There are green shades outside the window, flowers are blooming, and birds are spreading their wings. It is indescribably comfortable.
Suddenly, there was a sound of mountain wind, and the mountain rain started falling.
Just like Zhu Yixi's mood, relaxed and stretched.
"Let the cabinet come to see me."
Zhu Yixi ordered softly, moved her body two steps back, and sat down on the recliner.
"Yes!" Liu Afu hurriedly agreed.
Closing his eyes and concentrating, Zhu Yixi's ears were filled with silence.
Although he has the status of a time traveler, his butt determines his head. In front of the wealth of future generations, the ordinary people who are high and in the sky have no weight.
Perhaps he will reduce corvee and reduce taxes, reduce corrupt officials, build large-scale projects, etc., and the people will benefit, but in the final analysis, all this is to stabilize his rule.
After all, in future generations, those big bosses worth over 100 million yuan may donate tens of millions to a certain university for the education of their children, but they will never easily give their employees a small salary increase.
This is human nature, and it is also the bad nature and selfishness of people.
The Ming Dynasty Gazette was originally established to disclose government orders, prevent local officials from deceiving superiors and concealing information from subordinates, and maintain Zhu Yixi's rule.
However, like a history textbook die-hard, Zhu Yixi began to fear that the local gentry would collude with newspapers and brew up a case where scholars attacked the yamen like in the late Ming Dynasty.
To put it bluntly, newspapers can control public opinion and influence the power of the court.
"It has to be open but also restrained, and it can't be messed up."
I was thinking in my heart, and soon I heard the sound of gentle footsteps.
"Sir, all the elders are here."
"Um!"
The emperor stood up, opened his eyes, and saw four people.
After Zhao Shu became an official, the following year, Lu Daqi also became an official.
At the beginning of Shaowu's fifteenth year, Wang Yingxiong, as the chief assistant, became an official at the age of more than seventy years.
In this way, the chief minister of the cabinet was changed to Yan Chongxin, a civil servant who had been with him during the Hanzhong period.
The second assistant is Zhu Mou, who has been in the six departments.
Among the group assistants are Feng Xianzong, who is in his forties, and Du Yinxi, who is in his sixties.
These four people were all important ministers who had experienced the ups and downs of the late Ming Dynasty. Du Yinxi was a bit special. He was not a meritorious old minister, but a local civil servant who had risen through the ranks.
It can be said that we have reached this position step by step.
"I will bow to your Majesty—"
"Get flat!"
The emperor waved his hand, then looked directly at these people and said, "Recently, Tianjin Magistrate Zheng Sen talked to me and said that there are more and more private reports in the local area."
"In the name of selling books, we are actually running a newspaper, imitating the Ming Dynasty Gazette, and seeking huge profits. This is forbidden..."
"Your Majesty, this matter is easy. Just send troops to arrest them." Zhu Mou said decisively: "It happens that Qi State is short of people, so all of them were exiled to Qi State."
"Catch some and exile some, I don't believe anyone would dare to do it."
"If you move too much, it will be a bit overwhelming."
Du Yinxi frowned and said, "Although these private reports violated the law, they did not cause any harm. Exile is too severe."
"Killing one to serve as a warning to others is the most effective method."
Zhu Mou said decisively.
At this time, the chief assistant is usually the last to speak. Feng Xianzong confided: "There were private reports several years ago, but they are still there now, and they are incessant."
"This is called flood control. It's better to block floods than to remove them."
At this time, Yan Chongxin glanced at Zhu Mou, thoughtfully.
He looked up and saw that the emperor's face was still calm and unmoved. It was obvious that he had a plan in mind.
In other words, they were called together this time to resolve this matter and reach a consensus.
Although the emperor holds great power, he relies on literati to rule the world. If he acts arbitrarily and alone, he will be a solitary man.
Therefore, no matter how powerful the emperor is, he will hide his thoughts and let the ministers
Take the initiative and make the final decision.
After all, everything is a public discussion.
If something goes wrong in the future, there will be someone who takes the blame, right?
For example, even emperors like Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, who fought constantly, relied on the Gongyang Faction as their wings to expand their territory.
It was Chao Cuo who took the blame for Emperor Jing of the Han Dynasty's reduction of vassal status.
With a guess in his mind, Yan Chongxin roughly understood its meaning.
If Zhu Mou really spoke the emperor's mind, what he said next must be redundant and not worth listening to.
Obviously, his words were a hint to everyone: this road will not work.
"It is better to block than to open up." With a plan in his mind, Yan Chongxin nodded and agreed: "Over the years, private reports have been endless, and it is very difficult to control them. According to the wishes of the veteran, private reports must be allowed to go away, but they must be strictly controlled. "
"Private reports from various places can be reviewed by local officials. If something goes wrong, they can be rescued to the end."
Zhu Mou raised his head and rejected the proposal: "No, wouldn't this be conniving at the local power?"
"In my opinion, although private reporting has many disadvantages, it is loved by the people and spread widely. If it is left to local management, wouldn't it mean that it can cover the sky with one hand?"
"When the time comes, the place will be deceived and tyranny will come one after another, and he will become the Great Master of Qingtian."
Du Yinxi said softly: "How about letting the cabinet take charge as before?"
Although the Ming Dynasty Gazette was established by the emperor, the specific management responsibility lies with the cabinet.
They were responsible for reviewing content, publishing government decrees, and even personally writing articles to praise the emperor, which was serious and serious.
"Just one communiqué is enough to give people a headache. There are so many prefectures and counties in the world, I'm afraid they won't be able to manage it at all."
Feng Xianzong is confused.
"Unless the number of secretaries in the cabinet is increased to a thousand, or new yamen are dispatched to the local area."
"No." Zhu Mou objected: "Is this just adding redundant officials without any disguise? Absolutely not."
At this point in the discussion, the emperor began to speak out: "Zhu is right, adding redundant officials is absolutely not feasible."
"There are more than a thousand counties in the world, how many people will be added here?"
Only then did a few people stop talking and listen to the emperor's words: "In my opinion, the cabinet manages the Gazette, so let the Gazette manage the world's newspapers!"
"After all, it's a taboo for an outsider to command an expert."
"The Gazette has been running a newspaper for many years. It is obvious that he has already had experience and has a deep understanding of things in the industry. It is reasonable to let him control it."
"Your Majesty, your Majesty -" Yan Chongxin immediately handed over his hand and praised: "The Ming Dynasty Gazette has manpower relations in every prefecture and county in the world. When the time comes, it will be simple to sort out the private reports as long as they have the same restrictions and state the rules."
"Then do it like this!"
At this time, Zhu Mou said: "In my opinion, just like Guanyan, the entire newspaper can be divided up, and each prefecture and county can be used as the boundary to control its publication scope as much as possible."
"If a newspaper wants to be published in a county, it needs the approval of the county magistrate. If it wants to be published in a prefecture, it needs the approval of the prefecture."
"As for one province, its scope is still too large, so it is better to ban it for now."
"This is a very good policy." Du Yinxi praised: "Now the court can try out the reporting of one county, and then slowly open it up in the future."
"Since all of you have spoken like this, let's implement it like this!"
One person is short-term, many people are short-term.
Zhu Yixi had not thought of this method, but it was a feasible and good method.
Limiting the newspaper's influence to one county or one prefecture is currently the best method.
Soon the cabinet members reached a consensus and came up with a management method, which seemed to be effective.
The Ming Dynasty Gazette was stationed in each province, and a censorship office was established to approve the publication of newspapers in the entire province.
At the same time, every newspaper must be reviewed by them before it is published. If it fails, it will be rejected.
A closer look shows that the Ministry of Household Affairs only needs to spend an extra five thousand yuan a year.
can complete the management of the entire newspaper industry.
The gazette does not fall into the category of redundant officials, even if they receive salaries.
Soon, the Ming Dynasty Gazette published the decree approving the issuance of private newspapers, and explained the review, approval and other matters one by one.
At the same time, the communiqué also added:
To issue a private newspaper, a deposit of one thousand yuan is required. .
In a sense, this can be regarded as a threshold to eliminate those stinky fish and rotten shrimps.
Soon, this news spread throughout the world through the spider web of the Ming Dynasty Gazette, causing an uproar.
A large number of wealthy people immediately saw the interests involved.
Public opinion is naturally what the gentry pursues.
During the Han and Three Kingdoms periods, with the prevalence of the imperial examination system, filial piety became the key. Whether you are filial or not naturally depends on public opinion.
In this way, controlling public opinion is equivalent to controlling the way to become an official.
Today, public opinion also serves the officialdom.
It's just that this interest has changed from a private person to the interest of the entire literati group.
Criticizing the eunuch party and pursuing the Donglin party were the most popular things in the late Ming Dynasty. Later, it even evolved into scholars attacking the yamen and interfering in civil affairs.
Are the local officials uncooperative?
That is corrupt officials, and their reputation among scholars will be ruined in the streets.
But unless they are the big local gentry, the kind that everyone expects, otherwise the ordinary gentry, no matter how rich they are, is just a fart.
Ordinary gentry were overjoyed to see a new way to participate in public opinion.
The wealthy and powerful businessmen were overjoyed.
If the gentry would suffer due to insufficient participation in public opinion, then the businessmen would suffer miserably.
Because they don’t even have the right to participate, they belong to the level that is being abused.
Because they have too much wealth, they naturally belong to the group of people who hate the rich and have no say in society.
Because no one believes anything you say.
Even if you build bridges and pave roads, and do all the good things, the gentry said: "Being a thief has a guilty conscience, and you may not be able to make up for the debt!"
All their actions can be wiped clean.
Here, the communiqué had just been published in Yangzhou, and the former salt merchants gathered together to discuss the newspaper.
Although the salt quota system was abolished and the salt ticket system was implemented, the profits of the salt merchants were greatly diluted and the salt merchants suffered heavy losses.
But in the final analysis, it is just turning the previous high profits into small profits but quick turnover.
The private salt market has been occupied, and the losses suffered by salt merchants like them are not as big as imagined.
In this way, the salt merchant group composed of Huizhou merchants expanded rapidly with the implementation of the salt ticket law.
Those who can participate in the salt merchants' meeting in Yangzhou are basically salt merchants from several prefectures and even across several provinces.
If you don't have a net worth of one million, you are not qualified to participate.
"Everyone, we salt merchants, even in the peaceful and prosperous times, are still fish and meat in the officialdom, ready to be slaughtered by others."
At this time, Zheng Mengxian, who was the chairman of the salt merchants at the time, raised his head and puffed out his chest, revealing his big belly.
The face that smiled like Maitreya Buddha was now tense, without any smile at all.
He stood up, while the salt merchants sat and turned their eyes to him.
Zheng Mengxian is a native of She County, Huizhou. Although the salt merchants come from all over the country, they still adhere to the rule that non-Hui people are not allowed to serve as president.
Although others are dissatisfied, they are unable to compete.
Because the salt merchants were just a part of the Hui merchant group, they took advantage of both sides and had great influence.
"Just last month, Huizhou Prefecture needed to build a school building, and I donated a thousand taels without blinking an eye."
"But when Yangzhou Prefecture learned about it, they actually came to see me and said that the school was in dilapidated condition and needed to be repaired. They directly demanded three thousand yuan from me."
"Why? Huizhou is my hometown, so Yangzhou
What can you ask for three thousand yuan? "
"Just because the official has power."
Zheng Mengxian gritted his teeth and said angrily:
"Which of the Zhao family and Qian family in Yangzhou Prefecture is not extremely wealthy? But this time they paid a hundred yuan, which made the governor extremely happy and even built a monument to commemorate it."
"And what about me? It's just that the word "wait" occupies the inscription..."
As soon as these words came out, everyone laughed out loud.
Three thousand yuan is not as good as one hundred yuan. In the end, I can't even leave my name. It's really sad.
As Zheng Mengxian spoke, he also laughed. He paced and said, "I can see that these officials are not afraid of anything else. They are afraid that the gentry will talk too much and that they will have a bad reputation among the scholars. It affects your own future.”
"So, I think that if we salt merchants want to protect our family property and not let them bully us, we have to run a newspaper."
Run a newspaper——
As soon as these three words came out, they immediately aroused heated discussion among salt merchants.
The news published in the Ming Dynasty Gazette is something new.
As soon as Zheng Mengxian finished speaking, a businessman raised his head and said, "A thousand dollars is nothing? You can just go to a brothel for two or three hours and spend it."
"As long as these officials can be afraid to break into the house and make money at will."
"This deal is worth it."
These words hit everyone's mind.
The richer people are, the more afraid they are of not having money.
If there is such a benefit to running a newspaper, even if it is minimal, it is still worth a try.
Soon, the salt merchants reached a consensus that they must run a newspaper, and the name was: Yangzhou News.
The reason why I dare not use the Salt Business Daily is that I am afraid that some people will taboo it.
At the same time, I am also afraid that people will not buy it.
After all, they also know that their reputation among the people is too bad.
After the salt merchants published newspapers, Shaanxi merchants, Hui merchants, and Shanxi merchants naturally refused to lag behind and started one after another.
The gentry in those places were also enthusiastic.
Soon, the deposit amount alone reached 390,000 yuan, which surprised the cabinet.
