My father Zhu Gaoxu

Chapter 518 Yongle Daily
When they heard that Zhu Di also wanted to run a newspaper in the name of the imperial court, Zhu Zhanhe and Xia Yuanji were stunned for a moment. Neither of them expected that Zhu Di called them here for this matter.

"Your Majesty, I wonder why you suddenly have such an idea?"

Xia Yuanji was the first to react and asked Zhu Di immediately.

"Why, you are only allowed to run a newspaper and scold me, but I am not allowed to run a newspaper and scold me back?"

Zhu Di asked half-jokingly and half-seriously.

"That's not what I meant. It's just that the matter was too sudden and I was not prepared for it at the moment."

Xia Yuanji hurriedly explained.

"No need to explain, I don't blame you."

When Zhu Di said this, he turned to look at Zhu Zhanhe and asked, "Zhanhe, what do you think?"

"Does Grandpa Huang want to start an official newspaper?"

Zhu Zhanhe thought for a while before asking.

"Yes, I read newspapers every day during this period, and I feel more and more that newspapers are very useful. They can not only promote the government's decrees, but also educate the people. So I think it is necessary to run an official newspaper."

Zhu Di replied with a smile.

In fact, Zhu Di thought much deeper than he said. During this period of time, by reading newspapers, he found that newspapers were an excellent tool to express his thoughts. Even though he was an emperor, he was often criticized by a group of ministers because of some things. Can't get off stage.

But if there is a newspaper, Zhu Di can control a channel to express his voice, and even guide the direction of public opinion in the government and the opposition according to his own ideas, so he wants to run a newspaper that is completely under his control.

"The Emperor is wise. I also think it is necessary to run an official newspaper. However, there are still some differences between official newspapers and private newspapers. We need to pay attention to it when the time comes."

Zhu Zhanhe nodded immediately.

Although Zhu Di's idea is a bit sudden, Zhu Zhanhe generally agrees. The official needs to have its own mouthpiece, and the private sector also needs to have an authoritative newspaper to ensure the source and accuracy of the news. This is what Zhu Zhanhe and Xia Zhanhe said. Yuanji couldn't do it.

"What's the difference? Zhanhe, please explain in detail!"

Zhu Di asked with interest at this time.

"Official newspapers represent the mouthpiece of the imperial court, so the newspaper's writing style needs to be serious and fair. Even if it reports news, it must focus on the imperial court's news and cannot be as frivolous as the news newspaper."

Zhu Zhanhe paused at this point, then continued.

"In addition, official newspapers deal with the people across the country, and most of the people are illiterate. Even if they are literate, it is difficult to understand obscure articles. Therefore, the articles in official newspapers should be more easy to understand. It is best if they only need to be literate. You can understand what is written, and it must not be like a Confucian newspaper, so that you can achieve the best publicity effect!"

"Makes sense!"

Zhu Di sighed in admiration after hearing this.

He had just proposed to start a newspaper, but Zhu Zhanhe could think of so many things, which showed that he really thought carefully.

"Your Majesty, the imperial court already has a Dibao. However, the Dibao is only for officials and has limited dissemination. If we want to run a newspaper now, it is better to have some people from the General Affairs Department and find a few good writers from the Hanlin Academy. Then we should be able to support the newspaper. skeleton."

Not to be outdone, Xia Yuanji immediately stepped forward and suggested.

The Di Bao of the Ming Dynasty was under the control of the General Affairs Department, which was responsible for sending and receiving various official documents and memorials. There was a General Affairs Envoy, who was usually a close confidant of the emperor.

"The General Affairs Department can appoint people, but the Hanlin Academy does not need to!"

Unexpectedly, Zhu Zhanhe stood up and objected. "Why, Prince, can you find someone with better writing skills than the Hanlin Academy?"

Xia Yuanji frowned and immediately asked Zhu Zhanhe.

"Xia Shangshu, don't be anxious. As I said just now, the official newspaper is for the people of the entire Ming Dynasty, so the articles written must be understandable to the people. In the Hanlin Academy, they are either the number one scholar or the number two scholar. Let them write such articles. It’s really overkill, just a few supervisors from the Imperial College can do the job!”

Zhu Zhanhe explained with a faint smile.

He was not targeting the Hanlin Academy, but in his opinion, those Hanlin Academy were all noble officials. They were mainly responsible for the compilation of some books, and the more gorgeous articles they wrote, the better. Now let them write easy-to-understand articles. , maybe they can't adapt.

"The prince underestimates the Hanlin Academy. They can write beautiful articles, and they can also write announcements to the people, so they are fully qualified to run newspapers!"

Xia Yuanji said harshly.

"Really? But I heard that Lu Xiu, the editor-in-chief of Confucian Press, was born in the Imperial Academy. If you look at the articles in Confucian Press now, each one is more obscure than the last. This is the main reason why the sales of your newspaper have not been increasing."

Zhu Zhanhe retorted with a smile again.

"Okay, I have my own plan for who I will use to run the newspaper. You should help me think about how to run this newspaper?"

Zhu Di waved his hand to interrupt the quarrel between the two.

"Grandpa Huang, since you want to run an official newspaper, what do you plan to name this newspaper?"

Zhu Zhanhe immediately asked.

"name?"

Zhu Di also looked thoughtful when he heard this, and finally slapped his thigh suddenly.

"Yes, since it is a government-run newspaper, it must have a decent name. Why not just name it after my reign and call it Yongle Newspaper!"

"Yongle Bao? Yongle Hug?"

When Zhu Zhanhe heard this name, the image of Zhu Di opening his arms and hugging him tightly appeared in his mind, which was really unbearable to look at.

So Zhu Zhanhe immediately suggested: "Grandpa Huang, now the News and Confucian Daily are published every other day, but in my original idea, they were published every day. It was just that there was insufficient manpower before, so it couldn't be realized, but the official newspaper must be There is no shortage of people, and we can publish one page every day, so I think it’s better to call it Yongle Daily!”

"Yongle Daily! With the addition of a word, the name seems to be more pleasant to the ears. Okay, let's just follow your opinion!"

Zhu Di nodded generously.

"Now that we have a name and the General Secretary has joined us, we cannot copy the Di Bao because some of the contents in the Di Bao are not suitable for public disclosure, such as some military-related memorials and official documents. If they are published, it will be very difficult. It is easy for the enemy to collect some important intelligence."

Zhu Zhanhe suggested again.

The content in newspapers must be screened, and some confidential content must not be published. This happened in later generations. Some secrets were also published in newspapers, resulting in major leaks and serious losses to the country.

"It makes sense, I almost neglected it!"

Zhu Di nodded again when he heard this. Just now, he even planned to directly expand Di Bao and publish it as a newspaper, but he never thought about the issue of confidentiality.

"Although Yongle Daily is an official newspaper, it cannot just report dry decrees. It also needs to add some interest so that people are willing to read it. Only in this way can the propaganda effect be achieved..."

Next, Zhu Zhanhe talked about some things that need to be paid attention to when running a newspaper. Zhu Di nodded repeatedly and felt more and more that he had asked the right person.

(End of this chapter)