Great Ming Dynasty Wen Chao Gong

Chapter 102 How to write a front-page article

The emperor's instructions to run a newspaper and write a front-page article have been placed in the hands of the chief minister of the cabinet. In order to discuss the matter, he called the other three members of the cabinet over.

"Previously, His Majesty said that he wanted to hold a celebration and set off fireworks to celebrate the victory of Pyongyang, but I dismissed it. Now that His Majesty wants to run a newspaper, I must express my support, otherwise His Majesty will reprimand me for being arrogant and disrespectful. What's the matter with this front-page article? Write, Your Majesty did not say it clearly, let our cabinet discuss it. I am anxious for you to come here this time, and I also want to ask the president for his opinion on this. Yuan Yu, this matter of running a newspaper was proposed by Zhang Minglue of the Hanlin Academy, and Zhang Minglue should also Have you told me about this?" Chief Assistant Wang Jiaping asked Wang Xijue.

"Zhang Minglue has indeed told me about this matter. His Majesty has decreed that, except for the front page article, all other manuscripts in the general journal are under the Hanlin Academy, and Zhang Minglue is naturally involved. But how to write this front page article, I really I haven’t thought about it. However, the Korean War is still going on. According to His Majesty’s wishes, the headline of this general issue must be about the Korean War. But His Majesty also agreed to Zhang Minglue to publish the special issue on the Korean War, so Now I'm a little unsure of His Majesty's intentions." Wang Xijue replied.

"Mingcheng, do you have any opinions on this matter of filing a newspaper?" Wang Jiaping asked Zhang Wei.

"This matter of running newspapers has nothing to do with the staff. However, I do have some ideas on how to deal with North Korea. North Korea is too close to the capital and cannot defend itself. Should Ming Dynasty send capable officials to North Korea to help North Korea recruit people? Reliable country warriors guarding the border?" Zhang Wei said.

"This matter is of great concern. If things go wrong, the kings and ministers of North Korea will think that I, the Ming Dynasty, will eat them up. We should wait until we can discuss this matter separately. For now, we should discuss the matter of running a newspaper."

"Okay. Then Zhang has nothing to say about filing the newspaper."

"Rumai, what do you think of this front-page article?" Wang Jiaping asked Zhao Zhigao.

"I think the war in Korea is currently in turmoil, but as the headline of the front page, the article to be written in it represents the focus of the government's governance. Therefore, the front page article must talk about the Battle of Korea, but it cannot just talk about Korea. Battle. Although His Majesty did not say it explicitly, this front-page article should still talk about His Majesty's civil and military achievements in the twenty years since he came to the throne, especially the martial arts in the past few years. It not only extends the power of Ming Dynasty, but also demonstrates His Majesty's power. Wise." Zhao Zhigao said.

"But if this front-page article reads like this, then the cabinet is a little too flattering to His Majesty." Wang Jiaping said with some trepidation.

"Chief Minister, how can this be said to be flattery? In fact, Chief Minister, you should not dismiss His Majesty's decree to set off fireworks. If our Ming Dynasty wants to have long-term peace and stability, all the subjects of the world must be under His Majesty's glory all the time, including scholars, farmers, industry and commerce. , everyone is in his place. Now the battle in Pyongyang can be said to drive out the Japanese pirates, and the survival will continue. Your Majesty wants to have fun with the people, so why not. If you are afraid of wasting the people and damaging the money, just don't set off so many fireworks. The Japanese raised troops on the first day of the first lunar month, and they did it I couldn't celebrate the Spring Festival well in the Ming Dynasty. Zu Chengxun's defeat a few days ago made the people in the capital fearful. Celebrating it can also calm the people's hearts and inspire the soldiers," Zhao Zhigao said.

"You are right. How about you write this front-page article yourself?" Wang Jiaping asked.

"The Chief Assistant asked me to write it, and I did my duty. It's just that I still have some ideas about running the newspaper." Zhao Zhigao said.

"Oh? Please speak clearly."

"The matter of running a newspaper is also about promoting education. It should be better placed in the Ministry of Etiquette. The Hanlin Academy is already busy with business, and now it has to run a newspaper. The work to be done is too complicated. Of course, I know that running a newspaper It was Zhang Minglue's idea, and I didn't want to fight for power. It's just that since I am also the Minister of Rites, I still have to make this matter of authority and responsibility clear," Zhao Zhigao said. "It's hard to say now whether or not this newspaper can be done, and to what extent it can be done. Since His Majesty has asked the Hanlin Academy to handle it, I would like to publish a few issues first so that Your Majesty can see the usefulness of this newspaper. Okay. If His Majesty later feels that this newspaper should belong to the officials of the Ministry of Rites, Xijue will never object." Wang Xijue said.

"As for the ownership of the newspaper, let's first put it in the Hanlin Academy according to His Majesty's decree. Which yamen will be in charge of it later will be a matter later. Maybe the newspaper run by Zhang Minglue will have some other regulations later. Let’s get it done now and then talk about it.” Wang Jiaping tried to smooth things over.

"Okay, then I will write the front-page article first, and then all my colleagues will help check it together before submitting it to His Majesty." Zhao Zhigao said.

The content of other pages of the general issue was quickly assembled. The front-page article written by Zhao Zhigao has also been written. The articles listed in the first issue have been arranged according to the layout style. Together with the special issue on the Battle of Korea, the two The broadsheets of the newspaper were copied in the most impartial handwriting and handed to the emperor.

"This front-page article was written by Mr. Zhao Ge himself?" the emperor asked while flipping through the sample issue.

"It was written by Mr. Zhao Ge himself. Several cabinet ministers read it together and polished and revised it several times before submitting it," Chen Ju said.

"This article is really well written and has a high level of perspective. It starts from Emperor Taizu expelling the Huru and wiping out Yu Nei, and goes on to Ning Yuanbo's several great victories. It lists all the martial arts of the Ming Dynasty. Why do we have to deal with the Japanese? The war started, and he spoke clearly. The articles in the following pages were all written by Hanlin of the Hanlin Academy. Which page was written by Zhang Xiao? Do you know." The emperor praised.

"The articles in the following pages are indeed written by Hanlin, and the page Zhang Xiao is responsible for is this Gewu page."

"Oh, the Gewu section is here at the end. It talks about several food crops in the Americas. Food is the most important thing for the people, so it's okay to talk about this first, but when you have time, you can also read how to remind Zhang Xiao, next time the newspaper You can write something new that I haven’t seen before. There are still a few empty spaces in there, what should I put in them?”

"Your Majesty, the empty sections are meant for illustrations. For example, the empty sections in Gewu are meant for pictures of sweet potatoes, corn, etc."

"I see. I've probably read this newspaper too. It's very well written. I don't have any big changes here. Let me take a look at the special issue about the Korean War as well." The emperor roughly read through it. I read the first issue of the popular journal,

"Your Majesty, this is the special issue." Chen Ju handed the special issue to the emperor.

"Oh, let me see how this special issue about the Korean War looks like?" The emperor took the large copy of the special issue and began to read it roughly.

(End of this chapter)