Chapter 74: The Bizarre State of the Great Ming Newspaper Industry

When Zhu Youjian led Zhou Yu to the imperial desk, Gao Shiming had already finished explaining the matter and had silently returned to the hall, standing in attendance to one side.

On the broad imperial desk, a small mountain of Capital Gazettes was piled high.

Zhu Youjian picked up a few at random and began skimming through them rapidly.

The more he read, the more astonished he became.

The Great Ming's "newspaper industry" was truly a bit... overdeveloped.

In terms of form, it was mainly divided into two types: the "Capital Gazette" and the "tabloid."

The Capital Gazette, as the name implied, was the officially issued newspaper; its content fell mainly into four categories.

The first was the "Palace Gate Digest," roughly equivalent to official announcements, mostly covering the movements of officials being promoted, transferred, or dismissed. For example, the Capital Gazette of the twenty-fourth day of the eighth month clearly recorded his ascension to the throne and the change of the reign era.

The second was "Imperial Edicts," mainly the Emperor's various decrees — bestowals, commendations, reprimands, and the like. The matter of him granting an imperial plaque to Li Guopu a few days ago was, astonishingly, also prominently listed.

The third was "Memorials and Reports." This part of the content made Zhu Youjian somewhat alarmed. What was published there were actually the routine memorials and personal memorials submitted by the court ministers, and... for the most part, they were printed verbatim, without a single character altered, without a single character omitted!

He even saw, in one of the Capital Gazettes, Mao Wenlong's routine memorial on the "Five Grievances"!

Zhu Youjian's pupils suddenly contracted.

He had kept that routine memorial held at court without issuing it — could it actually appear in the Capital Gazette as well?!

Damn... he had still been thinking of sending spies into the Later Jin.

The Later Jin had it easy — they could just send someone to Beijing to buy a few newspapers and learn everything.

What a dogshit system of secrecy!

The final category was "Strange Tales and Anecdotes," such as a cow in some place giving birth to a two-headed calf, or a divine white horse being discovered somewhere else — trivial matters of no real consequence.

After roughly flipping through several issues, Zhu Youjian set down the Capital Gazettes in his hands, raised his head to look at Gao Shiming, and his voice had already turned somewhat cold.

"These Capital Gazettes carry almost everything, including no small number of critical military and state affairs. Even personal memorials that We have held at court can be leaked out. Is there truly no one overseeing this?"

Gao Shiming bowed his body and said in a low voice, "In reply to Your Majesty, this matter... there actually have been those who tried to oversee it. During the Wanli years, officials of the remonstrance circuits submitted memorials on this matter. The Wanli Emperor did ban it for a period, but it met with fierce opposition from the civil officials throughout the court, and in the end, the matter was simply dropped."

He paused, as if searching his memory.

"At that time, there was a Supervising Secretary... I can no longer recall his name, but he said one thing that this subject still remembers to this day."

"'To ban the copying and reporting of the remonstrance digests, to forbid their transmission, is to deafen a generation and plunge ten thousand years into eternal night.'"

Gao Shiming's voice dropped even lower: "Your Majesty, at the time, that very sentence was published, word for word and unaltered, in the next day's Capital Gazette. For a time, public opinion in both capitals boiled over, and from then on, the matter of banning the newspapers was simply dropped."

Zhu Youjian fell silent.

So they had tried to reform it, and failed to reform it.

His estimate of what he was about to do grew even clearer, and he simply went through the remaining Capital Gazettes one by one, reading them carefully.

Zhou Yu at his side, however, had no interest whatsoever in these dry Capital Gazettes; she picked up the slightly shorter stack of tabloids beside them.

For a while, she read with rapt enjoyment, occasionally letting out a small gasp or two. Finishing one, she could not wait to exchange it for another.

Zhu Youjian read on seriously for a while longer, but the doubts in his mind only grew heavier. Unable to restrain himself, he raised his head again and asked, "Gao Shiming, why is it that for the same day, the content of these different Capital Gazettes all varies from one to the next?"

Gao Shiming cupped his hands and said, "In reply to Your Majesty, there are also multiple kinds of Capital Gazette. There are those run by the government, and those run by private citizens."

From the pile of papers, he carefully drew one out and handed it over: "Your Majesty, please look — this one is the official gazette issued by the Office of Transmission."

Zhu Youjian took it and looked. This Capital Gazette was printed on thick, sturdy paper, with clear handwriting, and its content was the most detailed, containing every kind of official document and report in full.

Gao Shiming drew out several thinner ones: "And these, these were copied by private gazette offices."

"They usually obtain the draft manuscripts from the Office of Transmission in the morning, then hire people to copy them. Afterward, the majority are sent out to various places, and only a small portion is sold on the streets."

"Among them, there are subscriptions by officials in the capital, and also subscriptions by officials in the various provinces. Each gazette office, according to the preferences of its own clients, makes selections from the Office of Transmission's content. Therefore, the content of each Capital Gazette differs."

Only then did Zhu Youjian suddenly understand.

So the newspapers of the Great Ming actually operated on a customized service model.

But he had another doubt:

"Why copy by hand? Would woodblock printing not be much faster?"

"In reply to Your Majesty, the official gazette of the Office of Transmission has a uniform format and a later distribution time, so it uses woodblocks."

"As for the private gazette offices, their circulation is small, and they must race against time. Hiring those down-and-out xiucai in the capital to copy by hand is, on the contrary, faster than carving woodblocks, and the cost is also lower."

"What about movable-type printing?" Zhu Youjian pressed.

Gao Shiming smiled: "Your Majesty, movable type applies ink unevenly; the printed product is blurred and unclear. The official gentlemen who subscribe to the Capital Gazettes look down upon it."

He paused, then added: "However, some of the 'tabloids' specifically meant for the amusement of the common folk in the markets do mostly use movable type."

As he spoke, he took several newspapers from that stack of tabloids and presented them to Zhu Youjian.

Zhu Youjian took them and looked. Sure enough, the paper of these tabloids was like coarse straw paper, wretchedly inferior, and the print on them was of varying shades, many places already blurred.

And as for the content, it was even more varied and motley, having thoroughly taken the path of marketization.

He saw things like "Tonghui River Water Ghost Claims Lives at Midnight," and "Fox Demon Haunts the Western Hills, Scholar's Soul Perishes in the Desolate Wilds." He even saw, in one newspaper called the "Celestial Upheaval Gazette Copy," a detailed description of the great Wanggong Factory explosion, going to the utmost lengths to play up its strangeness and horror.

This stuff rather reminded him of the five-yuan-a-copy "Story Club" and "Mystery World" he used to buy at street stalls in his previous life as a child.

He could only be thankful that, for the time being, no "Yilin" blowing the West or the Jurchen out of proportion had appeared.

He casually handed the newspaper about the fox demon eating people back to Zhou Yu, who was reading with great relish, and sank into his own thoughts.

This chess game had a myriad of tangled threads — where exactly should he place his first stone?

The matter of the Capital Gazette leaking secrets could be set aside for the moment.

It had been leaking like a sieve for so many years anyway; whatever the Later Jin and the Mongols should know or should not know, they had probably long since learned.

What was most urgent for him right now was to make his own voice heard upon this great web of public opinion that had already been spread wide!

Only in this way could he gain greater profit on the battlefield he had predetermined.

Otherwise, even if he could rely on thunderous measures to win every battle in the court, he would most likely lose his own reputation.

He had no desire to become like the Tianqi Emperor, relying on violence and secret police to forcibly press the entire country forward.

That sort of approach could indeed accomplish things, but the internal friction, corruption, and the spontaneous, passive resistance of the civil official bloc that it incurred in the process were equally devastating to the nation.

Just look at how the the the Taicang treasury treasury treasury's annual revenue fell from over seven million taels in the first year of Wanli to less than three million three hundred thousand taels today — that tells you everything.

Civil officials may bow their heads before the blade, but they have countless ways of "nonviolent noncooperation" to voice their discontent, to hollow out your imperial edicts.

Zhu Youjian was silent for a moment, then raised his head and asked, "Gao Shiming, are there any well-known novelists here in the capital or its environs?"

Gao Shiming's face showed a trace of embarrassment at these words. "Replying to Your Majesty, this subject… this subject usually reads Daoist scriptures. As for the path of fiction, I am truly…"

"This consort knows! This consort knows!"

Zhou Yu, at his side, had at last finished reading the last tabloid in her hand. She looked up, her eyes bright, like a child seeking praise, and counted off on her fingers:

"The Master of the Ink-Fool Studio writes the best books!"

"In his 'Stories to Enlighten the World,' that tale of Jiang Xingge recovering the pearl-sewn shirt — this consort has read it many times!"

"And Du Shiniang from 'Stories to Caution the World' — she is truly remarkable."

"I hear he has recently written another, 'Stories to Awaken the World,' but it's not yet for sale in the capital. My father has already sent someone south to buy it."

"And… and the Master of the Instant-Emptiness Hermitage's 'Slapping the Table in Amazement, First Collection' is also wonderful! That story of the merchant who married a ghost wife — it frightened this consort so badly she couldn't sleep well for days."

She racked her brains, her brow tightly furrowed, struggling to recall, and finally thought of one more.

"Oh yes! And Master Lu Renlong's 'Model Words to Admonish the Age,' about that villain who extorted a confession under torture and caused the death of a loyal servant — that is also excellently written!"

Zhu Youjian watched Zhou Yu, who was rattling on as if cataloguing her own treasures, and found it quite amusing. "How do you know so many?"

Only then did Zhou Yu realize she had been somewhat carried away. She lowered her head in embarrassment, her voice as faint as a mosquito's hum. "In my maiden days, with idle time on my hands… I just… just…"

Zhu Youjian laughed heartily and did not tease her further, instead asking, "These gentlemen you have mentioned — where are they now?"

Zhou Yu thought for a moment and said, "They should… should all be from the Southern Metropolitan Region. Their books are always printed in the south first. Here in the capital, one often has to wait a long time before they can be bought."

The smile on Zhu Youjian's face slowly faded.

The Southern Metropolitan Region…

Again, the Southern Metropolitan Region.

It was just like Xu Guangqi — distant water cannot quench a nearby thirst.

Send down an edict, wait for the man to travel leisurely up from there, and two months are gone.

The mouthpiece of public opinion must be seized into his own hands, and quickly.

Better early than late. Before the true storm arrives, he must turn this pen into his own blade!

"Then… in the Northern Metropolitan Region, is there really no well-known novelist?" he asked, unwilling to give up.

Zhou Yu hesitated, then slowly shook her head. "It seems… it seems there truly is none?"

Zhu Youjian sighed.

The majestic capital of the Great Ming, at the very feet of the Son of Heaven — how could it be such a cultural desert?

He picked up the crudely printed tabloids from the imperial desk and thrust the whole pile into Gao Shiming's hands.

"Go. Give these to Wang Tiqian."

"Have him send men to track down every last one of the writers behind these tabloids."

"Once they are all found, arrange a time for them to enter the palace together and come see me."

"This subject… obeys the edict."

Zhu Youjian rose, stretched, and walked unhurriedly to the hall's entrance.

He gazed at the sky full of stars and could not help murmuring to himself, "A season of troubles…"

(Chapter 75: A Man's Heart Is Iron Unto Death — seeking first subscriptions~)