Chapter 161: Choose a Publishing House! (Seeking monthly tickets)

Hong Kong Island, the headquarters of global shipping
In the spacious and bright office, Bao Yugang was sitting behind his desk, reviewing several documents.

He has been very busy since returning from the capital.

In addition to the shipping company's affairs, he was also busy competing with Jardine Matheson, the company behind the Wharf.

After all, after Bao Yugang and his son-in-law Wu Guangzheng joined the board of directors of Hutchison Whampoa, the original board members of Hutchison Whampoa, that is, the management of Jardine Matheson Land Development, were very hostile to them.

Jardine Matheson boss Newby knew very well that they had used HSBC to scare off Li Ka-shing, but they did not expect that an even more ferocious Chinese tiger, Pao Yu-kong, would come.

However, facing this person, their identity as British foreigners is no longer of any use. No matter whether it is HSBC or London, Bao Yugang's influence cannot be shaken by them, not even the Keswick family behind Jardine Matheson.

So in the past few months, they have been fighting Bao Yugang more through business means, and this has also taken up a large part of Bao Yugang's energy.

"Mr. Bao"

Just at this moment, Bao Yugang's secretary walked in quietly.

"what happened?"

"Mr. Wells is here and he wants to see you"

"Well, let him in!"

Bao Yugang nodded, and then a young man in his thirties walked in.

"Bao Sheng!"

"Ersi, are you here to see me for something?"

The young man in front of him was called Wells, whose English name was simply pronounced Wells. He was the middleman arranged by Bao Yugang to contact Li Changhe.

He was also the person behind the scenes who was Bao Yugang’s personal financial advisor in the private room of the Mandarin Hotel.

He is Bao Yugang's confidant, otherwise he would not serve as a liaison with Li Changhe.

"Mr. Bao, the mainland side just told me that the silver market is now open for entry. He said that if you want to enter, you can do so now."

"I spoke to Pete on the phone. The price of silver has risen by nearly 80% compared to last year. The profits of the positions we hold on his behalf have exceeded 10 million US dollars."

"It's only been half a year, and the profit has increased more than ten times the principal. It seems that the kid may have made the right bet."

In half a year, the price of silver futures contracts has risen by 80%. This shows that, on the one hand, the amount of silver on the market has decreased, and on the other hand, someone is probably buying it up quietly.

Because the price will only rise when the purchase quantity exceeds the sales quantity by a large margin.

"Is that so? Wait for me to make a call."

Bao Yugang then picked up the phone on the table and dialed.

"Let me sort it out. How much available funds do I have at the moment?"

On the other end of the phone, Bao Yugang asked in a deep voice.

After a moment, he looked at Wells.

"Well, you continue to give Pete 5 million US dollars and let him continue to operate. However, this money should be separated from the money we hold on your behalf and can be transferred to another securities company."

"Then do these need to be synchronized with the instructions from the mainland?"

Weiss asked softly.

These five million US dollars are Bao Yugang's own money, not Global Shipping's money.

In fact, after acquiring shares in Hutchison Whampoa, Bao Yugang did not have much money in his hands.

Apart from real estate and other investments, there is not much liquid capital available.

"No need to synchronize. Tell Pete the money and let him use it according to his own judgment. I want to see what Pete's ability is. If he fails this time, then he can leave next."

As for the outcome of this money, it doesn’t really matter to Bao Yugang how much profit he makes.

For him, this was just an investment that he could use to test his abilities as a financial advisor.

If Pete's performance does not meet the standards in the end, Bao Yugang feels that he may have to seriously consider the idea in his mind.

"Okay, Baosheng, I'll arrange it right away!"

Wells nodded and walked out.

After leaving the office, Wells shook his head and said, "Mr. Pete, I hope you won't let Mr. Bao down next."

At this moment, Pete, who was elegantly eating Western food at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, did not know that an inexplicable test was about to begin on him.

On the other side, in Beijing, at the Academy of People's Literature, Li Changhe came here again.

But this time, he did not go to the People's Literature Magazine, but came to the People's Literature Publishing House.

Originally, Li Changhe preferred Beijing Publishing House because he felt that the works published by People's Literature Publishing House were all literature.

But I didn't expect that after talking with Liu Jianqing, I found out that although the People's Literature Publishing House focuses on literature, it also publishes science books.

From this point of view, "The Rise of Great Powers" is actually also a social science book.

In this case, Li Changhe would definitely give priority to talking to the People's Literature Publishing House, because the People's Literature Publishing House is a national publishing house, while the Beijing Publishing House is only a provincial publishing house.

The office of the People's Literature Publishing House is behind the small white building of the People's Literature Magazine, both of which are at No. 166 Chaonei Street.

However, unlike the People's Literature Magazine which has only one literary editorial department, the People's Literature Publishing House has several editorial departments.

Among them is the May Fourth Literature Department, which focuses on literary works. Li Changhe’s previous publication was done by the May Fourth Literature Department, which was a great success.

But the person Li Changhe wanted to meet today was not the editor of the May Fourth Literature Department, but the editor-in-chief of the social science group of another editorial group, who was also introduced by Liu Jianqing and was named Liu Hongtu.

Social sciences is a large category, but in today's People's Literature Publishing House, social science editors are indeed a small category.

The reason for this is still due to the changes that happened in previous years. For the social science editorial team, the best way to publish social science books is to translate foreign works.

But the problem is that there are too few people who can do translation now.

Even if ordinary people take over the translation work now, if they want to translate a book, it cannot be completed in one day. It takes a long time.

Unexpectedly, at this time, they received news that Li Changhe had a new work, which was a social science work.

The editors of the social science group were of course overjoyed. Director Liu Hongtu personally came out to receive Li Changhe.

"Come, Changhe, try this Longjing."

In the office, Liu Hongtu took out his long-treasured tea, the famous West Lake Longjing, and brewed a cup for Li Changhe.

"Come to think of it, this was a gift from an old friend of mine when I went to Hangzhou on a business trip. I've been drinking it bit by bit over the years, so there isn't much left."

Liu Hongtu said to Li Changhe with emotion.

"Then it must be really good tea, otherwise you wouldn't have stayed so long."

"Director Liu, this is our manuscript. You can take a look at it first!" "Part of it was written by me, and part of it was written by my classmates!"

"Okay, let me take a look!"

Liu Hongtu took it and saw four big and powerful characters "The Rise of a Great Power" written on the first page of the manuscript.

The rise of a great power, this name sounds majestic.

Then, Liu Hongtu gently turned to the first page.

"The great geographical discoveries around 1500 AD opened the historical curtain for dialogue and competition between different countries, and thus the path of the rise of great powers had global coordinates."

"Over the past 500 years, several world powers have emerged on the stage of human modernization. We have made a simple summary to show the rise and fall of these powers, summarize their economic history and historical lessons during their rise, and enlighten today and influence the future."

This is the reading introduction before the main text, which Li Changhe modified from the introduction of his previous work "The Rise of Great Powers".

After reading the introduction, Liu Hongtu became interested.

A brief introduction summarizes the main idea of ​​this book.

He turned the pages curiously and saw the title on the first page.

"The bloody accumulation of capital, the conquest and plunder of blood and fire!"

"To control the oceans is to control trade, and to control world trade is to control world wealth, and thus to control the world"

The story begins with the three countries that emerged during the Age of Discovery: Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands.

Liu Hongtu read it carefully and was soon immersed in it.

He didn't even notice that Li Changhe had finished the tea in the cup.

It was not until more than an hour later, after he had finished reading the short tens of thousands of words in his hand, that Liu Hongtu reluctantly put down the printed manuscript.

"Well, this is a very good write-up. It describes the rise and fall of several countries in a simple and easy-to-understand way."

"Changhe, I didn't expect that you are good at writing novels. You are also amazing at doing this kind of social science creation."

"To be honest, I'm still not satisfied with this book, but have you ever thought about how many words you want to write in the end?"

Liu Hongtu asked the most crucial question.

The content is good, but the current manuscript has too few words. If it is published as a book, these words will be too thin.

Of course, Liu Hongtu knew that the manuscript was incomplete, so he seriously asked Li Changhe about the number of words.

"If it is a concise version, it can be controlled at around 150,000 words. If Director Liu thinks the number of words is too little, we can add some content appropriately and expand it to 250,000 to 300,000 words without any problem."

Li Changhe had thought about this problem before he came.

To be honest, it is very easy to expand the word count of social science books. You only need to add more detailed explanations and language in front of a lot of data content, and it is not difficult to expand the word count.

"It doesn't have to be 16 words. Our regular -page paper has words per page. If it's words, it's actually quite thick."

"After all, for this kind of book, we'd better add illustrations."

Liu Hongtu thought about it and analyzed it, then said to Li Changhe: "If possible, you can keep the word count between 20 and 25 words. It would be best if you can find suitable illustrations and provide them to us."

"Based on the current content of this book, I think there is no problem. The country is undergoing reform and opening up, and our people need to open their eyes to the world. The publication of this book is just in time."

In fact, from Liu Hongtu's perspective, the content of this book is timely, but some of the information is actually critical in nature.

For example, the first chapter, about conquest and plunder with blood and fire, actually describes the burning, killing and looting in the maritime trade of that year.

Liu Hongtu felt that the content was a bit excessive, but after weighing it in his mind, he felt that it could be retained.

Although reform and opening up have been carried out, some older comrades are still relatively conservative. This kind of popular science with a slight criticism of the West actually avoids some risks to some extent.

"So, Director Liu, you are willing to publish this set of books?"

Li Changhe said with surprise at this time.

Liu Hongtu nodded: "Generally speaking, book publishing has to go through three reviews, namely the initial review by the grassroots editors, the review by me, and the final review by the editor-in-chief and deputy editor-in-chief."

"There's no problem with my review. I'll submit it directly to the final review department to see what the editor-in-chief thinks."

"But I think, with your name, Li Changhe, and the joint work of Peking University students, the content is also high-quality enough, so I don't think it will be a big problem."

"You also said that these contents have caused a sensation among students in various universities, which indirectly shows the potential of this book."

"As long as your subsequent content is not too outrageous, I think it can be published."

Liu Hongtu said to Li Changhe with a smile at this time.

Their social science group also has their own aspirations. If they can publish a popular social science book that is original and not a translated work, it will be a good start for the group.

After all, the May Fourth Literature Group has already published a collection of Ling Jue's works, but their Social Science Group has not produced any popular works in more than two years.

Li Changhe guessed their mentality, so he boldly found them.

In the past few years, there has been a gap in literary works, and the same is true for social science books.

The most popular social science book that Li Changhe saw was "One Hundred Thousand Whys"

This book is out of print in later generations. Unlike the one Li Changhe saw later, the one he is seeing now is a special version released a few years ago.

In addition to the accompanying quotations, there is also enough hardcore knowledge popularization.

For example, "The process of making landmines" and "Why do we need to achieve 'three forces in one' when assassinating"

"When a bomb falls nearby, why lying down can avoid or reduce casualties?"

Even the blast defense measures for atomic bombs were written about.

Every question in the whole book has a hard-core answer, with almost no nonsense, and the content covers everything, from mathematics, physics, chemistry to astronomy, geography, animal and plant medicine, health, and even sports and military affairs, it is extremely comprehensive.

After Li Changhe read it comprehensively, he understood why so many people in rural areas could make weapons privately.

Even if someone traveled through time like him and brought with him this special edition of "100,000 Whys", they could completely build the basic system for modern industry.

However, this special book "100,000 Whys" was published by Shanghai Publishing House and has nothing to do with People's Literature Publishing House.

So Li Changhe knew the hidden meaning in Liu Hongtu's words, they needed to launch a hit work.

"Don't worry, Director Liu. We mainly focus on popularizing data. This book won't contain too much guidance."

Li Changhe seriously gave Liu Hongtu a guarantee.

In fact, objective description itself is the best guide.

"Okay, then leave this manuscript here. I'll hand it over to the editor-in-chief. Go back and wait for my news."

(End of this chapter)