The literary giants of the late Ming Dynasty began by copying books

The live-newsletter performance of "Suzhou Xunbao" became an instant hit. Wang Wenlong hired more than a dozen live-newsletter members and already attracted a regular audience after two issues. Every three days after the tenth day, people would gather at the performance location in Hot Park. Waiting for recitation.

Even the minions of the tax superintendents and eunuchs did not come to cause trouble. Many of these people were illiterate, but they had a great demand for entertainment content and current affairs news. Even they were the audience of Huobao, the yamen supervisor and the eunuchs. Minions and other forces even took the initiative to maintain order at the living newspaper performance site.

Yangzhou.

"Jianyang is really a great talent!" Li Sancai laughed loudly and said to Wang Wenlong: "It's really unimaginable that so many newspapers have been sold in the past half month. The people of Suzhou actually like the "Suzhou Xunbao" so much , sales exceeded 1,500 copies in half a month."

Wang Wenlong explained with a smile: "This is normal. The sales volume of each issue of "Xun Bao" in Fujian can exceed 1,500, and "Suzhou Xun Bao" is not only bought by people in Suzhou, but also people all over Jiangnan now read the newspaper. Sales of 1,500 copies can be easily achieved as long as the reputation increases."

Li Sancai happily said to Wang Wenlong: "That still needs to be managed by capable people. For example, Jianyang is really a genius in making newspapers. Suzhou has had newspapers for more than a year, and no one has thought of you doing this. , living retribution...hey, this is such a great idea!"

Wang Wenlong said with a smile: "Although the sales volume of "Suzhou Xunbao" is high now, the newspaper company has not yet made a lot of money. The expense of the old friend going to the market to promote "Suzhou Xunbao" is not counted. Nowadays, every issue of "Suzhou Xunbao" is published. They have to spend tens of taels of silver to hire tanci artists to perform live newspaper performances, and the current affairs news produced by "Suzhou Xunbao" requires a large number of reporters. Now the authors of newspaper articles now actively contribute to face, and they also receive royalties. It’s a small amount, but if we want to report for a long time in the future, the construction cost of the reporter station will also be included in the newspaper’s operating costs.”

"Do you still need this much money?" Li Sancai had been in the joy of "Xun Bao" making money before. When he heard this, he also reacted and said with some worry: "According to this, this newspaper still wants to make money. Difficult?"

Wang Wenlong said with a smile: "That's not true. Today, the distribution fee and operating cost of "Suzhou Xundao" can be roughly equal, but it has not yet earned back the cost, but now the circulation of "Suzhou Xundao" has There are more than 1,500 copies, and although only 1,500 copies are issued, many people will listen to the content of "Suzhou Xunbao" through Huobao News, so I think the advertising fees can be increased."

Li Sancai nodded when he heard this: "This is a good idea. If you increase the fee by a few percent, you can make a profit."

Wang Wenlong smiled and said: "To be honest with Li Dafu, I have done research and found that some people are buying the ordinary page ads even if they have increased by 50%. If you put in the ads on the first and second pages, I will directly sell them to the outside world. The one with the highest price will get it."

Li Sancai was stunned for a long time, then laughed loudly and said: "This is a good method! Jianyang is indeed a talented person in this way!"

……

The Bailong Temple in Shengze, Suzhou, faces north and faces south. The building is simple and elegant, with 14 connecting rooms and a large theater.

This place is a temple shared by two major Suzhou local organizations, Suzhou Caobang and Suzhou Weavers Guild. The two organizations hold meetings here every November. This is also a legacy left after years of conflict and bloodshed between the Weavers Guild and Suzhou Caobang. rule.

In addition to the powerful weavers' guild in Suzhou, the other major force was the Caobang.

During the Hongwu period, the Ming Dynasty's water transportation adopted the branch transportation method. The people in the south of the Yangtze River transported the grain they handed over to the capital by the grain chiefs selected by the government, and then the grain was taken out by the guards from the capital and transported to various places.

However, as Yongle moved the capital, the capital of the Ming Dynasty was far away from the south of the Yangtze River, and the grain chief was asked to transport grain from the south of the Yangtze River to the capital through the Beijing-Hangzhou Grand Canal. The loss on the road alone could bankrupt the people, so later the grain transportation in the Ming Dynasty was changed to "grain transportation". Redeem luck". That is, the grain chief transports the grain to the corresponding guard post for delivery, and then the guards' soldiers uniformly transport the grain to the capital.

With the delivery process, it is easy to have problems. In this era, the work of collecting grain taxes from the people in Jiangnan was often handed over to "redemption households". These "redeeming households" were all wealthy and powerful, and almost all of them had connections with the heavens. They would do it when it was convenient. If you give grain to the flag army, and then directly scold the flag army when it is inconvenient, it is easy for the guards to miss the grain. When collecting grain, "Duihu" often take a cut of the good grain harvested and mix chaff into the grain, which makes the Weisuo soldiers miserable. The poor Weisuo soldiers often have to use the grain grown in their own families to go to the military field. To supplement the shortage of grain.

As time went by, the local guards who were powerful in exchanging households were unwilling to exchange with them, but were willing to take over the task of exchanging the weak ones. Fighting even broke out between the guards over this.

Therefore, in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, the Cao Gang rules gradually developed among the Cao Yun Guards. A guard station was divided into multiple gangs. Every five years, everyone rotated to the jurisdiction of the guard station to redeem grain.

The brothers of the Cao Gang shared life and death, and they all went bankrupt together if they couldn't complete the task. After several generations, the Weisuo Cao Gang gradually formed a united force.

Guard soldiers were already poor enough in this era, and these Cao gang members were even poorer. Transporting grain to Cao every year was a test of life and death for Cao soldiers.

Obtain a sufficient amount of grain from the cashiers, go on the road to deal with various taxes and commissions, compete with various ships with official licenses in the canal for the waterway, and be able to threaten them when the delivery comes to the capital. Water transportation officials should not be too greedy.

As long as there is a problem with one of them, or the food delivery is not timely, or the food delivery quality is not up to standard, all the brothers in the Caogang will be severely punished. It is a minor matter to lose their entire family, but it often costs lives.

Just as the powerless Suzhou weavers had to unite to make a living in the textile industry, the soldiers of the Water Transport Guards also had to unite to undertake the risky water transport tasks every year.

Over the past few decades, all the soldiers of the Caoyun Guards have joined the Caogang, and under the Caosi and the chief military officers, they implement their own set of rules in the world.

At this time, the large Cao Gang, composed of small Cao gangs from various guard stations, had united into a huge force and controlled many industries along the canal. "Mr. Jianyang, please come this way." Head Chen from the weavers' guild greeted Wang Wenlong to his seat with enthusiasm.

Wang Wenlong walked to the tea seat in front and sat down. Several young students on the side saw him and asked each other's names. They heard that the person coming was Wang Wenlong. Some people showed joy and came to make friends. Some people snorted coldly and stood up to leave.

Wang Wenlong greeted the former with a smile, but did not care about the latter. After writing "Shangshu Ancient Wen Shuzheng", there were many Confucian scholars who hated him, and they couldn't get angry at all.

Today he came to attend the meetings of the Suzhou Weavers Guild and the Suzhou Cao Gang and accepted Ge Cheng's invitation. Ge Cheng hoped that after Wang Wenlong returned, he would do some publicity for the two gangs in the "Suzhou Xun Bao".

Wang Wenlong sat down on the armchair and was about to watch the play. Suddenly a young scholar walked by and looked at Wang Wenlong and asked, "Is this your assistant Wang Jianyang?"

Wang Wenlong saw that the man was twenty-seven or eighty years old and had a rough appearance. He didn't know his identity, so he cupped his hands and said, "I am Wang Wenlong."

The man also saluted Wang Wenlong angrily: "Wei Dazhong, courtesy name Kongshi, born in Jiaxing Prefecture."

The first six gentlemen, Wang Wenlong nodded and immediately felt relieved.

The members of the Donglin Party like to name themselves gentlemen: the Eight Gentlemen, the First Six Gentlemen, and the Last Seven Gentlemen. It is impossible to memorize a list of names.

Among them, the Eight Gentlemen of Donglin were boasted by Gu Xiancheng and others, but the first six gentlemen and the last seven gentlemen all died at the hands of the eunuchs, but they were indeed worthy of their fame.

Wei Dazhong was one of the Six Gentlemen of Donglin in the original history. He was captured by Wei Zhongxian and sent to prison. He was tortured in prison. The eunuchs would be banned if they revealed their murderous methods, but none of the six including Wei Dazhong were banned. After retreating, the first six gentlemen all died tragically in prison, and even to death they were unwilling to bite their own comrades.

Wei Dazhong's character is mainly strong-willed and stubborn. History records that this king came from a poor family. After he was elected, someone from his family came to donate. After receiving the money, his family made him several new sets of clothes. Wei Dazhong learned that he could burn the clothes; he later became a Beijing official. He didn't bring any family members, so he brought two servants, one to sweep the floor and the other to cook. When the family went to court, the three of them went out together, so they simply locked the door. When they got home from get off work, they took out the key and opened the door themselves.

Wei Dazhong's integrity is indeed worthy of Wang Wenlong's respect.

Wang Wenlong stood up and cupped his hands: "It turns out to be Brother Kong Shi."

Wei Dazhong was just a scholar, and Wang Wenlong was already an assistant coach at the Imperial Academy. Wei Dazhong was stunned when he heard Wang Wenlong call himself his brother.

His original anger subsided a little and he bowed his hand.

"Mr. Jianyang, you are indeed a great talent, but why did you write an article to insult the martyrs?"

"When did I write an article that insulted the Martyr Woman?" Wang Wenlong looked confused.

However, Wei Dazhong said angrily: "Sir, he wrote about virgins in his articles before, which was against etiquette and law. It was quoted by many Suzhou Fulang literati, which made many famous chaste women suffer and complain. Isn't it a disaster? Is it fierce?"

Wang Wenlong smiled bitterly when he heard this: "Although I have made relevant remarks, I only used the Book of Rites to question the custom of virgins. I did not insult the virgins. Does Confucius think that I should not clarify the principles of the Book of Rites?"

Wei Dazhong said: "It is natural to affirm the master's principles, but such words will do great damage to many virgins who have been virtuous all their lives. Mr. Jianyang is a famous scholar, so he should be restrained in his words."

Wang Wenlong looked at the few Confucian scholars gathered in the distance to look at them.

He pointed to the group of people and asked Wei Dazhong: "I guess there must be some elders in the family who are virgins among the group of people there. When they saw me, they were angry but did not dare to come over, so they encouraged Kong Shi to come and argue with me?" "

"It's not a provocation, but I want to defend the virgin!"

He actually admitted it, and Wang Wenlong was speechless for a while. No wonder this guy himself was as clean as water, but he argued for the acquittal of Li Sancai, the most corrupt official in history. This is really confusing.

(End of this chapter)