Royal Gold Medal County Magistrate

As Emperor Jing's words fell, Fang Zheng immediately jumped out!

"This humble official is willing to donate five hundred shi! If grain is insufficient, I'll make it up with silver!"

"My family doesn't have much grain, but I'm willing to donate it all! A bare donation! To help the people have enough to eat and to share the burden for Your Majesty, I'm going all out! Gentlemen, please, help yourselves ~"

After speaking, Fang Zheng smiled and scanned the room.

I'll set an example for you all! How dare those whose ranks are higher than mine donate less than I do?

Everyone glared at Fang Zheng with resentment.

This damn thing is really good at stirring up trouble. If we don't kill you in the future, we won't have a good life!

The corner of Emperor Jing's mouth twitched almost imperceptibly.

"Well, good! Very good! Fang Qing, I have felt your heart of love for the people and the country. What about the others?"

Li Yansong felt a twist in his heart after hearing this.

He was in the first row. Fang Zheng, a fourth-rank official, had donated five hundred. How much was appropriate for him to donate?

A thousand? It really hurt. Of course, his family had more than two thousand shi of grain, but directly throwing out a thousand would probably cause a lot of complaints within the family.

After thinking it over, Li Yansong gritted his teeth and said, "This official donates one thousand!"

The people next to him looked at Li Yansong in astonishment, not expecting him to go to such lengths!

There was no other way but to follow suit with a thousand, nine hundred, eight hundred, and so on.

At the very end, only a few dozen shi were donated.

In total, it was less than twenty thousand shi. Fang Zheng roughly calculated it and sighed in his heart.

This little bit of grain was a drop in the bucket. From a global perspective, it probably wouldn't last for a few days, but it was better than nothing. He had to think of other ways.

Emperor Jing thought the same thing.

Looking at the number that Guo Tianyang had tallied, he was lost in thought. A total of seventeen thousand eight hundred shi.

Recently, the most headache-inducing thing for Emperor Jing was the endless stream of memorials about the grain disaster in the south.

Local officials had finished collecting from wealthy households and had begun to increase taxes and collect grain from the common people, causing widespread unrest in many places.

Emperor Jing was also anxious but helpless.

However, being able to collect a portion of grain was already a good result. If it weren't for Fang Zheng's move, he probably wouldn't have been able to get even half of the current amount.

After pondering for a moment, Emperor Jing said, "Good! All of you have enthusiastically donated. Fang Qing, after your shift, remember to re-verify the amount of grain stored in the homes of all officials and issue a report to clarify."

"The grain donated by the officials today must also be publicly announced to quell public opinion!"

"This official obeys the decree!"

Zhang Shi immediately said loudly, "Your Majesty, should the management of the newspaper be handled by..."

"This matter will not be mentioned for the time being. You and Fang Zheng each submit a memorial, and I will consider it carefully!"

Emperor Jing interrupted Zhang Shi's speech without hesitation. After all, the newspaper bore the name of the Crown Prince.

What were you, Zhang Shi, trying to do by colluding with the Hanlin Academy?

Fang Zheng was secretly delighted.

Old thing, you can't eat hot tofu in a hurry. You've lived to such an old age and still act like a dog.

It seems that the publication in the newspaper this time has given him quite a shock. Perhaps there's something real in his family that has been hit where it hurts?

I should find someone to investigate.

Zhang Shi silently retreated, not saying a word.

Emperor Jing said, "Alright, let's leave this matter as it is for now. If there are any other matters to report..."

...............

After the court meeting, Li Yansong returned to his office as usual. The daily newspaper was already placed on his desk as usual.

After he sat down, he picked up the newspaper and began to read it carefully.

Most of the others in the office were doing the same.

In just a few days, everyone had become accustomed to reading the newspaper.

The things on it were not only interesting, but also contained a lot of valuable information.

For a time, the only sound in the office was the rustling of newspapers being turned.

Before long, the sound stopped.

Everyone put down their newspapers and looked at Li Yansong with strange expressions.

Li Yansong also put down the newspaper, but his eyes were already dull.

The list was still yesterday's list, completely unchanged. However, there was a headline next to it.

The story of Elder Li shedding tears in the editorial department.....

Zheng Qiao, who usually had a better relationship with him, walked to his side and whispered, "Lord Li, could it be that you and Fang Zheng are in league...?"

"Fang Zheng! You dog thief, you've ruined me!!!" Zheng Qiao only said half a sentence before Li Yansong roared!

For a moment, everyone probably understood what was going on. He must have been tricked by that damn thing. So everyone silently picked up the newspaper and covered their faces.

Zheng Qiao also sat back in his seat awkwardly.

At this moment, the sound of Li Yansong cursing and scolding echoed in the office.

On Fang Zheng's side, as soon as the court meeting ended, he and Li Yuanzhao rode back to the newspaper office at full speed.

Originally, many people wanted to find Fang Zheng to re-verify the amount of grain stored in their homes, but when they turned around, the person had run away!

They cursed and scolded as they watched Fang Zheng's back.

After rushing back to the newspaper office, Fang Zheng stood in the center of the room and said loudly, "Everyone, stop the work at hand!"

"Organize the spare manuscripts! You have two quarters of an hour to rush out another edition of the newspaper and send it to the printing house!"

"Today, the officials at the court donated money! This official has already noted the numbers. This will be today's headline!"

"Brothers, let's get to work! Whether the disaster victims in the south can eat one more mouthful of grain depends on you!"

The emotions of a group of reporters were immediately mobilized, and they began to immerse themselves in a new round of frantic work.

Fang Zheng took a piece of paper and pen and began to carefully write down the amount of money donated by the officials in the court today, as well as the corresponding names.

Fortunately... the donations were all in whole numbers, and they were easy to remember because they were divided according to rank.

Otherwise, with Fang Zheng's memory, it would be a little difficult to remember clearly.

After dictating it, Fang Zheng handed the paper to Shen Yi to handle.

Li Yuanzhao, who had been standing aside for a long time, finally asked, "Lao Fang, why did we rush back so anxiously? Couldn't we just issue it tomorrow?"

"It's possible, but didn't Your Highness see those people in the court today? They have long been dissatisfied with us."

"The more time we delay, the more unfavorable it will be for us. So we have to find a way to get them to donate more."

"If they really find any point of attack again, the newspaper may not be able to continue to be run in our hands, so we must seize the time and do as much as we can!"

Li Yuanzhao thought for a while: "That makes sense! Then let them hurry up and get it done. Now it's too late to temporarily find newsboys to sell the newspapers. I'll pull the hygiene team over and try to sell the newspapers all over the city this afternoon!"

Fang Zheng said with satisfaction: "Your Highness is thoughtful. You go and get busy first, I also have a manuscript to write!"

..................

In the afternoon, with the almost frantic work efficiency of the newspaper office and the printing house, the second chapter of today's newspaper was launched brilliantly.

Countless members of the hygiene team took a stack of newspapers each and went to the streets to sell them.

They shouted frantically along the street: "Extra! Extra! Big news! Officials of the imperial court enthusiastically donate grain!!"

Many people felt exceptionally fresh about publishing two newspapers in one day.

So buying them was even more active!

In less than an hour, this part of the extra-printed newspapers was sold out, and the printing house was still printing non-stop, printing and selling each batch.

At this time, the newspaper readers in each neighborhood got their copy of the newspaper.

Seeing the news, they were overjoyed. With such explosive content, today's reward money would probably be quite a lot!

So they went to the streets to shout again.

Soon, the people on the street habitually poured over.

"Why are there two newspapers today! So fresh! Read it quickly!"

Seeing more and more people gathering, the newspaper reader smiled and said loudly: "Everyone, don't worry! There's big news in this extra-printed newspaper today!"

"The lords in the court have donated a lot of grain and have begun to provide disaster relief to the south! Now I will read out the grain donation situation of each family!"

"The Zhang family, one thousand shi!"

"The Li family...."

After the newspaper reader finished reading one by one, the crowd first let out a huge exclamation. A total of seventeen thousand eight hundred shi, such a large amount of grain is really a big deal!

However, everyone soon realized it.

The family on that list has two thousand shi, and they only donated so little after all this time?

The crowd let out a huge sound of dissatisfaction.

The newspaper reader smiled when he saw the opportunity: "Everyone! It's not over yet! The celebrity interview column that has been empty in the newspaper finally has content today, and it's about this grain donation. Don't worry, I'll read it to you, hoping that those with money will give money, and those without money will give support!"

The crowd began to look forward to it again.

The newspaper reader cleared his throat and began to read the newspaper loudly!

"Cough cough! Celebrity Interview"

"This shameful grain donation in the court will probably become the biggest topic among the people in the next two days. Let's take a look at the comments of Fang Zheng, the Junior Preceptor of the Court of State Ceremonials!"

"Fang Zhanshi, who has always been straightforward, bluntly said: If the courtiers only donate so little, I'm afraid they don't even want their face anymore!"