The Sui Dynasty's chess game

Chapter 791 Taking on a Heavy Responsibility
Chu Liang currently serves as a scholar at the Hongwen Academy, where he teaches aristocratic children, including the crown prince, and is also responsible for the printing and collection of books at the Hongwen Academy.

At this moment, in Pei Ju's official residence, Chu Liang listened blankly as the Pei family introduced his new position to him. It took him a while to understand that he was to collect the imperial edicts and decrees issued every ten days, print them, and then distribute them to various counties.

Seeing that he had misunderstood and had no understanding of newspaper publishing, Pei Ju could only sigh and say, "Printing an imperial edict every ten days is just a way to familiarize yourself with it and practice. Starting tomorrow, in March, we will begin publishing the real newspaper. What is a newspaper? It is a newspaper that prints all the major events that happen in the world every day, important laws, good works written by writers, common sense about life, and the prices of food and other supplies in the market on one sheet of paper, four pages in total. That is a newspaper, one every day."

Chu Liang was shocked. "One copy a day? We can't even keep up with making the printing plates!"

"Therefore, we did not use woodblock printing, but movable type printing. What is movable type printing? It means that each character is a small square, and when they are put together, they form a block. After printing, the block is disassembled and reused."

"That's a good idea!" Chu Liang praised movable type printing. Although it was the first time he had heard of it, he believed that using movable type was indeed a good way to solve the problem of printing newspapers every day.

"Don't rush. This isn't as simple as you think. We need to make the movable type first. Of course, that's the work of the Crafts Bureau. They've already promised. You need to recruit people: find content, review content, assemble the movable type, do printing, find a venue, and find paper for printing newspapers. There's a lot to do. The key is that you also need to find an assistant, someone smart and capable, to handle all sorts of miscellaneous tasks. Think it over carefully and come up with a plan for me within three days!"

In the afternoon, Chu Liang returned to his residence with a heavy heart. He spent more than an hour thinking in his official room and gradually came to understand that this was a major event that could influence public opinion and was a hundred or a thousand times more powerful than the various rumors circulating in the neighborhood.

No wonder Prime Minister Pei said that this was personally initiated by the Emperor, who attached great importance to it. However, running a newspaper well is extremely difficult. It is expected to be done well, but even a slight mistake can lead to big trouble. Chu Liang was unsure whether to be happy or worried.

Upon returning to the mansion, he happened to encounter his eldest son, Chu Suixian, and his second son, Chu Suiliang, talking in the main hall. The eldest son was about thirty years old and had not yet entered officialdom. He was mainly responsible for managing the family's fertile fields and shops, and he was quite shrewd and capable.

The second son, Chu Suiliang, is twenty-four years old. He has had an exceptional talent for calligraphy since childhood and is already quite famous in Luoyang. He has been hired as a calligraphy professor at Luoyang County School. Because of his dedication to calligraphy, he entered officialdom a little later than his peers. He is currently preparing his lessons to participate in next year's imperial examination.

When the two brothers saw their father return, they stood up together. Chu Liang nodded and said, "Eldest brother, come to my study. Second brother, come with me too!"

The two brothers followed their father into the study, where Chu Liang waved his hand and said, "Please sit down!"

The two sat down, and Chu Liang first asked Chu Suiliang, "Your ranking in the autumn examination in Luoyang is seventh. This result is only considered above average among the candidates. It is estimated that the number of candidates participating in the imperial examination next year will exceed 100,000, so you need to make up for your weaknesses as soon as possible."

Chu Suiliang nodded silently. His weakness was his unfamiliarity with the scriptures. He was so engrossed in calligraphy that he had forgotten a lot of the scriptures he had learned before, which caused him to make three mistakes on the scripture-related questions during the exam, while everyone else got every single word right.

Chu Liang took out a gourd and handed it to him, saying, "This is the Heavenly King Pill used by martial artists. It's very good for improving memory. Try taking it."

"Thank you father!"

Chu Liang nodded, then said to his eldest son, "I have been transferred and appointed as the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites, a mid-level official. The Ministry of Rites is a nominal position; my actual job is the head of a newspaper office!"

The two sons asked in unison, "What is a newspaper office?" Chu Liang then briefly explained what he understood about newspaper offices and newspapers. The two brothers looked at each other; this was a completely new concept they had never heard of before!
Chu Liang continued, “Only two people in the entire newspaper office hold official positions: the editor-in-chief and the chief editor. The rest are all appointed. Suixian, there is a position that is very suitable for you!”

"Ah! Father, do you also want your son to join the newspaper?" the eldest son, Chu Suixian, exclaimed in delight.

Chu Liang nodded. "I need a head steward to handle all miscellaneous tasks except for the content. The chief editor will be in charge of the content; he'll give you a draft of the newspaper every day. The rest is your job. Of course, you'll have a few subordinates to assist you, but in the early stages of preparation, you'll have to handle everything yourself: choosing a location, receiving funding, recruiting typewriters and printers, receiving movable type, finding paper and ink suppliers, and so on. Fortunately, we need to create a ten-day newspaper first, which will give us time to practice."

Chu Suixian nodded silently. These were all things he was good at, and he should be able to handle them!

"Your child is willing to share your father's burdens!"

Since the beginning of autumn, the imperial palace has begun to clean up the palace maids and eunuchs. The first step was to gather all the palace maids and eunuchs from all over the country to Luoyang, totaling 16,000 palace maids and 5,000 eunuchs.

According to the emperor's decree, only one thousand palace maids and three hundred eunuchs were allowed to remain in the palace, and all other palace maids and eunuchs were to be dismissed.

The palace maids and eunuchs to be dismissed were divided into three categories. The first category consisted of those who could seek refuge with relatives and friends, and whose relatives were willing to take them in. Each of them was given 100 strings of cash, 200 bolts of cloth, and 20 acres of land, and they were allowed to go home. There were about 3,000 of them, and they were mostly daughters of wealthy families.

The second category consists of palace maids who have no family to rely on and are under the age of thirty. They are arranged by the head of the inner palace to be married to unmarried palace guards. They are given 100 strings of cash, 200 bolts of cloth, and 20 acres of land as dowry.

This type of palace maid was the most numerous, numbering around ten thousand. Most of them actually had families, but their families did not want them to return. In the Sui Dynasty, marriages emphasized dowries, and their return home would bring a great burden to their families.

The last category is those who are over thirty years old, unable to marry, and have nowhere to go. They stay and work at the Baiyun Pharmacy run by the palace, which allows them to support themselves and provides them with a place to call home.

As for the eunuchs, some of the older ones were kept in the pharmacy, while others were released and returned to their hometowns, given fifty strings of cash and fifty acres of land.

After this cleanup, only one thousand palace maids and three hundred eunuchs were left in the palace to do manual labor.

Meanwhile, Xiao Xia appointed three new consorts: Wang Xuefei, daughter of the Wang family of Taiyuan; Wei Zhanrou, daughter of the Wei family of Jingzhao; and Li Yuan's youngest daughter, Li Yilan.

This was clearly a political marriage, aimed at winning over the powerful families of Guanzhong and Hedong, as well as the Li Yuan family, which had established a kingdom overseas.

In early December, a storm swept across the Central Plains, and Luoyang was instantly transformed into a world covered in snow.

(End of this chapter)