Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Well aware of the influence of newspapers on public opinion, Zhu Youjian planned to strengthen his control over this industry when he planned to develop the newspaper industry.

After acquiring a controlling stake in some rental properties and taking equity participation in most of the rental properties, an industry association was also established to formulate industry standards. Ensure that the entire newspaper industry is under his control.

However, he is well aware of the potential of this industry and cannot always monopolize it in the future. The various certificates currently being set up and raising the entry threshold are just small measures. Scholars and nobles want to enter this industry, but this is not difficult for them.

Even after the number of members of the newspaper association increases, even the board of directors and president may lose control.

Therefore, Zhu Youjian plans to strengthen his control over the newspaper industry from other aspects.

After Wang Chengen responded to the question about royalties, he clapped his hands and said:

"In the future, articles published in newspapers will not only have to be filed with the Publishing Department, but also reviewed by the Jinyiwei Confidentiality Department and the Public Opinion Department."

"Any confidential information involving the royal family, military information, etc. must be reviewed."

"I would like to ask Commander Fang Hongzhan of the Imperial Guard to explain this matter to everyone."

A guard wearing a flying fish suit and an embroidered spring knife walked out of the back hall.

Everyone was shocked when they saw this scene. Because the second-grade Feiyu suit is not something ordinary officials can obtain.

Then thinking about Wang Chengen saying that he was the commander of the Jinyiwei, everyone realized that he was a senior member of the Jinyiwei.

Fang Hongzhan is indeed a senior member of Jinyiwei and has long been a commander in Jinyiwei. Even the restoration of Liu Qiao, the minister of Weiwei Temple, was recommended by him.

Now, after passing the review and confirming that he and Wei Zhongxian were not deeply involved, he has been reinstated as the commander of the Jin Yiwei. Assisted the commander of Jinyiwei Zheng Shiyi in taking charge of the Bei Si Fang and being responsible for intelligence work.

This time to integrate the capital's newspapers, Zhu Youjian sent him to hold the battle.

After Fang Hongzhan appeared, the people who reported rooms in the capital didn't even dare to breathe, for fear of attracting his attention.

Seeing the silence, Fang Hongzhan was quite satisfied with his power and said:
"All manuscripts must be classified, and those involving confidentiality must be reviewed by Jin Yiwei."

"Anyone who fails the Jinyiwei test will not be published."

"This article must be added to the regulations of the Press Association."

No one present dared to object, even the acting president Xie Changzhen could only agree.

Only Zhang San’s brother Zhang Da bravely said:

"It's okay to let Jinyiwei review it, but our applications are all over the place, and Jinyiwei's Yamen is at Damingmen."

"How do you send the manuscript to Jin Yiwei for review?"

This issue touches the hearts of many people. Some of the newspaper offices are in the East City, and some are in the West City, which are far away from the Jinyiwei Yamen to the west of Daming Gate.

How to send manuscripts in time and how to report review results in a timely manner is a difficult problem.

Otherwise, the review results will not be timely and the printed news will become old news, which will affect sales.

So after Zhang Da raised the question, the crowd started talking about the difficulties of such an audit.

At this time, Wang Chengen came forward again and said to everyone:

"Your Majesty is kind and understands that we are all far apart and it is inconvenient for us to communicate."

"So let me choose a place to gather all the registration companies."

"The Publishing Department and Jinyiwei will set up branches there to directly review manuscripts."

"Do you think this newspaper park should be located in the East City or the West City, or should we go to the Nancheng to find a place?"

Several places were proposed, all of which were houses gathered together through replacement after the eunuchs were inspected. There are also some plots of land that were previously controlled by the palace and were allowed by the emperor to be used to build newspaper parks.

Everyone did not expect to have such a harvest, and they were deeply moved by their kindness to the emperor. Even those who don't want to relocate don't dare to object in this situation.

We can only choose a local area to build a newspaper park according to Wang Chengen's statement.

After choosing, there are two places that are most favored by everyone.

The first is Chongjingfang in the north of Dongcheng District, next to Anding Gate, where the Confucian Temple and Imperial College are located. There are many scholars and it is suitable for building a newspaper park.

The second is the Mingzhifang Grassland in the south of Dongcheng District and adjacent to Gongyuan. This is a large area controlled by the palace, and is now used by the emperor to build a newspaper park.

The advantage of this place is naturally that it is close to Gongyuan, and there will be more scholars when the joint examination and provincial examination are held. Moreover, it is relatively close to Chengtianmen and Donghuamen. Most courtiers live in this area, and they are also the main buyers of newspapers.

There was endless debate about which of these two places to choose. In the end, it was Wang Chengen who made the final decision and chose to change the Zhizhifang Grassland into the Newspaper Park.

The main reason is because this place is close to Wen Si Yuan. New technologies such as typography and printing are all provided by the Institute of Arts and Sciences. If there is a problem here, it can be solved in time.

If the Institute of Arts and Sciences invents new printing technology, it can be adopted in time.

In Wang Chengen's view, this place is very suitable for a newspaper park.

"From now on, the Mingzhifang Grassland will be changed to the Mingzhi Newspaper Park."

"First buy some of the surrounding houses and settle down each house."

"In the future, the newspaper room will be expanded, and the newspaper park will be built bit by bit."

Talking about the plan of the newspaper park, Wang Chengen said to Fang Hongzhan:

"There shouldn't be any problem if Jinyiwei sets up a branch there, right?"

Of course Fang Hongzhan said there was no problem, but he mentioned one thing for Wang Chengen’s attention:
"We are still taking the examination, and there are some people living in Zhizhifang Pasture. It is really inconvenient to do big things now."

"It's better to put it in the Wensi Courtyard first so that Wensi Courtyard can free up some space."

Wang Chengen thought for a while and felt that this made sense. It would be a bit unsightly if it affected the master's ability and caused the scholars to burst into laughter.

However, Wensi Courtyard was valued by the emperor, and he did not dare to tamper with it. Thinking that the armor factory was not far away, Wang Chengen said:

"Let's make room for the armor factory!"

"I used to work there, and I know that many of the surrounding houses are owned by children from the armor factory."

"We can let them squeeze in first and free up a few houses."

"The printing will be placed in the Wensi Institute first, and then a workshop will be built in the Newspaper Park."

After working in the armor factory for several years, and now the armor factory is under the supervision and supervision of the internal government, Wang Chengen has no hesitation in using their premises.

In this way, they decided on the centralized registration of rooms. The world's first industrial park began to appear in Beijing.

The people present naturally did not know the significance of this newspaper park. After deciding on this point, Fang Hongzhan put forward another thing and asked the newspaper industry to implement it:
"In the future, in addition to the original method of newspaper sales, newsboys must be included." "Each square will have at least one newsstand to serve as a newspaper distribution center."

"Each newsstand is responsible for an area and distributes newspapers to newsboys, postmen, etc."

"This newsstand is jointly built by the Department of Public Opinion and the Department of Guards, and is not allowed to be set up privately."

This is to control the Beijing newspaper industry from the perspective of sales channels.

The situation in other places is difficult to say for the time being, but Zhu Youjian decided to take control of the sales of newspapers in the capital.

As long as you grasp this point, you will grasp the lifeblood of each reporting room. Let them not dare to violate Jin Yiwei's review——

If Jin Yiwei finds out, they will suppress their sales. If some newspapers bypass censorship and publish news, newsstands can promptly collect and process them.

It can be said that this sales system is more important in Zhu Youjian's mind, as he believes that it will allow him to control public opinion for a longer period of time.

Anyone who wants to get around will be attacked by the Jin Yiwei. As part of the Imperial Guard, the Weiwei Department will also contribute.

This regulation makes many people who apply for housing confused. Because the current newspaper industry has not developed to this stage, there are not many newsboys selling newspapers on the street, and no one subscribes to newspapers regularly.

Therefore, they can only accept this article with doubts and distribute their newspapers to newsstands for sale in the future.

At the same time, this regulation also solves some people's concerns about the concentration of newspaper houses. Each square has at least one newsstand that can sell their newspapers to various places in the capital.

Seeing that no one objected or asked questions, Fang Hongzhan continued to propose the third and most important clause:
"The newspaper industry is a public service industry, and institutions such as newspaper offices and newspapers engaged in the newspaper industry are classified as public institutions."

"All public institutions, because they are suspected of public interests, must be supervised by the court and the people to ensure their independence, neutrality and serving the public interest."

"Due to public safety needs, Jinyiwei has the right to investigate public institutions without additional authorization."

"The same goes for people working in public institutions, especially influential public figures such as writers and copywriters, who must accept the supervision of Jinyiwei."

This is another chain that Zhu Youjian has put on, using Jinyiwei to supervise and investigate the newspaper industry and its employees, so that they cannot escape control.

As soon as this request came out, the people who reported to the newspaper immediately looked at each other. Some people found it unacceptable and already thought about quitting the newspaper industry——

How could they be willing to be under constant supervision by Jin Yiwei and possibly being investigated?

It was still Zhang Da who raised a question at this time:

"What is the supervision investigation?"

"You can't check everything, right?"

Fang Hongzhan said with a smile:

"First of all, in terms of expenditures, the expenditures of public institutions and public figures must be disclosed and published in newspapers every year."

"Donations are allowed, but the donation income cannot exceed one-third of the income, especially it cannot be related to overseas personnel, religious figures, etc."

"The second is to investigate the source of the information. All information must have a source and a real-name provider to facilitate investigation after problems arise. Information without an exact source and unverified information is not allowed to be published."

"If false news is published, especially if it is spread more than 500 times and causes a major impact, criminal responsibility will be pursued."

"For example, those who defame others and publish false market information will be held accountable."

"Other regulations will be added later. As long as you abide by the law, Jin Yiwei will not idle around investigating you."

This explanation did not make anyone present feel relieved. After all, Jin Yiwei's power of supervision and investigation is like a sword hanging over their heads. How can they relax?
But what Fang Hongzhan said next made them completely put aside their worries and strongly support the emperor:

"The main reason for giving you so many restrictions is that His Majesty has delegated a power to you."

"In the future, the newspaper industry will have the power to supervise public opinion. It can make criticisms and suggestions to court agencies and officials, and even make reports."

"In order to prevent you from fabricating or distorting facts and making false accusations and frame-ups, we have strict requirements to prevent the abuse of supervisory power."

"I would like to warn you here that you must also abide by the requirements of the imperial agencies and officials, or even be stricter. Otherwise, the people you criticize will criticize you in turn. The protection of Jin Yiwei is not limited to all aspects of you."

Everyone didn't care at all about Fang Hongzhan's warning. What they care about is that the newspaper industry actually has the power to supervise public opinion.

Does this mean that, like censors, they have the power to supervise officials and yamen?

In the future, newspaper practitioners will be private censors?

Thinking of these four words, everyone who applied for the room was shocked and excited. They really didn't expect that a commoner like him could have the power to supervise the censor.

Although this power is very small compared to the real censor, why shouldn't they be excited about the master who can supervise the yamen?
Even industry veterans such as Xie Changzhen realize that the golden age of the newspaper industry is coming——

Those literati who are frustrated, think that their talents are not appreciated, and like to express their opinions on various things will flock to the newspaper industry.

They will write article after article so that the newspaper will not be short of manuscripts. The number of people buying newspapers will also increase rapidly, ten to a hundred times more than now.

Others were concerned about the protection of Jin Yiwei and asked:
"Does the protection of the Jin Yiwei prevent us from retaliation when we expose and report?"

Fang Hongzhan said with certainty:
"As long as the report is well-founded and made with real names, Jinyiwei will protect you from retaliation."

"If you want to view court documents, you can also be accompanied by Jin Yiwei personnel to view non-confidential content."

"If you feel threatened when investigating related incidents, you can seek help from the Jin Yiwei and the Weiwei Department and accept relevant protection."

"Remember, you are protected by the royal guards, so you don't have to worry about other yamen."

"When imperial agencies and officials make mistakes, you can report them. If a crime is committed, the Weiwei Office will file a case."

This made everyone who applied for a room even more excited and felt that they were a private censor.

At this moment, they no longer complained about the regulations, but truly realized that Jin Yiwei's requirements were to protect them.

Otherwise, if a newspaper office accepts donations and speaks regardless of the facts, it will damage the image of the entire newspaper industry, and officials will ask them to cancel the right to supervise public opinion.

In order to maintain this power, they must strictly demand themselves and not allow the officials of the imperial court to have the opportunity to use the topic to their advantage.

It can be said that this power is the foundation of the newspaper industry. Anyone who dares to destroy this is the enemy of the entire newspaper industry.

Zhu Youjian truly conquered the hearts of the capital's newspaper industry by granting him the power to supervise public opinion.

And he will also gain a group of "civilian censors" who are under his command and bring their own dry food to supervise all aspects of the Ming Dynasty and restrain the behavior of officials.

Even some things that he doesn't like can be published in newspapers, let the newspapers create public opinion, and then demand rectification.

In this way, he doesn't need to personally deal with small matters and arrange everything in detail.

The entire official environment of Ming Dynasty will change accordingly. (End of chapter)