The "Beijing News" published less than five issues before it caught up with the Chinese New Year holiday and stopped publishing together with the "Huangming Jingshi Daily".
Scholars from the north and the south collectively wanted to spit out the old phlegm, and they were all depressed to death. During the Spring Festival, every family worships ancestors and visits relatives, and various cultural gatherings cannot be held. The noise is much quieter, and I can only curse a few times during visits to relatives and friends.
All the high officials and middle-ranking officials in the imperial court were speculating about the origin of the "Beijing News" and taking advantage of the Chinese New Year period to ask around. In this first article of the "Beijing News", what the scholars saw was a debate of moral principles, but what people in the officialdom saw was that the strong wind started at the end of Qingping - who was this article for? Who is standing behind? If you don't understand this clearly, you won't be able to take sides.
However, the "Beijing News" is very mysterious. No one knows the proprietor behind it. The editor-in-chief is also a mysterious person who only uses the pen name "Zhongsheng".
At the end of the Spring Festival holiday, someone finally found out that the proprietor of this newspaper was Sui Anbo, and the editor-in-chief was Li Xianfang, a well-known literary figure.
Li Xianfang, courtesy name Bocheng and nicknamed Beishan, was originally from Jianli, Hubei Province, and later moved to Puzhou, Shandong Province. In the 26th year of Jiajing reign of the Ming Dynasty, he became a Jinshi, and successively served as Cao Lang of the Ministry of Justice, Sicheng of Shangbao, Tongzhi of Bozhou, and Tongzhi of Ningguofu. In the first year of Wanli, seeing that he had no hope of reaching the fifth rank, he resigned and returned to his hometown to compile "Puzhou Chronicles".
In October of the fourth year of Wanli, after the first draft of "Puzhou Chronicle" was completed, fellow celebrities Sun Zhonghan and Su Lian came to him together, saying that Sui Anbo and Chen Shu were going to run a newspaper in Beijing, and invited Li Xianfang to be the editor-in-chief, and also brought Chen Shu's personal letter.
In fact, Sui Anbo invited Sun Zhonghan first, but he did not dare to agree. Although he is also a Jinshi, his reputation and level in the literary world are far different from those of Li Xianfang.
Therefore, he and Su Lian came to Li Xianfang together, hoping that Li Xianfang would take them to apply for the job together. The editor-in-chief and deputy editor-in-chief would all be in the pockets of the brothers.
Since the birth of "Huang Ming Nanjing Daily", Li Xianfang and others have been jealous of this newspaper for too long - there are no literati in the Ming Dynasty who are not jealous of it. However, less than a month after the publication of the daily newspaper in Nanjing, the imperial court promulgated the "Regulations on the Management of the Ming Newspaper Industry". At the same time, the emperor issued a decree and wrote part of the regulations into the Ming Code.
This charter clearly stipulates that publishing newspapers in Ming Dynasty must obtain a newspaper license. Starting from the second half of the third year of Wanli, nobles and wealthy businessmen in these two capitals who wanted to publish a newspaper submitted a total of more than 300 applications, and the imperial court issued a license, which was the "Huangming Capital Daily".
Everyone gasped when they saw the identity of the proprietor of Huangming Jingshi Daily. It was Zhang Yuande, the son of Duke Yingying, the minister of the inner court. No one could compare to this backstage, and everyone stopped thinking.
Unexpectedly, no one could stop the luck. In early September of the fourth year of Wanli, when the wife of Sui Anbo and Chen Shu entered the palace to pay her respects, she met the emperor who was also at the Queen Mother's house. At that time, the emperor said: "Sui Anbo pays homage." Want to apply for a report? You ask him to come to see me." - In this way, he was given a free permit.
Sui'an Bo was cautious, fearing that leaking the information would cause jealousy among the nobles in the capital, and he would not be able to explain it at that time, so he arranged for his family to take the letter and find Sun Zhonghan, who had been a master in Sui'an Bo Mansion.
Although Sun Zhonghan was extremely beautiful at Sui Amber's invitation, he did not dare to apply. He knew that if he became editor-in-chief and his good friend Li Xianfang stayed at home, people in the literary world would laugh at him. After thinking about it, he finally made up his mind and recommended Li Xianfang to Sui Anbo and tried his best to encourage him to come out.
Li Xianfang was talented and famous for his poetry. He was born in Qilu and was a famous scholar during the Jiajing period. He initiated poetry societies with contemporary celebrities such as Li Panlong in Licheng, Xie Zhen in Linqing, and Wu Jiyue in Kaofeng. He also collaborated with Yu Yunwen and Lu Nan in Kunshan. Wu Weiyue, Xiaofeng, and Ou Daren of Shunde are collectively known as the "Five Sons of Guang".
He had a wide range of hobbies and had certain attainments in medicine, Taoism, and Buddhist studies. He was proficient in music and rhythm, and was especially good at pipa. Even Cha Baashi, a famous pipa master at the time, was impressed by him.
With such a person, Chen Shu had no reason to be dissatisfied. But the emperor asked him to run a newspaper, which was equivalent to including him in the emperor's inner circle. However, there was no way to talk to Sun Zhonghan and Li Xianfang first, so he had to speak humbly and invite Li Xianfang to Beijing.
Li Xianfang was already sixty-six years old at this time. If he was asked to become an official, he would definitely not do it after having had a bumpy official career for half his life. But when he was asked to run a newspaper, none of the Ming literati said that he was too old to do it.
After Li Xianfang received the letter, he happily took Sun Zhonghan and Su Lian to the capital to meet Sui Anbo.
So when Anbo and Chen Shu met, they didn't mention the matter of filing a newspaper. Instead, they held a few people up high and treated them with courtesy. First, they held several cultural gatherings at home, and then they drank and feasted, enjoyed singing and dancing, and sang poems for half a month.
At first, Li Xianfang didn't know why, and privately complained with Su Lian that Sui Amber was unreliable. Sun Zhonghan was also confused, so he asked to see Sui Anbo and asked about running a newspaper.
Then Amber summoned them and said with a wry smile: "To be honest, gentlemen, in these astronomical societies, people from the attendant's office come to inspect you every day. The money earned by this newspaper belongs to us. But what the newspapers say – listen to the emperor!”
After saying these words, Li Xianfang and others were so frightened that their legs shook. Sui'an's family has always attached great importance to education, and Chen Shu also had some literary talent. At this time, in a few words, Zhu Yijun stated his idea of using newspapers to control public opinion.
Chen Shu and Li Xianfang said: "To be honest with you, the Emperor said that the Ming Dynasty has reached the point where it can no longer survive without changing the ancestral system. In the past two years, you can also see the Emperor's intention to reform. The Emperor said that this is a big article that changes the world. , without the cooperation of public opinion, half the result will be achieved with twice the result. Therefore, we must first set up a newspaper, change customs, and secretly change people's hearts."
Li Xianfang and others looked at each other in confusion after hearing this. Chen Shu said: "If you gentlemen are unwilling to wade into this muddy water, I don't blame you. As long as you go home and don't tell anyone else, just treat me as if I invited Teacher Sun and my friends to come and stay at my house for a few days."
Li Xianfang calmed down and asked Chen Shu: "The emperor wants to change the ancestral system, but I don't know how to change it?"
After hearing this, Chen Shu smiled bitterly and said: "I have been in court for less than two-quarters of an hour. How much can the emperor say to me? I have no talent and thoughts to govern the country. The emperor only said a few general words, which is 'make the country rich and strong'." 'Bing' means."
Li Xianfang clapped her thigh and said: "It would be great to make the country rich and have a strong army! It's time for the Ming Dynasty to reform, otherwise this prosperous world will become a place of Shura at some point!"
"No wonder the literary conferences these days are all about people like Shang Yang, Guan Zhong, Fan Zhongyan, and Wang Anshi. I'm still surprised. With the support of the emperor, what are you afraid of? As long as it's not a deviant article, what does it matter?"
After hearing this, Chen Shu smiled bitterly again, took out a crumpled piece of paper and said: "This is the first article that the emperor asked us to publish in the first issue. Mr. Li will read it first - I can't guess the emperor's thoughts anyway. .”
Li Xianfang read it, and it was the article about the rationality of Ding You's system. At that time, she almost gasped. He asked Chen Shu: "This... this, the emperor really wants to change the ancestral system!"
Chen Shu nodded after hearing this and said: "This is really not a joke. This system of civil servant Ding You was approved by Taizu and has been in use for two hundred years. The emperor is also serious. If he wants to seize the love of any minister, he has decreed that there is no need to This system has been gutted!"
Although Li Xianfang has reached the fifth rank, his political quality is very high. After hearing this, he shook his head and said: "My uncle is wrong. Your Majesty is planning for a rainy day. Think about it, if Zhang Juzheng is worried - what will happen to the general in the court?"
After hearing this, Chen Shu smiled and said: "I heard a few days ago that the old man of the Zhang family has a body as strong as a hammer, but Zhang Jiangling can't seem to be healthy even though he's taking supplements from the sky - it's not certain who is ahead, him or his father. ?”
Li Xianfang was speechless after hearing this and could only shake his head and smile.
Sun Zhonghan said from the side: "My uncle is not right. No matter how tough a person is, his age shows up. Besides, Mr. Zhang is far away in Jiangling. Why can you hear from him in the capital? The so-called subtle knowledge shows that there are countless people Looking forward to——" At this point, when Chen Shu suddenly realized something, he stopped talking.
Li Xianfang smiled and said: "Uncle, there is no need to worry. Although I have a little reputation in the literary world, my official career has been bumpy, and my desire to serve the country has long been cold. I didn't expect that I would get such an errand in my late seventies. To put it bluntly, So what if I sell these old bones to the emperor? I will do my duty!"
Chen Shu was overjoyed when he heard this and bowed down to thank Li Xianfang. He stood up and looked at Sun Zhonghan and Su Lian again to see what they meant.
Sun Zhonghan and Su Lian were just over fifty. They were both top three Jinshi in the late Jiajing period. They resigned from their posts as county magistrates. After hearing what Li Xianfang said at this time, they all said that it was an honor to follow him and do something big.
Su Lian smiled and said: "Compared to the days when the strict party was in power, the imperial court now seems like a world away. Brother Sun and I both resigned from office and have no chance of coming back - it would be great if we could change the system that prohibits people from rising after resigning!" "
Li Xianfang sneered when he heard this: "This is impossible. If the imperial court changes this, today's poor jingling officials will be able to run half as fast."
Chen Shu also laughed after hearing this and said: "That's right. Nowadays, the Procuratorate in the capital is tightening its anti-corruption efforts and has abolished all the bad rules of the previous ministries. I heard that a few days ago, a Beijing official refused to come out because he borrowed a loan at usury. Seeing that there was no way to celebrate the New Year, he gritted his teeth and jumped into the river - luckily he was saved, otherwise it would have become a big scandal!"
Li Xianfang's eyes lit up after hearing this: "Uncle, this is a good thing, we can give him a special topic!"
Chen Shu laughed after hearing this: "The old gentleman and the emperor thought of going together, and we really asked the "Beijing News" to do this topic. I heard Yu Menglin from the attendant's room relayed the emperor's intention, and he will give it to the emperor after the New Year. The officials in the capital are getting additional salaries. - A wave of rewards will be given before the year comes."
"Yu Menglin said that once the "Beijing News" spreads the word, and the court increases the salary, it will be difficult for our newspaper to sell out of stock!
