My Portable Ming Dynasty

Chapter 50: Newspaper
So this is the pair.

Su Ze recalled the story he had heard when he was a child. This was an absolute by Xu Wei.

"Like to read, but not good at reading", the word "good" in the first couplet is pronounced with the third tone, which means "like", which means "like to read, but not good at reading".

Su Ze smiled and said:

"Then I'm right, 'good reading, bad reading'."

Xu Wei looked at Su Ze in shock.

Although the second line also uses the word "good", it is pronounced with the fourth tone, which means "good at", meaning "good at reading, but no longer suitable for reading".

The beauty of this couplet lies in the fact that the upper and lower lines have the same characters, but because of the polyphones they express completely different meanings.

What’s even more wonderful is that this couplet expresses the dilemma of life. When we are young, we have plenty of time but we don’t know how to cherish it. By the time we realize the importance of studying, we have already missed the best opportunity.

Su Ze smiled and said:

"Mr. Qingteng, I also heard it from others. After hearing your absolute opinion, did these students disperse?"

Xu Wei looked at Su Ze in confusion. Su Ze had just asked about what happened in front of the door, but he clearly had no idea what had happened. Now he said that he had heard his couplet from somewhere else.

Xu Wei thought Su Ze was hiding his incompetence, so he said:
"After that, these students competed with Xu in poetry, calligraphy, painting and opera. Xu defeated them all. Then Xu said he loved wine, so they bought this wine from the capital."

Su Ze looked at the room full of wine and couldn't help but sigh. No wonder intellectuals yearned for the Ming Dynasty. This was a great Ming Dynasty.

An era in which talented men of letters can be universally admired.

An era where young geniuses are revered.

"Dong Weng, do you want to return these wines?"

Su Ze looked at the wine jars all over the yard, shook his head and said:

"If Mr. Qingteng likes it, please keep it. Also, the court has approved my petition to publish the Yuefu New Newspaper."

"what?"

Now it was Xu Wei's turn to be surprised!

He had read Su Ze's memorial. Although Su Ze's memorial plan was feasible, the resistance to publishing "Yuefu Xinbao" was imaginable. The Imperial College was mobilized by the censors, and it was not known how Su Ze would be targeted by the censors in the court.

It actually worked?

Now even Xu Wei suspected that he was still drunk.

Su Ze had already learned what had happened from Shen Yikuan. He told the emperor about Hai Rui's memorial and said that it was a coincidence that he and Hai Rui submitted the memorial together, which made the emperor decide to publish a newspaper.

Hearing about Xu Jie's downfall, Xu Wei suddenly burst into tears. Su Ze knew that he was thinking of Hu Zongxian, so he let him vent his emotions. Xu Wei then stood up and said:
"From now on, Xu will be at Dong Weng's disposal!"

Su Ze pulled Xu Wei and said:

"Mr. Qingteng, there's no need for this, but I just happen to have something to ask of you right now."

"Dong Weng, please speak."

Su Ze said: "This is not a court report, it is mainly about interviewing the customs of the people."

"The purpose of the Yuefu New Report is to describe the customs of the people and to express their sufferings. Therefore, its content is different from the imperial gazette, which only publishes important court events."

Su Ze looked at Xu Wei and said, "So I plan to set up a page in the Yuefu New Newspaper called 'Quyuan Xinfeng' to serialize some interesting and interesting vernacular dramas."

"Mr. Qingteng?"

Xu Wei immediately understood what Su Ze meant.

Xu Wei was not only a writer, but also a master of opera. He was particularly good at southern opera. He adopted the form of northern zaju and absorbed the natural rhythm of southern opera to form his own school. He called his opera "Southern accent and Northern tune".

A great writer from Shaoxing in later generations named his collection of essays "Southern and Northern Dialects".

Since the definition is to be close to the people's customs, as the first issue, Su Ze naturally needs a good opera work. Xu Wei said:

"Dongweng, Xu has written several operas, and I don't know which one Dongweng is suitable for."

After a while, Xu Wei returned to his room and took out four scripts. Su Ze took a look and found that they were indeed four famous operas by Xu Wei.

These should be the operas in Xu Wei's later collection of folk art "Four-tone Monkey", namely "Three Tunes of the Crazy Drummer Shi Yuyang", "A Dream of the Jade Zen Master in the Green Country", "The Female Mulan Joins the Army in Place of Her Father", and "The Female Number One Scholar Leaves the Phoenix and Gets the Phoenix".

"Three Tunes of the Mad Drummer in Yuyang" is a play about Ni Heng who served as an official in the underworld after his death and cursed Cao Cao in the underworld. It was written by Xu Wei in order to satirize Yan Song's rule.

This won’t work, it’s too politically ironic.

"A Dream of the Jade Zen Master in the Green Country" is about the Buddhist doctrine of marriage and sexual restraint, and has a strong didactic flavor.

Su Ze still preferred the last two.

The female Mulan is the story of Hua Mulan who joined the army in place of her father, while the female top scholar is a classic passage in later folk art, telling the story of a talented woman who disguised herself as a man and won the top scholar award. This play can be found in both Peking Opera and Huangmei Opera.

Su Ze thought about it and decided to use "The Female Number One Scholar Leaves the Phoenix and Gets the Phoenix" as the inaugural opera of "Yuefu Xinbao".
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The next day, Su Ze came to the History Museum.

This time, the history office became lively. Those colleagues who were not very familiar with Su Ze congratulated Su Ze and expressed their willingness to join the newspaper office.

Su Ze just responded to the greetings one by one, but did not agree immediately.

After a while, the well-informed Shen Yikuan also rushed into the History Museum and said to Su Ze:

"Brother Zilin, the History Museum has added another plaque. This is all thanks to you!"

At this moment, the official from the Ministry of Public Administration who was delivering the imperial edict also walked into the History Museum.

The imperial edict was naturally an edict ordering Su Ze to establish the "Yuefu Xinbao", but the edict only asked the Hanlin Academy and the Imperial College to allocate some craftsmen to Su Ze to print books.

After the imperial edict was read, the only thing that was not mentioned was the newspaper's funding.

Shen Yi Guan, who was the most impatient, spoke first:
"Brother Zilin! The court asked you to start a newspaper, but they don't provide funding. What should we do?"

Luo Wanhua on the side also frowned. They were all no longer newcomers in the officialdom. If they wanted to get things done in the officialdom, they would need money.

Not to mention something like running a newspaper.

Since Su Ze said he wanted to interview people about their customs, he couldn't let people do it for free, right?
Writing articles, layout editing, proofreading, all of these require manpower and are extra work. If you don’t pay extra, even the most enthusiastic people won’t be able to persist.

The colleagues who had been jealous of Su Ze now saw the situation clearly. Hanlin, who had just volunteered to join the newspaper, now showed a retreating expression.

These shrewd people also saw the attitude of the emperor and the cabinet - they supported the publication of a newspaper, but they were not very supportive.

Give some support, but only a little.

Su Ze was not in a hurry. He first asked the Tongzhengsi official who came to announce the decree:
"The Imperial Edict, does it mean that the newspaper should raise its own funds?"

The Tongzhengsi was responsible for delivering memorials and imperial edicts, so young officials with outstanding appearances were selected.

Although the position of Tongzhengsi was not high, it could come into contact with the emperor and the prime minister, so officials in the outer court would respectfully call him "Da Xuanyu".

The young Tongzhengsi official knew Su Ze's reputation and did not dare to show off in front of Su Ze, so he quickly said:

"In reply to Su Hanlin, neither the Ministry of Revenue nor the Imperial College can allocate additional funds. The Cabinet's suggestion is that the newspaper should first start the Yuefu New Newspaper."

Su Ze nodded. This was the benefit of reputation. Obviously, in order to make friends with Su Ze, the official from the Ministry of Public Administration deliberately revealed some inside information about the cabinet.

Su Ze took out his visiting card, put some change in it, and handed it to the minor official from the Ministry of Public Administration, thus establishing a good relationship with him.

After the imperial edict was announced, the officials from the History Museum who were watching dispersed one after another. Several Hanlin scholars who had just said they wanted to join the newspaper also began to find excuses to go out and avoid Su Ze.

Seeing Su Ze's confident look, Shen Yi Guan returned to the public housing where no outsiders were present and asked anxiously:
"Brother Zilin, you always plan things out before you act. I believe you must have a plan in mind. If there is anything you need me to do, please tell me right away!"

(End of this chapter)