The Rise of the Writers of the Republic of China

Since the Revolution of 1911, both the northern and southern governments have demanded that the Lunar New Year be canceled and the Western New Year's Day be changed.

But the customs and traditions that have been formed for thousands of years, how can a government order be abolished?

On the first day of the Lunar New Year, according to the government's decree, the newspaper office of "Ta Kung Pao" still went to work normally. But every employee of the newspaper received a red envelope from the boss, and there were melon seeds and candies on everyone's desks.

In the president's office, there was thunderous laughter.

"Ha ha ha ha!"

Hu Zhengzhi laughed loudly, ate melon seeds and said, "Mingcheng, the past year has been a bumper harvest. Not only did the daily sales of "Ta Kung Pao" in the north exceed 60,000, and the daily sales of "Dazhong" supplement exceeded 20,000. We also successfully opened a branch office in Shanghai.”

Zhou Hexuan asked: "What is the sales volume of newspapers in Shanghai?"

"Shanghai's newspaper industry is too competitive, and there are two giants, Shenbao and Xinbao. Today, our "Ta Kung Pao" barely sells 5,000 copies a day in the south," Hu Zhengzhi said without worry, "but this is only In the beginning, as long as we always follow the eight-character policy of running a newspaper, the sales will catch up one day.”

Zhou Hexuan suggested: "Why don't you serialize "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" in the newspaper. This novel is rarely read in the south, and it should increase the sales of newspapers."

"Then how?" Hu Zhengzhi directly rejected this suggestion. He said, "The content of the "Ta Kung Pao" in the north and the south must be consistent. Can't the south print one or two more pages?"

"Why not," Zhou Hexuan said with a smile, "Two extra pages are printed in each issue, which are specially used to publish martial arts novels. The cost will not increase much, but it will quickly open up the market."

"No, no." Hu Zhengzhi waved his hands repeatedly. Both he and Zhang Jiluan were pure journalists who believed that newspapers belonged to the public, and refused to increase the number of advertising pages, let alone printing novel pages.

"Then it's up to you," Zhou Hexuan could only smile wryly, and didn't want to persuade him any more, "What are your plans in the north?"

Hu Zhengzhi talked about his grand vision: "When Chizhang (Zhang Jiluan) opens the scene in Shanghai, I will go to the northeast to open Fengtian branch, followed by Hubei, Guangdong and Sichuan. Within ten years, I will let the branch of "Ta Kung Pao" Open all over the country!"

"Hahahaha, that's a good idea," Zhou Hexuan said with a smile, "When I was having New Year's Eve dinner last night, an idea popped into my head."

"What do you think?" Hu Zhengzhi asked.

"Start a radio station." Zhou Hexuan said.

Hu Zhengzhi said: "Is it the kind of radio station where you can hear people talking through the radio box?"

"Yes, that's the kind." Zhou Hexuan said with a smile.

Today, only Shanghai and Harbin have radio stations in China. The National Central Radio Station run by the Nanjing Nationalist Government will not be established for several months, and there are no radio stations in Tianjin or Beiping.

Moreover, two of the three radio stations in Shanghai have now closed down.

The reason for the closure was simple, the expenses were too high and there was no money to be made.

Hu Zhengzhi didn't know much about this. He asked, "Riding a radio station requires advanced science and technology, right? And the capital investment is also very high."

Zhou Hexuan said with a smile: "Haha, brother Zheng, don't think that the radio station is so difficult. It is simpler than the telegraph. But it does require some capital investment, and the daily expenses are also very high. Whether it can make money or not is up to you."

"Then don't do it, we are newspapers, and it's a bit of a waste of time to run a radio station." Hu Zhengzhi is not optimistic about the radio industry.

Zhou Hexuan thought for a while and said, "That's fine, then I'll pay for it myself. But I want to cooperate with "Ta Kung Pao". There are some news content in the radio program, and I need to use the press releases of "Ta Kung Pao."

"You are the president, you have the final say, just use it for free." Hu Zhengzhi said.

"That won't work. The public is public and the private is private. The news use fee must be paid. However, it is difficult for a radio station to start a business, and the news use fee can only be given symbolically," Zhou Hexuan explained in detail, "In fact, this is also an increase in the "" The way Ta Kung Pao influences, the two newspapers, Shen Bao and Da Wan Bao, cooperate with Shanghai Kailuo Radio Station and have their own dedicated broadcasting sub-stations (that is, radio channels).”

"Shenbao has its own radio station?" Hu Zhengzhi was quite surprised by this.

Zhou Hexuan said: "Actually, radio stations, like newspapers, are news carriers. With the advancement of science, radio stations and radios must become more and more popular."

"Maybe." Hu Zhengzhi obviously didn't believe this.

Kailuo Radio Station in Shanghai is the longest operating radio station in China, and its profit model is too simple.

The radio station doesn't even have advertisements, let alone listening fees. They searched for market quotations, edited them into market password sheets, and printed them once a month. The audience needed to pay for the code sheets to get the news.

What the hell kind of game is this?

What's even more ridiculous is that in order to increase its influence and expand its user base, Kailuo Radio Station actually set up a radio channel and provided it to newspapers such as "Shenzhen" to broadcast news for free.

Zhou Hexuan wanted to be a radio station, so he would naturally think about advertising fees. However, the advertising fee in the early stage is definitely not much, and it is necessary to increase the number of listening users in order to achieve a balance of income and expenditure step by step.

...

Sunday.

Zhou Hexuan took Meng Xiaodong, who was stranded in Tianjin, to the foreigner's friendship club.

Liao Yaquan also wanted to come, but Zhou Hexuan refused, and asked her to stay at home and copy books obediently. The female spy suddenly thought wildly, thinking that Zhou Hexuan must be meeting someone.

"Hey, another whiskey!"

"Oh, oh, you can't even mix cocktails, why don't I be the bartender."

"..."

The club was extremely lively, and the bar counter was full, at least half of which were new GIs. Each of them is good at mixing cocktails. This thing is a new way of playing that was born out of the American Prohibition Law. The original purpose of its birth was to avoid the search of Prohibition agents.

Of course, Zhou Hexuan didn't come to find American soldiers. Now most of the foreign businessmen in North China gather in Tianjin, and they meet many in the club every day.

"Hey, Mr. Neville, long time no see." Zhou Hexuan greeted a foreigner.

The foreigner smiled and said, "Zhou, sit down and have a drink."

"No, there are too many customers, too lazy to wait," Zhou Hexuan asked, "Mr. Neville, do you know who sells radios?"

The foreigner shook his head and said, "Radios are not selling well in China. Nobody does this business. You can go to Shanghai and ask."

While the two were talking, loud laughter suddenly came from behind: "Haha, Mr. Zhou, I never expected to meet you here."

Zhou Hexuan turned around and saw that a non-mainstream American general was greeting him, and he responded with a smile, "Hi, General Butler."

Smedley Butler is actually Smedley Darlington Butler, just translated differently. His goodwill behavior in China is not entirely a show, this guy is a pacifist, and even publicly stated that he "will not be a thug of Wall Street bosses and capitalists."

As for the abduction of American soldiers in Tianjin, Butler didn't know about it.

When this person returns to the United States next year, he will be promoted to the youngest major general of the Marine Corps, and he may even be the commander of the Marine Corps in 1930.

It's a pity that Butler likes to tell the truth, and he often scolds the president, congressmen, and capitalists. As a result, he makes too many enemies on weekdays, and eventually misses the post of commander. Later, because he accidentally fired a gun and wounded someone, his political opponent immediately fell into trouble and was interrogated by a military court and placed under house arrest.

After leaving the army, Butler ran for Congress again, but failed again. In the end he became a social activist and military writer, against fascism, against capitalists, and was busy making peace speeches all day long.

The Butler Marine Corps Barracks in Okinawa was named after this man.

"Zhou, can you play bowling?" Butler asked.

Zhou Hexuan smiled and said, "I will."

Regardless of his status, Butler put his arms around Zhou Hexuan and said with a smile, "Let's go and play with me."

Zhou Hexuan introduced: "This is my girlfriend Meng Xiaodong."

Meng Xiaodong smiled and nodded immediately: "Hello."

"Oh oh oh," Butler yelled in English, "Sometimes, I really envy Chinese men."

Zhou Hexuan laughed in unison, and asked casually, "General Butler, do you know any merchant who sells radios? It would be best to have radio equipment."

Butler said: "Of course, the world's first radio station was born in the United States. The United States is the best at radio stations. I will introduce a friend to you someday."