Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 361 - 360: What Are Newspapers

After breakfast the next day, Gawain took out the plan he had written the night before and showed it to Aunt Heidi for review.

Although called a plan, its contents were far more detailed than any ordinary plan—Gawain not only specified how to run a newspaper and the manpower and resources required, but also devoted a large section to explain what a newspaper is, the significance of a newspaper, potential challenges in launching a newspaper, and solutions to those challenges, among other topics...

Writing such a detailed plan was a necessity, stemming from the lessons and experiences Gawain had accumulated since he had risen from the grave—he realized the biggest challenge when introducing a new concept in this world was not whether people would accept it. Thanks to his identity as a founding ancestor and his formidable combat abilities, he never had to worry about his words being carried out. The real issue was that often people couldn’t understand what he was describing.

When presenting a new concept, he had to introduce new terms. These terms needed further explanation, and things that were obvious to him could require two or even three layers of translation for the people of this world and era to comprehend. After encountering this issue several times, he had no choice but to prepare a detailed document explaining the basic concepts and functions of any new idea before introducing it.

While this approach consumed significant time upfront, it saved the trouble of individually explaining the new concepts later, and having a clear document also minimized the risk of miscommunication as the concept passed from person to person, ensuring the final implementation closely matched his original vision.

"A newspaper?" Aunt Heidi read through the materials her ancestor handed her. She was already accustomed to these materials, understanding that whenever her ancestor brought out such a stack, she had to grasp a novel yet potentially effective concept. However, this time the concept seemed different from usual—it wasn’t some new piece of magic-conducting machinery or a new administrative idea, but rather... an extremely cheap scroll?

"You can think of it as printing thousands of copies of the town center bulletin board, adding content like common knowledge, news from both inside and outside the territory, price changes, and educational information, forming a cheap, time-sensitive reading material," Gawain explained, also clarifying the meaning of time-sensitive, "Time-sensitive means the content is recent and only relevant for a short period, like the grain prices in the last two days—this is time-sensitive information."

Aunt Heidi thoughtfully absorbed Gawain’s words, while Amber, full from breakfast and wandering around the dining room, suddenly came over, staring at Gawain in surprise: "Wow—you’re finally going to put those pharmacists, alchemists, and miners out of business and now you’re after the intelligence peddlers too?"

Gawain was momentarily bewildered by her sudden remark: "And what does this have to do with intelligence peddlers?"

"Isn’t it obvious? You’re printing all this information in something called a ’newspaper,’ clearly you’re looking to monopolize the information business—I learned that word ’monopolize’ from you," Amber said while shaking her head, "You really aren’t leaving any way out for others!"

"If what’s in the newspaper can also be considered intelligence..." Gawain understood Amber’s point, shaking his head with a wry smile, "Alright, I guess I’m putting those so-called ’intelligence peddlers’ out of business too."

"The purpose of a newspaper is to let people quickly learn about the new things around them, facilitate the spread of scientific and general education knowledge, and promote new decrees and systems from the Administrative Office, enhancing the leader’s authority..." Aunt Heidi, unfazed by Amber’s interruption, carefully examined the material Gawain had written. Though she understood every word, she couldn’t quite grasp how newspapers could have such significant effects, "Ancestor, don’t the town bulletin boards serve this purpose?"

"They do, but bulletin boards are far too limited," Gawain shook his head, "Our population is growing, the city is expanding, and relying solely on bulletin boards for information dissemination is clearly inadequate. Moreover, the number of literate individuals in the territory is increasing, and being able to read means they have stronger capabilities for acquiring knowledge and learning skills. The information that bulletin boards can provide is far from sufficient for them."

Heidi suddenly remembered what she had reported to Gawain yesterday and tentatively asked, "Does this... also relate to improving the public security environment?"

"Exactly," Gawain nodded slightly, "Reading can help people discern and understand, and the more they know, the better they can think rationally, thus freeing themselves from ignorance. I know many aristocrats of this era believe that commoners are born savage, thus leading to fights, drunkenness, and gambling, but in fact, no one is born savage. They just lack proper correction and avenues to expend their energy."

Amber, casually walking behind Aunt Heidi, peered over her shoulder to look at the materials Gawain wrote, then suddenly looked up and asked, "But that being said... you really are obsessed with making commoners ’know more things’... is it really necessary?"

Gawain smiled, "Of course, it’s necessary—I don’t just want the residents to live well-fed and warm, I want them to live wisely, to understand why they can have a good life now, and why they suffered from hunger and cold in the past. Only in this way can they genuinely support the new order of the Cecil and resonate and unite with this land."

Amber raised her eyelids, her amber-colored eyes filled with curiosity, "Your idea is really different from the others."

"I know that before now, no leader has ever considered these things because they believe commoners are a weak and ignorant group, as long as they have swords and magic wands in their hands, they never worry about the lives and thoughts of commoners, but I don’t think that way," Gawain smiled, "You have all seen the machines operated by ordinary people in the factories and the new guns and bombs. You should know that when wisdom is applied correctly, ordinary people can also possess the ability to shake transcendent beings — it’s just that for centuries, no one noticed this power."

It was then that Rebecca, who had been listening dumbfoundedly for a long time on the side, suddenly responded, staring at Gawain: "Ah! Ancestor, I understand now, so the printing press you showed me yesterday is used for this — no wonder you kept emphasizing convenience and editability..."

"Indeed, it is used for this," Gawain nodded, "Only a new type of printing press that can do continuous printing and rapid plate-making can meet the requirements for large circulation and timeliness of newspapers."

Rebecca scratched her hair: "Then it’s done! I don’t know when the printing press can be made..."

"It’s okay, no rush, you can slowly study it," Gawain waved his hand with a smile, "Since we can’t achieve it in one step, we’ll take our time. As for newspapers, we don’t need to force a daily issue for now — we can start by using woodblock printing methods and begin with weekly issues. For the current territory and residents who have never had inexpensive reading materials, even a newspaper issued every ten days holds enormous significance."

This world also has the concept of a "week," but a week is not seven days. Instead, according to ancient myth where the earth rises from the ocean in ten days, a week is set to be ten days, making a month sixty days with precisely six weeks.

In Gawain’s view, although "daily newspapers" are great, there’s no need to insist when they cannot be achieved initially. Traditional Anzu woodblock printing technology requires at least two days from carving wax plates to making relief clay plates, to printing paper and drying ink. Added to this initial lack of newspaper experience, inefficient management issues can make newspaper production take even longer. Therefore, launching a "weekly newspaper" every ten days based on this world’s calendar is completely viable.

In this era, apart from the Cecil territory, development in most areas is slow and monotonous. There are hardly any news events outside territories, and considering the current residents’ relatively basic literacy levels, complex and profound newspaper content isn’t necessary. Additionally, with the territory being just this large, news and changes are very limited, making issuing a weekly newspaper quite reasonable.

If there’s really some special news, an "extra edition" can be released.

"Newspapers need long-term publishing, so we need to establish a dedicated department for this," Gawain saw Heidi already realized the significance of newspapers, so he continued, "The department publishing newspapers can be called a ’press.’ In theory, if the press develops in the future and there are private presses, we will need to establish a special management department in the Administrative Office to handle cultural promotion matters. But for now, establishing a press directly under the control of the Administrative Office is enough. The press should have editors responsible for newspaper content, along with ’journalists’ collecting news, and..."

Gawain explained all the things, which were actually mentioned in the materials he gave Heidi, but hearing his personal explanation helped her understand even more.

"This requires some knowledgeable people," Heidi rubbed her temples, beginning to think about the candidates, "There are certainly no talents among the newly literate commoners... The batch of scholars brought back by Santis could be considered."

"Those royal scholars..." Gawain pondered for a moment, "By the way, what are they doing now?"

"Some have already gone to school to teach, reportedly performing well; after all, they were filtered by Santis, they adapted well here. Another group follows Jenni and Kamel to learn rune logic," Rebecca chattered, "Some are in the Magic Guide Technology Research Institute, showing great interest in the Magic-Powered Engine — I told them it was a ’lost ancient technology’ from my ancestors, and they’re studying day and night. Besides, there are a few who haven’t been assigned."

Gawain’s smile widened: "That’s quite good, I was worried those royal scholars wouldn’t adapt after coming here."

"They adapted very well," Rebecca giggled, "Everything here is new, each item interesting enough for research, and many things carry the label of ’lost ancient technology.’ It’s not just the scholars, even the formal Mages and Mage apprentices are now well-behaved, fearing that I won’t let them in the lab. Of course, I think the main reason is they personally saw Kamel running around the territory with sparks and lightning, capturing their attention..."

Gawain saw the topic deviating, quickly reeling it back in: "Ahem, okay, let’s select some people from those royal scholars to prepare for the first Cecil territory newspaper. Heidi, I’ll leave this task to you."

Heidi collected that thick stack of materials, deeply bowed her head: "Rest assured."