Nanming: I can build wonders

Chapter 44 Newspapers
Zheng Kezang continued to read "Chronicle of Events in 1680", which was recorded in June:

In the second battle of the Qing army to regain the southeast coast, the Qing no longer relied on the Dutch fleet, but used the Fujian navy to attack from the sea, which posed a great threat to the Zheng army's back and caused the Zheng army's land defense line to retreat (this time At that time, there was also Qiu Hui's army from Chaozhou Prefecture on land).

With the fleet brought by Zhu Tiangui's surrender, of course the Dutch are not needed.

Continuing to read, Zheng Kezang found that there was nothing more important to Ming Zheng in the follow-up.

The only thing that needs to be resolved at present is the surrender of the left governor Zhu Tiangui.

To be honest, Zheng Kezang couldn't blame him for his surrender.

Tongshan City, where Zhu Tiangui was stationed, was Ming Zheng's last important military base in the interior, and there were only two ways in front of him, surrender or withdraw troops from Yizhou Island.

Obviously surrender is the better way out.

Regarding what to do about the Zhu Tiangui incident, after careful consideration, Zheng Kezang decided to do the following:
First, confer him a title, since Daming is about to die anyway, the title is worthless, so stabilize him first.

Second, order him to sneak back quickly with his crew and boat.

Third, if he is unwilling to come back, it means that he has fully planned to surrender in his heart and must be suppressed by force.

Zheng Kezang really doesn't want to go to this point, and those who are relatives and enemies are quick.

It is also risky for him to send troops to suppress it. If he cooperates with the Qing army and attacks him together, it will be a crisis.

Wouldn't it be that the battle of Piece of Stone was repeated, and Zhu Tiangui changed to Zhu Sangui.

You can only try your best to fight for it, let’s talk about it if you don’t succeed.

This matter has to be discussed with father-in-law Chen Yonghua and asked him to pass orders to Zhu Tiangui.

Never mind, I'll talk about something tomorrow, go sleep with Concubine Chen first, after Zheng Kezang finished thinking, he pushed open the door of the study and hurried to the bedroom.

next day
After the imperial court meeting, Zheng Kezang approached Chen Yonghua alone to discuss the transfer of Zhu Tiangui and his title.

"Father-in-law, Zhu Tiangui's situation is critical. Whether to withdraw or fight should be decided early." Zheng Kezang said solemnly.

"Your Majesty didn't want to give up Tongshan City before, but now Zhu Tiangui alone can stop the Tartars." Chen Yonghua sighed.

"Instead of wasting precious manpower in Tongshan City, it is better to transfer all the troops and navy stationed in Tongshan City back, reintegrate forces, and then plan the Northern Expedition." Zheng Kezang said.

"Qinshe, your idea is right. If you don't transfer back, I'm worried that Tongshan City will change." Chen Yonghua added that he was also worried that Zhu Tiangui would not be able to withstand the pressure and surrendered.

"It's better to confer a title on Zhu Tiangui, and let him come back quickly." Zheng Kezang suggested.

"It's a good idea. Zhu Tiangui was born in a poor family. A knighthood is the best way to stabilize his mind. I will coordinate this matter."

After speaking, Chen Yonghua bid farewell to Zheng Kezang, and rushed to complete the task Zheng Kezang gave him.

What happened to Zhu Tiangui also taught Zheng Kezang a lesson, that is, to fully understand and integrate the power of the Ming Zheng Group, otherwise Zhu Tiangui would be able to take advantage of the Qing Dynasty in vain.

I don't know why Ming Zheng left Zhu Tiangui alone in history, which eventually led to bad results.

After sending Chen Yonghua away, Zheng Kezang returned to the office of the headmaster of Dongning Military Academy. He was going to study the matter of starting a newspaper.

In fact, newspapers have appeared in ancient times, that is, Dibao.

Di Bao is the earliest newspaper in my country. It was founded in the second century BC. As the earliest news media in my country, Di Bao was mainly used by the ancient government to issue orders, edicts, chapters, and speeches It is also the earliest and longest-running newspaper in the world.

But Zheng Kezang wanted to create something common people like to hear and see, on the one hand to give the people confidence, and on the other hand to control public opinion.

In the future, Zheng Kezang will definitely promulgate various new policies that touch the interests of the landlords and gentry. With newspapers, there is no fear of them biasing public opinion.

A squire has one mouth at most, and the spread is very slow at this time, so it will take a long time to form objections.

If you run a newspaper yourself, you can not only recruit many literati for your own use, but also find insightful people among them, and effectively control public opinion.

"Gu Cheng, I just want to run a different newspaper." Zheng Kezang said.

Gu Cheng is a down-and-out scholar who stood out in the recruitment of civilian personnel in the military academy. He is currently working as the director of the office of the Dongning Military Academy, and he is in charge of six young talents.

"Principal, what kind of residence newspaper do you want to run? As far as I know, Dongning Mansion has its own residence newspaper." Gu Cheng asked.

"Gu Cheng, you should know that the readers of Dibao are basically officials and gentry. What I want is for ordinary people to read. I call it a newspaper." Zheng Kezang explained.

"Principal, most of the people are illiterate, and those who can read may not be able to understand the articles we wrote." Gu Cheng explained the difficulty of this matter.

"We will solve any problems. If the common people are illiterate, we will send someone to read it to them. If they don't understand, we will write it in vernacular."

"Only in this way can the common people understand the decree issued by the palace, and prevent the subordinate officials from cheating, deceiving the superior and the inferior, and oppressing the common people." Zheng Kezang continued to talk about the benefits of the newspaper.

"In addition to introducing the trend of the palace, you can also introduce new things that have appeared in Dongning recently, such as cement. But the focus is to promote our guards."

"Why, we want to enhance the confidence of the people in us by publicizing the strength of the Guards, and also publicize that the Guards are a good army from the people with strict discipline." Zheng Kezang set the main tone.

"The subordinates generally understand what to do, but they are worried that the vernacular language will not be elegant. If everyone sees that the publications published by the palace use rural slang, it will damage the image of the palace." Gu Cheng worried.

Zheng Kezang chuckled, looked at Gu Cheng and said, "Elegant is not elegant, vulgar is not vulgar, the main thing is to see what the people think of it? We are all disciples of Confucianism. Didn't the sage Confucius say that both the refined and the vulgar are rewarded?
For the sake of both the refined and the common, and in order to achieve the purpose of educating the common people, I had to write it with things that the common people can understand. "

When Gu Cheng heard it, he felt that what Zheng Kezang said was really reasonable, and he repeatedly said yes.

In order to carry out the editing work better, Zheng Kezang introduced modern punctuation marks to Gu Cheng.

When it comes to punctuation marks, don’t think that there were no punctuation marks in ancient times. In fact, there are many kinds of punctuation marks. Zheng Kezang just unified them here for convenience.

"Gu Cheng, I also know what you are worried about. Isn't it because you are afraid that you will be ridiculed by your peers when you write vernacular Chinese? Then use a pen name instead of your real name." Zheng Kezang laughed.

"You and your subordinates will follow what I said, and publish an edition for me to see first. By the way, encourage them to write more. If they are accepted, there will be a manuscript fee, and the manuscript fee will be 2 cents." Zheng Kezang Decided to encourage these talents with money.

"In the end, our newspaper was called Dongning Daily."

"Yes, Headmaster!"

(End of this chapter)