Volume 1: Birth! Seven time travelers Chapter 121 Helping You Get on the Horse and Sending You on Your Way (Part 3)
Originally, the gentlemen of Donglin School were very comfortable giving lectures in Wuxi: they were all retired officials, and it didn’t cost much to make various comments on the emperor and officials in the court. Instead, they gained huge reputation for themselves. However, over the years, when everyone wanted to do something practical together, they failed so quickly!
If this continues, won't the reputation that everyone has worked so hard to build up be ruined? We all have lost our official positions, and if we lose our reputation, what hope is there?
These so-called gentlemen are all old, and even if they can return to politics in this life, it will be like that. But what about the talented students of Donglin Academy now? If Donglin Academy loses miserably in this competition, it will give the gentry all over the world a bad impression that Donglin people are good at talking but are blind when it comes to doing practical things. Then even if these talented students pass the imperial examination and enter politics in the future, this period of study in Donglin will surely become a lifelong stain on them!
These things are only thought of by these gentlemen now. But those who can enter Donglin are not stupid. It won’t take long for these students to react. I’m afraid they will drop out of school immediately.
By then, not only will the newspaper be unable to continue publishing, the entire academy will collapse!
Oh, I should not have started this newspaper if I had known. His Royal Highness is too powerful. In the beginning, apart from a small move against the Nanjing censors in response to Zhang Yicheng's impeachment, he was happy to see the development of Donglin Daily and even helped it vigorously! This made it impossible for the gentlemen of Donglin to find an excuse for their failure!
No, this can't go on like this. We have to find a way to boost newspaper sales!
"Everyone, the quality of the newspaper now has a bearing on the life and death of the academy. Therefore, there are many things we cannot do without. In my opinion, the newspaper must make changes."
"Uncle Shi, please speak."
"First, expand the number of pages in the newspaper. Our newspaper now only has eight pages. Compared with the Jinling Daily, it naturally gives people the impression that we are a tabloid, a weak newspaper. This means we lose the first impression."
"Well, what Shushi said makes sense, but in this case, what about the cost of this newspaper? You know, the current funds used for running the newspaper are less than 30,000 taels."
Gu Xiancheng was not going to investigate how the fund reserve of 200,000 taels was reduced to 30,000 taels in less than four months: after all, the civil servants of the Ming Dynasty were not civil servants after they retired.
"As for the funding, I will go to Fengyang to meet Daofu (Li Sancai) in person, and then go to the Xu family in Huating. I beg them to support us with another 100,000 taels no matter what."
"...Okay, the funding issue has been resolved for the time being, but what about the expanded page space?"
"That's exactly what I want to say. After expanding the page space, use two pages for advertising to solve the newspaper's survival problem first."
"Uh... well, let's leave it at that for now. This involves the life and death of the academy, so we need to endure the humiliation and bear the burden."
"Yes, if I don't go to hell, who will?"
"My brothers, thank you for your generosity." Gu Xiancheng bowed and continued, "Third, take out four of the remaining six pages and put examples of various contemporary essays (eight-part essays), and we will explain the techniques of making them!"
"this……"
From ancient times to the present, the dissemination of knowledge has never been absolutely fair. Compared with the aristocratic politics of the pre-Qin Dynasty and the nine-rank system of the Jin and Southern and Northern Dynasties, the Ming Dynasty was much better. After all, many children of commoners could also succeed through the imperial examination. However, the majority of those who really benefited from the imperial examination system were the children of officials.
During the 276 years of the Ming Dynasty, more than 27,000 Jinshi were born. More than 70% of them were children of officials, and more than 20% were from wealthy families. Among the children of ordinary people, less than one in ten became Jinshi.
The biggest reason for this situation is, of course, the problem of knowledge dissemination. Unless ordinary civilians are extremely talented, they simply cannot compete with the celestial dragons who have a family background and are guided by famous teachers.
For many years, the gentry and wealthy merchants consciously maintained this situation, and tacitly closed off the writing skills of eight-part essays to people outside their circle. Although in this era, there were also various booksellers who bought the essays of the new Jinshi and Juren and bound them into books for sale. However, without the explanation of famous teachers, the effect of just reading the model essays was extremely limited!
Therefore, even if a top scholar like Zhang Yicheng publicly gave lectures to the teachers of Fangshan School on a regular basis, it was already a heinous crime, which caused dissatisfaction among many imperial censors in Nanjing. And now Gu Xiancheng actually wanted to publish such a technique directly in the newspaper?
This did not cause the gentlemen of Donglin to feel hesitant.
There is no doubt that if Donglin Daily did this, the sales of the newspaper would definitely increase greatly: the readers across the country would definitely be willing to pay for such a newspaper. But this would also completely offend the gentry class across the country!
"Uncle Shi, I know the current situation of the academy is very critical. But did we do this?"
"Everyone, this is what I think." Gu Xiancheng, his old face flushed, said shyly: "The dynasty has been established for more than 200 years. We can find old friends who are still in the Ministry of Rites in the two capitals and use the contemporary articles before the Xuande Dynasty as models."
Everyone present was cunning and sly, er, no, they were gentlemen with extraordinary intelligence. When Gu Xiancheng said this, everyone understood: before Xuande, wasn't that the contemporary writing of the Hongwu and Yongle dynasties? What were the characteristics of that era? The scholars were full of vigor, and especially brave and pioneering. When they went out, they all imitated the scholars of the Han Dynasty, who all carried swords. The eight-part essays they wrote were also aggressive and masculine.
Now it is the Wanli Dynasty. Scholars of the Ming Dynasty no longer wear swords, but paper fans, and even sprinkle themselves with perfume powder and even put on blush. Moreover, many officials of the Ming Dynasty are no longer interested in women. If ordinary civilian candidates really foolishly imitate the writing style of the Hongwu and Yongle Dynasties, then only one out of ten will succeed. In the future, only one out of a hundred will succeed.
In short, Gu Xiancheng's meaning is: first use the gimmick of art skills to attract scholars from all over the country, and then talk about other things after the newspaper sales increase. Real skills? I taught you. But if you still can't pass the imperial examination, it really is a problem of talent and hard work.
If someone asks again, "It's already the Wanli Dynasty, why don't you talk about the current literature, but talk about the literature of the Hongwu and Yongle periods?", then Donglin can put a big hat on them: "Shouldn't we start talking about anything in this dynasty from the Hongwu period?"
Therefore, doing so can attract attention and increase sales, but will not cause widespread disgust among the gentry. It is indeed the best compromise under the current situation.
After seeing everyone nodding slowly, Gu Xiancheng let out a sigh of relief: "For the remaining two pages, I intend to carry forward the upright spirit of our Donglin Academy since the resumption of lectures, and correct some obviously erroneous viewpoints in the Jinling Daily." - This sentence translated into human language means: take the initiative to provoke the Jinling Daily, trigger a debate or even a war of words, thereby attracting attention and gaining attention!
"Good! Uncle Shi's suggestion is good. As scholars, we have the responsibility to protect the teachings of the saints. We should have done so long ago!"
On July 1, 1608, Donglin Daily was completely redesigned. In addition to expanding from eight pages to sixteen pages, the price was also increased from three cents to one cent - in short, it was completely in line with Jinling Daily.
In the last two pages of this issue, the theme launched by Donglin Daily is: Refuting the "Five Vermin" theory!
