In the south of the Yangtze River, a sign with the Yangtze River Newspaper was unveiled, gongs and drums sounded, firecrackers rang out, and the Yangtze River Newspaper opened its doors in a lively atmosphere.

This Changjiang newspaper was the official newspaper of the Qiongzhou Army in Jiangnan, and it was also the first newspaper open to the people. However, the establishment of the Yangtze River Newspaper was very hasty, from Wang Xinyu patting his head to form a war correspondent, to sending the materials to Hangzhou, and then to Qi Bansun and others to gather a group of readers, establish a newspaper, and officially print and publish, in only 10 days before and after, the first Yangtze River Weekly was launched and officially distributed to the north and south of the Yangtze River.

The time for preparation was so short and the speed of issuance was so fast, mainly thanks to the support of a group of Jiangnan scholars for the Ming army. Not far from the time when the three major cases in Jiangnan passed, a group of Jiangnan scholars such as Qi Bansun and Wei Geng were almost killed, but fortunately it was the Ming army that rescued them.

Hearing that a newspaper was going to be published to expose the brutality of the Qing army, Qi Bansun and Wei Geng and others stood up as soon as possible.

Wei Geng was already an official in Hangzhou and became the governor of Zhejiang in the Ming court. To set up a newspaper in Hangzhou, Wei Geng was the first to support. After receiving the war report from Ningbo and the proposal to open a newspaper, Wei Geng personally prepared for the establishment of the Yangtze River Newspaper.

Qi Lisun and Qi Bansun brothers immediately stood up, and the wealthy Qi family contributed a store in Hangzhou as a newspaper office.

With the financial support of the Qi family, a group of typesetting craftsmen were soon recruited and printing equipment and a large amount of paper were purchased.

Then, the letter of appointment issued by Zhang Huangyan came down, and Qi Bansun, who served as a bachelor of Wenyuan Pavilion, served as the first bachelor of the newspaper.

At that time, there was no word editor-in-chief of the newspaper, and Wang Xinyu may also think that the word editor-in-chief was too avant-garde, so the first leader of the newspaper was appointed as a bachelor, and the Yangtze River Newspaper was a subordinate organization belonging to Wenyuange, and the cabinet of Wenyuange served as the editor-in-chief, so the first leader was also a bachelor's official position.

The university scholar is in charge of the entire Wenyuan Pavilion, and he also has to participate in various affairs of the cabinet, so only the subordinate cabinet scholar can be the head of the newspaper.

However, the superior unit of the newspaper is not only Wenyuan Pavilion, but also under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Rites, and is under the orders of the Ministry of Rites.

In addition to official newspapers, the Ming court in Jiangnan also allowed the establishment of private newspapers, but in order to establish a newspaper, first of all, it must be a person of merit and fame, and secondly, it must be approved by the Ministry of Rites before a private newspaper can be established. Of course, the first private newspaper was founded by Zhu Changzuo, a former captured Qing court official. He had just regained his freedom, and the northern court couldn't go back, and he didn't want to do anything for the "traitors" in the south, so he established a academy. Later, the academy also founded a newspaper and named it Jiangnan Newspaper.

At present, there is only one official newspaper, and it is completely for the Ming army.

When Zhu Qi took the war correspondent and sent the original manuscript with the tragic situation of the people in Ningbo back to Hangzhou, Zhang Huangyan, Wei Geng, Qi Bansun and others were angry.

Zhang Huangyan no longer cared about the demeanor of the above-mentioned people, stared at the blood-red eyes, and took the case: "This kind of thing must be known to everyone in the world!" The Tartars wanted to learn Xinhui again, which led to today's tragedy! Report this matter and let everyone in the world see the ferocity of the Tartars! Especially a fake tartar like Fan Chengmo! ”

In the Cabinet Academy, of course, there are people who have different voices. A young school manager stood up: "Ladies and gentlemen, the king of Nanyang County still doesn't care for the people enough. If he really loved the people, he would not have ordered the bombardment of the city walls. ”

Such a voice has also been approved by many students, many people believe that since Ningbo is attacked, as long as it is captured, the people in the city will be the people of the Ming Dynasty. In the way of Confucianism, we must love the people. But Wang Xinyu actually bombarded the unarmed people, which was too cruel. If such a thing can be reported, it can only make the people in other places regard the Ming army as a brutal army as fierce as the Tartars, which will have a very bad impact.

"That's right! If the prince is merciful, he should besiege the Tartars in the city! So that the people will not die! Another young college bachelor said.

After those students finished speaking, Qu Dajun, who had been to Lingnan, spoke: "Could it be that if our Wang Shi doesn't open fire, the people in the city will be able to live?" Do you remember the Battle of Xinhui? ”

The battle of Xinhui is not far away, and everyone here knows about it.

Qu Dajun said again: "Back then, the King of Jin besieged the city because the Tartars drove the people to defend the city!" The king of Jin could not bear to hurt the people. The result? There is no food in the city, and the Tartars feed on the people! In Xinhui City, how many people have been eaten! Do you think it's merciful not to fire? If the city is besieged, can you guarantee that the Tartars of Ningbo City will not be like Xinhui? Wrong! Sometimes it's merciful to make a decision on the spot. ”

After some discussion, the first newspaper of the Changjiang newspaper was typeset and printed.

Printing newspapers, all the words are movable type printing, and it is the most advanced ceramic movable type printing technology of the year, which is very convenient and the speed of typesetting is also very fast. The so-called movable type printing is to fire the carved clay movable type and turn it into ceramic movable type, which can be used for typesetting.

However, the scene paintings of the occupied area sent back by Zhu Qi and other war correspondents were more troublesome, and they could only be printed by engraving printing. Fortunately, according to the requirements, the size of the painting does not need to be too large, and only occupies a small part of the layout.

The engraving is carried out by the engraving craftsman on the clay plate, and after the engraving is completed, it is placed in a tile kiln dedicated to burning movable type, and the ceramic printing plate can be obtained. When typesetting, put the engraving and movable type together and typeset according to a certain rule, so that the typesetting of a layout is completed, and then printed.

In this issue of the Yangtze River Weekly, almost the entire page was about the Ming army's war in Ningbo.

As for the newspaper being named Changjiang Weekly, many people did not understand it at first. Later, Song Shihui, who was proficient in the Western calendar, that is, Song Yingxing's eldest son, explained, and everyone understood that in the Western calendar, a week is seven days, and a month is divided into four weeks.

If the newspaper was published daily, the communication was backward in those years, and where was the amount of information in circulation? No matter how you edit it, you can't publish a newspaper every day.

If it is issued monthly, can it still be called a newspaper? No matter how backward the communication was, no matter how small the amount of information transmission was, it was too long to publish a newspaper once a month, right? In a month, there can be a lot of things happening, those changes are unpredictable, some emergencies, don't you report it?

So Wang Xinyu temporarily adopted the method of weekly reports. Later, as the area controlled by the Ming army increased, daily newspapers would gradually begin to be issued. In the future, when the daily newspaper was first issued, of course, there was not so much news worth publishing, so the news only occupied a certain space in the newspaper, and the newspaper could also publish prose and poetry, and could serialize novels. Another important thing is to place an advertisement in the newspaper!

Nanyang red double happiness, draw out the taste of men.

Nanyang Shipping regular mail ship sets sail from Shanghai every Monday, stopping at Luzon and Singapore on the way, and ending in Hindu, which is safe and fast, welcome to take it.

Do you want to enjoy the speed of flying 3,000 miles a day over the sea? Nanyang Catamaran Clipper Shipping Company welcomes you from Shanghai to Hindu in just six days! Yes, only six days! In just six days, you can go from the mouth of the Yangtze River to the South Seas, what are you waiting for? Hurry up and sign up for the Clippers! You can charter a boat or wait for the ship's schedule.

Wang Xinyu thought about the content of the newspaper advertisements in the future.

……

After the newspapers were printed, they were distributed in various areas under the control of the Ming army, and some of them were to be sent to the Yongli court in Burma for distribution. The ships used to transport the newspapers were three special clippers, which had been converted into passenger and cargo vessels for the Shanghai-Burma route. These four ships became regular ships, which were named by Wang Xinyu as mail ships, which means ships that carry mail, and of course are also responsible for carrying passengers.

The regular liner, that is, the mail ship, the clipper type, is the latest to build four ships, the displacement of this type of ship is 780 tons, can carry 200 passengers, carry 300 tons of cargo, set sail from Shanghai every Monday, the speed of the ship is 14 knots, the sailing time is half a month. Regular sailings from Hindu to Shanghai depart every Wednesday.

Of course, there are also very important newspapers to be sent to the north, so that the bannermen in the northern capital can see it, because Fan Chengmo does not listen to the warning, which will lead to the Ming army retaliating and slaughtering the whole city.

This is actually a difficult problem to be handed over to Bumu Butai and a group of important ministers of the Qing court, how to deal with Fan Wencheng's family, then it depends on how the Qing court handles it. This matter was a headache for the Qing court. If Fan Wencheng's family is killed, Wang Xinyu will not only get rid of this big Han Jian, but also let the world's ministers see that there is no good end for working hard for the Qing court; If the Qing court didn't kill Fan Wencheng, then the bannermen in the capital would make a fuss, and see how Bumu Butai and them ended.

The amount of newspapers sent to the north was not very large, and the agents of the Heaven and Earth Society secretly carried the newspapers, took the Cao Yun line, and after arriving in the capital, they sent out the newspapers through channels.

At that time, the speed of Cao Yun was not fast, and the newspaper was sent to the capital, and when the flag people in the capital saw the newspaper, it was already a month after the inner city of Ningbo was breached. Because of the fast transmission of battle reports, Fan Wencheng had previously learned the news that his son Fan Chengmo had committed suicide in defeat.

"Son!" Fan Wencheng is still immersed in the grief of losing his son.

The imperial court already knew about the slaughter of Mancheng, and in order to prevent the banner people from targeting their hatred at Fan Wencheng's family, the imperial court concealed the truth that because Fan Chengmo used Han people as hostages, he was retaliated by the Ming army and slaughtered Mancheng. Although Bumu Butai and a group of ministers and important ministers protected Fan Wencheng, Fan Wencheng was very worried that the paper would not be able to contain the fire, once the flag people learned the truth of the matter, then how would the Fan family face the anger of the flag people?

"Master, Lord Ning is here!" Outside walked into Fan Wencheng's housekeeper.

"Let him in!" Fan Wencheng said.

Fan Wencheng's old friend for many years, who was also a big traitor who took refuge in the old slave when he was in Liaodong, Ning Wan walked into Fan's mansion. Before the person arrived, the voice came in: "Xiandou (Fan Wenchengzi)!" Something is wrong! Something is wrong! ”

"I don't know why Gongfu (Ning finished my words) is so flustered?" Fan Wencheng personally walked out of the study to greet him.

Ning Wan hurriedly walked into Fan Wencheng's study, holding a newspaper in his hand, and put it on Fan Wencheng's desk: "Brother Xiandou! The capital is in chaos! The flags are all messed up! Look at this! That barbarian didn't know when he came up with this thing and sent it to the capital! The flag people know it! ”

Fan Wencheng hurriedly picked up the paper in the shape of the newspaper, and then picked up the magnifying glass given to him by Tang Ruowang, and put it on the newspaper, only to see the headline on the front page, Fan Wencheng felt dizzy and swollen, and his chest was stuffy for a while, only to see the front page of the newspaper The headline read: In order to resist the Ming Dynasty, Fan Chengmo, the governor of Zhejiang, did not listen to the warning, and took the people as hostages, and as a result, the king took revenge and slaughtered the city.

What is written below, Fan Wencheng didn't see it clearly, in short, he already knew some of the truth from the imperial court in advance, it was Fan Chengmo who didn't listen to the warning and insisted on going his own way, and the Ming army retaliated for the slaughter of the city.

The newspaper is also equipped with a picture, which is a picture printed by engraving, the quality of the painting is good, the painting is vivid, there are the tragic situation of the people being taken hostage by Fan Chengmo, being broken into pieces by cannonballs, there are also pictures of Fan Mansion being slaughtered, Fan Chengmo's family committing suicide and being killed, and there are also scenes when the Ming army slaughtered the city. In the picture, the bannermen are kneeling on the ground in rows, and the soldiers wearing the uniforms of the Ming army are wielding knives to cut off the heads of the bannermen.

The vast majority of the pages of the whole newspaper are the records of the Ming army's attack on Ningbo, from the beginning of the Ming army's siege of the city, to the destruction of the outer city of Ningbo, and then to the capture of the city, the above records are more detailed than the battle report obtained by the Qing court.

Fan Wencheng suddenly screamed, vomited blood, and fainted.

"Your Excellency!"

"Sir!"

Ning Wan and the housekeeper of the Fan Mansion hurriedly came up, pinching people again, rubbing their backs, and after a while, Fan Wencheng slowly woke up. When he opened his eyes, the first thing he said was: "Hurry up and prepare the sedan car!" The old man wants to enter the palace to meet the Empress Dowager Lafayette! This matter is too big, I have to ask Lafayette for the guilt! ”

At this moment, the angry roar of the flag people was heard outside:

"Fan Wencheng get out!"

"Fan Laogou, your son killed such a banner man! Come out and pay for your life! ”

"Kill Fan Laogou!"

"It's enough to kill this old dog surnamed Fan! Kill all the old dogs! ”

"Lao Tzu has long seen that this Han dog family is not pleasing to the eye! Kill them! ”

"Fan old dog! You return my son and daughter! ”

The housekeeper of the Fan Mansion trembled with fright: "Master, what should I do?" The outside is blocked by flag men! Can't get out outside! ”

Fan Wencheng was also at a loss: "We are hiding in the house, and we can't get out today!" Wait until it gets dark, and then enter the palace to ask the Empress Dowager Lafayette for guilt! ”

And at this time, in all the teahouses in the capital, the matter of Fan Chengmo had been spread. What the banner people told each other was not that Fan Chengmo sacrificed his life for the country, but that Fan Chengmo did not listen to the warning and killed the banner people of Ningbo Mancheng.

"Although the Ming dogs are hateful, when have they slaughtered the whole city! Hangzhou was captured, and the people of the city were not killed, I heard that they were all alive and well! A man about thirty years old said loudly.

This man's name is Yang Qilong, and he makes a living from storytelling, and the banner people in the capital like to listen to him. (To be continued.) )