No money?
Zhu Yunzhen smiled bitterly.
The funding allocated to the Bureau of Technology Research and Manufacturing is really quite a lot.
For this reason, officials from the Ministry of Revenue have complained to him many times.
But it's still not enough.
Far from enough.
no way.
With the economic foundation of an agricultural country, it is still too reluctant to support systematic scientific research and industrial manufacturing.
Industrial development in history was all because industrial manufacturing itself could create huge profits.
From there it grew like a snowball.
But in his current situation, he is pushing forward forcefully.
It has not yet created enough profits, so it is entirely funded by the state.
The investment is astronomical.
The guns, cannons, cement, mimeograph machines, etc. that can be produced are not profitable.
If it weren't for the increase in commercial taxes and rectification, which added a lot of revenue to the national treasury, the Technology Research and Manufacturing Bureau would have been shut down long ago due to lack of money.
"Your Highness Taisun."
When Zhu Yunzhen was thinking, Yao Guangxiao's voice sounded.
"The poor monk compiles the "Hongwu Dadian", and the court does not need to allocate any more funds."
"No need to withdraw money?"
Zhu Yunxuan was stunned for a moment.
He knew very well that the compilation of the Hongwu Canon was very expensive.
Not to mention the paper required, in this era, the cost is not cheap.
Just hiring a few thousand scholars would cost the same as raising an army of tens of thousands.
Of course, it is not the New Army, but the ordinary army of the Ming Dynasty.
There is no need to withdraw funds, can Yao Guangxiao be turned into money?
"During this period, through research by the Technical Research and Manufacturing Bureau, the cost of paper manufacturing has been reduced by 80 percent."
Yao Guangxiao said: "After the launch of People's Daily, the sales volume has been extremely good. The total sales volume of each issue shipped to all parts of the country is as high as one million. Each copy costs ten cents, and the daily income can reach ten million."
"After deducting various costs, the profit is still 3 million yuan, which is equivalent to earning 3,000 taels of silver per day."
"With this item, it is more than enough to compile the "Hongwu Dadian"."
Zhu Yunzhen was shocked when he heard this number.
A million servings a day?
Are there so many people buying it in Ming Dynasty?
After thinking about it for a while, I suddenly realized it.
Daming is really big.
There are more than a thousand counties, hundreds of wards, and hundreds of offices.
Although the proportion of readers is not high, it is not an exaggeration to sell hundreds or even thousands of copies in each county.
Wouldn’t it be terrifying if we put the whole country together?
What's more, in a city like Jinling City, the number sold is much higher.
"People's Daily" uses extremely popular language, which is easy to understand.
Many people who have only read books for a year or two cannot read ancient books, but they have no problem reading "People's Daily".
Not to mention whether they care about court affairs.
Just because of the lack of entertainment, reading stories, strange news and chatting in newspapers and periodicals for their own entertainment is enough to attract them to spend money.
In the Ming Dynasty, the proportion of scholars who had studied for more than ten years and were able to take the imperial examination was not very large.
But there are still many people who have attended the Enlightenment School for a few days and can recognize a few words.
Many farmers also go to great lengths to send their sons to school for the first half of a year.
It’s not for seeking fame, it’s simply to open your eyes and recognize a few words.
You can use it when you need it.
In case you don’t even know the signature and stamp.
Calculated in this way, the readership is very large.
It is sold all over the country and it is not surprising that it sells one million copies every day.
However, the net income of three thousand taels a day still shocked Zhu Yunxuan.
Calculated in this way, it is more than one million taels of silver per year!
How much will the tax revenue be in the next year?
Counting Mimai, it's about 30 million shi.
Equivalent to about 20 million taels of silver.
He had never expected that he could earn so much money just by running a newspaper.
Is this the power of industrialization?
Only when Zhu Yunzhen was truly immersed in it could he feel the horror of industrialization.
In later generations, people have long been accustomed to all this.
But in an agricultural society, we can truly understand the horror of industrialization.
"Okay, old monk, it turns out that printing newspapers is so profitable, but you don't give me any of it? Without the mimeograph machine of the Bureau of Technology Research and Manufacturing, would your newspaper be able to publish so many copies?"
Xu Miaojin was listening nearby, but she got angry.
She has been worrying about the funding sources of the Technical Research and Manufacturing Bureau all day long.
Unexpectedly, this kind-hearted old monk actually made a lot of money.
"That's not possible." Yao Guangxiao immediately refused: "Compiling the "Hongwu Dadian" is very expensive. It can't be done without money."
"Then you don't need more than one million taels of silver a year, right?" Xu Miaojin said angrily, "If you don't want to, then I will move all the mimeograph machines back. If you want, I can give you ten thousand taels of silver each!"
"How dare you?" Yao Guangxiao blew his beard and stared.
"Do you think I dare?" Xu Miaojin showed no sign of weakness.
"Ahem..."
Seeing the two of them quarreling with each other, Zhu Yunzhen came out to smooth things over and said: "Old monk, compiling the "Hongwu Dadian" won't cost so much, right?"
Yao Guangxiao said hurriedly: "The poor monk plans to double the compilation of "Hongwu Dadian" on the original basis. Now that there are mimeograph machines, many books also need to be printed in large quantities."
It turns out that after I finished compiling the book, I planned to copy several copies by hand and store them in several places to prevent any loss.
But now that he had a mimeograph machine, he wanted to make a batch of them all.
As a result, the cost has naturally increased a lot.
"Okay!" Zhu Yunzhen had no objection.
In the history of Yongle Dadian, only one was compiled at first.
A copy was later re-recorded.
Because of insufficient quantity, most of the largest encyclopedia in the world's history has been lost.
Books are not like other things.
Books are compiled for people to read.
After building a library, the important thing is not the collection of books itself, but allowing people to borrow them.
Otherwise, what's the use of hiding there?
During the borrowing process, it is inevitable that books will be lost or damaged.
Only by printing in large quantities can a certain book be prevented from disappearing in the long history.
Yao Guangxiao was overjoyed when he heard His Highness Taisun's approval.
Being able to print books widely and spread culture is a matter of immeasurable merit.
“Since printing newspapers and periodicals can make money, then so can printing.”
Zhu Yunxuan smiled and said: "You can select some lively and interesting ones from the classics and print them in large quantities. On the one hand, you can popularize knowledge and culture, and on the other hand, you can earn more money."
He glanced at Xu Miaojin, who was looking dissatisfied next to him, and said with a smile: "The proceeds from the printing will be divided equally between your two families."
"Okay!" Xu Miaojin clapped her hands and praised.
Little girls her age like to read those story books the most.
I also think that once they are published, they will definitely be snapped up and a lot of money can be made.
Although it cannot completely solve the funding problem of the Technology Research and Manufacturing Bureau, every extra point counts.
The little girl is living on pennies now.
After all, the prices paid by the court for things produced by the Technical Research and Manufacturing Bureau, such as guns, cannons, and mimeograph machines, are all cost prices.
Earn nothing.
"Yes!" Yao Guangxiao certainly had no objection to this.
"Speaking of money." Zhu Yunzhen laughed meaningfully and said, "Actually, the national treasury is not short of silver now. Do you know how much silver was obtained from the issuance of national bonds?"
"How much?" Both of them were very curious.
Although Yao Guangxiao was in the court, he was not in charge of this matter and had no knowledge of it.
"One hundred million taels!"
Zhu Yunzhen smiled and stretched out a finger.
(End of chapter)
