"Sell the newspaper, sell the newspaper, sell the newspaper!"

Soon, there were some people in the east and west markets of Chang'an who were holding something called a newspaper for sale, and no one knew what this newspaper was. And then, many people began to ask.

"This newspaper is printed with a lot of stuff on it, all kinds of information. There are recent events, and there are many policy interpretations of the imperial court, and even some lace news that happened to some servants and subordinates of high-ranking families. All kinds of stories are serialized, and all kinds of scripts that can be serialized. Our newspaper has everything, you can see anything you want. As long as you are interested, then you can also check it out. This newspaper is not expensive, only one copy of copper plate. ”

Everyone heard a copper plate, and this one is still a little painful, because a copper plate is also a day's living expenses for many people. At present, although Zhang Chao also hopes to reduce the price of the newspaper to the price of five cents a piece in the future, this is not realistic at present. Because the current paper printing capacity and various technical means are not too advanced, these newspapers are not able to have too many print runs. You have to have a copper plate, but this is also the living expenses of some ordinary people for a day. So this price still makes some people feel painful, and everyone doesn't know much about the new product newspaper.

However, immediately someone began to inquire about this newspaper.

"What's the matter with this newspaper, only to ask for a copper plate? Such a large piece of paper costs more than just hundreds of copper plates, right? Someone immediately said in surprise.

However, there are still people in the celebrity who understand, saying: "You don't know, paper is very cheap now." In Luoyang, the price of books has also been reduced dozens of times, and in the past, the money for a book could buy thirty books. And many booksellers in Luoyang also began to go bankrupt. Several of their booksellers also started jumping into the river. ”

"Oh, that's bad!" Someone immediately sighed.

Zhang Chao's cheap cost of books suddenly bankrupted many booksellers in the past. However, Zhang Chao did not have any heartache thoughts, because booksellers were only a very small part of the merchants, not all merchants. And any business is also risky. We also have to take the risk of new technologies coming out. Once the new technology comes out, it will not be able to compete with others, and it will naturally face the result of bankruptcy. It's not that Zhang Chao didn't give them a way to live, but that they couldn't bear it too poorly and chose to commit suicide. Any business can be bankrupt at a loss, and since they enjoy a prosperous life, they also have to take greater risks. The risk is inevitably equal to the return, and if you enjoy a better life, you will naturally have to take greater risks. Although ordinary people can't be rich and expensive when they work. However, it is better to be stable, and not afraid of too many unexpected ups and downs. As for them becoming businessmen, they must be prepared to lose money and go bankrupt, and this Zhang Chao will not have any pity. Otherwise, just thinking about making money, without a little risk, it is simply impossible.

This is not that Zhang Chao is ruthless, but that Zhang Chao has worked in the country's macro-control department in his last life. He is involved in all aspects, and the life he has experienced is to carry out macroeconomic regulation and control of the country's economy. It was impossible for him to think that those merchants in certain industries would suffer. As an official of macroeconomic control, it is impossible for him to take care of every businessman. The country's macroeconomic regulation and control will not be considered by a businessman. Nor does it stop because of a businessman's loss. It's like the general trend of history will not stop because of a certain person, because what Zhang Chao sees is macro and beneficial to the whole people, and it is impossible to change the national plan for the benefit of a businessman.

Zhang Chao would not have come up with this papermaking technique in order to take care of the interests of those booksellers and paper merchants, because in his macroscopic eyes, papermaking technology can bring benefits to more people, so the interests of this ordinary businessman are no longer in Zhang Chao's consideration.

"Well, let's not care so much. In the past, we spent so much money to be able to buy books, and now we can buy them at a very low price, which is a very good thing. As long as this copper plate, no matter how low the price of paper is, it is impossible to reduce it to such a point, right? This one is obvious. It looks like it's going to be a loss! Coupled with the fact that they still have so many things to collect, it is not easy. This one copper plate is still worth it. A knowledgeable man said.

Soon, some people immediately began to rush to buy, and many ordinary people also went to rush to buy. And if other people don't know, then I'm afraid they don't know their identity at all, and they have a common identity.

"Lao Yang, how do they feel about mobilizing our four students to buy this newspaper this time?" Zhang Chao asked.

And Lao Yang replied: "Dr. Zhang, will it be a bit wasteful to use the public funds of our four schools to buy newspapers and give them to students this time?" More than 1,000 students in our four schools, whether they are studying in school or working and studying outside, have also given them a newspaper, is this useful? ”

"Don't look at these students, but they are all elites from all walks of life. If they can read the newspaper, it means that they can drive a lot of people around them to read the newspaper. Many people have the behavior of blind learning, while ordinary people learn from merchants, merchants learn from officials, and officials learn from the court. But. In short, each of them starts to learn from the elite people around them, and we directly let the students of the four subjects use the newspaper, and they can also drive the people around them to read the newspaper. Zhang Chao said.

But Lao Yang still said: "Dr. Zhang, but we can't drive too many people to read the newspaper!" There are still many people in Datang who are uneducated and illiterate. How do we get these people to participate in the process of reading the newspaper? ”

"We're going to popularize some pinyin newspapers for children. There are even newspapers to learn pinyin, so that they can all learn to read newspapers. As long as you learn pinyin, you can completely understand the newspaper. As for those uneducated adults, I also have my own way. They may not be able to read the newspaper, but they can listen to it! Zhang Chao said.

"Listen to the newspaper?" Lao Yang didn't quite understand.

Zhang Chao pointed to the small restaurant in the distance, and then someone inside was "talking" inside.

This "speaking" is not "speaking" in the ordinary sense of the word, but referring to storytelling. In the Sui and Tang dynasties, a profession began to take shape, that is, scholars. They first explained the Buddhist scriptures to everyone at the temple. Then he walked into the court of the Sui Dynasty and became a storyteller who helped the court nobles to relieve their boredom. But after all, there are only a few people who can enter the court, and many of them are telling stories among the people, and then earning some rewards. However, the "script" that the storyteller uses to tell the story is called a script. Over time. The script also developed more and more, until it evolved into a novel. However, the so-called novels of later generations are just novelists named after the ancient pre-Qin period, in fact, various literary styles and circulation methods are no longer the things of the novelists of the past.

"Ladies and gentlemen, today I'm here to explain to you what's in the newspaper, so I won't talk about the script yet. Now, let me explain to you that our recent newspaper will definitely be very interesting for everyone. Let me start with our imperial policy. At present, our imperial court is preparing to recuperate with the people, and we will not use troops in the next few years. Even, the imperial court also planned to reduce taxes to reduce the tax burden of the people. ”

"What? Imperial court tax cuts? Someone was immediately surprised.

But someone else immediately said: "The imperial court has reduced taxes, why don't I know?" ”

"Yes! It is said that we still have to live for the emperor, and we have charged me an extra tenth! "Yes! I also charged 20% more! ”……

"Yes! Didn't those scholars say that the imperial court needed more taxes to build a palace for the emperor? ”

But the storyteller immediately said: "No, there is no need for money from the imperial treasury within the emperor's court. Now the emperor's life is all withdrawn by the emperor's own treasury. Even the emperor's inner treasury did not ask the treasury for a penny, and they all got money from the royal service group. The royal service also made money from the rich merchants and aristocrats. And there is no direct tax collection from us. This is very clear in the newspaper. ”

But immediately someone's face turned black, and it was obvious that they had been overtaxed.

"Could it be that the nobles are falsely passing on orders?" "Yes! No, those scholars are benevolent and righteous when they open and close their mouths, and they shouldn't do this! "Yes! They won't do that. "Our scholars here often do some good deeds, and it is impossible for them to falsely pass on the orders of the imperial court." ……

And Zhang Chao, who listened to these words in the wine shop, immediately asked: "Old Yang." What do you think of? ”

Lao Yang smiled bitterly and said, "It seems that these people are a little too stupid. ”

"Old Yang, why do you think they are like this?" Zhang Chao asked.

Lao Yang shook his head, and then said, "Please Dr. Zhang to solve your doubts." ”

"Actually, it's simple, and it's very easy. The imperial court continued to manage it layer by layer. And the orders of the center were conveyed again and again, and the result immediately turned sour. The central government gives the order, and then what is beneficial to the local government will be implemented diligently, and what is unfavorable to the local area will be implemented at a discount. Our management model is actually a manifestation of centralization and decentralization. This problem will accompany us for thousands of years in the future, and maybe even our Huaxia will never be able to solve this problem. Zhang Chao said.

Zhang Chao knew that China had always been engaged in the contradiction between centralization and decentralization, and even in the 21st century, it had not been completely resolved. The central government wants to centralize power, but the local officials want to get some of the decentralization, and this will inevitably lead to a great struggle. Under the centralized model, although the decision-making power is vested in the central government, local officials have the power to implement policies, so they also double down on policies that are beneficial to them. If the policies are not conducive to them, then they will also implement them with discounts, or even shelved them and do not implement them at all. Under this kind of competition between centralization and decentralization, it is a great test of a politician's political wisdom. In the course of this struggle, generation after generation of outstanding politicians have been tempered, and this is the foundation for safeguarding China's reunification.

Many people believe that officials should focus on practical work ability, but Zhang Chao believes that if an official is not proficient in political struggle, if he cannot master the balance between centralization and decentralization in China, he will definitely not work. If you want to maintain China's unity, you must have means, and this is the most important means in officialdom, which is much more important than the actual ability to do things. If a country is divided, then what development can you talk about. Therefore, all development is based on the condition of maintaining national unity and peace, so politicians who can have the means to protect the country from major turmoil. is the best politician. And in this, it is a principle to grasp the balance of power, and this is the fundamental.

"The imperial court collects taxes, and this is an opportunity. Have you seen it, the tax exemption order issued by the imperial court has reached the grassroots below. But it's almost never shelved. And they are seldom executed, and they are more often eaten by the gentry below. ”

"The current tax collection method of the imperial court is to collect taxes layer by layer. The imperial court drafted the decree from Zhongshu Province to Menxia Province for review, and finally Shangshu Province implemented it. Then it was sent to the state capital, and the state capital will issue this order layer by layer at this time. You say how many levels this order has gone through, how many manpower it has gone through. And in this process, everyone wants benefits, they have the power to implement the policies of the imperial court, how to implement them. To what extent it is executed, that is the power they hold. They can take advantage of this time to make some money and gain some benefits. ”

"With the collection of taxes layer by layer, a tax has also increased by several percent out of thin air. And when it comes to the people, there are several more percent, which will inevitably cause more pressure on the people to survive. Of course, at present, our Datang has just opened the country, so this matter is not obvious. It's not so obvious that everyone is exploiting the people, so it's just two or three percent more. But once the days have passed. So what will happen to our Datang? The first tax on the top, and on the bottom, I'm afraid it's more than one percent? Even if there were one and a half more levels in each level, what would happen? ”

"Our imperial court has just laid the official mansion to the county, and most of the places below the county are gentry, and then there are many scholars in charge. Even. Many scholars can influence a lot, and the local officials have to listen to those scholars. Those nobles have great power in the local area, and then they can further bargain with the center. And they are actually local forces, and then they have the power to implement and interpret the policies of the imperial court. In this way, we will certainly not be able to rule us. They took the opportunity to use these powers of enforcement and interpretation to the court to exploit the people, so how do you say the court will solve it? They took the opportunity to borrow the power of the imperial court to collect taxes and exploit the people, how do you say this can be solved? Therefore, this method is not very suitable. ”

And Lao Yang immediately said: "It's better for our court center to collect taxes directly, and then don't borrow the hands of these scholars to collect taxes." ”

"It's useless, even if the official is closed, it's not very useful. You just look at the problem from the ordinary way, but you don't realize the importance of it. If they don't open up the wisdom of the people, then they are all at the mercy of those officials. You just see the surface, you see a very shallow surface. On the surface, it seems that the scholars and officials are exploiting the people, thinking that the central government can directly collect the tax burden. But in fact, this is not very useful. If you send officials from the center of the court, then they will also overtax for profit, what do you do? Zhang Chao asked.

"Then send the Imperial Historian to supervise them!" Lao Yang replied.

"And what if Goshi colludes with them?" Zhang Chao asked.

Lao Yang said again: "Send a lieutenant!" ”

Zhongguan is also the emperor's eunuch, and is the emperor's close eunuch.

"Forget it, the greed of the lieutenant is more ruthless than that of many civil officials." Zhang Chao said.

"Then ......" Lao Yang had nothing to say.

Zhang Chao said: "I have to say that what you said is in vain. Because we are all officials, to put it mildly, we are all people who ride on the heads of the people and do the right thing. Whether it is a scholar or an official, or even a poor official, even if he can become an official one day, he will inevitably become a different kind of person. We have also become an official who rides on the people's prestige, so our thinking is already on the group of officials. We have long since turned our backs on our identity as a poor man. There are too few people who can not forget their roots after becoming officials, even if we are poor. What's more, most of our poor officials are actually not absolutely poor. In fact, we poor officials are all rich people, at least they are definitely not those yeoman farmers, all of them are families who own a lot of land, so we cannot be said to be really 'poor', we can only say that they are rich people without special political rights. If one day we replace the nobles, then we will also betray our class of origin, and then continue to oppress the people. ”

"No, it won't!" Lao Yang said hesitantly.

Zhang Chao sneered, what was the situation in history, didn't Zhang Chao know? Although the Hanmen replaced the gentry, they formed a landlord and gentry class. And this landlord and gentry class is actually a mobile gentry clan. Strictly speaking, there is not much difference between the landlord gentry class and those gentry in those days, except that the gentry are fixed families, but the landlord gentry class is mobile. The advanced nature of the landlord and gentry class lies in its ability to make this class both up and down, and to allow more people to join in the flow of this class.

Ordinary people studied and then gained fame, so that they could become the landlord gentry class. But how did these landlords and gentry treat people from the same background as themselves? Most of them have also betrayed their own class and chosen to throw themselves into the arms of exploiters, exploiting those who were once from the same background as themselves more ruthlessly than when others exploited them in the past.

"Say, how did this happen?" Zhang Chao asked.

Old Yang thought about it, and couldn't imagine how this appeared.

In fact, this is just a cultural monopoly. If a person is not educated, he does not know how to protect his own interests, they will just blindly follow the exploitation of those superiors, until finally they can't bear it at all and choose to rebel. And we, the exploiters, are actually squeezing them in the process of exploiting again and again. And they can't resist, but they can't voice their dissatisfaction, they can't release their pressure. They don't know how to defend their interests, and in the end they can only solve the problem by violence, that is, rebellion. Zhang Chao said.

Zhang Chao has also seen many migrant workers in later generations, but they are owed wages after working, and then use what kidnapping, jumping off buildings and other means to protect their interests. Even after many of them are in arrears, those migrant workers have to continue to work for them in order to get their wages back, but they don't have to worry about employment. This is a sad situation, and the specific situation that has happened is to a large extent that those migrant workers have a low level of education and do not know how to protect their own interests. They do not know how to defend their interests, and after they have been oppressed to a certain extent, they will inevitably choose to solve the problem through abnormal means of violence.

And a colleague of Zhang Chao in the statistics department in later generations also mentioned that those who are owed wages are mainly those migrant workers, and the lower the education level, the higher the probability of being in arrears. Is it a coincidence that people with a high level of education have a lower probability of being owed wages? No, it is precisely because those bosses know that people with a low level of education do not know how to protect their own interests, they are blindly obedient to the exploitation from above, and they do not know how to use various means to protect their own interests for the oppression from above, so they dare to be so unscrupulous.

When Zhang Chao explained to Lao Yang in a language suitable for ancient times, Lao Yang said: "Then Dr. Zhang, you mean that no matter how we think about supervision, it is useless. The people in our court are all officials, no matter how honest they are, no matter how they claim to be the people's masters, but in fact they are all people who ride on the heads of the people and make a fortune. Those of us in the government are all natural 'comrades-in-arms', and we are not all the way to ordinary people. If you want to protect the interests of the people, you can't rely on us people, and the people are really reliable and let the people find ways to protect their own interests. If the people don't know how to protect their own interests, and they all look forward to a certain honest official, then this is simply impossible. ”

"That's right, the world is as black as a crow, including me. People who want us officials to defend the interests of the people are simply rare, almost non-existent. There are too few officials who protect the interests of the people. You want help from others, but you also have to help yourself. Self-help is the best rescue, if you can't help yourself, then you expect others to help you, it is simply impossible. And we want to help the people, so it's not that we should do something for them, but that we take the initiative to give them a chance to help themselves, you know? Zhang Chao asked. (To be continued......)