After the Tumubao Incident, the civil servant family became dominant, which intensified the Zhu family's emperors' dependence on eunuchs, using them to check and balance the civil servant group.
For Zhu Zaijing, the eunuch group must eradicate their system.
But not now. Today, he doesn't have that many people he can rely on. The most trustworthy person for him is still Feng Bao next to him.
"I have an errand here, do you want it?"
Chen Hong raised his head in surprise and looked at the emperor in disbelief.
"Bold!" Feng Bao shouted angrily, and then quickly reacted and kowtowed like garlic.
Zhu Zaijing waved his hand, indicating that it didn't matter.
"My slave... my slave... I am willing to go through fire and water for His Majesty, even to the death!"
At this time, Chen Hong had not yet entered the Clerk of Ceremonies, and was just one of many low-level eunuchs. Although he was suddenly brought in front of the emperor, the emperor had to do errands for him, so he was very nervous.
But at the same time, he also understood that this was an opportunity, an opportunity for salty fish to turn around.
Wealth can be found in danger!
"From today on, you will enter the ceremonial department."
Let’s improve his position first, otherwise how will he do things without status and rights?
Feng Bao looked at the emperor in surprise. A cautious eunuch of the Shangshan Supervisor unexpectedly entered the Si Li Supervisor for no apparent reason?
Were you a little loud just now?
"My slave, thank you, Long Live the Lord!"
Chen Hong kowtowed heavily in excitement.
"Don't be too anxious to be happy!" Zhu Zaijing smiled, "Being in the Department of Ceremonies does not mean that you can participate in politics!"
Hearing this, Feng Bao and Chen Hong became confused at the same time.
Isn’t the Chief of Ceremonies responsible for handling government affairs for the emperor? Why can’t Chen Hong participate in politics?
"Letting you enter the Ceremony Supervisor is just a status. Your real errand is something else."
"I want you to form a group of literate eunuchs and form a new yamen, called Daming Daily."
"Unlike the Di newspaper, this yamen must directly publish my words, some articles and official documents written by me, and these newspapers must directly face the common people and be written in the vernacular!"
The Di Bao was only for officials to read. To put it bluntly, it was an announcement from the government. It conveyed the latest trends of the court to departments and officials in various places. It had nothing to do with the common people.
When Feng Bao heard that he wanted to write in vernacular, he knelt down and admonished, "Your Majesty is a rich man. It is a great gift that your words and handwritten articles are published to the people. Writing in vernacular is detrimental to the majesty of the emperor! Your Majesty!" "
This is how the feudal dynasty's rule over the people was always more majestic than cordial, and the people's first reaction to officials and the court was always fear, rather than warm welcome.
There is nothing that can be done about this. After all, the productivity and ideological constraints of the feudal dynasty are here, and the government has never thought of serving the people. In their eyes, the so-called people are more like a herd of cattle and sheep.
"I said, this newspaper is written for the common people. Do the common people understand that?"
"I dare to ask Your Majesty, how many of the people are literate? How many copies of this newspaper can't be distributed?" Feng Bao asked again.
Zhu Zaijing smiled and looked at Chen Hong.
"For the illiterate people, you can find some storytellers to read to them, and there are also the children on the streets, who have the best memories. You can arrange for them to memorize the contents of the newspaper and tell them to others. listen!"
"yes!"
"Feng Bao, please say hello to the Five Cities Soldiers and Horses Division, the Imperial Guards, the City Patrol Censor, and the patrol battalions. This Daming Daily is my private property. Tell them not to touch it!"
"My slave understands!"
"Furthermore, those common people who read these newspapers and discuss these newspapers cannot be arrested for any crime of discussing government affairs. Do you understand?"
Speech was not free in the feudal dynasty.
Compared with the Literary Prison of the Qing Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty also had a Literary Prison.
Although people do not need to avoid talking about the Zhu characters of the old Zhu family emperors, there are still some cases where the emperor died because of saying the wrong thing or writing a word that irritated the emperor.
The main reason is that Zhu Yuanzhang's Hongwu Dynasty had many tragedies, but there were no records in official history. Most of them appeared in unofficial histories. I don't know whether it was because the Braided Dynasty wanted to find a precedent for itself or the Ming Dynasty did not dare to record them in history books.
For example, Wu Xian, the tutor of Wu'an Prefecture, wrote a congratulatory note to congratulate the emperor's grandson. The word "emperor" appeared in it. Lao Zhu thought it meant "emperor was not" or "emperor was abolished", so he liked to mention it. A gift package full of beheadings.
For another example, Gao Qi, editor of Hanlin Academy, wrote a poem, "The little dog barks at the empty wall, and no one comes from the palace at night." Lao Zhu thought this was an allusion to his supervision of hundreds of officials, and was cut in half.
The imperial censor Zhang Shangli wrote a poem: "I was favored by the king in my dream, but I was shouted at by an oriole!" and was put to death.
Lu Xiong, the prefect of Yanzhou, mistakenly wrote "Yan" as "Gun". Zhu Yuanzhang considered it disrespectful and beheaded him.
You know how lucky Hai Rui is to survive!
Of course, these are unofficial records, and there are many errors and omissions in these cases. For example, Gao Qi, the Hanlin editor who died in a literary prison for writing poetry, was actually written into a literary prison because he was imprisoned for committing crimes.
The monk Dexiang was beheaded for his poems. In fact, the monk lived until the Yongle period.
The monk Laifu was killed for using words. In fact, he died in conspiracy with Hu Weiyong and had nothing to do with the literary prison.
There are also two people, Zhang Shangli and Chen Yanghao, who are not recorded in "History of the Ming Dynasty" and "Records of Ming Taizu", who have been compiled as evidence of Ming Taizu's literary inquisition.
It was probably compiled by the literati and gentry who had been suppressed for many years after Lao Zhu's death.
But this also shows once again the importance of the right of public opinion.
Therefore, Zhu Zaijing issued this order to tell those with ill intentions that my newspaper is just a tool to convey my wishes to the people. It does not have any political color. You should not use it to cause trouble.
"Chen Hong, is there anything else you don't understand?"
Chen Hong understood his mission and said, "I have something to ask your majesty!"
"explain."
"Slave, can I borrow some of Dongchang's manpower when needed?"
Feng Bao's hair suddenly exploded and he looked at Chen Hong alertly.
"Why do you need Dongchang's manpower to promote your newspaper?" Zhu Zaijing asked.
"Your Majesty, I think this matter may cause some different voices among the people. If someone misinterprets Your Majesty's meaning, or makes trouble under the guise of this newspaper, then people will be needed to find out and arrest him!"
Zhu Zaijing was shocked.
Indeed, newspapers will stimulate the voice of the traditional scholar-bureaucrat class after all. Someone may use this newspaper to cause trouble, or cause some trouble under the guise of misinterpreting or misunderstanding the meaning of their own newspaper.
For example, I said in the newspaper that we killed several more enemies at the border today. The original intention was to celebrate the victory in the war and cheer up people's hearts.
Then the officials below took the newspapers and said, look, there is an emergency at the border and there is a war situation. What should we do if there is a war situation?
Increase taxes!
You see, the emperor has said that there is a war at the border, and we want to support His Majesty, so we have to increase taxes on military rations!
This is the end of the world. If the newspaper's reputation is ruined, the emperor's own reputation will be ruined.
So Chen Hong's consideration is really not unreasonable.
Thinking of this, Zhu Zaijing turned to look at Feng Bao.
Feng Bao nodded and said to Chen Hong, "As of today, we have entered the ceremonial office. We are all retainers of the Emperor. We are all running errands for His Majesty. If you need manpower from the East Factory, just tell me!"
Chen Hong lowered his head and said, "Thank you, Your Majesty, thank Eunuch Feng!"
But Zhu Zaijing saw that the corners of his mouth were slightly raised.
