Forget about beliefs and hobbies.
Soon after this issue of the newspaper was published, six of the eighteen social clubs in Tokyo immediately turned to the football league.
Let’s be honest.
In fact, these six clubs have always been at the bottom of the Cuju competition and have never seen a chance to stand out.
Because Cuju is a purely skill-based sport that requires extremely high talent, but is also very simple, the element of luck plays a very low role in the game, resulting in Qiyun Club's perennial monopoly on the top spot.
Unlike football, which has a huge chance of upsets, the talent requirements are also relatively broad. Fast running, flexibility, and good footwork are all talents that can shine on the football field.
The audience is much larger.
Besides, accompanying the prince in his studies was hard work even if not meritorious. However, the profits earned by the six societies, which have always been at the bottom, are very limited each year, almost like alms.
Unlike the football league, even if you are at the bottom, you can still make huge profits.
First, the league will give you subsidies based on your ranking. Second, for every game you play, if you lose you can take 20% of the ticket money, the winner takes 50%, and the remaining 30 goes to the league.
...
...
There are many subsidies, but we win more.
We still need to motivate them to become stronger.
However, in addition to these six clubs, many other Cuju clubs are also considering transformation.
After all, the Song Dynasty was a commercial society, and there was a boss behind the Cuju Club, and they were also trying to make money. Now it seems that the rewards on the football side are obviously more generous.
[The problem of slow update of new chapters has finally been solved on the app that can change sources. Download the xbyuan source changer app here and check the latest chapters of this book on multiple sites at the same time. ]
The only reason for their hesitation was that the Cuju game had existed for a long time and was relatively stable, whereas football had only been played once, so it was a question whether it could continue for a long time.
But this caused great panic to the Cuju Club Alliance.
Cuju Club can transform, but they can’t. If Cuju Club switches to the football league, they will be completely finished!
But these people are not fools. The annual bonus of Cuju Club depends on them.
They actively spread the rumor that Cuju was going to be destroyed and that Zhang Fei was plotting to eliminate Cuju.
It has to be said that this trick is very effective. This statement immediately sparked widespread debate. After all, Cuju was the number one sport in the Northern Song Dynasty.
Moreover, the vast group of scholars and officials is filled with a large number of Cuju enthusiasts. If they were asked to play football, they would either die or be disabled, and the key point is that the opponent is Zhang San.
Although now the reformists and conservatives are fighting for Zhang San.
But that is limited to political struggles and does not represent class issues and business competition.
As a result, many scholars and officials expressed their willingness to raise funds to support the Cuju League.
This made many Cuju clubs change their minds. After all, they had been playing Cuju for so many years and it was their comfort zone. Switching to football was full of uncertainty.
Zhang Fei did not respond to this. He thought it did not require a response, and he had never thought of eliminating Cuju. The key still lies in what kind of games the audience likes to watch.
Besides, he has too many things to do right now, and the football league has to be put on hold for a while.
Today, Zhang Fei and the main donors of the Great Song Charity Fund came to the movable type workshop in the west of the outer city.
"This big!"
"This place looks more like a manor than a workshop."
"This is the first time I've seen such a large workshop."
"Sanlang, how big is your workshop?"
......
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "It's not very big, it only covers an area of five acres, with a total of ten courtyards and seven stoves."
These ancient workshops were all based on the family model, that is, one courtyard after another. Even commercial workshops still maintained the family production model. This was the case with genuine bookstores. Zhang Fei did not make any changes to this. He had to build a large factory because it involved many health and fire hazards.
.
The production areas are still divided based on the yard.
In fact, this workshop was not designed by him, but by two teachers, Bai Ban and Hong Zhong, based on the production model of movable type.
It is now open for business.
The key movable type production workshop has been in preparation for a very long time.
Fan Yong asked, "How much is the rent?"
Zhang Fei looked directly at Chen Maoqian.
Chen Maoqian said, "Twenty strings of cash a month."
“This isn’t expensive!”
"Yes! Although this place is a bit remote, the land is not small after all. It's really worth it!"
"This was originally a warehouse. Later, the family moved the warehouse out of the city, so the space was vacated. If they wanted to build a house to rent out, the highest house price in the surrounding area is only about one tael. It would cost a lot to build a house, so they just rented it to us."
“Did we build this house?”
"Mostly, some are converted from houses and warehouses."
"We spent money, and then the landlord takes it back, what should we do?"
"Don't worry about this. If he takes it back within ten years, he must subsidize the cost of building our house."
Chen Maoqian said, pointing at Zhang Fei, "This condition was set by Sanlang."
Zhang Fei laughed and said, "If I can't make back this little money within ten years, then there's no point in doing this business."
The timber merchant Zhou Yan asked, "Do we need such a large workshop? Can this movable type make so much money?"
The others nodded, expressing their doubts.
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "In the past three days, we have received orders for about 2,000 guan."
"......?"
"How much...how much?"
"About two thousand kan."
Everyone, you look at me and I look at him.
It seems that I am somewhat doubtful about life.
Huang Can, the paper shop merchant, said, "You may not know that on the first day our movable type workshop opened for business, the government received applications from fifty newspaper shops. Twenty-one of them have been approved."
"Why are there so many of them all of a sudden?"
"In fact, many people have wanted to print newspapers for a long time and have been waiting for this movable type workshop."
"I heard that most of the owners of these newspaper shops are scholars and officials in Tokyo."
......
Today, everyone has a deep understanding of the power of newspapers, and they also understand that whoever controls the newspapers in the future will control public opinion, and public opinion is something that the literati attach great importance to.
Although genuine bookstores accept all comers, as long as you are willing to spend money, you can even curse Zhang Fei.
But almost everyone has a consensus that legitimate bookstores must not be allowed to monopolize newspapers.
He may agree today, but he may not agree tomorrow!
However, they just wanted to print newspapers but did not want to find another group of craftsmen to carve movable type. This was not cost-effective because they could not drive the craftsmen away after the carving was done. You know, the movable clay type has a lifespan. If it broke, they would have to hire someone else to carve it, and the key was that it was difficult to hire such a person.
Due to the large-scale recruitment of genuine bookstores in the past, the wages of craftsmen with this kind of craft have been rising rapidly.
But it's not cost-effective to keep it all the time.
Coincidentally, they heard that Zhang Fei was going to set up a movable type workshop.
It is most cost-effective to buy it ready-made.
In particular, this movable type workshop was controlled by a charity organization, and many scholars and officials were also donors.
They are not afraid of Zhang Fei's monopoly.
Zhang Fei also explained to the crowd: "If we sell the movable type in blocks, the price of one movable type is ten coins. For commonly used characters, one block contains 2,000 characters, which is twenty strings of coins. If you buy them individually, one character is fifteen coins.
Generally speaking, a bookstore must purchase at least two, or even three editions, in order to print the newspaper quickly. As you all know, newspapers nowadays have to be fast.
At the same time, they also need to buy some
It is a seldom-used character, but it is not an uncommon one either. Therefore, a newspaper shop would have to spend at least fifty strings of cash on movable type.”
"If a family has 50 guan, it would take 40 bookstores to earn 2,000 guan."
"Fifty kan is just the minimum cost of the movable type. One company ordered a full set of movable type, a total of ten plates, as well as auxiliary materials, such as adhesives and typesetting plates."
"What is a typesetting disk?"
"Everyone, please follow me."
Zhang Fei led them into a small courtyard, where he saw craftsmen making large roulette wheels with small squares on them. It was obvious that they were used to store movable type.
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "Have you guys figured out something?"
Huang Can, the paper shop merchant, asked, "Radicals?"
Zhang Fei chuckled and said, "Mr. Huang is worthy of being a book seller. He can see through this trick at a glance."
Huang Can pointed at the logo on the roulette wheel and said, "It's engraved on it."
Everyone looked closely and discovered that various radicals were engraved on the top of the roulette wheel.
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "That's right. This roulette wheel is classified by radicals and divided by strokes, which is convenient for typesetters to find. Since this can reduce a lot of manpower, those newspaper shops have also purchased this roulette wheel."
This actually introduces the word-finding method from the dictionary, and then uses a roulette wheel to make it easier to retrieve.
Huang Can suddenly asked again: "This seems to be the handwriting of Sima Xueshi?"
Zhang Fei shrugged and said, "Yes, Scholar Sima has one copy, and Scholar Wang also has one copy."
Fan Yong said, "It must be expensive to ask them to write it, right?"
Zhang Fei sighed, "Since I have a good relationship with them, I don't feel comfortable asking them for money."
"......?"
"What...what?" Fan Yong was shocked, "You still have to ask them for money?"
"Of course!"
Zhang Fei asked, "Do you think I should still give them money?"
"Um."
Everyone nodded in unison.
"What are you thinking about?"
Zhang Fei said, "For a writer, if all newspapers in the world use their words, what kind of reputation will this bring to them? I am already kind by not asking them for money, but they still ask me for money? We tell you, this is only temporary. After all, their calligraphy is just so-so. Just use it for now, and we will use better words in the future."
You can still use the calligraphy of Wang Anshi and Sima Guang.
overbearing!
It’s so overbearing!
We like it!
But that was indeed the truth. Zhang Fei just mentioned it to them at the time, and they immediately agreed.
I opened the newspaper and saw it was full of my own words.
What a great feeling.
In fact, they wrote quite well, but this was the golden age of the Northern Song Dynasty.
There are many great calligraphers, such as Su Shi, Mi Fu, Cai Xiang, and Huang Tingjian. In the future, the price of movable type will definitely be calculated according to the character of the calligraphy. By then, Wang Anshi and Sima Guang may be the representatives of cheapness.
There is no way.
Comparing yourself to others will make you feel thief!
Next, Zhang Fei took them for a walk inside.
Basically all the tools for movable type printing are available for sale here, and these also generate profits.
It even includes the production of engravings.
But for those scholars, it was absolutely a good deal to spend less than a hundred strings of cash and hire a few typesetters to print newspapers.
After all, they themselves are experts in content.
Moreover, there is a problem with movable type printing, which is that the clay movable type is relatively easy to break. If only one is broken, the production cost will be very high. But here it can be bought at any time, and one costs only fifteen cents.
Very worry-free.
surprise!
This was a great surprise for the donors!
After all, his
The expectations were too low, but now it seems that we can still make a lot of money.
What a big surprise!
On the second day, they went out of the city with great anticipation to inspect the second important project invested by the Song Dynasty Charity Fund, which was the leasing of carriages and horses.
This is also the reason why we have to leave the city, because the headquarters cannot be set up in the city. After all, if we want to raise horses and donkeys on a large scale, the land in the city is definitely not enough.
It just so happened that Cao Ping directly donated a small ranch to a charity organization, located in the west of the city.
Zhang Fei used it as the headquarters for carriage and horse rental.
This small ranch of Cao Ping's family is very interesting. It was originally a large ranch and belonged to the imperial court. But later the ranch was occupied by dignitaries and even common people, or bought with money and turned into farmland.
The Cao family also got a piece of land, but as they were a military family, they wanted to keep this small ranch to raise some horses for themselves. However, the surrounding area was all arable land, so they didn't let the horses go, and eventually they were released into other people's fields.
There were many accidents.
It is almost becoming a source of worry for the Cao family.
The key is that this ranch is getting smaller.
The Cao family originally planned to turn the ranch into farmland, and they happened to come across this charity, so they donated the ranch to the charity, to use it for either farming or grazing.
From this we can see that there was actually room for raising horses in the existing territory of the Song Dynasty.
At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, there was a super large horse farm west of Kaifeng, and the horse ranch is still located there. Many counties and cities such as Shanxi and Hubei also have places to raise horses, and can raise relatively high-quality horses.
But why is it said that there was no place to raise horses in the Song Dynasty?
The reason is that all the pastures have been turned into farmland.
There is no other way. People need to eat, and when the territory cannot be expanded, the only thing they can do is convert pasture into arable land.
And from a financial perspective, arable land is indeed more economically efficient than pasture.
The imperial court just turned a blind eye to this.
"Here I come!"
Zhang Fei looked towards the west and smiled.
Everyone immediately turned to look.
But then I saw a very imposing four-wheeled double-horse carriage slowly approaching this side.
"A carriage?"
Chen Maoqian was slightly surprised.
Fan Yong immediately said, "Sanlang, this four-wheeled carriage looks impressive, but it has many problems. I have personally seen a four-wheeled carriage flip over when turning a corner."
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "This is the latest four-wheeled carriage developed by our horse and carriage rental company. It can handle the steering problem very well."
If they wanted to monopolize rentals and gradually phase out private carriages, they had to come up with something new.
"Yeah?"
Fan Yong said in surprise.
Zhang Fei nodded and pointed at the two wheels in front and said, "Look, the front wheels are small and the rear wheels are large. This is to deal with the steering problem. However, this is only a semi-finished product, but I believe that it will not be long before this kind of four-wheeled carriage can appear in the rental service."
The steering device of this four-wheeled carriage is actually very simple. Even Zhang Fei, a liberal arts student, knows it. Even if he has never ridden in a carriage, he has never driven a car. However, there are still many details to be resolved, such as firmness, shock absorption, and so on.
Zhang Fei also knows some methods, but the current technology cannot realize his methods, so the current craftsmen can only figure it out themselves. But as long as there is money to spend, he believes that success is only a matter of time.
In the end, this is not a problem that cannot be overcome with current technology, it’s just that the research and development costs are relatively high.
But as long as it is made, people will naturally consume it.
It turned out to be just a semi-finished product.
Everyone was a little disappointed.
When they got closer, they found that there were two two-wheeled single-passenger horse-drawn carriages following behind, which were also the mainstream horse-drawn carriages at present, but one had a canopy and the other did not.
But the wheels are very large, making the car body larger than ordinary cars.
It is obvious to the naked eye that these three carriages are all striving for one thing, which is comfort.
But no matter what, the four-wheeled carriage is obviously more luxurious and has the longest carriage.
Huang Can said, "If we have these four wheels, who would still ride in a two-wheeled carriage?"
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "The cost of a four-wheeled carriage is five times that of a two-wheeled carriage, and can be as much as ten times. Do you want to take a four-wheeled or two-wheeled carriage?"
Huang Can immediately said, "Then...then it's better to have two wheels. At worst, I can rent two, which is also much cheaper."
Chen Maoqian said: "The price is so high, will anyone rent it?"
Zhang Fei chuckled and said, "We developed this four-wheeled carriage mainly for the dignitaries in the capital. They don't lack the money. What they pursue is comfort. I can guarantee that our carriage is much more comfortable than their sedan chairs. In this case, why do they still ride in sedan chairs? The law cannot prohibit them from riding in sedan chairs, but more spacious and luxurious carriages can eliminate most of the sedan chairs."
Fan Yong said thoughtfully, "The comfort of a sedan chair lies in the fact that it is not bumpy. However, if a two-wheeled carriage encounters a pothole, it will bump once, and a four-wheeled carriage will bump twice."
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "But if you want a sedan chair that is spacious, then you need a lot of people to carry it. But if you don't want it to be spacious, even if the carriage is a little bumpy, the sedan chair's comfort is not as good as this spacious carriage."
Zhou Yan said: "But this carriage is not allowed to turn around on the small road, and the turning range is much greater than that of a two-wheeled carriage."
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "You are right, so this kind of carriage can only run within the scope of our Greater Tokyo. After all, the roads in Tokyo are still very flat and wide. If you want to go to Jiangnan, wouldn't it be better to take a boat?"
"That's true."
"Can we take this carriage now?"
"Yes, please. Everyone, please."
"Hey, hey, hey, side door!"
Zhang Fei stopped Chen Maoqian who wanted to get ahead.
"Oh, so this car door opens to the side."
"Comfort is not just about sitting in the car, but also about getting in and out of the car."
The side door opened and the servant immediately put up a small wooden ladder.
"Oh my! This is such a great experience!"
Chen Maoqian hurriedly got on the carriage.
Afterwards, Fan Yong, Huang Can and Zhang San got on the carriage one after another.
The rest can only wait for the next bus.
"Oh my! These seats are so soft, so spacious, and you can open the windows. They are so comfortable!"
Chen Maoqian sat in the car, opened the window, looked around, and was filled with joy.
Fan Yong said, "But renting a carriage is inconvenient after all. If it cannot provide convenience to those dignitaries, it will be difficult to replace private carriages."
Zhang Fei nodded and said, "It's impossible to completely replace them all at once, but we will try our best to do so. We will set up multiple rental points in the wealthy areas. The wealthy usually have servants. As long as we notify them, the carriages will stop in front of their houses on time. As long as the itinerary is well planned, whether it is long-term or short-term, it will not be affected at all. For temporary travel, we can solve it within half an hour at the latest."
Chen Maoqian said: "There are also private issues. Some nobles don't want us to know their whereabouts."
Zhang Fei said, "As long as you pay the deposit, they can send a driver to drive the car away directly. We have done the math. As long as you don't have to go out and run around every day, it is definitely not as cost-effective as renting, from raising horses to hiring a driver. Moreover, the service we provide is not worse than their private service."
"Those high-ranking officials don't go out every day."
"That's right."
Zhang Fei smiled and said, "At the same time, we will also provide rental services of different horse-drawn carriages and donkey-drawn carts for families of all classes, including some public services such as meal delivery and short-distance delivery. On the way back and forth, we can make a profit for every mile.
After a year, we will be able to calculate which type of carriage is in greater demand and which is less in demand, and make adjustments accordingly. I am confident that our rentals can account for 70% of people's travel choices.
In this way, those dignitaries will naturally rent their carriages to us.
This will create a virtuous cycle.”
"That sounds pretty good."
"For things like renting carriages and horses, the more we rent, the lower our costs will be."
"Not only that, the court will also like us. After all, it is much more convenient to collect license plate taxes from just one company."
"That's right."
......
Sitting in this luxurious four-wheeled carriage, their words and actions were full of anticipation for the carriage and horse rental.
As I said, their expectations were a little too low. They originally came here to avoid taxes, but now they are obsessed with one big project after another.
After one circle, they got off the carriage, and Zhou Yan and the other four couldn't wait to get on.
The carriage had just left when a man was seen riding a horse galloping towards them.
It was Fan Zheng.
The reason why he didn't come today was not because he wanted to stay at home to watch the store, but because he wanted to go and negotiate with Ma Tianhao, so Ma Tianhao didn't come either.
“Ouch…!”
When Fan Zheng got off his horse, his father Fan Yong asked anxiously, "Zheng'er, how was your conversation with the fourth brother?"
Fan Zhengdao: "Pay 4,000 strings of interest every year, a total of 20,000 strings of interest in five years, and return the principal in the fifth year."
After hearing this, Chen Maoqian was immediately furious. "This fourth brother is too cruel. He just sits there and earns 20,000 strings of cash in five years. Is selling salt profitable?"
"That's right. We have pledged so much land to him. He doesn't have to bear any risk and still charges such a high interest."
......
This interest rate makes everyone unhappy.
It sounds like a lot, a full 20,000 strings of cash.
Zhang Fei asked Fan Zheng, "What is his reason?"
Fan Zhengdao: "He originally wanted 6,000 guan per year in interest, because our principal is required to be repaid after five years, unlike a mortgage, where the principal can be recovered every quarter."
Chen Maoqian snorted, "It sounds as if he could lend out 100,000 strings of cash at once."
Zhang Fei glanced at them and said, "I respect the board's advice very much. Since you all think it's too expensive, forget it. How about this? You guys pool the money together and you can earn the money."
Everyone looked at each other and no one agreed.
It’s not that they care about mortgaging their land to themselves, but the repayment of the principal after five years is very serious. Most of them are businessmen and are in urgent need of cash turnover.
In fact, Ma Tianhao couldn't come up with that much money, but he had the Xiangguo Temple behind him.
After the mortgage, the relationship between Xiangguo Temple and the Ma family became very close, and Xiangguo Temple basically lent money through the Ma family.
Only Xiangguo Temple could come up with so much money and invest it in it for five whole years. For Xiangguo Temple, this money would not make any money if kept at home.
In Zhang Fei's opinion, this interest rate is relatively reasonable. You have to know that the annual interest rate of usury nowadays is often 100%. However, the businessmen standing here are all wealthy businessmen, and they are more or less involved in some usury. They lend it to the people, no matter how much, it is not too much. But if others lend them even 4%, they will be very unhappy.
Of course, it was also because he borrowed too much, a full 100,000 strings of cash, 4%, which is 4,000 strings of cash.
Zhang Fei said to Fan Zheng: "That's the number!"
Chen Maoqian was worried again, "Can we make so much money every year?"
The interest alone is 4,000 strings of cash, so the annual net profit must be higher than this amount.
Zhang Fei said confidently: "If I can't even make this little money, why do charity? I'd better just be a beggar."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
