For future generations, public opinion is related to social stability and national unity, and has a huge impact. It is precisely because of this that there are countless walking 500,000 people who specialize in scheming public opinion.
In the Ming Dynasty, and even in ancient times, the issue of public opinion never attracted great attention. Although all dynasties knew that "those who win the hearts of the people win the world," they simply believed that the hearts of the people existed in benevolent government. As long as the emperor did not bother and did not increase taxes, If people's power is not used indiscriminately, they will have the support of the people.
This view seems to be really correct...
It can only be said that the needs of ancient people were very simple. They had never studied Maslow’s needs theory, and they only struggled with survival all their lives, and were at the bottom of the needs theory:
Physiological needs.
Having food to eat, clothes to wear, a wife and children is enough.
What are the security requirements? There is no need to worry about bricks falling from the sky when farming. The greatest safety is that no one from the court comes. As for the higher needs of social interaction, respect and self-realization, they belong to the scholar class and the children of wealthy families, and have little to do with the common people.
Simple needs correspond to a simple and boring life, and at the same time, there is endless emptiness and loneliness.
Many people think that ordinary people go out to farm early in the morning and return home under the stars and the moon, exhausted and have no spiritual needs. That is pure nonsense.
The lower the people are at the bottom, the more struggling they are, the poorer and emptier their spirit is. At the same time, it is easier to be stuffed into a kind of thought. They don't care whether this thought is that of the immortal Zhang Sloppy (Zhang Sanfeng) or Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, or the White Lotus Sect...
Whatever you encounter, just stuff it into your head.
When Buddhism goes to a village, that village will believe in Buddhism. When Taoism goes deep into a village, the village will believe in Taoism. When the White Lotus Sect comes, it will naturally have to shout a few slogans to support Maitreya.
And what about the court?
Oh, busy with internal fighting...
Public opinion is the right to speak. This voice is loud in the capital, OK in the prefectures, and can still be heard in the counties, but in the countryside... it is basically a state of "horses and plums".
The private economy is very weak, and the bottom building has not yet been completed. It seems absurd to talk about the superstructure, develop public opinion, and promote the construction of folk "spirituality" and "ideology."
But Buddhism doesn't think it's absurd, Taoism doesn't think it's absurd, and even the White Lotus Sect doesn't think it's absurd. Therefore, there are tens of millions of people among the people, but only those who fear the imperial court, and few believe in the imperial court. And what they believe in are those who control the people. The religion of public opinion and discourse.
Therefore, Zhu Yunwen decided to take advantage of the opportunity of Shanxi immigrants to create a set of effective public opinion tools to compete for the right to speak among the people and increase the court's influence at the bottom.
The establishment of a Propaganda Department in Shanxi is just a pilot. Once the pilot is effective, a Propaganda Bureau will be set up in the central government.
"Your Majesty, forgive me for being ignorant. Who is this Propaganda Department?"
Hu Hui really couldn't think of anything, so she had to lower her head and ask.
Zhu Yunwen drew a line in the sky and said: "Once the Shanxi Guard Army is dispatched, the people who will be shocked may only be the people around the Guard Station, not the entire Shanxi Province. However, if people guide and publicize this matter, the news will be spread to thousands of households, reaching 400 people." Only with the eyes and ears of tens of thousands of people can we truly create pressure and encourage people to actively respond to the relocation strategy. This is my original intention in setting up a propaganda department."
The original intention at the moment is just to serve the overall immigration situation. The future purpose is to serve the Ming Dynasty.
Only then did Hu Hui realize that it was an organization that had not yet been established.
After the emperor ascended the throne, he established many new institutions, such as the Science and Technology Bureau, the Security Bureau, the Second Artillery Bureau, etc. It would not be out of place to have a Propaganda Department.
But isn’t the Propaganda Department’s task too heavy?
Spreading the news widely to thousands of households and reaching the eyes and ears of four million people means full-coverage propaganda and no omissions.
This is simply unrealistic.
Hu Hui was silent. It was easy to promise the emperor, but it was too difficult to do it.
Zhu Yunwen also knew that it was difficult. After all, Shanxi was very large and not all people lived in big cities. A street office aunt and uncle could manage tens of thousands of people. If he needed to send a message, he only needed to send them a document or make a phone call. That's it.
The terrain of Shanxi is "two mountains sandwiching a river". There are Taihang Mountains to the east, Hengshan Mountains and Wutai Mountains to the north, and Luliang Mountains to the west. In the middle is a "multi"-shaped rift basin. People can just run around in the plain basin. You can still spread the news by shouting, but how should you inform the people living halfway up and in the mountains?
climb mountains?
That's all.
But the problem is that I can't give Hu Hui many people to do this, at most 300 people.
Use three hundred people and six hundred legs to inform four million pairs of ears.
Well, it is such a difficult action.
Hu Hui lived up to Zhu Yunwen's expectations and solemnly agreed: "I can go to Shanxi to serve as a doctor in the propaganda department, but I need a group of craftsmen to accompany me."
"Oh? Tell me your plan."
Zhu Yunwen's brows moved slightly. The Hu Hui in front of him was not defeated by the difficulties. Instead, after estimating the difficulties, he began to look for a solution to the problem.
The craftsman, that's his way.
With a serious face, Hu Hui said: "Your Majesty, guiding public opinion and increasing publicity are nothing more than spreading the voice. If you announce it door to door, it is impossible to complete the task. Therefore, I plan to use the hands of craftsmen to engrave hundreds of plates. , printed day and night, and spread the news to the public by distributing notices.”
Zhu Yunwen thought for a moment, shook his head and said: "Notices are the window through which the imperial court communicates its decrees to the people. If the information is misused, it will be detrimental to the long term and this should not be done. Furthermore, if the notices are useful, what else does the Propaganda Department need to do?"
Hu Hui was caught in a conflict. If the emperor didn't even give him this authority, then no one would be able to do it.
Zhu Yunwen smiled easily and said to the nervous Hu Hu: "Although notices are not feasible, I can still give you a craftsman, but I am not allowed to print government notices, but newspapers."
"Newspaper? What is a newspaper?"
Hu Xi was stunned, she had never heard of it.
Zhu Yunwen stood by the pavilion, looking at the misty Lianhu Lake, and said softly: "The newspaper is the Dibao."
"That's it."
Hu Xi was relieved.
Some people subjectively believe that newspapers are imported and a product of the West, but this is wrong.
In fact, newspapers, whether handwritten or printed, first appeared in China.
As early as the "Kaiyuan Heyday" of the Tang Dynasty, the first newspaper appeared in China, which was called "Bao Lian" at that time.
Bao, the ancient meaning is to issue an announcement; zhuang. Gu Yi was an official document, and later the "Jinzouyuan Report" appeared. The Jinzouyuan here is actually the Beijing office of the feudal bosses...
At that time, the newspaper was called "Kaiyuan Miscellaneous News", with a handwriting board. According to the classification of later generations, this newspaper can be classified as a "daily newspaper", which is the so-called "daily affairs, no head and tail".
The contents of these newspapers are roughly:
This morning the emperor planted the fields, in the afternoon the officials participated in a certain ceremony, and in the evening who gave what memorial and so on.
By the Song Dynasty, the newspaper industry had been highly developed, and the term "Di Bao" appeared.
Being able to write "Sitting and watching the Di newspaper, talking about the pedantic old man, gossiping about Chushan and remembering the drunken old man" also shows that Su Dongpo often read a Di newspaper and was quite disdainful of its contents.
The newspapers in the Song Dynasty were not daily newspapers, but maybe ten-day newspapers. If you were lazy, they were monthly newspapers...
Of course, the Lao Song family has a strong sense of confidentiality and stipulates that "anyone who actually seals the text or makes the matter confidential shall not report it" and so on.
It doesn't matter what the official newspaper is. The problem is that in the Song Dynasty, tabloids appeared.
Tabloids began in the Northern Song Dynasty and became popular in the Southern Song Dynasty. They were unofficial private newspapers with uncertain release dates and uncertain contents. People at that time had another name for this type of tabloids:
news.
Looking at it this way, people in Song Dynasty have already started to play with news newspapers and start self-media...
However, these news tabloids are not reviewed by the government, and you people have not obtained certificates or seals, nor have you sent benefits to the court. You often speculate, conjecture, and make up news. This is inappropriate.
Although the imperial court does not pay attention to public opinion, it does not allow you to "make up lies" or "spread chaos". Let's ban it.
The Yuan Dynasty became even more strict. No matter how strict it was, tabloids were not allowed to run. So what, Di newspapers were also exempted...
If everyone is laid off and diverted, won't there be no danger of spreading rumors?
But there are still benefits to the Di newspaper. If it is not run by the people, the court must run it. After all, this thing has the important function of controlling the place, conveying instructions, and communicating on major affairs.
As a result, Zhu Yuanzhang resumed Di Bao.
There were three main links in the publication and copying of Dibao in the Ming Dynasty: the General Affairs Department, the Sixth Section, and Titang.
The Department of General Affairs "receives the king's orders and understands the subordinates' affairs." Numerous government affairs are transmitted from here to the local government, and there is also rich material for imperial newspapers.
The sixth section mainly collects and records court affairs and supplements the materials for the imperial newspaper.
Titang is responsible for copying and transmitting to the local government.
It should be noted that in the mid-Ming Dynasty, private newspapers appeared, um, the kind that had obtained business qualification certificates.
However, as far as the present is concerned, the Di newspapers in the Ming Dynasty are still very traditional. They only serve the bureaucracy and there are no private newspapers.
Naturally, Zhu Yunwen could not ask Hu Hui to resign and start a private newspaper company. Since he was an official, wouldn't it be appropriate to set up a state-owned newspaper company?
The notices cannot be touched, and the newspaper cannot be used. It is a big deal to start from scratch.
"You are going to Shanxi. You can bring the craftsmen to set up the Propaganda Department and start the Ming Dynasty People's Daily. I will arrange for some Hanlin officials to accompany you and be responsible for writing. They must be printed and cannot be copied by hand. How does the Ming Dynasty People's Daily tell the story of how the voice spread to the people and how to let it spread to the people? The illiterate people need the Ming Dynasty People's Daily, and a lot of things need to be done..."
Zhu Yunwen was really depressed. Printing and paper technology were already very mature, but who would have thought that for hundreds of years, newspapers were all hand-copied. It was only during the Chongzhen period in the late Ming Dynasty that someone started to use printed versions.
I don’t know what the people who work in the newspaper industry have been doing in these years...
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