The literary giants of the late Ming Dynasty began by copying books

Chapter 115 Newspaper Industry
Mrs. Zhang smiled and said, "You don't understand this. The cell has a strong yin energy. If you don't take some old wine to strengthen your yang energy, you will get the root of the disease after you get out."

"The older ones are not afraid, but you, a twenty-year-old boy, haven't married yet and haven't even given birth to children yet. It will be troublesome if you get dampness." Mrs. Zhang said, smiling at her. Li Guoxian, who came in with her to deliver books to Wang Wenlong, turned his head and turned red instantly.

Wang Wenlong saw this and said quickly: "Thank you for your kindness, aunt. I drank this cup of pig's feet soup."

Zhang finally nodded with satisfaction.

The most difficult thing to bear is the kindness of a beauty. Li Guoxian visiting the prison every day is already a headache for him, and with an elder named Zhang nagging him next to him, Wang Wenlong is afraid that he will be as big as one to the other.

Li Guoxian filled a bowl of old wine soup for Wang Wenlong, and Wang Wenlong squatted by the fence and drank slowly.

This thing is so filling. The boiling old wine is stewed with medicinal herbs and pig's feet. After just two sips, I feel hot all over. I really can't drink it quickly.

Seeing Mrs. Zhang getting up and walking away, Wang Wenlong whispered to Li Guoxian: "Please help me call the prisoner here, and share a few bowls with him and other people in the prison."

"Oh." Li Guoxian responded, stood up, patted his butt and went to find the prison cell.

Seeing the sixteen or seventeen-year-old Hua Guduo jumping and running away, Wang Wenlong couldn't help but feel a warmth in his heart.

After eating, Wang Wenlong picked up the newspaper handed in by Li Guoxian and read it carefully.

Some books say that Di Bao is the earliest newspaper, but in fact, in Wang Wenlong's view, it is far from that.

Dibao can at best be regarded as the predecessor of newspapers. Its main content is the emperor's edicts and decrees and the central government's decrees and communiqués.

At this time, the more popular newspapers came from private newspapers.This thing was separated from the Titang newspaper office of the government. The copywriters employed there were originally craftsmen under the government. While serving for the government, they secretly copied the official information and sold it on the market. profit.

Moreover, the development speed of the so-called Di newspaper was also very slow. In the original history, Gu Yanwu recalled that it was not until the 11th year of Chongzhen that he saw the Di newspaper printed with movable type. The place where Gu Yanwu lived was Nanzhili, which had the closest cultural exchanges at that time.

It can be seen that the printing of Di newspapers did not pursue speed and cost for a long time. It was just a valuable gadget sold on a small scale. It cannot be called the same thing as a newspaper that pursues cheap and fast printing.

At this time, the real bulk sales of private newspapers were the annual Dingjia list and the directories of gentry in various places. These were necessary materials for officials to understand local conditions when they took office or for businessmen to do business in a place.

But in this time and space, with the appearance of Wang Wenlong, things seemed to have changed.

At this time, Wang Wenlong was holding three mimeographed Di newspapers. The cheap and fast wax-mimeograph technology finally affected newspaper printing.

Wang Wenlong had been watching this incident, and within a few months he could clearly see the changes in the newspaper copying house.

The work intensity of newspaper copywriters who were originally affiliated with the yamen was greatly reduced with the advent of wax printing. The time they spent working in the yamen was shortened, which also gave them more free time to write newspapers.

At the same time, the printing cost of newspapers is also decreasing, and the cost of information dissemination is also declining due to the emergence of new technologies. The same newspaper copying workers can print a lot of information.

For example, the three Di newspapers in Wang Wenlong's hands at this time, although they are still called Di newspapers, the number of printed pages and content are far richer than the one-page Di newspapers that were popular on the market last year.

The content of Di Bao on the market in Fuzhou is not limited to the important events of the imperial court. There have been rumors about strange things in the DPRK and other affairs. Even because of the lack of content, there is even a special masthead design with the word "Di Bao" in big letters. Dragons and phoenixes take up a lot of space.

How much does it cost just to engrave these two characters?Were it not for the advent of stencil printing, this masthead design would never have appeared under printing conditions at this time.

Moreover, the price of Di Bao is also declining. In the 27th year of Wanli, when Wang Wenlong had just arrived in the Ming Dynasty, a basic newspaper with more than a thousand words was worth at least three taels of silver if it contained the latest news. Now, the three Di Bao in Wang Wenlong's hands have a word count of It's about [-] words, but each copy only costs about one yuan. The cheapest one only costs [-] yuan.Wang Wenlong was very interested in these changes. He had been observing them carefully, thinking that if he had the opportunity, he could end up running a newspaper.

Wang Wenlong looked at the Di newspaper, and when he lowered his head, he saw Li Guoxian carefully adding tea to him on the small table outside the fence. The tea cup he had just drank was full again.

Wang Wenlong nodded hurriedly and said: "Thank you very much."

Li Guoxian smiled and continued to watch Wang Wenlong reading the newspaper.

He didn't know that Wang Wenlong's purpose in reading newspapers was to track the development of the newspaper industry at this time. He only thought that Wang Wenlong was very knowledgeable in reading books and newspapers in prison.

After Wang Wenlong finished flipping through the three copies of the residence newspaper, Li Guoxian said: "Brother said that I will be out in the next two days. If outsiders arrive tomorrow, I won't come."

Calculating that Wang Wenlong would be released from prison in the next few days, some officials might come to pick him up when he was released from prison. Li Guoxian felt that his presence was a bit unpleasant.

Wang Wenlong was stunned when he heard this.

Over the past few days, Li Guoxian often came to take care of him, and Wang Wenlong was somewhat accustomed to her presence.

Wang Wenlong knew that Li Guoxian had been under a lot of pressure since she was kidnapped by Wei Tianjue. Everyone regarded her as the woman Gao Yin liked, and all the people who proposed to marry her ran away, saying that they had no regard for her. Too bad, come to think of it, even among the female companions, Li Guoxian is the one who is isolated.

But Li Guoxian never said anything about himself, he just always cared about him.

Seeing Li Guoxian obediently helping him pack his things with a hint of sadness in his eyes, Wang Wenlong couldn't help but sympathize.

At this time, Li Guoxian raised his head, and the two looked at each other. Wang Wenlong said with some emotion: "Thank you very much these days."

Li Guoxian shook his head and smiled: "I came here voluntarily. Brother Wang doesn't need to say so."

Early the next morning, Chen Jinglun came to the prison and informed Wang Wenlong that the approval slip from the Criminal Department had been issued. There were no unforeseen circumstances and Wang Wenlong could be released from prison.

Wang Wenlong was overjoyed. After the Ministry of Punishment passed the test, the case was basically settled, unless Dali Temple requested a retrial, which was almost impossible when the Ministry of Punishment had no objection to the emperor and did not want to be troublesome.

He finally survived this disaster.

In the afternoon of the same day, the magistrate of Houguan County personally came to release Wang Wenlong from prison. Xu Xueju could not come in person due to his status, but Chen Jinglun brought him here to give him gifts, and many friends such as Xu Xinggong from Fuzhou Prefecture also came to welcome him to celebrate his escape. .

The next day Wang Wenlong went to work at the Chief Envoy Si Yamen, and everyone came to greet him. Xu Xueju was quite surprised when he saw him, and asked with a smile: "Why don't you rest at home for a few more days?"

Wang Wenlong said: "I have not moved around for many days in prison, and I have become obese. I am eager to go out and do things."

Xu Xueju laughed loudly when he heard this.

Waving his hand, he said: "I originally told you that you would rest at home for a few more days and not disturb me. Now that you have come to the Yamen today, I have something to ask Jianyang for your advice."

(End of this chapter)