"Good news, good news, good news from the southwest. The Tang dynasty's soldiers are as fierce as tigers, and the southwest barbarians are as stupid as pigs. Good news!"
On the morning of October 1st, the paperboy ran and shouted.
They ran and delivered the newspaper to the subscribers.
The price of the newspaper was still three coins per sheet, but it had become two sheets. It cost six coins to buy one sheet.
It was still printed on one side, and the other side was for others to write on.
But the cost had decreased. A sheet of newspaper was no longer 15 or 16 coins, but 5 coins.
A large amount of paper was produced, and the materials for making ink were also bought in batches.
Nowadays, the newspaper spread to large areas such as the capital, Huazhou, Tongzhou, Qizhou, Fangzhou, and Shangzhou.
Some businessmen wanted to buy or sell goods from other places, so they advertised in the newspaper.
One-third of the two-page newspaper was advertisements. The price was different depending on the number of words, position, and color.
300,000 copies of the newspaper were printed in Zhuangzi every day. Including the advertising fees, each copy earned more than one coin, less than two coins.
One coin was three hundred coins. Three hundred coins a day, thirty thousand coins a hundred days, and more in the future.
Until now, the people still thought that the Li Family Zhuangzi was losing money to them every day.
When they heard about the good news, even those who didn't usually buy newspapers would buy one or two sheets.
Then, they would compare it with Pinyin. The people of Chang 'an had learned Pinyin in the past few months.
But they still didn't understand the specific meaning of some words, so they had to read them out to understand the context.
"What was written in the newspaper today? The Tang dynasty's soldiers shouted and attacked the southwest barbarians in the middle of the night. Climbing over the mountains was as easy as drinking water … "
Yao Chong read the content of the newspaper and felt an indescribable sense of grievance.
Shouting and attacking? Should he send a letter of challenge for a sneak attack first? The southwest barbarians could cooperate.
And the southwest mountains could be as easy as drinking water.
"It's good to read it. Show it to the people. The people don't need to know the actual layout of the battlefield. They just need to win."
Lu Huaishen was also laughing. The literary skills of the people who wrote the war report in the newspaper were terrible.
He admitted that the people couldn't understand it because it was too literary.
"Look at the advertisements, one after another. Money." Zhang Shuo was calculating how much money the Li Family Zhuangzi newspaper could earn.
Every location and word count had a price, and he realized that he was making a profit.
When Yao Chong heard the word 'money', he was silent for a moment before replying, "The imperial court is currently training personnel. After the new year, they will be sent to various places. The money earned will not all belong to Li Yi anymore."
"Li Yi doesn't care about it. What he cares about is publicity. The role of the newspaper is to popularize his pinyin.
In Chang 'an City, a large number of people could read newspapers, which was very impressive. In terms of education, Li Yi ranked first in the world.
Now, we still need to mark it with pinyin. When more people learn to read, the pinyin can be removed. "
Lu Huaishen gave a positive evaluation. If it were anyone else, the Imperial Court would definitely commend them for their contributions.
The Li Family Zhuangzi should have a memorial arch, the kind with a gatehouse.
Unfortunately, Li Yi was still a secondary second rank civil official. Other than a salary, the Imperial Court didn't give him anything else.
Li Yi didn't care about the salary. He didn't give him ice in the summer and charcoal in the winter.
The Li Family Zhuangzi's ice in the summer was more or less used freely. Moreover, their ice was cleaner than the ice in the river. They used well water to freeze it.
Sometimes, Her Majesty used ice, and it was Gao Lishi who ran to the Li Family Zhuangzi.
"The war in the southwest should end before the end of the year. The Ministry of Revenue should give Li Yi the provisions that should be taken." Yao Chong gave a fair opinion.
Zhang Shuo shook the newspaper, "That's right. If you want to give, transferring provisions from Chang 'an and other places is indeed not as good as the current method.
Li Yi contacted the merchants in Shu to raise the funds locally, and the Ministry of Revenue transferred it to Li Yi. This saves a lot of consumption on the road.
Although it's mainly defensive and takes a long time, it doesn't consume much of the provisions. "
He was doing some calculations.
Normally, the imperial court would say that it would be best to fight for a month and pay a huge price to drive the southwest barbarians away.
What they needed to support was a month's worth of provisions.
Now that they were slowly dragging it out, fewer people would die, and the pressure on the southwest barbarians would be great. Did the southwest barbarians not eat?
Fighting for four months seemed to cost an extra three months' worth of money.
However, transporting a month's worth of provisions would consume almost three months' worth of provisions on the road.
At this time, Li Yi was using his personal connections to pay the final sum of money. Why?
"I'm afraid Bi Goo won't agree. He's in charge of the Ministry of Revenue and wants to make more money this year." Lu Huaishen thought that the difficult part was Bi Goo.
The Minister of Revenue was the stingy type. Today, he needed money. Tomorrow, who would withdraw money? The Minister of Revenue had a headache.
"Let's ask." Yao Chong decided to discuss with Bi Goo and give the money to Li Yi.
Before long, Bi Goo came over with the newspaper.
He looked at the three people and said, "Now it's two sheets of paper. In the future, there will be three sheets of paper and four sheets of paper. There will be more advertisements."
Since he became the Minister of Revenue, his mind had become full of floating money.
He was calculating the development of Li Family Zhuangzi's newspaper. Just like Zhang Shuo, he noticed that the newspaper was beginning to make a profit.
"At that time, Li Family Zhuangzi's newspaper will be reduced in price. One sheet of paper is three coins, two sheets are six coins. Maybe when there are five sheets, it will only add up to five coins."
Lu Huaishen guessed Li Yi's plan. One sheet of paper is three coins. If it's too much, the people won't be able to afford it.
Zhang Shuo added, "About the same. The exchange coupons can be printed on both sides. Naturally, the newspaper can be printed on both sides.
Li Yi won't print it. He'll leave one side blank for people to practice calligraphy. If five sheets of newspaper is five coins, it's one coin for one sheet of paper to practice calligraphy. "
Bi Goo was stunned for a moment and nodded. "Cut the big sheets of newspaper and bind them with thread. They can be used as notebooks."
"Bi Goo, I invited you here to discuss the consumption of provisions on the southwest battlefield." Yao Chong ordered someone to make tea for Bi Goo and got to the point.
"There's enough provisions. There's no need for the imperial court to allocate any more." Bi Goo pretended to be confused and refused to give.
"It's a big taboo to use private funds to raise the imperial army." Yao Chong reminded.
"The Ministry of Revenue doesn't have money now. Write down the bill. When the Ministry of Revenue has money, then give." Bi Goo agreed to give as soon as he heard Yao Chong's words.
It's just that he won't give now. The Ministry of Revenue actually has money, but it's not enough.
They can't owe others, but it's fine if they owe the Li Family Zhuangzi. The Li Family Zhuangzi doesn't lack money.
"You can write an IOU and send it to the Li Family Zhuangzi."
Yao Chong suggested a way. If they owe someone, then so be it. They have to write an IOU. Otherwise, how can it be considered a debt?
Bi Goo revealed an awkward expression. "If the Ministry of Revenue writes an IOU for one person, it will damage the imperial court's prestige."
"You want prestige, but you don't want reputation?" Yao Chong said in a low voice.
"Ai! I'll discuss it with Li Yi later and choose a compromise. "
Bi Goo didn't want to agree, but he felt that it was indeed unreasonable.
He decided to ask the person involved and see what Li Yi's intentions were.
"It's better to write an official document." Zhang Shuo suggested. His Majesty the Li Family Zhuangzi didn't want anyone else to go.
"Fine." Bi Goo remembered what His Majesty said last time and felt depressed.
After discussing the matter of giving Li Yi money, Bi Goo pointed at the newspaper and said, "Treat it as a tax. We'll make money."
The three of them were stunned. You're the Minister of Revenue, so everything you see is money?
Yao Chong flipped the newspaper over and looked at the blank page. "Write an official document and ask Li Yi if he's willing to pay."
Yao Chong realized that the newspaper was about to make more money. He also thought about the imperial court.
"Deal!" Bi Goo agreed again.
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