Zhu Jinsong was initially troubled, as the Lai Prefecture required a large number of personnel, and the Yizhou Prefecture did not have many people available to deploy. Although it wouldn't lead to a complete standstill, resolving the issue would take more than just a day or two.
This continued until Zhu Jinsong saw the newspaper that Agui and Mingxing had created.
Agui and Mingxing, those scoundrels, showed a certain lack of sportsmanship. Not only did they start their own newspaper, following Zhu Jinsong's example, but they also imitated the layout of the Menglianggu Newspaper without paying Zhu Jinsong a single cent in copyright fees.
The newspaper produced by Agui and Mingxing had "The Great Qing Shandong News" on the upper right corner of the first page, personally inscribed by Agui, the Imperial Commissioner. Below it, like the "Menglianggu Newspaper," was the current issue's publication date, followed by a table of contents. To the left of the table of contents were the articles.
They copied it with such righteous audacity.
This made Zhu Jinsong very angry.
It had always been Zhu Jinsong who fished in troubled waters without paying copyright fees. When had it ever been the turn of the Tartars to fish in his troubled waters?
It was simply outrageous!
However, after Zhu Jinsong carefully read "The Great Qing Shandong News," even as a seasoned troll from the Azure Realm, he found himself momentarily unable to find words to describe it.
On the first page, Agui's signed article first refuted the glorious deeds of their Great Qing that Zhu Jinsong had previously listed. It directly blamed Zhang Xianzhong for the massacre in Sichuan, while describing Haoge's military intervention in Sichuan as an act of rescuing the people and punishing the wicked.
The article on the second page was written by some pedantic Confucian scholar. It focused on how Kang Mazi, in addition to chasing three hundred rabbits a day, also went on incognito tours whenever he pleased. It transformed Kangxi's six southern tours into incognito visits, highlighting the loyalty of officials like Yu Chenglong, truly embodying the unity of Manchus and Han.
As for the article on the third page, it was also written by an unknown pedantic Confucian scholar. The content was about the romantic anecdotes of the Ten-Prize Dog on his southern tours. The first to appear was Xia Yuhe from the shores of Daming Lake. Even "Manchu-Han unity" was insufficient to describe the relationship between the Qing Emperor and the Han officials.
The fourth page was even less worth mentioning, recounting the story of Heshen and Liu Yong, and Ji Xiaolan, focusing on how the Qianlong Dog doted on his people.
Zhu Jinsong couldn't help but laugh.
They were truly shameless.
Unfortunately, even though Agui and Mingxing, those scoundrels, were shameless, it couldn't change the fact that they were brainless. It also couldn't change the fact that "The Great Qing Shandong News" was a flop.
When Zhu Jinsong was creating the "Menglianggu Newspaper," he had worried that the Tartar court would follow suit, as the impact of newspapers was obvious to anyone.
As Zhu Jinsong had anticipated, Agui, the Shandong Governor, recognized the immense value of the "Menglianggu Newspaper" at first glance and immediately imitated it, creating "The Great Qing Shandong News."
This was evident from the fact that the publication dates of "The Great Qing Shandong News" and "Menglianggu Newspaper" were only a few days apart.
The problem was that Agui and Mingxing, those desperate scoundrels, in their haste to copy the newspaper, ended up creating a mongrel. They completely failed to consider the target audience of the newspaper.
This is why they say a brain is a good thing.
Of course, the reason for this situation might also be that these two scoundrels had always believed newspapers were meant for scholars.
After all, purely on the surface, newspapers were indeed intended for officials, scholars, and local gentry. The illiteracy rate in their Great Qing was a known fact. Most common people couldn't read, so giving them newspapers would be useless.
Furthermore, for officials, scholars, and local gentry, the truthfulness of the content in the newspapers was not as important as whether it was beneficial to them.
From this perspective, the "The Great Qing Shandong News" created by Agui and Mingxing was undoubtedly extremely successful. Officials needed a ruler who wasn't overly wise or heroic, scholars needed an object of loyalty, and local gentry needed an emperor who could protect them and allow them to gain some advantages.
The portrayal of Kang Mazi and the Qianlong Dog in "The Great Qing Shandong News" perfectly matched the idealized image of an emperor held by officials, scholars, and local gentry.
However, who said that the target audience of newspapers was limited to officials, scholars, and local gentry?
Although Zhu Jinsong's newspaper was printed in large quantities and distributed, in Yizhou, Yanzhou, and the recently acquired Lai Prefecture under Menglianggu, the "Menglianggu Newspaper" was meant to be read aloud!
Literate people were supposed to read it to the illiterate masses!
Unlike "The Great Qing Shandong News," which was full of classical Chinese, the "Menglianggu Newspaper" was written entirely in vernacular. Even semi-literate people could understand most of it with a bit of guessing, and illiterate people could get the gist of it by listening.
This was precisely why Zhu Jinsong vehemently criticized the pseudo-Confucian Hao Jing and the mediocre Yan Zheng's fallacious arguments in the newspaper, while also listing the glorious deeds of the Tartars' massacres.
Furthermore, "The Great Qing Shandong News," with its constant praise for Mazi and Qianlong, and its emphasis on Qianlong Dog's love for his people and the admiration of Han women for Qianlong Dog, and how they finally became a couple after many hardships – such content was perfectly acceptable to the bondservants. It might even touch upon certain indescribable points and make them howl with excitement. But what was the largest group in the world?
The largest group in the world was not the bondservants who leaned towards the Jiannu, but the Han people who were looked down upon by the Jiannu!
Agui and Mingxing believed that the common people would forget or not care about the tragedies in Yangzhou, Jiading, Jiangyin, and other places. But let's not forget, the period between those massacres and the Qianlong era was only about 130 years.
Time could indeed erase many things.
More than three hundred years later, many Han people have forgotten their ancestors, who were massacred in the tens of millions, even approaching hundreds of millions. On certain video platforms, whenever the music for "I truly want to live another five hundred years" plays, Kang Mazi's image appears. When the music for "No time to tell stories, so many twists and turns" plays, Puyi's bowing posture as he attempts to sit on the dragon throne is shown. In the comment sections, a group of idiots comment on how formidable Mazi was, lamenting how difficult it must be for an emperor who needs to buy a ticket to go home.
Some even call him "Grandpa."
Many people don't know that "Borrowing five hundred years from heaven" was originally intended as the theme song for "The Great Hero Zheng Chenggong," not a tribute to Mazi.
Many foolish individuals shed tears for Puyi, but do they remember his past boasts?
"No matter how many people the Japanese kill in Manchuria, if I am not allowed to be emperor, it's not acceptable."
Compare that to Chongzhen, who said, "Let the bandits dismember my corpse, but do not harm a single one of my people." Who deserves more sympathy?
Even if Chongzhen had his faults, some brainless people should remember that the Forbidden City was built by Zhu Laosi, Chongzhen's ancestor, not by Puyi's ancestor. If anyone should talk about going home, it should be someone surnamed Zhu, not someone surnamed Aisin Gioro!
Unfortunately, many people have had their memories of those tragedies erased by time.
However, fortunately, the Qianlong era was only a little over 130 years after those massacres. 130 years was not enough to erase the memory of the Han people throughout the land.
From the establishment of the Tartar regime until the fall of the Great Qing, activities to oppose the Qing and restore the Ming never ceased.
Even if we take a step back and assume that those who shouted "Oppose the Qing and restore the Ming" were all ambitious individuals, and the common people had already forgotten those tragedies, the endless rebellions ultimately proved one thing:
The typical behavior of the Tartar government was evident. The common people knew clearly how much oppression they suffered daily and what kind of hardships they endured. Consequently, as soon as someone shouted "Oppose the Qing and restore the Ming," common people would join the rebellion!
This was because compared to the Ming Dynasty, which was judged as corrupt and dark, the Great Qing made the people live even more miserable lives!
Therefore, the more Agui and Mingxing praised Mazi and Qianlong in "The Great Qing Shandong News," the more ordinary people would react negatively towards Mazi and Qianlong. No one cared about or believed those utterly unbelievable tales.
The result was that "The Great Qing Shandong News," which Agui and Mingxing hastily produced overnight, couldn't be said to have no readers, but the number of readers was extremely small. The people under Tartar rule were too lazy to listen to those nonsensical articles, and even if they did, they dismissed them as nonsense.
In contrast, the people of Yizhou, Yanzhou, and Lai Prefecture, with the disappearance of the Tartar government and the gradual expansion of farmers' associations, found their burdens significantly lightened. Every day, besides farming their own land, they were organized by the farmers' associations to dig wells. They had much more leisure time than the people under Tartar rule. When they had free time, they naturally were willing to listen to the "Menglianggu Daily."
The two vastly different reactions reflected two vastly different mindsets.
Slaves and masters.
Slaves only cared about survival, and their longest-term thoughts were about what to eat for the next meal. Masters, however, would worry about whether their land was planted well, their livestock were fed properly, and their chickens and ducks were nurtured.
As time went on, the difference between these two mindsets became increasingly apparent.
The people under the Tartar government were more accustomed to bowing and stooping, while the people of Menglianggu were accustomed to walking with their backs straight.
Of course, this doesn't mean that the people of Menglianggu were entirely satisfied with Zhu Jinsong's existence. They would occasionally curse him.
After all, they had become accustomed to being willfully blind their whole lives. Why did Director Zhu suddenly appear and demand that everyone learn to read and write? What kind of logic was that? Could people who couldn't read not farm?
Wasn't that making things difficult?
"My goodness... can someone who recognizes five hundred characters get three hundred coins from the Director? Even women can?"
"Director is brilliant!"
The people of Yanzhou, Yizhou, and Lai Prefecture, under Menglianggu's governance, once again proved the "true fragrance" law with their actions.
Who was foolish? Three hundred coins! Would this free money be too hot to handle? Or uncomfortable to spend?
Three hundred coins! It could not only buy some meat for the children at home but also get a piece of patterned cloth for their wives to make clothes!
Of course, the people were happy, but Zhu Jinsong, whose newspaper was copied without copyright fees and who was almost cursed by his own people, couldn't be happy.
Zhu Jinsong was unhappy, so he decided to make the Jiannu unhappy with him.
In the meeting room at Menglianggu, while smoking his self-rolled aged pipe, Zhu Jinsong said, "Agui and Mingxing, in their desperation, imitated our Menglianggu and started a newspaper. In return, they didn't pay Menglianggu a single cent in tuition. This matter cannot be let go."
Upon hearing Zhu Jinsong's words, Liu Huaiwen, who had just lit his pipe, frowned.
If truth be told, among everyone in the room, Liu Huaiwen, the chief steward of Menglianggu, feared meetings the most and worried about Zhu Jinsong's reckless actions.
ps: Alright, you win. The protagonist's name is changed to Zhu Jinsong, and the preceding chapters will be revised overnight.