March 10, afternoon.

Forbidden City, inside the Wenhua Palace.

Zhu Youzhen, the emperor of Chongzhen, and Wen Tiren, the first assistant of the cabinet, Wu Zongda, the second assistant, and Wang Yingxiong, Qian Shisheng, He Wusu, and other most important core ministers of the Ming Dynasty.

In addition, on the two sofa-style soft chairs next to them, there are also two respected old men who have been Zhishi - Sun Chengzong and Xu Guangqi (Xu Guangqi was seriously ill last year and was cured by Xujiazhuang's miracle medicine, but he was still relatively weak and unable to participate in court politics), and today they were specially invited into the palace to discuss a major matter together.

What is the big thing to discuss?

Naturally, it was to discuss a copy of the "Oriental Times" in each of their hands, to discuss the significance and influence of this newspaper, and to discuss how the imperial court should respond.

As for the content of the newspaper, they read it all, and there are not many reading barriers and obstacles.

And then there's the shock.

Shocking! In particular, Emperor Zhu Youzhen felt ashamed, angry and even frightened.

The Xiaoice period depicted in this newspaper is simply terrible, what is the flood in the south and the drought in the north, the overall reduction in grain production, what should the people of Daming do?

And is this world really so vast, on the world map, how did Da Ming occupy a small corner of the land?

What happened in the western countries tens of thousands of miles away, how did Xu Jiazhuang understand it so clearly, and even the cause and effect could tell the truth.

The population, economy, life expectancy, male and female ratio and other data of the Ming Dynasty, why can Xu Jiazhuang investigate in such detail, and understand it more thoroughly than the Ming Dynasty, which makes people think carefully and fearfully, what are you doing? Xu Jiazhuang knows Daming so much, what does he want to do? What's the plan?

As for the maritime trade merchants of the Ming Dynasty, they earn 15 million silver dollars through foreign trade every year, which is almost comparable to all the financial income of the Ming Dynasty, which makes Zhu Youzhen feel red and jealous. Do you completely treat the court as air? How long do you want this kind of illegal business action to continue?

And so on and so forth.

In short, in the process of reading this newspaper, Emperor Zhu Youzhen felt countless emotions in his heart, and he wanted to tear the newspaper several times, feeling that it was all fake, made up blindly, and it was Xu Jiazhuang's fool, which was completely untrustworthy.

But......

Zhu Youzhen finally believed two or three points, because in terms of the understanding of the Ming Empire, there are definitely few people who can surpass him as an emperor, right, he can't see the big fallacy from the data listed in the "Oriental Times", but he constantly confirms some things in his mind, and thinks of Xu Jiazhuang's unpredictable ability, even if Zhu Youzhen tries his best to deny it, he can't help but find that he can't do it.

Because it's called self-deception!

I had to call a few cabinet ministers, and even the imperial brother's teacher Sun Chengzong and the erudite Xu Guangqi were invited to come over and ask them to help them take a look at it and think about how to deal with it.

"Your Majesty, this newspaper is just a lie, and it should be banned immediately!"

Shoufu Wen Tiren said: "Now that Daming is thriving and thriving, and Your Majesty is wise and martial, a generation of holy lords, this year will definitely be smooth and rainy, there will be a great harvest everywhere, and there will be auspicious scenes everywhere, the so-called Xiaoice period is nonsense, not worth refuting, and it will prove that it is a joke." ”

"Not bad!"

The second assistant Wu Zongda said: "This newspaper is creating panic, the will of heaven is unpredictable, and a businessman is also worthy of snooping days?" Even if there will be a disaster, it will also befall the perverse Xu Jiazhuang, Daming will only continue to improve, as long as His Majesty humbly admonishes, eats and eats at night, and concentrates on state affairs, he will naturally be safe and secure and be protected by Shangcang, and only unvirtuous forces such as Xu Jiazhuang will worry about what Xiaoice period. ”

"Your Majesty, the demagoguery and fabrication of rumors in the "Oriental Times" have caused panic and rumors in many places in the Ming Dynasty, and they must be completely banned, burned and burned, and no more pieces of paper can be allowed to circulate." University scholar Qian Shi ascended to the road.

"Although the content of the "Oriental Times" has some merits, but the simplified Chinese characters, vernacular text, punctuation marks, etc., are incompatible with the Ming Dynasty, and there is no sage whispering the righteousness, if it is not prohibited, over time, the foundation of Confucianism will definitely be in danger!" Wang Yingxiong, a university scholar, found a more important point of attack and saw a deeper threat.

"Fei Xiong is right, no matter whether the content of the "Oriental Times" is true or false, but if you don't use the text of my Ming standard, it must be banned!" University scholar He Wufu agreed.

Hear these points from theirs.

Agree.

Zhu Youzhen raised his hands and feet in his heart, because the threat of this "Oriental Times" was obvious, and he also wanted to block it, even if there were countless dry goods in it.

But if you really have the ability to ban it if you want to, that's great.

Because before the publication of this newspaper, he had been asked for his consent, and Zhu Youzhen didn't care about it at that time, but it was just a commercial newspaper similar to Di Bao, what threat could it have? And as long as he nods, the royal family will publish articles in the "Oriental Times" for free in the future, and will help promote the glorious image of the royal family, promote the goods sold in the royal store, and earn a few more silver dollars every year, etc., Zhu Youzhen's eyes lit up and nodded and agreed, who knew that this was a routine.

Now he wants to turn his face and regret it, is Xu Jiazhuang a vegetarian? Whatever kind of punishment is there, can the royal family withstand it?

And then I thought of Wen Tiren, Wu Zongda, and Qian Shisheng, who had all deposited a large amount of money in Tianxiatong Bank, and they all became big customers, but here, they always opposed Xu Jiazhuang so powerfully, and there were countless mouths, but why did they want to deposit money to Tianxiatong Bank, are their words credible? If they really do what they say, who will bear the losses caused, and will they be held responsible?

Thinking of this, Zhu Youzhen had no choice but to focus his inquiring eyes on Sun Chengzong and Xu Guangqi, the two consultants specially invited today.

"Mr. Sun, Elder Xu Ge, I don't know what you think?"

"Your Majesty, what this newspaper says must be true, we must be prepared to deal with disasters this year, and make every effort to avoid the occurrence of a great famine."

Sun Chengzong surprised everyone when he opened his mouth, he said: "In the past two years, I haven't done anything else in my hometown in Gaoyang County, that is, I have specialized in studying Jiannu and Xujiazhuang, and found that although Jiannu is fierce, it is by no means the opponent of Xujiazhuang, so I put all my energy on studying Xujiazhuang, and found that the three characteristics of the force are extremely worthy of learning and reference, and it is the secret that can make Daming rich and strong." ”

"One is pragmatism, Xujiazhuang is extremely pragmatic, Gewu to the extreme, no matter what to do, he will do his best to collect data, so as to make accurate decisions, just like the art of war in the knowledge of oneself and the other, and the data intelligence is far ahead, so no matter what Xujiazhuang does, it is invincible, and there are very few situations that cannot be coped, which is the benefit of pragmatism."

"The second is to take precautions, unpredictable prophets, Xujiazhuang from the beginning of the great importance of food security, the focus of development in recent years, is to get more food, but also vigorously develop animal husbandry, engage in marine fishing, meat as an important supplement, last year is in the Jiangnan region, absorb enough 10,000 people to eat a year's food, with the nature of Xujiazhuang businessmen, if not in advance to predict the crisis, and why to make such a big move, in case this year's wind and rain, so much food is not smashed in the hands? But Xu Jiazhuang still did it, and invested nearly 100 million silver dollars into it, is it just for a joke? ”

"The third is strong execution, Xujiazhuang's "three-year 100,000 miles road repair plan", said to implement the implementation, a salary of hundreds of dollars a day, including two meals, and no limit on the number of road repairers, at least one million young people have been recruited, this number is more than the people of Emperor Yang of Sui to repair the canal, but Xujiazhuang not only successfully recruited millions of young people, but also managed in an orderly manner, without any mistakes, this kind of organization, execution, frightening, the court can not match."

"Your Majesty, this "Oriental Times", the grass people think that not only can not be banned, but can make people open their eyes to see the world, how to learn the best window of Xujiazhuang, if you blindly reject and resist, close your eyes and ears, a few years later, in the face of a new brilliant trend, there is only one way to be crushed and swept away."

Sun Chengzong knelt on the ground and persuaded with tears in his heart.

Zhu Youzhen hurriedly asked the eunuch to help him up.

"Your Majesty, what Mr. Sun meant, is what I want to say."

At this time, Xu Guangqi also said tremblingly: "Especially the Xiaoice period, after the old minister consulted countless materials, he could only come to a conclusion that was "extremely correct and creepy", I hope Your Majesty will pay attention to it, don't listen to any "heaven and man induction" saying, natural disasters are uncontrollable and common, Xu Jiazhuang can find out the law, it is a groundbreaking move, and it is the beginning of man's victory over the sky, if the imperial court can fight disasters and prevent disasters in advance this year, keep grain production, and save more people, it will definitely be able to win the hearts of countless people and rebuild the prestige of the imperial court, it is also a great thing for Your Majesty. If Xu Jiazhuang is unfortunate and the imperial court does nothing, it will definitely cause countless resentments and greatly damage the prestige of the imperial court. ”

Hear this.

Zhu Youzhen was shocked, and had to nod and say: "Reasonable, the elder of the pavilion is reasonable!" I immediately issued a holy decree asking all localities to prepare for disasters in advance and not to be lazy! Of course, the main purpose is to avoid the inaction of the imperial court, which turned out to win the hearts of the people.

Seeing that the emperor decisively adopted the suggestions of the two advisers who had already been sent to the ministers, ignoring the proposals of these real cabinet ministers, Wen Tiren, Wu Zongda and others were naturally very unhappy, and immediately turned around the bush and offered the slander that the two elders may have been "bought by Xujiazhuang" and "have deviated from the righteousness of Confucianism".

As for whether to ban the "Oriental Times", this topic has gradually ceased to continue, even if the civil officials are aware of the seriousness of allowing the influence of this newspaper to spread, but it is easy to block, can Xu Jiazhuang's counterattack be withstandable? Don't you want the deposit in the Tianxia Tong Bank?

Not only can't it be banned, but after the "Oriental Times" publishes a new issue, a copy will soon appear in their hands, and they will severely criticize it after reading it, and every issue will not fall.

……

On the other hand, after the first issue was issued, Xujiazhuang naturally did not stop fighting, but struck while the iron was hot and continued to issue a new issue of "Oriental Times".

On March 11, the second issue of the Oriental Times also printed and distributed 1 million copies, distributed throughout the Ming Dynasty, and this time the headline on the front page was "On Xujiazhuang's concept of "taking the people as the foundation and taking people as treasures".

On March 14, the front page of the third issue of the Oriental Times headlined "Natural Selection, Survival of the Fittest!" On why the Ming Dynasty wants to expand abroad].

On March 17, the front page of the fourth issue of the Oriental Times continued the topic of the previous issue with an editorial: "The colonial footprints of the Western powers have reached the gate of the Ming Dynasty, it is time to open your eyes to the world!" 】

On March 20, the front page of the fifth issue of the Oriental Times headlined "Great changes unseen in 3,000 years, some people are still living in dreams!" For the third time in a row, he explores the same topic, fully criticizing certain groups and even speaking out about the limitations of Confucianism.

March 2......

Since then, the "Oriental Times" issued by Xujiazhuang, at the speed of issuing one issue every three days (temporarily unable to do one issue per day, the cost is unbearable), quickly occupied an unchallengeable dominant ecological niche in the public opinion field of the Ming Dynasty, and the influence is increasing, each time a million copies are issued, they are quickly snatched up, and even a special group of scalpers has appeared, feeding countless newspaper readers in teahouses......

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Chapter 182: Chongzhen and the Cabinet's Shock Free Read.