Volume 1: Birth! Seven time travelers Chapter 130 Jinling Daily Victory (I)
Starting from the revision of Donglin Daily on July 1, by September 1 of that year, the special edition of Donglin Daily on current affairs writing and explanation had been published for a full sixty issues.
In these sixty issues, on the one hand, the newspaper sales have increased, and on the other hand, there is some income from advertising. In addition, Donglin does not need to maintain its own logistics channels and sales outlets like Jinling Daily. Therefore, after these sixty issues, Donglin Daily not only did not lose money, but actually made a small profit of several dozen taels of silver.
However, Gu Xiancheng, the boss of Donglin Academy, was still frowning.
There’s no other reason. The academy’s money is running out.
In fact, the gentry in Jiangnan had made great efforts to compete with the Crown Prince for public opinion. The bigwigs from all sides invested 300,000 taels of silver in Donglin. Even if the Jinling Daily lost 200 taels of silver every day when it was first published, it could have been supported for three to five years! However, from the founding of March 11 to now, less than half a year . Only more than 7,000 taels of silver are left out of the 300,000 taels of silver.
If Zhang Shize, who is now involved in the management of Jinling Daily, knew about this situation, the first thing His Excellency the Crown Prince would probably be to launch an anti-corruption operation within the newspaper.
But this matter seemed very normal to the gentlemen of Donglin.
First of all, you were all officials in the court before. When you were in office, in addition to your salary, you also had to collect various gray incomes. Now that you have retired, you have no such income. You can't expect to ask your family for money when you are in your forties or fifties, right?
Secondly, Donglin Academy has permanent students, and they also collect some tuition fees. But as gentlemen, we all learn from Confucius. When collecting tuition fees, we only need to collect some bacon or something. Money is such a dirty thing, how can we collect it openly?
Once again, we at Donglin have always only talked big but never done anything. This time, we gritted our teeth and frowned to do something for you, the gentry of Jiangnan, and His Royal Highness, who are fighting for control of public opinion. How hard is this? Shouldn't we get some hard work pay?
Once again, we are gentlemen. Shouldn't a gentleman's life be of high standard and decent? Food and clothing cost money, writing brushes and inkstones cost money, socializing costs money, and public lectures cost money... Li Sancai spends several thousand taels of silver on a meal, and we also want to live a decent life... So, aren't all the expenses reimbursed from public funds?
In short, the accounts within Donglin were a mess, and Gu Xiancheng had no good solution to the problem.
In the past, the academy did not publish a newspaper. When it held external academic activities every month, it could just find some sponsorship to cover the expenses. Moreover, the entire academy did not have much surplus at that time, and the gentlemen were relatively frugal in spending. But now that there is so much money all of a sudden, when the newspaper is losing a lot of money, the gentlemen have become more generous with their money...
In short, it is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but it is difficult to go from luxury to frugality. If the current Donglin Academy cannot find new vitality, not only will the newspaper not be able to continue, but even all of you who share the same ideals, have lofty aspirations, and noble moral character may break up.
"Cunzhi (Gao Panlong), the Xu family still hasn't transferred the money?"
"No, Xu Yuanzuo said that since the confiscated ships in June, the Xu family has been in financial trouble. They can't even pay for the next quarter, so please bear with me, Uncle Shi (Gu Xiancheng)."
"Hey, Cunzhi is a kind person." Gu Xiancheng shook his head: "Cunzhi may not know yet? The Xu family is not only collecting tea in Nanzhili and Jiangxi, but has also sent a large number of people to Huguang to collect tea."
Yes, in the Southern Song Dynasty, when Suzhou and Hunan were prosperous, the whole country was well-fed. In the Ming Dynasty, when Huguang was prosperous, the whole country was well-fed. In this era, Hunan and Hubei, whether in grain or tea, were far ahead of other provinces in the Ming Dynasty.
In order to save the tea-horse trade in Shaanxi, Zhu Youdong, after contacting the Xu family, directly asked the Xu family to focus on purchasing tea in Huguang - in the future, Huguang's tea should be traded through the sea as much as possible to make money from foreigners, and should not be sold domestically in Shaanxi to harm the people of Shaanxi.
In addition to economic means, Jinling Daily also played its propaganda advantage at this time: in July and August, when Donglin Daily explained various writing skills. Jinling Daily explained in detail the damage caused by the dumping of Huguang tea in Shaanxi to the local people... In short, tea farmers and tea merchants in Huguang, your tea had no other sales channels before and was dumped in Shaanxi. This is not your fault. But now, we still try to sell tea overseas: not only the purchase price is higher, but we don’t have to harm our compatriots, so why not?
Gao Panlong had obviously been paying attention to the Jinling Daily recently, so after listening to Gu Xiancheng talking about what the Xu family had done, he actually nodded: "Oh, going to Huguang to collect tea, that's good. This way, the people's livelihood in northern Shaanxi should be able to be greatly improved."
This nerd!
But Gu Junzi couldn't say anything at this moment, so he had to change the subject: "Cunzhi, how much money does the academy have now?"
"Oh, speaking of this, I have to have a good talk with you. In June, Daofu (Li Sancai) and the Xu family sent a total of 100,000 taels of silver, but now only more than 7,000 taels are left. Among them are the advertising fees prepaid by two shops. Our expenses are really a bit chaotic. Gentlemen of the academy , anyone can report the expenses and anyone can sign to withdraw the silver... Yesterday, I rejected the note from Boxian (Liu Yuanzhen) who applied to withdraw 300 taels. Brother Shushi, the academy is now spending more than it earns. It is best to designate someone to be responsible for the management of finances. All expenses, I suggest, must have your signature."
I, Gu Xiancheng, have never been a high-ranking official, but why can I still call the shots after retirement? Isn't it just because I am generous and have good relationships with people all over the world? If I am like this, don't other gentlemen in the academy also have this need? Only you, Gao Junzi, really want to be a gentleman.
Therefore, Gu Xiancheng had no way to respond to Gao Panlong's words. He had to bring up another topic: "What about Daofu? I wrote to him a few days ago, and he said that Li Ruzhang, that soldier, drove the Yangtze River Navy into the Grand Canal, so the silver and other things could not be delivered. Humph! Can't you send a family member to deliver the ticket?"
"Well, Uncle Shi, the Fangshan Grocery Store has the most stable bill business, right? But isn't this the property of the Crown Prince? Some time ago, I sent a reliable servant to Fengyang to look for Daofu's housekeeper Li Xiang, but I heard that Li Xiang died of an acute illness... Oh, I miss them, master and servant..."
"Cunzhi, what did you just say? Li Xiang is dead."
"yes."
"It's over! It's really over now!"
"Uncle Shi, what do you mean? Although Li Xiang is an acquaintance of ours, he was just a servant. He died of illness. This..."
"Hey! My dear brother Cunzhi, why don't you understand? Li Xiang is only in his fifties this year. He has been traveling all year round. Although he is not in good health, he is definitely not a sick man. Moreover, sulfonamides, penicillin, nitroglycerin and other drugs are now on the market in Fangshan Grocery Store. How can a person who is sick die so quickly? This Li Xiang must have died at the hands of Daofu!"
"Ah? That's impossible . They have a deep relationship between master and servant. Also, why did Daofu want to kill Li Xiang?"
"Humph! It's all for the sake of changing your affiliation!"
