I

  Chapter 986 982 [Third Prince’s Money Way]

  The "Chu Wang Literature and Art" magazine sold out, and 3,000 copies were printed in a row.

  Many readers bought this magazine because they heard that there were articles about the emperor. After reading the emperor's article, I found that other articles were also good, so rich people wrote to order.

   Fixed plate design, including jokes, poems, operas, prose, and novels.

  Irregularly, there are travel notes and the like. With the popularity of travel, a group of travel writers have appeared. Most of them are not short of money, and they are young, and the journey is lonely, so they rest in the inn to write articles, and then send them to a certain magazine.

  Scholars like to read this kind of travel notes, especially school students.

   There is also a kind of "exile literature". In the winter in Heilongjiang and Tibet, the weather is cold and you can only stay in the house. I can write dozens of articles in one winter, the genres are mostly poetry, and occasionally some prose, the content can be written about anything, and most of them are full of homesickness.

   There is also military literature, which is basically published in military publications, and most of them are poorly written.

   A group of soldiers with elementary school culture, some of them didn't even graduate from elementary school. The military mission and education system runs magazines and encourages them to write articles, so there are really some leading soldiers contributing articles. Most of the content is related to the military, and the writing style is very plain, just like speaking in ordinary times.

   There are also arty ones, creating a large number of military doggerel.

   With the increase of military students, this kind of military literature has improved. But the missionary department has requirements, no matter how good you are, the article must be written so that soldiers can understand it, and if you really write high-quality classical Chinese, you will not be able to pass the manuscript.

  Zhao Kuangping has already contacted the Four Seas Trading Company, asking Li Quan for some sailing articles.

  Because, last year, there was a nautical novel that sold well, and more and more readers liked to read it.

  Having sailed at sea for several months, I have a lot of time to write articles. In order to attract the people to go to sea, Li Quan asked the scholars on board to collectively write the best-selling novel.

  Talking about a farmer who graduated from primary school, went to America to engage in trade with a ship to make a living. On the way home, he encountered a storm, was swept into the sea by big waves, and drifted to a small island. He taught the islanders how to grow crops and how to weave cloth, and was favored by the chief as his son-in-law.

  The chief was killed in battle. This farmer had been a farmer and soldier, fought bravely to avenge the chief, and was finally elected by the natives as the new chief. He also organized military formations, unified the whole island, and sailed to conquer nearby islands. In the end, Jianguo proclaimed himself king, wives and concubines gathered in groups, and all people supported him.

  A well-written and refreshing article. What's even more rare is that the customs, customs, customs and myths of the island are written in detail, making people feel like a true story after reading it. In fact, the prototype of the island in the book is the Hawaiian Islands, and even the name of the chief is too lazy to change.

   This novel was originally serialized in Shanghai, and quickly became popular among the lower class people, and the middle class and wealthy people also followed suit. First, the storyline is very cool, and second, people are very curious about overseas, and it was quickly reprinted to other provinces in the next six months.

  At the beginning, the title of the book was "Nongjiazi Becomes King Overseas", but when it was compiled and published, it was changed to "Floating Life in the Sea".

  The popularity of the novel really drove the upsurge of going overseas. Because before going to sea, there was always a kind of fear of the unknown, but now I have the illusion that there are opportunities for development overseas.

  …

   "Your Highness, we sent someone to Shanghai to contact, and the Four Seas Trading Company gave this." Wu Rui came over with a stack of manuscripts.

  Wu Rui is a relative of Zhao Kuangping's middle school classmate... who used to work as an editor in another newspaper, and was recruited by Zhao Kuangping to be the vice president (deputy editor-in-chief).

  Zhao Kuangping took a look, but it was a picture accompanied by an annotation: "This is really interesting."

  Wu Rui said: "These are the original manuscripts, which have been transcribed and sent to the Geography Museum of Qintianyuan. Sihai Trading Company said, please keep it safe, Your Highness."

  Zhao Kuangping took out the middle one casually, and the picture caught his eye.

  The big picture shows the whole tree, and the small picture shows the details of leaves, branches, flowers, fruits and so on.

  The text is annotated as—

   "East laurel: Found on the west coast of North America, the leaves are similar to laurel, so it is named.

  The height of the tree can reach more than ten feet, and the tree diameter can reach two and a half feet. The texture is hard and can be used to make furniture. According to the carpenter on board, this wood is an excellent quality for making pianos, but its authenticity is not yet known.

  Evergreen all year round, small yellow flowers.

  The leaves have the effect of repelling insects, and mosquitoes and fleas do not bite.

  Round and round, the fruit is green when immature, and turns purple when ripe. The nuts are edible and should not be eaten raw. The aborigines store them as winter grain. This fruit can be refreshing, roasted and ground into water, its effect is like drinking tea. "

  Zhao Kuangping took out another piece of paper—

  "Huanmao: It is more common in America and often lives by the water. It has four legs and five toes. It washes fruit like a woman washing clothes. It looks like a cat, hence the name.

  The face is black, the forehead and jaw are white. The tail is long and has black and white stripes.

   I haven't eaten it, so I don't know its meaty taste. "

  The so-called raccoon here is actually a raccoon.

   Zhao Kuangping found it more and more interesting the more he watched it. The strange animals and plants overseas made him want to go out to see it. Can't help but ask: "Other publications don't want to publish these?"

  Wu Rui said: "When publishing such articles, the text is second only, and the main thing is to sell pictures. The cost of printing pictures is too high."

Zhao Kuangping made a decision and said: "The other house does not print, we will print. Each issue of the magazine will print two types. Tell Sihai Trading Co., let them bring back the aboriginals from all over the place. When drawing pictures, pay attention to appearance and clothing, text It is necessary to write clearly about its customs. These contents are generally overseas customs, and each issue chooses a picture as the cover."

  At this time, books and magazines don’t pay much attention to the cover, they just write down the title, author and other information.

  If "Chu Wang Literature and Art" has a special cover, and uses overseas characters, animals, and plants to make it, it will definitely make readers' eyes shine.

  As the cost rises, the price will rise accordingly. Those who can afford it will still buy it, and they may have more desire to buy it. As for those that you can’t afford, you can go to the bookstore to read them. The bookstore not only rents out magazines, but also has outdated newspapers.

   "Your Highness, I have a guest asking to see you."

   "Ask him to come in."

  Jin Shengtan strode into the room and bowed his hands in salute: "I, Zhang Cai, have met His Royal Highness the King of Chu."

   "I have long admired you!" Zhao Kuangping said.

  Jin Shengtan stroked his beard and laughed loudly: "Zhang Cai is not well-known, how can he say so? I have another nickname, Kunpeng Sanren."

   Zhao Kuangping's eyes lit up, and he didn't care about this person's rudeness, and said happily: "So it's Mr. Kunpeng!"

  Jin Shengtan is very well-known in the circle of literary critics. A few days ago, he wrote four reviews, praising Emperor Zhao's four works. One after another, it has been published in newspapers and magazines, attracting more readers to order the next issue of "Chu Wang Literature and Art".

  Jin Shengtan didn't play tricks, and directly explained his intentions: "Chuwang Magazine is newly established, and I think it still needs people. I came here to recommend myself and would like to review manuscripts for this agency. I don't know what Chuwang wants?"

   "Welcome!" Zhao Kuangping was overjoyed.

  Jin Shengtan suddenly asked: "Is the "Gourd Baby" on the market really written by His Majesty?"

  Zhao Kuangping couldn't help laughing: "Yes."

   "Gourd Baby" has only been published in the past few years. Because it is a children's story, many people do not believe that it is the emperor's work. Because they couldn't figure it out, the local government was very strict and didn't allow Zhao Ziyue or Zhao Yan to sign it, so that no one can be sure of the truth now.

   "Written by Your Majesty when he was young?" Jin Shengtan seemed very interested, or he came to the magazine to apply for a job, and one of the purposes was to inquire about "Gourd Baby".

  Zhao Kuangping said with a smile: "I heard from my uncle that my father was still a book boy at that time, and he could earn a lot of money for storytelling by telling children about "Gourd Baby" in school."

   "I see!" Jin Shengtan finally figured it out.

  He felt that even if the emperor did not rebel, he could live comfortably by writing novels.

"what!"

  Jin Shengtan scanned the manuscripts on the table, put on his glasses to examine them carefully, and asked after reading a few, "Aren't these made up?"

  Zhao Kuangping said: "From the Four Seas Trading Company."

   "Good stuff!" Jin Shengtan said, "It's a pity that there are too many pictures, otherwise it will be compiled into a book and it will be a big seller."

   In fact, as long as the sales volume is large enough, printing pictures is completely feasible. In the Ming Dynasty, there were many children's literacy books. A small person was drawn next to the word "person" and a mouth was drawn next to the word "kou", which was the same as the literacy books hundreds of years later.

  But this kind of overseas scenery is doomed to fail to pay back. There are too many pictures, and they have to be printed carefully. If the price is too high, the sales will drop, and the book has to be printed by the government.

   Zhao Kuangping had a thought, he could have the official engraving, and went to beg his father, Emperor Zhao would definitely agree to print this kind of book.

   At that time, the official woodcut picture engraving blocks can be printed in batches every few years as long-term publications.

  Zhao Kuangping's magazine, on the other hand, borrows official engraving blocks and prints two or three articles in each issue, without having to bear the cost of engraving pictures at all. Not only "Overseas Scenery", but other content is also available. There are many official engravings, just borrow some and don't wear it out.

  Special patterns cannot be printed with movable type, so craftsmen must be invited to engrave them. And the status of the King of Chu is here, his magazine can easily obtain rare engravings, and this alone can throw his colleagues ten blocks away.

  Zhao Kuangping has already decided that he will run a magazine now and a newspaper in the future. When he earns enough money, he will set up his own publishing house. He is a man who wants to become a media tycoon!

  After becoming rich, you don’t need to be greedy for cheap, and you don’t need to ask the government to borrow engraving plates. You can hire craftsmen to build an engraving plate library.

   "Your Highness, someone has sent money again!"

   Just as he was talking, someone from the magazine came again and sent the reprint fee for the article.

   Whenever there are excellent works, newspapers and magazines like to reprint them.

   At the beginning, reprinting fees were not paid, and many lawsuits were filed. Later, a consensus was gradually formed that reprinting is allowed, but money must be paid. These reprint fees are paid according to the market price, and the first publication and the author share the profit.

  Sometimes, "reprinting is prohibited" is also marked, but the manuscript fee for exclusive publication is higher.

  This time Emperor Zhao's article was circulated among the common people. There are countless reprinters, and they are all very honest. They offered sky-high reprint fees on their own initiative. It seems that the price given is too low, and those publications themselves lose face.

   There were even publishers who came to their door, wanting to buy the complete manuscript of "The Female Consort".

  Even the opera writers have been found, and they plan to compile them into operas. The story written by the emperor will definitely be a hit in the theater.

  The article "The Emperor's New Clothes" also sparked a wave of fable creation.

  Fables originally belonged to Taoist writing subjects and were not very popular with Confucianism. Now that the emperor personally ended, the Confucian scholars have no psychological burden. This thing is very interesting to create.

   Moreover, fables are suitable for children to read, and children's money is always the best!

   Zhao Kuangping's newly opened magazine is full of visitors, and people come to visit every day. In the end, he didn't even want to receive them in person, only those well-known cultural figures.

   Another day, just after dawn, a visitor squatted on the side of the road, waiting for a long time and finally saw the king of Chu driving.

  He rushed forward desperately, but was immediately stopped by the guards.

  Although Zhao Han is stingy with his children, he still has to give them a few guards, and the imperial court pays for them.

   "Your Highness, I have something to see, I haven't been able to see you a few days ago, and today I have no choice but to crash into a car..." The visitor was still yelling after being pushed to the ground.

  Zhao Kuangping asked the guard to let go, and asked, "What do you want to do with me?"

"It's a big deal," said the visitor. "I have invented a new type of casting method, which can quickly cast large quantities of movable type. I am from Foshan. I have applied for a patent, but I don't want to cooperate with Foshan merchants because they often deceive inventors. In the next book, I want to dedicate the patent to Long Live, but I have no choice but to see the sky. I heard that the King of Chu is running a magazine, so I will dedicate the patent to His Highness the King of Chu today!"

  It is called contribution, but it is actually cooperation.

   This is due to Zhao Han's prestige and credit, otherwise, who would take the initiative to invest in technology and do business with the prince in partnership?

  Zhao Kuangping was dubious: "What kind of new casting method?"

The visitor said: "A steam engine is required. First cast and engrave a steel mold, then use the steel mold to punch a copper mold, and then use the copper mold to make movable type in batches. This is hundreds of times faster than the traditional casting method, and the movable type produced is clear. There are only nuances in each type!"

   (Recommend a new book "Sword is a Demon", a very good work of Xianxia, ​​it is worth reading.)

  (end of this chapter)