Do You Know?: I, the Little Cabinet Elder, Regent of the World

Jiang Zhao shook his head.

wrong!

These are specific directions for reform, not the first step in "getting started".

Aside from securing the support of the highest authority, reformers throughout history have all taken similar approaches to how to implement the first step.

The first step of the Duke of Zhou's reforms was to propose the concept of "the Mandate of Heaven shifts, and virtue is the only support," to demonstrate the legitimacy of the Western Zhou regime's rule, and to establish rites and music to shape order.

The first step in Shang Yang's reforms was "moving a log to establish credibility," thus building public trust.

Emperor Xiaowen of the Northern Wei Dynasty initiated reforms, the first step of which was to move the capital to Luoyang under the pretext of a "southern expedition." He ordered the prohibition of non-Han clothing and languages, promoted Han clothing and the Han language, and personally offered sacrifices to Confucius, thus advocating Confucianism.

Zhang Juzheng's reforms began with the "lectures and public discussions" policy, which involved closing down academies throughout the country and prohibiting scholars and officials from discussing matters.

Speaking of commonalities—

public opinion!

The Duke of Zhou's use of the Mandate of Heaven, Shang Yang's establishment of trust, Emperor Xiaowen's sacrifices to Confucius, and Zhang Juzheng's closure of academies—whether it was establishing authority, establishing trust, or establishing the orthodox Mandate of Heaven, the essence was all about manipulating public opinion.

Throughout history, public opinion has always been something that can make or break things.

If the reformers do not control public opinion and make the debate about reform more active, then someone else will control public opinion and make the debate about reform more passive.

Almost all failed reforms failed because of public opinion.

The criticisms from Confucian scholars, intellectuals, and intellectuals—99% of those who opposed the reforms—were all attempts to influence the emperor and the reforms through public opinion.

The negative voices were too loud, drowning out the voices advocating reform. The monarch was affected and, unable to withstand the pressure, had no choice but to retreat.

"Public opinion!"

Jiang Zhao narrowed his eyes, and an idea surfaced in his mind.

newspaper!

When it comes to manipulating public opinion, newspapers are absolutely indispensable.

This is a powerful tool for manipulating public opinion. It has been used since the Ming Dynasty and has lasted for four or five hundred years. It is absolutely the ultimate weapon for manipulating public opinion!

In fact, there was something similar to a newspaper in this era, called "Dibao," which mainly recorded the emperor's daily life, the appointment and removal of officials, and memorials from ministers.

Theoretically speaking, its main readers are officials at the county, prefecture, and circuit levels, who can use it to read the imperial edicts.

However, theory is theory, and practice is practice.

In reality, the Great Zhou court had not yet developed the concept of large-scale, long-term manipulation of public opinion.

Therefore, the official gazette was merely a formality and was not taken seriously at all. Only a few dozen copies were issued at a time, so its reach was naturally quite limited and almost equivalent to zero effect.

"However, is it feasible?" A hint of hesitation flashed across Jiang Zhao's face.

To promote newspapers and manipulate public opinion, the most important thing is to solve the problem of mass production.

"feasible."

After only a moment's hesitation, Jiang Zhao reached a conclusion.

Shen Kuo's "Dream Pool Essays" records that during the Qingli era, a commoner named Bi Sheng invented movable type printing, which could print dozens, hundreds, or thousands of copies at an extremely fast speed.

Movable type printing has already been invented!

Decades later, movable type printing technology has still not been widely adopted, for three main reasons:

Firstly, the texture is too brittle.

Secondly, the master copy is too expensive.

Third, the printed content rarely changes.

The material is too brittle and easily breaks, indicating that the technology is not yet mature.

Of course, this shortcoming is not difficult to solve. It is simply a matter of changing the material of clay movable type printing, such as steel movable type printing or iron movable type printing. With the wisdom of the ancients, this problem is certainly not difficult to solve.

So why hasn't this technology been widely adopted? Because the cost of creating the master copy is too high!

A set of woodblock printing has fixed content, and only a few hundred characters need to be made at a time. In contrast, movable type printing requires making every possible Chinese character, and a set of movable type printing plates can produce at least three to five thousand Chinese characters at a time.

In comparison, the master plates for movable type printing are naturally much more expensive.

In addition, the greatest advantage of movable type printing is its flexibility, which makes it suitable for frequent changes to the content being copied. The more frequently the changes are made, the greater the advantage of this technology becomes.

Conversely, if the printed content is not significantly altered, woodblock printing has the advantage.

In this era, there were few scholars, and almost all the printed books and articles were related to the imperial examinations. The content of the printed books might not be changed for several years or even decades. In addition, the master plates for movable type printing were too expensive, and printing workshops were mainly profit-oriented, so they naturally could not accept movable type printing technology.

However, these three shortcomings were not intolerable to the imperial court.

The reason is simple: the imperial court did not produce newspapers for profit!

The printing workshops were in it for profit, but that doesn't mean the imperial court was also in it for profit.

For the imperial court, strategic significance outweighed everything else.

Since movable type printing technology is available, then it's feasible!

Newspapers? That's something!

As for newspapers being too expensive?

It can only be said that newspapers of this era were never meant for ordinary people.

“He Sheng”.

Jiang Zhao waved.

“My lord.” The pageboy Hesheng stepped forward a few paces.

"Have someone collect a few sheets of the more famous paper from the two capitals and fourteen circuits."

Jiang Zhao instructed, "Remember, present exactly what you can buy on the market."

It is said that it is not profitable, but if there is an opportunity to make a profit and not add burden to the court, that would naturally be the best.

"Yes." He Sheng bowed and withdrew.

Jiang Zhao gazed into the distance and sighed silently.

Even spending a little money requires meticulous calculation; it must be tough for the Grand Secretary!

As the sun nears the western mountains, a gentle breeze stirs.

More than thirty elderly men entered one after another, and without exception, they were all dressed in brocade robes.

"Grand Secretary!"

"Grand Secretary!"

More than thirty people stood up one after another and bowed with their hands clasped.

At the head of the table, Jiang Zhaoping said gently, "Please sit down."

"Thank you, Your Excellency!"

"Thank you, Your Excellency!"

After expressing their gratitude, the more than thirty people took their seats.

Whether it's anxiety, fatigue, tension, doubt, or panic.

“You are all rare leaders of prominent families in the Liangzhe River system.” Jiang Zhao looked down and said in a deep voice, “I am also a member of a prominent family, so I naturally understand your anxiety.”

As soon as the words were spoken, the thirty-odd elderly men all stirred slightly and turned their gazes toward the scene.

The Jiang family has produced three members who have received the purple robes in four generations, making them a first-rate and prestigious family with generations of officials and scholars.

Jiang Ge Lao said he understood the prestige of a region, and that's absolutely true!

"May I ask, Your Excellency, why have you summoned us?" one of the elders asked nervously.

Recently, the Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces have been plagued by constant killings and demotions, which is truly alarming.

“Starting tomorrow, I, Jiang, will be leaving Liangzhe. At that time, officials appointed by the court will take office in Dongzhe and Xizhe. Song Huai, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Revenue, will serve as the acting Pacification Commissioner of the Eastern Circuit of Liangzhe, and Wang Fuzhi, the Minister of Agriculture, will serve as the Pacification Commissioner of the Western Circuit of Liangzhe.”

"I summoned you all here specifically to offer some advice," Jiang Zhao said slowly, looking down at the crowd.

The two newly appointed officials of Liangzhe were Song Huai and Song Huai. Song Huai was appointed as a second-rank official with the rank of third-rank official, also known as "acting pacification commissioner".

The official rank of the fake Pacification Commissioner remains unchanged; he is still a third-rank official.

The difference is that if you don't make any mistakes for three years, you're almost guaranteed to be promoted to the second rank.

Wang Fuzhi, the Minister of Agriculture, was a man of Zhang Sheng, the former Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, and was in line with the new Grand Secretary Tang Jie. Chen Ji, the Pacification Commissioner who was dismissed from his post after the purge of Zhejiang, was also a man of Zhang Sheng.

Promoting Wang Fu to a higher position was essentially a form of compensation.

"I hope you can give me some guidance, Your Excellency," the old man said, bowing.

First, adjust your mindset.

Secondly, get your position right.

“In the past, Jiang taught five members of the imperial clan. Some of them were worried that they would not be able to ascend the throne and would be purged. At that time, Jiang taught the five members of the imperial clan in the same way, calling it the method for losers to survive.”

"Perhaps it was good luck that all five survived," Jiang Zhao said heavily.

After saying that, Jiang Zhao waved his hand and said, "That's fine then."

More than thirty people quickly stood up and bowed, saying, "Thank you for your guidance, Your Excellency."

After that, they walked out one after another, looking at each other in bewilderment.

Adjust your mindset and position.

What does it mean?

In the courtroom, Jiang Zhao glanced at it indifferently.

Once the new policy is implemented, these people will understand.

The rebellion in Zhejiang and Jiangsu was quelled on July 11th.

To better conduct patrols, the 30,000-strong army split into two groups.

One group traveled north along the border, while the other group traveled south along the border.

The group heading north was led by Teng Fu, the Left Censor-in-Chief; Wang Gui, the Acting Prefect of Kaifeng; Chen Jian, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel; Wang Shao, the Earl of Zhennan; and Yao Si, the Loyal and Martial General.

The group heading south was led by Jiang Zhao, a Grand Secretary of the Wenyuan Pavilion; Wang Anshi, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice; and Gu Tingye, the Marquis of Ningyuan.

They split into two groups and patrolled together.

(As shown in the picture: this is how you walk.)

Wherever he went, he would gather the patriarchs of the prefectures and give them a pep talk about “keeping the right mindset and the right position”.

When Emperor Dai toured the country, the scope was so vast that Jiang Zhao stayed in most places for less than three days.

If someone filed a complaint of injustice, they would almost always leave some people from the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Justice, and the Censorate to investigate the case without delay.

Even so, the journey alone took a full 120 days.

Finally, the two inspection teams converged, summarizing all the wrongful convictions and the arrests of corrupt officials, a process that had taken half a year.

February of the second year of the Xifeng era.

The imperial inspectors have now entered the capital!

Chapter 230: A Pillar of State, a Loyal and Assisting Minister of State!

February 11th, the second year of the Xifeng era.

Bianjing, the Imperial Study.

The window was half-closed, and the eunuch stood in a corner, his footsteps barely audible.

In the main seat, Zhao Ceying held the documents concerning the imperial tour, wielding a vermilion brush, and nodded in approval from time to time.

Below the seat of self-reliant individuals, there are eight wooden chairs.

Nearly ten officials, acting on behalf of Heaven to inspect the realm, took their seats in an orderly fashion.

"Ah."

"This imperial tour, conducted on behalf of Heaven, has purged treacherous officials and restored order, a great achievement for the nation." Zhao Ceying nodded in agreement, saying, "The purging of officials and the subjugation of treacherous ministers are undoubtedly a contribution to the country and to me."