Add Bookmark | Recommend this book | Back to the book page | My bookshelf | Mobile Reading

Free Web Novel,Novel online - All in oicq.net -> Historic -> Struggle in the New Ming Dynasty

Episode 1: New Arrival Chapter 633: Chatting in the Teahouse

Previous page        Return to Catalog        Next page

    In the first issue of Pravda after the newspaper office of the Imperial College was reorganized into the Propaganda Institute, except that the front page was still an excerpt from the Di newspaper, the following fifteen columns appeared together, including six bachelors and one of the nine ministers.

    ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? If anyone doesn¡¯t join Pravda, there will probably soon be rumors about someone losing their authority.  In fact, rumors are not terrible, but I am afraid that fools will believe them.

    Unfortunately, the space is limited, and each column cannot exceed 500 words.  Like the last few issues, it is unlikely that Mr. Lu Ge will monopolize a page again. This also makes Mr. Lu relieved. It is too pushy and not his style.

    As for the other pavilion elders, they felt a little excited after seeing their columns appearing in Pravda.  As for the sophisticated old people, there are really not many things that can excite them. This mentality is difficult to explain.

    The emperor has a daily life note, and this column in Pravda, which Li You decided to publish on odd days, can be regarded as their "daily life note" to some extent?  Even if the big guys retire and return to their hometowns after a few years, their personal columns in the Pravda newspaper will be their imprint left in the court, which can be looked up and admired by future generations. This is a treatment that has never been received by the sages of the past generations.

    What's more, under Li You's encouragement, whether Pravda has a column, the size of the column, and whether it can publish articles have become a status symbol.  It is tantamount to designing a new way of distinguishing status. It would be false to say that the extremely subordinate bosses are not proud of this.

    According to statistics, after the Pravda was promoted by Mr. Li, the number of teachers in the Prime Minister's House of Jiuqing increased by one person on average. Their main task was to write ghostwriters for columns.  There is no limit to the genre of poetry, prose, and essays.  Otherwise, Pravda would have to publish an issue every other day, and the bosses who were busy with government affairs would not be able to cope with it and would not have much energy to write and publish articles.

    After receiving the responses from all parties, Li You was completely relieved.  Only now did he dare to say that his innovation was successful and he had gained a firm foothold.

    In the yamen of my previous life.  There are so many magazines and newspapers about work communication that no one takes a second look, but this platform is still very fresh and popular in this dynasty.  With this platform, serving as a public opinion leader for a few years is enough to gain a lot of official credentials and make up for the shortcomings of his youth.

    Later, Li Li asked the court as he thought.  Let every government office and school in the world subscribe to Pravda.  After discussion, the cabinet bosses had no objection, and the edict was quickly issued, requiring yamen above the seventh rank to subscribe to at least three copies, and yamen below the seventh rank to subscribe at their discretion, but at least one.

    It was just as Li You guessed.  The imperial court did not allow newspapers to be delivered through the post station.  The existing relay organization is equipped based on the number of official documents and edicts sent by the imperial court to various places every day, with a maximum of several hundred messages per day.  Therefore, in terms of transportation capabilities and methods and channels, it is not suitable for newspapers with large quantities and precise purposes.

    If you force a relay organization to distribute newspapers to all parts of the country, tens of thousands of newspapers will flow into the relay system every day, which will easily lead to paralysis and affect the normal transmission of official documents.

    Therefore, how to publish Pravda, the imperial court only authorized the Propaganda Institute to be responsible for how much it can publish.  How much you can earn depends on the capabilities of the Propaganda Institute.

    Even though Li Yuanshi is a time traveler, there is currently no good way to distribute Pravda to all parts of the country stably and smoothly.  If each post station was to add one person to deliver newspapers, then the next post station would have to add 2,000 people, with an annual cost of 30,000 taels. It would not be enough to cover all the income from Pravda.

    He counted on his fingers again.  In the capital area, the current circulation number of Pravda is about two thousand copies. At the deceptively high price of one cent per copy, twenty taels of silver can be recovered from each issue.  If there are fifteen installments per month, the total income will be three hundred taels.

    Three hundred taels seems like a lot, but Pravda has ten main writers, dozens of printers, and dozens of reporters. The monthly salary for these workers alone is two hundred taels.  In addition, there are various other costs and expenses, so three hundred taels still cannot make ends meet.

    Don¡¯t forget, Mr. Li initially offered the big guys a high price of one tael per thousand words. After all, the monthly writing fee for Zaifu Jiuqing was as high as more than 100 taels.  Now that Pravda is on the right track, and the Propaganda Institute's newspaper running expenses are very tight, Mr. Li is considering whether to cancel these writing fees.

    He sounded out the cabinet bosses on this issue.  The cabinet elders who were not short of money, for some reason, without exception rejected Li You's plan to cancel the writing fee, and unceremoniously reprimanded him for "breaking his word and going back on his word."

    Mr. Ge is not short of this little money, but he wants to see Li You's good show. Of course, this reason is only tacitly understood in his heart and will not be expressed verbally.  After the bachelors set such an example, others refused to give up their writing fees, and Pravda still had to pay nearly two hundred taels a month for this.

    Based on comprehensive estimates, the distribution situation across the country has not yet opened up.Under the circumstances, the monthly cost of running Pravda is 500 taels, but the income is only 300 taels, which means that the state treasury is shortchanged by 200 taels every month.

    This left Yuan Li with no choice but to go to the Ministry of Household Affairs to beg his grandfather and grandma to temporarily maintain the blood transfusion of Pravda.  Fortunately, the national treasury can still afford the loss, but this is not a long-term solution. Li You does not want people to perish and the government to cease.

    Mr. Li, some of them were happy and some were worried, but he said that in this spring season, the business in the capital has restarted a new cycle and ushered in its first prosperous period.

    In the Chongwenmen area, after experiencing the depression a year ago, the flow of foreign merchants has become intensive again. This year, the peak period for the first time entering Beijing has arrived.

    In the customs area outside Chongwen Gate, large numbers of convoys of goods queued up to pass through the customs. The shouts of various clerks, the scolding of servants, and the neighing of animals were mingled and heard continuously. It was like a scene of prosperous business travel.

    Beside the customs area, many elegant pergolas have been set up with relatively clean tables and chairs. This place is mainly for merchants with some status.

    After all, wealthy big merchants also have to pay attention to a certain amount of dignity. It is impossible to go to the customs team and mess around with a group of guys and animals. However, it is too far away from their own goods and is inconvenient, so this kind of pergola set up next to the customs came into being.  Health, specially designed for merchants to temporarily stop and drink tea.

    One afternoon in mid-April, two middle-aged men walked into the pergola, followed by seven or eight entourages.  The two of them chose a quiet place to sit down, and their entourages were scattered around to wait on them, which also separated the surrounding people.

    Dr. Tea is well-informed. One look at his clothes and style, and he knows he is a wealthy foreigner.  He quickly and diligently came forward to inquire, and a follower handed him a bag of tea and asked him to make it.

    The short middle-aged merchant accidentally caught a glimpse of a half-foot-thick piece of large paper with writing in the corner. From time to time, someone would take it and look at it, so he asked strangely: "What is that?"

    Dr. Tea then replied: "You may not know that your guest is from out of town, but this is a new newspaper produced in the capital, called Mingli Bao. It has everything in it and all kinds of news. It is indispensable for outsiders who first come to the capital."  Something to read.¡±

    Another tall middle-aged man smiled and said: "I have seen both the Di newspaper and the newspaper copy. From what you said about Ming Li Bao, I'm afraid it's a bit exaggerated."

    Dr. Tea didn't take it seriously and continued: "This Ming Li newspaper may be given away for free elsewhere, but it costs five cents a copy at the customs. If you don't buy a copy, it will be hard to talk to the customs master."

    "It's just a piece of paper, is it necessary to buy and sell by force? What did the customs ambassador think?" The tall merchant didn't understand, so he questioned.

    The short middle-aged merchant waved his hand to stop his companion from complaining, and said to Dr. Tea: "It's only five cents. Bring me a share and see if it's true as you said."

    Dr. Tea waved, and naturally an errand boy came over with a newspaper and collected five copper coins from the middle-aged entourage.

    The short middle-aged merchant looked at it curiously and found it very strange. It was actually an article criticizing the imperial court for its inaction.  At the emperor¡¯s feet, no one cares about this?

    When he opened the newspaper again, he saw a headline on the third page that shocked him. He was so surprised that he couldn't help but spit out all the tea in his mouth.

    When the companion saw this, he asked curiously: "Brother Jin, what's wrong?"

    The man called Brother Jin pointed to the title and said, "Brother Gao Xian, read it yourself."

    Brother Gao Xian looked over and saw that where he pointed was clearly written - A storm is about to arise in the business world of the capital?  Jin Wanwan, a giant businessman from Yangzhou, will come to Beijing today.  Immediately, as if he had seen a ghost, he said in shock: "How did this newspaper know the whereabouts of Brother Jin?"

    This "Brother Jin" is naturally one of the seven great businessmen in Yangzhou, Jin Wanwanjin, the father of the country. He was also puzzled and said, "It's really strange. I only sent people ahead to report the news to my virtuous son-in-law the day before yesterday. The other  People probably don't know. Although my good son-in-law is young, he is reliable and he is definitely not someone who speaks out."

    After saying that, he beckoned Dr. Tea over and asked, "This Ming Li Bao is indeed interesting. Who is responsible for it?"

    "I heard that it was created by Mr. Li Xujiang in the imperial court." Dr. Tea replied.

    ??Xu Jiangli?  Jin Wanwan was stunned for a moment. Even with the size of the capital, Xu Jiangli, who was relatively famous, probably only had one person.  Dare to love is a good deed done by the son-in-law himself. Besides, such a weird newspaper does seem to be the son-in-law's way of doing things.

    Thinking of this, Jin Wanwan stopped talking and stopped talking about the newspaper. Who knows what his son-in-law has in mind. It is better not to say anything until he truly understands.

    At this time, Gao Yuanwai joked: "Isn't this Li Xujiang the same Li Yangzhou back then? I remember Brother Jin said that he was the powerful admiral and censor of the five cities. How come Xianji was bored and joined the newspaper business? Even Brother Jin's whereabouts  They were all taken out and put on the masthead, it seems very leisurely."

    Although they are old acquaintances and have been traveling with each other all the way, Jin Wanwan felt uncomfortable with Gao Yuanwai's words and snorted coldly: "The capital is not like other places, let alone Hankou. Gao Xiandi is better to be careful with what he says."

    While the two were talking, a waiter rushed in from outside and shouted to the two of them: "Master! All the tea has been detained by the customs!" (To be continued)

    {PiaoTian Literature www.PiaoTian.com thanks all book friends for their support, your support is our greatest motivation}??, it seems very laid-back.  "

    Although they are old acquaintances and have been traveling with each other all the way, Jin Wanwan felt uncomfortable with Gao Yuanwai's words and snorted coldly: "The capital is not like other places, let alone Hankou. Gao Xiandi is better to be careful with what he says."

    While the two were talking, a waiter rushed in from outside and shouted to the two of them: "Master! All the tea has been detained by the customs!" (To be continued)

    {PiaoTian Literature www.PiaoTian.com thanks all book friends for their support, your support is our greatest motivation}
Didn't finish reading? Add this book to your favoritesI'm a member and bookmarked this chapterCopy the address of this book and recommend it to your friends for pointsChapter error? Click here to report