My eunuch godfather

Chapter 56 Newspaper Management

Compared to the printing and publishing business, what Zhang Kun cared about more and what gave him more headaches was the Guangwenhao newspaper and magazine business.

Zhang Kun has too few competent cultural figures under his command, and the content they produce is hardly enough to support Guangwen Daily.

Guangwen Daily is now published every three days, with eight pages per issue, approximately 3200 words, and a price of one qian of silver.

The reason for such a high price is that movable type printing technology at the time was extremely underdeveloped and the cost was too high.

If Zhang Kun hadn't insisted on using movable type and paid to cover the costs, Guangwen would have considered using handwritten copies.

Even with only 3200 words, it takes a lot of brainpower to come up with a good one.

That night, Zhang Kun frantically scratched his head, trying to recall the short stories he had read before his transmigration:

The Hairpin Robbery

Ma was beautiful, but came from a humble family; she was born into a minor official's family and married into one.

He was unadorned and always wore coarse cloth, so he was very unhappy. His dwelling was shabby and the table and chairs were old, so he had no appetite.

She thought to herself that with such beauty, she should have been born into a wealthy and noble family, and so she was always sad and distressed.

On the Lantern Festival, the husband was delighted to bring his family to the banquet, but Madam Ma complained that she had no new clothes.

The man blushed and asked how much silver it was. Ma silently calculated and replied with five taels. The man hesitated, but finally agreed.

Then, Madam Ma became resentful that she had no hairpin, so her husband asked her to borrow one from her close friend, Madam Song.

Song was the daughter of a wealthy merchant, married into an official's family. He immediately agreed to lend her a pearl hairpin...

...When Ma met Song, Song did not recognize her, because Ma had worked hard and looked emaciated.

Upon hearing her name, Madam Song asked in surprise: "How did this happen?" Madam Ma tearfully recounted the whole story: "I borrowed a hairpin to attend a banquet, but I accidentally lost it."

They borrowed five hundred taels of silver to repay the loan, and the couple toiled tirelessly for ten years.

Song was shocked. He grabbed her hand, stamped his foot, and exclaimed: "Alas! That hairpin is a fake. Its market value is no more than six taels!"

It's actually a rip-off of Maupassant's "The Necklace," where the heroine's vanity leads to trouble.

He was courageous and responsible, worked hard, and persisted in paying off his debts; he was a real, flesh-and-blood character.

In addition, the dramatic ending easily sparks discussion among readers.

I'll just copy another story from Pu Songling's "Si Wenlang" to finally get through this episode's two stories!

"Brother Kun, here are three news items for this issue."

A balding young man walked into the room with a manuscript and handed it to Zhang Kun.

The young man's name was Ma Ping, an old acquaintance of Zhang Kun from his hometown in Hejian. He had just turned twenty this year.

Ma Ping knew three thousand characters and had read many books. He called himself Chonghao and was the most educated person in his village.

Previously, Ma Ping wrote letters home for the river workers in the river work camp. After Zhang Kun established Guangwenhao, he transferred Ma Ping over to be the manager and chief writer.

Using the pen name Mr. Ren, he is primarily responsible for three news items.

"Let me check... the Fujian silver tax records are being verified... the 'Records of Imperial Contributions' have been published... Zhao Xingbang of the Ministry of War requests an increase in the border pay for the nine border regions..."

After reading the three news items, Zhang Kun pointed to the last one, "Request for an increase in border pay," and made a demand of Ma Ping:

"Old Ma, revise this to be more balanced and impartial, so that we appear to be unbiased."

There is no such thing as absolute neutrality and objectivity in this world. Choosing what to report is itself a matter of having a stance.

Zhang Kun should rightfully be on the side of the palace, and the Guangwen Daily's mention of this matter has already strayed somewhat from the truth.

If we were to provide further support, our position would become unstable!

"yes,"

Ma Ping nodded, took Zhang Kun's small calligraphy brush, and wrote and drew on the manuscript before asking:

"Mr. Zhao has been in arrears for two consecutive payments. Could you please help him expedite the process?"

Zhao Mingyang was born in Wujiang County, Suzhou Prefecture, and was a fellow townsman of Shen Tonghe.

Shen Tonghe was the son of Shen Jiwen, the governor of Henan. This playboy was so ignorant and incompetent that he reached a certain level of utter disarray.

Ma Ping, who came from a humble background, was far less literate than Ma Ping and could be considered "illiterate" in literary circles.

This guy is such a jerk, yet he actually came in first place in this year's imperial examination and won the title of Huiyuan!

Shen Tonghe first married his daughter to Zhao Mingyang's son, and then asked Zhao Mingyang to help him pass the provincial examination the previous year so that he could become a Juren (a successful candidate in the provincial examination).

Then he participated in the imperial examination with Zhao Mingyang. Zhao Mingyang wrote his own article first, and then gave this guy a draft to write.

After finishing writing, Shen Tonghe secretly took the draft while going to the toilet and copied it back to his room.

I can't believe Zhao Mingyang only came in sixth place, while this guy actually came in first!

Those scholars who had contact with Shen Tonghe knew his level of ability and were in an uproar.

After the examiner Wu Daonan reported the matter, the imperial court ordered the Ministry of Rites to re-examine Shen Tonghe, only to find that he couldn't even understand the questions.

Emperor Wanli personally came to see the spectacle. Upon hearing that Shen Tonghe could write poetry, he asked the fellow to write one hundred poems about plum blossoms on the spot.

Shen Tonghe, naturally, was unable to write it and was exiled to the frontier. Zhao Mingyang was also flogged and stripped of his official rank.

Having lost his official rank, Zhao Mingyang was too ashamed to return to his hometown and drifted aimlessly through life in the capital.

Upon learning of this talented individual, Zhang Kun immediately sent someone to Zhao Mingyang's home to recruit him to Guangwen Company with a high salary.

Zhao Mingyang was very grateful, and the quality of his writing was also very high.

But perhaps the blow of losing his official position was too great, and he developed the bad habit of frequently delaying his writing.

"If you keep delaying the manuscript, I'll have someone fabricate a whole bunch of his bad habits and include them in the next issue of 'Three Humorous Stories'!"

Zhang Kun had no better ideas; this was a talent who ranked sixth in the imperial examination, so he could only instruct Ma Ping in this way.

It should be noted that Zhang Kun was, after all, the adopted son of a powerful eunuch and served in the Embroidered Uniform Guard, making him even more disreputable in literary circles.

Those writers were already showing great respect by accepting commissions from Guangwen Daily, let alone being employed by Guangwen Daily.

Zhang Kun was also very particular about how he treated those literati. First, he would not contact them directly, but would use intermediaries to convey his messages.

Secondly, the treatment was very generous; instead of giving money directly, it was indirectly given as a gift through expensive, high-quality cigarettes.

"Old Ma, how's the progress on Xu Jiantao's and Sun Xiaolian's articles?"

The later famous Xu Guangqi was a seventh-rank official in the Hanlin Academy.

There is also Xu Guangqi's student, Sun Yuanhua, who failed this year's examination and is currently studying under Xu Guangqi.

Both the mentor and apprentice wrote numerous articles for Guangwen Magazine, covering a wide range of topics.

For example, right now, the two are in Tianjin, studying under a farmer named Sun Biao, trying to grow southern rice.

Xu Guangqi was very generous with the materials, applying eight shi of fertilizer per mu.

The result was that the rice stalks were as thick as bowls and the root system was as large as buckets, but the rice only grew stems and leaves and did not produce ears, ultimately resulting in no harvest.

Zhang Kun tried hard to recall his middle school biology class and concluded that it must have been due to over-fertilization, which caused vegetative growth to inhibit reproductive growth.

Xu Guangqi found this viewpoint very interesting and planned to write it together with his own views on the incompatibility of rice varieties with the local soil and water in an article.

Besides the master-disciple pair of Xu Guangqi and Sun Yuanhua, Zhang Kun also had Ma Ping follow up on the manuscripts of his friends Liu Tong and Yu Yizheng.

Yu Yizheng was a native of Wanping County. He enjoyed traveling and had a deep understanding of the scenic spots, customs, and folkways of the capital.

Liu Tong was a student at the Imperial Academy. After getting to know Yu Yizheng, he helped Yu Yizheng organize his observations and write them down.

Without Zhang Kun, the two would not have been able to compile and publish their work until twenty years later, which became known as "A Brief Account of the Scenery of the Imperial Capital".

There was also a student named Shen Defu who contributed many articles to Guangwen Magazine.

This guy wrote a book of unofficial history called "Wanli Yehuo Lu" in the 35th year of the Wanli reign, and he is currently writing a sequel.

He kept writing to Zhang Kun, asking Guangwenhao to help publish the book.

Zhang Kun wouldn't dare. Emperor Wanli wasn't even dead yet, and you're already writing about his history? Don't you want to die?