Chapter six hundred and thirty third tea house chat
In the first issue of Pravda after the newspaper office of the Imperial College was reorganized into the Propaganda Institute, in addition to the front page still being an excerpt from the Di newspaper, the following fifteen columns appeared together, including six bachelors and one of the nine ministers.
Under such circumstances, if anyone does not report to Pravda, rumors about someone losing their authority will probably soon appear. In fact, rumors are not terrible, but they are afraid of being believed by fools.
Unfortunately, the space is limited, and each column does not exceed 500 words. Like the previous issues, it is unlikely that Mr. Lu will occupy one page of the page again. This also makes Mr. Lu relieved.
That would be too pushy and not his style.
As for the other elders, they felt a little excited after seeing their own columns appearing in Pravda. As for the sophisticated elders, there are not many things that can make them excited. This kind of mentality is very
Difficult to explain.
The emperor has a daily life note. This column in Pravda, which Li You decided to publish on odd days, can be regarded as their "daily life note" to a certain extent? Even if the big bosses retire and return to their hometowns after a few years, how can Pravda be stored in the library?
The personal columns on the Internet are their imprints left in the imperial court, which can be inquired and admired by future generations. This is a treatment that has never been received by the sages of the past dynasties.
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 equivalent to designing a new way of distinguishing status, and it is said to be the ultimate subordinate.
It’s a lie if the big guys are not proud of this.
According to statistics, after Pravda was promoted by Mr. Li, the number of teachers in the Prime Minister's Palace increased by one person on average. Their main task was to ghostwrite columns. There is no limit to the style of poetry, prose, and essays. Otherwise, Pravda would be published every other day
When it comes to publishing one issue, the bosses who are busy with government affairs can't cope with it, so they don't have much energy to write articles and publish them.
After receiving responses from all parties, Li You was completely relieved. Only now did he dare to say that his innovation was successful and he had established a firm footing.
In my previous life, the yamen were flooded with magazines and newspapers related to work and communications, and no one took a second look at them. However, in this dynasty, this platform is still very fresh and popular. With this platform, being a public opinion leader for several years is enough to survive.
He has few official credentials to make up for his shortcomings of youth.
Then Mr. Li wrote a memorial to the imperial court according to his own ideas, asking all yamen and schools in the world to subscribe to Pravda. After discussion, the cabinet bosses had no objection, and the edict was quickly issued, requiring yamen above the seventh rank to at least
Subscriptions are required for three copies, and yamen below the seventh rank may subscribe at their discretion, but at least one copy is required.
Just as Li You guessed, the imperial court did not allow newspapers to be delivered through post stations. The existing post organization was 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 letters per day. Therefore, from the transportation
In terms of capabilities, methods and channels, it is not suitable for newspapers that are both large in number and precise in purpose.
If a relay organization is forcibly used 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 was only authorized by the imperial court and the Cultural Propaganda Institute was responsible for it. How much it could publish and how much it could make depended on its own ability.
Even though Li Yuanshi is a time traveler, there is currently no good way to deliver Pravda stably and smoothly to all parts of the country. If each post station has one more person to transport the newspaper, that means there will be an additional 2,000 people at the next post station.
The annual expenses are 30,000 taels, and it is not enough to cover all the income from Pravda.
He made another calculation. 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 issues per month,
The total income is 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 labors alone is two hundred taels. In addition, there are various other costs, so
Three hundred taels is still not enough to make ends meet.
Don’t forget, Mr. Li initially offered the big bosses a high price of one tael per thousand words. Calculated, the monthly writing fee for Zaifu Jiuqing was as high as more than 100 taels. Now Pravda has
We are on the right track, but the Propaganda Institute's newspaper expenses are very tight. Mr. Li is considering whether to cancel these writing fees.
He tested this issue with the cabinet bosses. For some reason, the cabinet bosses who were not short of money rejected Li You's idea of canceling the remuneration fee without exception, and reprimanded him unceremoniously for "not keeping his word."
, go back on one's 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. The bachelors have set such an example, and others are unwilling to give up their writing fees.
, Pravda still has to pay nearly two hundred taels per month for this.
Comprehensive estimates show that before the national distribution situation has been opened, the monthly cost of running the Pravda is 500 taels, but the income is only 300 taels, which means that the national treasury will be depleted 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 to Pravda. Fortunately, the state treasury could still afford the loss, but this was not a long-term solution. Li You did not want people to perish and the government to cease.
Mr. Li said that several families were happy and some were worried, but he said that in this spring season, the capital's business 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 businessmen has become intensive again, and this year's peak season for first visits to Beijing has arrived.
In the customs area outside Chongwen Gate, large numbers of cargo convoys lined up to pass the customs. The shouts of various clerks, the scolding of servants, and the neighing of animals were all mixed together, creating a scene of prosperous business travel.
Beside the customs area, many elegant pavilions were set up with relatively clean tables and chairs. This place was mainly designed for merchants with some status.
After all, wealthy big merchants also have to pay attention to a certain amount of dignity. They cannot 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 it is inconvenient, so this kind of pergola set up next to the customs came into being.
It is a temporary place for merchants to stop and drink tea.
One afternoon in mid-April, two middle-aged men walked into the pergola, followed by seven or eight attendants. The two chose a quiet place to sit down, and the attendants scattered around to wait on them, and by the way, there were many other people around.
separated.
The tea doctor was well-informed. One look at his clothes and style showed that he was a wealthy foreigner. He hurriedly approached him to inquire, and an attendant handed him a bag of tea and asked him to brew it.
The short middle-aged businessman accidentally caught a glimpse of a half-foot-thick piece of 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. Cha 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. In fact, it is indispensable for outsiders who first come to the capital."
Something to read.”
Another tall middle-aged man said with a smile: "I have seen the Di newspaper and copied newspapers. From what you said, Ming Li Bao may be 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 really what 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 an article criticizing the imperial court for its inaction. Doesn't anyone care about this under the emperor's feet?
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, see for yourself."
Brother Gao Xian looked over and saw the words where he was pointing - The business world in the capital is about to rise? Jin Wanwan, a giant businessman from Yangzhou, will come to the capital today. He felt as if he had seen a ghost and exclaimed in surprise: "How did this newspaper know about Jin Wanwan?"
Brother’s whereabouts?”
This "Brother Jin" is naturally the father-in-law of Jin Wanwan Jin, one of the seven giant businessmen in Yangzhou. 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. Others
People probably don't know. Although my good son-in-law is young, he is reliable and definitely not someone who speaks out."
After 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.
Xujiang Li? Jin Wanwan was stunned for a moment. Even with the size of the capital, the relatively famous Xujiang Li probably only has one person. It was his son-in-law who dared to love, and besides, such a weird newspaper really seemed to belong to his son-in-law.
Ways of doing things.
Thinking of this, Jin Baiwan 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 really 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 of the Five Cities, why did he join the newspaper business? Even Brother Jin's whereabouts
They were all taken out and put on the masthead, it seems very leisurely."
Although they were old acquaintances and had been traveling together 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, it's better to be careful with what you say."
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...)
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