Daming Military Empire

Chapter 122

Zhu Cijiong thought about it, and felt that ordinary newspapers had almost the same content. If you wrote all of these, let alone ten articles, twenty articles would be fine, so he smiled and asked: "What else is there to ask?" ?"

Hearing this, Wu Meicun said in a bit of embarrassment, "It's a publication every day, I'm afraid I can't write it by myself."

Hearing this, Zhu Cijiong rolled his eyes, and said angrily: "The youngest officials in the general administration are all from Juren background, you can let them write it, and you just need to check it. Also, there are so many officials in Ming Dynasty, Jinshi There are so many backgrounds, writing a few articles is not easy for them, you can call for papers, as long as you pay some manuscript fees, they will not rush to write for you!"

Wu Meicun's eyes lit up when he heard the words, yes, writing one or two articles is really not a big deal for the officials of Ming Dynasty, but for the manuscript fee, he continued to ask for advice: "Your Majesty, I don't know how much the manuscript fee is appropriate?"

Zhu Cijiong was defeated by him, and he put his hand on his forehead and said: "You can calculate this, see how much profit there is, and then look at the income level of officials, how much do you think they will rush to write for you, just pay as much as you want. .”

profit?Wumei Village couldn't understand it. It's all reduced to ten cents a piece. Can there be any profit?He asked cautiously: "Your Majesty, is it so cheap, can you still make money?"

Zhu Cijiong was completely defeated by him. These scholars have this problem, and they have no concept of making money. He asked helplessly: "What is the price of a newspaper paper, what is the printing price, and how many copies do you plan to print for a periodical?"

Wumei Village has already inquired about these things, and he immediately replied: "A newspaper costs three yuan for paper, and two yuan for printing. I heard from my colleagues in the General Administration Department that in the past, at least tens of thousands of copies could be sold for a printed issue, and at most It can sell more than [-] copies, so Weichen plans to print [-] copies first, and if they can be sold out, another [-] copies will be printed."

One piece earns five cents, and ten thousand is only fifty thousand cents, which is 50 taels of silver. No wonder this guy never thought of making money. With this circulation, how can he make money!Also, the reason why he lowered the price of the newspaper so low was to push up the sales volume and thereby control the direction of public opinion. These [-] copies can control the direction of public opinion!
Zhu Cijiong said resolutely: "Ten thousand is too little. There are thousands of jinshi in the Ming Dynasty, and at least tens of thousands of people. There are also scholars, maybe hundreds of thousands, and children. A few million, so many scholars, if one person buys one copy, you will not be enough to print 100 million copies. How about this, the first three issues are free, and each issue prints 1000 million copies. Those who know how to read will send one copy to everyone. Try to print 100 million copies first, and if it can be sold out, add one hundred thousand and one hundred thousand more."

When Wu Meicun heard the words, his jaw almost dropped to the floor, and he opened his mouth unconsciously and said, "One, one, 1000 million copies!"

It’s so rare, so strange. Does anyone think that there are too many advertisements? The “Beijing News” is now an exclusive sale, and it also has the support of the imperial court. What is 1000 million copies? There are more than 1 million people in Ming Dynasty.

Zhu Cijiong ignored him at all, and continued to analyze: "If calculated on the basis of 100 million copies per issue, one issue can earn about 5000 taels of silver, and if you give 50 taels of an article, your threshold as a general secretary may be eliminated. If people are trampled on, it is better to give less, ten taels of silver for an article, half of the internal staff of the General Political Department. It is estimated that most of the small officials will go crazy and submit articles to you. If you publish one issue at a time Call for papers, I guess you won’t be able to finish reading them in one day, how about this, publish ten issues of the call for papers at a time, organize more people to review the papers, and only pay the manuscript fees for published articles, and send [-] manuscripts for unpublished articles Fee."

Wu Meicun continued to be in a state of dementia, muttering: "Ten, ten, ten!"

Zhu Cijiong said contemptuously: "Is ten episodes difficult? I can think of several episodes at will. The first episode mainly introduces the Liaodong victory, the second mainly introduces the Shanxi victory, the third mainly introduces guns and artillery, and the fourth mainly introduces two The deeds of the heroes and martyrs in the Second World War, the fifth issue mainly introduces the heroes who flaunted their military exploits in the two wars, the sixth issue mainly introduces the development of the Ming army, the seventh issue mainly introduces the resettlement of the disaster victims in the Northwest, and the eighth issue mainly introduces new processing Machinery, the ninth issue mainly introduces the products of various places in Ming Dynasty, the tenth issue mainly introduces the situation of various countries in the world, and the No.11 issue... Isn’t this enough for ten issues, is it difficult?”

Hearing this, Wu Meicun wiped the saliva from the corner of his mouth and said in admiration, "Your Majesty is wise."

Zhu Cijiong said coquettishly: "What is this thing? If you give me a little time, I can figure out a hundred issues for you, but you are in charge of the "Beijing News", so I won't make any trouble for you. Well, you just need to remember a few points."

Wu Meicun knew that the important point was coming, so he quickly concentrated and said with all his concentration: "Please enlighten me, Your Majesty."

Zhu Cijiong said seriously:
"First, I want to restore my status as a kingdom in the Great Tomorrow Dynasty, so this army building must keep up;
Second, if you want to fight a war, you need money, so business must be developed, and business must be encouraged;
Third, advanced weapons are necessary to win battles, so this military industry must be developed and Western learning must be promoted;
Fourth, the barbarians have already developed. I, Ming, cannot rest on my laurels. I need to start contacting the barbarians, win over a group, and suppress a group. Only in this way can Ming maintain its status as a kingdom of heaven, and at the same time, develop foreign trade to earn money from the barbarians. money.

That's all for now, I'll tell you about the rest when I think about them. In short, you must give me a good grasp of this direction. "

Wu Meicun nodded solemnly and said, "I understand."

Zhu Cijiong looked at him with satisfaction, smiled and said: "The emperor is not short of hungry soldiers, go to the household department to get 100 million taels as start-up capital, I will give you ten days to prepare well, and then you can't stop publishing once it starts , must issue a new issue every day, think about it carefully. There are still 3000 million copies that cannot be printed in a day or two, and you have to sort out the first three issues in these two days, otherwise the progress will not be able to keep up."

Wu Meicun glanced at the emperor adoringly, and retreated respectfully.

One million taels is only a small amount for Zhu Cijiong, because he has already mastered the huge Ming Empire, and he has a modern mind. It is very simple to make some money.But for Jingshi's papermaking industry and printing industry, it is an astronomical figure. It can be said that the total assets of all workshops in Jingshi's papermaking industry and printing industry do not add up to 100 million taels.

You must know that the Ming Dynasty has been in turmoil for a long time, and the common people are almost in danger, so they are not in the mood to read; officials at all levels are also devastated, so they are even less in the mood to read.So at the moment the papermaking and printing industries are in a downturn, and the printed books cannot be sold at all. It is very difficult for Jingshi papermaking workshops and printing workshops to make ends meet.Many workshops have closed down, and the surviving workshops are also struggling and increasingly distressed. None of the workshop owners thought that a big pie was about to hit their heads.

On this day, General Secretary Zuo Tongzheng, Wu Jianye, and Mr. Wu suddenly recruited all the owners of papermaking workshops and printing workshops in the capital to the office of the General Secretary, saying that they had important matters to discuss.

Now there are only a few papermaking workshops surviving in the capital, and there may be more printing workshops, but there are only a dozen. The bosses of each company know that Mr. Zuo Tongzheng and Mr. Wu are preparing to publish a new residence newspaper. A few days ago, Mr. Wu I asked them to understand the market, and asked them for paper patterns and printing plates.

But at that time, Mr. Wu seemed to say that he only printed [-] copies a day, which was enough for one or two workshops to make a living. What was the point of calling everyone over?Do you still have to bid, don't bring such a ruthless one?
When everyone arrived, Wu Meicun opened his mouth. He was so impatient now that he didn't bother to be courteous to these small workshop owners, so he said directly: "Everyone, I want to print 3000 million copies within ten days. "The Beijing News", I wonder if you can print it out?"

The workshop owners below suddenly dropped their eyeballs, and they all stared at Wumei Village dumbfounded, and none of them said anything.

Seeing their expressions, Wu Meicun couldn't help asking anxiously: "What's the matter, is there any problem?"

Only then did the bosses below come to their senses, and one of them touched his ear and asked in disbelief: "3000 million copies! Master Wu, did I hear correctly?"

All the bosses echoed, "That's right, that's right, we heard that right, this matter is no joke."

Wu Meicun said dumbfoundedly: "Why is this officer joking with you?"

I'm not kidding, it's true, the bosses below started discussing in disregard of etiquette.

Wu Meicun didn't urge him either. He knew that it was really difficult to print so many newspapers in such a short period of time, so it would be good to let them discuss it.

After half the salary, the boss elected a mature and prudent person as a representative, and communicated with Wumei Village.

The old man said helplessly: "If we hire more people to take turns rushing to work twelve hours a day, we can print them out. However, with such a large quantity, we can't even afford the materials!"

Wu Meicun had foreseen this situation a long time ago, and he said without hesitation: "This is not a problem, you draw up a contract, and I will pay you after signing and depositing."

The old man asked excitedly: "Really, that's 15 taels."

Wu Meicun said angrily: "You don't need to remind me, I know it's 15 taels, and it's already prepared."

Hearing this, the old man chuckled for a while, rubbed his hands again, and said a little embarrassedly: "I don't know how many copies will be printed every day, Mr. Wu. If we print more, we can also buy some utensils, so that the 3000 million copies will be enough." There's nothing wrong with that."

Wu Meicun made a final decision: "One million copies per day, is it enough? If it is enough, quickly draw up a contract. I am still busy."

The old man nodded quickly and said, "That's enough, that's enough, let's draw up a contract."

All the bosses were shaking with excitement, this is all right, within ten days, almost everyone present can earn 6000 to [-] taels, and in the future they can earn a few hundred taels a day, a few hundred taels a day. Ten thousand taels.From now on, they will be able to earn a lot of money just by giving newspapers to the General Secretary Si Yindi. Even if they don't take any other jobs, they don't have to worry about livelihood issues anymore.

(End of this chapter)