Daming Military Empire

Chapter 127 Reporting to keep up
If you want to say who is the busiest among Zhu Cijiong's cronies, it is not Xu Guangqi, Bi Maokang, Sun Yuanhua and other civil servants, nor Qin Liangyu, Lu Xiangsheng, Sun Chuanting and other military leaders, but the little-known Tongzheng envoy Zuo Tong is Wumei Village.

Ever since he listened to the emperor's idea to solicit papers in various government offices, he has never had a day of leisure, and there are always endless articles waiting for him every day.Now he watches while standing, sitting, walking, eating, walking, even lying in bed, and continues watching the next day when he gets up!

No way, more and more people are submitting manuscripts. According to reports from the people below, the number of manuscripts received every day has exceeded 5000!Everyone is wondering, all the officials in the capital, big and small, are at most in the early [-]s. How could there be more than [-] manuscripts?

They write a few copies a day, but there are not many such people. After all, they are all officials in the yamen, and they will never be so idle that they have nothing to do all day long.How did so many manuscripts come about?Most people are voting for relatives and friends!
This cost is a trivial matter, but it just makes the taverns in the capital more prosperous recently. The key issue is the reputation. If anyone's article can be selected by Master Wu of Wumei Village to be published in the "New Beijing News", then he will become famous. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is famous all over the country, because the "Beijing News" is originally published nationwide.

The current sales volume of the "Beijing News" is probably no one can imagine. Indeed, even Zhu Cijiong did not expect this figure. The sales volume of "The Beijing News" has reached a terrifying 500 million copies!And it's not Zhu Cijiong's credit, it's the idea of ​​Wu Meicun, an ancient man, that made the sales of "The Beijing News" soar!
In fact, this idea is not complicated at all, it's just that most people don't think about it. The key to this idea is to capture the largest readership of "The Beijing News".

Who are the biggest readers of The Beijing News?First of all, it is certain that it is not Jinshi. After all, there are only 100 Jinshi in three years. On average, there are only 1 in 1 years, and [-] in [-] years. How many people can live to [-] years old? Therefore, there are not [-] Jinshi in the entire Ming Dynasty; nor are they Juren and Xiucai. One of them went crazy.

The largest readership of the "Beijing News" is actually those Tongsheng who have no fame. This Tongsheng does not mean that they are young, but that they have not passed the county, government and hospital examinations, have not been admitted to the student body, and have not obtained any fame.Students are generally called scholars in the folks, and Tongsheng, they also have a popular name, called scholars.

How many scholars are there in Ming Dynasty?No one has really counted this, but "everything is inferior, only reading is high". In the Ming Dynasty, a dynasty that attached the most importance to imperial examinations, there should be no fewer scholars. So many scholars, based on the population of over 1000 million in Ming Dynasty, then there are almost [-] million scholars in Daming!

With such a huge readership, how do you get them to buy newspapers?It's very simple, just figure out what the purpose of their reading is, don't say anything about studying for the rise of the Ming Dynasty, people at that time were not so enlightened; don't say anything about cultivating sentiment and increasing knowledge, no one in ancient times would It hurts to be so idle.Since the imperial examination system was established, the vast majority of scholars have only one purpose, and that is to get titles on the gold list.

There are two major events in life, the wedding night in the bridal chamber, and the time of getting the title on the gold list.How can I get a title on the gold list?This question is probably what most scholars want to know. Wu Meicun grasped this point. Starting from the fourth issue of "The Beijing News", he opened a column called "On the Topics of the Gold List".

If you want to ask who is most qualified to discuss the title of the gold list, it is naturally the No. 1 champion of the gold list, and Wu Meicun happens to be the champion of the new division, so in the first article of the column, he personally writes his own experience in writing stereotyped essays. I wrote down my experience, as well as my personal experience from county examinations, government examinations, courtyard examinations to township examinations, general examinations, and palace examinations.Then, he went to the previous champions again, licking his face and begging them to write about their experiences.

Shi Kefa, the number one scholar in the last subject, was easy to say, everyone is the emperor's confidant, so he wrote the article and sent it over the next day.The other champions are not easy to talk about. The champion is the leader among tens of thousands of scholars. No one has any arrogance. Moreover, as long as you don’t make mistakes after high school, the official career is relatively smooth. There are many officials who are older than him in Wumei Village. You Count that green onion, if you ask me to write, I will write it?
Wumei Village is more terrifying than it really is. In order to make the emperor happy and increase the sales volume of "The Beijing News", he went all out and used threats and lures.Will you give me face?If you give me face, I will give you money, an article is 100 taels, hello, hello, everyone; if you don’t give me face, I will sue you to the emperor, and when the emperor makes a fuss, don’t blame me!

This guy is a celebrity in front of the emperor. Everyone knows this. He said that he was not joking when he said that he would sue. He had a choice between 100 taels and making the emperor angry. As long as he was not a fool, he would choose 100 taels. fool?Therefore, Wumei Village got what it wanted, and all the previous champions obediently wrote about their experience, and dismissed this new champion who was a bit nervous, and the column "On the Titles of the Gold List" in the "Beijing News" was able to publish ten consecutive articles. Several issues of champion articles.

Now it’s terrible, one spread to ten, ten to one hundred, scholars all over the world began to snap up the "Beijing News", just kidding, who would not want to be named on the gold list, even if they know that they are not that material, just aiming at the number one article is enough I want to buy it.That is the number one scholar, the idol of thousands of scholars, usually you want to read their articles, ten articles?You don't even want to see a word!
After the first three issues of the "Beijing News" were free, the fourth issue will start to collect money. Wumei Village printed 100 million copies to test the water. As a result, news came from various post offices that the newspaper was robbed as soon as it arrived. .These people didn’t come here for the title of the number one scholar article and the title of the gold list, but mainly because the first three issues made people’s blood boil, and everyone’s brains were getting hotter, and there were many people who wanted to continue to boil, so the newspapers were robbed.

In the fifth issue, Wumei Village asked for 200 million copies to be printed, but they were still sold out. At this time, the "Beijing News" mentioned that there was an article on the "No. Some of them come here for the number one scholar article and title on the gold list.

In the sixth issue, Wumei Village printed 300 million copies, but they were all sold out. At this time, everyone knew that there was a number one scholar article on it, and most people came here for the number one scholar article and the gold list title.

In the seventh issue, Wumei Village printed 400 million copies, but they were still robbed. There is no way, the articles written by the champions are good. Although most of the champions are to get rid of the lunatic Wumei Village, they also cherish their reputation , this is to be distributed nationwide, do they dare to write it indiscriminately?Therefore, each article was written by them earnestly. It is needless to say that they can be the number one scholar in high school.

In the eighth issue, Wu Meicun let 500 million copies be printed, but they were still sold out. Reading "The Beijing News" has become a fashion for scholars. These days, scholars are chatting together, and they always say: You read the so-and-so champion's writing There is no such-and-such article, and that sentence is so-and-so. If you don’t read it and can’t answer it, you will lose your face and lose your life.It is an exaggeration to say that scholars in Daming are afraid to go out without reading the "Beijing News", because when they go out and meet friends, they will definitely talk to you about the contents of the newspaper, have you not read it?Can't answer?You are ashamed to say that you are a scholar!
In the ninth issue, Wumei Village asked for 600 million copies to be printed, er, it was not printed, and it was still 500 million copies. The bosses of the paper workshops and printing workshops in Beijing have been going crazy these days. What about the agreed one million copies a day?Don't bring such a playful person!

In the first ten days, they worked overtime and printed 3000 million copies, and after two days of revision, they printed 100 million copies on the third day. Everyone was very relaxed, and they had already prepared, and they didn’t need to work overtime. The money was really comfortable, the workshop The bosses all laughed.

On the fourth day, 200 million copies, well, who thinks there is too much money, they printed it out after working overtime, and they all laughed from ear to ear.

On the fifth day, 300 million copies, come on, come on, we don’t think there is too much money, we work in two shifts, just right, their jaws almost dropped from laughter.

On the sixth day, there were 400 million copies. These bosses were in a hurry, and frantically looking for someone to print them frantically, and they finally managed it.

500 million copies on the seventh day, these bosses are going crazy, they are all staring at the workshop, don't be lazy, print hard for me.Have a meal?Wait, I'll find you a replacement, and each of you will take turns to eat without stopping;Line up, go one by one, hold back those who don't make up the shift, and don't stop.In short, it was overtime and non-stop, and it was finally printed.

600 million copies on the eighth day, these bosses are really going crazy, Mr. Wu, you go around us, it really can't be printed!Wumei Village had no choice but to let it go. As for finding workshop seals from other places, Zhu Cijiong was expressly forbidden. What a joke, print everywhere, do you care how many they print?At that time, you won't be able to sell a copy, and the market will be completely occupied by pirated goods!He also specifically asked Jin Yiwei and Dongchang to watch, anyone who dares to pirate will be arrested immediately, and all equipment will be confiscated.

As a modern person, Zhu Cijiong knows how scary piracy is. Once piracy becomes prevalent, not to mention making money, the manuscript fee will be repaid, and losing money to support pirates is absolutely impossible. Pirates must not appear in Daming!
Just when Wu Meicun was dizzy and having a great time, the emperor issued a decree to let him enter the palace to have an audience.

He quickly put down the manuscript in his hand and hurried to the palace.

Zhu Cijiong went to Wumei Village mainly to regain Liaodong. There is a saying in the art of war: a teacher must be famous. Although the reason for attacking the invaders and regaining the lost ground is already sufficient, but, if he went to such an unknown place, most of the people in Ming Dynasty I don’t know, and I don’t participate. It seems that fighting the invaders is the business of Emperor Chongzheng alone. Others are waiting to see the result. There is no one to wave the flag. When you win, the whole country will be excited. If you lose There was a lot of scolding, how can this work!
The artillery has already moved ahead, and the reports must follow.

(End of this chapter)