The Qing Dynasty

Chapter 310 Uninvited Guest

Sandao Street, Wuchang, opposite the Salt Administration Office.

In a large courtyard facing the street, a two-story building is located in the front of the courtyard, and most of the courtyard at the back is hidden in the shade of green trees surrounded by high walls.

At the main gate of the courtyard, there is a large black lacquered plaque with gold characters hanging in the middle, with four large golden characters inscribed on it: "Ta Kung Pao Press".

This was the Ta Kung Pao newspaper office opened by Mr. Qian, who was ordered to open a newspaper office.

However, for safety reasons, Mr. Qian did not set up the Ta Kung Pao newspaper office in Hankou, which was more prosperous and known as the Chicago of the East. Instead, he eventually set up the newspaper office in Wuchang, on the other side of the river.

There were concessions of six countries in Hankou, namely Britain, Russia, France, Germany, Japan and Belgium. The foreigners in the concessions often colluded with local illegal businessmen and gang forces. The news published in the Ta Kung Pao inevitably offended the foreigners. Even with the protection of dozens of security personnel sent by Teng Yuzhao, there was still danger.

But it would be much safer to set up a newspaper office in Wuchang. Not only was the Salt Administration Office across the street, but also Zhang Zhidong's Governor's Mansion was located within the city of Wuchang, just inside the Wangshan Gate not far from Sandao Street.

Although Zhang Zhidong had some small thoughts, he never failed in matters of principle and justice, which made Master Qian feel at ease.

Master Qian acted quickly, traveling non-stop and changing vehicles and boats, and arrived in Wuchang in just over ten days.

Li Yaoting's people here have already prepared everything for Master Qian, from the location of the newspaper, the newspaper editor, to the equipment, paper, ink, and even the newsboys, all of which have been recruited in advance for Master Qian.

Today is the third day since Ta Kung Pao opened.

Although it was almost noon, there were still crowds of people inside and outside the newspaper office. Newsboys kept running into the yard quickly with empty newspaper bags on their backs, with happy looks on their faces. Newsboys also kept running out happily with bulging newspaper bags full of newspapers that smelled of ink.

This is because Ta Kung Pao has been publishing "The Rise of Great Powers" and "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" since its first issue.

On the first day, Master Qian didn't dare to print more copies, so he just mustered up the courage to print two thousand copies.

But what surprised Master Qian was that more than 1,600 copies were sold on the first day.

You know, at that time, generally speaking, a newspaper that sold thousands of copies a day was considered a major newspaper. The newspaper had just opened, and it sold nearly two thousand copies on the first day. This could not but make Master Qian extremely happy.

This shows that the Ta Kung Pao has made a successful start and it is no longer a big problem for it to become one of the famous domestic newspapers.

This finally made Master Qian feel at ease.

Teng Yuzhao ignored Master Qian's advice and insisted that each newspaper should only be sold for five cents. However, if any businessman published an advertisement, he would be charged according to the number of words, and the price was very high.

Another thing is that the royalties paid to authors should be higher than those of all peers, in line with the current situation of various newspapers.

In other words, Teng Yuzhao’s intention was not to make money by selling newspapers, but to make money by high-quality manuscripts and selling advertisements.

Mr. Qian didn't know that the newspaper had not yet opened, but after a day, he was suddenly confused. A newspaper cost five cents, and after deducting the cost of raw materials such as paper and ink, plus labor, it was not enough to recover the cost.

At that time, the price of a newspaper published by foreigners in Hankou, the Hankou Times, and the Hubei Business News published by the Hankou Merchants' Steam Navigation Company, were both ten cents.

In order to compete for readers, newspapers in Shanghai have long started a price war. The price of Shenbao is already eight cents.

Fortunately, Teng Yuzao had something to say: not only could the Ta Kung Pao not make money, it could even lose money. The only requirement was to sell newspapers and increase circulation and coverage as quickly as possible.

Even so, Master Qian was still a little nervous. The next day, he still printed 2,000 copies, but within an hour, a newsboy came running back and asked to take out newspapers again to sell.

Since only 2,000 copies were printed, Master Qian had to temporarily call together workers to print more newspapers immediately. By now, more than 5,000 copies had been printed, and newsboys were still constantly running back to ask for newspapers.

If they didn't print one more newspaper, the newspaper office would lose almost a penny. Looking at the newsboys who kept running back to ask for newspapers, Mr. Qian's heart ached.

Fortunately, at this time, a businessman called and not only asked about advertising fees, but also asked whether the copyrights of the manuscripts of "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" and "The Rise of Great Powers" would be transferred. This made Master Qian so surprised that he couldn't close his mouth.

I hurriedly asked the newsboy who came back to pick up the newspaper, and as expected, there were three main reasons for the rapid increase in newspaper sales.

First, the most special thing is that the entire newspaper, no matter which page, uses vulgar vernacular, which makes ordinary people, businessmen, and peddlers who are not well-educated very excited.

Secondly, the newspaper became famous not only because it had published a large amount of news about the Vanguard Army in the past two days, but also because it contained the latest military intelligence and war reports about the Vanguard Army.

In order to make people more aware of the origins and development of the Vanguard Army, as well as the series of battle records and results of the Vanguard Army since it started its uprising in Tianjin, this immediately attracted the attention of the vast majority of common people who were paying close attention to the war situation in the north.

Later, people who bought the newspaper discovered that the newly emerged "Ta Kung Pao" not only published political and academic articles, current affairs news, and important academic thoughts, but also included domestic and foreign business information, overseas customs, foreign situation developments, new fashion trends, Western technology, and so on.

There are even flight times, ticket prices and freight rates for passenger and cargo ships on the Yangtze River.

This immediately excited the businessmen. With this newspaper, they no longer had to go to the shipping company to inquire about flight times and changing prices.

In addition, there is a literature and entertainment page. In the first issue, since no author submissions had been received yet, only a storytelling novel called "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" written by a Beiyang hero was published. The first chapter, about exterminating traitors in the snow, immediately caught people's attention.

The style of this martial arts storybook is completely different from any style of the southern or northern schools, and is completely different from any previous martial arts novels. Not only is its structure well-organized, but its content is also full of twists and turns, making people want to read the second chapter immediately after reading the first chapter.

The Rise of Great Powers also caused a sensation, but the readers it attracted were all scholars who had originally disdained this newspaper published in vernacular Chinese.

These situations immediately made Master Qian excited. He immediately came up with an idea and told the guy who answered the phone that all advertising fees would be half price for the first ten days.

Then he went to the workshop at the back and told the workers that their wages would be doubled today and asked them to print more newspapers.

Just as Master Qian was running around in the workshop supervising the workers, an editor came running over.

"Editor Qian, two guests said they want to see you."

Hearing that someone wanted to see him, Master Qian, who was already extremely excited, couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart.

"Could it be that two of our colleagues came to us to discuss the price of Ta Kung Pao?"

Master Qian asked hurriedly, "What kind of people came? Where are they now?"

The editor looked around carefully and saw that the workers were busy, so he leaned close to Master Qian and whispered, "Editor-in-Chief Qian, who are the two people coming?"

感谢：天边的浮云、为我折服、云海200、土鳖192、颖楓、平凡之路二、希格拉之耀、带雨梨花1957、陪静静慢慢变老、三石又三十、师妹好淫荡、庄周2、雷电双生、20220411004448442、20180927104339797、稻草人1970、晴天叶落、20210301105267525784、20190702193720714、20210830073241626、深蓝等书友月票、推荐票支持！

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(End of this chapter)