This prince, it doesn't matter if you don't do it!

Chapter 836 Volume Reforms Driven by Environment
If given a choice, Cheng Yaojin would never want to go to Shanzhou.

But this was Li Er's order, and he was powerless to refuse.

As for Guo Xiaoke, he was not too affected. After all, Cheng Yaojin was gone, and his power had increased.

The next day, Cheng Yaojin's army marched towards Shanzhou.

Even though he really wanted to delay, military orders were like mountains and he couldn't delay any longer.

And this news spread throughout Tang and Ming in just a few days.

Speaking of this, we have to mention the Ming Daily.

It was precisely because of the report in the Daming Daily that the news spread so quickly.

On this day, the Sun Moon Mountain Daming Daily.

Chen Dingan was sitting in his official residence, picking out the most reportable news from the recent news coming from various places, when he saw a servant walk in and said, "Chief Editor, the Minister of Revenue and the Minister of Commerce want to see you."

Saying that you're asking for a meeting is being polite.

In terms of status in the Ming Dynasty alone, Chen Dingan could never compare to Li Qinjian and Wang Xuance.

These two guys were the team that helped Li Chengqian make his fortune. Not everyone can compare to them.

"Please come in." Having said that, Chen Ding'an also stood up and made a gesture to go out to greet him.

"The two ministers are here today, but... " As he was also a scholar, Chen Ding'an spoke quite appropriately.

Li Qinjian also smiled when he heard this and said, "Editor-in-Chief Chen must still remember our previous discussion on the affairs of the Ming Daily, right?

Just yesterday, His Highness issued an edict approving our memorial, and today, I and Minister Wang came to visit you just for this matter."

Before, when the Ming Daily was being planned and established, they had decided that the Ministry of Revenue would lead the business operations of the Ming Daily, and Chen Dingan naturally did not forget this.

However, such a big matter naturally cannot be decided by just discussing it privately among a few people. Li Chengqian still needs to approve it.

This has been delayed until today.

"Of course." Chen Ding'an said, "As for business, I am really a layman. I have to trouble the two ministers for this."

He really doesn't care about this.

Although the Chen family is only a small family in Taoyuan, it is now considered a scholarly family and has no interest in business.

"Of course, it's all for the sake of our Ming Dynasty, so we will naturally do our best." Li Qinjian said, "By the way, I wonder if there is any specific data on the sales of this newspaper recently?"

"The reputation of the Daming Daily is indeed established now, but when it comes to sales..." Chen Ding'an said, shaking his head, "Based on the specific data sent back now, it is not too ideal. Even the first issue of the Daming Daily has a total sales volume of less than 10,000 copies.

To be honest, with sales like this, Ming Daily will probably have to make a loss in the future.

Of course, the purpose of the Daming Daily itself is not to make profits. Compared with profits, the role of the Daming Daily is much greater.

In just a short period of time, the direction of public opinion changed.

This exceeded expectations.”

"Haha..." Li Qinjian didn't take it seriously after hearing what Chen Ding'an said. He was born a businessman and had great confidence in the Ming Daily. Everything is difficult at the beginning. He could understand and accept the current situation. "Profit-making is indeed not the biggest role of the Ming Daily, but if Editor-in-Chief Chen thinks that the Ming Daily cannot make a profit, then he is underestimating the Ming Daily."

Before, because there was no order from Li Chengqian, although they had reached a conclusion through discussion, they did not dare to act rashly. However, these days, Li Qinjian did not do nothing, but made a lot of preparations.

Seeing Chen Ding'an's puzzled expression, he immediately said, "The reason why I called Minister Wang here today is precisely because of this matter.

In the past few days, Minister Wang has sent people to contact many merchants in our Ming Dynasty. They have an idea, and I wonder if it can be approved by Editor Chen. "

"What idea?" Chen Dingan was a little confused.

Upon hearing this, Li Qinjian looked at Wang Xuance and said with a smile, "Let Minister Wang talk about this matter."

Wang Xuance smiled and said, "That's right. Ever since the newspaper was published, it has attracted much attention. Although the sales volume is not high, there are many objective reasons for this. But regardless of the sales volume, the content reported in the Daming Daily has indeed spread widely.

I discussed with those merchants to see if I could reserve one or two sections in the newspaper to promote their products.

After all, even good wine needs to be hidden in a remote alley, right? "

This is the prototype of advertising.

This was not what Li Chengqian meant. Apart from giving some suggestions at the beginning, Li Chengqian basically did not ask about the emergence of the Ming Daily.

He knew very well that the development of the times was progressing step by step as demands changed, and he could not do everything by himself.

And the fact was just as he thought. Although he did not make any requests or suggestions, some people who smelled business opportunities, or some people who wanted to have good relations with the court, thought of these things themselves.

However, when Chen Dingan heard this, he frowned.

This is not the result he wants to see.

After all, in his opinion, newspapers are propaganda outlets that are used to guide public opinion, not to glorify businessmen.

"In this way, does the nature of the newspaper change?" Even though he was somewhat reluctant to accept this situation, his tone was still negotiating.

"In fact, the nature of the newspaper cannot be changed." Wang Xuance said, "We all understand the role of the Ming Daily, so we will not destroy the foundation of the Ming Daily.

As for promoting those businesses, it is not aimless.

We at the Daming Daily can send people to their workshops to take a look around and get to know them better. Then we can write an article that focuses on what the products in their workshops do for the lives of ordinary people.

You can also write some thoughts of workshop workers on their current lives.

This is also people’s livelihood, isn’t it?
Besides, those merchants will pay for this, so it won’t be in vain.”

Advertising was also their blind spot, and everyone was crossing the river by feeling the stones. So no matter how well Wang Xuance was prepared, it was still a little pale compared to the mature system of later generations.

"I think it's feasible." Li Qinjian saw that Chen Ding'an was still hesitant, and continued, "If Editor Chen has concerns, he might as well choose Changming Logistics or Changming Restaurant first.

These two are now the most representative of our Ming Dynasty.

Moreover, Changming Restaurant is almost entirely the foundation of our Ming Dynasty. Now, it has countless branches all over the world. Changming Restaurant alone employs at least hundreds of thousands of people.

As for Changming Logistics, it is a groundbreaking work.

Although it is not nominally under the jurisdiction of the Ming Dynasty, the actual control has always been the Ming Dynasty.

Over the years, Changming Logistics has brought benefits to thousands of people all over the world.

As for those who rely on Changming Logistics to support their families, I believe that Mr. Chen is also aware of how many there are?

We don't need to promote Changming Logistics or Changming Restaurant, but we wrote an article to introduce them. What they have done over the years is nothing, right?

When the newspaper is published, it will be a promotion for any shop."

"These two companies don't really need to advertise, as they are already well-known all over the world. But even if we write about other companies, I guess they will not..." Chen Ding'an thought for a moment and said hesitantly, "After all, you two know that the sales volume of the Ming Daily is just like that now, so the publicity effect it can play is actually not that great..."

"There is nothing we can do about sales." Li Qinjian thought for a moment before saying, "After all, how many people in the world can read and write? Even if the Ming Dynasty enforces education, it has only been a few years, and the effect is not yet obvious.

Moreover, many ordinary people do not take learning seriously.

Of course, in ten or twenty years, there will be many people in our Ming Dynasty who can read and write.

Similarly, the same is true for the Tang Dynasty. In recent years, the Tang Dynasty has made great efforts to revitalize culture and education.

As for increasing sales, there is a way.

Before, in order to achieve the best publicity effect, newspapers were supplied to Changming Restaurant first.

After all, there are many diners in the restaurant, so it is easiest for the news to spread.

Only then was it sold at Changming Trading Company.

This is actually not good for sales.”

"Does Minister Li have any good suggestions?" Chen Dingan asked.

Li Qinjian thought for a moment and said, "I do have an idea."

"Hmm?" Chen Dingan was a little confused.

In his opinion, the reason why the newspaper's sales volume is low is not just because of the problem of universal education.

"The business empire of our Ming Dynasty has become exaggerated today. Editor-in-Chief Chen may not be clear about it, but Minister Wang is now in charge of the Ministry of Commerce and should know it best," said Li Qinjian.

"Indeed." Wang Xuance smiled and said, "Since the establishment of the Ministry of Commerce, I have been calculating the business territory of our Ming Dynasty.

It was only in the past two months that we had a preliminary statistics.

To put it simply, there are tens of thousands of shops, large and small, and branches outside of the Ming Dynasty, just managed by the Ming Dynasty court.

There are no less than two million hired workers and servants.

This is just the Ming Dynasty court. If you add the merchants of the Ming Dynasty, this number may have to double.

The farthest branch of our Ming Dynasty to the east has already reached the territory of Japan.

To the west, it is thousands of miles away..."

When talking about this, Wang Xuance himself felt extremely shocked.

He also didn't expect that the Ming Dynasty's business empire had become so huge.

Some things, you really don't know how exaggerated they are until you understand them.

You know, in the last census of the Ming Dynasty, the number of registered citizens was only a few million!

Chen Dingan was also shocked when he heard the data.

He had always known that the Ming Dynasty's business empire was vast, but he had never expected it to be this big.

However, he quickly accepted this data.

Not to mention anything else, just the Changming Logistics and Changming Restaurant mentioned by Li Qinjian before, these two alone, probably contributed more than half of the data.

"This is also the reason why I think Daming Daily has development potential." Li Qinjian said, "It is indeed difficult to say about other aspects, but if we only talk about business, Daming does have unique advantages.

This is what I think. Since we have so many stores all over the world, and we have the advantage of Changming Logistics that can reach every corner of the world, why don’t we put the Daming Daily next to each store, or add a newsstand in their store?

As long as more people sell newspapers, more and more people will buy newspapers.

As time goes by, the sales of this newspaper will only increase in the future.

Making money is inevitable, it’s just a matter of how much you make.”

"Will this work?" It was obvious that Chen Dingan was tempted.

What a joke! If the Ming Daily could be purchased in more than 10,000 stores, businesses, offices, and the like, even if only one copy of the newspaper was sold every day, there would be more than 10,000 such places added up.

Its sales volume was directly equal to that of the first issue of Daming Daily.

"Why can't it work?" Li Qinjian asked, "The shops of the Daming Dynasty are all one entity, why can't it work?

Moreover, I have thought about it and decided that the price of this newspaper needs to be reduced, by one penny, at most one penny.

After all, the cost of this newspaper, apart from manpower, is paper and printing costs.

As we all know, the paper of our Ming Dynasty is cheap and easy to use. There is no need to worry about that. As for printing technology, haha, since the emergence of movable type printing, the cost has been extremely low.

Even if our newspaper is sold for one penny, there is still profit.

More importantly, it’s only one cent. Many people can afford it if they grit their teeth.

With small profits but quick turnover, that would be huge profits!
Moreover, once my Ming Daily comes out, I am sure those guys in the Tang Dynasty will definitely get restless. Our price of one penny will also be a challenge to any possible Tang Daily.

After all, their costs are not as low as ours.”

Li Qinjian is worthy of his businessman background. His understanding of the market is far beyond what Chen Dingan can compare to.

Newspapers are fast-moving consumer goods.

In other words, it's a one-time thing.

It’s too expensive. Many people will resist the urge. After all, it’s okay to listen to what others say.

But if it's just one penny, the sales will definitely increase rapidly.

"There's no problem with lowering the price." Chen Ding'an had no objection to the price reduction. You know, he originally planned to give it away as a gift.

At this moment, hearing what Li Qinjian said, he naturally had no reason to object.

After saying that, everyone discussed it again.

After they finished their discussion, Chen Dingan immediately asked someone to go to Changming Logistics. Since he had decided to do this, Chen Dingan did not hesitate at all.

At the same time, Wang Xuance also began to make preparations.

As the current Minister of Commerce, he has this right and this obligation.

On the other hand, Li Qinjian became the most relaxed person.

For him, this in itself was nothing to worry about.

Having served as the Minister of Revenue for so many years, he is particularly confident in the business empire of the Ming Dynasty.

He really didn't take such a small matter seriously.

The day before yesterday, I went to the hospital again. There is a picture in the letter of my leave application as evidence. I woke up in the hospital at two in the morning. After paying the money, I was still in a daze... I am very sorry.