Saving the Ming Dynasty: I can exchange bodies with Chongzhen

Chapter 61 Public opinion war!
"I have state affairs to deal with. I'll come back tomorrow." Zhu Changgan looked at Concubine Chen, who was flirting and throwing her away, and felt reluctant to let her go.

"State affairs are important. Your Majesty can come at any time." Concubine Chen's pretty face was like a snow-white peony, extremely clear and beautiful, with light rolling in her eyes.

Zhu Changgan nodded and walked out of Chenghua Palace quickly.

On the way to the Palace of Heavenly Purity, he asked Li Ruolian, the commander of the Imperial Guard, "Are the newspapers of our Ming Dynasty printed with movable type?"

"Your Majesty, it is not printed with movable type, but a handwritten copy."

Official reports already existed in the Tang Dynasty. By the Song Dynasty, printing had developed and improved considerably, and the scope of engraving had also continued to expand. Chengdu, Kaifeng and other places became centers of the printing industry.

"Didn't Bi Sheng invent movable type printing during the reign of Emperor Renzong of Song? Why haven't we adopted movable type printing yet?"

"This..." Li Ruolian was suddenly speechless and couldn't say anything.

This point has been verified. Gu Tinglin, a famous scholar in the Ming and Qing dynasties, said in his "Letter to My Nephew": "I remember that the court bulletins of the past did not have movable type until the eleventh year of Chongzhen. Before that, they were all handwritten."

It was Wang Chengen who whispered in the emperor's ear: "Your Majesty, the movable type has actually been made, but the department responsible for the printing is overcrowded and has not been put into use yet."

Zhu Changgan understood what it meant as soon as he heard it. The large number of personnel meant there were too many redundant staff. Once movable type printing was used, many of them would certainly not be able to continue to draw a salary without working.

So there is a lot of resistance.

Zhu Changgan couldn't help but sneer. This was another case of the existing vested interests hindering development.

Volume 213 of Ming Hui Dian: Every day, the six departments’ secretaries received memorials from various government offices, copied them one by one into books, and sent them to the Cabinet every five days for compilation.

It was mainly hand-copied. If the government offices in Beijing wanted to know the contents of the court newspaper, they would either send their own clerks to the Six Departments' Corridor to copy it, or the Six Departments would send people to distribute it and have it published by the Newspaper Office.

If it is transferred to the local level, it will be sent to the whole country by the Ministry of Public Security.

In this way, from the beginning of topic selection to sending it out, ten days or half a month will have passed. If it reaches the local location, it will usually take more than a month.

"From now on, all court reports will be printed in movable type," Zhu Changgan said to Wang Chengen, "Tell Gao Yushun that the East Factory will send people to the court reports to thoroughly investigate the redundant personnel and the cases of falsely claiming and eating empty salaries."

"Your Majesty, are you going to print the court bulletin?" Wang Chengen couldn't help but ask.

"To be precise, it's the big, printed, newspapers. I want them to know what a war of public opinion is."

"Big characters..."

Soon, as the emperor entered the Qianqing Palace, Zhu Changgan asked Wang Chengen to write a few introductions, and they knew what a big, word, newspaper meant.

The only titles I saw were:

"They have lost all conscience. The civil servants of the six ministries actually encouraged officials to deceive the emperor!"

“The shocking truth!”

"In broad daylight, the six ministries dared to do such a shameless thing."

Not only is the font large, but the title is also eye-catching enough to create a visual impact on the public.

The content below has a smaller font, but just a few words are enough to make the whole thing clear.

Wang Chengen and Li Ruolian immediately understood what the emperor wanted to do. "Your Majesty is wise. I will arrange it right away. Do you think this newspaper is called the Imperial Notice?"

Zhu Changgan shook his head, "This newspaper targets both officials and the people...it's called the Ming Times."

……

With the ready-made movable type and the pressure from the Eastern Depot and the Embroidered Uniform Guard, the first big-character poster sample was ready in two hours.

Li Ruo Lian not only brought the first draft, but also brought the governor in charge of the official newspaper to facilitate quick revision.
"Very good. If you enlarge the title a little more, you can print it in this style!" Zhu Changgan was generally satisfied after reading it. It was already good enough to accomplish this in such a short time.

"What's your name?"

"Reply...Reply to Your Majesty, I am the Governor of the Ministry of Public Security, Tian Yingzao." At this moment, Tian Yingzao was trembling all over.

He had heard that dozens of people were hacked to death outside the palace gate this morning. When he entered the palace, he inadvertently saw large patches of blood, which were extremely eye-catching and have not been washed clean yet.

Today, the Eastern Depot moved in and the Embroidered Uniform Guards brought their troops over, which made his scalp explode.

"Governor? Of the seventh rank?" Zhu Changgan looked at the man in charge of the court newspaper and was a little surprised. This man was less than 30 years old, but he was able to complete typesetting, printing and manuscript production in such a short time. It can be seen that he has put a lot of effort into the printing industry.

"I want to separate the Imperial Gazette from the General Affairs Department and set up the Imperial Gazette Department. I am in need of a director. Do you have the confidence to take on the role?"

"Uh..." Tian Yingzao raised his head suddenly, the expression on his face changed from fear to confusion, and then to surprise, but then his eyes suddenly dimmed, "Your Majesty, I am only a scholar, I am afraid that it will cause criticism in the court."

There were so many literati and scholars in the court that even a seventh-rank county magistrate had to become a Jinshi.

The position of Si Zheng is of the sixth rank and is also a Beijing official. If it is occupied by a juren, it will inevitably arouse the envy of many people.

The emperor laughed and said, "You are afraid of choking to death and won't eat. If someone criticizes you, will you not resign as an official? I will take care of it, what are you afraid of?"

"If you don't dare, I will choose someone else."

Hearing the emperor say this, Tian Yingzao suddenly felt a surge of pride in his heart and knelt down to thank the emperor, "I thank your majesty for your great grace!"

Zhu Changgan asked Tian Yingzao to leave alone and kept Li Ruolian. "How is the intelligence I asked you to gather?" "Your Majesty, the second group of people will be back soon. It is expected to be back in the next two days. Compared with the last time, it will be more comprehensive."

Zhu Changgan nodded. He had told Li Ruolian before that he would let the Jinyiwei focus more on external warfare and gathering intelligence.

While the troops are being trained, action has also been taken in this regard and some matters have begun to be investigated.

"It's time to get those hooligans moving."

"Yes, Your Majesty!" Li Ruolian took the order and left.

……

Prince Xiang's Mansion,
Before it got dark, Prince Xiang had already asked Hong Tao to invite Chongzhen over.

"Isn't it time for dinner yet?" Chongzhen put down the brush in his hand and asked Hongtao with a confused look on his face. She also said she didn't know.

When he arrived, he found out that Prince Xiang Zhu Yiming wanted him to offer sacrifices to the ancestors together.

"I will be leaving soon. I, Qilin, have come to pay tribute to all the ancestors. May they bless me!" Xiang Wang Zhu Yiming muttered to himself as he put the burning incense into his hand. "Come, burn incense."

"No... Father, you are still alive, so it is not my turn."

Prince Xiang Zhu Yiming shook his head. "Mountains are not high, but they are magical if there are immortals. Water is not deep, but it is magical if there are dragons. Seniority is not high or low, but it is inhabited by those with talent."

"Stand forward a little." Prince Xiang pushed Chongzhen, who had his mouth wide open, and said, "Hurry up, after burning incense, we still have to read the blessing speech!"

Seeing that Prince Xiang was determined to do so, Chongzhen had no choice but to step forward and insert the incense. Prince Xiang Zhu Yiming then handed him a blessing, and Chongzhen began to read it word by word.

King Xiang stood aside, reading prayers, offering rice soup, tea, silk, wine, food boxes, sacrificial meat, and prayers, "Ancestors, please bless my son Qilin to be safe when he is away from home... and hopefully he can achieve honors."

After reading the congratulatory speech, Chongzhen stared blankly at Prince Xiang busying around, his eyes slightly red.

Until King Xiang reminded him, "Burn it, just burn the blessing."

"Oh..." Chongzhen suddenly reacted and hurriedly stepped forward to light the blessing with a candle. The blazing flame reflected in Chongzhen's eyes, making him a little dazed.

The sacrificial ceremony at the palace was very complicated and lasted for almost two hours.

The ceremony ended only when the sun was about to set.

Next, King Xiang distributed sacrificial offerings such as beef and mutton to the representatives who came to the sacrifice. Among the people who came were many people from the royal palace. King Xiang also gave some sacrificial offerings to a small number of people who performed the sacrifice, officials, gentry, and elders of other tribes.

After finishing all this, Prince Xiang Zhu Yiming came in from outside and grabbed Chongzhen, "My Qilin, are you hungry?"

"Come on, last time you said you liked the food from the capital, so father hired a chef from the capital specially for you. Come and try it to see if it tastes authentic."

Chongzhen sighed, "Father, you don't have to do this!"

At the dinner table, Chongzhen tasted the flavor of the north again and couldn't help but eat two more bowls.

Prince Xiang Zhu Yiming looked at Chongzhen, who had a great appetite, and said, "Since my son Qilin likes it, tomorrow father will hire another carriage and let the cook and his cooking utensils follow."

"Ah?" Chongzhen's hands couldn't help but tremble.

……

When Chongzhen finished his meal, the time had come. He woke up again, looked at the memorials on the table, then looked at the ox horn lamps in the palace, and suddenly felt a little lost.

Wang Chengen secretly looked at the emperor with his peripheral vision, feeling somewhat uneasy, "Your Majesty, your illness seems to be different today?"

He was not irritable or furious, nor did he anxiously ask what the emperor had done today. Instead, he was calmer than ever and fell into deep thought.

"Wang Chengen, tell me what I did today?"

"It's coming, it's coming... Your Majesty's condition is still as stable as before." Wang Chengen's heart was pounding, and he knelt down quickly and said, "Yes, Your Majesty!"

"Only 19 were killed? That's good..." When Chongzhen heard that more than officials had deceived the emperor and Zhu Changgan was preparing to kill them, he had been trembling with fear the whole day. Now that he heard that there were only , he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Wait, why did I say only 19?" Chongzhen's eyes suddenly widened. He killed 19 people in one go, but his first feeling was that it was too few, not too many?

This made him stunned for a long time before he continued to ask, "What is the Ming Times?"

"Your Majesty, the Times is just a modification of the original court reports..." Wang Chengen handed the sample of the Ming Times to Chongzhen.

Looking at the eye-catching title above, Chongzhen couldn't help but grin, "Vulgar, so vulgar"

But he couldn't help but continue reading, "That's it?"

"It's just a sample. The complete one won't be ready until tomorrow."

"Save one for me tomorrow."

Wang Chengen asked cautiously, "Your Majesty, which palace are we going to tonight?"

"I will go to the county immediately." Chongzhen suddenly realized halfway through his words, "No need to ask more questions. Go and get the pen, ink, paper and inkstone. I... need to take care of state affairs."

(End of this chapter)