Chapter 192 Go and get the teaching stick
Suzaku City, Huwei Soldiers’ Fort.

After finishing the morning drill, I heard the guards of Zhou Mansion shout, "Disband!"

The young men cheered and rushed to the cafeteria like fish crossing the river under the scorching sun.

This Huwei Bingfang, no, according to the owner's words, the treatment of this Railway Chamber of Commerce is the best in Tianjin, and may even be the only one in the world!
Not only are three meals a day included, but there is also a seven-day holiday. In the young people's own words, that means the masters in the government offices only have a ten-day holiday!

What's more, there is the illusory chance that he might be accepted as Zhou Tieyi's personal disciple.

The personal guards of the Zhou residence said in casual conversation that even if they were just accepted as personal guards by the second young master, it was a real leap from a carp to a dragon. Both their status and their own strength were incomparable. There used to be a boy named A Da among them who was good at flattering and making the young master happy. Now he is riding on everyone's heads.

Chen Daxing trotted over to Wang Mingyi excitedly, "Brother Yi, let's go grab some food!"

Wang Mingyi had a smile with some emotion on his face.

When I was in Tai College before, I never knew that I had to fight for food.

If these words were heard by Zuo Zhisheng, the assistant doctor of the Imperial Academy, he would have to stand for several hours and teach him the teachings of the sages, such as "A gentleman does not eat food given in contempt, let alone food snatched away."

After leaving Taixue Academy, Wang Mingyi felt that the world he had seen before was too small.

For example, I never knew that collecting swill was an excellent livelihood for ordinary people. Chen Daxing's parents collected swill to earn twelve taels of silver every month, which was enough to support the four brothers to study and practice martial arts.

The vast majority of ordinary people in Tianjin only earned about three taels of silver per month, or one hundred coins per day, which was already a very good thing.

Not to mention that the vast majority of ordinary people in this world have never even touched silver.

"No, I have to go out today."

Wang Mingyi saw the disappointment in Chen Daxing's eyes and added, "I'm not going to meet a guest, will you come with me?"

"okay!"

Chen Daxing immediately nodded and agreed.

Because his family collected slop and he had a sour smell that was hard to get rid of, he was often excluded even among teenagers. Only Wang Mingyi treated him normally. A few days ago, it was because of him that he beat up that kid Zhuang Xiang, which made Chen Daxing so grateful that he decided to follow Brother Yi from now on!
At noon, including the meal, there is a total of one hour of rest time. The Huwei Military Square is on the outskirts of Zhuque City, and it is not easy to go to the city to buy a newspaper.

After going out, Wang Mingyi's steps were full of energy. He had figured out the truth that day. With the help of the word "righteousness" that his teacher had left in his heart, he had begun to gradually master the great righteousness and was just waiting for the final transformation.

Wang Mingyi's pace was very fast. Even though Chen Daxing was nimble, he was still tired and out of breath after jogging for more than ten miles.

Wang Mingyi placed his palm on Chen Daxing's back, and a surge of righteous energy sorted out Chen Daxing's consumed blood and energy, helping him to unleash his potential.

"Brother Yi, what is this?"

Chen Daxing asked curiously.

"A way to use Haoran Qi."

Wang Mingyi did not explain in much detail, and Chen Daxing only half understood what he said. He only knew that Haoran Qi was something that educated people could understand, and he didn't even know what Haoran Qi represented.

Arriving at the nearest storytelling building, Wang Mingyi bought a few meat pies and a pot of tea and handed them to Chen Daxing. Then he entered the building and saw two piles of newspapers placed in a conspicuous place. One pile of paper was slightly yellow, and the other pile was snow-white, which could be said to be clearly distinguished.

“How do you sell this book?”

Wang Mingyi asked calmly. He had just discovered that, in fact, a new thing like newspapers, even if it was placed in the most conspicuous place, the people around would not take too much look at it.

For them, anything that is recorded in writing is the business of scholars. Only those who have entered the Hundred Schools of Thought are qualified to read it. Otherwise, it would be a waste of money to buy it. It would be better to listen to novels and have fun.

When the newspaper vendor heard that there was another order coming in, he took a look at the short coat Wang Mingyi was wearing and said indifferently, "Tianjing Daily is five cents a copy, and Awakening Daily is thirty-five cents a copy."

Wang Mingyi frowned and asked, "Is the Awakening Newspaper so expensive?"

But he knew that when Dong Xingshu gathered everyone to discuss how to respond to the Tianjing News, he had already heard from the merchants that a copy of the Tianjing News only cost five cents.

When the newspaper seller heard this, he glanced at the short coat Wang Mingyi was wearing and sneered, "You think it's too expensive? Then buy the Tianjing News."

Wang Mingyi frowned even more tightly, of course not because of the newspaper seller's rudeness, but because how dare Dong Xiu De sell the newspaper at such a high price?
Does he really think that what he created can definitely suppress Zhou Tieyi?

With a long sigh, Wang Mingyi took out a tael of silver from his bosom, then stretched out his finger, and his righteous energy was like a blazing white knife, accurately cutting a corner.

"Two of the same, just right."

Wang Mingyi placed the small piece of silver in front of the other party.

The newspaper seller also realized that his words just now might have offended the young monk, so he didn't dare to worry about whether the silver was enough. He hurriedly took two newspapers respectfully and handed them over with both hands.

Seeing Wang Mingyi coming out of the storytelling building, Chen Daxing quickly swallowed the meat pie in his mouth and took a sip of tea, "Brother Yi, are you done?"

Wang Mingyi nodded, and while scanning the Tianjing Newspaper, he handed the extra copy to Chen Daxing, "This is yours. If you want to do well in the Railway Chamber of Commerce, you need to learn some principles."

Chen Daxing stood there in a daze, neither taking over nor answering.

This actually made Wang Mingyi a little confused. He looked up and asked, "What? Don't you want to study?"

Chen Daxing suddenly rubbed his eyes with his hands and said, "No, there was sand in my eyes just now."

After saying this, in order to prevent Wang Mingyi from noticing, he wiped the grease and tears off his clothes with his hands before taking the newspaper.

The two young men sat on the ground next to the storytelling building, using the shadows to block out the sunlight, eating meat patties and reading newspapers.

After reading the newspaper, Wang Mingyi became even more confused.

He subconsciously asked Chen Daxing, "What do you think?"

Chen Daxing looked at the two newspapers again. He didn't understand the Awakening Newspaper at all, but the Tianjing Newspaper was interesting, so he answered honestly, "I want to read the second episode of Qi Xiaosheng's Trouble on Huangquan Road."

······
The sun was slightly westward and the heat was slightly subsiding, then Emperor Daxia went from the Xuanfa Hall to the Imperial Study.

He was feeling lazy and had no energy at all.

The cause of loss is daily.

His Majesty the Great Xia knew that this was a normal process, but when he thought that he would have to go through this process for at least three years, he couldn't help feeling a little annoyed.

After entering the Imperial Study, the Queen Mother waited as usual and sorted out the memorials annotated by the Three Officials. However, this time she did not change the order of the memorials and just followed the Three Officials' ideas.

In addition to the Queen Mother and the eunuch Su Xibi who accompanied her in reading, there was also Feng Zikuan waiting.

When His Majesty the Great Xia saw Feng Zikuan, he thought of the newspaper matter, so he asked casually, "Is the newspaper ready?"

Feng Zikuan said respectfully, "Thanks to the blessing of His Majesty, everything is in order. I have put the newspaper among the memorials, waiting for His Majesty to review it."

The Emperor of Daxia smiled slightly and felt much better. He looked at the pile of memorials and found them all boring. He might as well take a look at the newspaper edited by Zhou Tieyi first.

So he said, "Where's the newspaper?"

The Queen Mother personally handed the two newspapers to His Majesty the Great Xia.

His Majesty the Great Xia glanced at the question.

"Tianjing News", "Xingshi News".

He already understood what I meant, but he still asked knowingly, "Why are there two newspapers?"

The Queen Mother did not say anything profound this time. Instead, she smiled and answered truthfully, "The Confucians and Legalists were not convinced and wanted to try the tricks of the emperor's pawns."

Su Xibi and Feng Zikuan sighed in their hearts, she is indeed worthy of being the Queen of Heaven.

Even if it was just telling the truth, this one sentence had already shifted the emperor's point of reference to the Tianjing News.

When His Majesty of Daxia heard what the Queen Mother said, he was not surprised. He had indeed entrusted the newspaper to Zhou Tieyi, and the Confucians and Legalists were indeed dissatisfied.

He first picked up the Awakening Newspaper and said, "Let me see how they refuse to obey."

After finishing reading "Awakening the World News", His Majesty the Great Xia even felt as if he had finished reading a long memorial.

Every sentence above is correct, think about it over and over again.

Because it was the first edition, Dong Xiu De did it very seriously, and the great scholars and legal scholars also wrote it very seriously. It was simply a written version of the dialogue between the emperor and his ministers.

The Great Xia Emperor pondered for a moment, "It's just a commonplace." Then he picked up the Tianjing Newspaper and after reading the first page, he turned around in surprise and looked at the Empress next to him, "Did you write this article?"

The Queen asked in return, "Your Majesty, what do you think of this article?"

The Great Xia Emperor looked at the article again and suddenly smiled and said, "Well written."

The Queen agreed, "If Your Majesty thinks it's well written, then that's the best."

The reason why she wrote this article "Experiences in Growing Flowers" so straightforwardly was not only in response to Zhou Tieyi's request, but also because articles in the "Sacred Edict" edition were difficult to write.

This is the authority given to her by His Majesty, but the word "imperial edict" is too heavy. Facing the increasingly suspicious His Majesty, even the Queen Mother needs to be careful.

Although His Majesty wants to manage the household himself, he is still the one who calls the shots!

Therefore, her "Experiences in Growing Flowers" could not be written well, which just met Zhou Tieyi's requirements. Even the Queen of Heaven couldn't help but wonder whether the vernacular text Zhou Tieyi spoke was a calculation for this purpose!

After His Majesty the Great Xia praised, he continued to flip through the pages. He read ten lines at a glance. When he turned to "Treasures", he began to frown. After reading "Oiran", his brows were furrowed. After reading "Novel", he remained silent.

Although there was nothing wrong with the Tianjing News, he was not satisfied, at least not completely satisfied.

If it is always like this in the future, should his article fall into the "Divine Oracle" section?

The Emperor of Daxia was thinking about it, and subconsciously picked up another newspaper to compare. When he saw the Confucianists' praise of the Holy Emperor and the Five Emperors, he compared it with the precious courtesan.

Suddenly he laughed and said, this is good.

The white tiger fights the unicorn, but I don't have to take part this time.

So instead of judging the two newspapers, he put them aside and started reading the first memorial.

The moment the memorial was opened, His Majesty read the title.

"On the Memorial of the Tianjing Newspaper Misleading the People".

Of course he knew that the Tianjing News had misled the people, but it is not for you Confucian ministers to say this, but for me, the emperor and father, to say this!
So I didn’t even read the content, just threw it aside and kept it without sending it out!

······
In the study of Simin Mansion.

The Mohist self-propelled clock ticked moment by moment.

Every moment they walked, the servants would come in to report on the sales of the "Xingshi Bao" and "Tianjing Daily" in Tianjing.

Dong Xingshu did not ask for any specific information, he just wanted to see the situation of the thirty-six storytelling buildings.

Because both types of newspapers were sold in those thirty-six storytelling houses, without any bias.

Dong Xingshu pondered the "Tianjing News" again and again. He looked up at the clock and saw that it was already You hour, so today's newspaper sales were almost determined.

A total of 300 copies of "Xingshi Bao" were sold in 36 bookstores, and a total of 1,500 copies of "Tianjing Bao" were sold in 36 bookstores.

The gap between the two is as much as five times!
But Dong Xingshu did not get angry.

Because the price of "Xingshi Bao" was 35 wen, while "Tianjing Bao" was only 5 wen.

That’s the biggest reason.

Zhou Tieyi dared to sell it so cheaply because the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Chamber of Commerce helped him make up for the losses!

However, the "Awakening Newspaper" requires the Confucian and Legalist schools to pay for it themselves. How and how much money to pay are yet to be discussed by Dong Xiu De and Qing Kong Ming.

It was not easy for them to produce the "Awakening Newspaper" in such a short time.

What's more, Zhou Tieyi boasted at that time that he would sell 130,000 copies, and if it was distributed nationwide in the future, he would sell even more!

Considering such a huge loss, even the Confucian and Legalist schools did not dare to agree to it easily.

Even if it's sold for thirty-five cents now, I still have to pay for each one.

After all, Dong Xiu De and Qing Kong Ming grew up reading the best books, so when choosing paper, even though they knew they had to cut costs, they couldn't bring themselves to do so.

If scholars are too serious about money in everything, aren't they no different from Zhou Tieyi?

Dong Xingshu put the newspaper down with both hands and thought, could he catch up with the sales volume by lowering the price?
Then he looked at the Tianjing News again and shook his head. Thirty-six bookstores only sold fifteen hundred copies a day. This newspaper was published every three days, and with the help of shops, could Zhou Tieyi sell ten thousand copies?
If it was just this level, his boast of 30,000 copies would be laughable.

Thinking about this, Dong Xingshu asked casually, "Where is Xiu De?"

The servant replied respectfully, "The eldest master is organizing a literary gathering."

"Literary meeting, what literary meeting?"

Dong Xingshu frowned. Business was important right now, so how could he have the mood to organize a literary gathering?

The servant replied, "I heard from the eldest master that he organized scholars to criticize the Tianjing Newspaper."

Just as Dong Xingshu was thinking about it, Dong Xiu De hurried back home from outside.

He couldn't hide his joy, walked into Dong Xiude's study, and bowed, "Father."

Dong Xingshu remained calm and asked, "I heard that you went to organize a literary gathering?"

Dong Xiu De said proudly, "Father, today I showed the stinking Tianjing Newspaper to various celebrities. They all said that the Tianjing Newspaper insulted the teachings of the saints, and they all wrote letters to ask for your permission to bring the letter to the emperor during the court meeting."

As he spoke, Dong Xiu De signaled his followers to take out a stack of written articles.

When Dong Xingshu saw the pile of written articles, a flash of inspiration suddenly struck him, and he looked at the vernacular text in the Tianjing News again.

He finally understood why Zhou Tieyi used such vulgar language to write "Tianjing News". He wanted to anger all the literati in Tianjing!

This is an invisible declaration of war. There is not a single word cursing the Confucian and Legalist scholars, but every word and every punctuation mark is cursing the Confucian and Legalist scholars!

If vernacular Chinese is really allowed to spread throughout the world, how will Confucian and Legalist scholars write articles in the future?
Should it be written according to the writing format taught by the sage, or should it be written in Zhou Tieyi's vernacular?
Who will read the article you write for?
The scholars could not stand this, so they naturally wrote letters to advise the public and denounced the harm done by the Tianjing News!
But he had already done this with Qingkong Gui, and there was nothing wrong with the two of them doing it, because the emperor knew that this was a normal party struggle, a power struggle between the Three Officials and Zhou Tieyi, the Queen Mother.

But the scholars in the world cannot do this.

Because if everyone in the Confucian and Legalist schools writes an article, that is the "public opinion of the world", how can the emperor control it? This is forcing the emperor to abdicate!
Thinking of this, even Dong Xingshu, who was very shrewd, stood up excitedly.

Dong Xiu De realized something was wrong at this time, and asked tentatively in a low voice, "Father?"

Dong Xingshu suppressed his anger and asked, "Are all the articles here?"

Dong Xiu De's heart skipped a beat, but he still answered, "Han Chen and I have each invited people. I only have articles written by Confucianists here. I will ask Han Chen to take the rest of the articles written by Legalists to Si Lu. As for the articles written by famous scholars and historians, they will deliver them to the court themselves. When the time comes, father will not need to comment on them, he can just submit them directly..."

Only by doing so can they show that Confucianism is selfless and does not seize the right to speak for others.

After hearing this, Dong Xingshu was stunned for a moment and said angrily, "Asshole!"

The terrifying power made Dong Xiu De unable to raise his head. He felt as if he had a heavy burden on his shoulders.

Dong Xingshu glanced at the pile of memorials held by the servant. Under the power of this second-rank scholar, the servant fell to his knees on the ground, his body trembling, and he was unable to speak.

"Alas! I was wrong. I realized it a few hours late!"

When he read the entire vernacular text, he should have understood that Zhou Tieyi was declaring war on all those who made a living from writing.

It's just that he was in the middle of the situation at that time and was already hostile to Zhou Tieyi, so he naturally thought that Zhou Tieyi was declaring war on their Confucianism and Legalism. He didn't expect that Zhou Tieyi would expand the scope of attack to include famous scholars and historians.

But even if I figured it out at that time, it would only delay it, not kill the plan!
This is a conspiracy!
It is better to defend the people's mouth than to defend the river.

Now, let alone guarding against the people, Dong Xingshu can't even control the mouths of the scholars in Tianjing. He will inevitably be put in a position of opposition by these people in front of the emperor, and forced to compete with Zhou Tieyi for the orthodox view of how to write articles!

If Dong Xingshu did not do so, let alone whether the emperor would forgive him or not, how would the Confucian scholars in the world view him, a citizen chosen by the Confucian scholars?

Dong Xingshu was more tired than ever before, but he looked at his son and said, "Go and get the teaching stick. I want to test you on a few questions."

　There will be another update today, still in the evening.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)