"Sell newspapers, sell newspapers! The freshly released "Zhenguan Monthly" costs five cents a copy. The quantity is limited. If you want to buy it, hurry up!"
"Sell newspapers, sell newspapers! The freshly released "Zhenguan Monthly", the road to officialdom for ordinary people, only costs five cents a copy."
In the streets and alleys of Chang'an City, there are many young men of twelve or thirteen years old, holding a stack of newspapers and hawking along the street.
The slogan they shouted was told by Lin Xuan to Xu Jingzong. As for the name, Lin Xuan originally named it "Datang Monthly", but Li Shimin was not satisfied after reading it and changed it to "Zhenguan Monthly".
As for why it’s not a daily newspaper?
Don't be ridiculous, with the efficiency of this era, it is impossible to publish a newspaper every day.
Collecting news, writing it, and printing it out cannot be done in one day.
Lin Xuan thought about it carefully and chose once a month.
After you become proficient, you can change it to once every half month or once a week.
Chang'an is an international city, and its people are very capable of accepting new things.
A man in his thirties looked at the newspaper in the hands of the newspaper seller and asked: "Little boy, what is the use of your newspaper?"
"Uncle, this newspaper has published articles by great Confucians and some imperial decrees. It only costs five cents a copy. Would you like a copy, uncle?"
"I'm not interested in the article, but I want to understand the imperial decree. Can I just buy the part about the decree?"
"No, the newspaper is a whole sheet and cannot be sold individually."
"Okay, give me one!" The man hesitated, took out five cents and handed it over.
The newsboy accepted the money and handed a newspaper to the man.
There were many people watching the excitement around, and when they saw someone buying it, they all looked at it curiously.
The newspaper boy rolled his eyes and said loudly: "Uncles and uncles, the newspaper has a detailed introduction to the imperial examination. As long as you pass the examination, you can become an official. Don't you want to know more about it?"
Many people were tempted, and five cents was not much, so several people immediately chose to buy it.
"Hiss, such a big piece of paper, the words on it are still printed, and it only costs five cents. You can't make a mistake, right?"
The first one to buy the newspaper unfolded it and gave a kind reminder.
The ancients still had great respect for writing. In their opinion, with so many words in a newspaper and such a large piece of paper, it only cost five cents. In their opinion, it was too cheap.
"That's right, such a big piece of paper is worth almost five cents." Another person who got the newspaper said.
The paper used in newspapers is very large and uncut.
After all, with today’s technology, printed characters are still a bit large.
The newsboy bent down and said, "Thank you for your concern. This newspaper is run by the imperial court and has no intention of making money. Please feel free to buy it."
Newspapers were originally used to promote court policies so that officials could not fool the people.
If you want to make money, the price must be much higher, and ordinary people will simply not buy it.
"Give me a copy. My son is studying. For five cents, you can read the great Confucian's articles. It's really a good deal."
"Give me one too."
The newsboy said happily: "Don't be anxious, everyone, come one by one."
The more they sell, the more money they get. With so many people buying, of course he is happy.
Dongshi
A carriage drove by slowly, and when I heard someone shouting about selling newspapers outside, a female voice in the carriage said: "Stop!"
"Stop the car quickly!" the maid following the carriage shouted quickly.
After the carriage stopped, the maid asked at the window: "What are your orders, young lady?"
"Go buy a newspaper and come back." Cui Yuxiu said.
"Yes!" The maid hurriedly went to buy a newspaper.
Not long after, the maid came back with a newspaper and delivered it to the carriage.
Cui Yuxiu took the newspaper and read it with interest.
She didn't care about other things and directly found the article about the imperial examination.
The Sui Dynasty invented the imperial examination system in order to break the nine-level Zhongzheng system and the phenomenon of aristocratic families monopolizing official positions.
However, due to pressure from aristocratic families, the imperial examination was not the only way to select officials at that time.
In addition, most of the scholars were from aristocratic families, so the impact of the imperial examination on aristocratic families was not great.
It has been different since Li Shimin decreed that official selection must pass the imperial examination.
When Cui Yuxiu heard the newsboy shouting, she was curious and asked someone to buy a copy.
"Haha, it turns out it was just to flatter Li Shimin." Cui Yuxiu curled her lips.
The cost of woodblock printing is very high. Newspapers are not books and can be reused.
It's not worth spending so much money just to flatter Li Shimin.
wrong!
When Cui Yuxiu saw the September edition of the sixth year of Zhenguan written on it, she frowned.
September edition, is there also an October edition?
Does this mean there will be new content every month?
Even if Li Shimin likes to listen to flattery, how can the ministers in the court not stop him from doing this that wastes people and money?
unless…
Cui Yuxiu suddenly had a bad premonition.
"Go back!" Cui Yuxiu ordered.
The maid was stunned. Didn't she say she was going to visit the Cheng family?
However, she didn't dare to ask any more questions and quickly asked the driver to turn around.
When she got home and asked about Cui Hao's location, Cui Yuxiu broke into Cui Hao's study without letting anyone know.
When Cui Hao saw Cui Yuxiu, he barged in directly without saying hello. Although he was a little unhappy, he did not show it.
"Yuxiu, weren't you going to visit your aunt? Why did you come back so soon?" Cui Hao asked with a smile.
Cui Yuxiu handed the newspaper over and said, "Uncle, take a look at this."
Seeing Cui Yuxiu's solemn expression, Cui Hao didn't say much and took the newspaper and read it.
"Li Shimin's character of being overjoyed at success cannot be changed. But regarding the imperial examination, the family already has a way to deal with it, so don't worry." Cui Hao said nonchalantly after reading it.
Cui Yuxiu shook his head and said, "Uncle Clan, look here."
Cui Hao looked at where Cui Yuxiu was pointing and saw no problem, so he asked doubtfully: "What's wrong?"
"This is the September edition, does it mean there will be an October edition?" Cui Yuxiu said.
Cui Hao was stunned for a moment, then laughed and said: "Li Shimin really spent a lot of money. If he publishes this newspaper every month, it will cost a lot."
Cui Yuxiu didn't smile at all and said, "What if they didn't use engraving printing?"
"Isn't it engraving printing? Impossible, this word is printed at first glance." Cui Hao shook his head and said.
Cui Yuxiu said: "I didn't say it wasn't printed. What I meant was, did they have a new printing method? Or improved engraving printing. Otherwise, if Li Shimin wasted people and money, and others didn't say it, how could Wei Zheng not object?"
Cui Hao shook his head and said: "Impossible, how long ago was engraving and printing invented? Even if there is an improvement, the difference is not big. Wei Zheng has no objection. This money should come from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and he can't control it."
To put it bluntly, the money of the Ministry of Internal Affairs belongs to the emperor himself, and his ministers have no control over how to use it.
"Then why did Lin Xuan sign that agreement with us?" Cui Yuxiu expressed the biggest worry in her heart.
Lin Xuan had to sign an agreement before and let the Cui family help sell books.
No matter how she looked at this agreement, the Cui family took advantage of it, and she didn't believe that Lin Xuan would be so kind.
I couldn't figure out the problem before.
When she saw the newspaper, she had a bad feeling in her heart.
On the way back, she had an idea. What if Lin Xuan had a way to print books faster and cheaper?