Road from the private salt dealers, what does it have to do with the court?"

"I see!"

Zheng Tongquan patted his forehead and said: "Now that we have solved six problems, we can criticize the opponent severely."

Wang Mu asked with a smile: "I wonder if there is any problem that has not been resolved?"

"The seventh deadly sin they mentioned is that His Highness is recruiting talents on the surface, but behind the scenes, he is nepotism and suppresses the virtuous. People who are not from Sichuan and Shaanxi are not used, and countless job seekers are desperate."

"I will answer this question!"

Everyone turned their heads and saw two people coming from the hall. In front was Lu Yihao's eldest son, Lu Jin, and behind him was a man in his thirties. He looked very capable. He was Hu Yun, the special envoy of King Yong stationed in Lin'an.

Hu Yun often came to Lu Mansion and was very familiar with Lu Yihao. Of course, he was even more familiar with Zheng Tongquan, and the two of them worked together to run the Lin'an "Beijing News".

Hu Yun came in, bowed and saluted with a smile, "Happy New Year to the old man!"

Lu Yihao stroked his beard and laughed, "Okay! Okay! Happy New Year to you too, Dalang, and bring me a chair for Special Envoy Hu!"

Hu Yun gave Zheng Tongquan another week of New Year greetings before he noticed Wang Mu, "This is it!"

Wang Mu smiled and said, "My servant, Wang Mu, used to be Zhang Xianggong's staff, and he was very familiar with Mr. Lu."

Hu Yun thought for a while, then suddenly asked: "Could it be Mr. Rujing?"

"That's Zhang Xianggong complimenting me, I really can't afford it!"

"Mr. Jiuwen is famous."

Lu Jin moved a chair, asked Hu Yun to sit down, and served tea to the maid.

Zheng Tongquan asked: "Just now Special Envoy Hu said that you know the answer to the seventh deadly sin. What do you say?"

"To tell the truth, Mr. Zheng, I saw today's "Express" and I was really angry, so I immediately came to Mr. Zheng. Your family said you were not there, so I rushed to Lu Mansion again. I didn't expect Mr. Zheng to be here. The seventh deadly crime is completely It is a slander against King Yong, to vent personal anger, but I know the reason."

"Want to hear about it!" Everyone pricked up their ears.

Then Hu Yun said unhurriedly: "Last month, I received a document from Jingzhao, asking me to set up a recruiting branch in Lin'an to receive talents who are willing to go to Sichuan and Shaanxi for development. Of course, there are conditions, and Jinshi is required. Qualifications, or excellent official reputation are also fine. If I pass the review here, then I will provide a fee.

Huang Yougong was mentioned at the end of this document, saying that this person also went to Jingzhao to apply for a job, but during the period he violated the regulations and went to the brothel to drink flowers and wine, and was rejected. escaped, so he made up the seventh deadly sin. "

Everyone nodded, "I see, that can be used to expose this bastard."

Wang Mu pondered for a while and said, "Is this not appropriate?"

The three looked at him together, "Why?" Zheng Tongquan asked.

"Because there is no conclusive evidence, Huang Yougong will be caught instead, saying that since he dared to report with his real name, he is not afraid of us slandering and framing him. If there is no evidence, we will actually crack down on the crime of real-name reporting. It is not the time to expose him, the effect will be counterproductive, this is the protective effect brought by real-name reporting, we cannot use this matter to deal with him, we must use other things to deal with him.”

Hu Yun pondered for a while and said: "I really have no evidence, it's just that he was mentioned in the official document, but my new deputy may know about it, so I'll ask him later."

Lu Yihao stroked his beard and nodded, "Wang Mu is right. If the Son of Heaven wants to kill a powerful official, he will never kill him right away. Instead, he will be demoted first. After a year, everyone will almost forget it, and then send someone to kill him. No one is paying attention anymore, for a reason, now that he is in the limelight, it is best not to touch Huang Yougong, after the turmoil passes, everyone forgets about it, and then deal with him."

Zheng Tongquan asked Wang Mudao: "Then according to Mr. Wang's opinion, how should we deal with it?"

931 Chapter Counterattack

Wang Mu said calmly: "I think it is most effective to refute the seventh deadly crime frankly. The other party is targeting King Yong, not the Xuanfu envoy of Sichuan and Shanxi. Then we will criticize him from the standpoint of King Yong. , He said nepotism, so where is King Yong's relative?

King Yong told me back then that his parents, brothers and family members were all killed by the Jinren's butcher knife, and he didn't even have a nephew. Where could he have relatives?Then there is the wife party, nothing more than three people, Lu Qingshan is the prime minister of the imperial court, is it not qualified to be in charge of Sichuan government affairs?Lu Datong was a Jinshi during the Zhenghe period. He has been an official for nearly 30 years. "

Lu Yihao nodded, "Your memory is very strong, I mentioned it in passing, and you will remember it."

"The third one is Lu Wei. He is the earliest civil servants around King Yong. Those who are later than him are all third-rank high-ranking officials. He is still a sixth-rank official. Is this cronyism?"

"well said!"

Hu Yun applauded and said: "That's right. You can draw inferences from one instance. Let's say that only officials from Sichuan and Shaanxi are used. Among the five senior government officials around King Yong, except for Guan Shigu who is from Xihe Road, the other senior officials are not from Sichuan and Shaanxi. During this period, more than 130 young officials who went to Jingzhao to defect to King Yong were basically hired. Except for three, Huang Yougong and Wang Shaode were not admitted because they violated the rules and went to brothels. There was also a Jinshi Zhang Cang because his father died. He gave up temporarily, I think Huang Yougong's name can be called here, what does Mr. Wang think?"

Wang Mu pondered for a while and said, "You can call names. Just now I was a bit narrow-minded. If Huang Yougong wanted to say that we framed him, we would explain the matter clearly in the newspaper. The advantage of this is that everyone will think that Yong Wang Qi’s crime was Huang Yougong’s personal venting of anger. How could he know so many things? It must be making up, and we have refuted it enough. I believe that the people are not fools. This is actually the biggest loophole in Qin Hui’s strategy. Huang Yougong's denunciation in his own name lacks credibility."

Hu Yun praised and said: "That's right, I went back to Jiang Zhubo, he was sent by the Ministry of Officials to help me recruit talents. He knows the details of Huang Yougong better, and he will be more powerful when he criticizes."

……

Lu Yihao couldn't hold on for too long, and everyone got up to leave.

Wang Mu took a step ahead in an ox cart. He would think about it tonight and give Zheng Tongquan an answer tomorrow.

Hu Yun got into Zheng Tongquan's carriage, and Zheng Tongquan said with a smile, "What does the special envoy think of Wang Mu?"

Hu Yun gave a thumbs up and praised sincerely: "Awesome, worthy of Zhang Jun's confidant and staff, clear thinking, resourceful, able to see the essence through problems, great talent!"

"I want him to be the review editor of the newspaper. Does the special envoy think it's feasible?"

Editor is a disguised name. Its real function is to supervise the newspaper, and Zheng Tongquan has been doing it part-time. Of course, it needs a full-time person with a clear mind and strong insight. Wang Mu is undoubtedly the most suitable.

Hu Yun pondered for a while and said: "This position needs to be appointed by King Yong. There is no problem with Wang Mu's talent. The key is whether he is willing to serve King Yong?"

Zheng Tongquan thought for a while and said, "Mr. Lu told me that Wang Mu was going to Jingzhao to apply for a job. He had a letter of recommendation from Zhang Jun. Lu Yihao also wrote him a letter of recommendation. I believe he will be loyal to King Yong. I can vouch for him."

Hu Yun nodded, "I have no objection, I will report to His Royal Highness King Yong, but the master should make it clear to Wang Mu that taking this position is actually King Yong's aide."