Chapter 513: Publication

"Is that so?" Zhao Xu took the newspaper from Mi Wen's hand and walked toward the study while reading it.

The newspaper Mi Wen provided was only a manuscript, with the paper size matching that of contemporary newspapers.

On this sheet of paper, Mi Wen had divided it into different sections.

Each section contained different content.

"Congratulations on the establishment of the Yan Prefecture Newspaper Office." Sitting down at the desk, Zhao Xu read aloud.

For this top section on the front page, Mi Wen had chosen a large headline.

Below it was an introduction to the newspaper office, such as what the newspaper office was, what a newspaper was, what its purpose was, as well as the price of the newspaper, and so on.

In short, it was publicity for the newspaper office itself.

Next, following the first section, was the headline for the second section—The Northern Di are massing troops at Ningjin Dusi; their heart to destroy our Yanzhou does not die.

It introduced how the Northern Di had mobilized troops after the peace talks, how they had repeatedly provoked at the border recently, and information regarding soldier casualties.

The writing was vigorous, and after reading the whole piece, a sense of anger toward the Northern Di could not help but rise in one's heart.

To the left of this section was another headline—Yanzhou's infrastructure is in full swing; the merit is in the present, the benefit is for a thousand autumns.

The article mainly introduced the infrastructure situation of the Government Office during this period, while calling on everyone in Yanzhou to actively participate and build Yanzhou together.

Reading on, Zhao Xu read articles about other parts of the Great Song in other sections.

For example, a Rich Clan in Qizhou oppressed the common people, causing civil unrest locally, which was suppressed by the local Government Office.

Or, for instance, a certain powerful official in Jingshi embezzled hundreds of thousands of taels of silver and kept over thirty concubines.

"Hahaha... Not bad. You not only grasped what I taught you, but it seems you have mastered it thoroughly. Hmm, this is how a newspaper should be run," Zhao Xu laughed.

Reading the newspaper as a whole, it was basically that the outside world was chaotic, while Yanzhou alone was doing well.

This in itself was a form of invisible public opinion propaganda.

People who finished reading the newspaper would subconsciously feel that Yanzhou was better after all,

stimulating their sense of identification with Yanzhou.

Of course, Mi Wen did not fabricate fake news; these events were already happening, they had just reached Yanzhou and were published in the newspaper.

"Thank you for the praise, Your Highness." Being complimented by Zhao Xu, Mi Wen could not help but feel a burst of excitement, and the exhaustion from editing the layout day and night vanished instantly.

Zhao Xu nodded, then felt that the newspaper was missing some content.

After thinking for a while, he suddenly realized, "Right, add another section to the newspaper, call it Current Affairs Satire and Admonition."

"Current Affairs Satire and Admonition?" Mi Wen was stunned for a moment.

"Besides propaganda, the newspaper also has a supervisory role. I cannot guarantee that Yanzhou has no problems at all. You can bring these problems up and publish them in the newspaper so that officials will have something to fear," Zhao Xu said.

He was Yan Wang, responsible for the general direction of the entire Yanzhou.

Therefore, he could not understand in time what might happen in a certain county or a certain township.

And local officials would also deliberately cover things up for the sake of their own official hats.

At this time, the role of the newspaper office would be reflected; the common people could report these matters to the newspaper office.

For some very egregious incidents, the newspaper office would publish them in the newspaper to make them public, forcing the Government Office to handle them.

And he would also be able to discover these matters while browsing the newspaper.

This was the role of public opinion supervision.

"I'm afraid this will offend quite a few officials," Mi Wen scratched his head.

Zhao Xu glared at him, "If you're afraid, then replace yourself with someone who isn't."

People are all interest-driven, and people at different levels have different interests.

Now that Mi Wen was an official, he naturally had the same interests as the other officials.

In the contemporary feudal dynasty, it was the Scholar-officials and the Emperor who governed the world; the common people had no say.

But if it continued like this, and Yanzhou kept walking the old path, he would have worked in vain and would gradually lose the hearts of the people.

"Your subordinate was just saying that. Your Highness, rest assured, I, Mi Wen, will never lose face for you," Mi Wen patted his chest.

Zhao Xu nodded, "That's more like it. However, I will keep an eye on you. If I find you unqualified, I will still replace you."

"Yes, Your Highness," Mi Wen shrank his neck.

Then, he added, "By the way, Your Highness, your subordinate feels that publishing one issue every day is too frequent, because many things may not have had time to be summarized to the newspaper office. Publishing one issue every three days would be appropriate."

Zhao Xu thought for a moment and agreed with Mi Wen's view.

Information transmission in this era was still very slow.

Being too frequent would likely result in a lack of material to use.

"Follow the three-day schedule for now, and we will decide based on the situation later," Zhao Xu said.

The two talked for a while longer, and Mi Wen left with the first edition of the newspaper.

Before leaving, Zhao Xu wrote a line of text on the layout, which counted as making a name for the newspaper office.

After all, having Yan Wang personally write the inscription was also a gimmick.

After leaving the Prince's Mansion, Mi Wen headed straight to the printing workshop to hand the newspaper over for reproduction.

The next day, five hundred copies of the newspaper were delivered to the newspaper office.

Mi Wen had long since prepared newspaper sellers.

Taking the newspapers, these sellers began to wander around Yancheng, hawking them everywhere.

"The first newspaper of Yanzhou, personally inscribed by Yan Wang, only five hundred copies, miss it and it's gone forever..."

The shouts of the newspaper sellers immediately attracted the attention of passersby.

A merchant passed by and called out to a seller, "What is a newspaper? Let me see."

"A newspaper, a newspaper, a paper that reports the affairs of the world, that is a newspaper. Here you go," the seller gave the newspaper to the merchant.

The merchant took it and was immediately captivated.

On it are the crises Yanzhou is facing, the policies issued by the Government Office as well as those about to be issued, and even news regarding commerce, such as whose Workshop is being transferred, who has built what kind of Workshop, and even whose breakfast stall is affordable and delicious.

Once he started reading, he became completely engrossed, standing in the middle of the road, suddenly disregarding the passersby coming and going, until the newspaper seller snatched the Newspaper back.

"Ten copper coins a copy," the newspaper seller said, reaching out.

"So cheap." Upon hearing this, the merchant promptly and neatly took out the copper coins, then squatted by the side of the road and began to read.

At the same time, other newspaper sellers also sold their Newspapers one after another.

The Newspaper itself is not expensive, and it provides quite a lot of information.

Those who know a good thing naturally would not let it pass.

For a time, many commoners discovered a strange phenomenon.

In the streets and alleys, there were always people holding a piece of paper and reading with great interest.

As the five hundred copies of the Newspaper were sold, the reputation of the Newspaper gradually spread through these five hundred people.

Just one hour later, many people came to the entrance of the newspaper office to ask if there were still any Newspapers left.

They were all relatives and friends of those who had purchased the Newspaper and could borrow it to read.

But borrowing to read is not as good as reading it slowly and leisurely oneself.

Furthermore, being able to borrow it this time is fine, but borrowing it again next time would seem unseemly.

When Mi Wen learned of this news, he was naturally overjoyed and had the printing Workshop print an additional one thousand copies.

The sea area south of Ancheng Port.

While the name of the newspaper office was gradually spreading, Zhou Yi led the fleet to the sea area near Ancheng Port.

They would wait here like someone waiting by a tree stump for a hare.