On both sides of Zhengyang Avenue, countless people had been looking forward to it.

Because this was too new to them, the road was not paved with bricks or stones, but with truckloads of river sand and gray-black powdery substances.

The two were combined together, stirred with the addition of water, and then poured bucket after bucket onto Zhengyang Avenue which was paved with bamboo strips.

"What is this thing? Why are you using it to pave the road? We spent so much effort to compact and level the ground, and now you're pouring this mud on it. What are you thinking?"

"Could it be that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has been deceived by some villain? Isn't this just causing more trouble?"

"I don't know what all this mud is for, with so many foreign officials, it's just a joke to us."

"Shut up! Are you trying to kill us? You dare to say such things in broad daylight. Regardless of the avenue, just because you criticized His Royal Highness, your entire family should be executed. Move away! The police are coming."

Amid the people's doubts and questions, a large number of public security patrolmen began to come and drive them away, and put up wooden signs saying "No approach allowed"

The initial setting of cement takes several days, and complete hardening takes more than a month.

Therefore, the protection of Zhengyang Avenue is extremely important.

The dirt road a little over ten feet outside Zhengyang Avenue is a temporary walking path.

Hundreds of horse-drawn carriages pulled large amounts of cement, which was continuously stirred and poured into the mixture, then leveled with a ruler.

Including the reserved drainage holes, these have been planned and considered in advance. When leveling the ground, half a month's work is mainly spent on this.

Zhu Ying didn't care about the people's comments.

Some things will only be known to others after they are done. There is even no need to restrict people's speech, even if some of them are secretly and deliberately guiding them.

Once it takes shape, all doubts will naturally be dispelled.

Those who speak too much will not be let off by the Jinyiwei and the Public Security Bureau.

In Kunning Palace.

Zhu Ying was discussing matters concerning the court bulletin with Ye Yueqing.

After the completion of Zhengyang Avenue, the North-South Official Road project will be officially put on the agenda.

This agenda was just a procedure during Zhu Yuanzhang's court meeting. After all, although it was led by Zhu Ying's Qunying Chamber of Commerce, this matter was a national affair.

All the places, government offices, and villages involved in the north-south official road require great cooperation.

In order to have enough businessmen donate to it, the guidance of public opinion, including the spread of news, plays a vital role at this time.

"We have gathered a large number of craftsmen who are good at engraving, and we have already made more than 20 sets of movable type templates. However, the cost of ink is much higher than what we considered before."

"Taking into account the cost, three cents for a copy of the court report is already much more than that. To be specific, it will cost four cents."

Ye Yueqing reported in detail.

Whether it is wooden movable type or copper movable type, ink is indispensable.

Relatively speaking, copper movable type has higher requirements for ink.

Zhu Ying once thought that ink was a modern product. However, after learning more about it, he realized that as early as the Wei and Jin Dynasties, there was already the saying of adding oil to water, which is the origin of ink.

During the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the composition of ink was very similar to that of later inks.

Although it is still mainly water, a connective material must be added. This connective material is mostly made of tung oil, sesame oil, and fat oil, which is also the origin of the name of ink.

During the Song Dynasty, the technique of making ink using oil as a binder became increasingly mature and complete.

People gradually discovered that the ink made by adding oil to the water used in making ink is much better than the ink made by previous generations.

After the development during the Yuan and Mongolian periods, the water-based ink technology of the Ming Dynasty is now very sophisticated. However, if the font is too thin when printing with copper movable type, it is still easy to blur.

Just for this matter, Zhu Ying solved the problem with just one sentence.

It’s just a matter of whether the ink is mainly water or oil.

Once the ink making process is required to be mainly composed of oil and water, the printing problem is easily solved.

It sounds mysterious, as if ink was invented so easily. But in fact, there is only a thin layer of window paper between oil-based ink and water-based ink.

There is basically no difference in the production process.

The ink that Zhu Ying uses for copper movable type printing now is ink mixed with oil.

Oil became the main carrier of ink.

The best thing to use, of course, is animal fat, such as lard.

Lard is not cheap.

In the Ming Dynasty today, black pigs are the most common, and their fat content is much lower than that of white pigs.

In other words, black pigs have less fat, so the amount of oil refined will also be lower.

The Landrace pig was introduced later.

"There is no need to change the selling price of three cents." Zhu Ying said with finality.

Ye Yueqing frowned and said, "But Your Highness, if this is the case, the production of official newspapers can only be supplemented by other industries. If we expand more, the deficit will be greater."

The strategy of publishing court gazettes is not limited to the capital. According to the current plan, after it is established in the capital, if it is proven to be successful in the trial, it will be immediately opened in the thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty.

The intention is to spread the contents of the court bulletin as quickly as possible.

This is no small plate.

Even if you only earn half a penny, the daily income is extremely exaggerated.

If you lose a penny every day, the amount of loss is unimaginable.

You should know that the production, distribution and sale of official reports also require a lot of manpower.

In this process, if there is no profit, it is equivalent to losing everything.

To put it bluntly, if we spread it out to all thirteen provinces, the daily losses would easily start at 200,000 or 300,000 strings of treasure money.

In just one month, the Ming Dynasty would lose nearly half a year’s annual revenue.

After a year, the Qun Ying Chamber of Commerce will be completely brought down.

Of course, the publication of the court bulletin will not be published every day at present. Due to the limitations of information dissemination channels, it is temporarily scheduled to be published once every ten days.

Even so, it is a huge amount.

It was also based on this that Ye Yueqing questioned the decision of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince for the first time.

Zhu Ying's expression was calm, even a little indifferent.

He really wanted to tell Ye Yueqing that you know nothing about traffic.

After thinking for a while, Zhu Ying decided to explain a little. It was not a good thing to make people panic.

"After the official publication of the court gazette, half of the back side will be left blank. This blank space is reserved for the local court gazette."

"That is to say, the publication of the court bulletins of the thirteen provinces of the Ming Dynasty is different."

"This half of the blank space is used for local clans, or for commercial and store promotions. This is enough to make up for the huge losses caused by the publication."

"The current ink is the best ink among inks. After this, a separate ink factory will be established, with personnel reorganized. It will no longer be under the jurisdiction of the Dibao, and the market price of the ink can be 30% lower than that of the lampblack ink."

After Ye Yueqing heard this, she felt relieved, but she still looked a little hesitant.

Zhu Ying smiled and said, "What is there to worry about between you and me? I know what the harem means, and the old man has also asked me about it. I have no objection."

"If there is anything, just say it directly, don't be shy."

As soon as these words were spoken, two blushes appeared on Ye Yueqing's cheeks.

The matter of the Crown Prince's Consort had been put on the agenda after the New Year.

It is said that one should start a family and career to pacify the world. For the royal family, inheritance of offspring is more important as it concerns the destiny of the country.

Zhu Yuanzhang mentioned it many times, and he almost sent someone to escort Zhu Ying to get the big thing done.

Especially on the night of the Lantern Festival, Zhu Yuanzhang personally took Zhu Ying to the streets of the capital.

"Look, grandson, the Lantern Festival is very important for women. There are couples everywhere on the road. Those who are alone are particularly pitiful."

After walking less than ten steps, he continued, "As men of our Ming Dynasty, if nothing unexpected happens, we will arrange a marriage for you when you are sixteen years old. Even those who are seeking fame and fortune may seem lonely, but in fact they already have a beautiful wife waiting for them at home."

After walking another ten steps, I saw a grandfather holding his grandson and sighed, "I'm getting old, and I don't know if I can hold my great-grandson for a few more years."

The Lantern Festival made Zhu Ying smile bitterly.

Faced with the old man's urging for marriage, Zhu Ying had no way to avoid it and could only push it aside to Zhengyang Avenue and the matter of the court report.

This means that the wedding ceremony will be held on Zhengyang Avenue and will also be blessed by the people.

The publication of official gazettes can be spread throughout the country.

Thanks to these two things, the old man calmed down a little.

In fact, for Zhu Ying, this is the first time he has been a groom, whether in his previous life or in this life.

When faced with this matter, I was somewhat nervous and subconsciously avoided it.

But now that the time has come, I have to do it anyway.

After thinking it through, Zhu Ying became much more relaxed towards Ye Yueqing.

After a while, Ye Yueqing adjusted his mentality and said, "Your Highness, the court report is the mouthpiece of the country. Isn't it too easy to let the merchant family take it?"

Zhu Ying said: "They hide in the dark, and it is very difficult to find them."

"Every time the official reports of the thirteen provinces are issued, they will all be transmitted to the capital by the post station for backup."

"Instead of looking everywhere for them and not being able to find them, it is better to keep them under our noses. If there are any evil spirits that want to do something evil, they can find traces of them."

"Those who do business honestly should be allowed to make money."

After hearing what His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said, Ye Yueqing realized that she was too narrow-minded. It was obvious that His Royal Highness had to look further and longer.

Zhu Ying then asked casually, "Have you found a candidate for the editor-in-chief in the capital?"

Ye Yueqing nodded and said, "I have found one. Speaking of this person, Your Highness has met him once before."

Zhu Ying couldn't help but ask curiously, "Who is that person?"

Ye Yueqing replied, "It was the first applicant for the Overseas Talent Recruitment Hall a few years ago, a student from Shangshui County, Henan Province, Yuan Jiachi."

Zhu Ying still had a deep impression of Yuan Jiachi, so she asked, "Didn't he go with Uncle San? Why did he come to our place again?"

Ye Yueqing explained: "Prince Jin, he..."

Zhu Ying raised his hand to interrupt: "Call me Third Uncle."

Ye Yueqing paused for a moment, then said obediently, "Although Third Uncle robbed a lot of people from the Overseas Talent Recruitment Hall, he just kept them in the mansion after a few days and didn't take care of them much."

"There are still many unknowns about the current situation in Japan, and Uncle San has not put too many restrictions on them while keeping them in the mansion."

"According to His Highness' instructions, the editor-in-chief and editor of the court newspaper cannot be recruited from the Hanlin Academy, so this person also signed up for the open recruitment."

"After many inspections, this person passed all the tests and is very suitable for Your Highness to run the palace newspaper. The others are very different, so he was appointed as the editor-in-chief."

It was actually very difficult to recruit the editor-in-chief and editors for the official newspaper that Zhu Ying wanted.

Even among the old team in the Western Regions, there are only a few who are suitable, and even those who are capable have already been assigned to other important positions.

Therefore, we had no choice but to recruit people from the literary circle.

The reason why he avoided the Hanlin Academy was not because of his knowledge, but because of his way of thinking.

The ideas of the newspaper published by Zhu Ying were very different from the current mainstream trend. No matter how well one had learned the Four Books and Five Classics, he was not the talent Zhu Ying wanted.

He has a quick and intelligent mind, is knowledgeable in many fields, and knows a little about basically everything.

They also need to have experience of living in the lower classes to be the most suitable.

Yuan Jiachi came from a poor family and had to sell calligraphy and paintings for a living. He was deeply influenced by the mundane world and did not have the slightest bit of the noble pride of a scholar. He was like an outlier in the scholar circle.

After such screening, Yuan Jiachi became the only qualified candidate.

Zhu Ying nodded, not too surprised.

He said, "Find a time in the next two days and ask him to come to my place so I can talk to him in person."

Ye Yueqing wanted to say "obey your order", but under Zhu Ying's gaze, she finally said "yes" softly.

When it comes to love, Zhu Ying is a straight man.

Besides, with his current status as the Crown Prince of the Ming Dynasty, there is no need for him to fall in love.

As long as he likes any woman he sees, it only takes a few words to win her over.

Perhaps, without even saying anything, just take a few more glances and one of your subordinates will naturally be smart and quick-witted and will handle everything.

It is a national event for the Crown Prince to marry a wife or take a concubine.

After thinking for a while, Zhu Ying finally said, "You still need to check the current accounts of the Chamber of Commerce to see how much room is left for maneuver."

"At present, Lan Yu and his team should have almost arrived. They brought thousands of kilograms of corn seeds with them, which will be deployed in Shaanxi and other places during the spring plowing season."

"Corn may not seem as solid as sweet potatoes, but it is the best quality feed. It is the best choice for both horse and pig farming."

"It is of great importance to the Ming Dynasty."

"I want to open a feed mill to buy corn, grind it into powder, and make it into high-quality feed."

"Although there is no rush at the moment, we must start preparations."

Speaking of feed, Zhu Ying suddenly felt that perhaps it was time to start introducing Western white pigs.

Although the specific data about pigs is not clear, white pigs replaced the local black pigs in later generations, and most people have never even seen a black pig.

This effect is enough to illustrate the advantages of white pigs.

It doesn’t matter if you don’t understand the reason, it’s very simple to just copy it.

Just copy the homework.