This is not a hint at all, it is a clear statement! It seems that his efforts have not been in vain recently, and Chongzhen began to force himself to count. He is even more sober than Zhu Cilang.

Zhu Cixuan explained by the way: "Father, I asked them to come to the capital to train the use standards of the new type of muskets and the coordination of infantry cannons. If they directly fire the muskets, I'm afraid they won't use them well."

Chongzhen nodded: "I understand, do you have anything else?"

Zhu Cixuan cited the newspaper: "I came to ask Fushe what my father thought about the matter of wanting to run a newspaper?"

Chongzhen frowned: "You haven't written a memorial specifically saying that newspapers are the national mouthpiece and the forefront of publicity, so I don't plan to let others run newspapers."

Zhu Cilang smiled and said, "Father, the total circulation of Daming Daily and Daming Min Daily is less than 300,000 copies. According to the survey results of the Statistics Department, 60% and 70% of people still think that the price of newspapers is too high, especially because the page of Daming Daily is half less than that of Min Daily, resulting in a daily circulation of only more than 70,000 copies. If the price is further reduced, the circulation of newspapers will definitely increase a lot. At that time, more people will read Daming Daily and Daming Min Daily, so that we can better play the publicity role."

Chongzhen agreed with this statement, but he looked at Zhu Cixuan in confusion: "What does it matter if this agrees to them run a newspaper?"

Zhu Cilang raised his head and seemed to be in control: "In the past, the Ming Dynasty books were registered by the Ministry of Rites, but the books published in Suzhou, Changzhou, Jinling, Huzhou, Huizhou and other places were of quite high quality. The quality was comparable to those of the previous dynasties. However, in terms of overall engraving quality, the books published in the Ming Dynasty were not as good as those of the Song and Yuan dynasties. Especially in recent years, the folk engraving style has become worse. It is manifested as poor proofreading, arbitrarily tampered with original texts; poor binding, and more pages were removed; useless prefaces and postscripts, and even forged ancient books. It formed a trend of "focusing on economic benefits but not social benefits."

Zhu Cixuan pointed to the newspaper: "By taking advantage of this opportunity to open a newspaper, the father can set up a press and publishing bureau to regulate the publication of books and newspapers. All books and newspapers can only be published after review. In order to prevent newspapers from slandering the court, leaking state secrets, leaking military layout and strategic intentions, all newspapers must be published by the Press and Publication Bureau on their behalf. Private publications are strictly prohibited from being published without permission."

After listening to it, Chongzhen immediately reacted: "Do you want to subsidize the income of printing newspapers to them for the distribution of Daming Daily and Daming Min Daily to reduce the prices of the two newspapers? But it can't be distributed by Fushe alone."

Zhu Ciyang nodded: "It is precisely because using the income from other newspapers to subsidize the distribution of Daming Daily and Daming Min Daily. Of course, relying solely on Fushe alone is naturally not enough to subsidize the distribution of two newspapers. However, as long as Fushe publishes its own newspaper, the rest of the competing parties will naturally rush to publish their own newspapers. Wouldn't it be subsidized? Moreover, the most profitable thing in running newspapers is not the printing costs, but the advertising costs."

Chongzhen was puzzled for a moment and remembered that Zhu Cixuan had just said that he had reported to the newspaper and advertised it, causing the profits of the shops in the imperial shop to increase several times. He quickly asked expectantly: "Advertising?"

Zhu Cilang said huh: "Just as Huang'er said, if advertising can increase the sales of a product several times, the merchant will definitely be willing to spend more money to advertise. Just like a child is willing to spend tens of thousands of taels of silver every month to advertise."

Chongzhen nodded in agreement: "What the emperor said makes sense, but if we print advertisements on the newspapers they distributed, will those people be dissatisfied?"

Zhu Cilang smiled strangely: "Father, no one knows the benefits now. We can lower part of the issuance price when we negotiate with them and let them give us the advertising page to operate. When they realize that the situation is complete, we have a contract."

Chongzhen looked at Zhu Cilang's smirk and wanted to sympathize with those who were about to run the newspaper. However, when he thought of such open and honest cheating, it was still very exciting: "The bargaining matter is handed over to the emperor. Although there is a contract, it is inevitable that the censor will be dissatisfied with your solemn advertising income. It is not easy for the father to favor you too much!"

Regarding Chongzhen's concern, Zhu Cilang had already thought of a countermeasure and quickly explained: "Father, all we want is the advertisement in the middle seam, and the advertisement position in the lower fifth of each page. If they see money, they can add advertisements on it themselves. As long as they don't force them to a dead end, they shouldn't be in a hurry."

Chongzhen looked at Zhu Ciyang speechlessly. He could report to a group of scholars to a desperate man, and only Zhu Ciyang dared to say that. But what he said seemed to make sense: "If they set up a lot of advertisements, how can you make money?"

Zhu Cixuan spread his hands: "If there are too many advertisements, Baixin will hate it. Baixin is unhappy to buy it. In the end, they will lose it themselves. Therefore, smart people will definitely find ways to balance it. If they can't do it well, just let them go bankrupt."

Zhu Cilang looked at Chongzhen pondering there, not knowing what he was worried about, but felt that Chongzhen was just a moji, without any wise demeanor.

Chongzhen asked uncertainly after walking around a few times: "If everyone distributed newspapers, wouldn't no one read the imperial newspaper?"

Zhu Cilang shook his head: "Father, this is just the opposite. The more newspapers there are, the more people will believe in the newspapers of the court. It is impossible for each company to run newspapers to be fair and just. They must have their own thoughts and biases, and only those who can report pertinently and reliable information are the Daming Daily and the Daming Min Daily. At that time, we will naturally be the newspapers that the people trust most."

After solving the last few questions, Chongzhen finally made up his mind to run a newspaper: "Does the emperor have the right candidate for the review work?"

Zhu Cilang shook his head: "This is not the case, but the child thinks that this matter should not be ignored. There are many cliques in officials. In addition to officials, an internal supervisor must be assigned to the supervisor for the review. This will prevent some people from colluding with each other to make some unfavorable remarks."

Chongzhen nodded. Looking at the pile of memorials on his desk, his mood of relaxation became heavier again. He looked at Zhu Cixuan: "The emperor rarely speaks in the court recently. What do you think of the current court?"

Zhu Cilang spread his hands: "Father, there have been many disputes in the court recently. In fact, the main problem is the changes in the cabinet ministers. Some people attempt to influence the father's judgment through the court, and most of the impeachment is to stigmatize political enemies and give themselves the opportunity to stand out."

Chongzhen naturally understood this principle, but he just said that he could not relax the memorial at this time. If the impeachment issue is true, wouldn’t it delay the big thing?
Chapter completed!