Chapter 274: The Fiery of Nanfang Daily
After the first three issues of Nanfang Daily were free of charge, the fourth issue began to collect fees. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info
However, the purpose of founding this newspaper was originally to grasp the mouthpiece of public opinion and spread the news everywhere, not only to let the people open their eyes to the world, but also to popularize science and increase wisdom, as for whether it is profitable or not, Feng Yunshan does not care.
Therefore, even if it is charged, it is just charged according to the cost, and each newspaper is only allowed to sell for 50 yuan.
In order to increase sales and spread more widely, Feng Yunshan not only did not allow high prices to be sold, but also set up a large newspaper distribution point in each state capital city, and even set up a small newspaper distribution station in an important county office.
As a result, the cost has been close to 60 yuan per copy, but Feng Yunshan still insists on not increasing the price. He believes that with the great increase in newspaper sales in the future, the revenue after taking over the advertising business will inevitably support the newspaper's profitability. In comparison, this can be regarded as an exclusive monopoly business for the time being.
Originally, Feng Yunshan planned to issue a newspaper a day like later generations, but later found that the news of this era was too closed, and the transportation was very inconvenient, so he could not do a daily newspaper like later generations.
Therefore, Feng Yunshan decided that in the early days of its establishment, "Nanfang Daily" would be published every ten years and three times a month. Later, depending on the situation, it will be increased.
After a month of publicity and free distribution, the newspaper was printed more than the first issue, and the first issue was just an attempt, and the newspaper printed 1,000 copies, and as a result, it took 3 days for the distribution to be completed.
The second issue, 1,500 copies, was printed and distributed in just one and a half days.
In the third issue, 2,500 copies were printed, and as a result, all of them were distributed in less than a day. This is also the reason why Feng Yunshan demanded that only half of the newspapers be put in Guangzhou Prefecture, and the other half of the newspapers should be transported to other state capitals for distribution, otherwise, I am afraid that it will take a shorter time to complete the distribution.
After the fourth issue was charged, Feng Yunshan was worried that there would not be many people who spent money on newspapers, so he only asked the newspaper office to print 2,000 copies, and as a result, the 500 copies of the newspapers left in Guangzhou that day were sold out within two hours.
Four newspaper distribution offices in Guangzhou were surrounded by thousands of people demanding to buy newspapers. Many people were sent by the elders of the family to buy newspapers, but they couldn't buy them, and they had to be skinned when they went back, so some people began to threaten to block the newspaper office if they couldn't buy it.
In the end, Li Wenmao, the vice president of the newspaper, came forward and promised to print it immediately, so that the commotion of the crowd was calmed down.
A thousand copies were printed in the afternoon, but they sold out again a day later, and fortunately the demand in Guangzhou was almost satisfied. However, the next day, a large group of scholars from Nanhai, Shunde, and Panyu counties around Guangzhou Prefecture entered the city, saying that the newspapers at the distribution points of their local newspaper offices had been sold out.
Even people from Zhaoqing and Huizhou came to buy newspapers, preferring to increase the price.
So, after asking Feng Yunshan, "Nanfang Daily" set up overtime and began to print it on the same day.
A total of 1,800 copies of the fourth issue of the newspaper were printed, which basically met the demand.
In this way, the fourth issue of the newspaper alone was printed in 3,800 copies.
In the fifth issue of the newspaper, Feng Yunshan directly asked the newspaper to prepare in advance, and it took four days to print 5,000 copies. Then, in another two days, it was sold out. Feng Yunshan knew that in fact, there were still many places far away from Guangzhou that he had not bought.
However, with more, he can't help it. Because, the printing capacity of the newspaper's printing house is so large.
The printing house purchased foreigners directly from Xiangmen and shipped them to Guangzhou, where the deputy editor-in-chief Wei Sanwei was in charge, and used manual lead movable type printing. It takes a long time to prepare in advance, and even 5 days before the publication of the newspaper, you have to get the manuscript and start manual typesetting.
Therefore, even if you want to reprint, you should print it until the fourth or fifth day at most, otherwise it will affect the publication of the next issue of the newspaper.
After Feng Yunshan understood, he asked Wei Sanwei and Zeng Guanlan to go to Xiangmen, and directly bought the more advanced equipment of the largest printing factory in Xiangmen and shipped it to Guangzhou.
This is to change the use of steam engine as the power, and the introduction of the use of the most advanced automatic casting machine, drum platform lead printing machine and other machines, the original manual printing transition to machine printing, after the debugging of Wei Sanwei, the efficiency of the printing plant has been improved a lot.
Although in the process of lead printing, the typesetting operations such as lead discharge and melting, casting, and pouring are still manual, the speed of printing has been improved a lot.
The original manual printing of 1,500 copies a day was already very reluctant, but now, although it is still only a printing machine, it has been increased to 7 or 8,000 copies a day.
Thus, starting with the eighth issue, Nanfang Daily printed 8,000 copies at once, and the printing task was completed the day after the typesetting.
The officers of the Police Department of the Holy King's Palace were able to have ample time to deliver the newspapers to various parts of the territory occupied by the Raiders.
For a time, "Nanfang Daily" began to become popular in Liangguang and Munan, Fujian, Chixi and other areas.
Even many readers who met and greeted each other no longer asked where to enjoy the flowers and poems, but said: "Brother Ren, have you read this issue of the newspaper?" Hey, you didn't even watch it, it's a pity, I missed the wonderful content, say something for my brother and listen to you! ”
The illiterate people also ran to the daily newspaper distribution point in the county early in the morning, and when they saw someone with a good face and bought the newspaper, they rushed to meet it, begging: "Sir, don't be in a hurry to leave, what new policies are there in this issue of the newspaper, read to us." ”
As a result, the first newspaper founded by the Chinese people, Nanfang Daily, became completely popular in the occupied areas of the Chinese captive army.
……..
In the suburbs of Nanhai County outside Guangzhou, in the courtyard of an ordinary farmhouse.
A private school teacher looked at the "Nanfang Daily" in his hand and read aloud: "Beginning in late May, 6,000 Taiping soldiers from the front of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's Western Expeditionary Army began to besiege Nanchang City......
There were a few people sitting next to him, but they all looked like scholars, there were several talents, and even one lifter, all of whom looked lonely.
"It's a pity that the Nanchang Tengwang Pavilion, the three famous buildings in the south of the Yangtze River, is about to be devastated by these rebellious bandits!" This person seems to have a bit of a literati atmosphere, but his voice is hoarse, but it destroys his temperament.
Later, one of the showmen sighed: "Why is the imperial court so vulnerable, and it has been attacked and plundered by bandits one after another, and its face has been lost." ”
Another person answered: "Don't stop losing face, losing the city and abandoning the land, this is the appearance of losing the Qing Dynasty." ”
Someone sighed again and said: "It seems that the two hundred years of the Great Qing Dynasty Zuo is indeed exhausted, and it is really going to die!" ”
The man who lifted the man obviously looked like a leader, stood in the middle, and said slowly: "Look at the situation, the Qing Dynasty is really about to fall." Compared with these bandits, the Holy King in Guangzhou City is quite good to us scholars. Brothers, where do you go from here, and what are you going to do? ”
"Brother Gao is right, we are all Han Chinese, there is no need to be martyred for the Manchus. The next time the Holy King held another scientific expedition, the younger brother went to participate. A scholar in a slightly shorter dress said.
"Yes! As a brother, I have the same thoughts as you! I just don't know when the next imperial examination will be. ”
"It won't be long before the course will open again at the end of the year at the latest. One of the younger brothers' clan was on an errand in the Holy King's Palace, but he heard that there was a serious shortage of officials in the palace and the local area, and he would presumably hold another scientific expedition soon. ”
The man sighed, "Not bad! According to Gao, the scientific expedition will be held again this summer or this autumn. In the previous imperial examination, the Holy King said that it would be held irregularly. Now that the captives have captured part of the state capitals of Fujian and Munan, coupled with the northern bandits attacking the imperial court, the Holy King will definitely take the opportunity to expand his territory, and he will definitely need more officials to help take care of local government affairs. ”
After a pause, he continued a little helplessly: "Brothers, don't laugh, when the time comes, Gao will also go to the test." ”
The people on the side secretly thought that even the elder brother, who had always been the most loyal to the court, began to plan for himself, and it seemed that he had to find a way out.
So, they all said in unison: "In this case, let's wait for the next scientific examination and go to the exam together!" ”
Only the person with a hoarse voice flicked his sleeves and was furious: "You scholars, who do not obey the monarch's father, actually think of being a thief with your body, vainly becoming a Confucian disciple, and Kong is ashamed to be with you!" ”
The surname Gao raised people but asked rhetorically: "Sage Mencius Yun, the people are the most important, the community is second, and the monarch is light!" We just don't want to learn in vain, and we just want to do something for the people. Why do you want to be a Confucian disciple? Besides, I think that the holy king is also a scholar, and he is orthodox of the Han people, and the "Shengguo Tianmu System" published in the newspaper is also people-oriented, and it is clearly a saint's faction, so why do you say that it is a thief? ”
Everyone said yes. When the hoarse man saw this, he became angry, and as soon as he threw down his sleeve, he pushed the door and left!
The crowd chatted a few more words about other pages in the Nanfang Daily, and then quickly dispersed.
With the sale and dissemination of Nanfang Daily, the same thing happened everywhere in the two regions and surrounding areas, in all states and counties, in cities and villages. (To be continued.) )