Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 1002 0997 [Newspaper]

Palace, gardens.

The emperor was drinking tea with the monk.

As soon as he drank a cup, Dahui Zonggao said, "Your Majesty, there are monks in Tianwang Temple who are hiding corruption. I would like to resign from my position as abbot."

"No need, the Zen Master doesn't know about it," Zhu Ming smiled, as if he really didn't care, but then he changed the subject, "The Zen Master should continue to stay in Tianwang Temple as the abbot. If you feel guilty because the monks hid the corruption, you can just take back the title of 'Dahui'."

No matter how profound Dahui Zonggao's Buddhist knowledge was, he was stunned when he heard this, and then he smiled and replied: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for helping me eliminate my afflictions."

This monk didn't care about food, clothing, and daily expenses. So what if he couldn't become the abbot of Tianwang Temple? He wouldn't starve wherever he went. Many temples were vying to invite him.

Taking back the title of "Dahui" is the real punishment.

Zhu Ming put away his smile and said, "Take out half of the treasures in the Tianwang Temple's storehouse and confiscate them. The drought in the north has been severe in the past two years. All the confiscated treasures of the Tianwang Temple will be used to provide relief to the victims."

Zen Master Zong Gao said, "If the imperial court did not allocate grain for disaster relief, Tianwang Temple would still have to provide porridge according to custom. In recent years, the Ming imperial court has been effective in disaster relief, and monks no longer need to provide porridge, and the temple has saved a lot of money and grain. Your Majesty has taken away half of the wealth today, but in fact, Tianwang Temple should have given it a long time ago."

Zhu Ming was filled with awe and praised him repeatedly: "The Zen master is indeed a man of profound Buddhist teachings. I will send someone to Kaifeng to tell the abbot of Xiangguo Temple about these words."

"Hahahaha, your majesty, such wonderful words!" Zen Master Zong Gao was really amused. He planned to go to Xiangguo Temple another day to drink tea and discuss Buddhism.

The emperor and the monk seemed to be joking, but in fact the monk had already dealt with the situation with all his strength.

If the response is inappropriate, the Buddha's tooth in Tennoji Temple will be taken back!
After drinking a few cups of tea, Zen Master Zong Gao folded his hands and left.

When Zong Gao walked out of the imperial garden, he saw a middle-aged official outside who had been waiting there for a long time. The two men nodded to each other and passed each other.

The middle-aged official was named Zhang Yuangan, who was somewhat related to Emperor Huizong of Song—he was the nephew of Xiang Zizhen, who was in turn the cousin of Emperor Huizong of Song.

"Your Majesty, I am Zhang Yuangan, your servant!" Zhang Yuangan bowed and said.

Zhu Ming picked up the teapot: "Sit down and have some tea."

The emperor poured the tea himself, and Zhang Yuangan quickly took it with both hands.

Zhu Ming said: "I think your poems are very good. They are vigorous, upright, positive, and sometimes graceful without losing their true nature."

"Your Majesty is so complimentary."

Zhang Yuangan still doesn't understand why he was suddenly recalled to the capital when he was doing well as a school official.
Moreover, as soon as he reported to the Ministry of Personnel, he was allowed to enter the palace to meet the emperor.

When he met the emperor, he talked about poetry with him.

Could it be that the emperor suddenly became obsessed with poetry and wanted to follow the example of the foolish emperors of the Song Dynasty and keep a large number of poets around him?

Zhu Ming put down the teapot and spread it aside. Immediately, a eunuch handed him a newspaper.

"What is this?" Zhu Ming asked.

Zhang Yuangan glanced at it and said, "The court report."

Zhu Ming asked again: "Who is the court bulletin for?"

Zhang Yuangan replied: "Officials at all levels."

The Song Dynasty court encouraged officials to read official bulletins, firstly to enable them to understand central policies, and secondly to allow them to learn from them (newspapers contained information on official punishments).

Historically, Zhao Gou proclaimed himself emperor in Shangqiu and appointed Li Gang as the right prime minister.

Deng Su wrote to Li Gang, "I saw in the newspaper that you have become prime minister. Please report to the new court as soon as possible!"

In this way, Li Gang learned from his friend's letter that his friend had obtained the news of his becoming prime minister through the newspaper...

Zhu Ming said:

"I intend to reform the court reports. The content of previous court reports was too concise and complicated, and most of them were excerpted according to time."

"After the reform of the official gazette, one will be issued every month. Major events should be placed first and written in detail. Minor events should follow and be written in a little more detail. Ordinary events should be placed at the end and simply described."

"There are also editorials, which are like the words of the historian, briefly commenting on recent major events."

"You can also put in one or two poems and elegant essays, as well as the latest academic achievements of the various libraries of the Hanlin Academy."

“The writing should not be too difficult, and should be understandable to children who have only been able to read for a few years.”

"what do you think?"

Zhang Yuangan thought carefully and said: "It is not so boring to read now, and the main points are clearly distinguished and the details are appropriate. Even scholars in the folk will be happy to read such court reports."

Zhu Ming said: "Another most important reform is that anyone can buy and read!"

Not everyone was qualified to read the official gazettes of the Song Dynasty.

Officials can read it, but clerks cannot, and ordinary people cannot read it even more.

Of course, in actual practice, some officials, gentry and wealthy businessmen would secretly copy and paste excerpts from the court bulletins to read.

Tabloids had not yet appeared. They were a thing that only existed in the Ming Dynasty. They had to be commercially developed to a certain level. "You come to work on this newspaper," Zhu Ming said.

Zhang Yuangan had already guessed it, and asked quickly: "The former Song Dynasty's court reports were from the Bibusi. The Ming Dynasty's court reports were from the Tongzhengyuan. After the reform, are they still from the Tongzhengyuan?"

Zhu Ming said: "Ministry of Justice."

"Da Ming Monthly" is affiliated with the Ministry of Justice, so this decision is not outrageous.

Because in the Northern Song Dynasty, the court bulletins were always issued by the Bibusi of the Ministry of Justice.

If we only consider the convenience of collecting manuscripts, it would be most appropriate to let the Tongzhengyuan lead the newspaper, but Zhu Ming took into account the issue of speech channels.

The Tongzhengyuan already has control over memorials and rejections. If they are also allowed to control newspapers, wouldn’t it be too easy to fool the emperor?

Zhu Ming said, "There is a Dibao Division in the Ministry of Justice. The chief officer of the Dibao Division is one level higher than the ordinary doctor. The doctor in charge of the newspaper is appointed by the emperor and the cabinet. Just like the censors in the Supervisory Office, he is not promoted or demoted by the Ministry of Personnel."

Zhang Yuangan understood everything completely. This organization was highly valued by the emperor, and even the Ministry of Personnel did not have the personnel power over the head of a newspaper.

Zhu Ming added: "You recommend two officials, and I will arrange a few more for you. Set up the Dibao Division as soon as possible. The name will be "Da Ming Monthly Report", and the theme of the first issue will be clean government."

Zhang Yuangan asked: "Your Majesty said that ordinary people can also read the court reports, so how can they obtain them?"

Zhu Ming said: "Officials at all levels can receive them for free as before. When distributing them to government offices at all levels, more can be distributed and left for local post stations. Booksellers can buy them at the post stations and then retail them to the people. Post stations can also sell them themselves and keep 20% of the sales revenue as subsidies for the post stations."

Zhang Yuangan kept it in mind silently.

He was unsure of the circulation, so he decided to play it safe for the time being.

That is, on top of the original number of copies issued to officials, each county will be issued an additional 100 copies. Not many people will read this stuff, so issuing 100 copies to each county should be enough.

If sales are good, you can increase it slowly.

Let the post stations in various places apply for additional issuance themselves. After all, the more they sell, the more money they make.

After asking for some more details, Zhang Yuangan bowed and took his leave.

The reason why Zhu Ming chose this person to publish the newspaper was because Zhang Yuangan's writing style was very suitable.

Be strong and upright, positive and optimistic, and yet have a compassionate heart.

Historically, Zhang Yuangan was praised as the pioneer of the bold and unrestrained school in the Southern Song Dynasty. His ci poems were presented to Su Dongpo and inspired Xin Qiji, and he was a poet who inherited and carried forward the past and ushered in the future of the two Song dynasties.

This man had been Li Gang's aide. After Yue Fei was unjustly killed, he also angered Qin Hui, had his property confiscated and was imprisoned, and was stripped of his official status. From then on, he wandered around the world.

Zhang Yuangan of this time and space did not experience so many tragic experiences, and his style of poetry certainly did not turn into tragic, generous and bold.

But still very positive!

Li Bangyan is not good enough. If he were to run the official newspaper, he would probably cause political problems every now and then.

What is Li Bangyan doing at this moment?

He was drinking tea in the Dali Temple and was definitely sent to prison for the second time.

"There is absolutely no crime in Lanruoyuan," Li Bangyan said with a sad face, "Since I was stripped of my official position, I have been studying the Ming Dynasty Law all these years. Not only will I not do anything that violates the Ming Dynasty Law, but my family and employees are also not allowed to do it. Some corrupt officials do like to drink in Lanruoyuan. But they also drink in other restaurants. We can't close down all the restaurants in Luoyang, right?"

Wei Liangchen said: "There are quite a few corrupt officials who bought the Bodhisattva Man from you and then gave it away."

Li Bangyan quickly retorted: "Wei Yushi, you can't talk nonsense. I never do human trafficking. Those Bodhisattva barbarians are my employees. Some are hired by Lanruoyuan. According to the law, the employment contracts can only be transferred to other trading companies. I have not sold the contracts of any of these Bodhisattva barbarians. The rest of the Bodhisattva barbarians are private servants hired by my family. They usually sweep the floor and sing songs. When I sell the servants' contracts, I always abide by the Great Ming Law. I never force them to renew the contract. When the contract expires, they can leave freely."

Wei Liangchen was in a bad mood. During the interrogation of Li Bangyan, he found that this old guy was well versed in the "Great Ming Law".

There is really nothing illegal to find!
Even the anti-pornography campaign could not wipe out the top-level Bodhisattvas, who not only lived alone in the courtyard, but even terminated their long-term contracts with Li Bangyan and instead signed short-term contracts for a cooperative relationship - which was equivalent to Li Bangyan being their agent.

It is difficult for ordinary pleasure seekers to approach top-level Bodhisattvas, and those who are qualified to stay overnight all declare to the outside world that they are in a romantic relationship.

At most you can say that they are immoral and having extramarital affairs.

Ordinary Bodhisattvas do not sell their bodies in Lanruoyuan. They discuss with the customers where to go after get off work.

If one wants to investigate and punish Li Bangyan and close down his Lanruoyuan, they can only punish him in violation of the Ming Dynasty Law, or they can frame him with several crimes!

Why did Wei Liangchen want to deal with Li Bangyan?
Because the confessions of many corrupt officials in Beijing showed that they engaged in power-for-money transactions in private, and they often chose to communicate in Li Bangyan's Lanruoyuan.

Wei Liangchen said: "This case is complicated, you have to stay in the Dali Temple for a few more days."

Li Bangyan pleaded, "The Dali Temple prison is cold and damp, and my health is poor. I am afraid I will get sick and die here."

Wei Liangchen was too lazy to say anything more and had Li Bangyan thrown into jail.

Li Bangyan was really scared. He was indeed old, and the conditions in the prison were not good. Even if the jailer didn't deliberately mess with him, he would be prone to illness if he stayed there for a long time.

There is a high possibility that he will die of illness in there!

Those who make money through illegal means should not blame the government for using illegal means.

(Alas, industrial development will be discussed in later chapters.)
(End of this chapter)