Lin'an City, located in the Baoyanzhai main store on Yujie, Li Daqi was chatting with a middle-aged man, Li Daqi was once named the Duke of Wei by Zhao Gou, but was later deprived of the title by the Emperor Zhao Ji, and finally Zhao Ji took the initiative to restore his title, but under the persuasion of Li Yanqing, Li Daqi did not accept the title of Duke of Guo, but retreated to accept the title of Duke of Tangyin County, but even if it is a county duke, it is also a high lord from the second grade.

The middle-aged man who chatted with Li Daqi was surnamed Zhang, called Zhang Rong, his grandfather was the brother of Zhang Guifei in the Song Renzong era, and he was also a distant relative, but Zhang Rong also had another identity, he was the proprietor of the "Morning Post", and controlled this newspaper that had a profound impact on the people of the Great Song Dynasty.

The two met today for the purpose of Li Daqi's purchase of 50% of the "Zaobao" for final negotiations.

Speaking of which, the two have been dealing with each other for many years, when Bianliang retreated, Li Daqi had bought Shilou in Zhang Rong's hand at a price of 50,000 taels of silver, Li Daqi not only wanted Shilou to be on the five acres of land on the royal street, he still wanted the brand of Shilou.

Therefore, Li Daqi opened a new building on Lin'an Yu Street, and the business was still hot, out of emotional reluctance, Zhang Rong took out 50,000 taels of silver to buy half of the building, of course, including half of the land under the building.

The essence of this transaction is that Zhang Rong exchanged the land and half of the brand in Bianjing Shilou for four acres of prime land in Lin'an, and neither party suffered a loss.

It was on the basis of this good deal that when Li Daqi proposed to buy 50% of the "Zaobao", Zhang Rong did not refuse, and after three contacts between the two sides, Zhang Rong finally agreed to sell Li Daqi half of the "Zaobao" shares, and then they needed to talk about the price.

Of course, Zhang Rong is also thoughtful, he knows very well that it is not Li Daqi who really buys "Zaobao", but Li Yanqing behind Li Daqi, Li Yanqing wants to control public opinion through "Zaobao", if he does not agree, then the lightest consequence is that the second "Zaobao" comes out to compete in the ring, if it is a little more serious, Li Yanqing will not let himself go.

The power of the Zhang family has long disappeared, they have a little money is also the old book in the past, they no longer have a spokesperson in the officialdom, they belong to marginalized relatives, and now Li Yanqing and the civil official group hold the power, the Zhao family is completely hollowed out, and his relatives have no power position, in this case, Li Daqi only opened his mouth to ask for half of his share, how could Zhang Rong not agree, how dare not agree.

The two chatted for a few words, and Li Daqi finally turned the topic to the "Morning Post" element, and he smiled and said: "Otherwise, I will add another 20,000 taels of silver, 120,000 taels of silver, this sincerity is enough!" ”

Zhang Rong smiled and said: "I fully believe in Brother Li's sincerity, and I also accept the price of 120,000 taels of silver, but I am not short of money, and I also hope that Brother Li can replace it with industry." ”

"Don't fight Bao Yanzhai's idea!"

"Of course it's not Baoyan Zhai, but Brother Li's other industries, I know that Brother Li has a lot of properties in his hands, and each one is a hen that lays golden eggs."

"Then tell me, what kind of property do you want me to have?"

Zhang Rong pondered for a moment and said: "Actually, I want two properties, one is Shilou, which is the ancestral business of our Zhang family, which is equivalent to Brother Li's Baoyan Zhai, Brother Li will return the other half of Shilou to me, so that I can have Shilou completely, and it is also an explanation to my ancestors." ”

Li Daqi smiled, "I can return Shilou to you, but half of Shilou is definitely more than 50,000 taels of silver, how much is this price Brother Zhang Xian?" ”

"How about 80,000 taels of silver?"

Li Daqi nodded and agreed, "This price is acceptable, then there are still 40,000 taels of silver, Brother Zhang has to think about it." ”

Zhang Rong said slowly: "I want the second industry, I want a part of the alum building!" ”

Seeing that Li Daqi's face changed, he hurriedly explained: "Of course it's not 40,000 taels of silver, I know that this price can't even be bought for 10%, what I mean is that if you count 30% of the 200,000 taels of silver, after offsetting the 40,000 taels of silver, I will supply Brother Li with 160,000 taels of silver." ”

Li Daqi paced back and forth, Alum Lou is his most profitable industry, he can earn hundreds of thousands of taels of silver every year, and he will take 30% of 200,000 taels of silver, frankly speaking, this price is still too low.

In fact, Li Daqi himself was not interested in "Zaobao", and if his son had not repeatedly asked him to take half of the "Zaobao", he would not have negotiated with Zhang Rong.

After pondering for a long time, Li Daqi said: "I can agree to your conditions, but in the "Morning Post", I want two important positions. ”

"Brother Li, please speak!"

"One is the general audit of the "Morning Post", and the other is the general accounting office of the "Morning Post", how about it? These two positions are appointed by me. ”

Li Daqi wants the right to review the "Morning Post", which is expected by Zhang Rong, but Li Daqi also wants financial power, which is actually the lifeblood of the "Morning Post", which is a bit unexpected by Zhang Rong, but Zhang Rong has been longing for Alum Tower for a long time, and he knows that it is not a matter of money at all to get 30% of Alum Tower, not to mention that the price of 200,000 taels of silver has taken advantage of himself.

He has already taken advantage, so he can't go too far, so he smiled happily: "Then we will make a decision!" ”

This transaction is Zhang Rong with half of the "Morning Post" share plus 160,000 taels of silver, in exchange for half of the Shilou and 30% of the alum building, this is actually each taking what they need, the alum building represents the identity, Zhang Rong can get 30% of the shares, in the eyes of ordinary people, he took a big advantage, but Li Yanqing has mastered the right of public opinion through this transaction, which is a political resource that the entire alum building cannot exchange.

Soon, the two signed the contract in black and white, and the other contracts were signed by Li Daqi, but the contract of "Morning Post" was signed by Li Daqi's wife Yang, and on the record of the Lin'an County Government, the two proprietors of "Morning Post", one is Zhang Rong, and the other is Yangmei, I'm afraid no one would have thought that this Yangmei is actually Li Daqi's wife.

Immediately, Li Daqi and Zhang Rong agreed that each of them would contribute 100,000 taels of silver to expand the circulation of "Zaobao" in all states in the world, and strive to expand the "Zaobao" from the current 300,000 copies per day to one million copies per day in the shortest possible time.

Of course, the benefits of an alliance with Li Daqi were also obvious, and at the same night, a well-informed person provided the Zaobao with shocking news that the Song army had recaptured Bianliang in Tokyo this morning, and the puppet king Liu Yu had died by self-immolation.

Even the imperial court only got the news the next morning, but as soon as it was dawn, a newsboy shouted loudly on Lin'an Street: "The latest news, the Song army has conquered Bianliang and recovered the old capital of Tokyo!" ”

The officials who were going to the palace stopped one after another, spending ten yuan to buy a copy of the "Morning Post", and Fan Zhixu, who was going to the palace, was also stunned, and hurriedly asked his subordinates to buy a copy of the "Morning Post" and came back.

Fan Zhixu eagerly read the news of the Northern Expedition, and the headline on the front page said that the main force of the Song army, under the leadership of the regent, had conquered Bianliang in Tokyo yesterday morning, and the puppet king Liu Yu set his family on fire and died.

It is also written below that the Song army held a grand ceremony to enter the city, which was warmly welcomed by the people of the city, of course, some words that were unfavorable to Li Yanqing were naturally not mentioned.

Fan Zhixu was very surprised, the news had not yet been sent to Lin'an, and even the imperial court didn't know about it, and the morning newspaper actually knew it first, which was really incredible, which can only show that the news spies of the "morning post" have been in Bianliang.

At this time, the sound of firecrackers in the city began to sound, and the cheers around continued to sound, half of the people in Lin'an moved from Bianliang, Tokyo, for them, recovering the old homeland was more important than annihilating how many golden soldiers, and it was more emotionally exciting.

Fan Zhixu hurriedly ordered to speed up, and soon he arrived at the official office of the Zhizheng Hall, at this time, the sound of firecrackers in Lin'an City had already sounded, and many officials came out of the official office one after another, and the officials who did not know the situation were full of surprise, and they did not know what happy things had happened.

"Fan Xianggong, what's going on?"

Gao Shen walked out of the official office quickly and asked, he came a little early today, he didn't see the "Morning Post", Fan Zhixu handed him the "Morning Post", "Look at it yourself!" ”

Gao Shen hurriedly browsed, his eyes widened, and he couldn't close his mouth in surprise, "It's a great joy to recover Tokyo Bianliang!" ”

Fan Zhixu smiled bitterly, "It's really funny that we, the dignified Xiangguo, actually want to get the latest news from the "Morning Post"!" ”

Gao Shen smiled, "Actually, it's nothing, we know sooner or later, we know that there is no loss, but "Morning Post" is different, this is their core interest, if it is published again in three days, who wants to buy this newspaper?" ”

"That's right!"

Fan Zhixu smiled and nodded, "Many of the livelihood issues in it are very timely, and they are very important to our imperial court's decision-making, I have to take a look at it every morning, otherwise I don't know what the price of rice is today, and the ineffectiveness of our "Chaobao" is far worse in comparison." ”

"This is not what we read in the "Chaobao", and we don't need any fun, and our news is more accurate and richer, and the "Morning Post" is also going to find news!"

The two of them walked as they talked, and soon entered the inner hall, and today their Zhizheng Hall also had an important agenda, that is, they would discuss whether to allow the Zhao royal family to do business.