Bringing the Railway to Daming

Chapter 616 The Entertainment Industry of the Ming Dynasty, Slandering Yue Jingyue [Seeking Subscriptions]

Liu Kuan laughed and said, "Your Majesty is referring to Ma Shuangxi, Ma Sanlang, isn't he? He's quite successful now."

"Oh?" Although Zhu Yuanzhang controlled a small portion of the Embroidered Uniform Guard and had his own intelligence system, he hadn't really paid attention to such a minor figure as Ma Shuangxi. So he asked, "Tell me, how did he rise to prominence?"

Liu Kuan said, "Back then, Ma Shuangxi came to the capital to find me with a letter from His Majesty the Emperor. I gave him two choices."

"One option is to have him join the Tiangong Institute as a researcher, specializing in animation-related technologies. The other option is for the Tiangong Institute to provide funding and technical support, invest in him, and establish a factory specializing in the production of animation machines."

“Ma Shuangxi chose the second option and subsequently founded the ‘Jinling Animation Studio,’ which produced both the improved animation machine he invented and animated films himself.”

"Later, after making money, he bought several shops in the capital and built a cinema, imitating a theater, specifically for showing animated films."

"Today, Jinling Animation Studio is a super studio with cinemas in many major cities across the country. In Beijing alone, it has twelve cinemas."

"According to the financial reports obtained by Tiangong Institute, Jinling Animation Studio can now make hundreds of thousands of strings of cash a year, making it a real money-making machine."

"Earning hundreds of thousands of strings of cash a year?!" Zhu Yuanzhang was quite surprised. "Is it really that easy to make money?"

Liu Kuan laughed and said, "Didn't Your Majesty hear that just now? Even with the Mid-Autumn Festival discount, a movie ticket for an animated film still costs one string of cash, and it usually costs more than one string of cash."

"Although cinemas these days are not large, seating only a little over a hundred people, at most no more than three hundred, and the number of screenings per day is also limited, the studio already has nearly a hundred cinemas across the country, so it can make a fortune every day."

"Moreover, Jinling Animation Studio also sells animation machines—each machine costs several thousand strings of cash. Even if they don't sell many each year, it's still a considerable income."

After listening, Zhu Yuanzhang said, "This business is so profitable, doesn't anyone get envious?"

Liu Kuandao said, "Of course, some people are envious—in fact, many similar animation studios have already appeared in various parts of the Ming Dynasty. Some of them directly purchase animation machines from the Jinling Animation Studio and produce and broadcast their own animated films."

"Some are imitating animation machines and applying for patents, but the patent office is quite strict about this, so so far only one company has successfully obtained partial patents."

Zhu Yuanzhang then asked, "Since the Jinling Animation Studio is invested in by the Imperial Workshop, what percentage of its shares does it hold? How much profit can it receive annually?"

Liu Kuan said, "Your Majesty, the Imperial Workshop holds a 70% stake in the Jinling Animation Studio, and therefore can obtain nearly 500,000 strings of cash in dividends every year."

Zhu Yuanzhang exclaimed again, "I never imagined that the animation industry could be so profitable."

Liu Kuandao said, "In fact, in later generations, in countries that enjoy peace and prosperity, the cultural and entertainment industry is mostly a profitable industry. Some countries even regard the entertainment industry as a pillar industry, such as Goryeo in later generations."

"Furthermore, does Your Majesty know how much box office revenue the animated film 'Ne Zha' (Ne Zha the Demon Child Conquers the Dragon King) earned in later generations?"

"Stop keeping me in suspense, just tell me!"

Liu Kuan: "More than 15 billion yuan!"

Zhu Yuanzhang said, "If I remember correctly, based on the grain prices in the two time periods, one string of cash at this time is roughly equivalent to one thousand yuan in the future, right? If that's the case, doesn't that mean that 'Ne Zha' earned more than fifteen million strings of cash?!"

Liu Kuan said, "Although it's not easy to compare one string of cash at this time with one thousand dollars in later times, if you really calculate it this way, it is indeed more than 15 million strings of cash."

Zhu Yuanzhang smacked his lips, his expression inscrutable, and said, "It actually reaches more than one percent of the Ming Dynasty's total annual fiscal revenue. It's truly unbelievable!"

Over the past few decades, especially with the vigorous development of science and technology and industry in the Ming Dynasty, and the expansion of many territories overseas, fiscal revenue has increased almost every year, now reaching more than 1.3 billion guan per year.

Of course, the Ming Empire also has high expenses in all aspects. Not to mention, the annual military expenditure alone is as high as about 100 million strings of cash. Other expenses are also considerable.

Liu Kuan explained, "Not only will the population of later generations be far greater than that of this time, but animations and movies from later generations can also be broadcast in countries all over the world, naturally making a lot of money."

"Actually, the most profitable entertainment industry in our Great Ming Dynasty is not animation, but books and newspapers. According to the relevant documents of the Ministry of Finance that I have seen, the tax revenue from books and magazines in our Great Ming Dynasty is as high as more than one million strings of cash a year."

"The Ming Dynasty's tax revenue in this area is actually not high. Based on this, the total turnover of the industry is estimated to be tens of millions of strings of cash per year."

"And there should still be a lot of taxes that haven't been collected yet. If we collect them all, the profits might double?"

Upon hearing this, Zhu Yuanzhang frowned deeply. "Take a look? There are so many tax evaders in the book and newspaper industry?"

Liu Kuan explained, "Taxation has always been a difficult problem for countries to govern in later generations, let alone now. Take books as an example. Nowadays, the most widely circulated books are various novels and magazines about domestic and foreign customs, but many of them are pirated prints."

"If the imperial court can't even completely eradicate piracy, how can it collect taxes from those people?"

Zhu Yuanzhang snorted coldly, "In my opinion, the relevant punishments are too lenient—if all those who steal and print books were to be beheaded, and their families and accomplices were all exiled to remote and desolate places like Luohuang Commandery, let's see if they would still dare to do this?"

"And those who buy pirated books and newspapers should also be severely punished once discovered. Fine them hundreds or thousands of coins, make them bankrupt, and see if they dare to do it again!"

Hearing this, Liu Kuan almost burst out laughing, thinking that only Old Zhu would say such a thing.

Of course, Old Zhu was just saying it; he knew very well that if minor offenses were punished severely, it would be too harsh and could easily incite public resistance.

Why did Chen Sheng and Wu Guang launch an uprising at the end of the Qin Dynasty?
Isn't it because Qin law is too harsh, with penalties for missing deadlines, that we might as well just rebel?

Just then, the servants brought over the promotional posters and tickets for "The Great Victory of Yancheng in the Story of Yue Fei". Since there were two copies, Old Zhu gave one to Liu Kuan, and they each read them.

Liu Kuan first looked at the pictorial and was surprised to find that it was not only exquisitely made, but also included some historical information about Yue Fei on the back. Even Liu Kuan felt that he had learned something new after reading it.

This passage states that although Yue Fei died unjustly in the early Southern Song Dynasty, the powerful Qin Hui led to a widespread practice of "slandering Yue Fei" during the Shaoxing period of the Southern Song Dynasty, which involved speaking ill of Yue Fei.

Using his power, Qin Hui not only destroyed a large amount of authentic historical material about Yue Fei, but also falsified it. Later, he even sent his son to compile history, smearing Yue Fei's reputation.

It wasn't until decades later, during the reign of Emperor Xiaozong of the Southern Song Dynasty, that the fabricated charges against Yue Fei were overturned, and this trend of "slandering Yue Fei" was reversed.

After that, Yue Fei's status in the Southern Song Dynasty was continuously elevated.

During the Yuan Dynasty, when the Yuan scholars compiled the History of the Song Dynasty, their evaluation of Yue Fei was quite fair. They even defended Yue Fei in the Annals of Emperor Gaozong of Song, including Qin Hui in the biographies of treacherous officials.

Many works praising Yue Fei also appeared in Yuan Dynasty operas, such as "Ksitigarbha King Witnesses the Crimes of the Eastern Window" and "General Yue Fei's Loyalty in the Song Dynasty".

It can be said that, against the backdrop of the oppression of Han people in the Yuan Dynasty, both upper-class intellectuals and lower-class people held Yue Fei in high esteem and deep respect.

When the Ming Dynasty was established, Yue Fei's social status was naturally elevated again, and more works praising Yue Fei emerged.

"The Story of Yue Fei" is a novel compiled by a storytelling group, and then the copyright was purchased by Jinling Animation Studio to produce a series of animated films.

This is the fourth installment in the animated series "The Legend of Yue Fei: The Great Victory at Yancheng," and it has received excellent reviews and is very popular among the public.

(End of this chapter)