Volume 1: Birth! Seven time travelers Chapter 113 Donglin also wants to publish a newspaper (Part 2)
Before being demoted to a commoner by Emperor Wanli, Gu Xiancheng worked in the Ministry of Personnel for a long time. He also served as a doctor in the Ministry of Selection for more than a year. What does this department do? It handles the specific procedures for the promotion and transfer of civil officials. This is the Organization Department within the Organization Department.
Relying on this experience, Gu Xiancheng accumulated a large number of connections in the officialdom. Therefore, after he was demoted to a commoner, he still maintained considerable influence in the Ming officialdom.
In addition, most of the prefectures in Nanzhili were strong in the imperial examinations, so there were many scholars, not to mention that there were not too many people who passed the imperial examinations every three years. Therefore, once Donglin Academy was rebuilt and opened, it had an extremely strong influence.
Students who really wanted to learn and make progress, humble gentlemen who wanted to make their voices heard through the academy so as to make the emperor Yao and Shun like him, villains who wanted to improve their official positions by forming cliques, or losers in political struggles... all gathered at Donglin Academy. By the time Zhu Youdong went south, Donglin Academy had become a major venue for opposition gentry in the Ming Dynasty to express various criticisms of the court.
It was the ancestral system that the crown prince was stationed in Nanjing. The civil officials of the Ming Dynasty used the ancestral system to restrain the emperor all day long. When the emperor used the ancestral system to bully them, they could not stop him. In addition, a considerable number of gentry in the north were happy to see the crown prince's grandson go south. Therefore, the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River had no choice but to accept Zhu Youdong's arrival.
However, we cannot stop you from coming, but we will never welcome you, let alone cooperate with you.
In fact, since the news of Zhu Youdong's upcoming trip to the south spread, rumors have been circulating in the provinces of Jiangnan: His Royal Highness is coming to the south to exploit the people of Jiangnan. Just wait and see , taxes will definitely increase.
When Zhu Youdong went to the Yellow Book Library as soon as he arrived in Nanjing, the gentry in Jiangnan said that the crown prince was concerned about the country and the people, but they were secretly happy in their hearts: Come on! Clean up the Yellow Book Library! As long as you dare to clean up the Yellow Book, we can cause a civil uprising in the four provinces of Jiangnan. By then, you, the crown prince, will have to roll back to Beijing in disgrace, and if you don't do it well, you will lose your position as the crown prince.
But after the Crown Prince went to the Huangce Library, he came back without making any noise. This made everyone's fists, which were full of strength, unable to hit out, and they all had some internal injuries.
The crown prince didn't even bother to get the Yellow Book, and he didn't even add an additional task, which made it impossible for everyone to exert their power as a local boss. Not only that, the crown prince also set up the Fangshan Industrial Base, where glass, mirrors, glasses, clocks, bone china, jade...all kinds of products emerged in an endless stream. Although the gentry said that His Highness's old illness had recurred and he was obsessed with money again, his body kept saying: Hmm, it smells so good!
And you can't impeach the crown prince and his men for this matter: the promotion of cowpox has seen results all over the country, and the promotion of corn, sweet potatoes and potatoes has also fed many poor people. In short, the crown prince has a moral halo. And what did the crown prince do with the money he made? He adopted thousands of orphans every year! Do you dare to impeach the crown prince? Then you can also adopt thousands of orphans?
Therefore, the gentry in Jiangnan were depressed to find that after they had used extremely high moral standards to demand the emperor for many years, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince also used moral standards to shut them up!
Well, you are just making money. You are not affecting our vital interests, so we tolerate it.
However, the signs that have appeared in the Jinling Daily are really intolerable!
"Ever since I saw the Jinling Daily, I have been thinking, can our Donglin Academy also publish a newspaper?"
There is no doubt that the Crown Prince did not want to rectify the Yellow Book Library. Instead, he clearly saw that if he directly touched the Yellow Book Library without controlling the public opinion, there would definitely be civil unrest everywhere. Therefore, Gu Xiancheng knew very well what the "Jinling Daily" meant.
Not only did he know it, his colleagues in Donglin Academy also knew it. The Jiangnan gentry standing behind them, as long as they had normal IQ, knew it very well.
Therefore, as the mouthpiece of the Jiangnan gentry, it was only a matter of time before Donglin entered the newspaper industry.
"Uncle, this is a very good idea! We give lectures in this academy for the purpose of spreading the great cause to the world. But how many students have we taught in the three years since the academy reopened? Even if we count those who have participated in one or two activities at the academy, there are only two or three thousand people. But this newspaper is different. The circulation of one issue is tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of copies. Add to that word of mouth, and I'm afraid it can influence no less than a million people! In my opinion, we at Donglin should have started a newspaper a long time ago!"
"Brother Guoduan is right. Uncle Shi, everyone, we are gathered here in Donglin to teach students and criticize current ills. This is for the benefit of the people of the world! And to save the people, publishing a newspaper is the fastest way to achieve the best results!"
"That's right, we need to publish a newspaper! We at Donglin want to publish a newspaper too! What kind of people are those editors under Zhang Yicheng? They are all useless people who have not been able to pass the imperial examination for decades ! There are also old white-haired students who can't even pass the provincial examination. I heard that recently even the sons of clerks have entered newspapers as editors. And what about Donglin? There are three to five hundred students who have studied here for a long time. In the next ten years, at least fifty Jinshi will be born! I don't believe that we can't beat those descendants of Sun Shan!"
"It's a good idea. If we were to run a newspaper, it would definitely be better than the Jinling Daily!"
After a few old angry young men shouted loudly for a while, they quickly decided to publish a newspaper. Then everyone began to enthusiastically enter the stage of detailed consultation.
The registration was quickly decided: Donglin Daily. Then the venue, workers, paper, layout design, editor-in-chief, general editors, etc. were all easy to deal with.
But the most important question is: it costs money to run a newspaper! Where does the money come from?
Zhu Youdong's Jinling Daily invested more than 10,000 taels of silver before its launch. After its launch, it suffered a net loss of 200 taels of silver every day for quite a long time. It was not until sales stabilized that it began to make a profit through advertising fees paid by brothels, hotels and other ordinary merchants. Moreover, this profit was still very thin after deducting costs. After expanding to 16 pages in the future, it may still suffer a slight loss.
Of course, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince wants to gain control over public opinion when he runs a newspaper, and he doesn't care about a little loss. But you want these guys in Donglin to not care about money?
If he didn't care about money, he wouldn't be so enthusiastic in criticizing the government. If he didn't care about money, he wouldn't be so nervous about Zhu Youdong going to the Huangce Library.
Logically, these guys are all Jinshi, and many of them are officials for generations. Some of their families even do part-time smuggling. If each family can come up with 10,000 or 20,000 silver, it will definitely not be a problem.
But, we are all moral role models, how can we come up with so much money at once? A gentleman does not talk about profit. Teacher, you teach us not to talk about money all day long, how come your family has so much money?
Forget about running a newspaper, just take the restoration of Donglin Academy, which only cost 1,200 taels of silver. But even with this little money, dozens of gentry had to raise funds together: it was not that no one could afford more than 1,000 taels, but for the sake of moral reputation, they could not take so much.
However, the funds needed to run a newspaper and repair the academy are completely different. Without 50,000 or 60,000 yuan as a base, don't even think about it. Moreover, with the noble moral integrity of the Donglin gentlemen, even if the sales of Donglin Daily exceed 100 million in the future, it will never advertise, let alone publish any Qinhuai Fengyue on it - gentlemen don't talk about profit.
Therefore, it is foreseeable that once a newspaper is published, losses are certain and will continue.
"Hey! That hateful grandson actually lowered the price of a newspaper to one copper coin. This is really a spendthrift move. Doesn't he know that every penny is the blood and sweat of the people?"
"Humph, that's why the Crown Prince likes to stay in Fangshan so much and doesn't even attend the monthly meeting in Nanjing."
"Okay, everyone, let's not talk about this for now." Gu Xiancheng was still a leader after all, and he had a certain level of vision: "Once we have decided to run a newspaper, we must do it. As for money, it is indeed short, but we can ask for help from friends and gentry. Before that, I will go back and sell some of my family's land... uh, I will personally donate 200 taels."
"Uncle Shi is so kind! In this case, I will donate one hundred and fifty taels."
"You are all noble men, I will follow you, I will donate seventy taels..."
"Okay, everyone, look, now I have almost 500 taels, right? Let me write to Li Sancai and the Xu family in Huating and ask them to help me with some money."
"Hehe..." When everyone heard Gu Xiancheng say this, they felt relieved.
Li Sancai was now the governor of the Grand Canal, holding the economic artery of the Ming Dynasty, and behind him stood the Huaiyang salt merchants. As an ally of Donglin, it would be a big deal if anything slipped through his fingers.
As for the Xu family of Huating, the land of the Xu family of Gancao State Elder Xu Jie is nearly 200,000 acres, making it one of the largest landowners in the Ming Empire at this time. Could the money they sent be too little?
In addition to the two big sponsors, Donglin Academy is also very influential among the gentry in the whole Jiangnan area. And everyone doesn't say it, but everyone knows in their hearts: His Royal Highness has already started to release articles like "Five Vermin" to test (in fact, Zhu Youdong saw that Donglin had not yet joined the game and deliberately provoked them). Smart gentry should know what to do. As long as the academy is willing to take the lead in publishing a newspaper, everyone is still willing to pay. After all the calculations, the first installment will not be less than 200,000 taels. It is enough to compete with Jinling Daily.
"So, our newspaper business is settled. Cunzhi (Gao Panlong), you are the most middle-aged among us, so we'll trouble you to take on more responsibilities. I'll leave the editor-in-chief position to you."
As the saying goes, there is no first in literature and no second in martial arts. How good is the editor-in-chief of this newspaper? Gu Xiancheng said that he would give it to Gao Panlong. The other gentlemen who had just been so righteous now felt a little embarrassed and uncomfortable.
Fortunately, Qian Yiben stood up at this time: "Yes, Cunzhi. Shushi (Gu Xiancheng) is fifty-seven this year, and I am sixty-one. Among us, you are the only one in your early forties, so you still hope to do well. We will definitely do our best to support you!"
"Brothers, rest assured, I will do my best to do it. I will not let Jinling Daily take the lead."
"Hmm~~~Speaking of Jinling Daily." Gu Xiancheng pulled at his long, hard, but extremely sparse, and irregularly grown beard: "The editor-in-chief of Jinling Daily, Zhang Yicheng, actually allowed advertisements in his newspaper. It would have been fine if he allowed advertisements, but he actually allowed the girls from brothels to pose on it. He is really a scum of the world! I am going to go to Nanjing in person to meet with the officials of the Nanjing Metropolitan Procuratorate. If we don't collectively impeach such people, then what is the point of my Ming Dynasty nurturing scholars for hundreds of years?"
