A long time ago, Liu He was thinking about starting a newspaper, but because of the influence of factors such as timing and cost, he never started. Although the disaster and famine caused great damage to the economy and people's livelihood of the Han Dynasty, because of the drastic population flow and the panic of the people, it was just the right time to sacrifice the newspaper, a big weapon to control public opinion and guide the people's hearts.

According to Liu He's guidance, Xu Miao selected a group of skilled carpenters, carvers and dyers from the Jicheng workshop, and encouraged a group of scholars who had received new education from Youyan Library and Yenching University to serve as newspaper editors and writers.

Liu He took the sample report and browsed it carefully, and found that Xu Miao basically understood his intentions, but there were still some deviations and distortions, so he said to Xu Miao: "Jingshan, this sample report is basically done according to my intentions, but there are still some shortcomings, and we need to adjust it as soon as possible." ”

Xu Miao has followed Liu He for many years, and has been deeply influenced and inspired by Liu He, he is no longer the drunken and indulgent young man he was back then, he has always taken Liu He's will as his will, so he did not feel how worried and frightened Liu He's slightly dissatisfied attitude, but said modestly: "Please also ask the son to make it clear." ”

Liu He carefully recalled the founding mode and ideas of various newspapers in his previous life, and then combined with his own understanding and experience, he said to Xu Miao: "The main purpose of our founding of the Dahan Times is to grasp and guide public opinion, and it also has a certain role in opening up the wisdom of the people, but have you ever thought about using the rapid and timely dissemination of newspapers to instill the simplified words and punctuation marks I proposed to the people?" In addition, while ensuring sufficient authenticity and rigor, can the newspaper be as vivid and approachable as possible, so that only those who have read poetry and books can read it, and also take into account the receptivity of the vast majority of ordinary people? ”

Xu Miao followed Liu He's train of thought and thought about it. After pondering for a while, he said: "Childe wants to use the newspaper to spread the practice of simplifying words and punctuation, but there are very few people who can read and write among ordinary people, if simplified characters are used when engraving the master, I am afraid that the people who can understand it can only be described as rare, so won't it affect the main role of the newspaper?" ”

You're right, but the use of punctuation doesn't really affect reading, and even people who have never seen it can quickly guess what the purpose of punctuation at a certain location is from the sentences before and after the symbols, so using punctuation in newspapers is not a big problem. Now it seems that the promotion of simplified Chinese characters is a bit troublesome. ”

Tian Chou Jian, who had never spoken, said: "Childe." Is it possible to implement the promotion of simplified Chinese characters in newspapers in a step-by-step manner? For example, at the beginning, some simplified Chinese characters were mixed in some phrases and easy-to-understand sentences, even if the newspaper reader had not seen such a word before, he could guess the meaning of the word through guò before and after, and after a period of time when the circulation of the newspaper came up, the newspaper reader gradually recognized and adapted to some simplified characters, and then gradually simplified them, so that they could be implemented smoothly. ”

Guo Jia, who was completely accustomed to simplified Chinese characters and punctuation, couldn't help but interject at this time: "In my opinion." Not only should punctuation and simplified characters be promoted, but even the font layout should be changed from vertical to horizontal, anyway, newspapers are new, and the initiative is completely in our hands. The person who reads the newspaper accepts the same new change as well as acceptance, and accepts two or three changes as acceptance, and in terms of mood and feeling, it is nothing more than active acceptance or passive acceptance. Anyway, no matter how we get it, the people who read the newspaper will have to read it as we like, unless there are other forces in the world who can pay for another newspaper! ”

At this time, paper was very expensive. If it weren't for a very wealthy family, they wouldn't be able to afford it at all, and Liu He regarded the papermaking technology innovated by his papermaking craftsmen after years of research as a core secret, and the development of ink, dismantling and engraving technology, etc., were also secret, so in addition to his strength to print a large number of newspapers, other forces were simply out of reach.

Liu He felt that Guo Jia's ideas and Tian Chou's construction were both meritorious, so he adopted them all, and then he asked everyone: "I still have a not-so-mature idea, that is, with the implementation of the newspaper, we need more and more writers to provide manuscripts and news for the newspaper, do we take this opportunity to start a new guild?" ”

"Childe means to organize these people who provide manuscripts and news for the newspaper into a guild?"

"Well, that's right, not only to set the rules of the industry for this guild, but also to provide venue and financial support to support their development and growth. What do you think of the fact that these scribes who provide manuscripts and information for newspapers will be called journalists in the future, and this guild of many journalists will be called the Press Association? ”

Seeing that Liu He had already set the tone, several people did not object to the two coined words "reporter" and "news association" in their hearts. Over the years, everyone has followed Liu He's side, and they have become accustomed to Liu He's puzzling phrases and phrases coming out of his mouth from time to time, and some of the words and sentences that Liu He "made" sound strange at first, but after getting used to it, they will find that the expression is very accurate and appropriate, and if they are replaced by other words and sentences, they cannot vividly express the original meaning.

For example, when Liu He summed up the military terms, he put forward the phrases "strategy", "tactics", "tactics", "war", "campaign", "battle" and so on.

Shortly after this discussion, the first issue of the Dahan Times was finally published, with a total of 5,500 copies printed. In order to ensure that the military and civilians in various places saw this epoch-making newspaper as soon as possible, Liu He used military posts to deliver the newspaper, and hundreds of fast horses were dispatched from Yecheng to various places alone.

The first to receive the newspaper was the troops stationed in Huguan, because Liu He vigorously promoted a literacy campaign in the army, so the generals above the middle level of the Zhenwei battalion were basically able to read the newspaper smoothly.

After reading the newspaper, Tai Shici immediately ordered the troops under his command to designate one or two people as newspaper readers in the unit-level units, and after each new newspaper was delivered, the newspaper readers were responsible for reading and explaining the contents of the newspaper to all the officers and men of the team. Because the literacy movement in the military is top-down, it comes to the team level unit. Often, leaders such as squad leaders and chiefs were literate, so newspaper readers were actually low-ranking officers or soldier leaders.

Although Tai Shici did not interfere in political affairs, looking at the order he issued, it was clear that he realized the importance of the newspaper in unifying the ideological understanding of the officers and men of the whole army.

The officers and men of the Zhenwei Battalion stationed at Huguan and Tianjing Pass quickly read the contents of the first issue of the "Dahan Times" in accordance with the orders of the commander-in-chief Tai Shici, and some of the ideological knots that plagued the officers and men were also answered.

"Bao Erdan, now you understand why we are taking out so much food to relieve the hungry people in Hezhou, right? The hussar generals have personally written articles in the newspapers, saying that if there is one more relief for the victims today, there will be one more hope for the revival of our Han tomorrow! ”

"Li Scar, don't drop the bookbag with Lao Tzu! We're talking about it on the same day. In the literacy class together, you don't know as many words as Lao Tzu! What do you mean by 'I'm a big man'? That's the title of the hussar general, and when you get here, you should say, 'We are big men', and the ideological education class is in vain! ”

Just as the two chiefs of a certain squad in the Zhenwei battalion were talking nonsense around the newspaper, their top boss, that is, the team leader, ran over and scolded loudly: "Bao Erdan, Li Scar, now there is a glorious task to be handed over to you two!" You are not more literate than anyone else, and from tomorrow you will take turns to go to the refugee camp with the newspaper to read. Half a day per person, no mistakes! ”

The military order was like a mountain, and the two unlucky guys did not dare to disobey, so they hurriedly took over the newspaper in the hands of the team leader. After exiting the gate, he walked briskly towards the refugee camp not far away.

In the Jicheng Prefecture Pastoral Mansion, Liu Hui held a two-foot square newspaper, and the more he read it, the more happy he became.

"Good. Wow! Childe finally pushed out the newspaper, and the timing was really perfect and just right! ”

"Lord Governor. The newspaper had a limited print run and could only be sent to the townships, not to the villages, and the subordinates thought that they could issue decrees to the counties and counties to copy the original texts and then send them to the villages, so that every village in Youzhou could understand the thoughts and intentions of the hussar generals. ”

"Well, you have a very good idea, not only to convey the newspaper to the villages, but also to build a special propaganda board for posting the newspaper in each village, and designate literate villagers as newspaper readers, so as to ensure that everyone from the old man to the drooping children can understand what is written in the newspaper!"

Liu Hui is worthy of being an internal affairs official promoted by Liu He, although Liu He is not in Youzhou now, he never forgets to consolidate and deepen Liu He's influence and charisma in Youzhou.

At the garrison of the Shenxi Army in Hanoi, Zhao Yun received the newspaper delivered by Yecheng, and he carefully read all the words on both sides of the front and back at an almost constant speed, and then said thoughtfully to several lieutenant generals: "From tomorrow, you will go to various passes to inspect the resettlement of the hungry, and you must ensure that there is not a single starving corpse in the area under our control!" ”

"General, dare to ask how to arrange the military operation against Lu Bu in Hedong?"

"Now we have to make way for the relief of the victims, and all military operations against Lu Bu in Hedong have been suspended, and we will restart after this catastrophe is over!"

Luoyang, as the capital of the empire, has always been the center of news formation and dissemination, and in order to quickly increase the influence of the "Han Times", Liu He specially sent someone to send 1,000 copies of the first issue, and almost every official with status was handed a free copy to his home.

When these traditional and conservative officials saw the newspaper with a lot of simplified characters in the middle of the horizontal layout, many people were angry, and some of them even accused Liu He of wanting to corrupt Confucian orthodoxy, and some people said that Liu He's behavior was buying the hearts of the people in the world, and the next thing would be usurpation.

There were different opinions in Luoyang City for a while, but because Liu Yu actually controlled the government and Li Yan controlled the guards and security of Luoyang, so although there were many people with mouths, there was nothing to do with Liu He, who was far away in Yecheng, and could only be a swarm of flies buzzing. In the end, they had to quietly hide at home and repeatedly look for Liu He's intention to rebel from the articles published in the newspaper, but the result was naturally nothing, and they tossed in vain. (To be continued......)