104: Chapter 104 I love it, I want to read it, please update it quickly!

Zhao Fusu re-read the content he had written; he realized he had written it as the Investiture of the Gods.

"Let it be!"

He shook his head inwardly.

It wasn't that Zhao Fusu hadn't thought about publishing novels in the newspaper, but he hadn't expected to write a novel for the very first issue of the Great Qin Empire Weekly, and on the front page at that.

He handed the novel content he had written to Li Si.

When Li Si, Feng Quji, and Feng Jie saw the novel content Zhao Fusu had written, their eyes went wide.

They had never read a novel before, at most having heard of myths, legends, and pre-Qin fables.

Investiture of the Gods belongs to the genre of Strange Tales, and a masterful one at that, with a rich setting, various gods and immortals, all sorts of cultivation techniques and magical treasures, and a tight plot with non-stop excitement.

Strange Tales had not yet appeared in the Qin Dynasty; they wouldn't emerge until the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties.

Now that Li Si and the others were seeing such a masterful collection of Strange Tales, how could they not fall under the spell of the Investiture of the Gods?

"This is just too good!"

"I want to read it again!"

"Don't fight me for it, old man!"

...

Li Si, Feng Quji, and Feng Jie scrambled to read it; reading it once wasn't enough, they had to read it several more times.

The descriptions of peerless treasures and formations like the Dragon-Binding Rope, Sea-Settling Pearls, Golden Dragon Scissors, Hunyuan Golden Bucket, Hunyuan Golden Bucket, and the Nine-Bend Yellow River Formation tugged at their heartstrings. Just when they thought these peerless treasures and formations were unbreakable, even more terrifying treasures would appear, making their moods fluctuate with excitement.

Modern people who want to read historical fiction can look at dynasties like the Qin, Han, Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, and Qing.

But the people of the Qin Dynasty only knew of the Zhou Dynasty and the Shang Dynasty; further back, it was the era of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors.

The Shang Dynasty was closest to them, and they knew many figures from it, such as Jiang Ziya, King Zhou of Shang, and King Wu of Zhou.

Seeing these characters appear allowed them to immerse themselves easily.

Zhao Fusu had written about Grand Preceptor Wen's campaign against Xiqi in the style of Strange Tales.

This catered to the human psychology of loving the bizarre and novel.

The descriptions of various magical treasures were also incredibly imaginative.

The appearance of immortals satisfied the human fantasy for great power.

After Li Si, Feng Quji, and Feng Jie finished reading, they had looks of wanting more, just like middle-aged people in their fifties or sixties watching Dragon King short dramas.

Love it, want to see it, update soon!

"His Majesty the Head of State, is there more?"

Li Si, Feng Quji, and Feng Jie found Zhao Fusu together.

"His Majesty the Head of State, if you write this content in our Great Qin Empire Weekly, I believe many people will definitely subscribe!"

Feng Jie said with an excited expression.

He was urging Zhao Fusu to write the novel, but definitely not because he loved reading it himself.

Zhao Fusu also remembered that Jin Yong's wuxia novels were first published in Ming Pao.

Publishing a novel in the Great Qin Empire Weekly could indeed increase the number of subscribers.

Once he had written enough, he could even bind them into books to continue harvesting money from the nobility.

Zhao Fusu had previously thought about using novels to harvest money from the nobility.

"Alright."

Zhao Fusu and Feng Jie were in immediate agreement.

The Great Qin Empire General Administration of Press and Publication became busy.

Li Si called in cartographers and had them turn the map on the surface of the metal globe into a vertical world map.

Li Si also called in engravers to carve the vertical world map in reverse so that it would print correctly.

Time flowed like water, and in the blink of an eye, three days passed.

The draft for the first issue of the Great Qin Empire Weekly was completed.

Li Si personally brought this first draft of the newspaper to Zhao Fusu.

"His Majesty the Head of State."

Li Si handed over the newspaper.

"Mhm."

After responding, Zhao Fusu took the newspaper.

Despite his guidance, this newspaper was still quite different from those of later generations.

The overall style of the newspaper was a bit like a handwritten poster.

There was a lot of text and very few pictures.

The vertical map was also very crude, far from the refinement produced by printing machines, and it was in black ink, not color.

This newspaper could be said to be extremely primitive.

But regardless, this was the first newspaper of the Great Qin Empire and the first newspaper in this world, possessing epoch-making significance.

In terms of aesthetics, it could be upgraded in subsequent issues.

For Zhao Fusu, the content to be published in the newspaper was what he cared about.

Zhao Fusu read it word by word.

The first page featured the vertical world map and his writing on Grand Preceptor Wen's campaign in Beihai.

The second section was a column set up by the Legislative Yuan to collect judicial opinions from the common people.

The third section was the Judiciary Yuan's judicial promotion column, promoting qin law to the people.

The fourth section was for promoting morality and establishing new customs, allowing the Confucian Scholars to promote moral role models of respecting the elderly and loving the young, respecting teachers, filial piety, and harmonious love.

Zhao Fusu said, "In the section for collecting judicial opinions from the common people set up by the Legislative Yuan, a feedback channel for the people must be added."

"Place judicial opinion feedback boxes inside the latrines."

"Ah?"

"Place judicial opinion feedback boxes inside the latrines?"

Li Si's eyes widened as he heard this.

If Zhao Fusu had said to put the feedback boxes on the street, he could understand. Or if he said to put them in a hidden place, he could also understand.

But placing judicial opinion feedback boxes inside latrines—this move truly left Li Si a bit baffled.

Even if someone really did put an opinion in a feedback box in a latrine, the collected opinions would be full of... smell, wouldn't they?

"Just do as I say."

Zhao Fusu didn't explain much.

He knew very well that putting feedback boxes on the street was just for show.

Only by putting the feedback boxes in the latrines would there be unexpected gains.

Li Si hesitated to speak.

"Prime Minister Li Si, if you have something to say, just say it."

Zhao Fusu said.

Li Si said with a bitter smile, "What if some unruly person throws feces into the judicial opinion feedback box!"

He knew well that there were such people.

Zhao Fusu answered indifferently, "Then wash it and put it back inside."

"Yes."

Li Si still agreed.

"Once you've added that, you can finalize the draft."

"Then, take the newspaper and have those one thousand Confucian Scholars transcribe one thousand copies first."

The speed of transcribing was still too slow; Movable Type Printing must be used!

Zhao Fusu had originally wanted to obtain Movable Type Printing through sign-ins, but over these past few days, he hadn't received it from his daily sign-ins.

Therefore, he could only have Li Si gather a group of masters in ceramics and seal-making to see if they could research it themselves.

After all, the principle of Movable Type Printing was very simple.

"A group of masters in firing ceramics and making seals has already been gathered for Your Majesty."

"But..."

Li Si answered with a frown, "They might not be able to make what you want, His Majesty the Head of State."

"No matter, take me to see them,"

Zhao Fusu said.