Chapter 117: Reporting and Fighting
The boy immediately brought up the matter of corruption, and the face of the bookstore owner Yu Dong turned pale.
Immediately afterwards, Su Ze recorded everything the boy confessed and asked him to sign it.
Now Yu Dong couldn't stand any longer. He knelt down in front of Yu Zongyuan and cried: "My boss, spare my life!"
Yu Zongyuan also didn't expect that Yu Dong would take so much money from their Yu family. The look on his face It's also very ugly.
Yu Dong was trembling with fear. He kept kowtowing to Yu Zongyuan, cursing and vowing to make up for the shortfall.
Su Zela said to Yu Zongyuan: "Brother Yu, I think we should let the shopkeeper make up for the shortfall."
Yu Zongyuan said angrily: "That old thief stole so much money from my family!"
Su Ze said: "He was greedy for the Yu family's money, and he was trying to make up for your shortfall."
This reminded Yu Zongyuan, and he immediately stopped making trouble.
Yes, if Yu Dong is sent to the Yu family, the compensation money will definitely not be given to him.
It's better to just extort money and money from this old guy.
Yu Zongyuan immediately said: "Thank you Brother Su for your advice!"
Su Ze added: "Let him make up for the shortfall, and then what do you think of Brother Yu?"
"What do you think?"
Su Ze nodded and said: "Such a person, Brother Yu, can't he Do you want to use it again?"
Yu Zongyuan frowned and said: "I don't want to use it either, but I don't have capable people in my room. Who can I use if I don't need him?"
Su Ze immediately said: "I, Chang Ningwei, have a few trustworthy people. Brother, be honest and do your duty. If you don't dislike Brother Yu?"
Yu Zongyuan immediately said: "I don't dislike it, I don't dislike it! Brother Su's brother is my brother!"
Su Ze said again; "But the shopkeeper can be replaced, buddy. It can't be changed. That guy has only earned dozens of taels of silver in these years. He is a son of the same family and is familiar with the situation of the bookstore. Brother Yu can continue to use it." Yu Zongyuan immediately nodded and said: "Brother Su is right, forgive him
. I don’t dare to continue to be greedy!”
The number one angel investor Yu Zongyuan followed the good example and did not try to force Yu to send the money to the government, but asked him to send the greedy money to his house within a time limit.
The clerk was free because of the report, so Yu Zongyuan exempted him from punishment and ordered him to continue working in the bookstore.
The waiter kept kowtowing and thanked him a thousand times, while Yu Dong's face was ashen. His life was saved, but he had to spit out the nearly a thousand taels of silver he had spent on corruption over the years.
Yu Zongyuan struck while the iron was hot and took Su Ze to the pickle shop, rouge shop and dyeing shop. As expected, problems were found in the accounts.
Yu Zongyuan and Su Ze, one with a white face and the other with a red face, asked the shopkeeper and the waiter to sign and sign to recover the money that the shopkeeper had stolen.
By the evening, the amount of silver recovered from the account had exceeded a thousand taels. Yu Zongyuan's face was glowing red and he was walking a little swaying!
He excitedly took Su Ze's hand and said, "Brother Su! You are really my noble person!"
Su Ze smiled and secretly said in his heart: "Brother Yu, you are my noble person."
According to Su Ze's suggestion, All four shops have retained their clerks, and all the vacant shopkeeper positions have been filled by members of the Changning Weilin clan recommended by Su Ze.
Su Ze had already made plans in his mind. The bookstore was the most profitable shop in the Yu family. Lin Xianyang was good at writing, calculating, and smart, so he was asked to be the shopkeeper of the bookstore.
However, Changning Wei still has a quota for recommendation to the county government as an official. When the time comes, it is better to go back and see Lin Xianyang's choice.
Alas, Changning Guard still has too few talents! We don’t have enough talent right now!
Yu Zongyuan is also very generous. The bride price offered is twenty-five taels of silver a year, which is much more profitable than farming in Changningwei!
As long as someone from the Lin clan becomes the shopkeeper, it will be much easier for Su Ze to sell books printed by Changning Wei.
Lin Deqing has an introverted temper, but is reliable and steady in his work. He can be the shopkeeper of a pickle shop.
Rouge Shop and Dyeing House then found two smart people from Changning Guard to recommend to Yu Zongyuan. Changning Guard suddenly had four more shopkeepers.
With the character of Second Young Master Yu, the number one angel investor, he would definitely not be able to dictate management. Doesn’t this mean that Changning Wei has four more shops in the county?
Both Su Ze and Yu Zongyuan felt that the other person was their noble person. Yu Zongyuan pulled Su Ze to go to Yueyue upstairs for a drink. Su Ze thought about it but refused. Chang Ning Wei still had many things to do, and Su Ze was getting ready for the night. I was on my way back before.
After saying goodbye to Yu Zongyuan, Su Ze promised that Chang Ningwei's new shopkeeper would report to his house in two days. Su Ze returned to the county school to pick up his luggage.
When Su Ze returned, Chen Chaoyuan and Lin Qingcai hadn't returned yet. They sat on the ground and sighed, their faces full of sadness.
Su Ze quickly asked: "Brother Lin, Brother Chen, what's going on?"
Chen Chaoyuan was still sighing, and Lin Qingcai said: "Today we went to submit an article for Huang Shixing's new tabloid, but we were humiliated by Huang Shixing."
"Then how did Huang Shixing humiliate you?"
Lin Qingcai said: "Brother Chen and I went to submit articles. Then Huang Shixing said that Mr. Tuohu's essay competition was the golden age for scholars in Yanping Prefecture, and said that we didn't even have the honor of being scholars and still wanted to participate. We are not qualified to submit articles, and they humiliated us in public."
Su Ze held back his anger and said: "Mr. Tuohu himself didn't say that he must be a scholar to participate in the essay competition, why did Huang Shixing say that?" The
circle of scholars in Yanping Prefecture is Lin Qingcai and Chen Chaoyuan were so humiliated that the entire Yanping Mansion literati circle could talk about it for a long time, and this insult would stay with them for a long time.
Even Huang Shixing not only insulted the two people, but also insulted Su Ze, who also had no fame.
It is said that a scholar can be killed but not humiliated. In ancient times, when reputation was attached great importance to, being humiliated would greatly lower one's worth. However, a scholar like Chen Chaoyuan, who makes a living by writing pleadings and deeds, would not even be able to get business if his reputation was bad. .
Lin Qingcai sighed again. The tabloid was run by Huang Shixing, so he naturally set the standards.
Lin Qingcai also regretted it at this time. He could have submitted his article directly to Mr. Tuohu. Why should he submit his article to Huang Shixing's tabloid?
Su Ze thought for a while and realized that it was true that Huang Shixing funded the tabloid himself, and even if he tried to reason with him, he would be humiliated.
Su Ze thought for a while and said: "Brothers, can you give me the play you wrote?"
Lin Qingcai asked doubtfully; "Brother Su, I will give it to you naturally, but why does Brother Su want the play?"
Su Ze said "To tell you the truth, I have actually wanted to apply for a newspaper for a long time."
Lin Qingcai and Chen Chaoyuan looked at Su Ze in surprise: "Brother Su also wants to apply for a newspaper?"
Chen Chaoyuan said immediately: "Brother Su can't do it! Reporting is very expensive, and it's not worth spending the money just to vent your anger!"
Chen Chaoyuan was worried that it was because they were humiliated, so Su Ze wanted to file a newspaper and compete with Huang Shixing in the ring, so he advised them. Su Ze started printing books with movable type for the purpose of publishing newspapers. Now that the Yu family's bookstore has been acquired, they also have a place to sell newspapers.
As for Huang Shixing's reporting, he hit Su Ze's gun.
Su Ze sneered, since Huang Shixing doesn't accept Lin and Chen's manuscript, then I will publish it in my own newspaper.
Let’s see whose newspaper sells best then!
Su Ze said to the two of them: "Running a newspaper is not a temporary thing. After I met the Fuzhou tabloid from Haijiao last time, I wanted to run a newspaper. It has nothing to do with Huang Shixing." "If you two
brothers If you don't mind, just publish the play in my newspaper, how about it?"
Although the plays written by Lin and Chen were cliché, Su Ze went to the bookstore today, and the level of those story novels was similar to the plays they wrote.
The two people's dramas are also relatively vernacular, in line with the mainstream aesthetics of today's people.
Su Ze was already worried about the content of the first newspaper, so he could just use their drama to make up the word count.
Lin and Chen were still hesitant, but they still handed the script to Su Ze.
However, last time Chen Chaoyuan accompanied Su Ze to buy an engraving house slave, he was really not angry at the thought of Su Ze wanting to run a newspaper.
I am just a carving craftsman, when will I be able to produce a newspaper?
The engraving of these two plays alone will take more than a month. I am afraid that by then the essay competition will have ended and Mr. Tuohu will have traveled to other counties.
However, Su Ze also had good intentions. Although the two of them were not optimistic about his newspaper operation, they were still full of gratitude to Su Ze.
After saying goodbye to his two classmates, Su Ze contacted Xiao Qi, who had escorted him to the county, and set foot on the road back to Changning Guard under the escort of the soldiers.
At the same time, in a printing shop in Nanping City, Mr. Huang Shixing, the man I just talked about, was inspecting his newly purchased printing shop.
This was originally a printing shop for printing books, but in recent years, booksellers in Jianyang have been engaged in price wars, and Nanping County is close to Jianyang, which has squeezed this printing shop out of business.
However, Huang Shixing still spent a full five hundred taels of silver to buy this printing shop.
In addition to land and various printing equipment, the printing shop also supports ten engraving masters, whose annual salary is two hundred taels of silver.
Such a large amount of money was naturally not something that Huang Shixing could afford. This money was all paid by the Huang family's father-in-law, and the purpose was naturally to make Huang Shixing famous.
This is how the wealthy gentry played. In the Ming Dynasty, there were so many scholars who became famous at a young age. Except for those who were truly talented and talented, the rest were "packaged" by families like Huang Shixing who spent a lot of effort.
Organizing a poetry club, running a newspaper and printing anthologies, none of these things cost money.
To become famous in Shilin, it is absolutely impossible without money.
At this time, many young scholars gathered around Huang Shixing, and they were all invited to visit the printing shop.
Seeing that Huang Shixing bought such a large workshop just to publish newspapers and become famous, the scholars present were full of awe for Huang Shixing.
When Huang Shixing's newspaper is launched, he will have control of the local Shilin trend. Those who appear in the newspaper will naturally become famous in Shilin. This right to speak is too important!
At this time, I naturally have to curry favor with Mr. Huang. A smart scholar said:
"Brother Huang's publication of the newspaper is really a great event for the scholars in Yanping Mansion! It's just that those two shabby people dared to submit articles today, which almost humiliated the bookshop. What a scholar!"
As he said this, the scholar looked at Huang Shixing. Sure enough, Huang Shixing showed a satisfied expression. The scholar continued to preach: "I
heard that those two guys who overestimate their abilities are the classmates of Su Ze last time. They are all scholars from poor families recruited by Haijiao."
"These guys who don't even have any fame, still want to become famous in the scholarly world, it's really ridiculous!"
The scholars present laughed one after another, and even a few scholars from poor families also laughed in agreement. .
Huang Shixing also felt much more relaxed. He had been annoyed for a long time when Su Ze stole the limelight last time.
But now Huang Shixing no longer takes Su Ze seriously. As long as his tabloid is launched, the public opinion of the entire Yanping Prefecture will be in his hands.
When the time comes, let whoever you want to praise be included in the tabloids, and whoever you want to criticize can be criticized in the newspaper.
Didn't that Su Ze talk about "the common people's daily use is the Tao"? Huang Shixing had already prepared to contact several scholars in Fuzhou Prefecture who knew the Taizhou School of Learning and asked them to write articles to refute Su Ze's views.
When the time comes, give him a big hat, then Su Ze will never be able to make a comeback in the imperial examination!
Huang Shixing felt even happier when he thought of this.
The engraving masters in the printing shop were busy, and at this time, the prefect's Yamen was also busy.
Naturally, the yamen also had its own printing department.
The government must post announcements. Various policies issued by the court, important personnel appointments and dismissals, these must be posted on the walls on both sides of the government offices and county offices. This kind of document is called announcements, which is similar to today's policy propaganda. column.
After these articles were issued by superiors, they would be engraving and printed in the printing workshop of the government office, and then posted by the government officials.
The government office also has five engraving craftsmen, but the work in the government office is much easier than outside. There are not many notices to be posted throughout the year, and the workload is quite unsaturated.
However, the good days of these government craftsmen came to an end. The manager summoned them and announced that they would help the prefect's wife's poetry society publish poetry.
However, the steward also announced that if the seal was good, the prefect’s wife would reward the craftsman with additional silver, and the seal must be exquisite.
At this time, the craftsmen cheered. They were originally craftsmen in the city and were brought to serve in the government office.
The job in the government office was easy, but the money earned was little. The service only paid for basic meals. To support the family, one had to earn a living.
Nowadays, the engraving business in Nanping County is in a slump. If the prefect's wife can get extra rewards, they will naturally be very motivated.
Fang Ruolan also attached great importance to her poetry club. She wrote many greetings in the name of her mother and invited the wives of local celebrities to gather at the government office.
The venue is also arranged and refreshments are prepared. When the time comes, the poems written by the participants will be printed.
After all this hard work, it couldn't be started within half a month.
Counting the days, the first poetry club meeting will be at the end of June. Fang Ruolan looked at the refreshment list but was not satisfied, so she crossed out the tea that the man liked and replaced it with the sour plum soup that her daughter's family preferred.
You must use good rock sugar! Fang Ruolan asked the maid in the mansion to go to the pharmacy Huang Tiju and asked him to send someone to Changning Wei to find Su Ze to buy high-quality rock candy.
Everyone was busy, and Su Ze, escorted by the soldiers, finally returned to Changning Guard in the night.
[Jianxi water conservancy project completed, water conservancy skill experience +200, Lv3, 90/300]
Completed so quickly?
(End of chapter)