Zhou Zhubu suddenly shut up.
Fang Yun knew what Zhou Zhubu wanted to say, because some things were known to everyone.
Semi-Saint Chen Guanhai is nearly two hundred years old, and he was injured in the battle with the Barbarian Saint. The hostile Qing Kingdom once spread rumors that Chen Guanhai would not survive more than five years. If he fought the Barbarian Saint again within five years, he would probably die.
There can be no country without a saint.
Once there is no half-saint in Jing Kingdom after the death of Saint Chen Guanhai, according to the Ten-Nation Agreement, several neighboring countries can annex Jing Kingdom and assume the responsibility of guarding the border.
There were even rumors that Zuo Xiang had colluded with Qing State to weaken Jing State's power in preparation for Qing State's annexation of Jing State in the future.
Fang Yun put the holy pages into the brown paper bag and said, "Please thank Mr. Cai for me. As for the publication of the document..."
"Don't worry, I will issue the publication documents tomorrow. Are you planning to combine the two novels into one book?"
"Yes. In addition to writing the preface, I also need to print tens of thousands of promotional leaflets, which also need to be reviewed by the Academy of Literature. Can you give me some convenience?" Fang Yun asked.
"Give it to me, I will issue the document tomorrow." said Zhou Zhubu.
"Can I write now?" Fang Yun didn't expect things to go so smoothly.
"Go to my study." Zhou Zhubu took Fang Yun to the study.
Fang Yun thanked Zhou Zhubu and sat in the study thinking about how to advertise the new book. In this world without television or the Internet, the best way is to hand out flyers everywhere, so the content must be carefully thought out.
Zhou Zhubu flipped through "The West Chamber" and "The Pillow Book" and memorized the wonderful parts of them.
After a quarter of an hour, Fang Yun finally wrote an introduction leaflet of more than 100 words, but the content was too exaggerated. He handed it to Zhou Zhubu carefully and observed Zhou Zhubu's expression.
Zhou Zhubu took a look and laughed, saying, "You've watched Love in the West Chamber and read The Pillow Book? How come you, Fang Yun, have so many tricks up your sleeve?"
Zhou Zhubu continued to read, and after finishing it, he looked helpless and completely defeated by Fang Yun.
"The mental journey of the only top-two student in Jing country? The painstakingly created new book by the author of the only three poems published in the monthly magazine 'Sacred Way'? Containing the imperial examination secrets of the students of the Minister of Literature? Highly recommended by Jiangzhou Academy of Literature this year? Praised by the Grand Secretary? The Minister of Literature remained silent for a long time after reading it? Fang Yun, aren't you afraid that I will punish you for spreading rumors and causing trouble? Apart from anything else, why would the Minister of Literature remain silent for a long time!" Zhou Zhubu wanted to use his official authority to intimidate Fang Yun, but he was completely defeated by this weird promotional page.
These words seem incredible, but they are really attractive if you think about them carefully. Zhou Zhubu admitted that he couldn't think of such a strange sentence no matter how hard he tried.
Fang Yun said calmly: "My Lord, you said that The Pillow Book can be included in The Holy Way. This book will definitely be presented to the Minister of Literature. He will not comment on it in the short term, so of course he will remain silent for a long time."
"If the Minister of Literature is very dissatisfied with this book, wouldn't you be shooting yourself in the foot?"
"That's even better, I can say 'This is a literary work that is both shocking and infuriating'!"
"Quibbling!" Zhou Zhubu shook his head and laughed.
"Is this promotional content not acceptable?" Fang Yun asked.
Zhou Zhubu pondered for a moment and said, "'After reading The West Chamber, I found myself in love, and after reading The Pillow, I found myself in a great scholar' is too much. You can let your people say it, but don't write it down, so as not to give them a handle. As for the Grand Secretary applauding, that's fine. Lord Yuanjun admires you very much, and he won't be angry. As for the Minister of Literature, just delete it and write a new one for me."
"Okay." Fang Yun deleted the words "I'm going to leave" and added: This is a lingering love story, this is a tortuous and moving legendary experience, the top three poems of the Double First Saint are all dedicated by Fang Yun!
After Fang Yun finished writing and took a closer look, he felt a strange smell of a costume drama about misery.
Zhou Zhubu looked at the last sentence in silence for a long time. Fang Yun simply used his literary reputation to the extreme and was not restrained at all.
After a long while, Zhou Zhubu finally said, "After the publication of Romance of the Western Chamber, novelists in Jiangzhou will probably starve to death. This will not happen again. I will ban such misleading words in the future! If those young scholars and women see it, they will buy a copy even if they don't eat."
Fang Yun smiled secretly in his heart. The last paragraph was designed for women. "Romance of the West Chamber" was just the beginning, and "Dream of Red Mansions" was the big trap that infatuated men and resentful women fell into one after another.
"When will you start selling this book?"
Fang Yun coughed lightly and said, "The monthly magazine "Holy Way" is sold at the Academy of Literature on the first day of every month. Sir, can you please allow me to sell books in front of the Academy for one day?"
"You..." Zhou Zhubu was so angry at Fang Yun's cleverness that he was speechless.
"Holy Way" is sold on the first of every month, and "Wen Bao" is sold on the first, tenth, and twentieth of every month. Both newspapers and magazines are not delivered to the door, but only sold in the bookstore of Wenyuan. There are the most people in front of Wenyuan on the first of every month.
"The Academy has a clear rule that you can't sell anything in front of the Academy. I can't help you with that."
"Then I drove ten ox carts to the printing house of the Academy to pick up books. When I passed by the main gate of the Academy, someone wanted to buy books. The Academy can't punish me, right?"
Zhou Zhubu's mind flashed with the bizarre scene of ten ox carts loaded with "Romance of the Western Chamber" linked together and parading through the city. He suddenly felt a headache. This Fang Yun was really good at taking advantage of others, so he said vaguely: "Then you better be careful. If something bad happens, I can't protect you."
"Thank you, sir!" Fang Yun was overjoyed.
"How many copies of this book will be printed in the first print run?" asked Zhou Zhubu.
"There are nearly one million people in Dayuan Prefecture alone. There are many more scholars here than in Ji County. I plan to print 50,000 copies at a time." Fang Yun said.
“What’s the price?”
"After all, this book is not needed for the imperial examination, so the price cannot be too high. Fifty cents per copy will be enough." Fang Yun said.
"Yes, but is there anyone who can help you with your plan?"
"Of course, I opened one and discussed it with the guys in the bookstore." Fang Yun said.
Zhou Zhubu said, "Leave the manuscript here. I will write a preface tonight. Before I leave, I will write you a warrant. Tomorrow you can go to Wenhuitang to get the publishing documents with the warrant, and then go directly to the printing house to pick up the book."
Fang Yun's eyes fell on his manuscript, and he thought something was wrong. He said, "I need the manuscript to go to the printing house of the Academy of Literature. I can't go empty-handed tomorrow."
With a big wave of his hand, Zhou Zhubu collected Fang Yun's novel manuscript and the two advertisement manuscripts, stuffed them into his clothes with "righteousness", looked at Fang Yun vigilantly and said: "I will have someone deliver the manuscript to the printing house, and you can go and pick up the book directly when the time comes."
"Sir, you are so unfair. I spent ten days and ten nights writing this manuscript. I revised it many times and almost turned my hair white with worry." Fang Yun complained hurriedly.
Zhou Zhubu said, "Let's not talk about this for now. If you need a preface in the future, remember to find me."
Fang Yun stared into Zhou Zhubu's eyes and said, "County Magistrate Cai gave me a holy page. It is said that the highest price offered by the Four Seas Dragon Clan is fifty thousand taels per page!"
Zhou Zhubu immediately showed a fierce look in his eyes, showing his official power.
Fang Yun showed no fear.
In Shengyuan Continent, literary rank comes first and official rank comes second. Even the monarchs of the ten countries cannot deprive a student of his literary rank. Therefore, even if Fang Yun offended the powerful Left Prime Minister, the scholars in Ji County were still willing to make friends with him.
Scholars have confidence when they have literary status. Many scholars who do not care about official positions remain neither arrogant nor humble in the face of power. Because of this, no matter how powerful the Left Prime Minister was, more than 80% of the people in the military and the literary academy still opposed him.
After a moment, Zhou Zhubu glared at Fang Yun fiercely and said, "From now on, the books you want to publish will be reviewed as soon as possible. The results will be out within twelve hours, and you can go to the printing house for priority printing."
Fang Yun still stared at Zhou Zhubu.
Zhou Zhubu said helplessly, "I will ask the Lord to have this book approved by the Holy Academy as soon as possible, and then you can contact the three major booksellers to sell books in other countries! As for your "The Pillow Book", I will ask the Lord to make it a must-read for all academies and literary academies in Jiangzhou. With this alone, your literary reputation will soon spread throughout Jiangzhou, and a single copy of "The Pillow Book" can also sell nearly 10,000 copies."
Fang Yun was very satisfied. Listing "The Pillow Book" as a must-read book for a state was of great significance and more important than the national poem. However, his expression remained unchanged.
Finally, Zhou Zhubu showed a look of reluctance and said, "I'm taking the last step back. I can't retreat any further. I'm one of the editors of Wen Bao in Jiangzhou. I can do my best to get some news published in Wen Bao. As long as you need it and it meets the requirements of Wen Bao, I will try my best to help you get it published in Wen Bao."
Fang Yun immediately smiled. He didn't expect to gain so much. He knew the value of Wen Bao or the media better than anyone else in the world. The media can even become the main force to subvert a country.
"Thank you, Mr. Zhou. I'll take my leave now." Fang Yun bowed to express his gratitude.
With an unhappy look on his face, Zhou Zhubu wrote a warrant to Fang Yun, and then sent Fang Yun away. But when he turned around, a smile bloomed on Zhou Zhubu's face. He carefully took out Fang Yun's manuscript and looked at it with fascination.
"What a wonderful thing! What a wonderful thing! How can gold, silver, jewels, antiques, and rare treasures compare to the wisdom of scholars! Just looking at and touching them makes me satisfied. Very good, very good. You must help him more in the future."
The more Zhou Zhubu read, the more excited he became. He could not contain himself and took the manuscript of "The Pillow Book" straight to the residence of Li Wenying, the governor of Jiangzhou and the Grand Secretary.
Not long after, Zhou Zhubu's painful and angry shouts were suddenly heard from Li's mansion.
"Li Wenying! How dare you snatch my... the manuscript that Fang Yun gave me! I want to report you! You are a great scholar, a third-rank official, but you snatched the personal belongings of a sixth-rank chief clerk and a mere scholar. You are simply insane!"
"You're using war poems to force me to leave? I'll crash into your doorstep right now! Give me back The Pillow Book! Otherwise, I'll file a complaint with the emperor!"
"Despicable! Extremely despicable!"
"Master Yuanjun, Grand Secretary Li, please be kind and return the Pillow Book to me!"
"Okay! Okay! Okay! I'll lock up The Romance of the West Chamber right now, and you'll never see the original manuscript! I'll also write to Cai He and tell him that I'll never let you see the original manuscript of Early Morning Walk in Ji County!"
"Li Wenying, you old bastard, I'm not done with you!"
Zhou Zhubu was tired of scolding and complained in a low voice: "Is this retribution?" Then he went home in a depressed mood.
Fang Yun got the benefit and went home happily. He lit two incense sticks before going to bed and fell asleep peacefully.
!