The story of the Three Kingdoms was already very popular. When such a good story came out this time, it was naturally very popular. For a while, it actually reached the point where "everyone in the cities and towns in several southeastern provinces talked about the Three Kingdoms."
However, Yan Ling published and promoted "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms" not only because of the huge amount of money, he also had other purposes.
The bookstore published "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", so when the bookstore publishes other books, it will more or less have a certain influence. Although the best-selling of a book has a lot to do with the content of the book itself, distribution and publicity are also important factors that cannot be separated.
So, if Yan Ling wants to publish something with his own private goods, this bookstore will be a great help to him. This is also the real purpose of Yan Ling's large-scale release of "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms".
The power of words is infinite, it can even control people's hearts.
The same goes for storytellers.
The craze for the Three Kingdoms in Yongle's fifth year lasted for more than five years, until the entire Three Kingdoms storybook was finished by storytellers, and the wonderful ones were told several times, but they have not stopped yet.
In the public, you can still often hear the legend of Guan Yu passing five levels and killing six generals, and you can hear the story of the fierce battle in Chibi.
Every wealthy family in the southeast basically has a collection of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms".
Even those literati with some status said that it was heresy and meant for ordinary people to read. On the surface, they were reciting poems to make the poem right, but privately, they couldn't help but secretly buy two copies to read for themselves.
However, no matter how good the book is, no matter how exquisite the plot, if it is read again and again, it will gradually turn from a delicacy into a taste of nothing.
It’s just that there was really no substitute for excellence at that time. Although another contemporary book, "Water Margin", was also held by Yan Ling, he had no plans to release it for the time being.
Because he has a more important one that has been planned for a long time and is about to be promulgated.
——
"By the way, Guan Yunchang said: "Put down the wine and come back as soon as you go." "Turn around and leave, pick up the knife and head straight for Hua Xiong!"
The storyteller shouted, the gavel slammed on the table, and the atmosphere in the entire teahouse became serious.
But down below, although there were many people sitting in the teahouse, they were a little lazy about this impassioned speech.
Someone even whispered a spoiler: "The next step is to warm the wine and kill Hua Xiong."
"How many times did Mr. Guan chop Hua Xiong to death... I have listened to it six times, and I still don't get it. I can tell it even if I stand on top."
There are few entertainment options in this era, and listening to books is people’s biggest hobby. Whenever they have free time, people always gather in teahouses and listen to the writers' stories. Over the past few years, many people in the Three Kingdoms have listened to it several times without stopping to read a chapter. They know the plot by heart, but they are a little bored.
The storyteller is not a fool, and he can also see that since the start of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms tour, there have been a lot fewer listeners. Even those who listened were a little absent-minded, and they had long lost the enthusiasm they once had.
If in the past, when I heard Guan Yu warm the wine and leave, there would have been a round of applause, praising the other party's heroism. What now? There were only a few businessmen from other provinces left, staring at him with shining eyes.
This can directly affect your job.
As he rolled his eyes, he remembered the new book sent from the headquarters not long ago. That book was also of excellent literary quality and he enjoyed reading it. It was a pity that he had only read a few chapters and did not pick it up to talk about it.
Now that I think about it, it's time.
After finishing speaking, the storyteller put away his folding fan and said with a mysterious smile: "Everyone, I have talked a lot about the Three Kingdoms. I am tired of talking about it, and everyone is tired of hearing it. Not long ago, I received a book , but it talks about characters in recent years, and it’s very interesting. I wonder if you are interested in listening to it?”
What he said immediately aroused the curiosity of everyone in the teahouse. What is it that can make even the storyteller's eyes light up?
Everyone immediately started shouting:
"Speak, sir, and stop pretending!"
"Yes, sir, tell me!"
After whetting everyone's appetite, the storyteller was stunned and raised his voice:
"Let's talk about it today."
"The Legend of the Heroes of the Ming Dynasty!"
——
The Legend of the Ming Dynasty Heroes, the final goal of Yan Ling's layout, tells the story of Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang's entrepreneurial journey.
Of course, it's not the original one.
The original book not only had heroes and heroines, but also romance and romance. It was nice to read, but it appeared in the middle and late Ming Dynasty.
Now that Zhu Di is still here, if you write it in that way, it will be absolutely fatal.
This is an improved version personally designed by Yan Ling. It not only greatly beautified Zhu Yuanzhang's image, but also deliberately included private goods - when Zhu Di was born, he added a few lines about a white dragon entering his belly, which would have caused The emperor's attention will most likely gain his favor.
Not only that, Yan Ling also used various techniques of later generations of online novels to create conflicts and slaps. Although this has been used to death in later generations, at that time, it made the people simply unable to stop.
The real private goods are hidden in the content of the book - Yan Ling's role in Zhu Yuanzhang's entrepreneurship.
As we all know, in ancient times, there were four elements -
A benevolent and noble lord, such as King Wen of Zhou and Liu Bei, in "The Heroes of the Ming Dynasty", that is Zhu Yuanzhang. Needless to say, Lao Zhu was indeed the lord of the Ming Dynasty in the early period.
A capable general who can conquer battles, such as Li Jing and Guan Yu, is Xu Da in the book.
A Tiehanhan is responsible for making jokes, such as Zhang Fei, Cheng Yaojin, and Li Kui. Chang Yuchun makes a cameo appearance in this book. Of course, this is a witty move. Anyway, the normal lineage has long ceased to be as prominent as it once was. Chang Mao has After his death, Chang Sheng was also demoted for various reasons in the Hongwu Year, so no one came forward.
What is also needed is a strategist who can make all the changes with uncanny calculations.
For example, Jiang Taigong, Zhuge Liang, Liu Bowen in history, and Yan Ling in The Legend of Heroes.
Folk legends are very powerful. Liu Ji did not have any particularly great achievements, he was just a count, but later he suddenly became as famous as Zhuge Liang. He relied on the word of mouth that the heroes were passed down among the people.
Creating gods, they are all creating gods. Who is not created? Yan Ling simply replaced Liu Ji with himself.
His goal is to make this surname have a special meaning.
After all, Zhuge sounds smart when he hears it, Xuanyuan sounds ancient and mysterious when he hears it, and Sima...
To this end, he also specially adapted some plots.
People at that time were also generally superstitious, and the exaggerated plots in the novel suited people's appetite, so everyone regarded it as official history.
In addition, the biography of the heroes of the Ming Dynasty was closer to the real world and had a stronger sense of immersion, so its popularity quickly rivaled that of the Three Kingdoms, or even surpassed the Three Kingdoms.
Discussions like this can be seen everywhere in the market:
"Marquis Wu borrowed the east wind to defeat Duke Cao at Chibi; King Jingping also borrowed the east wind to help Taizu burn Chen Youliang. This King Jingping is also a god!"
"More than that!"
"When King Jingping observed the sky at night in Ningbo, he figured out that Haozhou had the aura of an emperor. He immediately led three large ships to defect. Although Taizu was a hero among men, King Jingping also had a keen eye to recognize dragons!"
It also spawned a series like:
"When General Xu Da, King of Zhongshan, went north, he carried three tips given to him by King Jingping in his arms and said, "Kuo Guo Timur is a strange man in the world, but as long as he follows the plan, he can defeat the enemy." , the King of Zhongshan refused to listen at first, which led to the defeat of Lingbei. Then he took out his tips and followed the plan, and immediately turned defeat into victory and defeated Guo Timur."
"Zhuge Liang divides the world into three parts, and Yan Ruixuan dominates the country."
In this way, although it is not written in "The Legend of the Heroes of the Ming Dynasty", it is passed on by word of mouth among the people, leading to increasingly outrageous plots.
The benefits are also obvious.
In a short period of time, the "Prince Jingping Wave" was triggered among the people. Although some scholars knew Yan Ling's true deeds and did not exaggerate so much, they could not help but be a little confused because of what others said.
Besides, the Duke of Yue's Mansion and the Duke of Chen's Mansion are still there. It's hard for you to stand up and say something, don't believe it, or something that offends people, right?
Especially since Yan Ling died not too long ago, many people in Ningbo Mansion were still thinking about his good deeds. In addition, there was a famous person in his hometown who was proud of him, so they spontaneously created a perfect and mythical image for him in their minds.
However, at this time, because "The Legend of the Heroes of the Ming Dynasty" had not been circulated for a long time, although Yan Ling also received a certain amount of mythology, it was just a popular image.
He has a certain status in the hearts of the people. However, let alone people like Zhuge Wuhou and Jiang Taigong, Yan Ling's popularity is barely comparable to that of Zhang Fei of the Three Kingdoms and Li Mi of the Sui and Tang Dynasties. After all, the Three Kingdoms has been passed down for thousands of years.
However, something happened next that completely changed everything.
(End of chapter)
