There is a space for passenger planes in the late Ming Dynasty

The second day of the new year.

After just one day's rest, Lin Feng couldn't help but come to the public room of the Guard Mansion. Those who are away from home are bored when they are idle, so they might as well work.

Guo Zheng saw Lin Feng coming and immediately sent the latest documents from Jiazhou.

Li Xiongzhen sent the group’s fourth quarter revenue report, which showed that the overall revenue growth was gratifying.

Due to the colder weather, the sales of the two shops of Dachui Iron Art and Grassland Trading increased significantly. Sales of the thermal insulation industry increased significantly, with a total sales of 60,000 taels and a profit of about 24,000 taels.

Due to the expansion of its territory, Li's Grain and Oil's sales continued to increase significantly, with revenue of more than 80,000 taels and profit of about 16,000 taels.

Li's Construction also participated in a significant increase in project construction in the fourth quarter, achieving an income of 50,000 taels and a profit of approximately 15,000 taels.

The sales of Zhenming Chemical's colored glaze, soap and perfume products continued to be booming. Especially after the peace negotiation with the imperial court, the export sales of products increased significantly, achieving a revenue of 60,000 taels and a profit of about 36,000 taels. It was completely a huge profit industry.

Starting from the fourth quarter, Zhenming Mining has been able to transport its products across borders and sell about 80,000 taels of minerals, which is basically pure profit.

The total loan amount of Zhenming Bank has reached more than 40,000 taels, and the profits have remained stable, which are mainly used for the daily operating expenses of the group.

In summary, the group achieved a profit income of about 171,100 taels in the fourth quarter of last year, with an average of less than 60,000 taels per month.

Seeing the group's revenue, Lin Feng felt better. The Zhenming Army now has about 21,000 troops and a monthly military expenditure of a little over 60,000. The group's income is almost there.

Coupled with the tax revenue of each state and county, the financial pressure to support the army has been greatly alleviated, and there is enough money to further expand the army.

The group's revenue increased significantly in the fourth quarter. One of the most critical factors was the peace agreement reached with the imperial court, which enabled the group's products to be sold. This fully demonstrated the correctness of the peace negotiation strategy chosen at that time.

The second document is the civil affairs summary from Su Shun's annual report, and the situation is also very gratifying.

In the fourth quarter, the population in the territory under the jurisdiction of the Zhenming Army continued to flow in, increasing by about 100,000 people, bringing the total to about 1.3 million.

The policies formulated by the Zhenming Army such as land leasing, urban reconstruction, and low-interest loans have been generally welcomed by the people. Under the supervision of the Supervision Section of the Secretary's Department of the Governor's Office, the government administration in various states has been continuously improved. In addition, the Zhenming Army's territory has been very stable without war. They all looked prosperous.

In addition, the autumn tax collection for the entire Zhenming Army territory was very smooth, and 130,000 taels have been handed over to the government treasury. Commercial tax revenue has exceeded 15,000 taels per month.

After this calculation, in terms of state and county taxes, more than 35,000 taels of silver can be provided every month.

After reading the two reports, Lin Feng couldn't help but smile. The Zhenming Army's fixed finance had finally turned a profit. Even if there were no seizures, the group and the prefectures and counties now earn more than 9.5 taels per month, which is more than enough to maintain an army of about people. .

Considering that in the next period of time, the Tatars will be active in Shandong, the Zhenming Army should have few battles to fight. The struggle against the imperial court requires not only fighting on the battlefield, but also winning the support of the people.

At this time, Lin Feng thought of the great weapon to compete for people's hearts--newspapers. Why the gentry group was able to dominate the Ming Dynasty's government was not because they controlled scholarly public opinion.

Lin Feng asked himself that if he couldn't compete for public opinion in the scholarly community, he should compete for public opinion among the people. At this time, it was time for the white paper to come out in advance.

Just do it if you think of it!

Lin Feng immediately sent people to invite Lu Xiangsheng and Yang Tinglin to come over to discuss. The matter of running a newspaper must be handled by civil servants who are good at writing.

After thinking for a while, he kept Guo Zheng again. As the intelligence chief, he could provide information.

After several people came to the public room and sat down, Lin Feng asked first: "Brother Jiandou, Boxiang, how are you doing this year?"

"This is the first time I don't have to worry about food during the Chinese New Year. The adults have paid so much for the festival. To be honest, I have never had such a comfortable New Year." Lu Xiangsheng replied.

"Yes, during the New Year celebrations in Longquanguan City, although everything was scratch-made and some things were not as refined as the imperial court, there were singing, laughter and joy everywhere, and the mood was very comfortable. This kind of atmosphere was beyond the reach of the imperial court." Yang Tinglin also said with emotion.

"Haha, you just need to get used to it. I invited you here mainly to discuss some matters during the Chinese New Year. Guancheng is not big and there is no place to go, so I just brought you here to work. Don't be surprised." Lin Feng apologized.

"No, no, we are also restless people. If you don't come to us, we will come to you to apply for a mission." The two replied.

Lin Feng then took out a Di newspaper and said, "What do you think this Di newspaper is for?"

"Of course Di Bao is conveying information." Yang Tinglin replied without hesitation. "If Gao Qiqian and others falsely accused Brother Jiandou of escaping from battle were published in the Di newspaper, how would all the officials in the world comment?" Lin Feng asked.

"Then it must be considered that Duke Lu was afraid of the battle and escaped." Yang Tinglin thought for a while and said.

"By the way, this is the influence of public opinion! The reason why the imperial court occupies an orthodox position is that Shilin's public opinion considers him orthodox.

This time when the Tatars invaded, Yang Sichang, Gao Qiqian and others confused right and wrong, causing many Tianxiong Army soldiers to die in vain and not getting justice.

Gao Qiqian and others have done all kinds of bad things, but few people know about it. So I decided to start something similar to the Imperial Palace Newspaper, which I called a newspaper. "Lin Feng then revealed his purpose.

"Yes, it is the paper used to report news, or newspaper for short. But the newspaper I want to start is different from the imperial newspaper. We want to run it for the common people, so the language must be in vernacular. Don't know what those people are saying. .

Moreover, the content must be rich, including important news from the court, as well as some interesting folk stories, so that the people will like to read it. "Lin Feng briefly talked about the prototype of the newspaper.

"But most people are illiterate, so they won't spend money to read this newspaper, right?" Yang Tinglin asked.

"Illiterate people can read newspapers in teahouses and other places, and there are so many scholars from poor families, they can always read them. As for the price, the newspapers will be sold extremely cheap, so naturally some people will buy them." Lin Feng explained.

"Wouldn't that mean losing money?"

"Newspapers are a tool to compete for public opinion. It doesn't matter if you lose some money. And as long as the newspaper is up and running and sales increase, I will naturally have a way to make a profit." Lin Feng said.

"My lord, this move is really dangerous. If you control this newspaper, you can control public opinion." Lu Xiangsheng was still experienced and saw the essence of the problem at a glance.

"Newspapers are a powerful tool to control public opinion, but newspapers must also have credibility to be believed. Otherwise, every time they publish false information, no one will believe it in the future. So authenticity is a criterion for running a newspaper. Of course it is different. Things can be interpreted differently, but we don't make lies." Lin Feng also put forward a principle for running newspapers.

"As your Excellency has said, we cannot deceive the people with false information." Lu Xiangsheng agreed.

"I plan to name this newspaper Zhenming Xundao, which means one issue comes out every ten days. The newspaper can be divided into four pages, front and back. One page contains important government news, such as the truth about the defeat of Jiazhuang.

Most people are curious. With a title like this, it is easier to attract readers' interest.

This page can also criticize some major policies of the imperial court, such as the collection and suppression of wages, but the writing must be well-founded.

The second version can reflect the situation of our Zhenming Army, such as our victory in the Nangong battle, and the lives of the people under the jurisdiction of the Zhenming Army.

In the third page, you can write some folk prices, common sense of life, or anecdotes.

The fourth edition can be turned into a literary edition, publishing some poems or serialized novels. "Lin Feng said his idea about the newspaper in one breath.

"Your idea is very comprehensive, so that it can be enjoyed by both refined and popular people. If the price is cheap, I believe someone will buy it." Yang Tinglin responded.

"If this newspaper circulates, it will definitely make Yang Sichang and others hate it." Lu Xiangsheng continued.

"Then we have achieved our goal. We are going to use paper and pen as weapons to attack these traitorous officials of the court and make them become the bears that everyone calls them." Lin Feng said.

"I understand, this newspaper must be very interesting to run." Yang Tinglin said.

"It's best if Boxiang is interested. This newspaper must be led by literati. My subordinates are all rough people, but they don't have the level to run a newspaper. Please ask Boxiang to take the lead in taking charge of this matter. From fleeing to Longquan The people of Guancheng asked some scholars to come out and work together to run this newspaper.

Military affairs are not busy during this period. Brother Jiandou can also help check and ensure that our Zhenming Xun report is of high quality so that everyone in the world can read it. " Lin Feng said.

"Yes! Let's try it first. If we don't understand something, we'll ask you for instructions later." The two responded.

"Guo Zheng, you are responsible for providing some information that can be released to the outside world for the two adults to use for their newspaper." Lin Feng explained.

"Understood!" Guo Zheng accepted the order.

(End of this chapter)