Chapter 33813383【Southeast Railway】

 Subsequently, under Xiang Nan's personal intervention, China's first real newspaper was officially launched, which was called "Beijing News".

 The latest emperor's edict is published on it, and the content of the edict is related to the newspaper.

Xiang Nan elaborated on the role of newspapers in the edict. The first is to convey policies and communicate them from top to bottom to prevent policies from being misunderstood and causing harm to the people. The second is to spread news, open up people's wisdom and prevent people from misbelieving rumors. The third is to promote goods and communicate with each other. None, it is helpful for business exchanges; the fourth is entertainment, enriching knowledge, and cultivating readers' sentiments.

 In addition, there are policy changes, local news, business information, poetry and stories, etc.

 After the publication of "Beijing News", it was well received and attracted rushes from all over the world.

 First of all, newspapers are cheap. A newspaper costs only ten cents, which may be too expensive for poor people, but for the middle class and above, ten cents is not expensive.

 At that time, buying a book cost one hundred pence. There are four newspapers in total, and they are quarter-opening papers. They are stacked together and have a thick layer. They are suitable for papering windows when you take them home.

 Secondly, the information in newspapers is useful to many people. In addition to officials, businessmen, and gentry who need to pay attention to changes in the imperial court, students also need to pay attention.

 After all, the annual entrance examination in "Chinese Language" tests current affairs. If you don't understand current affairs, you may not even be able to write articles well. So they also want to buy it.

 Thirdly, the business information published in newspapers is a great benefit to businessmen. Nowadays, the capital has gathered merchants and goods from all over, and it is no longer enough to just rely on Yaxing.

After all, the reception capacity of dental shops is limited, and dental shops have to take commissions from introducing business. In comparison, communicating through newspapers is much more convenient.

 As a result, the "Beijing News" became very popular, popular in the north and south, with a circulation of hundreds of thousands of copies per issue.

 Because of the limitations of typesetting technology at that time, newspapers could not be published regularly every day, so the Beijing News was published every other day.

 …

In addition to the Beijing News, Xiang Nan also encouraged each province to publish newspapers to report news anecdotes, various cases, business information, poetry and stories, etc. in the province.

With his encouragement, Zhili and Jiangsu and Zhejiang provinces also launched their own provincial newspapers, which were welcomed by local people, gentry, and officials.

 At last count, each issue of the newspaper sold more than 100,000 copies. Not only did they not lose money, but they made a small profit by publishing business information.

Seeing this, other provinces also began to launch newspapers.

 At one time, newspapers were published in more than 20 provinces across the country, greatly increasing the speed and popularity of information transmission.

 Not only can policies be communicated from top to bottom, preventing people from suffering losses, but it can also open up people's wisdom and prevent rumors from spreading. It can also convey business information, exchange what is needed, and promote business exchanges.

However, the income from publishing newspapers was not regulated in detail before. Therefore, in some places, officials secretly divided the income from newspapers. There are even cases where businessmen bribe officials in the name of advertising in newspapers.

Seeing this, Xiangnante issued an edict, stipulating that officials were not allowed to share the proceeds of newspapers privately, but should be nationalized and handed over to the local finance bureau for unified supervision.

 In this way, the circulation of newspapers was regulated and gradually became popular in the Central Plains, and its content became more and more abundant.

In order to attract readers and expand sales, newspapers not only contained court announcements, news anecdotes, business information, poetry and stories, but also various anecdotes and strange cases, and even the earliest serialized novels.

 All in all, newspapers are becoming more and more popular.

 …

In September of the thirty-sixth year of Qianlong’s reign, the train from Beijing to Bangkok was officially completed. This railway has a total length of about 8,000 miles, running through Beijing, Hebei, Anhui, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangxi, Annan, Laos, Siam and other places, and reaches the port in Bangkok.

 In this way, you can go directly to Southeast Asia from the capital. This was of great benefit to the imperial court in controlling Southeast Asia.

 Southeast Asian countries have not been too peaceful in the past dynasties, especially the two countries of Annan and Bagan. When they were strong, they coveted the territory of the Central Plains and carried out invasions many times.

Although the Qing government has long since defeated them, there are still resistance forces in the country, which can be said to be dissatisfied. Once the Central Plains falls into recession, they will definitely break away from the Central Plains' control and even return with revenge.

Now that the railway is connected, at the speed of an internal combustion engine train, the army can reach Southeast Asia from the capital in three or four days at most. If troops were sent from Guangdong and Guangxi, it would not take more than a few hours.

If they wanted to resist, they would have been defeated by the arriving army before they could succeed. In this way, they were completely suppressed.

 Furthermore, in the past, products from Southeast Asia were transported by ship. Although shipping costs were low, the speed was very slow. As a result, many fruits produced in Southeast Asia have rotted before being shipped to the north.

Now that the railway has been opened, a large amount of tropical fruits can be continuously sent to the north through the railway. Such as durian, mangosteen, papaya, banana, jackfruit, etc.

 In addition, in addition to fruits, there are also rice, rubber, tin mines, gold mines, copper mines, gemstones, etc. It can be said that these are extremely beneficial to the Central Plains.

 …

In January of the thirty-seventh year of Qianlong's reign, he was scolded by Xiang Nan for a long time. After a year of exile, he finally returned to the capital.

His skin was tanned and he looked several years older, very embarrassed.

 “Huang Ama, my son and I have come back to reply.” Yong Cong knelt in the hall and said to Xiang Nan.

“What can you gain from this trip?” Xiang Nan asked.

 “Huang Ama, I am wrong.” Yong Cong lowered his head and said.

 “What’s wrong?” Xiang Nan asked again.

“You should not be arrogant and arrogant.” Yong Cong explained, “Everything I saw and heard along the way was shocking and shocking.

Corrupt officials, local tyrants and evil gentry, hooligans, bandits and robbers are still found everywhere. Most people still live a very difficult life.

European governments are openly loyal to the Qing Dynasty, but secretly they are constantly complaining. Many people have gathered in groups to harass our railways, garrisons, and officials.

 The governments in the Middle East are even more independent. They bow to the Qing Dynasty openly, but secretly they still proclaim themselves chiefs, just like a country within a country..." Yong Cong said to Xiang Nan.

 In the past year, he has spent half of his time traveling domestically and half of his time abroad. I have to say that he has benefited a lot from these tens of thousands of miles.

He originally thought that the Qing Dynasty now unified the world, the country was rich and the people were strong, the soldiers and generals were brave, the strength was the first, and there was no rival in the world.

But after going out for a walk, I realized that in the prosperous times, there are actually dangers everywhere.

 The life of the common people is not very easy. Not only do they have no clothes to keep out the cold, nor do they have enough food to live in their homes, but many of them still don’t have enough to eat, and most of the food is mainly coarse grains, such as sorghum, corn, sweet potatoes, potatoes, etc. Most of the crops have been looted by officials, landlords, bandits, gangsters, etc. It is really pitiful.

 (End of this chapter)