Four hundred and twentieth chapters make a fortune
The great debate that was originally scheduled to start on the first day of November was postponed to November 15th due to concerns about inviting Liu Zongzhou to Beijing from Shaoxing. As the date of the debate approached, the officials of the government and the public were increasingly looking forward to these three debates. The new trends in bookstores and bookstores in Beijing reflect this situation——
In his early years, Xu Guangqi collaborated with Matteo Ricci and Xiong Sanba to translate and publish "Elements of Geometry", "Taixi Water Method", "Jian Ping Yi Shuo", and Li Zhizao collaborated with Western priests to translate "Huanrong Jiayi" and "Heaven's First Letter" "These kinds of books on Western learning and Chinese translation have been placed in bookstores for more than ten years with few people paying attention to them. These books were originally printed in small quantities, with only a few hundred copies each. They were all used by Xu Guangqi, Li Zhizao and missionaries. There are only a few hundred volumes of "Elements of Geometry" and "Elements of Geometry" left in various bookstores in just over a month since the great debate was determined to be held. It was almost sold out. Officials from both Korea and China came to buy it. Because the great debate was about to begin, many officials were going to attend. Since they were going to attend, they had to have some knowledge of Western knowledge, so they searched everywhere for such books. I heard that officials were rushing to buy Thai and Western books, so of course I had to follow suit. But as there was no place to buy them, some bookstores hired engravers to work overtime overnight to engrave and print them. Anyway, there is no copyright protection now, so anyone can engrave them, but this will not happen until twenty days at the earliest. Only then can a new edition of the book come out. However, at this moment, there was news that there was a newly opened bookstore on Dengshi Street in Chongwenmen with a large number of Western books for sale——
As early as Emperor Wanli agreed to hold a great debate, Zhang Yuan had expected that books on Western learning would sell well. He wrote to Fan Wenruo in Suzhou and Yang Shixiang in Qingpu, sending books such as "Elements of Geometry" and "Taixi Water Law". , asking them to organize engravers to engrave and publish it as soon as possible. Three thousand copies of each volume can still be sold. Scholars like to follow the trend. Scholars in Jiangnan also have more money. They spend a few coins to buy a few Western books and put them on their desks to show their knowledge. Combining China and the West will be the trend for some time to come——
Zhang Yuan's letter was sent at the end of August. Fan Wenruo, Yang Shixiang and the others should have received the letter at the end of September or the beginning of October. Then they organized engraving and printing, and the book will not come out until the beginning of November at the earliest. This is the right time for sales in Jiangnan. It’s appropriate. Because the big debate is held in mid-November, but it’s already after the New Year for those books to be shipped to Beijing. Obviously, they can’t compete with those bookstores in Beijing that rush to print——
So one day in late September, Zhang Yuan and Xu Guangqi found the small bookshop where "Elements of Geometry", "Taixi Water Method" and "Jian Ping Yi Shuo" were engraved. The small bookshop was outside Xuanwu Gate. The original owner had passed away. Now the person who takes over the bookshop is his distant nephew, named Yuan Chaonian, who is a boy from Wanping County. He is less than thirty years old and looks a bit decadent. The business of the bookshop is not good. Now he only prints some statues of the Kitchen God and Buddhist and Taoist sutras. Wen was messing around and was planning to change his career to selling tea eggs. On that day, Yuan Chaonian was exposing sun lice in front of the door, but he saw two gentlemen-looking people coming to ask if the engravings of the three books of "Elements of Geometry" were still there?
Yuan Chaonian no longer recognized Xu Guangqi and replied: "My uncle has piled up the old engravings in the south warehouse. I wonder if the engravings of the three kinds of books you mentioned are there?" He immediately opened the door to check. Fortunately, these three All the engravings of these books have been preserved, including six volumes of "Elements of Geometry", six volumes of "Taixi Shuifa" and one volume of "Jian Ping Yi Shuo", a total of thirteen volumes and more than a thousand engravings. Except for a small number of engravings that have decayed and peeled off, Most engravings are still usable.
Zhang Yuan immediately offered 500 taels of silver. He paid 300 taels first and asked Yuan Chaonian to immediately recruit engravers to replace the decayed engravings. He would print these three kinds of books before the fifth day of November, and each volume would be printed with five
One hundred volumes, because I am afraid that the old engraving plates will not be able to bear the burden of printing too many. These four hundred taels of silver are considered the engraving fee, paper fee and printing fee. After the book is printed, Zhang Yuan will send someone to pick it up——
Yuan Chaonian calculated it with his fingers. Because there were a large number of old engravings, the cost of printing these 13 volumes, totaling 6,500 books, should be less than 400 taels of silver. In just one month, he could make a net profit of more than 100 taels.
Two, it was like making a fortune, so I immediately agreed in a hurry.
Zhang Yuan warned: "The paper must be bamboo paper from Qianshan, Jiangxi. The decayed engravings must be replaced. Also, the engraving must be done by experienced craftsmen. The new version of the font should not be too different from the old version."
Yuan Chaonian said: "The writer back then is here, and the craftsmen who carved this book are still here. They live in the street behind. There are three father and son. I will invite them to make up the edition."
Zhang Yuandao: "That's very good." He immediately left thirteen volumes and a post with his address and name on it, asking Yuan Chaonian to print the book and send it there.
After Yuan Chaonian saw off the old and young officials, he came back and looked at the calligraphy. The calligraphy read "Zhang Yuan, a native of Shaoxing, north of Lige Old Hutong". Yuan Chaonian was stunned for a long time. He knew that when
Yongfang, Lige Old Hutong, and Taipusi Street are all areas where officials live, and isn't this Zhang Yuan the top scholar of the Jin Dynasty? According to legend, he even rushed to Chang'an Street to watch the excitement on the day when the top scholar praised the street.
The number one scholar riding on the big white horse was the young scholar just now. No wonder he was so heroic that he left three hundred taels of silver without a guarantor——
Yuan Chaonian did not dare to neglect the errand of the Number One Scholar, and handed the money to his wife to keep. He then went to the back street to find a carver named Jiang and his family, and paid twenty taels of silver in advance. Early the next morning, the carver and his son came to the bookstore here.
In the warehouse, he checked the engravings with Yuan Chaonian and picked out all the decayed ones. About one-tenth of them could not be used. There were also some ready-made jujube boards for engravings in the bookshop. Yuan Chaonian immediately wrote the engravings, and the three engravers named Jiang and his son immediately followed.
Work started, first filling in the missing engraving plates of the single volume "Jian Ping Yi Shuo", and then filling in the missing plates in the first volume of "Elements of Geometry" and "Taixi Water Law". While engraving and making plates, Yuan Chaonian went to purchase paper and
The printing ink did not dare to be inferior, and the real lead mangosteen paper and pine smoke ink were printed. By October 30, the first batch of nine volumes totaling 4,500 books had been printed, and Yuan Chaonian hired
A carriage delivered this pile of books to Lige Old Alley. Upon inquiry, it turned out to be Zhang Zhuangyuan’s apartment——
It was a holiday. Zhang Yuan was reading in the courtyard. Hearing that the book had been delivered, he went out to the outer courtyard to see that the book was printed very well. He immediately handed over the unpaid two hundred taels of silver to Yuan Chaonian.
He printed and sent the next two thousand volumes as soon as possible, and Yuan Chaonian agreed repeatedly.
Zhang Yuan took a few books into the inner courtyard. Wang Wei was talking about poetry and painting with Jing Lan in the west wing. Jing Lan and Wang Wei got along well. Jing Hui didn't like Wang Wei very much. She was chatting with her little aunt in her room.
Xiao Hongjian talked and played, and the two sisters stayed at Lige Old Hutong every three days. A few days ago, Shang Danran took them to Haidian and Black Dragon Pool outside Xicheng. Jing Hui was very happy——
Zhang Yuan entered Wang Wei's room and saw Wang Wei and Jing Lan reading a collection of poems together. He smiled and said, "Excuse me, two talented ladies -"
Wang Wei stood up, saluted, and asked with a smile: "What do you want, Mr. Xian?"
Jinglan gave a gift and went to her aunt Danran. Zhang Yuan asked Wang Wei to carve two small rectangular seals. One of them should be engraved with "three coins of silver for each unit" and the other should be engraved with "one or two six cents of silver for each unit".
money"--
Wang Weineng was good at poetry and painting, and he could also make seals. He immediately took out the carving knife and boxwood and asked: "Why are the prices of books so different?"
Zhang Yuandao: ""Jian Ping Yi Shuo" is a single volume and is priced at three yen, while "Elements of Geometry" and "Taixi Water Law" are both six volumes and are not sold in volumes. If you want to buy the whole six volumes, the price is one, two or six yen.
It’s considered a discount.”
Wang Wei asked: "May I ask Mr. Xianggong how much the books cost?"
Zhang Yuandao: "The price is three, and the profit is two - will Xiu Wei slander me and say why Wang Wei married a profiteer?"
"How could it be? My husband is a good man in making money."
Wang Wei smiled and made the seals. These two seals were very simple and took less than half an hour to carve. Zhang Yuan took the two seals and a box of red seal paste to the outer courtyard and ordered Wu Ling to seal all the 4,500 books.
, remember not to mix it up, I will send it to Dengshi Street Hanshe Bookstore for sale tomorrow——
Just five days ago, the 1,800 taels of silver sent to Wang Wei by Zhang Ruoxi from the Civil Information Bureau was delivered. Wang Wei went to pick up Laifu, Uncle Yao and the others at Dengshi Street inside Chongwenmen to look for the place they had been looking for for many days.
The store was bought. This store is actually a small courtyard house, covering an area of about half an acre. It also has three facades and two entrances inside and outside. Houses in Beijing are expensive. The store Wang Wei bought in Hangzhou last year covers an area of 1
It cost only four hundred and eighty taels of silver, and the house on Dengshi Street was only half the size of the Shengmei Store in Hangzhou, but the original owner wanted eight hundred taels of silver. Wang Wei lamented that the housing prices in the inner city were really amazing, Zhang
I didn’t realize how expensive it was. It’s a house in Beijing’s Second Ring Road, and it has unlimited ownership——
The Beijing branch of Shengmei Company has found a store, but now the North Canal has frozen and cannot be navigated. Zhang Ruoxi will have to wait until next spring to send the cloth and satin to Beijing. Zhang Yuan asked Wang Wei to move the three stores facing the street.
The one on the left is used by Hanshe Bookstore to sell books and is managed by Wu Ling. The store was slightly decorated, hung up with the Hanshe Bookstore brand, hired two local people as bookstore clerks, and opened for business on the first day of November.
Books for sale include the first and second volumes of "Jiao Shi Bi Cheng", twenty volumes of "Yu Shi Ming Yan", ten volumes of "Jing Shi Tong Yan", the first and second volumes of "Wuzazu", and books on Western studies include one volume of "Aesop's Fables",
One volume of "Jian Ping Yi Shuo", four volumes of "Elements of Geometry", four volumes of "Taixi Water Method" -
On the fifth day of November, Yuan Chaonian also sent the last two volumes of "Elements of Geometry" and "Taixi Water Law". The reputation of Hanshe Bookstore gradually spread, and soon there were scholars and officials who could not buy books everywhere.
The servant came after hearing the news, and in just three days, he sold 600 books in total and 2,600 volumes. Wuling was very busy, and he was so happy that he couldn't open his mouth from ear to ear——
Zhang Yuan is very pleased. With the current situation of gentry rushing to buy Western classics, he can think that his strategy of promoting practical learning has been more than half successful. Most of the time, no one reads those books. As long as someone reads them, they will naturally be affected.
In this way, his future path will be easier, there will be more like-minded people, and he can also make money, which is really killing two birds with one stone, it's wonderful——
On the eighth day of November, Shen Que, Xu Ruke, Liu Zongzhou and Master Lianchi arrived in the capital, and the great debate began.
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