Great Song Super Scholar

Chapter 659
In the "Letter" newspaper, Fan Ning met Zhu Jie, Zhu Pei's aunt.

"Why is Auntie here?"

"I still ask you! When did you come back?"

"Yesterday afternoon, I happened to have something to report to the office today. How was the moveable type printing last time?" Fan Ning asked with a smile.

"It's still improving, but it's a lot better than it used to be."

Zhu Jie asked his subordinates to take out a pair of copper movable type and put them on the table. Fan Ning took out a "national" character, which was made in such fine detail that it could be called a work of art. Fanning was a little puzzled by the small circle of gold.

Zhu Jie smiled and said, "The gold circles represent the most commonly used characters, the silver circles are the less frequently used characters, and the black circles are the less commonly used characters. We have created hundreds of pairs of the most commonly used characters."

"Why do you have to build so many?"

"This is the biggest problem with using movable type. The same word often appears more than ten times in an article. We have more than ten articles in a newspaper. What do you do?"

Fanning nodded, he hadn't thought of this question.

"The only solution is to prepare as many of the most commonly used words as possible. We have prepared more than 100 words such as 'zhi' and 'the' that are used the most. Like advertisements in supplements, the format should be as consistent as possible."

Fanning sighed, "Move type is still too troublesome."

"Actually, it's okay. The key is proficiency. Once a copywriter is proficient, he can prepare a layout in an hour."

Seeing that there was no one around, Zhu Jie lowered his voice and said: "We usually have to support twenty engravers, and each of them has to pay ten pennies per day. Three pennies, the engraved boards cost more than ten pennies a day, and now there is no more. Do the math, how much money do we save every day? We have been losing money in running newspapers, and now we are making money. This is the credit of movable type. !"

The two walked out of the writing room, and Zhu Jie smiled and asked, "It's not as simple as asking about movable type today, is it?"

Fan Ning said with a smile: "In ten days, I want to go to the North Island, and I want to recruit a group of immigrants to go with me, so I can promote it to you."

Zhu Jie smiled slightly: "Then I will publish a special issue for you, immigrating to Beidao with Mr. Fan, how about it?"

Fan Ning was taken aback and shook his head again and again, "This won't do, it will be tabooed by the court, it's too blatant."

"Then what do you say?"

Fan Ning hesitated and said: "I want to be a little more subtle, such as making a question and answer record of the Western Xia Campaign on the front page, and then mentioning that I plan to go to Beidao for a month's vacation, and then add a few words at the end, if If you are interested in immigrating to the island, you can contact the newspaper, and you can help me get in touch."

"Is this too subtle, will it be effective? Generally, people who want to immigrate only read the various recruitment notices in the supplement and compare the conditions of each company."

"It should be effective. In addition, a big notice was published in the supplement, Mr. Fan's vacation place, and then various beautiful words were used to describe Bei Dao. The effect came out after echoing back and forth."

"There is no problem at all. Then let's make an appointment. I will bring one of the most capable editors to visit your house in the evening, and then it will be printed at noon tomorrow."

Fanning nodded, "I will wait for you."

At noon of the next day, with the publication of an article in the "Letter", the people in the capital and the civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty knew that Fan Ning had returned to Beijing, but at the same time he had to take a three-month vacation.

Most people understand that he is on vacation. After all, after the battle against Liao and Xixia, he has not rested for the past two years. He should relax, but there are still many people who feel that Fanning's vacation is unusual. means.

In Zhizheng Hall, Fu Bi put down the newspaper and asked Han Jiang, "What is Fan Ning going to do? Do you want to be the shopkeeper?"

Han Jiang smiled bitterly and said, "I don't know what he wants to do, maybe he really wants to take a break."

"fart!"

Fu Bi cursed, "You are 20 years older than him, and you haven't rested yet. What does he want to rest?"

"Why don't you ask Fu Xiang yourself!" Han Jiang said helplessly.

"Has he come today?"

An officer hurriedly said: "Mr. Fan has been here today, I wonder if he is still in the official room?"

Fu Bi was annoyed, picked up the newspaper and walked to Fan Ning's official room.

Fan Ning's official residence was a small courtyard, and his specific official position in the imperial court was to know the affairs of the Privy Council, but in fact he didn't care about the affairs of the Privy Council, at most he knew about the changes in the Liao Kingdom.

Just as Fu Bi walked to the door, he happened to meet Fan Ning coming out of the room.

"Fu Xianggong, scare me!"

Fu Bi glared at him, pointed to the newspaper in his hand and said, "Is this true? You are going to rest for three months?"

Fanning smiled and said, "I'm going to have lunch, why don't we have a drink together."

Fu Bi snorted, "It's useless for me to get drunk."

Fan Ning smiled dumbly, and brought Fu Bi to the Zhulou next to the imperial city. There is a special private seat here with very good sound insulation, which is generally not open to the public. Only a few people can use it, and Fan Ning is one of them.

Fu Bi walked into the room and had a look. The furnishings in the room were elegant and elegant. He liked it very much, so he asked, "This elegant room is nice. I often come to this restaurant. Why don't I know about it?"

"This elegant room is not open to the public. If Fuxiang likes it, I will tell the shopkeeper that Fuxiang can be used as a special user."

"That's good! Tell him, I like this place very much."

Fan Ning asked the bartender to invite the shopkeeper. After a while, the shopkeeper rushed over and said with a bow, "My lord please give instructions!"

Fan Ning pointed to Fu Bi, "In the future, Mr. Fu can use this elegant room when he comes here to treat guests to dinner or have a drink."

"I see, I'll go record it."

The shopkeeper left in a hurry, Fan Ning asked Fu Bi to sit down, filled him with a glass of wine, smiled and said: "I really want to ask for leave for a hundred days, I want to go to Beidao, the queen mother and the emperor have already agreed."

Fu Bi was silent for a moment, "Is this the same reason as you not participating in the city entry ceremony?"

Fanning nodded, "It does have something to do with it."

Fu Bi sighed, "Why did you offend Wang Anshi?"

"Why did Fuxiang say that?"

Fu Bi pondered for a while and said, "At first, the Son of Heaven planned to take the imperial conquest and accept Xixia's surrender. You should know about this!"

Fan Ning nodded, "I know, Mr. Han and I were prepared, but the emperor seemed to be worried about the epidemic, so he canceled the plan."

"The 50 soldiers didn't get the disease, so what was the emperor worried about? It was Wang Anshi who persuaded the emperor not to go, saying that it was enough to put the surrender ceremony in the capital. The emperor was not suitable to stand under a dangerous wall. The emperor was persuaded by him. , the plan was cancelled.”

"This trick is very poisonous!" Fan Ning said lightly.

Fu Bi nodded, "It was only later that I realized that asking you to accept the surrender on behalf of Song Dynasty seemed to elevate you, but in fact it left a shadow in the heart of the emperor. To be honest, it is wise for you not to participate in the triumphant entry ceremony Decide."

Fan Ning is not surprised that Wang Anshi is hostile to him. Many of Wang Anshi's reforms have been evaded by him, especially the Green Crop Law and the Baojia Law, which were the core of Wang Anshi's reforms, but they were abolished. Even if many of the reforms introduced have changed, especially The principles of the reform proposed by him must reach a consensus between the government and the opposition before they can be implemented. This undoubtedly brought great constraints to Wang Anshi's reform, so Wang Anshi's extreme dissatisfaction with himself is understandable.

Fan Ning laughed again: "Since the rich man can understand me, why is the rich man dissatisfied with my three-month leave?"

Fu Bi shook his head, "You may not know that Wen Yanbo is going to be a scholar of Wenyuan Pavilion, Wu Chong will be the pacifier of Hexi Road, Wang Anshi will be the Minister of the Left, Zeng Gongliang will be the Minister of Political Affairs again, and Su Song will be the Minister of the Ministry of Officials. Zeng Gongliang is a firm supporter of the reform, and Su Song is also a supporter of the reform, do you understand?"

Fan Ning smiled faintly, "So what? Many reforms have no social basis. If he implements the Young Crop Law and the Baojia Law, it will inevitably lead to large-scale land abandonment. The consequences are not something he can afford."

Seeing Fu Bi's sad face, Fan Ning smiled again: "Don't worry, Fu Xianggong, the current emperor is not so easy to coax, he will carry out some reforms, but it should not hurt the Song Dynasty, sometimes It is also a good thing for the emperor to suffer some failures, lest he always think that any reform is good."

Fu Bi nodded silently, "Then do you have any suggestions for me?"

Fan Ning pondered for a moment, dipped his fingers in water and wrote a name on the table: 'Lu Huiqing'.

He said to Fu Bi: "Before Su Song becomes the Minister of the Ministry of Officials, he should be transferred to the Southern Continent as the Prefect of Dingnan."

Although Fu Bi didn't quite understand, he still nodded, "I see, what else?"

Fan Ning asked again: "Wang Anshi took over the position of Wen Yanbo, and his position will be vacant. Does the new political advisor have anything to say?"

"It hasn't been decided yet, do you have a recommendation?"

Fan Ning nodded, "Before I leave, I intend to recommend Ouyang Xiu to the Empress Dowager as a political advisor."

(End of this chapter)