The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 244: The Hero of Beiyang
They all wanted to know what was in the manuscript that Teng Yuzhao was holding.
Which one of them will be shown a golden road to wealth that is easy to embark on and contains infinite wealth!

Teng Yuzao clapped his hands on the two manuscripts, which were much thicker than those given to Zhou Xuexi, and said with a smile.

"Don't speculate, these are two books and a proposal for starting a newspaper prepared for Mr. Fuzhi's newspaper."

Teng Yuzhao's words caused confusion among the crowd. A newspaper office distributes newspapers, not publishes books.
He was even very clear about the contents of the three manuscripts in Teng Yuzao's hands, and had great respect for Teng Yuzao. It could even be said that the books in Teng Yuzao's hands were what made Wei Jinghai feel such admiration for him from the bottom of his heart.

But at this time, Wei Jinghai had the same doubts as everyone else.

Teng Yuzao saw what everyone was thinking and said with a smile, "Excuse me, Mr. Fuzhi, what indicators do you use to judge whether a newspaper is successful?"

Master Qian smiled and said, "Master Xingfu."

In recent days, whenever Master Qian was excited, he would often use the affectionate name "Master Xingfu".

"After learning that you were going to hand over the newspaper to me, I took the time to carefully study the operation of the newspaper. In my opinion, the most important thing to judge whether a newspaper is successful and whether the newspaper is profitable is to look at its influence."

"The influence of a newspaper is determined by its circulation, distribution range, and readership, among which the most important one is circulation."

Teng Yuzao smiled with satisfaction and said, "Mr. Fuzhi really did not disappoint me. What he said is absolutely correct."

"The measure of a newspaper's success, the size of its distribution, the diversity of its audience, and its influence all come down to its circulation, so the most important indicator of a newspaper's success is its circulation."

After expressing his appreciation and affirmation for Master Qian, Teng Yuzao continued.

"And to increase circulation, the content of the newspaper must be attractive. It cannot only attract dignitaries or educated people. If that were the case, your newspaper would probably be like all newspapers today, with only a few thousand copies sold per issue."

Although he could see that everyone was puzzled by his statement that a successful newspaper "cannot just attract officials and scholars", Teng Yuzao continued to talk to himself.

"A newspaper with a circulation of only a few thousand is far from being successful. In my mind, a successful newspaper should have a circulation of tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of copies. It should be able to influence a large number of people. That is a truly successful newspaper."

"To become such an influential newspaper, the content it publishes must be attractive to everyone, which will greatly increase its circulation and ultimately make it a successful newspaper."

"In order to attract everyone, its content must be diverse, so I suggest that our newspaper should publish as wide a range of content as possible, not only including the current affairs that political newspapers must have, for example, the current affairs that the Chinese people are most concerned about today are the invasion of foreign powers and how we can resist them."

"I will send a telegram or even a fast horse to deliver the news to you, Mr. Fuzhi, in a timely manner. I will ensure that the information published in this newspaper about the results of the Vanguard Army is the most authoritative of all newspapers and periodicals."

"In addition, it should also include foreign current affairs, international situations, popular schools of thought, important ideological discussions and local customs, as well as foreign fashions, scientific and technological progress, etc."

"In a word, this newspaper is not just a simple newspaper, it should also be a window for the Chinese people to see the world, so that everyone from the kings and ministers to the common people and even the peddlers can see the vastness of the world, the advanced technology and the rapid development through this window."

"In addition, it also includes the flight schedules of cargo ships in various parts of the country and the prices of commodity products, as well as commercial information including the daily prices of grain, vegetables, fruits, and meat in Hankou, becoming a daily must-read for merchants who need to understand commodity prices."

"All of what I have said above should be set as supplements. The supplements of this newspaper should include foreign technology, fashion, human geography, folk customs, business information, and popular novels, etc. And don't just limit yourself to what I have said. I am just giving you some tips here, Mr. Fuzhi."

At this point, Teng Yuzao said solemnly, "Also, our newspapers should use vernacular Chinese as much as possible, so that ordinary literate people can read or at least listen to it. Except for imperial edicts and manuscripts published by someone, our newspapers must write in vernacular Chinese, and we cannot and are not allowed to use the classical Chinese style of writing, let alone the eight-part essay format."

In order to facilitate the popularization of education in the future, Teng Yuzhao planned to start introducing vernacular Chinese in advance.

Teng Yuzao patted the plan in his hand, and although he was smiling, his tone was unquestionable as he spoke.

"Mr. Fuzhi, take this plan back and have a good look at it. Then follow the plan above."

Then, Teng Yuzao raised two more manuscripts in his hand and said, "To help the newspaper, here are two manuscripts I wrote in vernacular Chinese. One is a martial arts novel set in the Southern Song Dynasty, called The Legend of the Condor Heroes. I call it a new-style martial arts novel, and it's quite attractive. It should be able to attract the interest of many ordinary people for you."

"By the way, I used Beiyang Zhixia as my pen name in this book."

Vernacular novels had become extremely popular at that time, with many storytellers in teahouses and taverns telling them, and they were extremely popular among the people.

Master Qian nodded and said, "This pen name is good. The greatest heroes serve their country and their people. The hero of Beiyang. What a good name!"

Teng Yuzhao put away the smile on his face and continued speaking in a serious manner.

"This other manuscript is not a novel. It is called The Rise of Great Powers. I will publish it under my name. This one..."

Before Teng Yuzhao could introduce himself, Wei Jinghai on the side had already spoken excitedly.

"Your book shows the world that since the 15th century, nine great powers have successively become world powers in different historical periods. They are: Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, Britain, France, Germany, Japan, Russia, and the United States."

"In the book, the author has explained in detail the history of the rise of these nine world powers since the 15th century, explored the reasons behind their prosperity, explained the 9-year history of the rise of each of these major powers, and summarized the historical laws of national rise."

"It is intended to use history as a mirror to illuminate the direction of countries that intend to strive for strength. It is truly an awakening read, and it can change people's mindsets of being a frog in a well."

After traveling through time, Teng Yuzhao was surprised to find that everything about his past life was still vivid in his mind, including the contents of the books he had read, even the punctuation marks.

Teng Yuzhao even thought that if it had not been for the invasion of the Eight-Nation Alliance, he would have become the richest man in the country, or even the richest man in the world, the most famous scientist and inventor, the most famous writer, literary giant, and great poet. However, under the current circumstances, he had to give up his small self and choose the big self of the country and nation.

In order to achieve this great goal deep in his heart, he must have huge wealth and high political reputation. Not only the unparalleled military reputation of being the first person to resist the great powers, he also needs an extremely high and even powerful political reputation that makes people look up to him.

"The Rise of Great Powers" is part of his plan to build his personal political reputation.

Wei Jinghai's extreme praise left everyone stunned.

Master Qian hurriedly stood up and took the manuscript from Teng Yuzao's hand, but Zhou Xuexi snatched away the manuscript of "The Rise of Great Powers" and flipped through it.
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(End of this chapter)