A short tea break—which was actually just a way to take Chen Jiannan and the others away so the discussion could continue.
"Your Highness is the current Crown Prince, and your path to the throne should be smooth sailing from now on. Why is His Majesty asking you to do such a thing as planning ahead?"
Jing Zhe was a little curious. After all, according to what Su Moyan said earlier, even Emperor An did not think he could ascend the throne smoothly. Otherwise, why would he let him win people's hearts in advance?
Isn't this just to get him more support and increase his chances of winning?
Su Moyan gave a wry smile. "Sigh, the struggle for official positions is not peaceful enough, let alone the struggle for the throne. The court may seem calm on the surface, but in reality, there are undercurrents of turmoil. If one is not careful, one can lose everything!"
Jing Zhe was taken aback, then asked, "Could it be that the King of Xiang has already made preparations?"
"It's not just King Xiang!"
After Su Moyan finished speaking, he looked towards the southwest. "These past few years, things haven't been peaceful on Prince Jin's side either! On the surface, everything seems normal, but behind the scenes, he's been recruiting soldiers and horses. Moreover, Tongtianque has a close relationship with Prince Jin. The fact that the martial arts tournament of the four major sects was suddenly scheduled to be held in Jinxi seems to be related to Prince Jin as well!"
Upon hearing the name of the Prince of Jin, Jing Zhe's eyelids twitched.
He was overjoyed.
I'm not afraid of him being dishonest, I'm afraid of him being too honest!
If he dares to plot something or defy his superiors, even if he only has such thoughts, I can follow the clues and take him down!
I was just worried about not finding a place to take revenge!
Then, out of curiosity, he asked, "Since Your Highness knew that the Prince of Jin harbored such treacherous intentions, why did you still...?"
"Heh, it's just an act!"
Su Moyan sneered: "If possible, I would like to keep the Prince of Jin's heir in the Eastern Palace forever!"
Hao Junguang chimed in, "Although the Prince of Jin's heir resides in the Eastern Palace, he is exceptionally close to the Prince of Xiang in private. For example, regarding the assassination attempt on President Jing last time, although everyone suspected the Prince of Jin's heir was behind it, who can say for sure whether the Prince of Xiang was involved?"
After thinking it over carefully, Jing Zhe felt that it did make sense, but he didn't dare to believe it completely, so he remained silent.
At this point, Su Moyan continued, "Therefore, I intend to use President Jing's newspaper to ensure everyone is informed. Even if something unexpected happens, the people's hearts will be with us. As long as the people don't support them, they can't cause any major trouble!"
He then looked at Jing Zhe: "President Jing, this is my idea. Are you satisfied?"
Jing Zhe nodded and said seriously, "Since ancient times, the throne should belong to the Crown Prince. Anyone else who wants to compete for it is simply delusional!"
Jing Zhe had no good feelings towards either the King of Jin or the King of Xiang, but he liked the Crown Prince quite a bit, both in his words and actions, so he directly took sides.
"Regarding what the Grand Tutor and His Highness just said, I think relying on newspapers won't work, at least not at the beginning, but we can rely on compulsory education!"
"compulsory education?"
The two of them asked, somewhat puzzled.
"Compulsory education, in essence, is free education, but it's not free for life. It's free for a few years, and it stops being free once the children reach adulthood. By then, they will all be able to read and write, and even if they don't go to school, they can still be educated using newspapers!"
"..."
The two were hearing this new concept for the first time and found it somewhat hard to accept at first, but it sounded pretty good…
"President Jing, you just said that in order to maintain the normal operation of the newspaper, even the newspaper itself has to be charged. So who will pay for this free education?"
Hao Junguang asked, puzzled.
Su Moyan quickly added, "If compulsory education were implemented nationwide, it would be a considerable expense! The national treasury can't afford that much money..."
Jing Zhe waved his hand and smiled, "We don't need government funding!"
The two immediately became interested and stared at Jing Zhe, waiting for his answer.
"Once our newspaper is published, we can establish newspaper offices all over the country. We can not only transmit important information from the imperial court through local newspapers, but also report back interesting and unusual events happening in the localities so that the people of Jingzhou can see them!"
The two nodded repeatedly, waiting for what would follow.
"Once the newspaper becomes popular all over the country, we can start advertising and attracting sponsors!"
"Advertisement? Sponsorship?"
Hao Junguang looked at Jing Zhe with a puzzled expression: "Then what is that?"
"First, let's talk about advertising. For example, in Jingzhou, there's a newly opened restaurant that's in a remote location. Even though the food and drinks are delicious and inexpensive, not many people know about it, and business is terrible. In this case, they could advertise in a newspaper. We'll publish the restaurant's information in a prominent place in the newspaper for several consecutive issues. Do you think that would achieve the desired promotional effect?"
Hao Junguang nodded: "It's the same principle as doing publicity in the literature and military sectors!"
Jing Zhe smiled and nodded, then said, "Of course, this advertisement isn't something you can just do casually. The restaurant needs to pay for it; it's called an advertising fee. And the amount of this advertising fee isn't fixed; it depends on the placement and timing of the advertisement!"
"As for sponsors, any business can sponsor any section as long as they pay the newspaper. When we publish it, we can use the title 'Sponsored by [Company Name]' to achieve a promotional effect. In the long run, this is more effective than advertising!"
"Newspapers are published in every region, and a portion of the advertising and sponsorship revenue from these newspapers is allocated to the private school as compensation for the teachers' hard work and for the printing costs of teaching materials. In addition, the private school can recommend talented individuals for internships at the newspaper..."
After Jing Zhe finished speaking, Su Moyan and Hao Junguang both pondered for a moment, and Hao Junguang clapped his hands and cheered first.
"As expected of President Jing, he can come up with so many novel yet effective ideas!"
Su Moyan exclaimed, "A single conversation with you is worth more than ten years of study! President Jing, if you can make this happen, I will appoint you as my national advisor if I ever ascend the throne!"
The Imperial Advisor, the advisor of the nation, sounds quite impressive.
Jing Zhe cupped his hands and said modestly, "This matter sounds simple, but I'm afraid it will be quite difficult to implement. Whether in the imperial court or in the local areas, there will be no shortage of people who will oppose it. I hope that Your Highness and Grand Tutor Hao will give us their full support!"
"Don't worry, President Jing, we will do our best!"
"Very well, thank you Your Highness and Grand Tutor Hao! In that case, I shall return now!"
Jing Zhe stood up, preparing to take his leave.
"President Jing, how about staying for dinner?"
Su Moyan extended an invitation.
"Thank you for your kindness, Your Highness, but I promised General Yu that I would go to the Duke of Huguo's residence. If I spend the whole afternoon here, I'm afraid the Duke of Yu will be unhappy if he finds out!"
After hearing what Jing Zhe said, Grand Tutor Hao also laughed and said, "Yes, it's not too late for President Jing to come when he has time later. We can't just cancel the Duke of Yu's invitation, haha!"
After saying that, all three of them laughed.
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