The Ming Dynasty started with saving the eldest grandson

Chapter 364: High, too high.

Xie Jin was not ignorant of current affairs. He knew very well that if he joined a certain camp, he would have to pay something while enjoying the benefits.

Chen Jingke created the Ming Weekly and handed it over to him to manage, so he naturally knew what to do.

But he didn't say it directly. Some things are better for everyone to understand in their hearts. Speaking them out loud will only make people look inferior.

Then, the three of them discussed the content of the weekly newspaper, the operating methods, and how to deliver the newspaper to all parts of the country.

Regarding content, Chen Jingke proposed six major modules.

"The current affairs module is mainly used to publicize the court's policies and trends, so that people can understand the court's policy changes."

"The legal module publishes some typical cases to warn the world."

“You can also publish some good people and good deeds on it to encourage them.”

"By the way, we can also publish some legal changes on it so that people can understand the law."

“The academic module is mainly used to promote some new academic ideas and publish some related articles.”

"For example, Brother Fang's materialistic thinking can be placed here, and the refutation of his thinking can also be placed here."

"Hundred Workers Module, promote some new technological changes."

"For example, bearings have been around for many years, but there are still many places that use old-style axles."

"The local characteristics module introduces the local customs and local specialties of various places in Daming."

"The Ming Dynasty is too big. If one wants to travel all the way there, it would take more than ten to twenty years without stopping."

"Some places have never had any contact with each other for their entire lives, and it is difficult for the two places to develop a sense of identity, which is not conducive to the unification of the country."

"Through newspapers, people can learn about the situation in other places and increase their sense of national identity."

"We can also introduce local specialties. If we can increase the sales of local specialties, it will benefit the people."

"The sixth module is the literature and art module, which publishes some novels, poems, calligraphy works, etc."

Fang Xiaoru and Xie Jin both agreed very much with the first five points and gave them high praise.

Chen Bandu is indeed worthy of being called Chen Bandu. He has taken every aspect into consideration and is very thorough.

But they had different opinions on the sixth module.

Xie Jin hesitated for a moment and said, "Chen Bandu, novels, poems, songs, and calligraphy are all works of literati. If they are separated from academic works, it may cause controversy."

Fang Xiaoru said more directly: "You and the princess are the most famous novelists today. Isn't it too demeaning to put them in the category of literature and art?"

Chen Jingke smiled and said, "Yang Xiong said: Poetry and prose are minor arts, and a man of courage should not do them. I think what he said makes a lot of sense."

"Poetry, songs, novels, calligraphy and painting are all minor arts. They can be used to entertain and cultivate one's sentiments, or to express some emotions. That's fine."

"The true path is still policy writing, and we all have to admit that."

“Academic articles are great, but they are rather boring. Only a few people are interested in reading them. They can be called serious literature.”

“Poetry, songs, novels, calligraphy and painting are minor genres that are more readable and spreadable, and can be called popular literature.”

Fang Xiaoru and the other man could not help but nod their heads. In fact, the functions of articles and poems had been differentiated since the Han Dynasty.

Articles carry the great principles and are used to govern people's hearts and the country.

Poems and essays are small stories that are used to express emotions and express opinions on certain things.

Even the most famous poets admit this.

Even those who are dissatisfied with Yang Xiong's words can only say:
Poetry is a minor subject, but it cannot be ignored.

Hearing this, I felt frustrated and unconvinced, but I didn't dare to deny what Yang Xiong said.

The two of them just didn't expect that Chen Jingke, as a novelist himself, would be so disrespectful to them.

The novel has been categorized as a literary work.

In fact, they don’t know that the chain of contempt between serious literature and popular literature still exists until the 21st century.

Some more extreme serious literary writers openly express their contempt for popular literature.

The most serious incident was when a serious literary author refused to go on stage to receive a prize for a foreign literary award because a popular work had won the award.

The reason is simple. Accepting the award together with popular literature lowers its quality.

The popular literature author felt so wronged that he almost cried.

You know, he is also a world-renowned writer.

The outside world just thinks that the serious literary author is being unreasonable, but it is indeed the case within the circle.

In his previous life, Chen Jingke was also a spectator.

After seeing the news, he felt that the serious literary author had gone too far.

We are all engaged in writing, where does your sense of superiority come from?

But after traveling through time and starting academic research, I realized that the two are really different.

No matter how well a novel is written, it can never reach the level of academic research.

Just like, no matter how famous the four great classics are, no one will ever compare them with The Analects of Confucius.

They are totally not on the same level.

Therefore, when dividing the modules of Daming Weekly, he placed novels, poems and the like in the literature module.

Some people may be dissatisfied, but it doesn’t matter.

If anyone dares to say a word of dissatisfaction, Chen Jingke won't even have to do anything, as the people around him will drown him with spit.

How can you, a lousy novelist, be compared with someone who writes academic articles?

Pooh.

Then we discussed the issue of newspaper transportation. In modern newspapers, timeliness is an important consideration.

Therefore, the newspaper must be delivered to the readers as soon as possible.

If you can’t do this, you will be eliminated by your competitors.

But in this era, the "time" of timeliness has been extended.

In the information age, this "time" means timely, that is, the same day.

Now, if this 'time' can be maintained within one month, it is qualified.

If it can be delivered to readers within half a month, it can be said to be timely.

If you can do it for a week, you will be the 'tongue in cheek' of this era.

What's more, Ming Weekly is unique and has no competitors.

Anyone who is not stupid knows the power of this thing.

It was impossible for the imperial court to allow private individuals to run newspapers, nor was it possible for it to run several newspapers and let them compete with each other.

It is foreseeable that Ming Weekly will be the only newspaper for many years to come.

So, they don’t need to worry too much about timeliness.

"But it can't be too time-sensitive. After all, we are a weekly magazine, sponsored by the imperial court, so we can't do it too badly."

"Therefore, the Luoyang area must achieve same-day delivery."

"For provinces in the Central Plains and Jiangnan that are close to rivers, delivery must be made within a week."

"For remote areas, the delivery time will be determined based on actual conditions, but it cannot exceed one month at the latest."

“Except for Temasek, other places overseas can only be left to chance.”

As for who to find for transportation, Xie Jin and Fang Xiaoru thought that using the water transport and post station system would be a good idea.

This is the most time-saving and labor-saving method.

But Chen Jingke expressed a different opinion: "The post stations and the grain transport are too extensive and more important."

"If there are no problems with these two transportation systems, it's fine. But if there are problems, it will be a capital crime."

"If problems arise during the cooperation process, or if the transmission of government orders is delayed, no one can bear the responsibility." "Although newspapers and periodicals are run by the court, they are actually a kind of commodity and are far less important."

"The best way is to set up a separate transportation route of our own."

Xie Jin shook his head and said, "The cost is too high. Even if His Majesty agrees, it will not pass the hurdle of the Cabinet and the Ministry of Revenue."

Fang Xiaoru also objected: "It is unnecessary to build another transportation system besides post stations and grain transport."

Chen Jingke smiled and said, "It is really unnecessary to build a transportation system just for transporting newspapers."

“But who says this transportation system can only transport newspapers?”

Xie Jin and the other man were stunned for a moment, and asked in confusion: "Is there anything else that needs to be transported?"

Chen Jingke said: "There is no government-run business, but private businesses can."

Seeing that the two were still confused, he further explained:

"For example, for letters, officials can now entrust post stations to deliver letters, but ordinary people can only rely on merchants or neighbors to deliver them."

"There is no guarantee of timeliness, and there is no guarantee of delivery."

"A letter from home is worth a thousand pieces of gold. One of the main reasons is that there is no fixed and reliable channel for sending letters."

"No matter how timely our newspapers are, they must be delivered to every county in the country."

"When delivering newspapers, it is completely acceptable to help people deliver letters and small packages at the same time."

"For the people, there is a stable channel for sending mail, and for us, it helps to share the cost."

"When combined with the profits from newspapers, it will be enough for us to maintain a transportation channel."

The more they listened, the brighter their eyes became. Fang Xiaoru was the first to clap his hands and applaud:

"Jing Ke's idea is really brilliant. I have been in the Kingdom of Korea for a long time, and I have a deeper understanding of this."

"Even if the letter is sent through the post station, it will take a long time to arrive."

"For ordinary people, it's considered good if their letters can be delivered in one or two years."

"The imperial court moved half of the Joseon Kingdom's population inland, and relocated hundreds of thousands of people from inland."

"These people have relatives in both places and have an urgent need to exchange letters."

Xie Jin also echoed: "This situation also exists in Liaodong..."

"The imperial court now allows population movement within a certain range and makes drastic adjustments to the population layout."

"Many relatives are far away from home, and can only communicate through letters."

"The frequency of private letter delivery is increasing, but there is no reliable channel for delivery."

"We took the initiative to undertake this task, which not only helps the people solve their urgent needs, but also earns us a lot of money."

"This move by Chen Bandu is truly a great kindness."

Compared with Fang Xiaoru, Xie Jin felt more shocked and admired.

In the past, he only knew that Chen Jingke had a far-sighted vision and was the real formulator of the Ming Dynasty's national policies.

However, because his position was too low, he was not qualified to deal with core matters and had never seen it in person.

So, although I did not doubt the truth of this matter, I was also very curious about how he did it.

Today I finally experienced it myself.

A weekly report gave the imperial court an additional outlet for speaking to the people of the world.

In order to deliver the newspapers, a completely new nationwide transportation system was established.

The key is that this transportation system perfectly addresses the urgent needs of the people.

'Just right', that's where the difficulty lies.

Xie Jin dared to guarantee that there were probably few people in the imperial court who realized that due to population mobility, the demand for letter delivery among the people was becoming more and more urgent.

Even if someone realizes it, they won't take it to heart.

To them, what important things could the common people have? If they wanted to send a letter, they could just ask someone to deliver it.

It doesn't matter a few days earlier or later.

Some people even think that preventing people from passing information to each other is a good thing.

It is not conducive to governance when people pass on information to each other.

Rulers have been using this method since ancient times.

Chen Jingke was in the central government and had to study, but he was still able to learn about changes in the world in a timely manner.

And propose a solution 'just right'.

If a special transportation system is established to help the people meet this need, it will definitely be opposed by all officials.

Officials would also not agree to set up a transportation system just for newspaper transportation.

The two can be combined to establish a transportation system for transporting newspapers and solve the cost problem of delivering letters to the people.

Although all officials would still oppose it, given Chen Jingke's status in the Ming court, it would definitely pass.

After figuring it all out, Xie Jin looked towards Chen Jingke with eyes full of admiration and respect.

No wonder at such a young age, he could gain the trust of the Emperor and the Retired Emperor and influence the direction of the world.

It’s really brilliant.

After everything was discussed, we left the Chen Mansion.

Xie Jincai said to Fang Xiaoru in an amazed tone: "Chen Bandu is so brilliant."

Fang Xiaoru obviously understood why he was like this and said with a smile:
"Is that brilliant? You'll find that newspapers and transportation systems will play a greater role in the future."

"Jing Ke always plans before he acts, one thing after another."

"We can only see one or two links."

"If nothing else, he used the opportunity of running a newspaper to get 400,000 copper movable type."

"Next, he will definitely use these copper movable type to print all the books that can be printed."

"It won't be long before the money spent on making copper movable type can be fully earned back, and the price of books can be lowered as well."

"Many rare and unique books will have dozens or even hundreds of printed copies by then, so there is no need to worry about them being lost."

If it were in the past, Xie Jin would definitely have doubted it, but now he only has admiration.

Geniuses are all arrogant, and he is no exception.

Therefore, he didn't have many friends since he was a child.

It is difficult to make geniuses admit defeat. Even if they lose for a while, they will try their best to get back on track.

It is even more difficult to make a genius bow his head and admit his inferiority to another person.

But now, Xie Jin was really convinced.

He knew very well that the combination of newspapers, transportation systems, and copper movable type was enough for him to learn for a lifetime.

Perhaps after decades of practice, he can do it.

But others are also growing up. What will Chen Jingke become in a few decades?
So, there is really nothing to compare.

Not as good as not as good.

But Xie Jin was not depressed, instead he was very excited.

It is truly a blessing to be able to live in the same era as such a great talent.

Being able to work with such a talented person is a great blessing.

At this moment, his heart was filled with fighting spirit.

(End of this chapter)