The Sui Dynasty's chess game

Chapter 792 Inspecting the Newspaper Office
Time flew by, and it was already late January of the second year of Zhongxing.

That morning, Lu Yi, a courtier, announced at the door, "Your Majesty, Prime Minister Pei requests an audience!"

"Let him in!"

A moment later, Pei Ju strode into the imperial study, bowed deeply, and said, "Your humble servant greets Your Majesty!"

"Prime Minister Pei, has the registration for the imperial examinations begun today?"

"Exactly! Registration is open from today until late February, and the imperial examinations will officially begin on the fifth day of the third month!"

Are there many applicants?

"There should be many. As far as I know, tens of thousands of candidates came to the capital after the New Year."

Xiao Xia nodded and asked with a smile, "What are you holding in your hand?"

The Pei family quickly presented the newspaper they were holding, saying, "Your Majesty, please take a look!"

“It actually came out!”

Xiao Xia was overjoyed and quickly took the newspaper, which still smelled of ink. It was called the "Ten-Day Report on the State Affairs," which Xiao Xia had chosen from more than a dozen names. It was to be published every ten days and distributed to various counties, and everyone could subscribe.

Xiao Xia opened the newspaper and examined it closely. The size and clarity of the characters, the arrangement of the lines, and the neatness of the newspaper all reached a very high level. Although it could not be compared with newspapers of later generations, it was already quite good.

"Great! This is completely beyond my expectations. Let's go take a look!"

At this moment, Xiao Xia was filled with anticipation for the publication of the Daily News. He and the Pei family arrived at the newspaper office.

The newspaper office was located in Qinghua Ward, right next to the imperial city. It was a five-acre government granary that had been converted into a newspaper office. A large wooden sign stood at the entrance, displaying a notice recruiting writers: 'Around thirty years old, excellent writing skills, sharp mind, lively personality, generous compensation.'

The two officials, Chu Liang, the head of the newspaper, and Wen Yanbo, the chief editor, were already waiting at the door. After Wen Yanbo surrendered to the court from Youzhou, he was appointed as the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Rites. He was very interested in running the newspaper and took the initiative to recommend himself to Chu Liang. With Pei Ju's approval, Wen Yanbo was appointed as the chief editor. He was responsible for reviewing all the content. There are currently four writers, three of whom are from the Imperial Academy and one is from the county school assistant instructor.

Chu Liang introduced his eldest son, Chu Suixian, to Xiao Xia. Chu Suixian is currently the general manager, like a head steward. He is in charge of the entire newspaper's operation, from staff recruitment to paper and ink procurement.

Xiao Xia greatly admired Chu Suixian's abilities, noting that Chu Suixian deserved much credit for the high quality of the newspaper printing.

Chu Liang led Xiao Xia to a large warehouse and introduced, "Your Majesty, this main warehouse is our printing workshop. We currently have five printers, all of whom are experienced veterans. We will gradually increase the number in the future!"

Xiao Xia walked into the warehouse and saw that it was very large. In one corner, five old workers were meticulously printing the "Chaozheng Xunbao" (a type of political report).

"There are five sets of boards?"

Chu Liang nodded, "Yes, we pieced together five sets of boards in total!"

"How many newspapers can be printed per day from one printing plate?" Xiao Xia asked again.

"About a hundred!"

Xiao Xia slowly said, "Master Chu, you should realize where the most serious problem lies, right?" Chu Liang sighed and said, "This subordinate understands, it's in the number of strokes!"

If a daily newspaper sells 30,000 copies in the future, then 300 sets of printing plates and 300 sets of movable type will be needed, as well as papermaking. 30,000 sheets of paper a day, nearly a million sheets a month. Xiao Xia was overwhelmed and could only take it one step at a time!

After leaving the printing press, we arrived at a three-story brick and wood building. The first floor was the typesetting room, where thirty young people were practicing typesetting, including ten young women.

Typesetting requires a high level of skill; it's not just about being literate. One must be quick-witted, dexterous, and have excellent eyesight. Of course, the pay is also very high—ten strings of cash a month, enough for one person to support their entire family. And importantly, the income is very stable.
Each person sits in front of a large movable type tray, which is covered with densely packed small squares. Each square contains the same few movable types, with the most frequently used characters having the most movable types. There are also spare movable types in the drawer next to them, which can be added when needed.

Xiao Xia picked up a piece of movable type and examined it closely. The movable type was very small, square, about the size of a bee, and the characters carved on it were extremely delicate.

"Isn't this kind of wood prone to warping?" Xiao Xia asked.

Chu Liang shook his head. "Your Majesty, this is the same as the woodblock print, made of military-grade wood, guaranteed not to warp for fifty years."

The shafts of the army's crossbows and guns do not deform because they are repeatedly soaked in oil and dried, making them very stable.

"If you're very skilled, how many sets of boards can each person assemble in a day?"

"Your Majesty, our most skilled female craftswoman can assemble a set of printing blocks in half an hour. However, the problem is that they only have half a day at most to assemble the characters, and the rest of the time must be reserved for printing."

Xiao Xia nodded. "So we need to find a way. Let me give you a few suggestions! First, we need to consider the layout carefully. Each article is a single word puzzle, and six small puzzles make up a large puzzle, separated by beautiful wood carvings. What's the advantage of this? We can put together many articles without time limits a few days in advance, and only put together major event reports on the day of publication, because those have time limits. Do you understand what I mean? We can probably put together a set of boards for the daily newspaper in just fifteen minutes, and put together everything else in advance."

Chu Liang and his son, along with Wen Yanbo, nodded repeatedly. "Thank you for Your Majesty's suggestion. It's very helpful."

Xiao Xia smiled again and said, "Of course, this will consume a lot of paper, and we'll also need someone to manage it, otherwise it will be chaotic."

"Please rest assured, Your Majesty, we will definitely consider all aspects."

It was almost time, and Xiao Xia and Pei Ju walked out of the newspaper office. Xiao Xia suddenly remembered something and asked Chu Liang, "Is your son, Chu Suiliang, also going to take the imperial examination?"

"My second son will indeed participate in this year's imperial examination!"

Xiao Xia asked with a smile, "How did he rank in last year's autumn exams?"

"Seventh in Tokyo Metropolitan Province".

This ranking is barely acceptable. Although the imperial examination used a single unified paper, it was not ranked according to scores. In fact, quotas were allocated by region. If the selection was based on scores, then candidates from the Jiangnan region would likely make up more than 90%, which would definitely cause a sensation throughout the country.

What rulers of all dynasties wanted was order, not fairness. So-called fairness was about achieving order and fairness, which simply meant allocating quotas according to the "Dao" (the Way), with each Dao receiving a certain number of quotas.

Various factors were considered in the division, such as the number of scholars, the amount of taxes paid, and political importance. For example, the quotas for the capital region and the western region would be more, and the Hexi region would also be given two or three extra quotas; otherwise, none of them would pass the exam.

All I can say is that it's fair within each path.

This is similar to the college entrance examination in later generations. The reason why the college entrance examination is divided into provinces and is not a unified national admission is because of this.

(End of this chapter)