Chapter 1172: Shame

When Mu Yangling received the submission, she said in surprise, “Hasn’t The Great Qi Times always welcome submissions? Why did this person send it to our residence instead of the newspaper office?”

Zhu Liang coughed lightly and said, “Your Highness, the newspaper tends to only publish articles written by the Imperial Court officials or the teachers and students in the academies. As we receive enough manuscripts from them every day, we haven’t asked for submissions on a broad scale. Otherwise…”

Otherwise, wouldn’t their newspaper office be buried in manuscripts?

Mu Yangling touched her nose at the realization.

Unlike her previous life, this era was not one where people wrote articles for the sake of earning monetary compensation. What the scholars wanted was fame. As long as they could publish an article in The Great Qi Times, they were even willing to fork out money.

However, was Mu Yangling the kind of person who took advantage of others?

She handed the manuscript to Zhu Liang and said, “Send it to the newspaper office for them to take a look. If it makes the cut, send it out. Also, call the manager of the newspaper office over. I have something to discuss with him.”

More and more people were submitting manuscripts to the newspaper now. In fact, sometimes, when something important happened, the Emperor would inform the entire country through The Great Qi Times.

Didn’t the Emperor publish an article in The Great Qi Times last Lantern Festival?

What’s more, the original intention of The Great Qi Times was for the people of the world to understand the country’s policies and popularize the law so that they would not be fooled by the corrupt local officials. All this content alone occupied a large section, leaving very little space for others to publish other stuff.

Therefore, Mu Yangling planned to start a few more newspapers.

Of course, it couldn’t be too many. The rarer something was, the more precious it was. She didn’t want the newspapers to flood the market to the point where people didn’t even know where to start. Hence, she only planned to start three or four more newspapers. One would specially serve all the students in the world, featuring articles or political opinions of the Confucian scholars or ministers, as well as poems, historical opinions, and so on.

One was dedicated to serving all the women in the world, covering topics on how to take care of the family and raise children, as well as handle the relationship with their in-laws. Subtly, it also promoted feminism with the aim of slowly raising the status of women.

One was dedicated to the children of the world, featuring various fables and principles of life.

The last one was a variation of The Great Qi Times. There were all kinds of sections, though it focused on the customs and wonders of various places. This way, the manuscripts sent by the travelers would have a place to go.

Other than The Great Qi Times, which had to be standardized throughout the country, the other newspapers could be run separately by the state newspaper office. Every six days, it would be standardized across the country, featuring outstanding publications from the previous newspapers so that the entire country could see them.

Mu Yangling said to Manager Sun, “This matter has to be published in The Great Qi Times in advance. Hire more editors and make sure to review all the submitted manuscripts.”

Manager Sun’s eyes sparkled. “Don’t worry, Your Highness. Nowadays, many high-ranking juren and xiucai are willing to work in our newspaper office. Students from some academies even flock to us. As such, it’s not difficult to recruit editors.”

“That’s all the more reason to pay extra attention. Now that we hire so many editors, there will be all sorts of people working under us. Go and discuss with a few teachers and set up the editorial rules. Officials have to abide by the law and students have to abide by the school rules. Our editors naturally have to abide by the rules of the profession, too. Only with restrictions can this industry last long.”

Manager Sun understood that their newspaper office had a special status since they published articles by scholars all over the world and were sought after by scholars. However, if the newspaper office could not dole out fair treatment to all, they would definitely attract the resentment of scholars.

One had to know that resentful scholars could do some serious damage with their pens. If the newspaper office lost its good reputation, it would truly lose everything.

Manager Sun nodded solemnly and said, “Don’t worry, Your Highness. I’ll start working on this tomorrow. However, I’m afraid I do not have the necessary status to invite the teachers.”

After all, scholars tended to be arrogant. Although Manager Sun was in charge of the newspaper office, he was still a servant. If he really went out to invite the teachers, not only would he fail in his task, but it would also offend them.

Mu Yangling also thought of this and said in distress, “Are we going to let King Rong go?”

Manager Sun looked at Queen Consort Rong pitifully. With a sigh, Mu Yangling said, “I guess I have no choice but to go.”

Who knew what would happen if Haoran went?

Mu Yangling sighed. “Looks like I have to get someone to fill the position of Publisher.”

Manager Sun’s eyebrows twitched. He opened his mouth but didn’t say anything in the end.

Considering the newspaper was becoming more and more important, there would be plenty of opportunities for him to interact with scholars in the future. His status was low, so he definitely could not convince scholars. To facilitate its long-term development, it was inevitable to hire a respected person to be in charge of the newspaper.

Mu Yangling was vexed about who she could invite to be the Publisher. As it pained Qi Haoran to see her look so vexed, he spread the news. The next day, Mu Yangling received a bunch of invitations for the first time.

One had to know that the rumors about her not being good at socializing spread as widely as her fierce reputation. Therefore, other than the necessary birthday banquets and flower viewing events, very few people sent her invitations.

She, who had only received a few invitations this year, received more than ten in one go. Not only was Mu Yangling curious, but Zhu Liang also personally brought the invitations to her out of curiosity and asked, “Your Highness, are you going?”

If she intended to go, he had to prepare gifts in advance. Queen Consort Rong didn’t like to attend events hosted by other people, so he felt that it would be great if she could take the opportunity to socialize this time.

Mu Yangling flipped through the invitations and gradually understood what was going on. Among these invitations, there were invitations from the Hanlin scholars, the Imperial Academy’s seniors, the various Confucian schools in the capital, and even Fang Zhiyuan, who had just been promoted to the Crown Prince’s Grand Tutor.

“Are they all interested in the position of Publisher?” Mu Yangling asked hesitantly.

Qi Haoran took the post from her and flipped through it. He pursed his lips and said, “This is too few. Let’s wait for another two days and see if there’s a better candidate.”

Mu Yangling looked at him. “Even Grand Tutor Fang has shown interest. Who else are you expecting?”

“Fang Zhiyuan isn’t suitable.” Qi Haoran said, “As the Crown Prince’s teacher, he can’t manage the newspaper office.”

Seeing that Ah Ling was a little confused, he waved Zhu Liang away and said, “Do you think your newspaper office is just a newspaper office? It now bears the heavy responsibility of leading the public opinion of Great Qi. If not for the fact that this is the private property of the King’s Residence and that you’ve always been fair, those ministers in the court would have long gotten involved.”

“Every day, when the newspaper is available for sale in the capital, all the officials, the teachers and students of the academies will get their hands on a copy each. Those ordinary people who are literate are also willing to fork out five copper coins to buy a copy. All the restaurants and teahouses will also buy dozens of copies to either get someone to read the content or place them at the front desk for people to borrow. Furthermore, the counties and towns near the capital can also receive them. After they are distributed layer by layer, the junior officers will read them to the farmers in the village. The other prefectures also do the same. This means that at least seven out of ten people in Great Qi read The Great Qi Times. Ah Ling, the imperial edicts issued by the Imperial Court are nothing much in comparison.”

Not a naive girl, Mu Yangling quickly understood and asked, “Doesn’t Royal Brother want to take ownership of the newspaper office?”

“What’s the difference between it being in my hands and being in Big Brother’s hands? However, it’s different once it’s passed down to the children.” Qi Haoran said, “This thing is a powerful, lethal weapon. It can’t be handed over to the royal family alone, nor can it be completely in our hands, let alone exclusively handed to the Imperial Court.”

So, he wanted everyone to be involved in order to achieve a balance?

Mu Yangling glared at him. “Why have you never told me about these thoughts of yours?”

Qi Haoran coughed lightly and found an excuse. “It takes time to adjust, doesn’t it? Anyway, there’s no hurry. As long as I’m still alive, the newspaper office can remain status quo.”

Mu Yangling looked at him suspiciously and couldn’t help but pinch the soft flesh on his waist. She snorted and asked, “Tell me the truth.”

“I’m just afraid that you’ll be angry.” Qi Haoran said, “You’re the one who founded the newspaper office. If you hand this over, how much else would you have left?”

Although Qi Haoran didn’t say it out loud, he felt guilty in his heart. As Ah Ling didn’t know how to do business, she hadn’t set up that many businesses. However, every single one of the businesses started by her had strategic importance to the country, so she’d always had to give them up.

Not only him, but even his big brother felt a little ashamed. How could he dare to ask Ah Ling to give up the newspaper office, after all that she had already given up?

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