Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

Granting the newspaper industry the power to supervise public opinion is not Zhu Youjian’s whim.

Because the news media was once called the fourth estate in Western society——

It means the fourth power besides the three powers of executive, legislative and judicial, which shows its status.

The title of "The Uncrowned King" of journalists was also popular for a while.

However, with the deepening of marketization, the independence of the news media has been lost, and the public interest has even been sacrificed for commercial interests, and the awareness of social responsibility has been lost——

Therefore, the idea of ​​the Fourth Estate and the Uncrowned King is getting less and less recognized, so much so that no one mentions it anymore.

But the status they gained in history still made Zhu Youjian wary. When deciding to develop the newspaper industry, the right to supervise public opinion was regulated. Control this power in your hands to prevent it from getting out of control and being used against the court or even the imperial power.

Now, this power is supervised and protected by Jin Yiwei, and can be used by him to strengthen the imperial power.

After taking control of the newspaper industry, Zhu Youjian's power was expanded, especially his influence on the public.

The situation in which scholars control public opinion will be gradually changed by him:

"In the future, I can publish my views in newspapers and tell all the people. 』

"The people below will read it from the newspapers, rather than just believe what the gentry says. 』

“And I can also read the feedback from the people in the newspapers. 』

"As a high-ranking emperor, I can have a communication channel with the people at the bottom, so that I won't be blind." 』

According to traditional bureaucratic politics, he, the emperor, could only govern the world through bureaucrats at all levels. The effectiveness of governance can only be monitored by another group of bureaucrats.

But after newspapers emerged, reporters and writers also had supervisory powers. Able to monitor governance results from their perspective.

Zhu Youjian can receive feedback from the people through this channel. Let him know more clearly the effects of the implementation of various policies, rather than just looking at officials' memorials.

This kind of power to supervise public opinion came naturally after the rise of the newspaper industry. It’s not that Zhu Youjian didn’t authorize it, it wouldn’t have been born——

It is a bottom-up power whose source is public opinion. It is something that the newspaper industry, as a carrier of public opinion, naturally possesses.

This kind of power is completely different from the traditional top-down power and will bring profound changes to the politics of the Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Youjian, who has personally experienced the Internet era, knows how embarrassed the official agencies were when they first faced the new media. As the earliest mass media to appear, the newspaper industry will have a stronger impact on the Ming Dynasty, no less than the changes the Internet will have on later generations.

In order to smooth out this impact and avoid fierce confrontation between the newspaper industry and the imperial court, imperial officials banned the industry and cut off this channel of communication between the upper and lower levels. Zhu Youjian chose to restrain this power and pretended that the power of public opinion supervision was delegated to the newspaper industry by himself, allowing them to use it in an orderly manner and giving officials time to adapt.

In this process, officials will become more restrained due to the supervision of public opinion. Zhu Youjian was able to use public opinion supervision to punish officials who acted recklessly.

At the same time, the public opinion of students and other scholars will be integrated into the public opinion through the platform of newspapers and periodicals.

The opinions and articles they used to pass down orally or copy will be defeated by the mass printing of newspapers and periodicals.

The sources of public opinion leaders will be more diverse, not just scholar leaders.

The situation where scholars controlled public opinion will be gone forever.

Those scholar leaders, even relying on their former reputation, had a certain influence in newspapers. Like the public knowledge of later generations, it will gradually lose its halo.

Even the newspaper industry controlled by Zhu Youjian did not even give them this time to allow scholar leaders to calmly transform into public opinion leaders.

He planned to cultivate a group of reporters and writers, allowing these previously unknown people to establish influence in the newspaper.

Some of them are scholars, some are children, and some have no fame at all and only know a few words. Now he is recruited by the news and public opinion major of Jinyiwei Security School and trained to become a news spokesperson and public opinion guide.

Most of these people came from guard houses and had no way of becoming officials. After knowing that they could become "private censors" in the future, they were very excited and devoted themselves to this profession.

At the same time, Zhu Youjian also ordered the palace clerk's office to train a group of literate chamberlains to serve as editors and join the Beijing News Group to control the content of newspapers and periodicals.

Qian Jiazheng, Yu Xiangdou, Feng Menglong, and Ling Shuchu, who were previously scheduled to be appointed editors-in-chief, were also personally summoned by him:

"Qian Shishu's reference to Wei Zhongxian's Ten Sins is very good."

"Mr. Yu, Mr. Feng, and Mr. Ling are also influential people in the publishing industry."

"I plan to find several editors-in-chief for the news agency of the General Affairs Department. Which one of you is willing to serve?"

Qian Jiazheng was so excited that he didn't know what to say when he was personally praised by the emperor, and he immediately replied:
"I am willing to obey His Majesty's orders and serve as the chief editor of the news agency."

Yu Xiangdou, Feng Menglong, and Ling Shuchu were called sir by the emperor. They were also very excited and expressed their willingness. The reason why they were called to Beijing was to become officials. Although the current editor-in-chief position is not yet an official, it is a step towards becoming an official. How could they not want to.

Zhu Youjian was very pleased and immediately appointed:
"There are currently three newspapers and periodicals of the Ming Dynasty News Agency: "The General Affairs Department of the Ming Dynasty", the Internal Reference of the General Affairs Department of the Ming Dynasty, and the Monthly Journal of the General Affairs Department of the Ming Dynasty."

"The Di Bao is issued to all officials and is allowed to be purchased by the public. It needs to be sold. Which of you is willing to be responsible?"

After careful consideration, Zhu Youjian decided to let the General Affairs Department continue to issue it. After all, the name Dibao has been around for a long time, and both the government and the people know what it means, so they cannot give up this brand easily.

As for how much trouble the selling of Di newspapers would cause to the Daming News Agency, after Zhu Youjian considered it, he decided to let the person responsible solve it. If it really can't be solved, we will cancel external sales.

For this reason, Zhu Youjian decided to choose a person with business experience to be responsible for issuance matters.

Yu Xiangdou, a bookseller, fell in love with him. After all four people expressed their willingness to take charge of the Di newspaper, Zhu Youjian said:
"Qian Jiazheng is the editor-in-chief of Di Bao. He is also the acting editor-in-chief of Daming News Agency and is responsible for the content."

"Yu Xiangdou serves as the vice president, responsible for printing and distribution."

"If we don't let Di Bao make money, at least we won't lose money."

“The General Administration Department’s funds cannot bear much loss.”

After making a joke, Lu Tunan, the general affairs envoy, smiled bitterly. He was unwilling to deal with Qian Jiazheng because this young man had caused him a lot of trouble.

But if the emperor wanted to use him, Lu Tunan had no choice. I can only comfort myself that the Daming News Agency is in charge of the right-wing political affairs and I do not directly manage it.

Qian Jiazheng and Yu Xiangdou heard their missions from the emperor's order.

Especially Yu Xiangdou, hearing the emperor's words not to lose money made him full of fighting spirit.

Being able to make his own printing house famous throughout the country, Yu Xiangdou naturally has a keen sense of business. He did not believe that relying on the Ming court, the printed Di newspapers would not be sold.

Then there is the "Internal Reference of the General Affairs Department of the Ming Dynasty", which is not allowed to be sold to the outside world because it contains confidential information. Distribute directly to officials above the council level to let them know important news in the court. Feng Menglong and Ling Shuchu both competed for the position of editor-in-chief of Internal Reference. Even Qian Jiazheng wanted to compete to gain influence over senior officials.

In the end, Zhu Youjian considered that Feng Menglong was older and the three words he compiled were pretty good, so he let him take the position.

The remaining one, Ling Shuchu, served as the editor-in-chief of the "Monthly Journal of the General Affairs Department of the Ming Dynasty". This publication mainly compiles news from the Di Di newspaper, is published once a month, and is allowed to be sold to the outside world.

After Yu Xiangdou was responsible for printing and distribution, the job of the monthly editor-in-chief was very simple. Ling Xun came last and took this position.

This made him determined to write and print "The Surprise" as soon as possible to spread his reputation.

After adding personnel to the Daming News Agency, Zhu Youjian asked them to start working as soon as possible to run a three-point newspaper.

Naturally, new newspapers cannot be run as before, but should be re-planned and printed according to the standards of the Press Association.

Zhu Youjian asked them to strengthen communication with the Beijing News Group and improve the standards of the newspaper industry.

After all these arrangements were made and the meeting was about to end, Yu Xiangdou mentioned something and asked the emperor for his opinion:

"The grassroots people saw the type printing in the Wensi Academy a few days ago."

"I heard that His Majesty allows bookshops to use it, and they only need to pay a patent fee."

"I would like to ask Cao Min's bookstore if it can do type printing?"

Zhu Youjian was extremely happy when he heard this. He felt that this was a good opportunity to promote technology patents, and immediately said:
"As long as your bookstore is a formal institution registered with the imperial court and is willing to pay the patent fees as required, you can apply to the Academy of Literature and Science and obtain authorization for use."

"If you don't understand something technically, the Institute of Arts and Sciences will send someone to provide guidance. Of course, you have to pay the technical guidance fee."

Then he said to Yu Xiangdou and others:

"Now you are also people who feed the official family, and you can be ministers in the future."

"The salary and treatment he enjoys are temporarily based on the standard of a seventh-grade casual official."

"In the future, specific adjustments will be made depending on the operating conditions of Daming News Agency."

"If Daming News Agency makes a profit, you will receive dividends according to management."

This statement made Yu Xiangdou, Feng Menglong, and Ling Shuchu very happy, because it almost meant that the emperor would let them serve as officials in the future, and they would be higher than the seventh rank.

Even Qian Jiazheng was very happy after enjoying his seventh-grade salary in advance.

Yu Xiangdou, in particular, was determined to sell Di newspapers and monthly magazines well, make the Ming News Agency profitable, and let the emperor see his abilities and be impressed by him.

Thinking of his own affairs, Yu Xiangdou asked again:

"Caomin has been printing books for decades and has some unique skills."

“Can I apply for a patent and charge patent fees from others?”

Zhu Youjian was even more happy and said with certainty:
"As long as you have unique skills, you can apply."

"But the property rights of public technologies that have been circulated belong to the public, and no one can claim ownership."

"The patent you want to apply for must be carefully identified."

Yu Xiangdou was embarrassed when he heard the words. Because he really wants to apply for patent technology and charge others for some technologies that are popular in the printing industry.

But the emperor put forward a public technical statement, which obviously blocked this road. Only when he comes up with his unique technology can he apply for a patent.

Yu Xiangdou was hesitant about whether to bring out these technologies. But thinking about what he saw in the Wensi Institute, he knew that he could no longer hide it, otherwise his skills would become obsolete before long——

The Institute of Wensi obviously wanted to develop a complete printing system based on lead printing technology.

If stereotype printing spread, all his techniques based on wood engraving would become obsolete.

It is better to apply for a patent and then authorize it, allowing you to collect some patent fees. In this way, the patent expenditure on the lead plate can be offset to some extent.

If you are slow, someone might apply for a similar patent first. In this way, you will not receive patent fees for your own unique technology.

After all, the printing technology levels of each company are not very different. Your own unique technology may not necessarily work better than others.

It can be said that the emergence of stereotype technology and the subsequent promotion of the patent system forced the Ming Dynasty's printing industry to take out the unique technologies that had been hidden in the past and apply for patents from the Patent Office of the Department of Science and Technology.

Otherwise, their technology will become obsolete, or others will apply for similar patents, and will no longer be valuable in the future.

This is what Zhu Youjian wants to see, and he hopes to promote technological development through these.

However, it seems that only the printing industry has shown signs of this, and it is possible to gain a large number of patents in the near future. Practitioners in other industries don’t seem to want to change yet.

This made Zhu Youjian think about whether he should get involved in several more industries to promote technological development:
"The first industrial revolution, also known as the coal and iron revolution, the most important things were coal and iron."

"Steel smelting is more troublesome, so we can let Wensi Institute try it slowly."

"But in the coal industry, there is a very simple technology that is available now."

This technology is briquettes. Although it was only invented in the 20th century, it is not difficult to implement and can be built.

With this technology, Zhu Youjian can master the coal burning business. The coal market in Beijing was temporarily monopolized.

One step further is to gain control of energy such as coal, which is an industry that can feed the royal family for hundreds of years.

Therefore, he does not plan to put the briquette technology in the Wensi Institute. Instead, we are going to let the craftsmen in the inner court develop this technology. In this way, the patent will remain in the inner court and there will be no need to pay patent fees to the Academy of Arts and Sciences.

At the same time, he planned to allocate some money and send people to take control of the coal burning shop first. This industry, like newspaper copying companies, is exempt from paying for small profits and is now easily controlled.

When briquettes and supporting coal stoves appear, they can be promoted in the capital.

He also plans to establish an association for tailor shops to strengthen guidance and promote the development of the garment industry. We should ask those in charge of clothing supervision to discuss more with tailors, promote the metric system of weights and measures and clothing sizes, and standardize the clothing industry.

It can be said that after taking control of and transforming the newspaper copying agency, Zhu Youjian already had a clue about business matters. We plan to transform these industries starting from the guilds.

Ming Dynasty's business environment will continue to improve under his transformation. Use the development of industrial and commercial industries to absorb the labor force that has lost their land. Let these people have food to eat so that they will not rebel when they are desperate. (End of chapter)