Kyoto, Great Wei.
In the Ministry of the Household.
As Wang Xinzhi informed the four Shang Shu of the situation, in an instant the four Shang Shu directly exploded.
They were first shocked that Xu Qingnian’s newspaper, the Great Wei Wen Wei, had managed to sell a million copies in one day.
They knew that Shouren’s product would be of high quality, but they did not expect that so many copies could be sold in one day.
This was really shocking.
But soon the four ministers were furious.
“Why is the Palace of Literature so shameless? It is obvious that they copied Shouren’s Great Wei Wen newspaper, but they want to say that Shouren copied his Zhaowen notice? This is really shameless.”
“Is this still called a great Confucian? This is simply a shameless tactic, even more shameless than our Ministry of War.”
“It’s disgusting. I’ll have to join them no matter what.”
“If they really dare to senate Shouren, I will do my utmost to do so tomorrow in the courtroom.”
Gu Yan, Zhou Yan, Zhang Jing and Li Yanlong spoke up separately.
As Shang Shu, they were the mainstays of the Great Wei court and were used to seeing great storms, but today they were still disgusted by the great Confucian of the Palace of Literature.
But Chen Zhengru’s voice suddenly rang out.
“All of you, calm down.”
He opened his mouth and calmed down the Shang Shu.
At this moment, Chen Zhengru looked somewhat calm, not as angry as he had been at the Wen Gong, but instead looked unusually calm.
As soon as the crowd took a look at this expression, they also understood that Chen Zhengru should have known something, so they did not get anxious, but waited for Chen Zhengru to speak.
The crowd was silent.
And Chen Zhengru slowly spoke.
“This matter is no longer so simple as we thought.”
“Peng Ru is imperative to the Great Wei’s new holy newspaper.”
“He has made Yan Lei the main writer, you all should be able to guess what the reason is, right?”
Chen Zhengru spoke out, and he analysed carefully without appearing impatient.
As soon as this was said, the five Shang clerks gave it a moment’s thought and quickly guessed part of what was going on.
“Yan Lei has now been dethroned as a Confucian, so he is not considered to be a member of the Great Wei Palace of Literature, and no matter what he does, even if the impact is bad, it will not really affect the Great Wei Palace of Literature.”
“Letting Yan Lei come forward is just to test the waters, to test the bottom line of the world’s literati.”
After some contemplation, Gu Yan, the Minister of Household, instantly gained insight into Peng Ru’s thoughts.
Once this was said, the rest of the several Shang Shu did not say anything, as they guessed the same.
“Exactly!”
“At first, I was also curious, to target Xu Qingnian like this is a bit underhanded, being a great Confucian of Heaven and Earth and representing the Great Wei Palace of Literature as well.”
“No matter what, one would not do this, even if one hated Shouren more, the Great Wei Literary Palace would not be so underhanded.”
“But at that time, I was really a bit faint with anger, and I did not think about this matter for a while, and as I gradually calmed down, I then realized that this matter ……. It is not so superficial.”
The first time I saw the company, I was able to find out that the company was not a part of the world.
Because he sensed something different.
Several Shang Shu fell into silence, while also looking at Chen Zhengru with some curiosity.
“Lord Chen, do you mean to say that Yan Lei is just a pawn, a pawn used by Pengru to test the bottom line of the world’s scholars?”
Zhou Yan frowned as he looked at Chen Zhengru and asked so.
“En.”
Chen Zhengru nodded, and then said with an unusually serious expression.
“Although the Zhu Sheng lineage is somewhat strong in what they do, they know more about what it means to not miss a trickle.”
“If they fancy the Great Wei literary newspaper, they can actually imitate an identical newspaper, after all, the Zhu Sheng lineage has the support of the world’s scholars.”
“Including the major academies of learning in the world, they are also backed by the Great Wei Wen Palace.”
“In such a case, it is completely possible to compete with Xu Qingnian without incurring trouble.”
“But it is extremely irrational to have to push through the layers like this, if it is said to be just to suppress Xu Qingnian, there is no need to do so.”
“In this way, whether the Zhu Sheng lineage wins or loses, in the hearts of the people, they have already lost, the Zhu Sheng lineage, there is no need to do this.”
“But Yan Lei’s appearance is different, he has been deposed from the Confucian position and is in charge of this matter, he can target Xu Qingnian as he pleases, as nasty as he likes,”
“Because he is not a great Confucian anymore, as long as he can influence Xu Qingnian, then he has already won for the Zhu Sheng lineage.”
“If he really provokes public anger, there is no need to worry, the world knows that Yan Lei has an enmity with Xu Qingnian, when the time comes, only one person, Yan Lei, needs to be sacrificed, and the Zhu Sheng lineage can still sit on the fishing platform.”
“Sacrificing Yan Lei, who no longer has a Confucian position, can restrict Xu Qingnian and test the bottom line of the world’s literati and people.
Chen Zhengru gradually analysed the matter out, at first he felt that Peng Ru and others would do anything to suppress Xu Qingnian, which was a completely underhanded tactic.
At first he did not react, but now he gradually thought back and felt that it was not so simple.
“Testing the people’s bottom line? Why do you want to test the people’s bottom line?”
Gu Yan frowned as he looked at Chen Zhengru and could not help but ask.
But when this was said, Chen Zhengru and Wang Xinzhi looked at each other, they did not answer this question, because it was too big, even if they were Shang Shu, they did not dare to chat in detail.
And seeing this expression on the two men’s faces, Gu Yan’s eyes became even more curious, and after thinking about it carefully, a shocked look suddenly appeared in his gaze.
“You mean, that thing?”
Gu Yan guessed what the matter was, but he didn’t dare to say it outright, so he could only say so.
“I am not sure, but there is a slight possibility.”
“This matter is too involved, so it is better for us not to chat casually in detail.”
Chen Zhengru shook his head, he did not want to talk about this matter, as there was no need to talk about this matter, as it was indeed unlikely.
“En.”
Gu Yan nodded, while the other few Shang Shu also gradually understood what was going on, except that they, like Gu Yan, first revealed a shocked look, followed by silence.
“Lord Chen, you are the Prime Minister, what do you say on this matter.”
Minister of Justice Zhang Jing spoke up, he asked Chen Zhengru to take an idea.
Hearing this, Chen Zhengru got up and said.
“In this way, I will go and find Shouren and see what he says.”
“If we go to court tomorrow, no matter what, we must be on Shouren’s side.”
“As for what exactly the Zhu Sheng lineage is planning to do, let’s not worry about it first and wait and see what happens.”
Chen Zhengru said so.
“Good, then let’s wait for Lord Chen to return.”
“Shouren should have a solution.”
“Yes, Shouren should have a solution.”
The Shang Clerks nodded their heads.
And Chen Zhengru immediately got up and left straight away to look for Xu Qingnian.
It was just that all along the way, Chen Zhengru looked a little preoccupied, because he always felt that there was something else wrong.
There was something that didn’t make sense at all!
Why would the Zhu Sheng Clan do this?
It definitely couldn’t be as simple as just disgusting Xu Qingnian.
Because that would only outweigh the losses.
But sending out a Yan Lei looked like a pawn that could be nullified at any time.
The problem is that Yan Lei is not stupid, if he is being used as a pawn, he will not be that stupid.
What kind of medicine is the Zhu Sheng lineage selling in its gourd?
Chen Zhengru’s heart was filled with curiosity.
But it didn’t count, let’s find Xu Qingnian for a meeting right now.
Two quarters of an hour later.
Kyoto Shouren Academy.
Zhang Ruhui was reporting to Xu Qingnian with a look of excitement about the sales of the newspaper.
“One million and three hundred thousand copies, my brother, one million and three hundred thousand copies, my brother, this time I really believe it, you are really a god.”
“You know what? Don’t we have some shops promoting it in the Great Wei Literary Gazette?”
“These shops are now overcrowded, and they all came through the Wen newspaper. A number of merchants have now approached us and are willing to pay a thousand taels of silver for a spot to promote them.”
“I’ve thought about it, this area could have information on at least ten shops written on it, which would mean a revenue of ten thousand taels of silver alone.”
Zhang Ruhui was extremely excited, he was still in a state of ignorance before about the usefulness of this Great Wei Wen newspaper, until now he gradually understood the importance of the Great Wei Wen newspaper now.
The propaganda ability was terrifying.
Ten shops that could only be described as mediocre, but tasted okay, and with a casual mention in the newspaper, it led to a scene where 10,000 people were empty.
This is truly terrifying.
When faced with Zhang Ruhui’s report, Xu Qingnian looked very calm.
To be honest, Xu Qingnian did not expect that the Great Wei newspaper would be able to sell so many copies.
He had originally thought that 300,000 to 400,000 copies would be about right.
But he had underestimated how bored the people of Kyoto were.
But while Zhang Ruhui was so excited, Xu Qingnian was calm.
If you think of the good in everything, it’s easy for things to go wrong.
There is one main reason why the Great Wei Wen Wei newspaper has been able to sell so many copies today.
That is [freshness].
When anything new comes along, it will either be abandoned by the world or sought after by the world.
But no matter what the result is, in the end, the world will gradually forget.
Of course, the hooks don’t count.
The Great Wei Literary Gazette has injected something different into a calm, watery Kyoto.
The first, second and third issues may have gotten better and better, but they slowly declined towards the end.
There are several main reasons for this.
Not all the people could read and write, and secondly, a newspaper could be read by many people, and when it first came out, everyone bought a copy, but when the novelty wore off, it was difficult to buy one.
Sometimes one person could buy a copy and dozens of others could read it.
In addition, Xu Qingnian did not believe that the Great Wei Palace would be indifferent.
It’s not even just the Great Wei Palace of Literature, there are probably quite a few merchants who are already preparing to get involved.
But Xu Qingnian didn’t care about these small traders, because if he really wanted to compete, Xu Qingnian had too many things to compete with.
Right now, Xu Qingnian’s only enemy is the Great Wei Wen Palace.
The battlefield of the Wen Gong is nothing more than seizing customers, and the customers in this world are just three types of people.
Ordinary people.
People who read books.
The powerful and the noble.
To own the people is to grasp public opinion, the sword of public opinion, the sharpest sword in the world, and this is the group Xu Qingnian currently values the most.
And to own the readers would be to hold the power of Confucian discourse, but to snatch the readers as users would require work, and not just a little work.
Because one needs to snatch people from the hands of the saints, this is undoubtedly the mode of hell, but Xu Qingnian is not afraid of it.
As for the powerful and noble group, it was the next best thing. After all, these powerful and noble people were well-informed, and the Great Wei Literary Gazette was just a way for them to be informed more quickly; it was useful but not very useful.
Even if it was snatched away, Xu Qingnian did not care.
“Brother Zhang, now that the Great Wei Wen Wei has taken its first step, every step that follows will be a test for us.”
“If we get through, it’s a bit of an exaggeration to say that we will soar to great heights, but at least relying on the Great Wei Literary Gazette will allow Brother Zhang to leap into the ranks of the eight major merchants.”
“The next step is not only to prepare for the Kyoto’s Wen Wei newspaper, but also to start preparing for the Wen Wei newspapers from all over the world, to seize the market of each province, but for the other provinces, the first three issues will cost twenty wen, and the latter will just drop to fifteen, then follow what I said step by step.”
Xu Qingnian explained these things to Zhang Ruhui.
“Don’t worry, Xiandi, what you said my brother will definitely keep in mind and will definitely not mess around.”
Zhang Ruhui nodded his head with conviction.
Only, at that moment, Li Shouming approached.
“Teacher, Chen Ru is here.”
As Li Shouming opened his mouth, Zhang Ruhui immediately spoke up.
“Xiandi, then I will leave you first, if there is anything you need to do, just call for my brother.”
Zhang Ruhui said.
“Good, take care, brother.”
Xu Qingnian personally escorted Zhang Ruhui to the door of his room, while Zhang Ruhui clasped his fist and left quickly, as there were still a lot of things that needed to be dealt with in the Great Wei Cultural Newspaper Hall.
He did have to go as well.
Not long afterwards.
Chen Zhengru came.
“Student Xu Qingnian, meet Chen Ru.”
Looking at Chen Zhengru who had entered, Xu Qingnian could not help but bow.
“Between you and me, there is no need to be polite.”
Chen Zhengru was straightforward and waved his hand, telling Xu Qingnian that he did not need to be so polite.
“Lord Chen, what is the reason for your visit today?”
Xu Qingnian made tea for Chen Zhengru and asked him what he wanted.
“It’s about the Great Wei Wen Wei newspaper.”
Chen Zhengru spoke, but Xu Qingnian looked very calm, not the least bit surprised.
Today, the Great Wei Wen newspaper was all over Kyoto, so what else could Chen Zhengru be looking for if not for this matter?
“What do you say?”
Xu Qingnian was still very calm.
Chen Zhengru also opened the door and spoke directly.
“Today, the Wen Gong Peng Confucian gathered hundreds of great Confucians at the Hall of Pilgrimage.”
“Have Yan Lei create a Great Wei Wen Sheng Newspaper based on your Great Wei Wen Newspaper, and slander your Great Wei Wen Newspaper for copying the Wen Palace’s Zhaowen Notice.”
“The intention is to go before the court tomorrow to do two things.”
“One, to request that the Great Wei Wen newspaper be banned, Yan Lei believes that your Great Wei Wen newspaper, which deliberates on matters of imperial affairs, is detrimental to the country.”
“Secondly, if His Majesty does not allow it, he requests that you may no longer use the four words of the Great Wei Wen newspaper.”
Chen Zhengru said the matter of the Wen Palace in a few words.
While Xu Qingnian listened to these words again, he could not help but frown instantly.
Instead of anger, he was kind of curious, his eyes full of curiosity.
Xu Qingnian knew that the Great Wei Wen Palace would definitely not let go of this piece of fat meat, he had created a Great Wei Wen newspaper, the Great Wei Wen Palace would definitely create a similar thing.
The reason is that the Great Wei Wen Gong inherently has countless loyal users, the world’s readers.
And one would have to spend silver to buy bookstores and sell the Great Wei Wen Gong through them.
The Great Wei Wen Gong, on the other hand, does not need to, as all the bookstores in the world have to listen to the Great Wei Wen Gong, and this link alone will save the Great Wei Wen Gong a fortune.
Use it to fight a price war with yourself.
But I never thought that the Great Wei Palace of Literature would do this?
This is a bit unreasonable, huh?
Even if the Great Wei Palace hated itself, it could not have used such a dirty trick, which would only make the people of the world dislike the Great Wei Palace.
This is very unreasonable.
Xu Qingnian frowned.
And Chen Zhengru continued to speak.
“Do you think that it is somewhat unreasonable for the Great Wei Palace of Literature to act in this manner?”
Chen Zhengru asked.
“Even if Yan Lei has been deprived of his Confucian position by me, after all, the Peng Confucian behind Yan Lei still represents the Zhu Sheng lineage.”
“This kind of behaviour will only make the people of the world feel disgusted, but it can temper the emotions of the readers.”
“But they could have done that, so why did they have to make an issue out of it?”
Xu Qingnian replied.
It was obvious that they could have just made a newspaper, there was no need to deliberately disgust themselves.
Why do you want to make trouble?
Hate, you say? It’s true that hate is endless, but people at this level are in control of their emotions and have a purpose for everything they do.
For example, a*suming that by killing himself, Pengru could become a saint, then Pengru would do everything he could to kill himself.
Because the benefits are too great.
But if killing himself did not make him a saint, even if Peng Ru hated himself, he would not use such means, because once he died, he would not end up any better.
This is a matter of interest.
Great Confucian or not.
The emperor too.
The six ministries, the military generals, the va*sal kings, all of them, in fact, work around interests.
Does Prince Huaining not hate himself? He does!
Doesn’t he wish he were dead? He wants to!
But the problem was that he could not kill himself directly, otherwise he would be the one who would be unlucky, and it would only do him harm and no good.
Unless he had already predicted that he would not be able to rebel unless he died.
Otherwise, no matter what, he would not kill himself.
“I have also pondered over this for a long time, but I have never been able to find an answer.”
“The only thing I can tell at the moment is that Yan Lei is now a pawn, and will come to squeeze your Great Wei Wen Gong by whatever means.”
“As for what exactly the Wen Palace is after, it is unclear for now.”
“But Shou Ren, you should pay more attention.”
Chen Zhengru didn’t know what to say, and could only tell Xu Qingnian to pay more attention.
“En.”
Xu Qingnian understood what Chen Zhengru was saying, no matter what exactly the Wen Gong’s intentions were, at least what could be learned for now was this.
Yan Lei would use all means, even if they were underhanded means, to squeeze the Great Wei Wen newspaper, to put it bluntly, people would stink you up even if you were a piece of Sh*t.
After understanding this, Xu Qingnian did become a little wary.
“Right, Lord Chen, there are a few things that you must say at the court tomorrow.”
Xu Qingnian suddenly spoke.
Since the Great Wei Wen Gong wanted to disgust himself, he had to be prepared as well.
No matter what, one had to dig a big hole for the people of the Wen Palace to jump into, otherwise, when one was really disgusted all the time, even if one could punch one back in the face, the process would not be pleasant ah.
Since he knew that the other party already had this attitude, Xu Qingnian would not be polite.
“You said, Shouren.”
Chen Zhengru nodded and let Xu Qingnian speak.
“Lord Chen, these three things must be said at the court tomorrow, and must force the Great Confucian of the Wen Gong to agree to them, otherwise, resolutely do not agree to all the demands of the Wen Gong.”
“First, restrict the content of the Wen Gong newspaper, Lord Chen, although I do not know what the content of the Wen Gong newspaper is, but after all, it is at most somewhat similar to the current Great Wei Wen Gong.”
“The Great Wei Wen Gong newspaper will have new content in the future, but if we don’t restrict the Great Wei Wen Gong, I’m just afraid that Yan Lei will keep copying my content, and then we’ll really be disgusted.”
“So now it’s agreed, with His Majesty testifying and with the full court witnessing, let the great scholars of the Palace of Literature agree to it, so that if you follow up what Shouren puts out, the Palace of Literature won’t dare to blatantly copy it.”
Xu Qingnian said the first thing.
Yan Lei was clearly trying to disgust himself by making a new Wen Wei newspaper in accordance with his own, which could not be helped, but Xu Qingnian concluded that with Yan Lei’s intelligence, he would certainly not be able to think of anything more.
The content of this is just to write up the national events and some great Confucian insights, as for other sections, such as the poetry section, the women’s section, and the novel section that Xu Qingnian intends to make, and so on.
Each of them is a great way to capture users.
Yan Lei would not care at first, but as he found that he could not compete anymore, with this kind of person’s character, he would definitely choose to copy.
Even if he didn’t choose to copy, someone at the Palace of Literature would still make him do it, after all, he was a pawn.
If his reputation is notorious, so be it, the big deal is to change someone else, as long as it doesn’t spill over to the Palace of Literature anyway.
If that were the case, it would be disgusting, even if he won in the end, but the process was really disgusting.
The Great Wei Wen Gong said that they had copied them, right? Then you can’t use the same content in the future, or else you will be banned!
Once this was said, Chen Zhengru nodded and said.
“That’s a good point, saving for a rainy day.”
Chen Zhengru agreed, and would go to the court tomorrow to talk about this matter.
“Secondly, please also ask Lord Chen to make sure to say clearly tomorrow that it cannot be sold at a low price, the Great Wei Wen Palace’s financial power, the student has heard of it, I am not sure exactly how much, but it should not be an exaggeration to describe it as rich as an enemy.”
“If the Great Wei Wen Palace gives it away for free for the sake of sales, it would be somewhat inappropriate, and this is something that you, Lord Chen, understand better.”
Xu Qingnian said so.
And when Chen Zhengru heard this, he could not help but nod his head.
The role of the newspaper was definitely not as simple as earning some silver, its real fear was its influence.
Even if it didn’t make money, this kind of thing had a great effect. The Great Wei Palace of Literature spent a huge amount of silver every year to promote the works of great scholars, and sent some readers from the Palace of Literature to poor places to enlighten children.
What was the purpose? It was to secure the position of the scholars and the position of the Palace!
One copy of the newspaper cost fifteen wen, and one copy of the newspaper could have been given to a dozen or more people to read.
For ten million people, that’s only one million copies of the newspaper, which works out to 15,000 taels of silver.
At one copy a day, that’s 450,000 taels of silver a month, and that’s not 5.4 million taels of silver a year.
Of course, if it were free of charge, it would be possible to double it to 10 million taels of silver a year.
For the Great Wei Dynasty, this was a bit much.
But for the Great Wei Palace of Literature, perhaps it really wasn’t much.
After all, the main thing to look for in a newspaper is upfront, and once you have developed a user habit, then you can slowly adjust the price back, and the people won’t say anything.
In terms of price, Xu Qingnian had to get Chen Zhengru to give restrictions, otherwise, it would still be a struggle.
It’s not that you can’t afford a price war, but it’s unnecessary. Didn’t Zhang Ruhui’s silver come from hard work?
The silver of the Great Wei Palace was not hard-earned, how many people paid tribute? How much was allocated by the Great Wei Dynasty during its heyday?
In addition, Xu Qingnian had to continue to buy bookstores, and the labour costs had to be taken into account, right?
But what about the Great Wei Palace of Literature? All the major academies and bookstores are willing to cooperate with the Great Wei Palace of Literature, and the prestige of the palace is unquestionable.
As for manpower? To put it bluntly, the great scholars of the Great Wei Palace are the writers, and the readers are the errand boys.
If they worked for the Great Wei Palace, would these scholars not work hard?
Can they compete with these things alone?
No!
This is the power of capital.
With channels, connections and capital, you want to challenge capital? You’d better wash your hands and go to sleep.
Unless Xu Qingnian pulls the Great Wei Dynasty into the stock, in which case the pressure can be greatly relieved, but the question is, is Xu Qingnian willing?
If you really let the Great Wei Dynasty take a stake, would they just want the money?
His Majesty did not come to him, and Xu Qingnian actually understood in his heart that he did not want to offend himself over this matter.
But if he needs the help of the Great Wei, from the perspective of an emperor, he would be happy to help and would like to do so, but he would have to get a benefit for his help.
Who will help you if there is no benefit?
You are a va*sal of Wei, and it’s good enough that I’m not asking for something directly from you.
You expect the dynasty to help you, and you don’t give it a little something?
Unless you are the emperor, don’t even think about it.
So the dynasty’s entry into the stock, Xu Qingnian thought about it, but quickly vetoed it too.
It couldn’t be done.
Right now, it could only be done in this way to restrict the Great Wei Palace of Literature.
“Good! However, it is difficult to completely restrict, the Great Wei Wen Palace is not stupid, but I can set a margin, around thirty percent of the cost price, it can be lower, but not more than thirty percent.”
Chen Zhengru gave his answer.
He could go on about it, but trying to completely restrict the Great Wei Wen Gong was impossible.
People are not stupid, they have money and channels and contacts, so why not make use of these things?
Why should they be on the same starting line as you?
You say people are rogue? But they have the capital to be rogue.
You don’t.
“I’m sorry to bother Lord Chen, this third matter is also very simple, both on state affairs, no matter what, it still has to be presented to the six ministries for review.”
“Otherwise, if someone has selfishness and makes things up haphazardly, it will affect the fortunes of the Great Wei state, so the piece on state affairs, Xu is willing to have the six ministries review it, but so must the Great Wei Palace of Literature.”
Xu Qingnian’s third point was crucial.
It is true that state affairs must not be discussed indiscriminately, for this is a threat to His Majesty, and a threat to the civil and military officials.
You praise the Six Ministries today, no problem!
But what should you do when you humiliate the Sixth Minister tomorrow?
Now that one is a Great Wei official, one actually has to take care of face anyway, even if one wants to bash someone.
But the Great Wei Palace of Literature was different, they were great scholars and in themselves gave people a kind of ‘impeachment’ authority.
To put it mildly, the people actually inexplicably carried a different sentiment towards the officials.
It would be good if one’s own literary newspaper wrote about the six ministries.
And the Great Wei Wen Gong writes that the Sixth Minister has bad intentions.
The people are still more or less biased towards the Great Wei Wen Gong, so in that case, the other side take this matter to make an article, then one will be in trouble.
Therefore, this piece of state affairs must be reviewed by the Six Ministries.
And sooner or later, one would become one of the six ministries, or even the Prime Minister of Great Wei.
As for what if one day one flips out with the Great Wei Dynasty?
Big brother, it’s already flipped, and you still expect your Great Wei Wen newspaper to be distributed in the Great Wei Dynasty? Can you wake up and stop dreaming?
The sword that Xu Qingnian forged is the sword of public opinion, with an incomparable sharpness, but this sharpness is external, while for the emperor, the sharpness must be hidden.
Absolutely no hint of coldness must be shown out, once the emperor feels the danger.
You can then wait for death.
Even the most brainless emperor would not allow a dynasty to exist that threatened him.
Whether it was a person or an object.
So Xu Qingnian used this move to cut off the Great Wei Wen Gong’s back path by retreating… Want to use this tactic to mess with yourself?
No way!
“This is good!”
“Shouren, I’m really glad that you have such an awareness, old man.”
“To be honest, the first time you came out with this Great Wei Wen report, I was indeed a bit worried, but if you can do this, I am relieved that you Xu Qingnian is still the same Xu Qingnian.”
As the third condition was stated, Chen Zhengru could not help but breathe a huge sigh of relief.
In fact, he and the other five ministers had discussed this matter.
The biggest problem with Xu Qingnian’s newspaper was the ‘state affairs section’, which was not something that ordinary people could discuss.
It is also not something that ordinary people can control. If there is no control from the court, you can write whatever you want, then it would still be a mess?
Now that Xu Qingnian has taken the initiative to hand it in, it’s a good thing for His Majesty and for the Great Wei Dynasty.
“Don’t worry, Lord Chen, from the beginning to the end, my humble servant has never changed, as long as it is for the people of the world, my humble servant will do his best.”
Xu Qingnian said so.
And Chen Zhengru nodded, Xu Qingnian was for the people this was something that everyone in the world knew.
“All right, what needs to be said has been said by the old man, Shouren, remember, we will all do our best to support you.”
After Chen Zhengru said this, he left the room.
And after Chen Zhengru left.
Xu Qingnian also immediately followed behind and sent Chen Zhengru away.
After sending Chen Zhengru away, Xu Qingnian turned back to his body and came back, there were still a lot of things to deal with.
There was still a lot of work to be done. The next battle was a tough one and there was no room for error.
In the middle of the Shouren Academy, a group of children were sitting not far away, all of them were children of the State House.
Xu Qingnian has asked his students to teach them to read, but it is clear that these children are not having any fun with reading.
Each one of them looked a little listless and distracted.
After a quick glance, Xu Qingnian withdrew his gaze, as he still did not have the time to manage this group of bear children for the time being.
However, these bear children could be made to do something.
They could pa*s the time and help themselves at the same time, but it was still something that would have to wait for a few days.
“Senior brother, what are you writing?”
After walking to the inner hall, Xu Qingnian found that his senior brother was writing something, looking a little bit distracted.
“Oh, it’s nothing.”
“Right, senior brother, Lu Ziying had to leave beforehand and said that he would be back in a few days, so that you don’t forget to cultivate the art of the Immortal Dao.”
“But senior brother, listen to a word of advice from senior brother, the path of the Immortal Dao is not for you, you should put your mind on the Confucian Dao.”
Chen Xinghe secretly hid a small booklet away.
And then informed Xu Qingnian that Lu Ziying had already left.
“Follow the teachings of senior brother.”
Xu Qingnian bowed towards Chen Xinghe, and then entered the room.
After Xu Qingnian had left, Chen Xinghe looked to his left and right to make sure that there was no one there, and then continued to take out the booklet and started writing something.
The title of the book on the pamphlet was clearly written ‘The Great Wei Literary Sage Chen Xinghe’.
This was something that Chen Xinghe had nothing better to do than to write. In real life, he could not become a saint, so he could only satisfy himself spiritually.
But it was only for his own eyes, and he wouldn’t show it to others, it was purely for his own pleasure.
That’s all.
The following day.
In the Great Wei Palace.
The six ministers, including the line of military officials, had already made eye contact with each other.
Through their letters, they knew what they were going to do and what they were going to say today.
Sure enough, as the first hour of morning court ended, someone from the Great Wei Wen Palace came out and took the lead.
They accused the Great Wei literary press of discussing the dynasty’s affairs and being extremely influential, and put a lot of hats on them, saying things like disrupting the kingdom and undermining the state of Great Wei.
It was a verbal attack.
After the Great Wei Palace of Literature made its remarks, the six ministers took turns to speak.
The general meaning is simple: the Great Wei Wen Gong has the intention of propagating the public, so that the people are aware of the national events and also the policies of the court, which is convenient for the people and also beneficial for the development of the country.
As for what the Great Wei Wen Gong said, it was a bit inappropriate, but of course it was necessary to regulate one or two things, but it was not that serious.
After the six ministers took their turns to finish, the line of military officials also came forward.
They all took a stand in support, saying that the Great Wei Wen Wei was very good and denying the accusations of the Great Wei Wen Gong.
In the end, the empress spoke up and allowed the appearance of the Great Wei Wen Wei newspaper, rejecting the request of the Great Wei Wen Palace.
And instead of getting angry, the Great Wei Wen Gong just silently retreated.
Surprisingly, the Great Wei Wen Palace didn’t continue to make a statement anymore and waited until after the court meeting was over.
They did not say a word either.
But the crowd understood that tomorrow would be the real encounter!
And it was late that night.
Ugly hour!
Xu Qingnian, after his regular cultivation, was surprised to find that his martial dao still hadn’t grown at all, but it seemed that ……. to have condensed a spiritual vein.
He had stepped into the ninth grade of the Immortal Dao.
The year of Wuchang.
September 10th.
Dawn.
Still the morning court.
The Great Hall.
All the officials enter the hall.
Still the usual discussion of state affairs.
One hour later.
When the discussion of state affairs was finished, the person from the Great Wei Wen Palace was still the first to come out and speak.
Your Majesty, the Great Wei Wen Palace has changed the Zhaowen Notice into the Great Wei Wen Sheng Newspaper and put it on sale to the world’s scholars as well as the people.
At the same time, they continue to impeach the Great Wei Wen Daily, arguing that the Great Wei Wen Daily has copied the Zhaowen Notice from the Great Wei Wen Palace.
He requested Your Majesty to take away the name of the Great Wei Wen newspaper and return it to the Great Wei Wen Palace.
As soon as this was said, Zhou Yan, the Minister of War, was the first person to come forward and scold him for his shamelessness.
However, the great scholars of the Palace of Literature did not get angry, but instead explained and argued with reason.
In the end, the four ministers came forward to argue with him, and even the military officials joined the fray, angrily denouncing each other’s shamelessness.
But the question was, could the scolding outweigh the great Confucian?
In the courtroom.
The Marquis of Xinyang questioned loudly.
“Xu Qingnian has not even been to the Great Wei Palace of Literature a few times, how could he have copied from you?”
“Didn’t Xu Qingnian go there the other day?”
“And the Zhaowen notice, it’s not like you only know when you go there, the world’s readers all know about it.”
“He Xu Qingnian is intelligent, I admit that, and it is because of his intelligence that he changed this to the Great Wei Wen notice.”
“Please, Your Majesty, do it! Take back the name of the Great Wei Wen Wei newspaper and return it to my Great Wei Wen Palace.”
The latter spoke up, his name was Zhang Ning, a great Confucian of the Zhu Sheng lineage, past his prime, his head full of white hair, bland and calm.
“The dog thief is shameless.”
“It is truly a shame for the literati.”
“Xu Shouren has worked so hard to found the Great Wei literary newspaper, but in your mouths it has become something to copy? Do you great scholars really have no shame?”
The crowd cursed, but the latter did not care at all and was calm.
“Your Majesty, furthermore, what is Xu Qingnian’s virtue and ability to use the Great Wei and call it that? And with a literary newspaper?”
“In public, he copied from my Wen Palace, in private, he is not worthy of such a title, I hope Your Majesty will understand.”
Zhang Ning’s voice rang out again.
He had been arguing here for an hour, and no matter who insulted him, he was not half as angry as he could have been, but instead asked the empress for advice without haste.
Regardless of the outcome, at least the entire court was disgusted by this man.
“Your Majesty! We believe that what Zhang Ning has said is completely nonsense, and we hope Your Majesty will understand!”
“Yes, I hope Your Majesty will be clear about this!”
The crowd spoke up.
They didn’t want to argue anymore, this was just too infuriating.
But at that moment, the empress’ voice rang out.
“Xu Shouren is a minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs of Great Wei, and is qualified to bear the word Great Wei, and as a great scholar, he is also qualified to be called by his literary report!”
“As for the matter of plagiarism, it is simply nonsense and absurd.”
“I, for one, will allow the Great Wei Literary Palace to create a new newspaper, but it needs to think twice about its name properly.”
The empress spoke up.
With her words, she was also making a statement.
As the empress, she could not say things too harshly.
But to say this much was already considered very angry.
However, she also promised the Great Wei Wen Gong to start a new newspaper, only that the name still had to be changed.
The Great Wei Wen Sheng newspaper? It was purely to disgust Xu Qingnian.
She could see that, so naturally she had to suppress it as well.
Once this was said, Zhang Ning still looked calm, not saying anything but not vetoing it either.
But at that moment, Chen Zhengru spoke up.
He stepped forward and stated Xu Qingnian’s three conditions, but did not say that they were Xu Qingnian’s conditions, but rather that they were his own meaning.
Especially the last one.
When he finished speaking, Zhang Ning’s face then changed slightly.
And the rest of them could not help but show their surprise.
And Chen Zhengru made it a point to emphasise one sentence.
“This matter, I have already negotiated with Shouren, and Xu Shouren has agreed to all of them, I just don’t know if Zhang Ru agrees, if not, I firmly disagree with the Great Wei Wen Gong founding a new newspaper.”
Chen Zhengru’s words were categorical.
As soon as these words were spoken, the Empress’s gaze fell on Zhang Ning.
The rest of the people’s gazes also fell on Zhang Ning.
After about half a quarter of an hour.
Zhang Ning’s voice rang out.
“Since Xu Qingnian has agreed, how could the Great Wei Palace of Literature not respond?”
Zhang Ning spoke, but he was not in a very good mood.
“Good!”
“This matter, it is settled.”
“Retire from the court!”
In the end, with a word of retiring from the court, the matter came to an end.
And on that very day.
The Great Wei Wen Palace announced that tomorrow at dawn, the first issue of the Great Wei Wen Sheng Newspaper would be released.
The second issue of Xu Qingnian’s Great Wei Wen Wei newspaper, on the other hand, was to be issued the day after tomorrow.
They did not change their names, and continued to use the word Wen Sheng.
After all, the empress only told them to think twice, not that they had to change it.
This was also the attitude of the Great Wei Wen Palace.
For the first issue, the Great Wei Palace of Literature was full of anticipation.
And the whole of Kyoto knew about it, and there was a lot of cursing from the people, all saying that the Great Wei Palace of Literature was shameless to the extreme.
But most of the scholars still supported the Great Wei Palace of Literature.
For a while, Kyoto was once again abuzz, only this time it was different.
It was an encounter of sorts between the literati!
The world was looking forward to it.
Will the Great Wei Literary Palace be stronger?
Or was Xu Qingnian stronger.
And so it was.
It was until the following day at dawn.
It was not yet dawn.
There was already a long queue at the major academies in Kyoto.
Finally.
As soon as the dawn hour pa*sed.
A copy of the Great Wei New Saint newspaper went on sale.
And the biggest line of the New Saint newspaper exploded in Kyoto.
[Childish arrogance]
These four words.
No one would not know what they meant.
The Great Wei Palace of Literature, sort of, put a face to the scolding.
The attitude was extremely strong, but the approach was also very underhanded.
But no matter what.
Once the dawn had pa*sed.
Indeed, the Great Wei Kyoto was in an uproar.
