Chapter 347 Wealth touches people's hearts

After the seizure of the "Great Song Times Weekly", the newspaper with the largest circulation in the Great Song Dynasty became a thing of the past. This is one of the bottom lines of the scholars, and Zhao Heju knows it, so he did not interfere with the criminal department's investigation of the Weekly Office. So the earliest newspaper of the Great Song Dynasty died, but Zhao and Ju were not willing to give up their support for the newspaper, after learning from Deng Ruoshui that he entrusted the future to Wu Wenying, Zhao and Ju found Wu Wenying, and summoned Wen Tong, who was experimenting with new inventions, the two and Deng Ruoshui are very close, I heard that there is a way to save Deng Ruoshui's life, where is there no effort to do!

As a result, a new newspaper "Da Song Daily" was newly released, and all the manpower and sales channels were inherited from the original weekly magazine, just like the "Secret News of Martial Arts" that had been seized and remodeled. The front page of the first issue of the daily newspaper was accompanied by a picture news that had a huge impact: the Son of Heaven came to Huating Mansion to welcome the ocean-going heroes who returned with a full load.

Since Wen Tong used board drawings to illustrate the news in weekly magazines, various newspapers have also used board paintings, and board paintings have even become a new gold and stone technique, which is admired by some elegant people. However, the board painting is freehand, but the picture in the daily newspaper is written in shape, as if the scene at that time is completely memorized.

This is the credit of the camera, in the past few years, the chemical development of the Great Song Dynasty has been extremely rapid, silver bromide can be extracted in the laboratory a few years ago, Zhao and Ju learned about this in the report given to him by the Liuqiu Institute of Higher Education, and immediately began to order people to start researching the use of silver bromide's photodecomposition properties to develop a camera. He moved his entire research group of more than 50 people to Lin'an in order to provide guidance nearby, and finally developed the first portable camera three years later. Silver bromide has a shorter exposure time of less than two seconds, which is acceptable for photography.

Zhao Youju originally wanted to wait until it was more mature to come up with it, after all, the current camera is still very expensive, and the cost of one is as much as a thousand. But at this time, Lin Xi's Dongshengzhou Expeditionary Fleet returned to Liuqiu, and when Liuqiu was resting, he sent someone to report, and he thought of using this matter to divert the attention of the scholars.

Zhao Kui looked at the newspaper sent by the porter, in the big picture on the newspaper, although it was only black and white, the appearance of the Son of Heaven smiling and holding Lin Xi's hand was still lifelike. He squeezed his eyes hard, and then looked with his heart, and after confirming that it was indeed the Son of Heaven, he muttered: "Ghosts, ghosts and gods......"

This is a brand new pattern, and the impact it brings can almost be said to be subversive, even Zhao Youju himself, when he sees his own photos in the daily newspaper, he can't help but look at it for a long time.

"It's exactly the same as Your Majesty! This...... This is the brilliant pen of which national player! ”

Dignified as Xie Daoqing, he couldn't help but lose his manners, and exclaimed in front of Zhao Youju.

"It's really amazing...... 'Wen Pupil Imprint'...... What does this mean? Geng Wan asked.

As the first official news picture in the world, Zhao Youju of course wants to show off to his concubines, so not only Xie Daoqing and Geng Wan, but also Yang Miaozhen and Han Yu are here, everyone is amazed, Geng Wan asked when he saw the four words below the picture.

"Wen Tong is a person, and the impression is to print this shadow." Zhao Youju explained with a smile.

At the beginning, when he saw the word "imprint" instead of photography, Zhao Heju was a little uncomfortable, but after thinking about it carefully, the word "photography" cannot be used indiscriminately now, if it is considered to be the soul of the Son of Heaven, Wen Tong will immediately be a big sin.

There are always some people in this world who are more difficult to do things well, but stabbing others in the back is the most skilled, even if they don't have this mind, the secret work in their hearts will be involuntarily displayed.

Zhao Youju has assessed that after more than ten years of vigorously promoting compulsory education, coupled with his deliberate guidance and promotion, the current Great Song Dynasty is not just like Britain that has just entered the industrial revolution for more than ten years, on the contrary, it is somewhat like Britain that has completed the industrial revolution and was before the Chartist movement. However, what made the Great Song Dynasty stronger than the British was that, thanks to the efforts of the government and the tradition of reading, the literacy rate was much higher than that of the United Kingdom, both among yeoman farmers and new workers.

This will lay the foundation for the future take-off of the Great Song Dynasty, and Zhao Youju believes that just by virtue of the fact that he is the formulator and executor of the compulsory education system in this world, he can go down in history forever.

"Official, this Wen Tong seems to be the person who used to make plate drawings for the Great Song Times Weekly, right?" Han Yu asked.

As soon as she spoke, she knew that she was speechless, these days, weekly magazines are taboo in the palace, although Zhao and Ju did not blame anyone for this, but everyone felt that being stabbed by a weekly magazine like this, the Son of Heaven must have broken his heart, and no one knew that Zhao and Ju actually agreed with Zhao Jingyun and the four people in their hearts.

"It's this person, I have summoned him to the palace, ready to take a photo with all the concubines, and summon the children of our family, let's have a family photo." Zhao Youju was very interested, and said with a smile.

Zhao and Ju's family portrait population is quite a lot, the original history of Emperor Lizong did not have many children, and many of them died young, but now it is not, he now in addition to the eldest son Meng Jun, the eldest daughter Yinling, there are three princes and two princesses, four sons and three daughters are very healthy. The eldest son, Meng Jun, is now in his teens, which is the age of rebellion, but Zhao and Ju attach great importance to his education, and lead his rebellious spirit and curiosity to the right place. He is best at machinery, and he spends most of the day by the side of Xiao Bolang of the Ministry of Engineering, and some time ago he assembled a mechanical watch by himself.

This family photo was quickly washed out, enlarged and hung in Funing Palace, which can be regarded as a daily reminder to Zhao Youju that while he is busy with political affairs, he cannot ignore his relatives at home.

He was able to take a break from his busy schedule, and he had a close relationship with the birth of the Great Song Daily. This newspaper, anyone with a discerning eye knows that this is a makeover of the Great Song Times Weekly, but there is a precedent in the past, no one can say much, and now the focus of the entire Great Song Dynasty is on the gold and silver treasures that have returned with the expeditionary fleet, who has the leisure to pay attention to a newspaper!

After all, the income from this expedition is enough to drive everyone crazy!

If you don't calculate it completely, the gold and silver brought back by this expedition are worth about 665.6 million guan according to today's market value—after more than ten years of rapid economic growth, the annual financial income of the Great Song Dynasty is only slightly lower than this figure. In fact, because gold and silver are reserve metals and do not directly enter the market, and paper money is constantly depreciating slightly, the price is even more expensive.

Even Zhao Kui, who eagerly wants to arrest Deng Ruoshui and Zhao Jingyun, is red-faced and red-hearted when he thinks of this amount of money: With this amount of money in the treasury, how many big things can the imperial court do!

The salaries of officials have been rising in recent years, but they can't always rise as much as those rich businessmen, who have already resigned, and with this money, they can now increase the salaries of officials. After nearly ten years of railway, now the technology of the railway is very mature, and it should be extended from the coastal plain along the river to the interior. Bianliang has always been the dream of several generations of Great Song Dynasty monarchs and courtiers, which could not be realized before, but now with spare money, you can also build the old capital palace......

Yu Tianci, the secretary of the Ministry of Rites, looked at the large pile of invitations and stickers in his hand, and only felt that his eyes were full of yellow and clear gold nuggets. Some time ago, these invitations and stickers were sent to Zhao Kui, although Yu Tianci pretended not to know, he actually knew it, and he didn't expect that the Son of Heaven would go to Huating Mansion for a trip, and all these troublesome things would be handed to him. I heard that there are many people in front of Zhao Kui's house now, and there are not so many people putting pressure on him, so he should be able to drink tea in a good way now.

These invitations are all for the gold and silver that have been piled up on the dock of Huating Mansion for a long time, that is a big fat meat, if it is less, everyone knows that they can't share it, but there is nothing to pay attention to, but so much...... Even if you miss one thousandth of a thousandth, it's worth tens of thousands of hundreds of thousands!

"Xianggong!"

Nowadays, the atmosphere of the Great Song Dynasty, even if he is not worshipped, some chief officials are also called Xianggong, Yu Tianci's porter is called him so, he is also faintly happy with this title, and feels that it is a matter of time before he worships his own minister. Seeing the porter hurrying over with a name, he frowned: "Who is this who is coming to see me?" ”

"Zhao Shangshu of the Criminal Department, others are already outside." The porter's face couldn't help but be a little proud, from the time he saw the issue of the Da Song Daily in the morning to now, there were more high-ranking officials who came to visit Yu Tianci than in the previous two months combined.

"Don't say it sooner, please hurry up!"

Yu Tianci's face changed, and as soon as he thought of Zhao Kui, he really came to him.

Other officials can put on the shelves of the Son of Heaven's close ministers and six books, but Zhao Kui is at the same level as him and has made meritorious contributions, so there is no way to put this shelf out. After bringing Zhao Kui in, he smiled and said: "Brother Zhao has nothing to do, and there is nothing good to come to the door, I don't know what to do with this time?" ”

Zhao Kui's face flushed slightly, he didn't like Yu Tianci, he felt that he had shallow qualifications and mediocre ability, and he relied on his old friendship with the Son of Heaven to get to today's status, in fact, he could only be regarded as a favorite minister of the Son of Heaven, so there was not much interaction between the two. In addition, as the secretary of the Criminal Department, if he comes to the door, there will be no good thing, either arrest or verification, Yu Tianci's joke seems to be abrupt, but in fact, it also beat him to a certain extent.

"Brother Yu, why is the younger brother here, Brother Tai should also know the ......" After the two of them sat down, Zhao Kui straightened his waist and did not beat around the bush: "What should the Son of Heaven do with those gold and silver, have you ever told Brother Yu?" ”

Yu Tianci knew that he couldn't hide it from him, so he nodded: "Yesterday on the train, the Son of Heaven called me to play the right game alone and asked me about this ......."

"There is a shortage of manpower in the Criminal Department, everyone has to do two or three people's work, and the job is very important. In the past, His Majesty said that the treasury was empty, and the Ministry of Punishment had to endure it first, but now the treasury is not empty, right? Zhao Kui said with some urgency.

It's no wonder that he is so urgent, the Criminal Department is considered a large department among the six departments, and a bunch of officials below are all staring at him, hoping that he, the chief official, can fight for a big fat piece for his department. If other ministries get great benefits, but the criminal department has nothing left, and his ability as a chief officer is only afraid that he will be doubted by his subordinates, and he will not be trusted and cooperated by his subordinates, and his Shangshu will come to an end.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but secretly complain to himself, why he didn't resist the pressure of those scholars some time ago, and didn't touch the restless scholars of the weekly magazine.

Yu Tianci smiled bitterly and said, "Brother Zhao, it seems that this matter should go to the household department, not to my rite department." ”

"Brother Yu laughed, the Son of Heaven never said that the money would be transferred to the treasury of the Ministry of Households, and the Ministry of Household only accounted for 20% of the original capital, and the inner treasury accounted for 20%, and the two together had 40%, plus 20% of the name of the Son of Heaven in the name of the harem concubines, the Son of Heaven could mobilize 40%. Zhao Kui's eyes lit up at this moment, and he looked like a businessman for many years when he counted the accounts: "Sicheng also has more than 200 million yuan, Wei Xianggong is now punished in confinement at home, if he comes out, this money will have to enter the treasury of the Ministry of Households, and if he wants to divide it at that time, Wei Xianggong will be sad at that level!" ”

Wei Liaoweng is in charge of national finances for the prime minister, and he is really an iron rooster, and he doesn't pull out a dime. This time, if it weren't for Zhao Jingyun's involvement and thinking about it behind closed doors, I am afraid that I would have broken into the palace and forced Zhao Heju to put all the gold and silver into the treasury. Everyone knows this, so if you want to divide this money, then you must divide it before Wei Liaoweng comes out, otherwise this person is too upright, and it will be much more difficult to convince him than to convince the Son of Heaven!

Yu Tianci was secretly funny, Zhao Kui was also upright, but in the face of the hundreds of millions of ministers' wealth, he still fell into the hands of the Son of Heaven. He was silent for a moment, and then lowered his voice: "Brother Zhao doesn't hide it from me, then I won't hide it from Brother Zhao either, the first use of this money, the Son of Heaven told me yesterday." ”

"How?" Zhao Kui heard what he said mysteriously, and immediately leaned forward: "Could it be that you are training a strong army again?" ”

"Now that Siyi is in service, my Great Song army is enough." Yu Tianci shook his head: "It's to build a palace!" ”

Since Zhao and Ju were in power, they have been quite conservative in the construction of the palace, except for a Huayue Pavilion, there are almost no new palace constructions, so Zhao Kui was not very surprised when he heard the news, but just said: "It doesn't take so many ...... to build a palace."

As soon as he finished speaking, he immediately realized that there was a palace that cost money: "Could it be that the Son of Heaven wants to rebuild the Bianliang Palace?" ”

"No, the Son of Heaven wants to expand the Confucian Temple in Qufu." Yu Tianci said with a smile: "The Son of Heaven said that Confucius should enjoy the big temple, and he intends to build a big temple in the shape of the palace, and the amount spent is only afraid of hundreds of millions!" ”

"That's why, you can't spend it like this if you have money!" Zhao Kui blurted out: "Don't ask the common people to ask the ghosts and gods, I want to go to the face!" ”

Although Zhao Kui was a scholar, he didn't have much affection for the Confucian Temple that had long fallen into the hands of the Jin State, and he couldn't help but be angry when he heard that the Son of Heaven was going to spend a huge amount of money to repair this temple, instead of using the money to improve the salaries of the scholars, but he soon understood: "The Son of Heaven ...... Son of Heaven ......"

"Brother Zhao is an understanding person, so Yu won't say anything." Yu Tianci smiled meaningfully.

Note 1: The main content of the Chartist movement in Britain began in 1837 was the workers' struggle for the right to vote - this basically coincided with the completion of the Industrial Revolution in Britain and the replacement of manual production by industrialization, as well as the development of Sunday schools in England, the recovery of workers' literacy rates, and the British government's government funding for education (from 1833 onwards). In other words, education has played a huge role in promoting people's awareness of political participation.