Dong Wencong stood up and slowly ground the ink with the ink stick in his hand while saying, "It's just that the Ministry of Personnel issued a written warning, and neither the cabinet nor the empress dowager came forward, so it's not a big deal."
Fang Yun said expressionlessly, "For them, the people just took to the streets to smash and loot. It's not worth their attention. Oh, I was biased. At least the left prime minister and his party care a lot. After all, they can find opportunities to attack you and me."
Dong Wencong remained silent. He had already discovered Fang Yun's characteristics: he always stood on the side of the common people and never considered himself a bureaucrat.
Afterwards, Fang Yun dipped the brush in ink and began to write the memorial.
Seeing that Fang Yun did not let him leave, Dong Wencong thought of Fang Yun's previous words and secretly read the contents of the memorial.
The memorial stated that in order to cope with the current chaotic situation in Xiangzhou, the cabinet was strongly requested to set up a "Xiangzhou Duiqing State Affairs Office", abbreviated as Duiqing State Affairs Office, to combine military and political power to avoid being helpless when the Qing State army passed through the border, and to avoid arousing public anger.
The memorial briefly explained what happened in various places today. Although it did not blame anyone, it secretly pointed out that the current situation in Xiangzhou was inseparable from the cabinet's neglect of Qing affairs. If a "temporary military affairs room" was established in advance to eliminate the impact of Qing's looting, such things would not have happened in various places in Xiangzhou.
Seeing this, Dong Wencong suddenly realized why Fang Yun said "Misfortune may turn out to be a blessing in disguise". The incident in Xiangzhou was obviously the work of the officials of Qing and the Qing State, but Fang Yun pushed the responsibility to Zuo Xiang. The Qing Affairs Office proposed by Fang Yun was of much higher standards than the temporary military affairs office, and it could exist forever.
Afterwards, Fang Yun wrote "Spring Thoughts" and passed the document to Quanyuan, who then had someone from Quanyuan submit the memorial.
Written memorials are different from letters. The contents of letters are kept confidential, but memorials will be handled by many people. Fang Yun deliberately let other officials of Jing State know the contents of the memorial first.
That evening, Minister of Culture Jiang Hechuan convened an emergency cabinet meeting, and he and Right Prime Minister Cao De'an clearly expressed their support for Fang Yun, and demanded that the Left Prime Minister and the Assistant Prime Minister give an answer. Otherwise, if Xiangzhou was in chaos, the responsible ones would not be Fang Yun, but Liu Shan and Si Yueqing.
Afterwards, rumors spread among officials of the State of Jing that the reason why so many cities in Xiangzhou had protests was because Fang Yun was secretly instigating them in order to threaten the cabinet in order to establish the Qing Affairs Office and seize power in Xiangzhou, so that he could do whatever he wanted afterwards.
However, Liu Shan has never expressed his opinion, and it is obvious that he disagrees with Fang Yun's establishment of the Qing Affairs Office. Once it is really established, Fang Yun can even bypass the cabinet and completely control the military and political affairs of Xiangzhou.
That night, Jingguo seemed very peaceful.
"Xiangzhou Dibao" is separate from "Shengdao" and "Wenbao" and is published on the 5th, 15th and 25th of each month.
On July 15, the "Xiangzhou Dibao" published an article on "What's the harm in giving him three feet?" The next "Xiangzhou Dibao" should be published on July 25.
However, in the early morning of July 21, the Xiangzhou Lisi suddenly published a supplement to the "Xiangzhou Dibao", and it was no longer distributed to officials of high ranks in various places, but even began to be distributed free of charge in various cities.
This was the first time that Xiangzhou Dibao was available to the public, and it immediately sparked a rush to buy it.
When Fang Yun received the news, he was still eating. He remained calm, asked Dong Wencong to bring a portion, and then continued eating.
Not long after, Dong Wencong came with two supplements of "Xiangzhou Dibao" with a grim face.
After handing the supplement to Fang Yun, Dong Wencong said angrily: "The Ministry of Rites and some officials of the Academy of Literature are too outrageous! They actually printed the supplement privately and gave it away without the consent of the state government and the governor's office! These people must be severely punished."
Fang Yun nodded, listened, and flipped through the pages, one breath at a time, and soon finished the entire text of "Xiangzhou Dibao".
There are many articles in the official newspaper today, but all of them are talking about three things: first, Qing is very good; second, Jing is very bad; and third, those who oppose Qing and support Jing are all Xiangzhou thieves.
A rare gloomy cloud flashed across Fang Yun's eyes.
"Xiangzhou has become so corrupt." Fang Yun sighed softly. He realized today that Xiangzhou was far more chaotic than what the outside world had spread and what he had previously known.
Dong Wencong was stunned for a moment, because he had known Fang Yun for many years, and Fang Yun had only shown a similar solemn expression when he was gambling with the demon world.
Dong Wencong hesitated for a moment and said, "It's just a supplement. Why do you take it so seriously?"
Fang Yun glanced at Dong Wencong and sighed in his heart. The officials and scholars of this era did not understand the power of the media. Even if Qingguo used the power of newspapers, it was just a mistake. The collapse of the superpower in the north of the ancient Huaxia country was mainly due to the internal bureaucrats working together to push the wall, but the biggest impact on the people was the power of the media, which promoted everything that was conducive to the change of dynasty and accelerated the collapse of the country. The former superpower successfully changed the dynasty, but it did not become better as the people imagined. After struggling for more than 20 years, the per capita income was actually surpassed by the ancient Huaxia country. The ancient Huaxia country had a large population, and the per capita income was always pitifully low.
Change is right, but the power of change cannot be controlled by ambitious people.
"Publications such as the official gazette are very important. In the future, they will be an extremely powerful force. That is why we cannot let our enemies get hold of them! The Xiangzhou Official Gazette incident may seem like a small matter in just one state now, but I can guarantee that it will become a significant part of history!" Fang Yun said.
Dong Wencong was a Hanlin after all, and he didn't understand many things because he had never experienced learning. Now that Fang Yun pointed it out, he immediately understood and said, "I can't see which aspect of this incident is so important. Since you are so sure, I can only guess that there will be a special public newspaper in the future? Equivalent to the Wen Bao of each country or a private Wen Bao?"
Fang Yun nodded and said, "That's what I mean. The tide of history is so strong and powerful that we cannot go against it."
Dong Wencong's face changed, and he said, "If private newspapers really appear in the future, you and I will be cursed for obstructing the publication of the Xiangzhou Dibao this time."
Fang Yun smiled slightly and said, "Why did the people blame the government instead of the business when something happened at the paper mill?"
"This..." Dong Wencong vaguely guessed something, but couldn't figure it out for a moment.
"This supplement must not have been reviewed by the Holy Academy. Find someone you trust and ask the Holy Academy's Criminal Hall to send someone to conduct a thorough investigation immediately. From then on, you just need to follow me." There was a different meaning in Fang Yun's smile.
Dong Wencong frowned slightly. Although he didn't know Fang Yun's intention, he immediately said, "Don't worry, I'll send the letter right away!"
"You can't send letters. You two can only talk face to face. Don't leave any evidence!" Fang Yun said.
"Okay! Please wait a moment!" Dong Wencong said, left in a hurry and returned soon.
"Wait! Someone, bring the tea!" Fang Yun said.
The two discussed government affairs while waiting.
Two hours later, the two received a letter from the Holy Academy stating that people from the Criminal Hall would soon arrive in Xiangzhou to investigate the incident thoroughly and asked Fang Yun and Dong Wencong to cooperate.
After Fang Yun sent a letter to inquire about the relevant details, he stood up and said, "Come, join me in welcoming the special envoy of the Criminal Palace."
.(To be continued.)