Chapter 73

Lv Fang hesitated: "Does popularizing the Great Zhou News in the nineteen states require a lot of silver?"

He Zixuan nodded forcefully, "The cost is huge. Think about it, the Great Zhou Dynasty has a total of three hundred and twenty-eight prefectures and one thousand five hundred and seventy-three counties. How far is it from the East Sea to the Western Regions, and from the southern frontier to the northern frontier?"

Lv Fang frowned upon hearing this. It seemed he had been too presumptuous before.

This world didn't have the internet, mobile phones, or computers of his previous life. It wasn't an easy thing for information to spread rapidly.

If there hadn't been the expansion of the northern and southern frontiers, perhaps the national treasury could have allocated funds to popularize the Great Zhou News.

At this critical juncture, it was indeed not suitable for reform.

"Are there no other ways?"

Lv Fang asked unwillingly.

He Zixuan shook his head:

"As far as I know, no. Sound-transmission talismans are only useful at a certain distance. If a person stood every certain distance, I wouldn't even dare to think about the number. Teleportation formations are even more impossible; the large amount of Five Elements Stones required for the layout is extremely expensive."

Lv Fang was silent.

After a moment, he said: "As for sound-transmission talismans, I think it's worth a try. It doesn't need to specifically find people to stay at specific locations; we can find Great Zhou News distributors to replace them."

"Distributors?"

He Zixuan looked confused.

Only then did Lv Fang remember that Great Zhou didn't have the term distributor, so he explained to He Zixuan what a distributor was.

"Oh, what you said is a bit like an official merchant." He Zixuan thought for a while and said: "This idea is indeed not bad, but if Great Zhou News is sold by merchants, the Ministry of Revenue will definitely not agree."

"Why would the Ministry of Revenue not agree? The popularization of the news can allow the people of Great Zhou to read elegant literature, understand national policies, and also increase local commercial taxes to enrich the national treasury."

Lv Fang said sternly.

He Zixuan nodded in agreement and said: "You are right, but Great Zhou News sells well in Shangjing City. The Ministry of Revenue has long proposed to use official sales to make money to enrich the national treasury. Although the progress of popularization is slower, making money doesn't need to be shared with others."

"In addition, you confronted the Minister of Revenue, Fan Sheng, in court. Don't say he has a legitimate reason; even if he didn't, he would still oppose it."

"Taking a step back, even if the Ministry of Revenue agreed, the expenses for the scholars writing the news in various places are also a large expenditure."

"Local merchants have to invest a large amount of silver, so naturally they have to consider the benefits. They don't necessarily favor the news. If it weren't for your wonderful elegant literature stories, the news wouldn't have been a hit in Shangjing."

"Just persuading these merchants is not an easy thing."

"In short, wanting to popularize Great Zhou News is harder to progress than you imagine."

He Zixuan sighed, sat on a chair, picked up a teacup and took a sip, saying: "I advise you not to think about it. By the way, for the Blood-Slaughter Curse on your body, the Emperor wants you to go to the Imperial Observatory tomorrow to wash it away."

"Understood."

Lv Fang responded and shook his head helplessly.

He Zixuan changed the subject: "The manuscript for Romance of the Three Kingdoms is almost used up. Can you still write the follow-up?"

Lv Fang nodded with a bitter smile. He had been truly too busy lately, and he had almost forgotten about Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

When he entered the Lower Upper Realm, it was serialized twice a day, and later it was once a day. Currently, it has been serialized to the sixty-seventh chapter, and the previous manuscript is indeed almost bottoming out.

If he could use ink-colored flowers to shape a human body for the book spirit Yan Chixia, could he let him write the manuscript instead? It feels like it could be studied.

He Zixuan said with an envious look:

"You don't know, because of the Dream of the Red Chamber and Romance of the Three Kingdoms you wrote, how well the Great Zhou News sells. When I came, I heard a group of children shouting loudly, 'I am Guan Yunchang who passed five gates and killed six generals, who dares to fight me?'"

"Yesterday I went to the song and dance workshop to drink two cups of wine, and everyone was discussing Romance of the Three Kingdoms."

"Some say Cao Cao and Liu Bei boiled wine to discuss heroes, some say Zhang Fei roared to scare away an army of five hundred thousand, Zhao Ziyun went in and out seven times to save the lord alone, Zhuge Liang debated the scholars, borrowed arrows with straw boats, burned the Red Cliff, Kongming teased Zhou Gongjin three times, since there is Yu, why is there Liang..."

"Just listening to it feels refreshing!"

"Lord Wenguan, this time you won't write them to death again, will you? In Dream of the Red Chamber, you wrote Lin Daiyu, Miao Yu, and Wang Xifeng to death, and quite a few people are dissatisfied with you."

After saying this, He Zixuan had an expression of "You aren't that stupid, are you?"

Lv Fang smiled, "Guan Yu will die, Zhang Fei will die, Liu Bei will also die, Zhuge Liang will also die. People are inevitably going to die."

He Zixuan blinked his eyes, unable to believe: "Lord Wenguan, you must be joking with me."

"I'm serious."

Lv Fang didn't care. Who told you to ask?

A dozen breaths later, He Zixuan's screams came from Lord Wenguan's mansion.

Shangjing Imperial Palace.

Imperial Observatory entrance.

After waiting for the time of a cup of tea, Lv Fang finally saw Supervisor Zhou Heng. This old man with white hair and beard revealed a kind smile on his face and welcomed him in.

At the end of the straight corridor was a Daoist arena with the River Map and Luo Book on the outside and the Eight Trigrams on the inside. In the eight directions of the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams, there was a dragon-patterned stone pillar in each.

In the center, a person was standing with his back to the stone pillar.

Zhou Heng bowed slightly: "Your Majesty, Lord Wenguan has been brought."

That person turned around. It was indeed the Zhou Emperor Ji Feng. Lv Fang hurriedly bowed and smiled bitterly in his heart, "Truly unfortunate, if I had known, I would have come later."

"No need for formalities."

The Zhou Emperor chuckled: "Lord Wenguan, do you know what these are?"

Lv Fang looked up upon hearing this, looking at the place the Zhou Emperor pointed to. It was indeed the eight stone pillars on the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams. Observing carefully, he discovered that only the dragon patterns on three pillars were golden, and the dragon patterns on the remaining pillars were transparent.

"This humble official dares not guess presumptuously."

Lv Fang replied cautiously. How would he know what these broken pillars were? If he said it wrong, it would be better not to say it.

The Zhou Emperor stood with his back to him, his voice somewhat solemn:

"These dragon-patterned destiny pillars are used by the Imperial Observatory to detect the national destiny of the Great Zhou Dynasty. Each of the eight pillars here is twenty feet long. Originally, the Great Zhou national destiny was only over fifty feet. It was because of you that it rose to sixty feet half a month ago."

Lv Fang had naturally heard that half a month ago, the Great Zhou national destiny rose by four feet, causing the Barbarian Evil area in the northern frontier to shrink back, leading to a great victory for the Zhenbei Army!

But this wasn't his credit alone. If it weren't for Pei Kuang, Master Lingxiao, and the others, he would have been at a loss by himself.

Thinking of this, Lv Fang said sternly: "This humble official dares not claim credit alone. All of this was caused by everyone working together."

"Hahaha..."

The Zhou Emperor laughed to the sky, "You don't need to be overly modest. Rewards must be given for merit. I will naturally reward based on merit, but you must be the first merit. It just so happens that I met you today. I heard you intend to popularize the Great Zhou News?"

Lv Fang said excitedly upon hearing this: "Your Majesty, if the news can be popularized in the nineteen states of Great Zhou, it will be beneficial to the people and the country without any harm."

The Zhou Emperor was silent for a moment, sighed and said: "The demon-barbarians in the northern and southern frontiers are eyeing us covetously and moving constantly. We must expand the army to deter them. The Minister of Revenue is also crying poor to me. There is truly no way to carry out the popularization of the news."

Lv Fang sighed long in his heart. Since the Emperor said it himself, it seems that popularizing the Great Zhou News in the short term is not very possible.

The Zhou Emperor continued: "It's not that there's no way, it's just that it will be full of obstacles. If you are willing to handle it, there is a forty percent chance."