Daming Crazy Emperor

Chapter 799 How Much Money Does It Cost to Publish Newspapers
Wen Zhenmeng stood on the bow of the ship with his hands behind his back, looking at the approaching port in the distance, but he was still thinking about the things in Xinma City in his mind.

To be honest, he really didn't know why the emperor suddenly called him to Bahia.

He was really busy during this time, because the people in the Amazon jungle were constantly pulling in and out, and he had to arrange for people to teach them how to speak the official dialect of Ming Dynasty, and even teach them the culture of Ming Dynasty.

The officials from the Ministry of Rites he brought over were no longer enough, and now he was even recruiting young men from the Indian tribes in North America as the initial professors of elementary studies.

There are still many hard-working and studious young people among the Indian tribes in North America. These people also learned the "Three-Character Classic", "Thousand-Character Classic", "Hundred Surnames" and other elementary school textbooks at the beginning.

Many people have memorized these elementary school textbooks fluently, and it is no problem to teach the people of the primitive tribes here.

The problem is that people from these primitive tribes come out in groups, and these people are still migrating to the North American continent and the Western Yindu Islands in groups. After the migration, they will disperse to farm and will not gather Together.

This made it more difficult for him to arrange the manpower.

He was considering whether to let each of the [-] North American vassal countries select a group of well-educated young men to help, when a familiar figure appeared on the approaching pier.

My God, it's the emperor!
How did the emperor run? He was personally greeted at the pier!
He hurriedly ran to the hanging ladder and waited. As soon as the hanging ladder was lowered, he walked up quickly and bowed his hands: "My humble minister joins the emperor."

Taichang nodded slightly, and said gratifiedly: "Wen Qi, you are finally here. I can't wait to see you. How about it? Did you bring the engraving master and printing things?"

Wen Zhenmeng hurriedly cupped his hands and said, "Back to the emperor, I brought them here."

well.

Taichang said without hesitation: "Zi Ru, arrange for someone to take them to the temporary workshop that has been packed, and prepare for engraving and printing. Wen Qi, let's go, I will take you to see a good thing."

After finishing speaking, he lifted his foot and walked towards the Emperor.

Wen Zhenmeng hurriedly followed.

He was really in a daze right now.

What important thing does the emperor want to show them? He is so impatient.

Soon, they came to a meeting room on the top floor of the Emperor.

At the moment, Zhang Zhiji, Xu Yunzhen, De Xie La and several of their cronies are lying on the conference table, writing and drawing non-stop.

Wen Zhenmeng couldn't help stretching his neck to take a closer look.

Uh, these people are still writing in Portuguese, he can't understand it at all!
It's true that the Ministry of Rites is in charge of all translations, but he only knows that the symbolic text is in Portuguese, and he doesn't know what these symbols mean.

This time, Wen Zhenmeng was even more confused.

However, Taichang took out a stack of manuscript paper that was two feet wide and one foot long, and introduced excitedly: "Wen Qi, I asked you to come here this time because I want the Ministry of Rites to take the lead in running such a newspaper."

newspaper?

Wen Zhenmeng couldn't help but look down.

Also "Le Monde"!
Naturally, there was no specific content in this newspaper, so Taichang simply arranged the layout, divided the page of the newspaper into small squares, and then wrote the general content in each small square.

Wen Zhenmeng looked through it carefully for a while, and then asked cautiously: "Your Majesty, do you want to publish a larger residence newspaper?"

Mansion newspaper?

Yup!

The newspaper is actually a bigger mansion newspaper.

Dibao actually existed in the Tang and Song Dynasties, and it was developed to the point where it was published every day in the Ming Dynasty.

However, the residence newspapers of the Ming Dynasty are usually posted on the notice boards at the entrance of the six government offices, or are copied to the local governments and envoys, and rarely spread directly to the prefectures and counties.

At present, there are even small workshops among the people that make profits by copying newspapers and printing them into manuscripts.

However, most of the mansion newspapers are government decrees and emperor's edicts, and nothing else.

Taichang nodded slightly and said: "Yes, this newspaper can be said to be a larger Dibao, but the content of the newspaper is different from the Dibao.

Dibao is basically for officials, while newspapers are for everyone.

Therefore, the content of this newspaper should be richer, and you have to find a way to make everyone want to read the things in this newspaper. "

Uh, this.

Wen Zhenmeng said inexplicably: "Your Majesty, it seems that the Department of General Affairs is responsible for these things, right?"

Well, it was true that the Secretary of the General Administration was in charge of the Dibao in the past.

However, this time it doesn't work.

There are simply not enough people in the Secretary of General Administration.

Taichang shook his head slightly and said: "The Secretary of General Administration is actually responsible for copying and publishing the mansion newspaper, they are not responsible for editing the content of the mansion newspaper.

There is a lot of content in this newspaper, and all scholars in Ming Dynasty must be called on to write it, and they still racked their brains to find a way to write it.

Your Ministry of Rites is responsible for reviewing the articles written by scholars, and only those that meet the requirements can be published in the newspaper.

After the newspaper is edited, you have to be responsible for translating the newspaper into the language of each country, and then organize the typesetting and printing.

These printed newspapers have to be sent to countries around the world in the fastest way and spread out. "

Oh my god, how much does this cost?

Wen Zhenmeng couldn't help saying: "Your Majesty, will this "World News" be published every day like the Di Bao?"

Taichang nodded without hesitation: "Yes, this has to be published every day."

Wen Zhenmeng asked again cautiously: "Then how many copies are printed every day?"

Taichang explained in detail: "It depends on how many people in each country can understand newspapers.

For example, our native Ming Dynasty has a population of hundreds of millions, and more and more people can read and write. It is estimated that there are at least 2000 million people who can read newspapers.

Then, we have to print 200 million copies in Ming characters every day.

By the way, if counting dependent countries and overseas state capitals, as well as the American side, this number must be doubled at least.

Moreover, this is only the current number. When there are more people who can read and write, the number of newspapers printed will also increase accordingly. "

Calculated in this way, wouldn't it be necessary to print tens of millions of copies every day!
That's it, it's only for now, and it is estimated that 3000 to [-] million copies a day may be possible in the future.

How much is this?
Wen Zhenmeng made a rough estimate, and then said cautiously: "Your Majesty, if we print so many newspapers, the money it will cost will be astonishing.

According to the current paper price, such a large sheet, even if it is the cheapest printing paper, can buy up to [-] sheets for a tael of silver.

And you also require four editions, two-sided printing, typesetting and printing costs are higher than single-sided.

In this way, the cost of lettering, typesetting, printing labor and materials may add up to the price of paper.

In other words, if we print [-] copies of newspapers, we only need [-] taels of silver for [-] sheets of paper, and [-] taels of silver for other materials and labor.

1000 copies are 8000 taels, and [-] million copies are [-] taels!
If it is printed like this every day for more than 300 days a year, it will cost at least 200 million taels of silver! "

What is more than 200 million taels a year?
Taichang said without hesitation: "More than 200 million taels is more than 200 million taels. The Ministry of Rites can withdraw the money directly from the internal treasury."

How can it be so simple, I only calculate the cost of printing so many newspapers.

Wen Zhenmeng thought about it for a while, and then said cautiously: "Your Majesty, we need to recruit a lot of people for translation, transshipment, and distribution of this newspaper.

Not to mention anything else, if these 1000 million newspapers are distributed to 1000 million people, at least thousands of people will be required to distribute them!

Calculated in this way, the wages of these people are probably several 10 taels of silver a year. "

A few hundred thousand taels is a small amount of money.

Taichang still said without hesitation: "You just need to recruit people, you can recruit as many people as you need, and the wages of these people will also be borne by the internal treasury."

Alas, that's not all!

Wen Zhenmeng cautiously reminded again: "Your Majesty, I dare to ask, have you thought about where to buy this paper?

There are tens of millions of scholars in Ming Dynasty, and it is estimated that there are more than 2000 million literate people.

The problem is that these people don't use paper every day, and paper is not affordable for ordinary people.

These 1000 million newspapers are 4000 million sheets of paper that are two feet long and one foot wide!

Moreover, the profit of this cheapest printing paper is too thin, so not many people do it at all.

Weichen reckoned that if he bought all the cheap printing paper in Daming, it would not be enough to print for a few days.

Moreover, even if people are allowed to work hard, the materials and labor cannot keep up with the huge demand. "

Uh, Taichang really didn't think about this question.

The paper consumption of this newspaper printing is indeed terrifying. What is the concept of 4000 million large sheets of paper that are two feet long and one foot wide a day?
Just counting the weight is scary.

For such a large piece of paper, one hundred sheets would weigh at least two catties, one thousand sheets would weigh twenty catties, ten million sheets would weigh 1000 catties, and 20 million sheets would weigh 4000 catties!
Who spends a boring day making so much cheap paper.

If you can't sell it, you won't lose money!
Well, this paper problem does have to be solved.

The problem is, he doesn't understand the paper industry at all!
Taichang thought for a while, then simply asked: "Wen Qi, do you have a way to make people produce so much paper?"

Hearing this, Wen Zhenmeng said with a strange expression on his face: "This Yan Ru and Bo Zheng happened to mention it to Wei Chen.

Because there are also a lot of wood suitable for papermaking here, not to mention the round logs with thick waists and thick legs, and the charcoal firewood with thick arms. Pick up a few million catties.

If these can be used to make paper, it will be no problem to make hundreds of millions of cheap printing papers that day.

Moreover, the cost of papermaking can be saved a lot.

After all, the twigs here are free, and it is easy to crush and make pulp.

However, at the beginning, Weichen considered that making so much paper would never be used up, so he didn't take it seriously. "

And such good things?

Isn't that all right?

Without hesitation, Taichang said: "Very good, let's build a large paper mill in Xinma City, specializing in the production of paper for printing newspapers."

Well, one last question.

Wen Zhenmeng asked again cautiously: "Your Majesty, you said that all the scholars in the world should write articles and submit them for review by the Ministry of Rites.

If it's just once or twice, it's probably not a problem. If it's done every day, scholars probably can't stand it.

After all, they have to study and support their families, so they can't make fuss about us every day! "

Isn't this simple?

Taichang still didn't think about it: "We will pay for this, once an article is selected, we will pay ten taels of silver for the manuscript.

In this way, won't many scholars try their best to write articles for our newspaper? "

Well, there are at least dozens of articles in these quarters.

This day is another few hundred taels, and a year is another few hundred thousand taels!
Wen Zhenmeng was quite puzzled and said: "Your Majesty, I dare to ask again, why do we invest so much money and consume so much manpower and material resources to publish this newspaper?"

You're finally asking the point.

Taichang immediately explained: "A warrior's sword and a scribe's pen are both tools for killing people.

I don't know if you have heard of this sentence.

If we can really spread this "Le Monde" all over the world, it will be worth a million troops! "

this!

Wen Zhenmeng couldn't help but fell into deep thought when he heard the words.

He is the number one scholar, and he has read a lot of books. His knowledge is not comparable to that of ordinary people.

He can naturally figure out how to manipulate public opinion against the enemy.

He just pondered for a while, then bowed his hands and said: "The emperor is wise."

This guy must have figured it out, talking to smart people is easy.

Taichang couldn't help smiling and said: "Actually, running a newspaper not only doesn't cost money, but it can also make a lot of money if it's done well.

However, now our main purpose is to control public opinion and use the pen as a knife to deal with the enemy.

Let's talk about making money later. "

Can this thing still make money?
Wen Zhenmeng couldn't help but asked curiously: "Your Majesty, do you mean that we sell newspapers directly?

This doesn't seem to work!
If we want to make money, a newspaper must be sold for at least two cents apiece.

I am afraid that not many people are willing to spend two cents a day to buy newspapers these days, and I am afraid that half of the newspapers we print will not be sold. "

Who told you to make money by selling newspapers.

Taichang shook his head slightly and said, "You can't make money selling newspapers, we can make money by advertising."

Advertising?
Wen Zhenmeng couldn't help but asked curiously: "Your Majesty, please forgive me for being stupid, what's the point of advertising?"

Without hesitation, Taichang said: "Advertising is to advertise widely, think about it, if we spread this newspaper all over the world, how famous will it be?

If the merchant pays us to publish the introduction of his product in the newspaper, it will be famous all over the world. How much profit will it be then?
We just charge 100 taels of silver a day, no problem?

If he can be in the newspaper for one day, he will be famous all over the world.

We can even increase the layout of the newspaper and print hundreds of advertisements in it every day. Wouldn't that be able to make money and get hand cramps? "

Uh, well, it does make a lot of money doing it that way.

There are not so many merchants in Daming, and the businesses of these merchants are basically getting bigger and bigger. 100 taels of silver is nothing to many merchants.

If this little money can make the things they sell world-famous, it is estimated that a lot of people will rush to advertise.

(End of this chapter)