Chapter 239 Si Lu Talks about Confucianism
"Extra, Extra, "On the Extravagant and Corrupt Trends in Tianjing", Si Lu is determined to "rectify the evil tendencies among officials."

In the early morning, the clear voice of the newsboy can be heard throughout the streets and alleys.

Many people in breakfast shops have become accustomed to reading a copy of the Tianjing News to relieve boredom. After all, it only costs five cents for three days and there are two novels on it. I also heard that the Tianjing News is planning to lower its price again recently, which is a good thing for the people.

"Here's a copy of the Tianjing News."

A customer drinking soy milk waved to the newsboy.

The newsboy came running over and said, "Sir, today's edition is from the Legal Daily, not the Tianjing Daily."

"'Legal Newspaper'? What kind of newspaper is this? It's just as incomprehensible as 'Awakening Newspaper'?"

"This is a newspaper edited by Lord Si Lu and the Fa family. It also uses vernacular Chinese. Today's news is very explosive and has a lot to do with the arrests made by the God-Slaying Division two days ago."

"Then is the Tianjing News still for sale?"

"Sell, of course."

The guest thought for a while and said, "I'll give you one of both newspapers."

"okay."

The newsboy happily handed the other person a newspaper, took ten cents and continued to shout.

The customer who bought the newspaper first unfolded the "Tianjing News" and looked at the "World Affairs". It did talk about the arrest of people by the Zhushen Division, focusing on describing the entire arrest process. After reading it, he was a little confused and opened the "Legal News" which only had four pages.

After reading the Legal Daily, the guest couldn't help but curse in a low voice, "What a lavish man! He deserves to be arrested."

This article in the Legal Daily is also written in vernacular Chinese, but the wording is more cautious, which makes it a little more difficult to read, but the content is really explosive.

It explains in detail what "elegant bribe" is, how the upper three floors of Wangshu Tower work, and how much it costs for big businessmen to go to the third floor of Wangshu Tower.

Those plates of delicacies, how much money each one cost and how they were made, make people hate them and envy them at the same time.

Fortunately, in the end, Lord Si Lu made an order to rectify the unhealthy tendencies in the Tianjing officialdom and strictly enforce the standards for public spending on food and drink for officials at all levels. Any public spending on food and drink that exceeds the standards will be strictly investigated and will not be turned a blind eye as before.

In addition to the problems of officials, both newspapers also mentioned the tax evasion problem of big businessmen, but they only touched on it briefly, as if they had not yet found out the key information, so they kept it on hold.

For a time, the shouting and cursing spread throughout the streets and alleys of Tianjing.

"He's ready to get serious with us!"

In the Hebang Trading Company, a businessman was shocked and angry.

They can understand more than ordinary people, and together with the news brought back by Qian Guangyun, it is obvious that Zhou Tieyi is forcing everyone to make a choice. Otherwise, when the next newspaper comes out, he will not only have to reconcile with the crown prince and the seventh prince, but also take action together with Si Lu Qingkonggui.

"What about Qian Guangyun? What did he say?"

"You're still thinking about Qian Guangyun!"

The person who spoke cursed angrily, "When he tried to stop me from inciting everyone to raise prices that day, I realized that he was determined to join Zhou Tieyi!"

After a moment of silence, someone asked, "What do the adults up there say?"

"The adults will naturally report Zhou Tieyi to the court today, so we have to play a bigger role! How did you do yesterday in purchasing grain and cloth and reducing the sales of your own shops?"

Starting yesterday, merchants in major chambers of commerce who have close ties with the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Education took action and began to purchase grain and cloth on the market. At the same time, they reduced the shipment of cloth and grain on the market, hoping to raise prices and give the senior officials in the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Education a reason to report Zhou Tieyi.

But unexpectedly, Zhou Tieyi was also quick to act. He had already contacted his superior, the lawyer, to begin characterizing the extravagant lifestyle of the businessmen and was preparing to investigate previous tax evasion.

Now we are just characterizing the extravagant trend and focusing on rectifying officials' use of public funds for eating and drinking. What about the next newspaper?

So they were really anxious. As soon as the higher-ups hinted that something was going to happen, many businessmen got in touch and started taking action.

At this time, a servant came in hurriedly and said, "It's bad. Some merchants are releasing large amounts of grain and cloth into the market. The grain and cloth transactions of the pawnshops may not only raise the prices of grain and cloth, but also lower them!"

Someone immediately stood up and asked, "Who did it?"

At this time, the businessman who was reading the Tianjing News carefully had already turned over the "Tianjing Affairs" page and looked at the "Business" page, which contained a large amount of transaction invitation information.

Nearly half of the news on today's page is about releasing grain and cloth, telling ordinary people where to buy the most cost-effective food and cloth when they are short of it.

Cooperate with the dental office's transaction...

"Qian Guangyun is a damn traitor. He pretended to help us these past two days, but he just wanted to keep us stable. I'm afraid he has already urgently allocated food and cloth!"

······
In Cheng'en Hall.

Right General Yuchi Pojun read one memorial after another criticizing Zhou Tieyi for disrupting Tianjing's economy, and he was so happy that he couldn't control his expression.

He was indeed gloating over other people's misfortune, but it was not directed at Zhou Tieyi. When this kid started to attack, he used one method after another and there was no need for him to worry about him at all.

He was happy to know how these people who had participated in Zhou Tieyi's conspiracy would end up.

Don’t they know that this kid has always been petty?
Yuchi Pojun glanced at his two colleagues and suddenly said, "Your Legalist newspaper, Legal Daily, has become a big hit today."

The atmosphere between Qingkong Gui and Dong Xingshu suddenly became subtle.

Qingkong Gui secretly cursed Yuchi Pojun for being too talkative. But when Mei Juncang handed him the manuscript yesterday, he couldn't help but start writing. It was really too good to be true that he could get benefits and fame from this kind of thing!
The only thing that made him unhappy was that he needed to share the pressure from the Ministry of Revenue and the Ministry of Education with Zhou Tieyi.

But we are all political animals, so of course we understand how it is possible that you only get the benefits without doing anything to help?
"I am only acting impartially for the country. I am not as good as the Right General, who had Zhou Tieyi drive out half of the military heroes in order to sort out the God-Slaying Division."

"Humph!"

Yuchi Pojun snorted coldly.

Although he was arguing with Qingkong Gui, both of them had their eyes on Dong Xingshu.

Dong Xingshu read memorial after memorial and became more and more convinced of the truth that when one is in trouble, one must seek change. Not only that, but Confucianism cannot let go of the power of newspapers. It is too important. However, the "Awakening Newspaper" is already half-dead, and the writers on it are still writing official documents. They cannot see the general situation at all. Now they can only pin their hopes on Wang Mingyi's new newspaper.

······
Outside the noon gate.

Mei Juncang had to deal with the first day of printing of the Legal Daily today, so he brought today's three newspapers to his father near noon. As soon as he finished delivering the newspapers, he saw an unexpected figure.

Wang Mingyi!
Wang Mingyi was wearing a simple scholar's suit and looked extremely mature in the sunlight.

Wang Mingyi came over.

Mei Juncang thought for a moment and asked, "Why are you here?"

Wang Mingyi cupped his hands and replied, "Today is my day off, so naturally I'm going to go anywhere."

Mei Juncang nodded and turned to look at his father who was already reading the newspaper. "Are you here to comfort your father on behalf of your master?"

Wang Mingyi shook his head and said, "No, I'm here today to seek advice from Minister Mei."

"My father has been kneeling here for so long, unable to move forward or backward. I'm afraid I can't answer your question."

Wang Mingyi neither answered nor left.

Mei Qingchen seemed not to hear the conversation between the two juniors, and just read three newspapers seriously.

After finishing reading the newspaper, he closed his eyes and thought for a while, then sighed, "If you want to ask questions, come and ask them. I'm just not sure if I can answer them."

His father let Wang Mingyi go, so Mei Juncang thought about it, stepped aside, bowed to his father, and left in a graceful manner.

Mei Qingchen looked at his son's leaving figure, and remained silent for a long time. After his son got on the car, he sighed, "Gou is getting better day by day, and better day by day. It's too fast."

He looked at Wang Mingyi, "He made a one-year agreement with me, but after only one month, I was overwhelmed and even felt like I was losing. I really don't know how else I can help you solve the problem."

Wang Mingyi knelt in front of Mei Qingchen and said, "You are one of the few people in Tianjin who is both trapped in the game and able to see the problem from outside the chessboard. He is the same, so I came to ask you for advice."

Mei Qingchen thought about it seriously and asked, "You want to start a new newspaper?"

The fact that Wang Mingyi, Che Wenyuan's follower, appeared in front of him today was a very clear signal, and once the newspaper publishing business was started, it would be impossible to hide it from anyone.

"Yes, I was originally studying at the Railway Chamber of Commerce, and I'm going to start a newspaper these days..."

Before Wang Mingyi finished speaking, Mei Qingchen said, "Then continue studying while running the newspaper. Don't leave his side. If you leave, you may not be able to keep up."

"Would he agree?"

Wang Mingyi asked.

Mei Qingchen sighed, "Yes, that's why he asked Jun Cang to learn under Si Lu."

"There's one more thing I need to remind you of."

"Please tell me."

"Don't think about fighting him alone. You have to cultivate your own team. He is not improving and changing alone. He is leading a group of people to improve and change. If you only think about changing yourself, you can't keep up."

This was the second time Mei Qingchen used the word "can't keep up".

Wang Mingyi could not help but think of a sentence, and he recited it softly, "The Master walks, the Master rushes, the Master gallops, the Master runs, the Master runs away, and turns back, he is far behind."

Can you really catch up with others just by following them?

“This solution is wrong.”

Suddenly a voice came from a distance.

Wang Mingyi looked over and saw the Minister of Law, the Minister of Civil Affairs, and the Right General walking out. It seemed that they had finished annotating today's memorials.

The person who just spoke was Si Lu Qingkonggui.

Wang Mingyi stood up, clasped his hands and asked, "What's wrong?"

Qingkong Gui thought for a moment and said, "This is a Taoist idea, not a Confucian idea. It is wrong to use Taoist ideas to talk about Confucian things. Zhuangzi has always been accustomed to stealing names and realities."

"Then what should we do?"

Qingkong Gui thought for a moment and sighed, "There is no order of learning, so the disciple does not have to be inferior to the teacher, and the teacher does not have to be better than the disciple. When you take a person as your teacher, you should know shame and then be brave."

(End of this chapter)