Ming Dynasty: I risked my life to teach the prince, the emperor begged me not to die

Chapter 137 The fight is over

Chen Ce did not follow Fu Yuan's suggestion and did not publish the headlines about Tang Yin.

As for whether it would cause trouble, he didn't care. Even if trouble came, he wouldn't make a fuss about Tang Yin's affairs.

Some troubles can be avoided, so avoid them; if they cannot be avoided, just continue.

Chen Ce doesn't want to cause trouble, but he is not afraid of it either.

The newspaper was still operating normally. In the evening of the next day, Wang Defa still came to Chen Ce with a pile of manuscripts for approval.

He is still looking for a professional audit team. He has recruited five people and their salaries have been negotiated. However, they need Wang Defa to train them in the early stages and cannot be put into use immediately.

Therefore, Chen Ce had to be busy with his own review in the early stages.

"Boss, there seem to be fewer submissions today."

Chen Ce didn't care. He hummed and said, "It's normal to have ups and downs. The candidates recruited must be trained well. What kind of manuscripts can be passed and what can't be passed. Sensitive events must be eliminated. I won't nag you. I believe you know it."

Wang Defa smiled and said, "I remember it all."

On the third day, Zhu Houzhao also came to help Chen Ce review the manuscripts. He knew that Chen Ce was very busy and not in good health, so he would come to help Chen Ce when he had no classes in the East Palace.

Wang Defa came again this afternoon with the press release, but his face did not look very good.

Chen Ce glanced at Wang Defa, who looked worried, and asked, "What's wrong?"

Wang Defa patted the manuscripts in his arms and said to Chen Ce, "There are fewer manuscripts submitted today."

Chen Ce nodded: "Do you know the reason?"

Wang Defa gritted his teeth and said, "Someone is offering seven cents per article, and it's easier to get the manuscripts approved there, so they almost accept all submissions."

After hearing this, Zhu Houzhao's face changed and he said angrily: "How dare you! This is clearly going against us!"

"Let me see which bastard has the guts to do such a thing. I'll smack him on the head!"

Chen Ce held Zhu Houzhao and said with a smile: "Don't use force to solve the problem until the last moment. It's not impossible to solve it."

He glanced at Wang Defa and said, "Spread the word to the public that we charge ten cents per article."

Wang Defa said quickly, "Boss, you must not do this. If this vicious competition continues, the scholars who submitted their works will eventually smell the benefits, and it will be difficult to lower the price in the future."

This is tantamount to driving up the market price, which will end up hurting both sides and allowing those writers to profit.

Chen Ce shook his head and said, "It's okay. I know my limits. Just spread the word. You don't have to actually collect the manuscript. The other party will raise the price."

Wang Defa and Zhu Houzhao were both confused. If that's the case, then why are you still cooperating with the other party to raise the price?

In the end, we still don’t receive any manuscripts. If we don’t receive any manuscripts, how can the newspaper continue to operate?

“Don’t ask any more questions, just do it.”

Wang Defa wanted to say something, but Chen Ce didn't give him a chance to speak and said, "Go ahead."

Wang Defa could only grit his teeth and said, "Okay!"

It was obvious that the person who drove up the price was Fu Yuan. He came here the day before yesterday to find Chen Ce to use courtesy before force.

Zhu Houzhao said with some worry: "Little brother, who is this opponent?"

Chen Ce shook his head and said, "I don't know."

Zhu Houzhao said: "Then I will go check it out."

Chen Ce stopped him and said, "Tell me, did he break the law? No? Why investigate him? It's normal business competition. Even if we find out who the other party is, what can we do?"

Zhu Houzhao looked depressed and said, "What is the other party going to do?"

Chen Ce smiled and said, "Isn't it obvious? He also wants to open a newspaper, so he is hoarding a lot of news articles now."

Zhu Houzhao was anxious and said hurriedly: "He wants to open a newspaper too. The price of manuscripts is so high. What should we do once his newspaper opens? If we can't receive manuscripts, we will die slowly!" Chen Ce comforted Zhu Houzhao and said: "I know my limits. Don't worry. It won't happen."

While the two were talking, Wang Defa came back.

Zhu Houzhao stared at him with wide eyes and asked, "Why did you come back so soon?"

Wang Defa's face became more and more red and angry. He said, "It seems that the other party is staring at us. I just spread the word that we will accept 10 cents for a manuscript, and the other party immediately raised the price to 15 cents."

Chen Ce said to Wang Defa, "Twenty coins, go spread the word again."

hiss!
Wang Defa sucked in a breath of cold air, waved his hands repeatedly, and said, "Boss, you must stay rational!"

"Don't argue with the other party. It's not worth it to collect 20 cents for a manuscript!"

Chen Ce remained calm and said, "It's okay, go spread the word."

"Okay, okay."

Wang Defa left.

Wang Defa was running back and forth almost all day long, and the price of manuscripts was constantly rising.

The two businessmen behind the scenes were fighting openly and secretly. Although neither of them showed up, Zhu Houzhao could feel the intensity of the business competition.

Wang Defa wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and cried, "Boss, we can't increase it any more. It has been raised to fifty cents per manuscript!"

Not only Chen Ce, but even Zhu Houzhao was furious. He said angrily: "Are you competing for financial strength? Then let's fight. Keep going and see when the other party will stop. Whoever is a coward is a grandson!"

Chen Ce had been raising the price all afternoon, but he stopped at this time. He asked Wang Defa, "How many manuscripts do you estimate they can receive today?"

Wang Defa said: "At this crazy price, we can get a thousand copies."

Wang Defa felt distressed when he mentioned this number. There are a thousand news articles. If they could select a hundred valuable ones, it would be enough for them to publish for several days!

A thousand articles only cost fifty taels of silver.

Chen Ce was not satisfied, but still said to Wang Defa: "Stop today."

“No more price increase.”

Zhu Houzhao gritted his teeth and said, "Little brother! Why don't you add more? Let's crush him! This is not about money, it's about dignity!"

Chen Ce said: "I'll add more tomorrow, no rush."

……

Fu Mansion.

Fu Han came back from work today and heard Fu Yuan was receiving news releases. He asked in confusion, "What are you doing?"

Fu Yuan smiled and said, "Push Shuntian Newspaper into bankruptcy, so that it can no longer operate in Shuntian Prefecture."

"Play with him."

Fu Han didn't understand and said, "It's just a small business worth a few cents. When did you become so bored that you started to care about such a small profit?"

Fu Yuan still had a confident smile on his face, and said, "Dad, do you think this is a small profit? Small profits but quick turnover, if you sell more, the profit will not be small."

"Of course, I don't really care how much it can earn. I just don't want it to survive in Shuntian Prefecture."

There are deeper reasons, which Fu Yuan did not mention.

The newspaper business is a good business. It may seem insignificant at the moment, but no one has ever paid attention to what kind of towering tree it will grow into in the future.

Fu Yuantai knows the future value of the newspaper!

(End of this chapter)