Wen Daming is a down-and-out scholar from Jiangnan Province. He has been fighting for the Jinshi since the Takeru years. Now more than ten years have passed. He was a young boy now in his thirties, but he still has not been able to win the Jinshi.

When he first left his hometown, he swore that he would not go home if he failed to win the imperial examination.

result……

These years, Wen Daming has been living in Chang'an City.

To paraphrase later generations, Wen Daming was a veteran "long drifter".

Living in a cheap rental house, I wrote letters for others and worked as a teacher every day to earn some pocket money. I lived a life without a meal.

In fact, when it comes to jobs, it is not difficult to find jobs in Chang'an City.

Various workshops are recruiting people every day, and the wages are not low.

However, Wen Daming naturally would not do such physical work.

I have studied hard for so many years not just to work as a helper in a workshop.

"Da Ming, this is your remuneration for this manuscript. I happened to meet King Luo Bin today, so I asked for help."

Shangguan Yi's carriage stopped outside Wen Daming's rental house. When he opened the courtyard door, he saw Wen Daming shaking his head and carrying a book.

Speaking of which, Wen Daming can be regarded as a man of letters with integrity.

Although I had attended the Spring Festival with Guan Yi, we had some friendship.

If he was thick-skinned enough, he could rely on Shangguan Yi to find a job in the Prince of Chu's Mansion, but he could never let go of this face.

Of course, he was able to float around Chang'an City for so many years because of Shangguan Yi's help, otherwise he would have been living on the streets long ago.

This time, King Luo Bin was responsible for planning the "Datang Daily" and recruiting some external writers. Shangguan Yi thought it was a good opportunity, so he asked Wen Daming to apply.

Although it is a position where there is no salary and you are paid according to the manuscript, the competition is actually very fierce.

Without him, this location is more expensive.

For these scholars, it is at least much easier to accept than working as a helper in a workshop.

Moreover, being able to publish what you write is enough to attract countless scholars to submit contributions like moths to a flame.

"You Shao, I'm really sorry to trouble you to come over during your busy schedule."

Wen Daming took the money bag handed over by Shangguan Yi, but the weight on his hand made him stunned for a moment.

Nowadays, he is not the kind of scholar who does not eat whole grains. The copper coins in this purse are obviously much more than he imagined.

However, Shangguan Yi is also a smart person. When he saw Wen Daming's expression change, he knew what he was thinking.

"Da Ming, this royalties are paid according to the rules set by King Luo Bin himself. Whether it is more or less has nothing to do with me. If you have any questions about the royalties, you can ask him later."

The remuneration for one article was almost 500 yuan. To be honest, Shangguan Yi also found it a bit strange.

The "Datang Daily" only costs one penny per copy, which is already cheap enough.

Few people in Chang'an City think there is still money to be made at this price.

Nowadays, writers are paid according to sales volume, which makes the cost even higher.

King Luo Bin is not afraid of losing too much. Doesn't His Highness King Chu not allow "Datang Daily" to continue running?

Shangguan Yi shook his head and suppressed the questions in his heart.

"You Shao, no matter what, thank you very much this time. I can see clearly that in Chang'an City, not to mention the writing skills that are much better than mine, even if the writing skills are similar to mine, there are only eight scholars if not a hundred.

10. I am able to have this opportunity to become a special writer for "Datang Daily" thanks to your help. However, I am really satisfied with this job. I would even be happy if I could have an article published every time.

It’s not impossible to live like this all your life.”

Wen Daming no longer has much hope of passing the Jinshi examination.

No matter who you are, if you fail the college entrance examination more than ten times in a row, it will be difficult for you to have the courage to continue to persevere, right?

Wen Daming has been staying in Chang'an City, not because he hopes to pass the exam, but because he has no face to see Jiangdong's elders.

"The main thing is that the stories you tell are good. To be honest, I didn't expect you to write down the rumors in the market with so much gusto. Even His Highness the King of Chu also praised the stories you compiled."

The articles written by Wen Daming in Datang Daily are the kind of short stories that are popular in the market.

Although it seems to be a very vulgar and bloody story, it is an important part of expanding the audience of "Datang Daily".

"No matter how good the story is, I have to thank His Highness the King of Chu for providing me with such a platform. Otherwise, I would just write a bunch of stories every day, and it would be of no use. No workshop would be willing to take the risk of printing it."

Printing books these days basically requires the author to give money, such as royalties. You don’t even have to think about it. Everyone publishes books not for the royalties.

Of course, today's scholars like Wen Daming, although they are shy about talking about money on the surface, in fact they still need money very much to improve their quality of life.

"You should work hard. Now it is an edition every three days. After a while, it will probably become a daily edition. Then you will be busy."

Shangguan Yi handed Wen Daming his royalties, and after a brief greeting, left.

As a meritorious officer of the Prince of Chu's palace, he joined the army and had many things to do.

…

In the Changsun Mansion.

"Aye, this is the "Datang Daily" launched by the Prince of Chu. It is said that thousands of copies were sold today, attracting a lot of people's attention."

Changsun Chong has always been very concerned about the affairs of the Prince of Chu's Mansion. In addition, the publication of this newspaper has caused quite a stir in Chang'an City. It would be strange if he didn't know about it.

"I also read this daily newspaper today. Although it seems to be written in a relatively complicated way, I have to say that there are still many people who are willing to read it. However, what I can't figure out is that it is a penny for a copy. This should not be money.

It's good to make money, so why is Li Kuan so keen on expanding the scale of Datang Daily?"

Although Changsun Wuji is also a great talent in the world, he is not a time traveler after all.

I still don’t fully understand the power of newspapers.

Especially in the context of no Internet, no TV, and no radio, many people have no idea how powerful this thing is.

Books are very expensive.

Even though the price of books has dropped a lot in the past ten years, it is still not something that ordinary people can buy at will.

An ordinary book costs at most a dozen silver coins and at least a few hundred pennies. How can the common people afford this?

Of course, Guanshishan Academy's Institute of Gewu is now also studying to further improve the papermaking process, reduce the difficulty of papermaking, and expand the selection of papermaking materials. The cost of paper is expected to be further reduced in the future.

However, no matter how low the price is, books are still valuable items after all.

"Although I don't know why he did this, Qujiang Academy is learning very quickly. I heard Du He say that Qujiang Academy is already considering launching something similar to a newspaper. Should we talk to the Zheng family?

Let’s talk about setting up a newspaper at Weishui College? I asked someone to make a simple calculation. If the scale is not too big, a newspaper can’t lose too much money.”

Changsun Chong still couldn't understand what Li Kuan's operation was about, but with a similar newspaper in his hand, he could still make up his mind.

If he discovers that Li Kuan has come up with something new, he can quickly follow suit.

This can be regarded as a rule of thumb.

"Chong'er, you have finally grown up and know how to think independently. This suggestion is very good. Li Kuan came up with the "Datang Daily" out of nowhere. There must be some reasons behind it that we don't understand.

, But we don’t have to worry about this for now. If he creates such a newspaper, we can also create a "Chang'an Evening News", which will be published every three days. No matter what tricks Li Kuan plays, we will not be passive."

Changsun Wuji showed an expression of relief on his face.

Although Changsun Chong's proposal cannot be said to be very clever, it is a more appropriate move at the moment.

If you wait until things become clear before taking any action, then the day lily may become cold.

"Aye, then I will arrange for people to run it. It is said that the "Datang Daily" has recruited many poor scholars as special writers. If we are too late, they may have selected all the people.

.”

Changsun Chong seemed to have put in a lot of effort and found out a lot of information in just one day.

"Go ahead and do it boldly. If you have any questions, you can discuss it with your father!"

…

In a courtyard near Guanshishan Academy, the four characters "Datang Daily" are hung on the door. It is indeed the location of Datang Daily, which is now making waves in Chang'an City.

King Luo Bin is basically here these days.

Anyway, as the bishop of Yongping County, he usually spends three days fishing and two days drying nets.

Although Li Kuan attached great importance to Xiao Yu's education, he rarely forced her to study, and mostly relied on some guidance.

"Your Majesty, if you write an article like this, what can be said in half a page will be divided into one page, or even two pages, and the content that can be published in our newspaper will be much less."

King Luo Bin looked troubled as he listened to Li Kuan holding a copy of "Datang Daily" and putting forward various opinions.

"It doesn't matter. When the paper cost and printing cost go down, we can increase the number of papers for each newspaper. Now it is just one large sheet of paper, and in the future it can be two large sheets, three large sheets, or even more. However, this vernacular article

, it is necessary to promote it. Of course, considering that everyone has to accept it, it does not need to be very effective. You can refer to "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "The Swordsman" for the tips."

If you want to create a newspaper and make it understandable to more people, vernacular language is something that cannot be avoided.

Even if ordinary people are literate, they can't even hope to understand the contents of classical Chinese.

Just like the Chinese people of later generations, they are basically literate, but let alone other things, how many people can't understand just a copy of "The Analects of Confucius"?

If the "Datang Daily" had such docile content, even if people bought it in the first place because of the novelty, the sales volume would gradually decrease in the future.
To be continued...