Xiao Ping said: "King, about this matter, the minister implores me to discuss it in the study after the dispersal of the dynasty, and the minister has something important to play!" ”

Looking at Xiao Ping's serious appearance, there must be something that should not be said in public, and he wants to discuss it in private, Zhao Xie nodded and agreed.

After the uncle left and returned to his seat, Xiao Ping said: "King, recently, there have been rumors that are unfavorable to the king. Some people criticize the policies of the imperial court, and some people talk about the character of the king, although these situations have been in the past, but there are more recently. The ministers will do their best to thoroughly investigate the identities of these people. ”

Li Zuoche came out and said: "All schools of thought in the world have different political views and thoughts, and it is common to discuss them in private. Even if he is caught, as long as he does not maliciously attack the king, he cannot be punished. ”

During the period of the Hundred Schools of Thought, everyone had the freedom to express different political opinions, and they could still openly express different political opinions on the policies of the imperial court. Later, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty deposed the hundred schools and respected Confucianism alone, which ended this situation.

Cao Wan said: "The king, if necessary, you can formulate laws to prohibit the people from criticizing the government. ”

Shusun Channel: "Confucianism, which advocates the fathers and sons of kings and ministers, benevolence, righteousness and morality, is most suitable for the imperial court to govern the world, and the minister suggests that it is forbidden to talk about other ideas other than Confucianism." ”

At this point, several people cast ill-intentioned glances at him.

Huang Tingjing immediately came out and said loudly: "The king, Uncle Sun is a faction of nonsense, there are hundreds of schools, only the thoughts of the Mo family can make the people live a good life." ”

Because he was impressed by the king of Zhao, he stayed in Zhao to serve and did not insist that the imperial court must adopt Mohist political thought, but Confucians said that only Confucianism was the most suitable for governing the country, and other schools of thought should be overthrown, which was intolerable to Mohists.

Sun Shutong retorted: "For hundreds of years, no country has adopted the ideas of the Mohists, so it can be seen that it is out of date. ”

Of course, the people of the Mo family were not convinced, and there were a total of 3 people from the Mo family present, all of whom came out to speak and criticized Shusun Tong.

There were also three people in the court who stood on the side of Confucianism and refuted the Mohists.

Cao Wan also disagreed with his uncle's statement, according to his statement, the Legalists were not suitable for governing the country, so he joined the ranks of refutations.

In the Dezheng Palace, nearly ten courtiers were arguing.

Looking at this situation, Zhao Xie frowned, as the common king of these people, he must coordinate well and not let the courtiers antagonize each other too seriously.

"Quiet and quiet!"

As Zhao Xie spoke loudly, the scene became quiet.

"The court meeting is for deliberations, not for quarrels. All the sons of the hundred schools of thought have their own strengths, and the widow is the leader of the hundred schools of thought to govern the country. ”

The courtiers who participated in the argument were not convinced by each other, but it was not appropriate to continue arguing in front of the king, so they had to return to their seats first, intending to find another opportunity to fiercely refute their opponents and prove that their own ideas were the most correct.

We still have to find a way to deal with the people's discussion of the government and politics, and if we now prohibit the people from discussing the government or depose the hundred schools, it is obviously inappropriate. Zhao Xie thought of modern propaganda methods, which can be effectively dealt with.

Zhao Xie said: "The widow decided to establish a newspaper and publish a newspaper, and the newspaper can be called "Da Zhao Times". ”

Newspaper? The courtiers heard this novelty for the first time, but they were not too surprised, after all, there were too many new facts brought by King Zhao in the past.

Zhao Xie first briefly explained what a newspaper is, and then said: "The issuance of newspapers can strengthen the propaganda and guiding role of public opinion. For example, the content of the newspaper can write more about the achievements of the imperial court reform, the support of the people in various counties and counties, and the well-being of life, etc., praise the development and national policy of Zhao, and criticize the shortcomings of the opponent. After the newspaper is printed, it will be distributed in the capital for a trial basis, and it can be given to the people for free, posted in major places in the city, and specially sent to explain it. If the effect is good, it can be issued simultaneously in the entire Zhao State jurisdiction, so that the people of Zhao State can understand the major events in the world without going out, see the situation clearly, develop the wisdom of the people, and at the same time dominate the thoughts of the people, closely surrounding the imperial court policy"

To put it bluntly, this is the guidance of public opinion, in modern times, all kinds of information on television, media, and the Internet are overwhelming, and many of them are engaged in propaganda and show, and the media of the imperial court are for the rulers! He is also embezzling it now, and the newspaper has been published for a long time, so that scholars, scholars, ordinary women, children, merchants, prostitutes, and so on can see the so-called "major events of the imperial court", stabilize the hearts of the people, tie their minds, and the official media can also suppress any rumors of conspiracy and demagogy, and the invisible influence is too great.

The content of the newspaper is naturally to benefit and serve the imperial court. In this way, there is no need to carry out such drastic actions as the dismissal of 100 schools, and it will also play a role in guiding public opinion.

The ministers are all eyes lit up after hearing this, this strategy is too ruthless, the so-called public mouth can make money, rumors can crush people to death, the court runs a newspaper, can firmly bind the people's thoughts, the court let them know what they don't know, it's not a matter of writing and writing, unifying the thinking of the whole people, it's too clever.

The courtiers shouted in their hearts, I am the king wise!

Li Zuolane: "If the newspaper has a large circulation, it also needs a lot of manpower. ”

Although paper has been invented now, the content of paper can only be written and copied by people with a brush, and there is no printing at all, and hand-copying is time-consuming, troublesome, and easy to copy mistakes and omissions.

Zhao Xie said with a smile: "In this regard, the widow has a way, that is, printing, no need to write by hand in the future, as long as the content is printed in batches." ”

He then explained what movable type printing was, because he didn't intend to block the technology, and there was no need to block it, so he said it in public.

The eyes of the courtiers lit up again, and there were too many surprises for them to serve such a wise king.

Zhao Xie said: "The establishment of a newspaper and the distribution of newspapers require a special department to be responsible, and for the time being, the widow is personally responsible. ”

After all, engaging in public opinion propaganda to control people's hearts is a new thing in this era, no one has experience in the industry, Zhao Xie will deal with it personally, and then find a suitable candidate in the future, and then hand it over to the courtiers to be responsible.

Zhao Xie said: "Zhongqing continues to deliberate, there is something to start, and there is nothing to retreat!" ”

Zhang Xing, the head of the household department, said: "Enlighten my king, the population statistics of Yandi have been completed, and there are 280,000 households and one hundred and two people registered in the original Yan country; After re-counting, it was newly discovered that there were 170,000 slaves in the names of the rich and powerful. Coupled with the population of Zhao, the total population of Zhao is now 3.5 million. ”

Zhao Xie nodded slightly, population is the foundation of the country, population and science and technology, is the most important productive forces, the current population of Zhao State, second only to Han State and Chu State.

After Zhang Xing finished reporting on the population, he continued: "Our country has nearly 300,000 troops, and we still have to pay salaries to ordinary soldiers, horse farms and officials have also increased a lot, and we also need to build weapons and armor, which is a huge expense. If the income is according to the field endowment, it is far from satisfying, but fortunately, there is a monopoly on salt and iron, as well as an exclusive papermaking technology, and it can break even at present. ”