Looking at the thing in Heti's hand, Gwen had already guessed what it was. He was surprised. "So fast?"
"A scholar from the King's City who specializes in grammar heard about the issue of the Lord's newspaper and took the initiative to respond to the call. Mr. Nicholas Egg also heard about this matter and directly helped to make the plate with metal so that the first sample issue could be published as soon as possible," Heidi said as she handed the sample issue in her hand to Gawain with a smile. "Of course, only the sample issue can be published like this. If we want to publish it in large quantities in the future, we'll still have to use the traditional plate making process or wait for your new printing machine to be manufactured."
Gwen nodded as he took the issue of the newspaper. He could not help but feel emotional.
After such a long time of hard work, he finally began to recreate some of the things he was familiar with in this world. Whether it was chess, billiards, or the newspaper in front of him, although they were indeed made for the development of the territory, it was hard to say that there was no selfishness in it. Looking at these familiar things from his past world slowly appearing in this world, his sense of achievement was no less than the day he made the first magical engine run.
In this world with strange laws of physics, how many more things could he recreate that reminded him of his hometown?
The smell of the local ink mixed with the smell of grass wafted into his nostrils. He gently rubbed the paper in his hand. It was slightly rough and thin. This was a cheap paper called "mortar paper", the product of the mature papermaking technology of Ansu. It was much cheaper than the frosted paper used by the nobles to write official letters. It was made from the bark of hemp, serpentine, or giant tree. Usually, scholars and mages gave this cheap paper to their apprentices.
As the industrialization of the fief developed day by day, Gawain replaced the traditional manual process with more efficient industrial cutting machines, pulverizers, blenders, and other equipment. This caused the cost of the already cheap paper to plummet, and its quality improved as well. It became the most commonly used paper in the fief, and because of its strong ability to solidify the ink used in engraving printing, it became the best carrier for the first issue of Cecil's Weekly.
At the top of the newspaper, the words "Cecil's Weekly" were printed in large font. Beside it, the date and publisher were written in smaller font. This was requested by Gwen.
Then came the main body of the newspaper. In the beginning, there was a large section praising the mountains in the south and the waves of the Whitewater River. Then, there was a poem praising the clouds and the wind. After that, there was an analysis of wine and an overview of heraldry. Gwen read to the end in one breath. At the end of the newspaper, he saw a little common knowledge: How to use wine to flavor steak.
He silently put down the newspaper. His expression was so serious that it scared Heti. She asked cautiously, "Ancestor … is there anything wrong?"
"Have you seen it?" Gwen raised his eyelids and looked into Heti's eyes.
"… Yes," Heti nodded slightly. "The content is very sophisticated. There are no mistakes in knowledge or grammar."
Gwen sighed slightly. He really wanted to say, "Bullsh * t," but considering the problem of his image in front of his granddaughter, he forced himself to hold back. Instead, he shook his head slightly. "It's useless. It doesn't meet my requirements at all."
"Ah?" Heidi didn't expect such an evaluation. She was surprised and asked, "Why …"
"The newspaper is for the civilians. At least, the Cecil's Weekly I launched is for the civilians," Gwen said before Heti could finish. "Its value lies in whether the civilians need it, whether they can understand it, and whether they are willing to read it. It praises the mountains and waves, laments the clouds and the wind, and teaches people how to use wine to flavor steak. How many of the 60,000 or 70,000 people in the main city of Cecil and Kant can understand this newspaper after it is printed? "
Heti was startled for a moment and immediately realized the problem. "… I seem to understand."
"This kind of study of 'elegant culture' is not worthless. One day in the future, when our people have enough leisure time and knowledge to appreciate the mountains and rivers, and have enough food to study wine and steak, these things will naturally be valuable. But at this stage, in a newspaper distributed throughout the territory, we don't need this kind of thing." Gwen threw the sample magazine in his hand on the table. "I listed the main sections in the plan, including life knowledge, news inside and outside the territory, and so on. But now it seems that listing these sections is not enough. I still have to explain the content requirements of each section … Well, you go and find the editor of the newspaper, and I'll talk to him face to face."
Heti immediately took the order. "Okay."
Not long after, Heti brought in a gray-haired man in a gray scholar's robe.
Gawain looked up and sized up the scholar who had volunteered to edit the newspaper. He saw some nervousness and awe in this old man who looked to be in his fifties, but more importantly, he had the kind of confidence that was unique to scholars in their field of expertise. The old man was wearing a gray robe with complicated laces, which was the favorite of the scholars of this era. His gray hair was neatly combed and draped behind his head. He was slightly stooped, probably because he had been hunching over the desk for a long time. But he was still very tall, half a head taller than Heti.
"My respects to you, My Lord." The old man bowed in front of Gwen. "Your heroic past is known throughout the kingdom."
"No need for formalities, Mr. Godwin Orlando." Gwen knew the name of the Captical scholar from the signature of the editor of the newspaper. He said bluntly, "Do you know why I asked you to come here?"
"Madam Heti said that the 'newspaper' I wrote did not meet your requirements." Godwin was a little nervous, but he tried to answer as calmly as possible. "It's not a grammatical error, but the content does not meet your requirements."
"What I need is a reading material that can be read by the common people," Gwen said, pointing to the sample magazine on the table. "Here, I need to describe the price changes of wheat and various vegetables, not to use arias to describe the historical changes of Whitewater River. Here, I want news of the expansion of the new city area, not to discuss how many heraldic variants of the nobles in the Southern Territory. And here, people are not interested in how to use a bottle of red wine to flavor their steak. They are more interested in how to bake the cake, how to harvest the wheat, and how to filter the residue in the ale. Of course, it's not that what you write is worthless. These things are useful in many fields, but they are not needed in this newspaper for the time being. "
Godwin listened to Gwen describe what a real newspaper for the common people needed. The expression on his face slowly became complicated. When he finally had a chance to speak, he could hardly control his tone. "My Lord, if we follow your requirements, these words will not be elegant at all. These printed papers will have completely lost the elegance of knowledge! Do you want me to use these papers and words, quill pen and ink, to write how the peasant pulled the sweet wood out of the ground? "
"If it's autumn now, you should write this." Gwen leaned back in the chair. "And let me remind you, Mr. Godwin, the sweetwood cannot be pulled out directly from the ground. You have to dig it out with a shovel, or it will break in the ground."
The scholar from the Kingdom's City blushed slightly. He hesitated for a moment and then spread his hands. "Forgive me for being blunt, my Lord. If this is what you want, then you should find a farmer to write it, or a servant to do chores …"
"Then there will be grammatical errors," Gwen said faintly. "Mr. Godwin, it seems that you are not suitable for this job. You can leave now."
The Captical scholar named Godwin's face twitched slightly, and he moved his feet slightly. He then struggled for a few seconds, and finally bent down in front of Gwen. His tone was complicated and heavy. "I'm sorry to disappoint you. This was not my intention."
After Godwin Orlando left the study, Amber's figure gradually appeared in the air behind Gwen.
Gwen did not look back. He just said faintly, "The scholar's information."
"He's a member of the 'Grammar Research Society' and the 'History Secretary' in the king's city. He's very accomplished in the fields of literature, history, and heraldry. He's one of the more famous scholars in the king's city. In order to come to the Southern Territory, he gave up his future in the two academic societies and a well-paid consultancy job. The reason is that he's very curious about the Cecil Pioneer Territory, and he's also curious about you. As I said earlier, he studies history."
Gwen thought for a while. "… My history?"
"You could say that." Amber curled her lips. "Everything that happens in this land is a 're-enactment of history' for him, at least he probably thinks so. He's like a fish in water here, except for a tumble in the newspaper. "
Gwen's heart skipped a beat, and then a thought came to him. If this historian really studied the development of Cecil's territory and the words and deeds of 'Gwen Cecil' after he opened the coffin and used it as reference material for the history book, then his historical research would really be ruined.
Then he shook his head, shook the irrelevant thought out of his mind, and sighed softly. "Such a person is useful. It is not easy for him to come to the south."
"His situation is not uncommon among this group of scholars from the Captical." Amber nodded and continued. "Although they have entered various departments and adapted well in most cases, on the other hand, they are incompatible with the 'new order' in this land. Scholars are a very special group. They are different from craftsmen like craftsmen and machinists. They have knowledge, their own mature and stable logic, and they are often very proud. Most of the scholars also have some knowledge in the field of Extraordinary, or they are relatively low-level Extraordinary themselves. This is also the capital of their pride. "
"But these people who have knowledge must be Cecil's help," Gwen said faintly.
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