Lin Xuan pondered for a while and said: "Use a larger piece of paper and divide it into several sections. In addition to some government decrees from the court, you can also record some cases heard by the government. But these are all for the common people to see.
, it’s best not to be pretentious, the simpler, the better.”
Even those in ancient times gave him a headache just looking at them, let alone ordinary people.
Xu Jingzong said hesitantly: "Is there anything wrong with this?"
"Isn't it right? What's wrong?" Lin Xuan asked.
Is there something I haven't considered?
Xu Jingzong said: "The newspaper is run by the imperial court. If the words are simple, I am afraid it will be criticized by the famous scholars..."
Although Xu Jingzong did not continue speaking, Lin Xuan already understood what he meant.
It's just a simple wording, which will be ridiculed by the famous scholars.
"It's okay, these things are not meant for them to read. You can just publish some articles by great scholars on them." Lin Xuan said.
Xu Jingzong nodded. Anyway, Li Shimin asked him to come over and ask Lin Xuan how to get the newspaper. Since Lin Xuan said so, he just did it.
Lin Xuan said: "In addition to these, you can also collect some recent major events. Isn't it the imperial examination tomorrow? After the imperial examination is over, select some poor children who passed the examination and publish the touching stories of their hard study."
"Yes, I understand!" Xu Jingzong said.
He is a human being, and it is not a secret that Li Shimin suppresses the aristocratic family. Of course he knows.
Publishing the struggles of children from poor families is nothing more than encouraging people to let their children study.
Although if he does this, he will definitely be hated by the family, but as long as he can get Li Shimin's attention, that doesn't matter at all.
Lin Xuan nodded, with a childish expression on his face, and asked, "Do you know what the most important thing about a newspaper is?"
Xu Jingzong was stunned and said: "It should be the content, right? As long as the content is attractive, people will naturally be willing to buy and read it."
Lin Xuan shook his head and said: "There are so many contents in the newspaper, how do others know whether it is attractive or not? Therefore, you need to write an attractive title so that when people hear the title, they will have the desire to know the whole story."
Xu Jingzong's eyes lit up and he said with admiration: "After listening to Mr. Hou's words, I am somewhat sure about making a good newspaper."
"As long as you understand, remember to add punctuation marks to the content in the newspaper. If you don't understand anything else in the future, you can ask me again," Lin Xuan said.
Xu Jingzong smiled and said: "Thank you so much, Mr. Hou. I will definitely come to you for advice in the future. Mr. Hou, please don't get bored!"
Lin Xuan picked up the tea cup and said with a smile: "It doesn't matter!"
Xu Jingzong understood, stood up and said: "Master Hou, I won't disturb you anymore. I'll take my leave now!"
"I'll give it to Master Xu!" Lin Xuan said with a smile.
…
The next day is the day of the national unified scientific examination.
Li Shimin announced his retirement and led a group of ministers to the examination room in Chang'an County.
The examination room of Chang'an County Government was renovated from a house next to the county government, and there was an inn opposite.
The inn had already been booked, and Li Shimin and his ministers were on the second floor looking at the examination room opposite.
There was a huge crowd in front of the examination room. In addition to the candidates taking the exam, there were also parents sending them off to take the exam. The whole street was packed to the brim.
Many wealthy families arrived in carriages, making it even more chaotic.
Li Shimin frowned when he saw such chaos.
Seeing Li Shimin's unhappy expression, Doulu Kuan said quickly: "Your Majesty, I didn't think carefully and that's why I was in such a mess. Please forgive me!"
Li Shimin waved his hand and said: "It doesn't matter. For the first scientific examination, there will inevitably be things that cannot be considered. In future scientific examinations, the entire street will be under martial law. No one else is allowed to enter except the examinees."
Imperial examinations before the Tang Dynasty were not taken seriously.
This was the first time I had seen this kind of scene, and Li Shimin had no intention of blaming him.
"Yes!" Doulu Kuan breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Li Shimin didn't blame him.
"Your Majesty, there are so many people participating in the scientific research in Chang'an County alone. The whole world combined, it is simply countless. From now on, the Tang Dynasty will never be unavailable!" Cheng Yaojin said with a smile.
Li Shimin shook his head and said: "Chang'an is the capital of the country, so there are so many candidates. There are not so many people in other places."
As the capital of the Tang Dynasty, Chang'an's people's conditions were much better than those in other places, which is why there were so many scholars.
And despite the fact that so many people come to take the scientific examination, most of them can only count on literacy.
Most of them heard that they could become officials if they passed the exam, so they just came and tried.
It is impossible for them to produce any good articles.
Regarding these, Li Shimin felt the same as Ming Jing.
But now it's just the county exam, and those who pass the exam will probably work harder.
By the time the test comes, a number of useful talents will surely emerge.
Fang Xuanling nodded and agreed: "Your Majesty is saying that in places like the northern border areas, there are very few people who can read, let alone the imperial examination."
As the prime minister, Fang Xuanling knows these situations much better than others.
Li Shimin smiled and said: "Xiang Fang is right, but I believe that in the next ten years, the number of scholars in the world will definitely increase greatly."
His confidence stems from movable type printing, but he has no intention of saying it now.
"Today is the county examination in Chang'an County. All candidates taking the examination will be queued up and searched before entering. No other people are allowed to approach!" shouted the officer guarding the entrance to the examination room.
The candidates at the entrance of the examination room quickly said goodbye to their families and lined up.
"The first ten people go in!" the officer shouted loudly.
Shiri, who was in front of the queue, followed the yamen servant and walked in.
The Yamen servant led them into the courtyard and shouted: "Take off your clothes!"
"What!"
"Isn't this humiliating?"
"That's right, we are all scholars, how can we allow you to be so humiliated!"
After hearing what the yamen officer said, some candidates were angry, furious, some had their eyes dodged, and there were all kinds of expressions.
The yamen servant smiled disdainfully and said coldly: "Anyone who is unwilling will be deemed as giving up taking the scientific examination!"
"It's so humiliating, so it's okay not to participate!" A man in his thirties said with an upright face, then turned and left.
After the man left, three more people followed him.
The officer looked at the remaining six people and said: "Since you are staying, take off your clothes quickly. There are many people behind you, so don't waste time!"
"Why did you come out?"
"That's right, isn't it a scientific examination? Where are the others?"
Seeing the four people coming out so quickly, the people lining up at the door couldn't help but ask.
The first man to come out said angrily: "You even have to take off your clothes for a body search. It's a complete humiliation for us. It doesn't matter if you don't participate in the imperial examination!"
"It's just, it's so humiliating."
The other three people all agreed.
"Why do you have to take off your clothes like this?"
"Yes, no wonder they are unwilling. Scholars can be killed but not humiliated."
"It's too much to bully others, so I won't participate anymore."
For a moment, the people in the queue were talking about it.
"Your Majesty, this move is indeed inappropriate." Wei Zheng couldn't help but said when he saw this scene.
He had objected before knowing that he had to take off his clothes during a body search.
But Li Shimin insisted that there was nothing he could do. Now that he saw so many people, he couldn't accept it and raised his voice to oppose it again.
Li Shimin said: "Lin Xuan, you brought this up. Please explain it to him."
"Yes!" Lin Xuan bowed his hands and said, "Zheng Guogong, this is to prevent cheating. If someone writes something under clothes without taking off their clothes, how will you know?"
Wei Zheng said: "What you said is indeed possible, but this move is too humiliating to the candidates. Many people cannot accept it. What if we lose talents as a result?"