Chapter 1592 Eye-Opening
As Haihan has the most developed cultural and educational industry in the country, publications such as newspapers and periodicals also have unique market conditions. The content of newspapers and periodicals here is not only focused on current affairs news and national affairs like in Sanya, but also has a more diverse style.
For example, Xun Pengcheng bought a newspaper called "Vocational Education Reference" from the market. Its content is mainly about vocational training professional courses in many local colleges in Danzhou. It is basically a variety of soft articles and advertisements. . Xun Pengcheng used to be a practitioner in this industry, so he could naturally tell at a glance that the newspaper's survival mode was to advertise the signature majors of various colleges.
This kind of industry newspaper may not be a new thing to time-travelers, but for people of this era, it is a new thing that has never been seen before. Even though Xun Pengcheng worked as a reporter in Sanya for two years, he has never seen any industry in Sanya publish this kind of newspaper. The reason is that the cultural quality of the people is not enough to support the distribution cost of a newspaper in a single industry. . However, the numerous academies in Danzhou provide just the right conditions. It is said that each academy will subscribe to several copies of this newspaper, using it as a tool for internal brainwashing and external propaganda.
Xun Pengcheng knew without asking that if any academy did not subscribe to this newspaper, it would soon be at a disadvantage in the competition among its peers. And if you want to get a certain amount of exposure in this newspaper, you obviously have to spend real money to buy space. Although Xun Pengcheng didn't know how big the circulation of this newspaper was, there were so many academies in Danzhou and the cultural level of the local people was among the best in Haihan. Presumably its circulation must be higher than that of the "Sanya Express" where he used to work. On.
The larger the circulation, the higher the price of the promotional content in the newspaper, and the overall revenue of the newspaper will also increase. Think about the advertisements for dried tofu that appeared in express newspapers in the past and were solicited by the editor-in-chief. The prices were not much higher. If you could replace all the content of a newspaper issue with a full-page advertisement, how much would you get back? Xun Pengcheng couldn't help but admire the founder of this newspaper for being able to think of such a business opportunity, and it seemed to be running pretty well.
In addition to the "Vocational Education Reference", there are two or three newspapers and periodicals on the market in Danzhou with literary content such as poetry and poetry as their themes. Xun Pengcheng took a general look and found that these newspapers did not have any heavy commercial traces. The few advertisements on them were almost all for stationery supplies. But he doesn’t think that private newspapers without commercial profits can survive for a long time. Do newspapers like this that focus on literature really have so many people subscribing?
Xun Pengcheng carefully looked through the contents of the newspapers and found that the advertisements in each newspaper were almost concentrated on one or two customers. The newspapers themselves were priced at extremely low prices. He immediately understood the secret. This type of newspaper is also different from the traditional newspaper operation model. It should be sponsored by businesses that sell stationery supplies. In other words, the newspaper itself is just a promotional tool for those businesses. Low pricing is used in exchange for more readers and coverage, while the distribution and operating costs of the newspaper are borne by the main sponsors.
This kind of business model is also rare in Sanya. There are very few newspapers that only serve one or two limited businesses like this, because doing so is almost tantamount to cutting off their own financial resources. Xun Pengcheng even boldly guessed that maybe the owners behind this kind of newspaper were the businesses that advertised. As long as the target customer group is large enough, this kind of publicity will definitely have certain results, and using this kind of business method to maintain the operation of the newspaper may not necessarily lead to losses.
What an eye-opener! Xun Pengcheng secretly lamented that his visit to Danzhou was indeed fruitful. He learned something on the first day he entered the city. He had worked in a newspaper in Sanya for two years, and he didn't even know that this business had operations like Danzhou's. Either of these two ways of running newspapers should be much less stressful than the survival pressure that Express News originally faced. But having said that, these operating methods do not have a suitable environment outside Danzhou, otherwise they should have been introduced to Sanya long ago.
"I should have come to Danzhou to join the industry!" This thought flashed through Xun Pengcheng's mind, but then he thought that at that time, he only wanted to get the opportunity to become an official. Sanya was the political, economic and cultural center of Haihan in the eyes of outsiders. Naturally, there are many more opportunities. Even if I knew there was a better way out in Danzhou, I would definitely still go to Sanya first. Besides, when I first arrived in Haihan, I was very arrogant. If I hadn’t suffered a series of setbacks in Sanya, I wouldn’t have lowered my head to work as a journalist doing errands for a newspaper.
Xun Pengcheng didn't know when it would get dark when he was doing this research. It wasn't until he could hardly see the words on the newspaper that he realized that he had been sitting in the room for half a day. At this time, his mind returned to the real environment, and he felt that his stomach was empty and he was very hungry. He opened the door and called the waiter, asking him to buy some famous local wine and food and bring them to the room. I also rewarded the guy with some money.
Seeing that Xun Pengcheng was generous, the waiter hurriedly responded and soon served Xun Pengcheng a bowl of hot Danzhou Leicha. The main ingredients of this Leicha include peanuts, sesame seeds, tea leaves, perilla, rice shrimp, etc., which have heat-clearing properties. It has the functions of , detoxification and production of body fluids. It can also be used to pad the stomach before eating.
Soon the waiter brought out two cold dishes and a bottle of wine. He said that several hot dishes were still waiting to be cooked in the kitchen, so Xun Pengcheng ate while he waited. After waiting for another cup of tea, several local signature dishes were served one after another, such as Dongpo lotus-spiced elbow, Nanji yellow-skinned chicken, stewed wild boar with hairy potatoes, and even the rice was the stewed eel rice created by this inn. . It was a very rich meal for Xun Pengcheng to eat alone. This was probably the most comfortable and comfortable meal he had after leaving Sanya. After three glasses of wine, Xun Pengcheng even felt like he was reborn.
However, Xun Pengcheng had become accustomed to being cautious in his words and actions during this period, and he did not indulge himself in getting drunk. He only poured half of a bottle of wine before he took the initiative to stop. He asked the waiter to collect the food and wine, bring hot water and take a bath in the room before he packed up and went to bed.
On the second day after arriving in Danzhou, Xun Pengcheng planned to go out and see the local customs and customs. Before setting off, he called his waiter to find out if there were any places worth visiting in the local area, or if there were any recent events that he could watch.
The waiter responded: "The most worth seeing in this place is the Academy City in the south outside the city. That scene will never be seen elsewhere."
Xun Pengcheng said: "I have already seen Academy City on the way to Danzhou, but is there anything else to see?"
The waiter thought for a moment and said, "If my guest had come three months earlier, he would have been able to catch up with the annual naval drill, so he could go and watch the excitement. If it had been two months later, the fireworks display at the end of the year would have been very exciting. Recently, There are probably only various poetry gatherings organized by some local literati to meet friends through literature. If you are interested, you can go to the street and look at the notice boards. Generally, if there are such gatherings, the organizers will post them in advance. "
Xun Pengcheng Xindao: How can ordinary people go and watch the naval drills? The "Stride" military exercise held by the Navy in the Beibu Gulf every summer is not only for training troops, but also has the task of displaying force and selling arms to neighboring countries. A large number of troops are gathered near Danzhou Bay before and after every year's military exercises, and the entire Danzhou area will also enter a period of martial law that lasts for about two months. During this period, the ports in the northwest section of Hainan Island will be temporarily closed to navigation for several days, and all civilian ships will be prohibited from entering the exercise waters.
As for the "watching" the guy said, he probably just refers to the military parade on land before the military exercise begins. That ceremony allows ordinary people to watch the ceremony in a designated area, but Xun Pengcheng can see the National Day military parade every year in Sanya. For There is not much interest in this kind of military parade. As for the so-called poetry club that makes friends through literature, Xun Pengcheng was still a little interested in it a few years ago. He casually recited a few limericks and pretended to write a few words. Everyone would compliment each other on business and get acquainted with those who could talk. , and then a group of people ate, drank, traveled, and felt at ease. However, after experiencing such a turmoil in Sanya, Xun Pengcheng's mentality has already changed a lot. Most of the slanderous literati in the past have faded away, and he no longer has too much faith in social forms such as poetry gatherings. interest. He was about to say a few perfunctory words and then go out for a walk, but what the guy said next made him change his mind.
"My guest, the gathering of local literati is not just about writing poems. If your guest has any plans to do business locally, you can also go and have a look."
Xun Pengcheng asked curiously: "Is it called a poetry meeting, but it's actually a business discussion?"
The waiter responded: "Writing poems and making money, you can do both! Those who have money and leisure to hold such gatherings are mostly local wealthy people, so there is no harm in the guests going to make new friends."
Xun Pengcheng suddenly felt that this guy was really discerning and knew how to recommend this kind of activity to him. When it comes to reciting poems and writing poems, I really don't have much interest in it, but if it's an opportunity to get in touch with the upper class of society, I might go and see what's going on.
Xun Pengcheng left the inn, followed the direction pointed by the waiter, and soon saw a notice board at an intersection. Such facilities for posting various notices are also found on the streets of Sanya, and Xun Pengcheng is no stranger to this. In addition to posting government announcements, various private announcements can also be posted here, such as searching for people, recruiting renters, hiring workers, offering rewards, etc. Of course, the premise is that the notices cannot be placed on the official announcements. Just as the innkeeper said, Xun Pengcheng quickly found a notice for a literati gathering on the notice board.
This party notice did not drag out the text because of the particularity of the target group, but was written in a very easy-to-understand way: "On a certain day of this month, the Danzhou Haifeng Poetry Society will hold a literary meeting at Fengming Villa in the west of the city. It will last for two days and all distinguished people are welcome to come." There is a line of small words at the end: "All expenses for this event are borne by the participants themselves."
Just looking at this style of writing, Xun Pengcheng would even think that it was an invitation written by a certain merchant to hold a product promotion event. It would not fit in with a poetry club or literary society at all, but it was precisely this that made Xun Pengcheng create a greater interest. interest. It was obvious that this was not a gathering of literati in the ordinary sense, and participants were reminded that there would be fees to attend, which undoubtedly eliminated some down-and-out literati who wanted to eat mixed food.
Xun Pengcheng couldn't help but be a little curious. On the one hand, this so-called Haifeng Poetry Club wanted to recruit more participants by posting such weird notices. On the other hand, it also had to set up certain entry thresholds at this stage to eliminate in advance those conditions that were not met. For those who meet the standards, what will be the content of this activity? If it hadn't been for the innkeeper's recommendation, he probably wouldn't have thought that the local literati gathering had so many doors.
But Xun Pengcheng had a moment of hesitation. He could feel that the organizers of the event were deliberately hiding the true purpose, and whether the content of this event was legal was what worried him the most. When Xun Pengcheng was in Sanya, he got into trouble because he accidentally touched certain politically sensitive areas. If he hadn't been lucky enough, he would not be enjoying happiness in Danzhou at this time, but would be working as a coolie in a hard labor camp somewhere. . He is always careful now, just not wanting to fall into a pit again. After all, good luck can protect him for a while, but it certainly cannot protect him for a lifetime. Just looking at the notice, this literati gathering seemed to have a somewhat strange atmosphere, which made him really undecided.
Xun Pengcheng saw that the time written on the notice happened to be today. He was afraid that if he continued to stand here, his position would be weakened, so he turned around and left, wandering around the city. But he couldn't help but still thinking about the strange notice, and unknowingly he walked to another notice board in the city. Xun Pengcheng subconsciously went over to take a look, and sure enough, he saw that there was also a notice for the Haifeng Poetry Society posted here. .
"No, no, don't take risks!" Xun Pengcheng immediately reminded himself in his heart, don't be fooled by this notice. He took a few steps away and saw that he had arrived at a city gate, and it was not the south gate that he entered the city from yesterday.
Xun Pengcheng walked around randomly without knowing where he was going. After checking the direction for a while, he realized that the gate in front of him was the Ximen Zhenhai Gate of Danzhou City. Xun Pengcheng thought about it, wasn't the place mentioned on the notice where the cultural gathering would be held in the west of the city? I asked casually on the roadside, and sure enough, not far from Zhenhaimen, I found Fengming Villa as mentioned on the notice.
"That's all, just go and have a look. If the situation is not right, just turn away and don't get into too much trouble." Xun Pengcheng knew that it was difficult to suppress his curiosity, so he could only comfort himself in this way.
Seeing several police officers in black on duty at the city gate, Xun Pengcheng felt a rare sense of security: "This place is under the rule of Haihan, and lawless people will not be so rampant. If you see any clues, hurry up." Leave, just go back to the city and you’ll be fine.”
(End of chapter)