Wen Daming is a down-and-out scholar in Jiangnan Province, who began to fight in the Jinshi Branch during the Wude years, and now more than ten years have passed, and the original little fresh meat is now thirty and three, but he still does not want to be in the Jinshi. When he left his hometown, he swore that he would not return home.

Outcome......

Over the years, Wen Daming has been drifting in Chang'an City.

To paraphrase the words of later generations, Wen Daming is an old qualified "long drifter".

Living in a cheap rental house, I rely on helping people write letters every day, making guest appearances as a teacher, earning some pocket money, and living a life without the next meal.

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

Among the various workshops, there are recruits every day, and the wages are not low.

However, Wen Daming naturally would not do these manual work.

I have worked hard to read books for so many years, but I didn't want to work as a helper in the workshop.

"Daming, this is your remuneration this time, I just happened to meet Luo Bingwang today, so I helped ask."

Shangguan Yi's carriage stopped outside Wen Daming's rental house, pushed open the courtyard gate, and saw Wen Daming shaking his head and carrying a book.

Speaking of which, this Wen Daming can also be regarded as a backbone literati.

Although he participated in the Spring Festival with Shangguan Yi at the beginning, he had some friendships.

If he is thick-skinned enough, he can rely on Shangguan Yi to find a job in the Chu Palace, but he can't let go of this face.

Of course, he has been able to drift in Chang'an City for so many years, in fact, he still has Shangguanyi's help in it, otherwise he would have been on the streets a long time ago.

This time, Luo Bingwang was responsible for planning the "Datang Daily" and recruiting some writers, Shangguanyi felt that it was a good opportunity, so he asked Wen Daming to apply.

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

Without him, this position is more expensive.

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

Moreover, being able to publish what you have written, this article alone is enough to attract countless scholars to contribute like moths to the fire.

"You Shao, I'm bothering you to come here in your busy schedule, but I really don't want to go."

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

Now he is not the kind of scholar who doesn't eat grains, and the copper coins in this money bag are obviously much more than he imagined.

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

"Daming, this remuneration is distributed according to the rules formulated by Luo Bingwang himself, whether it is more or less, and it has nothing to do with me at all. If you have any questions about remuneration, you can ask him later. ”

The remuneration for an article was almost 500 yuan, and to be honest, Shangguan Yi also felt a little strange.

The "Datang Daily" only sells for a penny, which is already cheap enough.

There are few people in Chang'an City who think that there is still money to be made at this price.

Nowadays, writers are also paid according to sales, and the cost is even higher.

King Luo Bin is not afraid that he will lose too much by then, and His Royal Highness the King of Chu will not let the "Datang Daily" continue?

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

"You Shao, no matter what, thank you very much this time. I can also see it clearly, in this Chang'an City, not to mention that the writing is much better than mine, even if the writing is similar to mine, there are not 100 or 80, I can have this opportunity to become a special writer of "Datang Daily", thanks to your help. However, I am really satisfied with this job, and even if I can publish an article every time, it is not impossible to live like this for the rest of my life. ”

Wen Daming now doesn't have much hope for the Jinshi examination.

No matter who it is, if you fail the college entrance examination more than a dozen times in a row, it will be difficult 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 father.

"The main thing is that the story you tell is good, to be honest, I actually didn't expect you to write those rumors in the market so with relish, and even His Royal Highness the King of Chu praised the story you organized."

Wen Daming's article in the "Datang Daily" is the kind of small story that is rumored in the market.

Although it is the kind of story that looks vulgar and bloody, it is a very important content to expand the audience of "Datang Daily".

"No matter how well the story is written, I have to thank His Royal Highness the King of Chu for providing such a platform for me, otherwise I would write a bunch of stories every day, and it would be useless, and no workshop would be willing to take the risk of printing."

In these days, printing books basically requires the author to post money, remuneration or something, that is not to think about it, and everyone publishes books for the sake of remuneration.

Of course, today's scholars like Wen Daming, although they are ashamed to talk about money on the surface, actually need money very much in their hearts to improve their quality of life.

"You do it well, it's a three-day edition now, and after a while, it's likely to really become a daily edition, and you'll have to be busy then."

Shangguan Yi sent Wen Daming's remuneration, and after a brief greeting, he left.

As the Gong Cao of the Chu Prince's Mansion joined the army, he had a lot to do.

……

The eldest grandson of the house.

"Aye, this is the "Datang Daily" pushed out by the Chu Wangfu, it is said that thousands of copies were sold in one day today, which attracted the attention of many people."

Changsun Chong has always been very concerned about the affairs of the Chu Palace, and with the publication of the newspaper this time, the movement in Chang'an City is not small, it would be strange if he didn't know.

"I also read this daily newspaper today, although it seems that the writing is quite miscellaneous, but 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 there should be no money to earn for a penny, so why is Li Kuan still so keen on expanding the scale of "Datang Daily"? ”

Although the eldest grandson Wuji is also a great talent in the world, he is not a traverser after all.

I don't know much about 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 expensive.

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

An ordinary book, more than a dozen silver coins, as little as a few hundred dollars, where can the people afford it?

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

However, no matter how much you drop, books are still a valuable item after all.

"Although I don't know why he wants to do this, but that Qujiang Academy is learning very quickly, I heard that Duhe said that Qujiang Academy is already considering launching something similar to a newspaper, should we discuss with the Zheng family and make a newspaper in Weishui Academy? The child made a simple calculation, if the scale is not very large, a newspaper will not lose too much money. ”

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

When the time comes, if he finds that Li Kuan has made a new name, he can quickly follow suit.

This is also a matter of experience.

"Chong'er, you have finally grown up and know how to think independently. This proposal is very good, he Li Kuan inexplicably came up with a "Datang Daily", there must be some reasons behind it that we don't understand, but we don't have to worry about these first, he came up with such a newspaper, we can also come to a "Chang'an Evening News", and also choose to publish it once every three days, no matter what tricks Li Kuan plays, we will not be passive. ”

Eldest Sun Wuji had a relieved expression on his face.

Although Changsun Chong's proposal is not very clever, it is a more suitable move at the moment.

If you wait for everything to be clear before acting, then the daylily may be cold.

"Aye, then I'll arrange for someone to run it. This "Datang Daily" is said to have recruited a lot of poor people as special writers, if we are too late, it is likely that everyone will be selected by them. ”

Changsun Chong seems to have done a lot of work, and in just one day, he has inquired about a lot of news.

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

……

In a courtyard near Guanshishan Academy, there are four big characters "Datang Daily" hanging at the door, which is really the location of Datang Daily, which is now stirring up the wind and water in Chang'an City.

Luo Bingwang is basically here these days.

Anyway, his position as the bishop of Yongping County is usually in a state of fishing for three days and drying nets for two days.

Although Li Kuan attaches great importance to Xiaocorn's education, he rarely forces her to learn, but more through some guidance.

"Lord Wang, if you write an article like this, then what can be said on 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."

Luo Bingwang listened to Li Kuan holding a copy of "Datang Daily" with a puzzled face, and put forward various opinions there.

"It doesn't matter, when the cost of paper and printing goes down, we can increase the amount of paper for each newspaper. Now it's just a big piece of paper, and later it can be two big, three big, or even more. However, this vernacular must be promoted. Of course, considering that everyone has an acceptance process, it doesn't take a moment to make it very white, and you can refer to "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "Smiling Proud Jianghu". ”

If you want to make a newspaper, you want more people to understand the newspaper, and the vernacular is something that cannot be avoided.

As far as the content of classical Chinese is concerned, even if ordinary people are literate, they don't want to understand it.

Just like the Chinese people of later generations, they are basically literate, but not to mention anything else, how many people can't understand a single "Analects"?

If this is the content of "Datang Daily" with such a crepe content, then even if everyone buys it fresh at the beginning, the sales will slowly decline in the future.

This is not what Li Kuan wants to see.

"If it's just to the extent of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", it's barely acceptable. But Lord Wang, you mentioned before that you have to tell a story like a daily conversation, which is very difficult, and it takes up too much space. ”

"Let's give you a period of transition, in a month or two, except for some official documents of the imperial court, other articles must be easy to understand, so that workshop helpers who only know thousands of commonly used words can also understand our newspaper, and we can't make it to the end of the group of people from Shishan Academy who are there to buy it in friendship."

Li Kuan is actually quite satisfied with the start of "Datang Daily".

Although the sales volume did not exceed 10,000 copies, in the future generations, it was a street hit and could not be hit the street anymore.

Not to mention 10,000 copies, if any newspaper does not sell 100,000 copies, it will be a mess.

Except, of course, for professional and academic classes.

"This ...... Lord Wang, do you want to think about it again? ”

Luo Bingwang was also panicked when he saw that Li Kuan really wanted to make the newspaper into vernacular.

How many readers are able to accept this change?

But Li Kuan doesn't care whether you can accept it or not, as long as the broad masses of people can accept it.

"This king has thought it through, so you can do it according to this. If anyone can't accept it, they will change people to write it, our newspaper, but it has to be measured, high and low, what's the point? ”

……

Wen Daming suddenly found that his gang had become popular.

In the past few days, I have heard that some of the originally down-and-out scholars around me have come to the door to make an appointment.

"Brother Wen, can you really make money by writing these manuscripts?"

In the restaurant of the Home Inn , Zhu Zhishan looked at Wen Daming with anticipation.

is also a down-and-out scholar in Jiangnan Province, Zhu Zhishan's life is not as good as Wen Daming's.

He couldn't even afford to rent a house, so he could only live in a chase bunk where seven or eight people shared a room in the Homeinn.

But just this morning, someone asked him for an appointment, which made him very excited.

Because yesterday at noon, Wen Daming, who got the manuscript fee, just invited several down-and-out scholars who had been good before to have a very hearty lunch, which seemed to everyone to be a very hearty lunch.

Therefore, Zhu Zhishan also has a preliminary understanding of the matter of the manuscript.

Originally, he was still envious, but he didn't expect that this kind of good thing would also fall on his head the next day.

"Zhishan, this Datang Daily is like this, but it is the Chang'an Evening News that is looking for you to make an appointment, and it seems that it is not opened by the Chu Wangfu, how to calculate the remuneration of this manuscript, I actually don't know very much. But with such a comparison of Datang Daily put there, I think the shopkeeper of Chang'an Evening News should not be too picky. ”

Wen Daming was also a little surprised, in just a few days, the Datang Daily first appeared, and now the Chang'an Evening News is also here.

I heard that there is also a company called Qujiang Daily that is also recruiting writers.

When did the newspaper become so popular?

Does this mean that the spring of these poor men is coming?

God has eyes!