My father is Chongzhen? Then I have no choice but to rebel.

Chapter 59 Businessmen targeting Daming Daily!

If you think about it carefully, Chongzhen's fate is actually a tragedy.

Because he was never the best candidate for emperor.

If nothing unexpected had happened in the Ming Dynasty, he would not have become emperor. After growing up carefree, he would have gone to his fiefdom and lived a carefree life as a prince.

However, things are unpredictable.

Chongzhen's elder brother, Emperor Tianqi Zhu Youjiao, died suddenly without leaving any offspring.

According to the tradition of the Zhu family, if there is a legitimate heir, the heir will be appointed as the heir; if there is no legitimate heir, the eldest son will be appointed as the heir; and if there is a surviving elder brother, the younger brother will be appointed as the heir. Chongzhen, a prince who had never been exposed to imperial power since childhood, was pushed onto the throne of the emperor.

Because of the words "My brother should be like Yao and Shun" said by Emperor Tianqi before his death, Chongzhen worked diligently after becoming emperor, or of course, it can be said that he messed around.

Anyway, Chongzhen was emperor for fourteen years, but instead of making the Ming Dynasty prosperous, he made it what it is today.

He is busy with official business almost every day and has white hair at a young age.

He was reluctant to eat or wear anything, only ate meat once every two or three days, and asked Empress Zhou to mend his clothes when they were torn. He lived a frugal life and did not seem like an emperor at all.

Chongzhen spent almost all his life in the capital!
Historically, Chongzhen never left Beijing from the time he was born until he hanged himself on Coal Hill. Perhaps he wanted to go out sometimes, but he had no chance at all, and some people didn't want him to go out either.

How sad this is!

As an emperor, he was imprisoned in the Forbidden City by all his civil and military officials, and never took a step out until his death.

Zhu Cilang does not want to be such an emperor in the future, so when the time is right, he will definitely lead the army to fight in person!

But before that, he needs to practice riding a horse well, otherwise it would be very embarrassing if he fell off the horse.

About an hour later, Li Ruolian came to the Imperial Stables with a happy face, but he did not disturb Zhu Cilang from riding. Instead, he waited quietly by the side until Zhu Cilang was tired of riding and then came over.

"Why are you smiling so happily?"

Zhu Cilang took the towel handed to him by the eunuch to wipe his hands, and looked at Li Ruolian with some curiosity and asked.

Li Ruo Lian quickly bowed and replied:
"Your Highness, according to Elder Xue's instructions, Daming Newspaper Office printed a total of 2,000 copies of Daming Daily last night."

"I originally thought it would take at least half a day to sell out, but unexpectedly, it only took a little over an hour to sell out."

"Those kids selling the Daming Daily were surrounded as soon as they stepped outside, and all the papers in their hands were snatched away in an instant."

“The farthest one didn’t even make it three blocks before everything was sold out.”

"I have investigated and found that some of these people are businessmen. They saw the business opportunity of the Ming Daily and planned to sell it to distant places for profit."

"I thought this was a good thing, so I didn't stop it."

After hearing this, Zhu Cilang nodded and said:

"You did the right thing. This kind of thing doesn't need to be stopped."

"It's a good thing for merchants to buy newspapers, because they will sell the Daming Daily to more distant places for profit, allowing more people to read it, and this is exactly what I want."

It has to be said that the development speed of the Ming Daily completely exceeded Zhu Cilang's imagination.

He thought it would take a few days to attract the attention of businessmen, but he didn't expect that the businessmen would be eager to make a profit from it the next day.

Although the Ming Daily only sold for two cents a copy in Beijing, it would cost at least ten times more in other places.

If it is a more remote place, it is not impossible to increase it by a hundred times.

These businessmen are the best way for the Ming Daily to spread. Relying on their dissemination, the Ming Daily will gradually spread to the surrounding areas.

At the same time, Li Ruolian continued:

"Also, there's the matter of renting out advertising space at the Daming Daily."

"Since this morning, merchants have been approaching us one after another. According to your previous instructions, the starting price for renting a space is one tael of silver, with no upper limit." "So far, about twenty merchants have paid silver, totaling over fifty taels. We can start advertising for them tomorrow."

When Zhu Cilang heard this, he laughed again.

Sure enough, these businessmen had a longer-term vision than he had imagined.

Not only did he quickly set his sights on the profits from selling the Daming Daily, he even set his sights on advertising space.

But think about it, it only took one day for the Daming Daily to become completely popular throughout the capital, and basically everyone knew about it.

How could these merchants miss out on such a powerful advertising effect?

Of course, Zhu Cilang did not expect the Ming Daily to make a lot of money, as long as it could provide a little subsidy.

"You did a great job!"

Zhu Cilang praised.

"Also, try to print as many newspapers as possible tomorrow. As for those merchants selling the Ming Daily, you can say hello to them and ask them to pay in advance to pre-order."

"Then you can come directly to Daming Newspaper Office the next day to pick up the Daming Daily."

"But their Da Ming Daily cannot be sold in the capital. It can only be sold outside the capital."

"This will ensure that the Daming Daily can be spread to other places as quickly as possible, and it will also ensure that the people in the capital can buy the Daming Daily."

"In addition, we can also provide door-to-door services for some wealthy families."

"For example, the normal price of a copy of the Daming Daily is two cents, but as long as they are willing to pay five cents, someone will take the initiative to deliver the Daming Daily to their house every day."

"If we don't have enough manpower, we can continue to recruit young beggars from the street. It doesn't matter if they are older. We can just give them a chance to make a living."

It is obvious that Zhu Cilang brought the newspaper delivery method he used in his previous life to the Ming Dynasty.

When Li Ruolian heard this, his eyes lit up instantly.

I have to say, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince’s idea is really brilliant!
Anyway, he couldn't have thought of these ideas himself.

At this moment, Zhu Cilang thought of something and continued:

"By the way, the Daming Daily has been very popular recently, and there might be trouble. So we have to send someone to guard it at night to prevent any trouble."

"Don't worry, Your Highness, I know what to do!"

Li Ruolian quickly responded.

Next, just when Zhu Cilang wanted to say something else, a young eunuch suddenly rushed over and shouted:
"Your Highness, Master Bi Maokang and Master Bi Wenxuan are asking you to come over. They say the glass has been successfully manufactured!"

what?
Hearing this, Zhu Cilang instantly became alert and hurried over.

When Zhu Cilang arrived at the palace specially vacated for the Firearms Research Institute, he met Bi Maokang and Bi Wenxuan.

At this moment, both of them looked excited, as if Columbus had discovered the New World.

"Your Highness! It worked! It really worked. Following your method, I have truly created colored glaze!"

“This is amazing!”

Seeing Zhu Cilang, Bi Wenxuan hurriedly came to Zhu Cilang with the things in his hand, his face full of excitement.

Immediately afterwards, Zhu Cilang saw three pieces of nearly transparent glass placed on the tray in Bi Wenxuan's hand.

However, these glasses are not in sheets, but in blocks, which is due to the use of specific molds.

Of course, this is not important. What is important is that this thing is indeed glass!

(End of this chapter)