The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 940 Factionalism and Suppression of Dissidents
The empire was still in its infancy in the field of news reporting.

Some say that the State of Qi had no journalists.

Imperial journalists existed merely as appendages to imperial power, like vines to a tree or hunting dogs to their master. They had no independence whatsoever.

Like other fields, the news and public opinion in Qi State was in a terrible state.

To paraphrase former Emperor Liu Ye, if you randomly go to any hotel in Tianxin City and find a few storytellers, their storytelling and narration would probably be more effective than those bunch of good-for-nothings in the propaganda department.

During his tenure, Liu Ye lifted the ban on many newspapers and periodicals and ceased the practice of literary inquisition. Even so, his opinion of journalists was not very high.

Imperial journalists—if they really existed—worked by skillfully cutting out news from other newspapers with scissors and glue, rewriting it into text suitable for the public, doing simple typesetting, and then printing and distributing it.

This is the entire process of how Imperial News was produced.

When Liu Zhaosun was alive, the official gazette—the news media at the time—was still able to independently voice opinions different from those of the government.

As public opinion tightens, this independence is becoming increasingly scarce.

Nowadays, a journalist or independent writer has nothing to write about but praising the empire's prosperity and boasting about the emperor's civil and military achievements.

As for ordinary people, under such circumstances, they can only become the silent majority.

Essentially, imperial news reporting was divided into two parts: internal propaganda and external propaganda.

Both served the political system of the empire.

The truth is not important; the public does not need the truth, or rather, the truth is meaningless to the public.

The public generally prefers to hear the news they want to hear.

The same news story is reported in completely different ways when it is presented to the domestic public and when it is presented to the international public.

The differences mentioned above are not only reflected in the content, but more so in the bias of the reporting.

This is one of the secrets of imperial control over public opinion.

Although this control has gradually weakened, it must be acknowledged that it has been one of the important cornerstones supporting imperial rule for the past century.

Take, for example, the anti-foreign incident that occurred in the Liaoxi vassal state in the third year of Liu Xuan's reign (the "What are you looking at?" incident).

Back then, two energetic French tourists traveled to Ningyuan City in western Liaoning Province and ate barbecue at a well-known old iron barbecue stall in western Ningyuan City.

Due to cultural differences, the Frenchman accidentally triggered the "What are you looking at, old Liaoxi buddy?" fighting skill.

The Frenchmen were completely unaware of this and continued to do as they pleased, eventually leading to a violent physical altercation between the two and the locals.

Upon hearing the news, local residents rushed to the scene and surrounded and brutally beat the two French tourists.

This ultimately resulted in one French citizen being killed and the other injured.

When the news reached Tianxin City, the people of Qi were overjoyed and filled with righteous indignation.

Instead of condemning the violent behavior of the Liaoxi locals, people attacked the French for disrespecting the customs and traditions of the Qi people and seriously hurting their national feelings.

Simply put, these two Frenchmen didn't know what was good for them.

Therefore, it's no wonder they got beaten up in Ningyuan.

When the news reached Europe, King Louis XIII of France was furious.

Before the French could hold anyone accountable, the Qi state's propaganda department had already taken the initiative, entrusting the ambassador to apologize to Louis XIII.

The ambassador was turned away; the French refused to meet with the Qi envoy.

Minister Zhao Dun set off overnight, heading alone to Paris to put out the fire.

On the banks of the beautiful Seine, Minister Zhao knelt down, his upper body draped with roses—or rather, dozens of thorns—in a way unique to the State of Qi, sincerely apologizing to the families of the victims in hopes of gaining the forgiveness of the French.

Zhao Dun guaranteed, in the name of the Emperor of Qi, that such an incident would never happen again!
The French are too important. The elites of Tianxin City need French wine, and it is also a vacation destination and retirement paradise for many high-ranking officials.

Despite the humble attitude of the Qi state, the French remained unmoved.

The King of France ordered the massive warships stationed in Manila to sail to the northern waters of Qi, indeed, the French bypassed the empire's southeast. The warships anchored at the mouth of the Yangtze River, demonstrating their power to Qi.

French naval commander Jaeger stated that if the State of Qi could not provide France with a satisfactory response, the fleet would sail upstream and occupy the Han River basin.

Even more frightening is that the French will publish the assets of Tianxin and his officials in Paris and other major French cities.

A military offensive might be able to be resisted, but a radical economic blow would be an unbearable burden for the empire.

The people of Qi were not afraid of hardship and were not afraid of France, but the officials were not necessarily the same.

Left with no other option, Prime Minister Zhang personally boarded a French warship and promised Jaeger that the Empire would capture and execute the murderer within ten days and provide a satisfactory explanation to the victims. At the same time, Parliament urgently passed a resolution allocating 200,000 francs (equivalent to one million francs) from the Ministry of Finance to compensate the families of the victims.

Two hundred thousand Qi Yuan is equivalent to one-tenth of Tianxin City's annual income, a sum of money that is enough to silence the victims' families and all French people.

Facts have proved that it is true.

The French sailed away, satisfied.

After this incident, the people of Qi were known in Europe as the "Gift-Giving Boy".

The people of Qi became the object of ridicule by Europeans.

It is obvious that the empire has suffered a complete defeat in terms of public opinion.

However, the public opinion in the country presents a completely different picture.

Almost all domestic newspapers defined the "What are you looking at?" incident as a victory for the people of Qi.

The front page of the Justice newspaper reads, "No matter how far away they are, they will be punished; French trash, get out!"

The front page of the Yuejin Daily reads, "The sleeping lion has awakened!"

Newspapers incited hatred toward Europe, though they did not say it outright.

In short, the biggest lesson for the Chinese people is that foreigners, whether tourists or businessmen, have no special privileges!
Yes, no matter who it is, as long as they dare to do evil in Tianxin City or on the territory of Daqi, the Empire will make them pay the price.

The days when European powers, with their superior ships and cannons, rampaged through the inland waterways of their empires are gone forever.

The era of the people of Daqi being masters of their own destiny has arrived.

People in China rarely see related news reports from abroad, and therefore cannot understand the truth of the matter.

Some say that Imperial News reports are less news reports and more propaganda, and have little to do with authenticity.

Not only Liu Ye, but the other emperors also regarded imperial news reports as a useless thing.

No one knows how long this propaganda strategy of differentiating between internal and external propaganda can last, but one thing is certain: fooling the public will inevitably lead to a severe backlash in the future.

Although the imperial propaganda machine is in a dilapidated state, it's time to get it running again.

~~~~~~~~
"Your Majesty, these are the plans submitted by the various vassal states for arresting spies next month. Please take a look."

When Zhao Dun, the Minister of Propaganda, presented a thick stack of telegrams to the Emperor, he did not notice the subtle changes in the Emperor's facial expression.

Liu Xuan took the thick stack of telegrams, casually opened one, and glimpsed that the telegram was signed with the words "Wuchang" and that there was a bright plum blossom printed in the lower left corner of the telegram.

"Wuchang Prefecture plans to arrest three thousand traitors. Where did this number come from? If all the traitors in Huguang were arrested, could they really catch three thousand people?"

"this·····"

Zhao Dun took the telegram from the emperor, glanced at it briefly, and couldn't help but gasp.

The monthly arrest plan of the governor of Wuchang sounds far too alarming.

It should be noted that in the past year and a half, the various vassal states have only arrested a total of 121 imperial spies. Now, in Wuchang Prefecture alone, they are going to arrest more than 3,000!
“The Propaganda Department believes,” Zhao Dun said cautiously, “that the purge of traitors should be expanded. It can no longer be limited to the conventional methods of the past.”

Liu Xuan nodded slightly, looked thoughtfully at Zhao Dun, and asked with a smile, "Expand?"

“Yes, previously we only looked at whether the people committed crimes, that is, whether they committed treason, and used this as a standard to determine whether they were likely to degenerate into accomplices of European invaders. Now we should broaden our perspective.”

The emperor raised his head, a look of doubt on his face, and asked, "Vast?"

Zhao Dun quickly explained, "As the saying goes, it's better to kill a thousand innocent people than to let one guilty person go free. Based on this theory, traitors are like water in a sponge; you can always squeeze some out."

Liu Xuan remained silent for a long time before finally saying, "Fine, let's do it the way the propaganda department wants."

Catching spies was one of the regular tasks of the Great Qi Dynasty.

Whenever the empire faces a serious crisis, newspapers and magazines always manage to break the following news:

A student from a certain feudal lord's imperial academy accepted 50 francs from a Frenchman and, through daily observation at fixed times, compiled and sent to the Frenchman key information such as the number of airships and landing frequency at the feudal lord's air base.

A spy organization used £50 as bait to persuade a cleaner at the Celestial Armory to retrieve crucial secrets from a wastepaper basket, thus revealing the parameters of the Empire's new rifle to the Britons.

There are countless news stories like this.

The reality is that the Empire's military technology—at least in the production of small arms—was far behind its European counterparts.

If it weren't for the fact that European spy organizations had some kind of obsession with collecting classic weapons, it would be hard to believe that they would expend so much resources and manpower to spy on the military secrets of the Qi Kingdom—if the empire really did possess such things.

However, the people of the empire—especially the lower classes—believe it without a doubt. This conviction is innate and indelible, and it has become even more steadfast under the repeated propaganda of the empire's news media.