Chapter 1095 - Tianshui Society
"You're suggesting we rope in the Donglin Party?" Li Yan asked with interest.
"Precisely," Yu E'shui nodded. "Strictly speaking, the Fushe."
"The Fushe controls the Qingliu's public opinion. As long as they cease their large-scale attacks on Sun Yuanhua, his political career will be saved. Is that your meaning?"
"Exactly," Yu E'shui confirmed. "Though the speech officials are not directly controlled by the Donglin, the Fushe's reputation as Qingliu already carries tremendous weight both at court and among the public. Before his death, Zhang Pu possessed an implicit ability to sway public opinion across the realm. The power of this Qingliu cannot be underestimated."
"But will the Fushe actually assist us in this?" Wang Ding remained skeptical. What they were doing now amounted to lobbying work, akin to American interest groups, with the Fushe serving as the equivalent of a powerful political party.
For lobbying to succeed, one had to either explain the pros and cons persuasively, or offer an exchange of interests.
Wang Ding suspected that from the perspective of pros and cons, the Fushe might not stick its neck out to help Sun Yuanhua merely for the sake of protecting Zhou Yanru—after all, neither Sun Yuanhua nor Xu Guangqi belonged to the Donglin lineage. Sun's downfall would strike a heavy blow against Zhou Yanru, but whether Zhou's fall would seriously damage the Donglin was a matter on which the Donglin and Fushe might not internally agree.
From the perspective of interest exchange, the Senate could offer nothing the Fushe cared to trade for. What the Fushe desired most was securing power at court and in the provinces; toward this end, they did not hesitate to rig examinations to obtain academic degrees for their own members. By comparison, the Senate's current influence on the court was pitifully negligible—unless they resorted to war.
"No, the probability of the Fushe saving Zhou Yanru is actually quite high!" Jiang Shan declared. "Wen Tiren is the Donglin's sworn enemy. If Zhou Yanru is driven out, the Fushe loses all influence in the Cabinet and central government—a disaster for a society dedicated to the Great Ming's rejuvenation and administrative reform."
Historically, after Wen Tiren drove out Zhou Yanru and seized the Senior Grand Secretary position, the Donglin's power at court suffered a devastating blow. Not only did Wen Tiren oppose the Donglin at every turn, but the Eunuch Faction—branded under the "Case of the Rebellious Faction"—also mounted constant counterattacks. To reverse this decline, the Fushe had spared no effort seven years later to restore Zhou Yanru to the Grand Secretariat.
Clearly, Zhou Yanru was the Donglin's principal ally in the central government. Especially given Zhou's great "contributions" to the Fushe in the metropolitan examination of 1631, Zhang Pu could not fail to appreciate the value of a benevolent Senior Grand Secretary. Jiang Shan believed that if the pros and cons were properly explained to Zhang Pu and his associates, cooperation between both sides was entirely achievable.
Li Yan spoke up: "This task can be assigned to Zhao Yingong—he has already cultivated friendships with key Fushe members in Hangzhou. He can leverage these relationships to approach Zhang Pu and conduct the persuasion work."
"Wouldn't it seem strange for him to come forward? What would be his motive?"
"Don't forget that Zhao Yingong is also a core member of the Hangzhou Church. Sun Yuanhua is a Catholic. Helping out of religious fellowship makes perfect sense, both emotionally and rationally."
"Send a telegram to Hangzhou immediately."
Hangzhou in the first lunar month lay gripped by the Little Ice Age. Most small rivers had frozen over, and even the West Lake bore a thin crust of ice.
Though the weather was cold, the streets remained lively. After the fifth day of the New Year, every shop had reopened, while families with grain to spare busied themselves visiting relatives and friends for New Year's greetings.
Zhao Yingong had become something of a "celebrity" in Hangzhou City. Since visits by Zhang Dai and Fang Yizhi, his Wanbi Bookstore had transformed into a famous cultural salon. Not only did literati great and small from inside and outside the city frequent it, but even ordinary citizens knew Wanbi Bookstore as an "interesting good place."
Fushe scholars in Zhejiang were particularly drawn to the establishment. Led by Fang Yizhi, they often gathered there to explore the "Science of Investigating Things." Zhao Yingong had achieved excellent results through works like the "Treatise on Light for Beginners" that he had presented to Zhang Dai, successfully attracting scholars interested in Gewu studies to Wanbi Bookstore—thereby accomplishing his goal of approaching the Fushe's core figures.
"The New Year is almost over." When Gao Xuan stepped onto the bookstore's entrance steps, he sighed with feeling. Compared to his first visit early the previous year, his complexion had improved markedly, his clothing had grown neat and proper, and clutching a bamboo folding fan that never left his hand regardless of season, he looked every inch the Xiucai. Evidently, he had been well-fed and warmly dressed of late, living quite a comfortable little life.
Since accepting employment at Wanbi Bookstore as a contracted writer with an income of two taels of silver per month, Gao Xuan's formerly straitened circumstances had greatly improved. His voice had grown considerably louder in the presence of his father-in-law and brother-in-law.
As an "Editor" and bookstore staff member, Gao Xuan was not greeted by the door clerk but walked straight through the main hall to the "Editorial Department" in the back.
The Editorial Department occupied "Wanbi Tower"—an "Australian-style" three-story blue brick building with a garden. A dozen rooms upstairs and downstairs housed the complete "reading, writing, editing, and proofreading" team. Zhao Yingong had specifically established the "Tianshui Society" within Wanbi Bookstore.
This publishing house's primary task was not editing the books printed by Wanbi Bookstore—those used paper matrixes shipped from Lingao and required no editorial work. Apart from proofreading some paper proofs of traditional books shipped from Lingao, the publishing house's main work was editing various popular readings, especially magazines.
These popular readings were all printed using lithography. The technique allowed for quick plate-making and accommodated both text and images, making it ideal for small-scale, multi-batch printing operations. China's first popular magazine, Dianshizhai Pictorial, had used lithography. Zhao Yingong's publishing business ideas drew inspiration from that very publication.
However, his business scope far exceeded it. Three types of periodically published magazines targeted different demographics. First came Tianshui Life Weekly, aimed at scholars like Zhang Dai and Fang Yizhi—most possessed degrees such as Juren or Xiucai, some were even Jinshi who had served as officials. They lived in comfortable circumstances, many enjoyed established literary reputations, and ranked as upper-middle members of the scholar class, with considerable appetite for spiritual enrichment.
Tianshui Life Weekly was divided into four sections: Current Affairs Commentary, Reading Thoughts, Culture and Entertainment, and Strange News and Anecdotes. Its positioning roughly followed the approach of Sanlian or Phoenix in the old timeline: maintaining a certain grade and depth without sacrificing its nature as popular reading.
Zhao Yingong understood that though the target demographic was the middle and upper class, they wielded fame and influence among the intellectual stratum. The reading habits of this group would inevitably influence many others. Just as white-collar workers unconsciously imitated business elites, building prestige among the target demographic would allow the magazine to radiate throughout the entire scholarly class.
As for introducing science and technology, Zhao Yingong had temporarily categorized such content under Strange News and Anecdotes. Transforming the concepts of scholar-officials could not happen overnight. Moreover, popularizing entirely new ideas for traditional intellectuals—who lacked basic scientific foundations yet considered themselves masters of knowledge—presented enormous challenges. Better to start from a humanistic perspective and gradually shift their worldview first.
The second publication was Wanbi Studio Pictorial, essentially a pirated version of Dianshizhai Pictorial from another timeline. It mixed text and images, with emphasis on the visual. Content focused on overseas curiosities, social anecdotes, and natural science popularization. The target demographic was urban citizens with some economic capacity; the content was accessible and easy to understand.
Both pictorials used 16-kai pages and featured beautiful printing. Because they targeted higher-level audiences, their prices were correspondingly elevated. Addressing the lower-class commoners, Zhao Yingong launched a third magazine: Classic of Mountains and Seas Pictorial. This publication compressed paper and printing costs to the minimum, using cheap paper and simpler lithographic plates. The format was reduced to 32-kai.
The content consisted mainly of social news, folk legends mixed with social novels, supplemented by small amounts of practical common knowledge. It was presented primarily as serial pictures—very little "text," only brief sentences rendered in vernacular Chinese and vulgar characters. This made excellent leisure reading for ordinary people who knew few characters or were completely illiterate.
Hangzhou was a commercial city with a large population engaged in the tertiary industry. Citizen culture flourished, and urban commoners had enormous demand for leisure and entertainment. "Comic strips" like Classic of Mountains and Seas Pictorial fit their requirements perfectly.
Zhao Yingong had hired a group of down-and-out literati to staff the publishing house at the cost of one to two taels of silver monthly, grandly titling them "Editors." Some worked on text; others specialized in illustration.
Gao Xuan walked into the courtyard. The servant guarding the entrance was sweeping the ground; seeing him enter, the man hastened to call out respectfully, "Mr. Gao!"
Gao Xuan nodded politely and asked, "Has the Master come?"
Zhao Yingong visited the "Editorial Department" to "guide work" once every three mornings. By calculation, today should be his day.
"The Master didn't come today," the servant replied. This surprised Gao Xuan somewhat. Though Master Zhao exhibited certain peculiarities in speech and behavior, he was extremely disciplined in matters of routine and would not change habits without special cause.
Gao Xuan made his own way into the small building and proceeded to his "Public Office." The sign hanging at the door read "Social Affairs Department." This department specialized in writing social news and street stories and contained the most local scholars.
The room had been scrubbed until the windows gleamed and the tables shone. Several rows of desks arranged in the old-timeline style stood face-to-face and back-to-back, giving any Senator who walked in an immediate sense of familiarity. However, lying atop the desks were the Four Treasures of the Study.
Several "Editors" had already arrived at the office; everyone exchanged greetings. The moment Gao Xuan sat down, a servant brought breakfast.
Master Zhao was a very good person. Since most of the editors came from impoverished backgrounds, he provided breakfast each morning for the "Editors" who came to work. Though it was nothing more than fried dough sticks, white porridge, and Xiaoshan dried radishes, for these poor scholars, it was enough to warm their hearts to the core.
(End of Chapter)