Man Tang Huacai

Chapter 198 Sender

April seventeenth. Daming Palace.

There was a gentle breeze and the weather was perfect. After Li Longji stood up, he was looking at the "Qin Gao Zhuan" presented by Yang Zhao casually, which is a strange story based on the Eastern Jin Dynasty's "Sou Shen Ji".

"Sage, can you read what Xue Bai wrote?" Gao Lishi asked with a smile.

"Is Shuzi willing to write a new story?"

"That's not true, it's because the Di newspaper has been printed."

Li Longji couldn't help laughing and scolding: "You old fox, you deliberately teased me."

"Old slave is too presumptuous." Gao Lishi did make a joke on purpose, and monarchs and ministers should occasionally have a little fun.

"Now that he has written the newspaper, please submit it. If I am satisfied, I will print it."

"Replying to the saint, I did not write one copy, but printed thousands of copies and sent them to the palace. I can send them to the literate palace officials so that the saint can see the results."

"Impossible." Li Longji immediately waved his hand and muttered: "He just found someone to copy thousands of copies. Let me take a look and expose his tricks."

"According to the order."

After a while, several reports from the residence were submitted to Li Longji's case. At the first glance, his eyes froze and he realized that it was printed.

This is impossible. The poem on the paper was written by his ministers just the day before yesterday. It was too late to engrave and print it... Is this the so-called movable type printing?

His eyes fell on Li Mi's poem with complicated characters. It was impossible for the copper plate to have already cast the characters "Huan" and "Ying", and it was impossible to cast it so quickly on a temporary basis.

Li Longji looked thoughtful, thinking about how he could do this.

But what I have to say is that he was indeed shocked by Xue Bai.

This was the first practical thing he asked Xue Bai to do, and it was done far beyond his expectations. Every word on the paper was the same size and neat, and the layout was comfortable, making it pleasing to the eye at a glance.

Looking at the content again, he spared no effort to promote the unprecedented prosperity of the Tang Dynasty and the merits of the saints... What is important is that tens of thousands of copies of this newspaper will be published, spreading wider and longer than many books.

"Xue Bai is a capable minister."

Involuntarily sighing with emotion at this sentence, Li Longji continued to think. After reading the entire first side, his brows furrowed deeper and deeper before looking at the second side.

Suddenly, he picked up the first page again and read it, then he frowned and laughed.

"Shu Zi, don't even think about hiding it from me!"

"Saint?" Gao Lishi was still confused.

"Poems are written first." Li Longqi said: "Look at the poems here. The articles were written by Shuzi himself. What about the poems? Wei Shu, Wang Wei, Li Mi, Su Mingyuan, Xiao Yingshi, and Li Hua were all written by Shuzi. A good friend. They were already printing it a few days before Wangri came to court."

"So that's the case. No wonder it's so fast." Gao Lishi exclaimed: "The saint can even see this."

"Go and recruit Xue Bai."

"According to the order."

Xue Bai was in the imperial city and was soon taken to the Daming Palace.

When Li Longji saw him coming, he immediately threw a copy of the newspaper in front of him and shouted: "How bold, even I dare to deceive you."

"Has Your Majesty seen it?" Xue Bai was surprised, and then responded: "I have no intention of deceiving Your Majesty, but since I am responsible for the printing of newspapers and publications, I must do my best. This is the meaning of 'preempting others'."

Xue Bai indeed took Wang Wei, Li Mi and others to the veranda in early April and forced them to hand over their poems.

"What a head start."

Although Li Longji was still scolding, he then smiled proudly.

"I blame you for letting you take advantage of the fact that I told you in advance what kind of content I was going to publish."

Having said that, after he saw through Xue Bai's little trick, he didn't bother to think about the specific craftsmanship Xue Bai used when printing.

In short, it's just movable type printing, it doesn't matter what it is... In short, Xue Bai did a great job in printing the Di newspaper, and it has definitely left a deep impression on him.

"Your Majesty, please allow me to distribute the report to the palace so that Your Majesty can see the results?"

"That's right."

~~

The nine-layer palace garden is as beautiful as silk. The windows of the side hall are embroidered with hibiscus flowers.

In front of the huge Yangzhou water-centred mirror, Yang Yuhuan had put on new makeup and was trying on clothes. Suddenly she heard a movement in the palace garden. She couldn't help but be curious and called Zhang Yunrong to ask.

"What happened?"

"It was the Number One Scholar who followed the sage's orders and distributed the newspaper in the palace."

"But he has many evil ideas. Let's go and have a look."

"..."

The thousand-leaf peaches on the red palace wall are about to wither. When the wind blows, the flowers fall and the red vines fall. On the road in the palace garden, Xue Bai was leading more than ten eunuchs, distributing reports like salesmen.

He held a wicker in his hand and waved it casually, as if he was directing the little eunuch behind him to sing, and the tune he sang was so fresh.

"La la la, la la la, I am a little expert in selling newspapers..."

Xue Bai didn't use other more creative methods and just walked along the prescribed road.

The palace maids rarely saw such a handsome foreign official walking in the Forbidden Garden, and they were already passing by one after another.

Suddenly, the pink skirt fluttered, like the peach blossoms blooming again in spring.

"Slow down! Slow down!"

The little eunuchs screamed loudly and shouted: "Only those who can read can receive it! Those who can read have come to receive it and read it to others... Which palace are you from?"

"Is it true that the No. 1 Scholar has entered the palace?!" Suddenly a palace lady shouted excitedly. The crowd was confused and no one knew who it was.

When Yang Yuhuan saw this situation from a distance, he felt it was funny. Just as he was about to step forward, a group of people arrived from the opposite direction. It was Mei Fei Jiang Caiping and the palace people who came to see it in person.

"I've seen Concubine Mei." The eunuchs in the palace didn't dare to make any mistakes, so they all stepped aside and saluted.

"How about Xue Lang giving me one?" Jiang Caiping asked.

Xue Bai quickly looked serious, picked up the newspaper and handed it over.

Jiang Caiping saw Yang Yuhuan coming over, nodded coldly, turned around and left, but whispered before leaving.

"Taizhen has a good foster brother."

Yang Yuhuan then stepped forward and said with a smile: "Why didn't the saint send General Gao to accompany you? Aren't you afraid that these palace ladies will swallow you up?"

"The saint tests his ministers."

"No matter what, as your sister, I should guard the battle for you."

"Thank you, Sister, for your understanding, lest others say I broke the palace rules."

Yang Yuhuan scolded Xue Bai, rectified the order, and asked the palace where Gong Eyi was located and the number of literate people to receive their reports and leave.

While the eunuchs were busy reporting their residences, she came closer and asked, "You pushed my brother too high, wouldn't you have harmed him?"

"Sister, if you believe me, the Yang family will only be better than before."

"Believe you." Yang Yuhuan smiled, turned his back to the eunuchs, and whispered: "I will send my disciples to Taile Department. If you have urgent matters in the future, you can ask her to contact me directly."

"it is good."

"You, don't let me rush you into writing the script for "The Legend of White Snake" again."

Yang Yuhuan smiled, put his hand on Xue Bai's forehead, and walked away.

Xue Bai continued to lead the eunuchs around the palace.

~~

That evening, Li Longji took a whim and took a tour of several palaces and gardens in the Daming Palace.

Whenever he met a palace maid or a eunuch, he would call them to him and ask a question.

"Do you know what major events are happening in the world recently?"

"The saint is going to write an unprecedented masterpiece, which is... an unprecedented event."

“Where did you learn these words ‘unprecedented’ and ‘unprecedented’?”

"Today Zhao Cairen read the newspaper in his residence. I learned this from my servant."

"Let's go see Zhao Cairen."

Li Longji gave the order casually, and then summoned Gao Lishi to come closer and whispered: "The report in this residence can enable the king to go beyond Zhongshu's door and directly appeal to his subjects."

Gao Lishi was puzzled and asked: "But why does the saint go around Zhongshu's door?"

"That's right." Li Longji, a hero of the generation, did not want to be ignored, so there was no need for it. In the end, he just said casually: "Having said that, the Di's newspaper cannot be controlled by the prime minister."      ~~

"What?"

"It's the Di newspaper that Xue Bai has been busy with. It's similar to the Kaiyuan miscellaneous newspaper. It almost spread throughout Chang'an in one day."

"Who did it?"

Li Linfu frowned, knowing that the fastest way to spread the news throughout Chang'an would be to get help from bad people from Nanya Patrol and Jingzhao County.

However, the answer he got was beyond his expectation.

"Restaurants, tea shops, street vendors, busy literati, and some upright people. There are people reading newspapers in some big restaurants; along Zhuque Street, or at the entrance of each shop, there are boys giving away hair, but only giving away hair. For literate people; in addition, there are students from the Imperial College who are making great fuss."

"Show me the truth."

Li Linfu took the newspaper and read it. He was immediately surprised and shouted: "Call Juro!"

Several subordinate officials looked at each other and knew from this tone that Li Xiu must be blamed again. They lowered their heads to hide their sympathy.

as predicted.

"Trash! I asked you to serve as a young eunuch, and you are so clueless?!"

"My grandpa said that as long as Party Yang doesn't intend to fight for power, some small things like paper and ink crafts..."

"How dare you quibble?!"

This incident may threaten the power of the prime minister. Li Linfu was angry and immediately stepped forward and kicked Li Xiu over.

"They found a way to fight for power from you, a loser!"

"My child, go check it out now!" Li Xiu quickly admitted his mistake and said, "Check out what kind of craftsmanship they used..."

"Check? Is it still useful to check now?"

"Yes, I'm going to win over people now."

When Li Linfu mentioned this, he thought that Xue Bai was engaged to Yan, and became even more furious. He kicked Li Xiu again and shouted: "If you fail to do one thing, everything will go wrong, and the fault is all your fault!"

"The child must be saved, now go win him over!"

~~

In Zuo Xiang's Mansion, Chen Xilie looked at a newspaper from left to right and murmured: "He put my poem on the first page of the back page."

"My Lord, you are so concerned about Bi Mawen, but he puts you behind Wei Shu and doesn't know what is good or bad."

"No, no, no, I am thinking that by putting King Siqi's poem at the back, is he trying to flatter me?"

"My lord, I must tell you the truth, King Si Qi's poem was very poor. If he didn't look like a saint..."

"Shh." Chen Xilie interrupted: "Have you prepared the gift for the Du family?"

"Xianggong is the Prime Minister of the Left and also the Minister of Secretariat. How can he give gifts to the family of a doctor?"

"Just prepare yourself if I tell you to." Chen Xilie sighed, pointed at the newspaper on the case, and said, "Look, what I'm fighting for is the future. What should I look at in the future, young man."

Only then did Mrs. Wei realize something and said, "I'll go get ready now."

"The right prime minister is old and the uncle is sick. From now on, I will have to bear the responsibility of this prosperous world. The only way to win over these young people is to avoid arousing suspicion."

Chen Xilie murmured, picked up the newspaper and continued to read it. This time he looked carefully to find where his name was found. There were five places in total.

One has "Secretary and Young Supervisor Chen Gong supervises the publication" on the front page, just in front of "School Secretary Xue Bai compiles seal scripts"; two are on the front page, one is "Chen Gong's letter" and the other is " "Supervised by Mr. Chen"; the fourth section is where the second edition opens the library of the East Branch of the Secretariat... In short, Xue Bai knows how to profit from the credit.

Just a little too much.

~~

In Wubenfang, the lobby of the guest house near the Imperial College is very lively, and the students are enthusiastically discussing the Dibao that came out today.

While officials pay more attention to the meaning behind Di Bao, white scholars pay more attention to the content.

"Can I really go to the East Campus of the Secretariat to read books?! This way I can save a lot of money!"

"Look clearly, it says, 'The Imperial College and all prefectures and counties will give birth to disciples and raise sons'."

"Brother Cui, you are a disciple of the Imperial Academy. How about taking me with you?"

"..."

Amidst the noisy conversation, a young village minister in his twenties entered the hall.

"Chang Gun, here." Someone shouted to him immediately.

Chang Gun was young, but he had a straight face, a very serious and unsmiling look, and his clothes were neither good nor bad.

His father was the magistrate of Sanyuan County in Jingzhao Prefecture, a seventh-rank official. It was a bit reluctant for him to study for the imperial examination, but fortunately he was smart and good at writing articles since he was a child.

At this time, the guest house was so noisy that Chang Gun didn't hear his friend's call at all. He bypassed a group of people who were listening to the reading of the Di's newspaper and asked Dr. Cha directly: "Is there any Di's newspaper?"

"Is your guest literate? What is this character?"

"Ying."

Chang Gun was still touching a coin in his hand, wondering whether the price was worth it. A copy of the Di newspaper was handed to him.

"Sir, please help me read it to the illiterate people. It's free of charge."

"Thank you."

Chang Gun hadn't heard his friend's call yet. He was reading the newspaper while walking and almost tripped at the threshold.

Someone is chasing someone down the street.

"Xue Ling! Don't run!"

"Catch him!"

Several figures passed by Chang Gun quickly, almost knocking him down, but he turned sideways, protecting the newspaper in his hand, and stood in the middle of the street watching until a group of people ran past on the other side of the street.

"There is a literate man here!" Then several people gathered around, and one of them said: "Sir, please read it, everyone is talking about this newspaper, and we want to hear it."

"Okay." Chang Gun then began to read expressionlessly.

After reading it on the front page, he thought to himself, in this way, there would be more places for Jinshi to be admitted in the spring of next year, and he could hope to compete for it.

After that, he continued to read the second version regardless of whether others understood it or not.

The Dongyuan Library is the most relevant to his interests. He happens to be a member of the Jingzhao Mansion, so he can borrow the annotations for free, or just spend money on paper to copy them, which can save a lot of money.

He also saw some official affairs and farming affairs written in the corners of the page.

"How to fertilize?"

After Chang Gun read it, he thought about it again. Most of the farmers in Sanyuan County knew how to fertilize, but in the future, as local officials, they should know these things for the sake of governance.

This is a habit he has developed by being with his grandfather for many years, so he understands the significance of publishing these farming-related contents in this newspaper. Illiterate farmers may not be able to see it, but some people can...

"The newspaper writer is a capable man," he thought to himself.

The rest are all poems. The poems on the front are all very good. Except for Cui Hao and Chen Xilie on the side, no one else can compare to his level of poetry.

I almost finished reading the entire newspaper.

Chang Gun's eyes moved and looked at the last paragraph.

"The first publication of Di Bao, why encourage the men of the Tang Dynasty?"

"Establish a mind for the heaven and earth, establish a destiny for the living people, carry forward the unique teachings of the past saints, and create peace for all generations."

Chang Gun suddenly felt a chill running down his spine.

When he thought about the contents of each page of the newspaper, he realized that the expenses he had saved were actually spent on the national treasury, compiling large books, opening libraries, and publishing newspapers. Why?

Looking up, I saw that the restaurant and tea shop were bustling with activity.

But I don’t know how many people in Chang’an City were inspired by these four sentences like him at that moment, which may affect their lifelong ambitions?

Faintly, he could hear their shouts.

"Contribution! Contribution! Men of our generation should have broader ambitions!"

"To have such a newspaper, I will never forget it."

"..."

Chang Gun suddenly thought of something, turned the Di newspaper back to the front, looked at the front page, and then looked at a few words that he had originally ignored.

"Xue Bai?"

Because the impression was so profound, he remembered the Di newspaper and the person who ran it that day.

　I stabilized the update schedule for the last half year after "The Final Song", but now it's reversed. I'll see if I can think of a way to adjust my schedule, and post the two chapters together so that everyone can read more smoothly~~ Please give me a monthly vote, please give me a monthly vote~~

　　

　

(End of this chapter)