Arranging sensational news about the royal family, and the Emperor's trivial matters, generated many times more traffic than arranging others.
For instance, an article slandering Emperor Zhu Jinsong of Great Ming as lustful might get over a hundred million views, while an article slandering a minor seventh-rank official for the same would only get a few million views. In the tabloids of Great Ming, this was called sales, and sales meant cold hard cash.
Zeng Cheng and other high officials understood the need to make money for a living.
However, despite their understanding, Zeng Cheng and the others still felt a bit uncomfortable when this kind of thing actually happened.
In their opinion, among all the emperors throughout history, which one treated the common people better than Zhu Jinsong, the Emperor of Great Ming?
Was it Qin Shi Huang, known as the First Emperor? Or the emperors of the Liu family who frequently traveled and bestowed gifts upon the common people? Or perhaps Emperor Hongwu who founded Great Ming?
The First Emperor could be said to have achieved eternal merit. Whether it was unifying written script, standardizing currency, unifying weights and measures, or building the Great Wall, these were accomplishments that could not be erased by slander. However, to say that the Great Qin at that time treated its people very well would be pure nonsense.
The emperors of the Liu family, who frequently traveled and rewarded the people, basically took the laws of Great Qin, copied some parts, changed a few keywords or nouns, and then claimed they hadn't copied.
The founding emperor of Great Ming, Mr. Zhu Chongba, allowed commoners to sue officials and even allowed them to tie up officials and escort them to the capital. However, the common people of Great Ming under his rule still didn't live good lives; those who were suffering remained suffering. Not to mention the deadly household registration system.
Among the emperors of all dynasties, it was Emperor Taizong of Tang, Li Shimin, who said, "The people can support a boat, or they can capsize it." However, Li Er did not completely abolish the poll tax and corvée labor, did he?
As for the few wise and benevolent rulers of the Qing Dynasty...
Zeng Cheng couldn't even be bothered to comment on those fellows.
But Emperor Zhu Jinsong of Great Ming, he completely abolished the poll tax and corvée labor, made social schools and county schools entirely free, provided additional subsidies, and established various welfare institutions such as the Charity Bureau, the Benevolent Asylum, the Leaked Reservoir Garden, and the People's Pharmacy. This made it more difficult to find a beggar on the streets of Great Ming than for the Great Ming army to flatten Europe in three days.
Of course, Zeng Cheng and the other high officials also knew that the reason Great Ming had no beggars was not because Great Ming was so wealthy that it had completely eliminated the beggar class. The main reason was that the Great Ming government directly sent able-bodied beggars to construction sites to work, and those with physical disabilities were sent to the benevolent asylum. This created the miraculous phenomenon of no beggars on the streets of Great Ming.
Even so, Zeng Cheng felt that Zhu Jinsong had "over-bestowed favors" on the common people of Great Ming. Hearing Zhu Jinsong lecturing Zhu Erdan and Zhu Sanshun about not over-bestowing favors made Zeng Cheng unable to resist complaining.
After thinking about it, Zeng Cheng ultimately restrained himself.
For example, the matter of Great Ming having no beggars.
Although the high officials in the imperial court knew the truth of the matter, and the local officials also knew, the barbarians in Europe did not know, and the envoys of other small foreign countries did not know. They only knew that Great Ming was so wealthy that it didn't even have a single beggar.
With such prosperity in people's livelihoods, prosperity to the point of having no beggars, where commoners could enjoy various benefits, being militarily superior to all countries on Earth, with four fleets patrolling all the oceans of Earth, coupled with the protection of the Great Ming government and army for the common people of Great Ming, and the propaganda of the newspapers about Great Ming...
It was no exaggeration to say that Great Ming was a true paradise on Earth. A large number of wealthy European nobles or learned scholars were flocking to Great Ming.
These people dreamed of marrying a wife from Great Ming or a husband from Great Ming, so that they and their descendants could also have household registration in Great Ming.
This was a good thing for Great Ming.
While wealthy nobles, knights, or rich merchants were not much of a concern, learned scholars were very important to Great Ming.
Although Zeng Cheng, the Grand Secretary of Great Ming, always appeared as a smiling and benevolent old man, when it came to ruthlessness, darkness, and scheming, Zeng Cheng, the Grand Secretary, was second to none in his life.
Grand Secretary Zeng clearly understood that luring a scholar from Europe was more damaging to Europe than killing a hundred ordinary Europeans. A noble bringing ten taels of silver from Europe was more important than Great Ming earning a hundred taels of silver from Europe.
Didn't Master Sun say, "Eating one zhong of the enemy's provisions is equivalent to ten zhong of our own"?
It was precisely because he understood this that Grand Secretary Zeng cooperated with Zhu Jinsong's propaganda in the newspapers, and even occasionally summoned Pierre, Macartney, and other European envoys, constantly instilling the idea of how good Great Ming was into these European envoys.
However, just as Grand Secretary Zeng's thoughts were about to wander off into the heavens, Zhu Jinsong continued to say to Zhu Erdan, "Send another reorganized army to Tianzhu for stationing. Logistics and provisions will be temporarily handled by Dongtiao Xiaojirou and his men."
After Zhu Erdan obediently acknowledged, Zhu Jinsong changed the topic and looked at Ke Zhiming, asking, "How is the progress in Osman?"
Ke Zhiming reported, "Reporting to Your Majesty, the vanguard of the Right Army Directorate has established a foothold in Osman, and the Western Fleet under the command of the Front Army Directorate has blockaded Osman's waters."
"Furthermore, the Sha'e are also continuously advancing towards Osman. However, after advancing to the Greater Caucasus Mountains and the vicinity of the Black Sea, as stated by the Sha'e people, the Sha'e army has halted its advance, allowing the Osman army to gain some respite."
"In addition, Osman also seems to be starting to ally with the Habsburg family."
Originally, Zhu Jinsong was not too concerned when he heard that the Sha'e army had stopped advancing, as he had an agreement with Paul I that Great Ming and Sha'e would use the Greater Caucasus Mountains and the vicinity of the Black Sea as a buffer zone to avoid direct conflict between the two countries.
However, upon hearing that Osman was seeking an alliance with the Habsburg family, Zhu Jinsong felt a bit of a headache.
The Osman alone was not a cause for concern. After all, they were like Siberian Huskies among dogs; it was not difficult for Great Ming to deal with them.
The Habsburg family alone was also not a cause for concern. England and France alone were enough to thoroughly trounce the Habsburg family.
However, when Osman and the Habsburg family allied, the nature of the matter changed.
Before the alliance of the two powers, the situation on Earth could be described as a brewing storm, with a trend towards a full-scale war across the globe.
After the alliance of the two powers, this trend became particularly pronounced.
Or rather, apart from Great Ming, all other countries on Earth would be drawn into this war.
However, this did not mean that Great Ming could always remain an outsider and stand aside.
Especially since Great Ming's teammates included France – a peculiar country where victory was not achieved unless led by a woman, a cripple, or a dwarf.
According to popular rumor, most people in Europe have body odor, except for the French, because the French often raise their hands.
As for the other European ally, England, it was currently in a state of faltering due to the secession of傻贼鹰 (Foolish Thief Eagle, likely referring to the United States).
Besides these two European allies,傻贼鹰 and Sha'e also had their own difficulties, and generally could not be expected to take the initiative.
In other words, when the entire Earth began a full-scale war, Great Ming would either hide behind the scenes, continuously supplying these four allies, letting them bear the brunt, or personally enter the fray, directly suppressing all countries with its unparalleled national strength and power.
This was not impossible for Great Ming, as its scale was evident. One out of every three people on Earth was a subject of Great Ming, and more than half of the world's wealth was concentrated in Great Ming. As long as Zhu Jinsong was resolute, Great Ming could completely sweep across the globe.
However, the crux of the problem lay precisely in Zhu Jinsong's unwillingness to accept the price of sweeping across the globe – the temporary suspension of technological development, the temporary suspension of economic development, and the decline of the once-growing population. These costs were almost unbearable for Great Ming at the moment.
After pondering, Zhu Jinsong simply instructed Zhu Erdan and Geng Rui, along with other high officials of the Five Army Directorates, "The Right Army Directorate shall speed up its advance into Osman. The Front Army Directorate shall send someone to contact the envoys of傻贼鹰 and demand that傻贼鹰 send more ships to assist Great Ming in transporting troops and supplies."
"I give you one year, starting from today. I don't care what methods you use in Osman, nor what you do there. I only want a clean Osman within a year."
Zhu Erdan and Geng Rui were stunned.
According to the original plan, Great Ming would take three to five years to deal with Osman, because Great Ming still needed Osman's oil, and the entire invasion process was planned based on oil. Operations would also focus on protecting the oil fields.
If Osman were to be forcefully flattened within a year, it would mean that the Great Ming army would temporarily be unable to attend to the oil fields, nor would it be able to transport Osman's oil back to Great Ming in a short period.
After thinking about it, Zhu Erdan could not help but ask, "Imperial Brother, whether Osman allies with the Habsburg family or not, it should not affect our Great Ming's plan to advance into Osman, should it?"
Zeng Cheng also added, "Your Majesty, if we are to take all of Osman within a year, I fear that during this year, the oil in Osman will not be transportable back to Great Ming either?"
Zhu Jinsong waved his hand and said, "As for transporting oil back, we can recruit civilian fleets to complete this task. It doesn't matter if it's a lot or a little, just transport it. However, the matters in Osman cannot be delayed any further."
Zeng Cheng was somewhat bewildered and asked, "Why is that?"
Zhu Jinsong tapped the table with his fingers, saying, "The scale of Osman is not comparable to the Habsburg family. If Osman and the Habsburg family join forces, I fear that England and France will not be able to withstand it."
Zhu Erdan said, "That's not right either. Isn't there Sha'e? Although Imperial Brother said that our Great Ming and Sha'e have already agreed on a buffer zone, Sha'e is still one of the five benevolent ones. If England and France can't hold on, will Sha'e just watch?"
Zhu Jinsong chuckled and retorted, "And then what?"
"Let alone the fact that Sha'e itself has many problems, and their finances are already very tight due to the war with Osman. Even if they have the capacity to help England and France, should our Great Ming allow them to cross the Greater Caucasus Mountains and the vicinity of the Black Sea?"
"Sha'e is different from France and England. France and England are after money; even if they seek colonies, their ultimate goal is money. But the Sha'e are like gluttons; their demand for land will never be satisfied."
"If that time comes, will our Great Ming allow them to occupy lands that do not belong to them, or will we directly conflict with them?"
Zhu Erdan and Zeng Cheng, along with many other high officials, felt a slight sense of indifference – those lands did not originally belong to Great Ming, and even now, they had not come into Great Ming's possession.
Besides, Great Ming's demand for Osman was not for land, but for oil. Even if Sha'e occupied some land, it would not be a big deal, as long as the oil fields were controlled by Great Ming.
However, Zhu Jinsong continued, "The key issue is not whether Sha'e will occupy the territories and oil fields that originally belonged to our Great Ming."
Zeng Cheng was startled and asked, "Then what does Your Majesty mean?"
Zhu Jinsong said while slowly tapping the table, "Once Osman and the Habsburg family join forces, a large number of small countries in Europe will completely defect to the Habsburg family, thus throwing all of Europe into complete chaos."
"With all of Europe in chaos, it will bring some benefits to our Great Ming, but more harm."
Zeng Cheng naturally understood this.
However, Zeng Cheng could not understand why the alliance of the Habsburg family and Osman would throw all of Europe into chaos.