Guangwenhao

After negotiating with all sorts of shady characters for more than ten consecutive days, Zhang Kun took some time to visit the river engineering camp in Nanxiawa.

The river works are progressing faster and faster. It took nearly three months to dredge Xuanwu Gate, while it took less than two months to dredge Zhengyang Gate.

Now that the project has reached Chongwen Gate, it should be able to complete the dredging of the moat around the South Three Gates before the river freezes over!

Xu Bengao, from the Jinyiwei Street Office, sent word that he would complete the dredging of the moat at the South Third Gate.

He relinquished his position as the commander of the river works camp and recommended Chen Jizong to succeed him.

At that time, Zhang Kun could also be promoted to become the station commander of the river engineering battalion.

Zhang Kun didn't care much about this. Even without any official position, the river engineering battalion would still be under his control for the time being.

Moreover, the biggest problem the River Works Battalion faced from the very beginning—insufficient funds—has been completely resolved by Zhang Kun.

With the Jin Yun ship there, even if something goes wrong at the Chongwenmen Xuanke Division, the River Works Battalion can still complete the dredging of the moats around the nine gates!

Reaching the top of the watchtower, Zhang Kun began to ponder what the river engineering camp should do during the winter when work was suspended:

The first thing that came to mind was to break the ice, dig out a batch of cellars, and then break out the ice from the moat and store it there.

It can last until early summer next year, and can fetch a good price, while also reducing the difficulty of subsequent dredging.

Secondly, we need to take on some small construction and repair projects to at least solve the increasingly tense housing problem in Nanxiawa.

Next, the river workers were instructed to learn some skills from the military craftsmen and make some simple handicrafts to sell.

And then...

Zhang Kun doesn't intend to make this money, but he also won't give it directly to the river workers. Instead, he plans to return it through various welfare programs.

For example, a clothing repair shop:

Not long ago, Zhang Kun incorporated all the washerwomen from the river work camp, who were actually prostitutes from those nunneries, into the Qingxia ship.

Compared to comforting the lonely and restless single river workers, they could generate more profit by working as salespeople on the Qingxia ship.

Although these prostitutes were fake nuns, they did know a little about Buddhist matters and were very good at pretending to be dignified.

The prostitutes in brothels and pleasure houses are far inferior to them in this respect.

Moreover, their income would far exceed that of washing clothes in the river work camp, allowing them to live a better life, which would be considered a completion of their hard labor.

On the other hand, Zhang Kun cannot and does not intend to make money from just any kind of money.

Zhang Kun has outsourced all the work of comforting single river workers to others.

After all, this kind of business doesn't sound good if word gets out, and it's easy for the Censorate and the officials of the Six Ministries to get involved.

Even disregarding his eunuch godfather, Zhang Kun is now considered a big shot in the capital.

Just like the Zhenjin ship beneath the Jinyun, many eyes are watching Zhang Kun.

In addition, Zhang Kun also sent people to Zhangjiawan, Hexiwu and other places to buy young women with clean backgrounds.

They removed the laundry shop's sign and re-established a clothing repair shop.

They were sent to the repair shop to do laundry and repair clothes, and the wages they were paid were much higher than those of the previous laundry women.

"Liangyu, I heard some of the brothers are being dishonest, making unwanted advances towards the new girls at the repair shop?"

When Zuo Liangyu walked to his side, Zhang Kun pointed to the clothing repair shop not far away and instructed:

"Give them a good talking-to and tell them that those girls were bought by me to be married to them!"

The girls you've taken advantage of or flirted with might end up marrying one of your close male friends.

Won't you be ashamed when you see them? How will you have the face to show yourself in the river engineering camp?!

Furthermore, by doing this, you're setting a bad example, and your wife might also be the target of jokes in the future!

"Don't worry, Master Kun!"

Zuo Liangyu was also very dissatisfied with this phenomenon and immediately assured Zhang Kun:

"If I catch them doing this again, I will teach them a lesson they won't forget and whip them until their genitals are ripped apart!"

Anyone who has gone even further must be severely punished!

"very good!"

Zhang Kun reached out and patted Zuo Liangyu on the shoulder, smiling as he asked:

"Do you have a girl you like? If you're willing, I can help your uncle."

"Shall we arrange your marriage first, so that other young men don't snatch it up?"

"Thank you so much, Master Kun!"

Zuo Liangyu was a little embarrassed and shook his head at Zhang Kun, saying:

"But I... I want to marry a daughter of an official, so that she can teach my child to read more."

Ha, as expected of Zuo Liangyu, so you're trying to take the son-in-law route, huh?

Today, Zuo Liangyu is just like Xu Xin, Yang Desheng, Cao Meng, and other confidants of Zhang Kun.

He had already been registered in the Imperial Guard where Chen Jizong was stationed, and had obtained the official rank of General and Junior Banner.

Although he didn't have an official rank, he was already halfway into officialdom and qualified enough to start considering marrying a daughter of an official.

"Good, that's ambitious!"

Zhang Kun laughed heartily and agreed to Zuo Liangyu's request, his face full of sincere assurance:

"As long as you do your job at the river work camp well, I'll definitely help you find a suitable family!"

Even eunuchs are officials. How about I find you a daughter from an eunuch's family?

Although daughters of eunuchs may offer limited or even negative benefits to one's career, their dowries are substantial.

Zuo Liangyu was extremely grateful to Zhang Kun and wanted to kneel down and kowtow, but Zhang Kun reached out and helped him up.

......

After visiting the river work camp, Zhang Kun returned to his new residence in Liulichang.

Zhang Kun also bought the land to the west of the new house from his good sister Cheng Wenqing, and used it as the flagship store of Guangwenhao.

After spending a large sum of money to hire people to search everywhere, Zhang Kun finally obtained a relatively complete copy of "Jin Ping Mei".

This copy comes from Yuan Zhongdao, who was highly accomplished in literature and was known as one of the "Three Yuans of Gong'an" along with his brothers Yuan Zongdao and Yuan Hongdao.

Moreover, both Yuan Zhongdao and Yuan Hongdao were very fond of Jin Ping Mei, and they copied it everywhere, and also made many comments, corrections and additions.

Just then, Yuan Zhongdao passed this year's provincial and palace examinations and became a Jinshi (a successful candidate in the highest imperial examinations), and was to observe government affairs at the Ministry of Rites.

Zhang Kun spent a large sum of money to ask Yuan Zhongdao to revise Jin Ping Mei even better than before.

Then, based on his memories from before his transmigration, he invited several veteran storytellers to embellish the version that Yuan Zhongdao had revised.

Then, several master illustrators were invited to create nearly three hundred illustrations for Jin Ping Mei.

It took nearly half a year and more than three thousand taels of silver to complete the extensive text of Jin Ping Mei.

The unillustrated version is priced at three taels of silver, while the illustrated version is priced at five taels of silver. The first batch of one thousand copies has already been printed.

Riding the wave of popularity of Danbagu, Zhang Kun launched a promotion offering premium Jin Ping Mei cigarettes as a gift with purchases, attracting many customers.

For those who have the money to smoke high-quality cigarettes, buying a few taels of silver worth of storybooks is naturally a piece of cake.

The 300 copies of the promotional event sold out quickly and sparked heated discussions among literary circles in the capital.

Taking advantage of the situation, Zhang Kun published various commentaries in the Guangwen Daily and even stirred up debates, further increasing the popularity of Jin Ping Mei.

Furthermore, it was repeatedly emphasized that the previously released old editions were incomplete and of poor quality, while the Guangwen edition was the complete and high-quality version.

Other bookstores lack the ability to promote their message and are unable to directly counter Guangwenhao's claims.

It's also difficult for a business war of this scale to allow the powerful backers behind it to fight against Zhang Kun and Zhang Ye, who are behind Guangwenhao.

They could only print new book covers overnight, add Yuan Hongdao's preface and commentary, and make it into a pirated copy of the Guangwen edition, which they then sold at a reduced price.

The problem is, these pirated copies don't have illustrations!

"You thieving shopkeeper! How dare you sell me counterfeit goods! Such vulgar writing! It's clearly an old version!"

"Brother, didn't I advise you before? Don't skimp on those two or three taels of silver, just buy the five-tael illustrated book!"

"Sigh, I'll go find that thieving shopkeeper right now! I'll get my money back and buy the illustrated book from Guangwenhao!"

In just over ten days, the first batch of Jin Ping Mei from Guangwenhao was sold out!