113, Asahi Shimbun

The next day. Google search reading

The headline of the "Yomiuri Shimbun" newspaper read: "Qing students from the Qing Dynasty competed in the No. 1 high school and all the kendo clubs and judo clubs of the University of Tokyo won a big victory."

"Asahi Shimbun": "The martial arts of the Qing Dynasty are shocking!"

"Mainichi Shimbun": "Yagyu, the remaining samurai of the shogunate, was defeated by a Qing student."

…

Every major newspaper that is a household name in Japan published the incident of Bai Gui's kicking the club. The titles used were different, but the content was similar. The name Bai Gui and Bai Meihe were suddenly known to everyone in Japan.

The news received mixed reviews on each news section.

Some news sources said: "The samurai were arrogant and narrow-minded, which damaged the relationship between Japan and Qing Dynasty and almost caused a catastrophe. According to a recent investigation by our magazine, the reason was that the samurai in the Kendo Club did not recruit Qing students from abroad. Bai Gui was out of righteous indignation..."

"Samurai are a cancer of the shogunate era and should have been eliminated long ago. Once Yagyu wears a staff sword, he violates the order to abolish swords and should be punished..."

"Once Yagyu was ashamed of being a samurai, he actually attacked in groups..."

"Su Xun of the Qing Dynasty and the Song Dynasty once said, 'If you fight for justice, you can be victorious.' Once Yagyu and his kendo club fought an unjust battle, a disastrous defeat is the due course of friendship..."

There are also some negative comments, but these comments are relatively few.

Strictly speaking, the commentators who write articles in the newspaper tend to be Westernized, and most of the people who run the newspaper are advanced intellectuals who have studied abroad. There is a big separation from the samurai class, so the news published is extremely unfavorable to the samurai.

Not to mention that once Yagyu used the staff sword this time, it would be considered a violation of the order to abolish the sword, which was even more disgusting.

Not everyone likes the samurai during the shogunate period. Those samurai were loyal to the shogunate and unruly...

In contrast, Bai Gui is fighting for justice this time. No matter what he thinks in his heart, he must give positive comments.

But what is surprising is that the female writer Ryuko Tanabe commented in the Asahi Shimbun newspaper: "Unexpectedly, Bai Jun is not only outstanding in literary talent, but also talented. Not only did he become a three-level scholar in Chang'an, but he also wrote novels such as "The Great Qin Empire". It’s really admirable to have such a strong martial arts.”

Later, Mori Ogai and other literary giants also began to praise Hakui.

Compared with the dissatisfied and disgusted samurai from their country, writers such as Mori Ogai still considered Shirogui, a fellow novelist, more approachable and began to support him.

"Thank you, Tanabe-senpai, for your help."

A restaurant.

Bai Gui expressed his thanks and began to pour a cup of coffee for Tanabe Ryuko.

The two sat opposite each other.

"It's not like I'm helping you. I've seen these warriors commit evil before. When I was young, I even saw a warrior test a sword with an inhuman way..."

"I still can't forget that scene."

"Senior Mori and the others are like this too."

Ryuko Tanabe said quietly.

Satsuma Domain and Choshu Domain were the main powerful vassals in the Overthrow Movement, and the number of warriors in Satsuma Domain can be seen. The outbreak of the Southwest War was also in Kagoshima, the domain of Satsuma Domain.

Non-human refers to the untouchables outside the scholar, peasant, industrial and commercial classes of Japan in the old days. These non-humans would not be severely punished by the shogunate if they were killed, so samurai usually used these non-humans to test their swords. A katana usually has several swords, which means it can completely cut off several corpses with one blow, and most of these corpses come from non-human beings.

"I see, but I still have to thank Tanabe-senpai for speaking up for me."

Bai Gui suddenly realized.

Those who were not born in Japan at this time would probably not be able to imagine the disgust that ordinary people have for these warriors. After all, when a scholar meets a soldier, there is no reason to explain. Civil and military struggles have always been like this, suppress them as much as possible. Otherwise, the Abandoned Sword Order would not have been implemented so thoroughly and so quickly.

The execution of the Abandoned Sword Order is also seen as the road to Westernization from a barbaric country to a civilized country.

"In addition, the best-selling novel this time is still unavoidable because of Tanabe-senpai's comments."

Bai Gui smiled.

With the impact of this real headline on every page, his reputation as Baiguibaimeihe has been greatly improved. But this is not enough to make Minjin Newspaper's best-selling newspaper. The fundamental reason is that what Ryuko Tanabe mentioned in her comments made many people know that Baigui Baimeiwa not only played in the club, but also wrote a novel.

"Four issues of your novel have been published, and the sales continue to rise. This is also the reason why your novel is of good quality. I come to you this time not only for personal matters, but also with a mission..."

Tanabe Ryuko glanced at Bai Gui with her beautiful eyes. She probably knew some of what Bai Gui was thinking, but she didn't alienate him either.

"The Asahi Shimbun has valued your novel and would like to publish it in the subsequent novel section. The remuneration to you is three days per thousand words. What do you think?"

She took a sip of coffee and said softly.

"What I wish for!"

Bai Gui smiled.

Like Natsume Soseki, Ryuko Tanabe published novels and editorials full-time at the Asahi Shimbun.

Although the sales of Minjin Daily newspapers are also increasing day by day, a novel alone cannot compete with a large newspaper like the Asahi Shimbun. Newspapers like the Asahi Shimbun are distributed throughout Japan and even some overseas. business.

As long as his novel is published on it, his net worth will double.

When he returned to his country, he was also famous.

In addition, the Asahi Shimbun cannot give it a few pages to publish novels like the Minjin Newspaper and other tabloids, but less than the Minjin Newspaper. This does not affect the sales of the Minjin Newspaper. .

There are only advantages and no disadvantages.

"Of course, it's not just about publishing the novel in the newspaper. There are two more conditions. First, after this novel is written, please grant the copyright of the reprinted single volume to the Asahi Shimbun, Meihe..."

Tanabe Ryuko continued.

Bai Gui nodded. Sure enough, the Asahi Shimbun did not want to waste its resources to make Bai Gui famous, so there were conditions.

For a large company like the Asahi Shimbun, there is no shortage of good novel manuscripts. When encountering such good novel manuscripts, they will be immediately excavated to increase the popularity of the newspaper.

It can be regarded as mutual achievement.

This is similar to some well-known companies in later generations, but the annual publicity expenses are still very high, higher than ordinary small companies.

"As for royalties, how about 11%?"

"This is just the first issue. If it is well-published, the reprint will be more."

Tanabe Ryuko explained.

"I know a little bit about this. It's a very reasonable price."

Bai Gui hesitated for a while, but still agreed.

Royalties for famous writers are definitely higher than those for unknown writers. For example, Mori Ogai, who was the first to have a record of royalties in Japan, collected 25% of the total sales for his Water Bubble Anthology published in 1892. Before that, the media paid royalties to writers in a lump sum.

Last year, Natsume Soseki's The Cage of the Quail was just published. The royalties for the 3,000 copies published were 15%. The royalties for the fifth edition were 20%, and the sixth edition was 30%.

He is a newcomer in the Japanese novel world, and his royalties are set at 11%, which is undoubtedly much lower than those of famous writers, but it is also in line with his status and the price is not bad.