Ming Dynasty: I risked my life to teach the prince, the emperor begged me not to die

Chapter 141 My little brother is really awesome
The most noteworthy Ming Dynasty news today is not from the newspaper, but from a joint announcement from the Ministry of Rites and the Ministry of Revenue.

From then on, the Ming Dynasty no longer allowed businessmen to run newspaper businesses.

To put it simply, Shuntian Press will become the only newspaper company in the Ming Dynasty!
Wang Defa was not tall, and he ran to Huaihua Hutong sweating profusely, his face filled with excitement, excitement, and admiration!
When he saw Chen Ce, his slightly hunched back instantly straightened up, looking very energetic, and he said excitedly: "Boss!"

"What a great joy! What a great joy!"

"The imperial court has officially banned any Ming Dynasty merchant from opening a newspaper. We will be the only merchant qualified to run a newspaper!"

He patted his chest proudly and said, "This is the only one of its kind, there is no other!"

Chen Ce looked at him speechlessly, wondering why he thought he was the one who did all these things and was so excited about it.

Wang Defa said excitedly: "The opponent who competed with you a few days ago is probably cursing now."

"Ha ha!"

"This is so damn stupid. I spent so much money to buy so many manuscripts at high prices, but now I am not qualified to publish them!"

"He can't open a newspaper. He'll never be able to open a newspaper!"

"Haha, I lost more than I gained. I'm losing so much that I'm about to urinate blood!"

"Now he doesn't accept manuscripts anymore, because it's useless to accept them. So the boss had foresight and lowered the price back to five cents per manuscript. If they want to submit manuscripts in the future, they can only submit them to us. They have no choice."

Just when Wang Defa was getting carried away, a faint voice sounded from outside the courtyard door.

That was Zhu Houzhao.

Zhu Houzhao stood with his hands behind his back, calmly and nonchalantly, saying, "How can you be sure that this wasn't something my little brother and I did on purpose?"

"Old Wang, don't you see it yet?"

"We are setting a trap for the other party, making fun of him like a monkey and a fool."

"Do you really think that we are disrupting the market by raising the price of manuscripts for no reason? Wrong, absolutely wrong!"

"I can only say that you are short-sighted. We are deliberately making the other party pay more to receive the manuscript!"

"You only saw the results, but didn't think carefully about how dangerous the business game was. You might as well think about it carefully."

Wang Defa was silent for a while, then suddenly took a breath of cold air and immediately stood in awe!
Yes, he only saw the results and thought it was all a coincidence, but how could there be so many coincidences?

This is a real business struggle, and it’s almost a dimensionality reduction attack and a crushing victory in the business struggle!

"But what does this have to do with you, Mr. Zhu?"

Wang Defa's words almost made Zhu Houzhao lose his balance and he couldn't help coughing violently.

You old dog, if you can’t speak, just shut up!
"Are you okay? If you are, take the manuscript to print!" Zhu Houzhao pointed at Wang Defa angrily.

Wang Defa said, "Okay."

Chen Ce stopped Wang Defa and reminded him, "Go tell those writers that we will still charge five cents for the high-priced manuscripts that we submitted to them before. You can ask them to submit another one."

Hearing what Chen Ce said, Wang Defa and Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but twitch their lips.

This... is too cruel!
The manuscripts that people used to collect at a price of 500 coins per piece have now all become waste and there is definitely no possibility of publication. As a result, you are now using 5 coins to get back the manuscripts that were worth 500 coins.

Anyone who encounters this problem would probably curse.

This is worse than rubbing salt into the wound!
Of course, the actual situation is even more ruthless, because Chen Ce knows that the price Fu Yuan paid is not only the value of these manuscripts, but also the cost paid by the booksellers he integrated and acquired, which is the bulk of the cost.

According to Chen Ce's estimation, Fu Yuan lost at least several thousand taels of silver this time.

But it doesn’t matter, hasn’t he always boasted that he is rich?

I believe he can bear this small loss, right?

After Wang Defa left, Zhu Houzhao finally couldn't help asking Chen Ce, "Little brother, there were so many people around just now that I didn't feel comfortable asking."

Are there many people?
It's just Wang Defa. Oh, there's also Liu Jin. Anyway, in your eyes, Liu Jin is not a human being. "Well, ask."

Zhu Houzhao rubbed his hands and said impatiently: "You have already calculated that the court will not allow other merchants to enter. I know this."

"But why did you figure it out?"

"Don't tell me it was predicted by divination from the Tao Te Ching. I don't believe it."

Zhu Houzhao studied this thing later and found that it was all fake. It was not accurate once out of ten calculations.

But he didn't care that his younger brother was fooling him.

This time he really wanted to know how Chen Ce calculated it in advance.

Chen Ce smiled and patiently explained to Zhu Houzhao: "It's actually not difficult to estimate."

"The weight of words spread in the newspaper industry is too heavy. If there are too many people running this business, the court will inevitably find it difficult to control it."

"Once the newspaper develops wildly and escapes the control of the imperial court, it may eventually become a political tool for those with ulterior motives."

"Then there are only two things the court can do."

Zhu Houzhao asked hurriedly: "Which two?"

Chen Ce said: "Either legislation is passed, or the court controls our family alone."

“The former is unlikely.”

Zhu Houzhao scratched his head and asked suspiciously, "Why?"

Chen Ce said: "The imperial court has never attached importance to business. If the imperial court were to issue a regulation to control the newspaper industry alone, would those noble scholars and officials be willing? The imperial Ming ancestral precepts are not for show. The status of businessmen should not be elevated."

There is a deeper reason that Chen Ce did not tell Zhu Houzhao. Your father will not allow more people to enter. It is enough to have your precious son like you in control of Shuntian Press.

Zhu Houzhao nodded in agreement and said calmly, "Not bad! It's almost what I thought."

Chen Ce was used to Zhu Houzhao's tough talk. Even at this time, he was still able to make excuses for himself. He was indeed a talented person.

"Well, the newspaper society is back on track, you don't have to worry about it now."

Zhu Houzhao blushed and said, "I haven't been worried."

"Oh, yes, you didn't worry."

Zhu Houzhao said: "Really!"

Chen Ce nodded: "Yeah, really."

Zhu Houzhao: "..."

Looking at Chen Ce with a resentful expression, Zhu Houzhao couldn't help but complain in his heart, "Little brother, you have changed. You used to see through things but didn't expose them, but now you just perfunctorily answer me and you're too lazy to pretend."

This hurts me a lot.

After Zhu Houzhao left Huaihua Hutong and returned to the palace, Chen Ce went to the Tongji Canal in the backyard to fish alone.

A young man in white was walking along the river bank.

But this time, he no longer had the pride of the past. He seemed to have aged a lot overnight. The confidence between his brows faded, and was replaced by decadence, deep decadence.

Fu Yuan stood silently behind Chen Ce, watching him fishing, and said hoarsely: "You win this round."

"Let's play the next round!"

"Use your student Tang Yin as the bet!"

(End of this chapter)