In order to recapture Shazhou, Cao Changchun almost frantically marched all 50,000 troops. When marching into Dunhuang County, the logistics supplies were ambushed by the Xizhou army. Cao Changchun led 50,000 troops to retreat south in panic, but fell into an encirclement.
The surrender of left-wing general Kemer seriously affected Cao Changchun's military morale. The remaining troops were defeated shortly after the enemy launched their attack. Cao Changchun died of his injuries at Jiayuguan.
The Xizhou Army marched south in large numbers, and herdsmen surrendered along the way. Tens of thousands of troops came to Zhangye City. Cao Changchun's brother Cao Wanlong surrendered to the city. The crown prince Cao An fled south through the city under the protection of three hundred guards, but encountered a snowstorm on the road. Finally, he appeared
The scene in Lanzhou City.
The news reached Jingzhao three days later, but at the same time there was also the unfortunate news that when Cao An could not be rescued, he finally suffered from heart and lung failure and died in Lanzhou.
Chen Qing was particularly sad when he received the news. He knew that Cao Changchun was a very proud man. Although Cao Changchun refused his rescue, it did not mean that he did not need his own assistance. He arranged for his son to flee to Lanzhou in a critical moment. In fact,
It was his trust in himself, but it was a pity that his son was caught in a snowstorm and could not be saved.
This made Chen Qing both regretful and self-blame. At the same time, he was also very worried about the safety of Liangzhou City. There has been no news from Liangzhou City until now. Since Cao An did not flee to Liangzhou, it is very likely that Liangzhou also fell.
Now it's not just Liangzhou. If the Xizhou Army captures Dadou Bago and passes through Dadou Bago to attack the traditional sphere of influence of the Yellow-headed Uighurs, then its own salt fields will also be seriously threatened, as well as the Hehuang Valley.
, 30% of his military rations come from the Hehuang Valley,
In the official room, Chen Qing paced back and forth anxiously. He had never cared about the safety of the Hexi Corridor. Now he suddenly discovered that the safety of the Hexi Corridor actually affected his whole body.
He originally planned to attack Datong Prefecture next year, but now the Hexi Corridor is unsafe, which has affected his plans for next year.
At this time, Chao Qing said at the door: "Prince, today's "Beijing News" has come out."
Chen Qing nodded, "Bring it in!"
Yang Tianfang and his party arrived in Jingzhao twenty days ago. Chen Qing immediately resettled them and gave them generous treatment. At the same time, he established a newspaper office and recruited twelve writers in the Guanzhong area with a high salary of twenty thousand dollars per month.
A scribe with sharp articles was the main writer, and dozens of reporters were recruited to find out the news.
Chen Qing took the "Beijing News" and opened it. The current "Beijing News" is exactly the same as the "Beijing News" published in Bianliang during the Xuanhe period. It is the size of two A3 papers and is currently divided into six pages, including current affairs, literature, clothing and makeup, and anecdotes.
events, local news, various advertisements.
The first day of publication was an unprecedented success, with 11,000 copies sold. Now the daily circulation is stable at around 30,000 copies, covering the entire Guanzhong and Shaanxi. Even the "Beijing News" appeared on Hedong Road and Sichuan Road.
It was only about three days apart, but this was already the limit.
But compared to the time when Bianliang's "Beijing News" was sent to Taiyuan ten days later, this is a huge improvement.
This was Chen Qing's idea. He asked the "Beijing News" to be printed at the first update of the day before, and then put it on sale at noon the next day. In this way, he gained seven or eight hours, and then used a fast horse relay to put "Beijing News" on sale in Taiyuan City.
The time of Beijing News is only three days later than that of Jingzhao City.
Chen Qing read the newspaper. The headlines on the front page were that the Yellow-headed Uighurs were defeated and the country was destroyed, and that the chief Cao Changchun died. However, Cao An's incident was not mentioned. He was only worried about the safety of Liangzhou and Hehuang.
Chen Qing hurriedly browsed for a few times, then turned to the third page at the back. This is the literature column. Chen Qing prefers the column of Yi An's poetry reviews, which is Li Qingzhao's poetry reviews. Today's review is Yue Fei's "Man Jiang Hong". This poem
It was written five years ago and has caused great repercussions in Lin'an and other places in the south.
There is also a column for novel serialization. The serialization is the novel "Journey to the West". Today's content is the first part of Wukong's treasure acquisition in the Dragon Palace. Of course, the text is very different from what Wu Cheng'en wrote, but the content is the same. The author is Qingyuan Pavilion
Master, others don’t know who the owner of Qingyuan Pavilion is, but Chen Qing knows very well that it is his wife Zhao Qiaoyun, and the small building where Zhao Qiaoyun lives is called Qingyuan Pavilion.
The synopsis of the story was dictated by Chen Qing, and then written by Zhao Qiaoyun. No one expected that this serialized novel would become a selling point of the Beijing News, and almost all readers are waiting for the update every day.
Looking at the falling snowflakes outside the window, Chen Qing suppressed the urge to send troops to the Hexi Corridor. The Hexi Corridor issue can only be considered in the spring. Now he still has to concentrate on increasing the influence of the "Beijing News".
Chen Qing grabbed the leather jacket on the chair and ordered: "Get the car ready and go to West Street!"
The "Beijing News" newspaper office is located on West Street, covering an area of about ten acres. This land was bought by Chen Qing. In fact, it was Chen Qing's personal investment in the "Beijing News". He invested 10,000 yuan successively to make the "Beijing News"
"Jingzhao" operates and develops at an extraordinary speed.
The ten thousand guan was mainly used to buy land and houses. The other big part was to buy the batch of movable type and engraving plates. The fine engraving alone cost more than 3,000 yuan and the movable type tens of thousands. Yang Tianfang only offered 3,000 guan to sell to Chen.
Qing, this price is extremely cheap.
A very important reason is that the ownership of these movable type and engraving plates is not Yang Tianfang's, but the property of the Xiang family. It originally belonged to Yang Tianfang's father, but the Xiang family has spent 15,000 yuan to buy it.
After all of them were kidnapped by the Jurchens, these movable types and engravings were owned by Yang Tianfang.
This time Chen Qing rescued them and came to Jingzhao. Yang Tianfang was too embarrassed to open his mouth, so he sold them to Chen Qing at a low price of 3,000 guan.
With Chen Qing's financial investment and the government's support, in just over 20 days, the "Beijing News" grew to a circulation of 30,000 copies, with each copy costing ten cents, and 30,000 copies per day, which was exactly the threshold for capital preservation.
But for Chen Qing, it doesn't matter whether the newspaper makes money or not. What matters is mastering the weapon of public opinion.
The carriage slowly stopped in front of the newspaper office, and Chen Qing walked out of the carriage, guarded by dozens of cavalry on both sides holding large shields.
The chief manager Yang Tianfang and the editor-in-chief Liu Zheng came out. Yang Tianfang was responsible for the operation of the entire newspaper, but he was not good at the content. Coincidentally, the original editor-in-chief Liu Zheng of the Beijing News opened a school in Jingzhao to make a living.
When Yang Tianfang found him, he agreed without hesitation.
"See the prince!" They both bowed and saluted.
"Thank you both for your hard work!"
Chen Qing followed them into the mansion. This is a three-story house converted into a newspaper office. The servants' room in the front has become a place for distributing newspapers. The atrium is a copywriting room, which is equivalent to the editorial department. The two large courtyards on the left and right are typesetting rooms.
, correction room and printing workshop, and the back house became an engraving room and warehouse.
Chen Qing sat down in the guest room in the front yard. A tea boy served him tea. He smiled and asked, "Are there any difficulties now?"
Yang Tianfang smiled bitterly and said: "The biggest problem now is the lack of manpower and lack of movable type, which leads to the inability to increase the number of printings."
"Why?"
"The reason is actually very simple. We print more than one movable type plate every day. Otherwise, how can we print 30,000 copies of newspapers with one movable type plate? The only way is to make ten movable type plates, and ten people print at the same time. Each person prints 3,000 copies.
, this plan is actually very tight. It is best if one hundred people print at the same time, each printing three hundred copies, so it can be completed in one hour. This requires one hundred movable type masters, and then a large number of movable type and a large number of movable type are needed.
Typesetter, engraver."
Speaking of this, Yang Tianfang sighed again: "But there are too many people, we can't afford it."
Chen Qing smiled slightly and said: "There is a way to solve it! If you don't have enough movable type, go to Bashu or Jiangnan to buy it. You will definitely be able to buy it. As for the printing manpower, I don't know how you print. Take me to see it!"
