Eighth year of Chongzhen

Chapter 747 Reaction and Thinking

The establishment of the newspaper and the release of the Huangming Weekly did not arouse much repercussions and controversy in the court, because the officials all believed that the Huangming Weekly was just a reprint of the Dibao, and the emperor’s intention was to attract its audience The scope has only been expanded.

"Dibao" is also known as "Dichao" (also known as Dichao), and it is also known as "Chaobao", "Tiaobao" and "Miscellaneous Newspaper". All four use the word "bao", which is a kind of notification Announcement news is a copy of the news that is specially used by the imperial court to convey the documents and political information of the government.

"Di Bao" was originally copied by the imperial court, and then posted on the palace gate for public copying, so it is also called "Palace Gate Copy" and "Yuanmen Copy".

The initial audience of the Di Bao was the main officials of the provinces and prefectures and counties. As more people became more and more interested in the major policies of the imperial court, the emperor's decree, the appointment and removal of officials, and many other matters, there even appeared special transcriptions of the Di Bao. A profit-making merchant who sells.

In order to save trouble, officials and good-natured people are willing to spend some money to buy them, and they don’t need to copy them any more. This also laid a certain foundation for the expansion of the readership of Di Bao.

In addition to disseminating information, Di Bao also has an important role, that is, it will become the basis for compiling history, recording various events and people that happened on a certain day and time, and leaving extremely precious written materials for history.

In Daming, in addition to Di Bao, a medium that can be widely disseminated, there is also Tang Bao, which is more valuable.

Tangbao is a report sent to the imperial court by generals from all over the country. It is a summary of various enemy situations and combat situations in their jurisdiction. Dibao is transmitted downward, while Tangbao is transmitted upward. Only a few qualified important people can read to the relevant content, and make corresponding judgments and actions based on the information.

However, when the Huangming Weekly Newsletter came out on the sixth day of the twelfth lunar month in the 14th year of Chongzhen, the court officials who got the first newspaper still couldn't help being surprised.

Because the new newspaper is quite different from what they imagined in terms of size and content.

Because the size of Di Bao is too small, in order to release more information, the above content is mainly in small words, and the specific details are simplified as much as possible, in order to cover a wider range and take less time to read.

The Huangming Weekly was born in a brand-new model, and its appearance directly subverted the traditional media form in everyone's impression.

The huge layout and size, detailed content, exquisite articles, realistic reports, etc., all of these are eye-opening for those who come into contact with the new newspaper.

Among them, the content that attracted people's special attention came from the essays of Fang Yizhi and Zheng Zhifeng's visits, as well as related reports on immigrants from Shaanxi, Hubei, Liaoning and other places to open up wasteland and land.

Although the overall atmosphere of the Ming Dynasty is very open-minded and has a relatively high acceptance of new things, due to the lack of specific knowledge of the outside world, in the minds of most people, Europe in this period is no different from Jiannu and Tartars. They are all uncivilized lands, and they cannot be compared with the rich and powerful Ming Dynasty.

But the two travel notes by Fang Yizhi and Zheng Zhifeng made many people fall into thinking.

It turns out that in the far west tens of thousands of miles away, those red barbarian countries are also striving forward, and have made great progress in many aspects. Their momentum of catching up with Ming Dynasty has become more and more obvious. In terms of fields and aspects, some powerful countries have even surpassed Ming Dynasty.

And it is worth noting that Fang and Zheng both mentioned in their travel notes that these Western barbarians advocated expansion and force. In their eyes, wealth can be obtained by force. This behavior is actually no different from Jiannu and Tartars.

The views of Fang and Zheng have aroused the attention of interested people, which is what Zhu Youjian wants to see.

Standing still has always been an important obstacle to social development. As long as public opinion is gradually guided, some outdated ideas will soon be abandoned by the world.

Not too many people suspected that Fang Yizhi and Zheng Zhifeng were exaggerating, especially the courtiers.

Not to mention the character and motives of Fang and Zheng, but the officials from the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Industry who followed up with the mission, after returning to the government office, also understood what they saw and heard during the trip to Europe. A detailed description, what they said is basically the same as that described in the travel notes of Fang and Zheng.

The style and layout of the Huangming Weekly also borrowed from the samples of European newspapers, but under the description of Zhu Youjian, the Huangming Weekly made corresponding improvements. Except that the new newspaper cannot be printed on both sides, it is very similar to the newspapers of later generations. .

In addition to Fang Yizhi and Zheng Zhifeng's real version of Journey to the West, readers were also attracted by several related articles describing the land reclamation in various places, among which a report from Hubei Province attracted more attention.

The author of this article is Wen Kan, the second son of Shoufu Wen Tiren.

In the first half of the 14th year of Chongzhen, the summer harvest was harvested, and the summer grain in Hubei achieved a bumper harvest.

During the more than two years of land reclamation, millions of immigrants have reclaimed more than five acres of land per capita.

With the guidance and help of officials at all levels and the officials of the Imperial College, no matter whether they are immigrants or local farmers in Hubei, after intensive cultivation according to the procedures in the farming regulations manual initiated by Sinong Temple, the average yield per mu of newly opened fields that have become mature fields has reached one stone Erdou, with more than 300 million hectares of fields in the entire Hubei Province, harvested a total of more than [-] million shi of summer grain. While meeting his own rations, he also supplied more than [-] million shi of grain to the Jiangnan area.

Because of such gratifying achievements in the territory under its jurisdiction, Fang Kongzhang, the governor of Hubei, was awarded the title of Dongge University, and Wen Kan was promoted to the post of Xiangyang magistrate of the fourth rank, in order to facilitate his nearby jurisdiction. Familiar immigration work to prevent people from taking political interest.

In this article published in Huangming Weekly, Wen Kan used documentary techniques and language close to vernacular to describe to readers a scene of farming in full swing, and included the efforts of officials and officials from all over the country. Made a specific description.

Of course, this kind of description is definitely positive and positive, and it is also a deliberate method to follow Zhu Youjian's will, in order to convey more positive energy to the Ming society and encourage more students to join the front line.

Through Wen Kan's long article of several thousand words, many people who have never been in contact with farmers and farming know that the daily life of grassland people in their eyes is so difficult, and what they want is nothing more than a full meal That's all.

Correspondingly, the short article written by Zhang Dai, which was highly praised by Wu Weiye, did not arouse much repercussions among readers. Zhang Dai, who he admired, was very disappointed in his heart.

Because there are not only the thoughts brought by Fang Yizhi and Zheng Zhifeng's articles, but also the hardships of the Chinese people described by Wen Kan. Compared with Zhang Dai's short article with obvious petty bourgeoisie plot, it seems to more people. , It's just moaning without illness.

Under Zhu Youjian's guidance and appeal over the past few years, the atmosphere of the Ming Dynasty, both in the officialdom and among the people, has been changing to a pragmatic direction. The main reason that didn't resonate with many people.

The strategies Zhu Youjian adopted in the past few years have quietly achieved good results. Many pro-people officials with solid style and outstanding achievements have been promoted and reused. I have identified my direction and goals.

(End of this chapter)