The predecessor who was scumbag by me was the emperor

Wu Haiqing has been walking with wind recently, full of energy, and people always come to ask him if he still has the newspaper. Although [-] copies are printed, it is still not enough to sell.

The bookstores in Chang’an were originally just not good at refusing the imperial court’s request. The moment they got the newspaper, they refused in their hearts. The paper quality is so poor, the printing is so ugly, and the font is so small. Who wants to read such inferior things?Scholars are all noble, and each family didn't dare to take more at the beginning. Mr. Wu only let each family share [-] shares by showing his old face.

Five hundred copies is not expensive, and the shopkeepers thought: At worst, they can just pay for it themselves, and whoever wants to take these newspapers.

As a result, less than two days after the sale began, a large number of students poured into various bookstores, buying ten or twenty copies, saying that one copy was kept for self-reading, one copy was kept for preservation, and one copy was kept at home. One is kept in the school, and the rest is given to relatives and friends, which is not expensive anyway.

The [-] copies of the newspaper were sold out in one day, and there were still people who continued to ask. Seeing this, the shopkeeper hurriedly went to Mr. Wu to continue asking for the goods, but was told that there were no more.

The Four Seas Bookstore is the largest bookstore in Chang'an City. It has branches in [-] provinces across the country. The owner is Wei Shu, a wealthy businessman who has just turned [-] this year.

He took the newspaper and read it carefully. When he saw the contents of the first page, he was excited. It turned out to be several decrees issued by the imperial court this month. Pass it on as quickly as possible, which means that in the future, the businessman does not need to send a lot of money to various officials to inquire about the news, which is both good and bad for him.

Looking at the following content, Wei Shu really admires the person who founded the newspaper. I heard that it was run by Wu Haiqing, a scholar of Wenyuan Pavilion, and only such a noble and immaculate writer can come up with something so beneficial to the people.

"You said this newspaper only costs two cents a copy?" Wei Shu asked the shopkeeper of the bookstore beside him.

The shopkeeper wiped off his cold sweat, bowed his head and replied, "Yes, the government has specially stated that the price is uniform across the country, and bookstores are not allowed to increase the price without permission. sales qualification."

Wei Shu laughed loudly, "You must have thought in your heart at first, if you give me something like this, I won't sell it, right?"

The shopkeeper smiled awkwardly and said: "No, this thing is ugly and cheap. Even if the purchase price is only a penny, and you can earn a penny by selling one, no one is willing to sell this."

Wei Shu took the newspaper and clapped his palms, "That's because you didn't see the value of this thing. A newspaper earns a penny, and a thousand copies make a penny. It doesn't seem like much, but you have to know that a thousand copies How many customers have the sales of sales brought to our bookstore? As long as [-]% of the customers buy an extra book from us, it will be an extra profit. This newspaper has a small profit, but it can attract customers to the bookstore. .”

The shopkeeper thought, sure enough, this issue of the newspaper was sold out, but people still came to inquire every day, and some people went to the bookstore to buy other things and went back. The business suddenly improved a lot.

"I heard that Mr. Wu was afraid that he would not be able to sell it at first, so he sent a lot to the officials' homes. The powerful families don't care about the few copper coins, so they are naturally willing to give him face. I didn't expect that this is indeed a good thing. Nowadays, many people They all use newspapers as favors."

"But isn't Mr. Wu going to print some more? It's not enough to sell."

Although Wei Shu is a businessman, he has acquaintances in the imperial court and knows a lot of news. He said: "Ten days have passed since the first issue of this newspaper was first published, and it will probably not be printed again. Yes, because Mr. Wu is preparing the second issue of the newspaper, so don’t worry about it, I will talk to him personally, and try to get us more newspapers for the next issue, and then you can send some to other branches, Let’s make our Universal Bookstore famous first.”

"This little thing can really make our bookstore famous?"

"Of course it works properly, the premise is that it's fast!" After Wei Shu left, he sent someone to go to the scholar Wu's mansion to post a letter of worship, and gave him a big gift, but when his entourage came back, he said: "The concierge of the University scholar Wu confiscated you." But he also said that his master is busy with creation today, and no one will be there, I will tell him your plan, master, and he will give me a reply after asking."

"Oh? What?"

"Master Wu said, if you want to talk about cooperation, go to Shen's mansion to find Langzhong Shen. He proposed this newspaper. Master Wu is just an article writer and doesn't care about business matters."

"Shen Langzhong?" Wei Shu knew a little about court officials. The most famous doctor surnamed Shen was the one from the household department. If it was his idea, then he really wanted to meet him.

"Then you send a greeting card to Shen's residence, saying that I invite Master Shen to drink tea tomorrow afternoon, and talk about the sale of this newspaper by the way."

The entourage immediately took another post to Shen's residence, this time it was not rejected, the porter accepted the post and said with a good temper: "My master has gone to the Yamen, this post will be sent in after he comes back, and it will be given to him regardless of whether he should or not." Your family answered."

"Then thank you, little brother." The entourage stuffed a purse into the concierge of Shen's residence with great insight. The seventh-rank official in front of the prime minister's gate, the concierge of a wealthy family sometimes plays more than just a gatekeeper.

The concierge accepted it with a smile, and the attendant relaxed, and went back to wait for news.

After Shen Jia came down from the yamen, he was called to his home by Master Wu, and he was dragged into the study without even entertaining him, asking him to help read the submissions received in the past few days.

"I really didn't expect that, as soon as the announcement of the draft was sent out, someone came to contribute. I read many of them are famous talents in Chang'an City, and they are also their masterpieces. I must have read the newspapers to sell them. Well done, I want to publish my work so that more people can see it.”

"This is inevitable. This is a good opportunity to make a name for yourself. But why did Master Wu call down the officials? The officials under your command are the real scholars. If not, there is also the Imperial Academy. You can hire a few from the Imperial Academy. You also know that the colleagues in the Imperial Academy don’t have much money, so they would definitely be willing to help if they could have extra income.”

"The official is worried that someone will leak the content in advance, and that would be unbeautiful."

"You don't worry too much. This is just a newspaper. If someone leaks the content, you can just replace it. There are many things that can be published."

Wu Haiqing thinks about it, too, young people are still open to it, and he is also on this newspaper recently, a little too nervous, after all, this thing will really become popular.

Shen Jia was afraid that his self-confidence would inflate, and reminded him: "Your Excellency, you must carefully review the content of each issue. If the content is not good, no one will read the newspaper after a long time."

"It's up to you to say, I'm almost blind in order to find the best work."

Seeing books and letters piled up everywhere in the study, Shen Jia also knew that he was not lying, "Again, you can set up an editorial department to be in charge of newspaper matters. In the early stage, it's just reviewing and publishing. When the sales of the newspaper increase, You can also set up a section to attract business and place commercial advertisements, which can be charged and can make up for part of the expenditure.”

Wu Haiqing frowned and retorted: "This newspaper is a masterpiece, how can it be used to attract business? Wouldn't that make the newspaper full of copper smell? Literati would definitely not want to see this."

"But you can tell everyone that the price of this newspaper is so cheap because the imperial court subsidized a huge amount of money to enter it. If it has been unable to make a profit, the imperial court will not be able to subsidize it one day. You can ask them because you want to read a section missing. I still don’t want to read the newspaper, if they are really against it, they can skip that page and not read it.”

"But why do businessmen spend money on this kind of advertisement?"

Shen Jia smiled mischievously and asked him: "Naturally for the sake of popularity, Mr. Wu, for the friendship between the official and you, you must give me the opportunity to publish the advertisement for the first time, and I am willing to pay ten taels for it." this ad space."

Twelve taels is not much to Mr. Wu, but in conversion, how many newspapers can be bought by twelve taels, and he finds it incredible that someone is willing to spend this money.

"Master Shen has a shop at home?"

"It's not me, it's my elder brother-in-law. He opened a cloth shop in Chang'an. It hasn't been long since it opened, and the business is mediocre. I want to advertise for him to let more people know about this cloth shop."

Master Wu felt that he was putting the cart before the horse. Whether the business of the cloth shop is good or not depends on the quality of the cloth. Even if many people know about the shop, they may not be willing to buy it. But this is Shen Jia's business, and his proposal is indeed worth considering.

If one advertisement can earn back ten taels, then at least it can subsidize the manuscript fee. If a manuscript is selected for publication, he will only give five hundred coins.

"Well, I don't bother the two masters with one thing. Mr. Shen will be more tired to start the advertisement for me, otherwise I really don't have a clue. Besides, someone came to the door today and said that they want to talk about cooperation. I don't understand these things, so let him go to you. Now, how to talk about it, you can figure it out yourself."

Shen Jia was speechless, what does this matter have to do with him?But the newspaper was proposed by him, and he really wanted to promote the newspaper as soon as possible, so it was right to help.

"Master Wu, you'd better send someone useful to learn from me, I can't always take care of this for you."

"Okay, my youngest son is quite smart, so let's learn from Master Shen. When you feel that he has left the teacher, drive him back." Master Wu hurriedly asked the youngest son to come over and meet Shen Jia, the master. .

Before he arrived, Mr. Wu chattered with him: "This kid in my family can't do anything. If he can't write a book, he can't do it. I don't have the face to find an official position for him. It just so happens that this newspaper can be used by ordinary people. Let him learn from you." , if you can come back and help me, I will be grateful."

After seeing Mr. Wu, Shen Jia took him back to the mansion. According to him, there was no need to bring him home, just follow him during the day. However, Mr. Wu strongly urged him to take him away, saying that he was an apprentice. It is necessary to have the appearance of an apprentice, and it is also necessary to serve the master for a few days.

It was already dark after returning home, he and Mr. Wu were still hungry, so he asked someone to make something casually, and asked the housekeeper to arrange Mr. Wu to live in the guest room after eating. He didn't dare to treat his good young master as a servant.

After returning to the room, He Yan sent him today's greeting card, and there was another box full. Shen Jia still had something to do, so he waved his hand and said, "You can read it for me. I'm busy recently, so it's okay." The time is due."

He Yan has been able to share his worries skillfully, read the posts one by one, made a list, and handed it to Shen Jia, "Master, there are several acquaintances who invite you to have dinner and tea together. , you can push back the time, there are still some things I beg you to do, I have written a post and rejected them all, this is Mr. Wei, it is the first time to post a post, and the signature is the owner of the Universal Bookstore, saying I’m looking for you to talk about newspaper cooperation, isn’t this the wrong place?”

"Sihai Bookstore? Newspaper?" Shen Jia looked up and asked him to find out Wei Shu's greeting card, read it carefully, and remembered what Mr. Wu said, and reckoned it was this one.

"Tomorrow afternoon...you write a reply, just say I agreed, see you tomorrow afternoon at Tianxiang Tower, let's eat and chat, drink tea and not be full." Once Shen Jia gets busy, she won't even have time to eat None, don't underestimate the position of the director of the accounting department, after all, it is a central department, and all the official documents uploaded below have to be reviewed by him, as well as the business and tax reform. Although Feng Qiugui is obviously in charge, Zhao Zhang Let him ponder over it carefully, and finally make changes based on his opinion.

This matter was carried out in private, except for the emperor and Feng Qiugui, no one knew that the business tax reform was related to Shen Jia. Although there was no credit, there were fewer disputes.

The next day, as soon as Shen Jia came out of the palace, the eldest brother-in-law Yang Sen found the Yamen, looking very anxious.

Shen Jia brought him into the office, dismissed his assistant and asked him, "Is the eldest brother-in-law looking for me urgently? But something happened at home?"

Yang Sen hurriedly waved his hands, "No, it's not a family matter, it's just the last time you asked me about building a printing factory, I wonder if it can be done?"

Shen Jia poured him a cup of tea, sat across from him, and asked with a smile, "Did brother-in-law see the newspapers that were sold recently?"

"To tell you the truth, it is true. Before you said to set up a printing factory, I felt guilty. I had never touched this before, and I didn't know where to start. Later, I went to several companies, and they refused to let me use the technology. The printing factory The two most important things, one is the teacher and father of the engraving, and the other is the machine used, because there is no access, so nothing has been done.

But I read the newspaper you gave me before, it’s really good, I can hear many people discussing newspapers at any stop on the street, and every bookstore’s newspapers are sold out quickly, I It is estimated that at least tens of thousands of copies will be printed a month, which is a big list. "

Shen Jia explained: "The quantity is large, but the cost is low. Each copy only costs one penny. It is impossible to make a lot of money by printing newspapers, but small profits but quick turnover. If my eldest brother-in-law is not afraid of hard work, he can be a newspaper agent. Spread newspapers across the country."

Yang Sen is not afraid of hard work, but if he wants to travel all over the country, it will violate his original purpose of coming to Beijing, and he doesn't want to spend a lot of time traveling around, "I'm afraid it will be difficult. The Yang family's business is only in Shu The state is better, but other places have neither contacts nor territory, so it is a little troublesome to develop."

Shen Jia nodded, he didn't want the eldest sister to stay alone in Chang'an to take care of the children, "You are right, this matter is really not easy to do, and the profit is not as high as expected, by the way, Wu and I My lord has said that when the time comes, there will be an advertisement section in the newspaper, and I will publish my brother-in-law's shop, which can be regarded as a publicity."

Yang Sen is a businessman, he understands the need for publicity, and said happily: "That's great, thank you, Brother Jia, you have taken care of this shop from the beginning to the end."

"It's nothing, it's just a matter of little effort, the most important thing is good business."

Yang Sen didn't dare to think that it was easy for him, and it would be good if his in-laws didn't turn against each other, but he didn't dare to ask for help from others with peace of mind, and Shen Jia's official career was magnanimous, and the higher the official position in the future, the older brother-in-law himself would get more benefits.

"As for the printing factory, you can do it if you can, and forget it if you can't. The imperial court's list is not just a newspaper. Or, I have an idea. The printing factory we are cooperating with now belongs to the Li family. It is currently planned to expand. If If you want to buy shares, I can help and ask the Li family if they need it."

Yang Sen's eyes lit up, and he nodded again and again: "If it's just a shareholding, that would be great, and I won't get involved in management, as long as I make money and share some dividends."

In fact, Shen Jia wanted to help the Yang family obtain the status of the imperial merchant, but everything related to the imperial merchant was related to the tribute. Decentness is very decent, but the responsibility is also great. If you are not careful, you may cause trouble to your upper body. He thinks that Yang Sen is not good enough. It's better to exercise for a few more years after a little fire.

In the afternoon, Shen Jia went straight to Tianxiang Building, and then met Boss Wei in the box on the second floor. He was unexpectedly young, not a few years older than his elder brother-in-law, but when he started talking, he felt like a Confucian businessman. Coming here, Shen Jia sighed: As expected of the owner of a bookstore, his whole body exudes a smell of literature and ink.

"Boss Wei said that he wanted to talk about cooperation. Is it about newspapers?" Shen Jia asked straight to the point.

Wei Shu is still immersed in Shen Jia's youthful beauty. It's not that he has never seen a wealthy young master from Chang'an City, and naturally there is no shortage of young and high-ranking Mr. Pianpian, but Shen Jia's outstanding appearance is still a bit beyond him. expected.

"Yes, I want to do newspaper business."

"Tell me specifically, what kind of cooperation do you want? The newspaper was founded by the imperial court, and it is regarded as a royal business. However, because it aims to pass on knowledge to ordinary people, it is priced low and cannot make money. I am afraid that the business of this newspaper will not be good. It's as good as you can imagine."

Wei Shu also said honestly: "Sihai Bookstore has now opened all over the country, and there are a total of more than [-] branch stores in other places. Some branch stores have poor business and are operating in debt, but I am reluctant to close them. Just let me see When it comes to newspapers, I think that the original intention of the imperial court to establish a newspaper must be to convey to all parts of the country. Of course, the imperial court can completely hand over this matter to the local governments, but in my opinion, it is better to leave it to the subordinates.”

"Oh? Where does Mr. Wei get his confidence? Isn't the government more reliable in handling affairs? And if the newspaper is published by the government, more people will definitely want to read it."

"But the officials and gentlemen of the local government may not act according to your ideas? Not everyone can see the value of the newspaper, and the government is busy with official duties, so it may not be able to allocate manpower to do this with full authority, and you also It is impossible to go to every place to supervise, and it will be different if it is handed over to our bookstore, we will report the sales every month, and it will be clear at a glance which places are selling well and which are not selling well."

Shen Jia took a deep look at him. This Wei Shu is much more far-sighted than Yang Sen, and he also has unique conditions. It was he who proposed to put the newspaper in the bookstore for sale. You can start to make reservations, one year or half a year at a time, and there is not much money. Many people are definitely willing to order, so that there will be relatively stable sales.

"Then if the sales in some places are mediocre, I wonder if Mr. Wei can do anything to boost the sales?"

"I think it's basically impossible. Unless the local students don't want to make progress, any piece of work in the newspaper can make them flock to it. Why don't they buy newspapers? Moreover, when newspapers become the center of people's discussions, People who haven’t bought newspapers can’t even participate in topic discussions, how can they be reluctant to pay two pennies? Even if they copy a copy by themselves, it costs more than two pennies.” Wei Shu felt that this newspaper was too cheap. People who can't afford pens, ink, paper and inkstones and books can afford newspapers and learn to read. People with a little foresight will not be stingy with these two pennies.

"Then what does Master Wei want?"

"I naturally hope that outside of Chang'an City, only the Four Seas Bookstore can buy newspapers. For this reason, I can pay the imperial court a lot of money as a payment for exclusive sales."

Shen Jia has basically agreed to Wei Shu's request. He originally wanted to find a businessman to do the job, but relying on the government is too slow. Since the Four Seas Bookstore can open the store to the whole country, it must have the strength.

"This official can connect Master Wei with the imperial court. The two parties will sign a contract to give Universal Bookstore the exclusive sales right for one year. Master must ensure that each bookstore can sell more than [-] newspapers per issue, if it is lower than this number, Master Wei can buy it himself as a gift, it’s not expensive anyway, isn’t it?”

The corner of Wei Shu's mouth twitched. Seeing that Shen Jia was so young, he thought that the other party would be a generous person, but he didn't expect him to be quite fussy. "Master Shen looks more like a businessman than me."

Shen Jia curled her lips and said nonchalantly, "You can just call me a profiteer."

"Grassmen dare not."

"Besides, does Universal Bookstore have its own printing factory?"

"Yes, I have printing factories in Hangzhou, Shuzhou, and Jiangxi."

"That's not as good as this. After we select the content of each issue of the newspaper, we will give the draft to Boss Wei, and you can print it yourself. Except for the content and pricing, you can arrange other things yourself. And this draft, we It only sells for 50 taels, to be honest, if it is a famous book, a manuscript may not be lower than this amount, which is much higher than the sales volume of famous books."

Wei Shu was not fooled, "But the profit is too thin, how many copies of the newspaper can I buy for 50 taels? I have to pay the cost and labor to print it myself. Mr. Shen is not good at accounting."

"But you should know that the imperial court loses money in publishing newspapers, and these 50 taels are not much to Mr. Wei."

Wei Shu shook his head, "In business and business, businessmen naturally don't trade at a loss. 50 taels is too high, at most 20 taels."

Seeing that he was not hooked, Shen Jia asked another way: "Master Wei may not make money selling newspapers, but the newspaper itself is not a business that makes money for you. Isn't it important to bring reputation and customer traffic? Don't those things count?" capital?"

The corners of Wei Shu's mouth twitched, making him even more sure that Shen Jia is a businessman and even knows this, but you don't look like a civil servant.

"How about this, let's not talk about the price of each draft, just talk about the one-year exclusive agency fee, a one-time price of 500 taels, which is very affordable."

Wei Shu let out a long breath, the 500 taels is really not expensive, and he expected to at least count the money to leave the relationship, but he didn't feel happy at all, as if he had met an opponent in the mall, and had always been attracted by this young householder. The doctor led the way by the nose.

"Okay, can Shen Langzhong be the master?"

"Yes, this newspaper was proposed by the official. Mr. Wu is only responsible for the content of the newspaper, and I can still make decisions about the publication."

"Well, when will the contract be signed?"

"I'll have someone draw up a contract when I go back, and then hand it over to the people above for review. If there's no problem, it can be done tomorrow."

"So fast?" Wei Shu was really surprised. He knew the efficiency of the imperial court. It was normal for a matter to be delayed for a month or two. He thought it would be good to settle the matter within two months.

"Time is money. We can't afford to delay. Master Wei, go back and wait for news."

"Then there will be Sir Lao Shen." Wei Shu got up and bowed to him, left another gift box before leaving, and then took the person away.

Shen Jia asked Xiao Er to serve a few more dishes, and asked He Yan and the others to sit down and eat together. After spending a long time talking, they finally settled a deal, and they didn't know whether it was a loss or not.

The young son of the Wu family didn't say anything from the beginning to the end. He was a boring listener at first, but the more he listened, the more startled he became, and the more he listened, the more he admired Shen Jia. No wonder his father asked him to be an apprentice. This master is really extraordinary!