Chapter 144
144
For the first newspaper, they only published a front and back page. The most important news was placed on the front page with a very eye-catching headline. It described the process of the emperor sending Cheng Yeran as an imperial envoy to investigate a case. He investigated more than a dozen corrupt officials. The names of the corrupt officials, the amount of money embezzled, and the evidence were listed one by one, which was very clear and concise.
The language is concise, and even ordinary people who have never been to school can understand its meaning after listening to it once.
At the beginning, several people in their department told Cheng Yeran that the way of writing was too colloquial and somewhat low-class, making others think that their news department was uncultured.
But Cheng Yeran said that this was something that the common people wanted to see, and it was so flowery that it needed translation to be understood, so how could the common people be interested in it?
When people in the department heard him care about the people like this, they felt ashamed and admired him even more.
Because it was the first issue and there was not much content to write, Cheng Yeran wrote down the stories he heard about people being persecuted by corrupt officials and put them on the back of the newspaper.
The prefect bullied men and women, and he killed the entire family in order to steal the family heirloom. His relatives never paid when they ate in restaurants, and he even collected protection fees.
In addition, when natural disasters occurred in the past few years, local officials embezzled the disaster relief funds allocated by the court, causing many people to starve to death and leaving many people homeless. They had to leave their homes and run to other places to beg for food or sell themselves as servants in order to survive.
Every story was true. Cheng Yeran did not ask with an interview attitude, but asked during the visit in order to convict those officials.
Now it can be written in the newspaper so that more people can understand what happened. At the end, it also says that if there is injustice, don't endure it, you can write to their newspaper and they will help expose it.
The last section on the back of the newspaper was reserved for the person who was particularly good at writing critical articles. He wrote an article criticizing the serious phenomenon of corruption in the current officialdom. Cheng Yeran asked him to add a sentence after he finished writing, saying that when faced with such corrupt officials, every case found should be dealt with, and His Majesty would never let any corrupt official go. He told them not to take the chance of corruption and ruin themselves, their families, and the people.
The newspaper is well-made. In addition to the good layout and article writing, it also has the date, issue number, and article signature.
He took the first edition of the newspaper to the emperor, and only after the emperor's approval could it be printed in large quantities.
The Emperor had never seen a newspaper before and thought that what he was going to print would be something like a book, like a magazine, with many pages and pictures.
Unexpectedly, it was a large piece of paper. It looked more convenient and the content was well written. After reading it, the emperor wanted to drag out those corrupt officials and chop off their heads again.
The newspaper also came with illustrations, but these illustrations were not beautiful pictures. Instead, they depicted people suffering, and a picture of people applauding when an official was beheaded.
The emperor thought he did a good job, "There is one thing that is not good enough and needs to be changed."
Cheng Yeran had already prepared for the revisions, and he was waiting for the emperor to give his opinion. The emperor was different from Party A. If Party A was not satisfied, the worst that could happen was that they would refuse to cooperate. But if the emperor was not satisfied, he would most likely chop off their heads, or exile or imprison them.
He thought the emperor would make a request,
mutter
Articles criticizing officialdom were deleted, or it was said that they were too radical.
But the emperor asked, "Why is your achievement not mentioned here? It's just mentioned briefly?"
The emperor wanted him to bring honor to his family, but after he spent a long time writing, the content of the article was all about how good the court was and how much the emperor cared about the people. It seemed as if he had become a tool.
Although Cheng Yeran felt that he was very tired as an imperial envoy and almost died on the way, he could not take all the credit, nor could he steal the emperor's limelight.
If his fame is greater than that of the emperor, then he will be in danger. Even if he is the emperor's illegitimate son, his reputation cannot be greater than that of the emperor.
The Emperor: "Please revise this manuscript and put up a picture of you."
Cheng Yeran: “?!”
Emperor: "You want to disobey my order?"
The emperor had said this, so he could only do as he was told.
The portraits published in official newspapers should not be overly beautified like the portrait of Yuanbao, but should be painted in the style of ancient people, similar to the portraits of ancient people in the Chinese language textbooks we used to see.
After this newspaper was printed, a copy was distributed to all officials, and a part was also distributed to government offices of all sizes across the country. They were not only asked to read it, but also to write a review after reading it, and they were allowed to give their opinions and express their thoughts.
Then, we asked all government offices, big and small, to sell the newspapers, and read the contents of the newspapers aloud in front of the government offices for a total of ten days.
At first, the emperor said that a pilot project should be conducted in the capital, but he felt that it was a waste to sell such a good newspaper only in the capital, and it would be better to distribute it to all parts of the country.
He also ordered that each part of the country build its own newsstand, which would sell government newspapers and hire people to read the newspapers aloud in the newsstands.
He asked various places to build newsstands first, and after they were built, the court would send people to read the newsstands aloud.
A new official position was established for this purpose, and Cheng Yeran suggested calling it news anchor.
Big cities can use more than two announcers because they have a large population. If the broadcast is only read once a day, some people may not be able to hear it due to space limitations. So two broadcasts can be made a day and more than two announcers can take turns. In small places, one announcer is enough.
This announcer was very important. The emperor gave him a seventh-rank official position to students who had passed the exam but had not been assigned a position before.
The emperor summoned these people to the capital and sent them to Cheng Yeran for training first, and then assigned them positions after the training.
They knew that Cheng Yeran would be in charge of which area they would be assigned to, and they tried their best to curry favor with Cheng Yeran.
However, Cheng Yeran will not assign a good area to anyone just because they please him.
He will distribute it according to everyone's ability, but if he sees that those who are older, or those with families or those with poor family conditions, he will give them special care.
Cheng Yeran explained the rules to them, and then asked them to practice reading the newspaper every day and not to make mistakes. Some people did not understand the meaning of the newspaper, and they could also ask for answers. Cheng Yeran asked them to remember him, that they were serving the people, and they should have a better attitude.
Of course, Cheng Yeran felt that there was not much point in telling them this. Many people became officials just to be superior to others. How could they have the awareness of serving the people like in the future?
After Cheng Yeran trained them, he assigned them areas and allowed them to prepare to set off.
In addition to newsstands, local governments will also build offices for them to solve their accommodation problems.
But the living conditions are not that good, it’s almost the same as a dormitory. If you don’t want to live in a dormitory, you can buy a house by yourself.
…
The newspapers were distributed, and newsstands in various places were built and newspapers were placed inside. In some places, newspapers were even posted on the walls of the newsstands. Those who could not afford to buy newspapers could stand around the newsstands and read the contents.
The small county town where they had lived before also had a parking notice. When Cheng Yeran's second aunt and her youngest son passed by the parking notice, they saw the piece of paper posted there.
She immediately stopped and asked, "Why does the person in the painting look so much like Cheng Yeran? Didn't he become a high-ranking official in the capital? Why is there a wanted poster for him? Has he committed a crime?"
Second Aunt couldn’t read, she had only seen wanted posters posted like this, with a portrait on top, a name below, and the crime committed by the person written next to it.
She patted her little son with a gloating look and said, "Read what's written on it quickly."
The youngest son looked at the things on it carefully and said: "Mom, that's not a wanted poster, please keep your voice down."
"If it's not a wanted poster, what could it be? There's such a big portrait hanging on it." Second Aunt said to the people around her, "What do you think?"
"Don't make any noise." The announcer came out and explained to the passers-by who couldn't read: "This painting shows our Lord Cheng. It depicts his deeds of beheading corrupt officials when he was an imperial envoy. Let me read it to you."
These people have only heard of plots about beheading corrupt officials in operas, and they are looking forward to seeing how Lord Cheng will behead corrupt officials in real life.
In their minds, officials protect each other, so how can officials help the people?
But when they heard the article in the newspaper, they all applauded and said that Lord Cheng was a good official, and that only when the court had such good officials would the people have a good life.
Second Aunt originally thought that Cheng Yeran had committed a crime and was wanted. But when she heard that he had become an official, a high-ranking one at that, and was highly regarded by the emperor, and had killed more than a dozen corrupt officials in one breath, she became a little scared.
Cheng Yeran can even kill officials. She had offended Cheng Yeran before, so she wouldn’t be retaliated against, right?
She was so scared that she fell ill when she got home. She would get scared whenever she heard a knock on the door, fearing that Cheng Yeran had sent someone to kill her.
County Magistrate Chen was happy to see Cheng Yeran's current success. He believed that Cheng Yeran could get everything he had now because he had a kind heart. Just like when Cheng Yeran saved his son's life despite everyone's doubts, he would save more people's lives in the future.
When Lu Wei and Tu Gen saw the news about Cheng Yeran, they were extremely happy and couldn't wait to go back to the village to tell Shen Yuntang's parents about it.
Shen Yuntang would write letters and send money home every year. The amount he sent each time was quite a bit, and he would ask the escort agency to help send it back.
Shen Yuntang asked his parents to buy more land and build a bigger house. If it was too tiring, they could rent out the land or hire people to help with farming.
The Shen family is now the richest landlord in the village.
Their family built a big house in the village and renovated the Shen family's ancestral hall.
The purchased land is also rented out, making a lot of money every year.
Everyone knew that their son-in-law was an official, so no one dared to mess with their family. They usually spoke politely to them. Many people even tried to curry favor with them and wanted to send their own children to Beijing to help Shen Yuntang and Cheng Yeran.
After Lu Wei and Tu Gen returned home, they told the Shen family the good news. Shen's father and mother were also very happy and couldn't wait to ask them to help write a letter to Shen Yuntang.
While they were happy, they still urged them to have children. Previously, Shen Yuntang said that Cheng Yeran was in good health and would be able to get pregnant after going to the capital. However, it has been more than two years and she still hasn't gotten pregnant. He was worried that Cheng Yeran was just being stubborn.
Tu Gen and Lu Wei also wrote to them, telling them about the latest business developments and accounts.
After deducting their wages and commissions from the money they earn each year, the store keeps a portion of it as working capital, and the rest is given to Cheng Yeran and Shen Yuntang.
Shen Yuntang said it was too troublesome and asked them to give it directly to their parents.
Cheng Yeran had no objection to this, after all, they earned more in the capital.
In addition to the letters they wrote, Shopkeeper Wang also wrote a letter to Cheng Yeran and sent some snacks.
Tugen also reminded him that the journey to the capital was long and the snacks would go bad if they couldn't get there.
Shopkeeper Wang said he was not afraid. He opened the box and said, "All I gave him was the box. Let him see our box. I wrote it clearly in the letter. He will understand."
Cheng Yeran received a letter from Shopkeeper Wang, who said that he saw that soaps and lipsticks all had packaging, and that their snacks were also from Cheng Yeran’s shop, so he also wanted to make a package. He sent the one he had someone design, and if it was not good, he could ask Cheng Yeran to make it again. It would be even better if he could help them advertise in magazines.
The dim sum shop's business has been very stable, and he has no chance to expand it further. Manager Wang feels that he can still try harder, and it would be even better if he could open a branch.
Cheng Yeran almost forgot that Manager Wang’s shop was also his. He bought Manager Wang’s shop before to consume soybean powder. Later, after the soap shop and sausage shop made money, he gradually forgot about the shop.
However, Shopkeeper Wang's words reminded him that the reason why Shopkeeper Wang's shop was able to insure the offerings for worshiping gods in the entire county was because he gave soy milk to beggars every morning.
After he came to Beijing, he also saw beggars and many disabled people begging in the city.
Of course, there are some bad people who deliberately make children disabled so that they can beg, but there are also many poor people who simply cannot afford to support disabled people. If they find out that their own children are disabled, they will abandon them.
He immediately wrote a letter to the shopkeeper Wang, asking him to expand the store and recruit some young beggars and disabled people to make snacks. These disabled people did not have to be beggars, but could also be from poor families, such as those with mobility impairments or the deaf and dumb, as long as their hands and feet could make and package snacks.
He also opened a dim sum shop with the same name in Beijing, and hired homeless children or disabled people from poor families to work there.
He also visited some families with disabled family members and some poor childless elderly people in the capital, and then wrote an article and put it in the newspaper.
It was about the issues of orphans, childless elderly people and the disabled. He mentioned whether the country should take the responsibility to feed these people and find jobs for the disabled. He also specifically praised his family's dim sum shop.
Of course, this dim sum shop did not openly claim to be its own.
When he handed it to the emperor, the emperor used to look down on him, but since he started the newspaper, he has a new respect for Cheng Yeran. He is really good at grasping the people's
nＡйＦ
Heart.
"You can just send someone to run the welfare home you mentioned and write the results in the newspaper," said the emperor.
"Why not raise the question in the newspaper first, then ask the public for their opinions, let the public vote, and finally act according to the results of the vote. In this way, the people will feel that the court attaches great importance to their ideas." Cheng Yeran suggested.
The emperor felt that he had underestimated Cheng Yeran before, "With you here, my throne will be more stable."
Cheng Yeran: "I am terrified. This is all because Your Majesty is a wise emperor. No matter how much I do, it is not even one ten-thousandth of what you do."
"Stop flattering me and do it." The emperor felt friendly whenever he looked at his face, and now that he saw his real ability, he liked him even more. When he appointed a crown prince in the future, he would place the crown prince next to Cheng Yeran and let him learn from him.
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