Chapter 115: Restoring China, China Bookstore

Ma Enhui, seeing that Zhu Yunwen was not speaking, asked again, “Thirty carts are still not enough? Could it be three hundred carts? Your Majesty, that would be thirty thousand books, even if they were printed, it’s unlikely there would be so many people buying them, right?”

Zhu Yunwen stood up, gave a faint smile to Ma Enhui, and said, “Empress, three hundred carts are far from enough. I plan to print three to five hundred thousand carts in the next ten years!”

“Three to five hundred thousand carts?” Ma Enhui exclaimed, opening her red lips in astonishment. She became absentminded for a moment and then shook her head repeatedly, saying, “Your Majesty, you mustn’t. Three hundred thousand carts would mean three million books. How many literate people do we have in Ming Dynasty? How can we possibly sell them all? You mustn’t, absolutely not.”

Zhu Yunwen was well aware of this fact. In an era where literacy rates were not very high, printing so many books couldn’t be sold to the common people, right?

Demand determines the market; this is a fundamental rule.

However, markets sometimes have their ups and downs. Today there might be a financial crisis, and tomorrow there could be an oligopoly. Even in this feudal and imperfect market, there would still be surprises.

And the one who caused this surprise was none other than the talented Zhu Yuanzhang.

When it came to the issuance of “bestsellers,” no emperor of any feudal dynasty could compare to Zhu Yuanzhang. He was truly unparalleled in history, with no predecessors or successors!

Someone might wonder, how could bestselling books be so popular in a feudal era?

Top records were set at one million copies.

Oh, one million copies?

That was quite a lack of imagination…

Zhu Yuanzhang’s record was at least twenty million copies, equivalent to two hundred thousand carts, without any discounts.

The title of this book was “The Great Decree.”

Of course, Zhu Yuanzhang’s bestseller record wasn’t the result of a natural market flow; it was manipulated through vote-rigging…

It probably went something like this:

Old Zhu arranged for a few people to set up a book stall, displaying nothing but “The Great Decree.” Then, they shouted loudly:

“Listen up, everyone! Come and get ‘The Great Decree.’ As long as you have ‘The Great Decree’ at home, those who were supposed to be beheaded will be exiled, those meant for exile will get a whipping, and those who should be whipped will get a beating…”

“If you don’t pick it up? You dare walk away without it? Grab him!”

“Why aren’t you picking up ‘The Great Decree’? Do you know that without ‘The Great Decree,’ your crimes will be upgraded? If you don’t pick it up, we’ll kick your whole family out, and you’ll never be allowed back.”

“Don’t know how to read? Not knowing how to read doesn’t mean you don’t have hands. Take one! Remember, it’s only three hundred wén per copy, and we won’t deceive you…”

In this way, every household scrambled to get ‘The Great Decree.’

For those who couldn’t get it for free, they had to buy it, and for those who couldn’t buy it, well…

They had to pay extra…

In short, if you didn’t have one or two copies of ‘The Great Decree’ at home, you couldn’t sleep peacefully. Even the petty thieves and crooks’ families probably had to buy a few extra copies, just in case.

“The Great Decree” was essentially a book of criminal codes, with all the gruesome details about what happened to those who committed various crimes, such as beheading, skinning, and so on…

This kind of reading material, not suitable for all ages, wasn’t really in high demand. Even in the future, there wouldn’t be many non-professionals who would casually flip through legal books, right?

Zhu Yunwen, naturally, wasn’t going down the same path as his grandfather with the “bestsellers.” He decided to use the market to solve the problem.

The Empress mentioned that there were few literate people and a low literacy rate, right?

No worries.

The reform of the Imperial Academy is coming soon, and the era of mass education is about to begin. Implement nine-year compulsory education, and start literacy programs; surely, no one would object, right?

Once the market grows, who would worry about not being able to sell books?

Furthermore, in the current Ming Dynasty, there’s a flourishing literary scene, and the capital city’s market is already taking shape. If we don’t act now, it’ll be too late in the future.

As the saying goes, “Seize the opportunity while you can…”

The Two Kings entered the palace.

Zhu Yunwen looked at the increasingly overweight Zhu Zhi and Zhu Geng, frowned, and said, “I told you to engage in trade, not to treat yourselves like commodities, selling yourselves by weight.”

Zhu Zhi and Zhu Geng exchanged a glance, both filled with helplessness.

Zhu Zhi sighed and said, “Your Majesty, we are also helpless. Nowadays, the Ministry of War needs medical gauze, and it’s only seven maces per box. But outside, wealthy merchants and families of military officials also want to buy medical gauze to keep at home just in case. They are willing to pay much more than the Ministry of War…”

“Yes, for a bit of medical gauze, they invite us to the Flower Pavilion^[1]Tl’s note: Brothel every day…”

Zhu Geng lowered his head.

He didn’t know whether to express his feelings through tears or laughter.

After hearing this, Ma Enhui glanced at Zhu Yunwen and then asked, “How much silver are they offering?”

“Your Majesty, it ranges from three to ten silver, and this is just one box! If it weren’t for the urgency of the Ministry of War, releasing a batch of medical gauze to sell would have been very profitable for us.”

Zhu Geng was somewhat regretful.

Currently, medical gauze was classified as a military commodity, and the Two Kings were well aware of the urgent need for medical gauze by the Ministry of War. They didn’t dare to distribute it to the civilians.

Ma Enhui was surprised to learn about the high prices of medical gauze in the civilian market. The profit margins were much higher than the production costs, perhaps several times higher!

“Regardless of how much they offer, you must not sell it without authorization!”

Ma Enhui said sternly.

Zhu Yunwen looked at Ma Enhui with some surprise. She was known to be fond of wealth, but now, when she saw such high profits, she could restrain herself from acting and even issued strict orders?

The Two Kings nodded in agreement upon hearing this.

Zhu Yunwen gave Ma Enhui a faint smile and then turned to the Two Kings, saying, “Today, I summoned you both to the palace with the hope that you can prepare to establish a bookstore.”

“A bookstore? What kind of bookstore?”

Zhu Zhi and Zhu Geng were puzzled.

Zhu Yunwen explained his grand plan for a large bookstore. It was not only to surpass the Directorate of Ceremonial’s Printing Office in scale but also in quality and efficiency, with a daily printing capacity of no less than a thousand books.

The Two Kings were stunned by the extravagant requirements and plans.

“I want literary works to be available everywhere in Great Ming!”

Zhu Yunwen passionately described his vision of the future.

Zhu Zhi and Zhu Geng took a deep breath and exclaimed together, “We will definitely not fail in this mission, Your Majesty!”

Ma Enhui understood that the Emperor had made up his mind, so they would have to invest money to establish the bookstore. She looked at Zhu Yunwen and sighed, “Your Majesty, what name should we give to this bookstore?”

Zhu Yunwen paced back and forth, then turned to Ma Enhui and said, “In ‘The Edict for the Northern Expedition Against the Yuan,’ it says: ‘Expel the barbarians, restore China, establish laws, and provide relief to the people. Restoring China was the intent of the founding emperor! How about naming it: China Bookstore?”

“China Bookstore?”

Ma Enhui considered it and then praised, “That’s a good name.”

Inside the Printing Office, as Xie Jin reached the last page, he sighed, feeling unsatisfied, and said, “What an extraordinary book, but it’s not complete.”

“The remaining manuscripts should be with Mr. Luo. Shall we go and request to borrow them?”

Xu Huizu said solemnly.

Xie Jin agreed and said, “While the Three Kingdoms story is a common topic, the way it’s presented here is indeed refreshing. His Majesty’s confidence in this book becoming popular is not without reason.”

“But what’s puzzling is when and where His Majesty read ‘Romance of the Three Kingdoms,’ as Mr. Luo doesn’t know His Majesty, yet His Majesty seems to know Mr. Luo.”

Xu Huizu furrowed his brow in confusion.

Xie Jin contemplated for a moment and shook his head, saying, “There’s only one explanation.”

“What is it?”

Xu Huizu looked at Xie Jin with anticipation.

Xie Jin’s mouth twitched slightly as he calmly said, “The Emperor is a true dragon. Just look at this sentence: ‘A dragon can be large or small, it can ascend or hide; when large, it rises amidst clouds and mist, when small, it conceals itself within the waves…'”

Xu Huizu looked at Xie Jin with disdain.

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