Since Jing Zhe went to court today, Emperor An has not been in the mood to listen to the remonstrances. He has been thinking about finishing the remonstrances as soon as possible and listening to the newspapers' reports alone.
After all, he had heard that the newspaper's first issue had already been produced.
Compared to others, Andy had higher expectations for the newspaper and wanted it to be an instant hit. When the newspaper was about to be published, he was more nervous than anyone else.
However, Li Haoyun is the newly appointed prefect of Jingzhou. He has not yet appeared in court since taking office. This sudden remonstrance must be something important, so he decided to listen first.
"Your Majesty, the night before last, with the help of Chief Jing, I led troops to raid the largest casino in the history of Anguo, arresting the bookmaker and more than ten of his henchmen, as well as more than twenty gamblers, and seizing gambling funds amounting to tens of thousands of taels!"
"Whoosh!"
These words shocked everyone in the room!
Because Emperor An banned gambling, cracking down on casinos was a mandatory course for every prefect of Jingzhou. The previous prefect of Jingzhou, Wu Yong, did a good job in this regard, making Jingzhou a "city without gambling". So when Li Haoyun said that he had cracked down on the largest casino in the history of Anguo, most people sneered in their hearts: Is he crazy for merit?
But when they heard that tens of thousands of taels of gambling funds had been seized, everyone was stunned: if this was true, it would indeed be the biggest in history!
"Oh? Tell me more!"
Emperor An's expression also turned serious.
So Li Haoyun gave a brief account of what happened the day before yesterday, because he knew that the details were in the newspapers and that if he said too much, wouldn't he be stealing Jing Zhe's thunder?
Of course, he couldn't deny that if the largest casino in Anguo's history was shut down, and Emperor An heard it from the newspapers rather than from him, then he was derelict in his duty.
After finishing his speech, Li Haoyun concluded, "Your Majesty, since I have only recently taken office, the fact that I was able to uncover the Du family's casino this time was entirely due to President Jing's help! President Jing will write about the specific details in the newspaper, so I will not go into further detail!"
Having been helped by Jing Zhe on several occasions, Li Haoyun decided to return the favor.
Emperor An glanced at Jing Zhe and nodded.
"Your Majesty, maintaining the good atmosphere of Jingzhou City is the inescapable responsibility of every member of our An Kingdom!"
Jing Zhe stepped forward and spoke, but then changed the subject: "I just don't understand why the former prefect of Jingzhou turned a blind eye to such a large casino when he was in office. Was it because he didn't find it, or didn't want to investigate? Or was he deliberately turning a blind eye?"
"..."
The ministers remained silent upon hearing this.
Who was the former prefect of Jingzhou?
Wu Xianyong's son, Wu Yong.
Everyone knows how Wu Yong was dismissed, and now Jing Zhe has added insult to injury. It seems he doesn't think Wu Yong is completely finished. All I can say is, President Jing is truly ruthless!
Wu Xianyong quickly stepped forward, "Your Majesty! When Wu Yong was in power, he paid special attention to gambling, but the casinos were located in very secluded places. How could they be so easily discovered?"
He then gave Jing Zhe a cold look: "I wonder how some people managed to find the casino so quickly. Could it be that they go there to gamble on their own, lose, and then try to play the victim?"
Wu Xianyong was a seasoned veteran, and his counterattack was equally impressive, instantly changing the course of the battle, causing much discussion among the court officials.
Emperor An gestured for everyone to be quiet: "Minister Wu's words make sense. Let's not talk about what happened before. It's good that we were able to uncover such a large gambling operation this time. I'm quite interested in the details. Minister Li also said that the details are all in the first issue of the newspaper. We'll have a treat for them in a bit!"
Unwittingly, Emperor Andi also advertised for the newspaper.
This match ended in a draw, and Wu Xianyong was very pleased.
He was still thinking to himself, could Jing Zhe's earlier mention of writing himself into the newspaper be about Wu De?
If that's the case, then he won't be afraid!
Jing Zhe, he's nothing special!
...
Because of Li Haoyun's remonstrance, it was already Chen Shi (7-9 AM).
Emperor An asked, "I heard the newspaper is launching today?"
Jing Zhe nodded and said, "Yes, Your Majesty! At 1:15 AM, they will begin selling at Wenxiangju. Each copy costs one hundred coins, and a total of five hundred copies will be issued!"
"Five hundred copies? That's not a lot, but it's not a small amount either. After all, newspapers are a new thing. It will take some time for the people of Jingzhou to accept them. It might be a little difficult at the beginning, but that's not a big problem. We can just proceed step by step!"
Emperor An said this in advance, fearing that if the newspaper's sales were poor, people would gossip.
Jing Zhe naturally understood that Emperor An's idea was good, but he was overthinking things.
If any of you manage to buy one later, I'll admit defeat!
At this moment, Bai Qingyuan, who hadn't spoken for a long time, stepped forward and said with a seemingly unintentional smile, "His Majesty has said that it will be difficult to distribute the first issue of the newspaper. How about I personally pay for a copy for everyone in the court? Haha, this can also be considered my support for President Jing's work, after all, I have high hopes for the newspaper!"
Bai Qingyuan was certainly not that kind-hearted.
He said he would "help," but his tone was full of disdain.
It was just a public humiliation of Jing Zhe: If you can't sell them, I'll buy some for you!
Jing Zhe smiled and cupped his hands in thanks: "Then thank you very much, Grand Tutor Bai. I'll have to go to all this trouble to contribute to our newspaper!"
"Hehe, no problem, no problem!"
Bai Qingyuan waved his hand, "Didn't President Jing just say that we are all colleagues serving in the same court and should help each other?"
"Since Grand Tutor Bai is so supportive of my work, why don't I buy every issue for you gentlemen from now on? Otherwise, I'm afraid I won't be able to sell many copies, and the newspaper might really go bankrupt..."
"Hehe, no problem!"
Bai Qingyuan agreed without even thinking.
He was pessimistic about the newspaper's future; how many people in the city would spend money to read it?
He'll probably only last two or three episodes at most. No one even needs to say anything; he'll probably be too ashamed to continue—losing money to gain publicity, even the thickest skin can't withstand that!
As he spoke, Bai Qingyuan took out ten taels of silver from his clothes and smiled at Sui Shouren, saying, "General Sui, how about I trouble you to make a trip and buy newspapers for everyone!"
There are only about a hundred people in the imperial court, so ten taels of silver would be enough.
"Alright, then General Sui, please go!"
Emperor An said, "President Jing said that sales will start at 1:15 AM. By the time you get there, sales should have already begun."
Emperor An became somewhat nervous after Bai Qingyuan's words.
Sui Shouren took the silver and left.
The palace was not far from Wenxiangju. Since Sui Shouren knew that everyone was waiting for him, he led his men there on foot. The round trip took about fifteen minutes.
However, he was empty-handed and looked somewhat embarrassed.
Seeing this, Emperor An asked curiously, "What's wrong, General Sui? Why didn't you buy them back?"
"..."
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