I Became a Plutocrat in World War I: Starting with Saving France
Chapter 167: The Rise of Merit Newspaper

Chapter 167: The Rise of Merit Newspaper

Kobudo’s propaganda strategy has achieved tremendous success on the frontline.

Stimulated by breaking news and deliberate guidance from frontline officers, the grenade tutorial quickly spread and became the hottest equipment on the frontline for a time.

It is said that soldiers rotating back from the frontline must have successfully thrown a few grenades into enemy trenches; otherwise, they would be embarrassed to say they had been on the frontline.

The promotion of the Merit Newspaper among civilians was also quite successful.

This was mainly because it was the only newspaper with precise reports from the military... All other newspapers speculated on battles based on existing information and then pieced together their stories.

Only the Merit Newspaper was told firsthand by Shire, the commanding officer in the battle, and Gallieni also appeared in it, adding his support. Additionally, it featured interviews with soldiers, photos, and reflections.

Subsequently, not only the Battle of Lafox, but also the Battle of Ypres, the Battle of Antwerp, and the Battle of the Marne were all covered by the Merit Newspaper one by one.

It was like students coming up with all sorts of imaginative ideas for a problem they couldn’t agree on, only for the teacher to present a standard answer, enlightening everyone on how it was actually supposed to be.

People even compared the Merit Newspaper with reports from other usual newspapers, mocking their absurdity and ignorance.

This made the one hundred thousand copies of newspapers sent to civilians sell out as soon as they hit the market, priced at 10 centimes but being speculated up to 25 sous on the black market. Many even kept these first-edition military newspapers as collectibles.

Kobudo immediately expanded civilian distribution to three hundred thousand copies, and two days later increased it to five hundred thousand copies, while the frontline copies increased from two hundred thousand to three hundred thousand.

This was almost the limit of the 50 printing presses; even with all of them working, it took about two hours to print all the copies.

This scared Kobudo into urgently acquiring another 50 printing presses from various channels.

Kobudo was busy in the command center, exclaiming excitedly: "This is crazy, absolutely insane. We’ve sold eight hundred thousand copies right after the release, and still can’t meet the demand. The Little Daily took decades to reach a million in sales, and we’re already close to defeating it!"

(Note: The Little Daily was founded in February 1863 and has been in circulation for over fifty years)

In fact, defeating the Little Daily would be easy; it only required increasing military supply, although this wouldn’t be profitable and might even incur a loss.

But Shire chose not to do so, believing that simply increasing the paper data was meaningless.

Gallieni’s habit of reading shifted naturally from the Little Daily to the Merit Newspaper, not only because it was the military’s own newspaper but also because it was professional.

Meanwhile, Shire had no need to worry about the Merit Newspaper squeezing out the Little Daily’s sales, causing Steed’s displeasure.

The Merit Newspaper is a military paper; what complaints could there be? You dare to take out your frustration on the military!

...

Steed merely smiled and dismissed the issue, not taking it to heart.

At the time, he was planning to expand the production scale of grenades.

"Double the production?" the project manager in charge of grenade production asked.

"No, at least triple!" Steed replied without the slightest hesitation. "Sixty thousand pieces per day, and that’s a conservative estimate!"

"Yes, sir!" The project manager responded with a look of shock.

Steed had a smile on his face. They thought sixty thousand pieces per day was an astonishing number, but with over a million soldiers on the frontline, an average of 16 soldiers throwing one grenade each would use up the sixty thousand grenades in a day.

Once a battle starts, grenades would be thrown at the enemy like crazy, with each person possibly throwing a few, a dozen, or even dozens.

Therefore, a production scale of sixty thousand pieces per day was already quite conservative. Depending on the situation, it might need to be further expanded.

At this time, the butler Lucas reported: "Sir, Bonnet just called. He said the military’s issuance of the Merit Newspaper has caused a significant drop in the Little Daily’s sales, losing over a hundred thousand customers in just one day!"

Steed didn’t care about it. He casually replied, "Got it. Bonnet should think about his own issues!"

Steed knew what the problem with the Little Daily was. It used cartoon illustrations instead of photos, which, while reducing costs and allowing for quick publication, had clear drawbacks: cartoon illustrations rely on imagination, differing significantly from real objects.

If other newspapers found it difficult to obtain real information right away, or had to pay high costs and prices to get it, then the Little Daily could indeed have the advantage of being first and cheap.

But if...

The opponent was the Merit Newspaper, a military newspaper with official backing, whose reporters could easily obtain information and even real photos unreachable by others, the Little Daily’s advantage would disappear and even become a disadvantage. The Merit Newspaper would crush it.

"Sir!" Lucas leaned in and whispered, "Bonnet thinks this might be a ploy by Shire in collusion with the military..."

Steed interrupted Lucas with a grunt, frowning with displeasure: "Tell Bonnet, stop his wild speculations, understood?"

"Understood!" Lucas responded.

He turned to deliver the message but was stopped by Steed again.

Steed looked at Lucas solemnly, staring intently: "Tell Bonnet, it’s only the military, not Shire!"

Steed pounded his finger heavily on the table, emphasizing again: "Not Shire! He should keep his mouth shut!"

"Yes, sir!"

Steed indeed knew that Shire was involved and was aware that Shire was building his own power and voice. He wasn’t foolish.

But compared to grenades and the enormous potential future profits, what did the Little Daily matter?

Even if Shire asked for the Little Daily to be given to him, Steed wouldn’t bat an eye before offering it up with both hands!

As for the voice...

Steed understood that St. Etienne’s voice had long been mismatched with its strength.

A voice should be built on strength; otherwise, it’s hollow.

Even with millions in daily sales, the Little Daily still couldn’t control future rifle production rights, and easily surrendered it to the United States under parliamentary pressure.

Steed knew that what could not be won on the battlefield could never be won at the negotiating table. The same was true for political faction struggles.

Now, between strength and voice, Steed chose strength without hesitation.

When the time came to survive and develop with enough strength, then it would be meaningful to consider the voice.

Steed silently lit a cigar, carefully contemplating a question in the smoke: Will Shire grow to become a terrifying rival like Schneider in the future?

No, he will be even more terrifying than Schneider; he is a genius in both equipment development and battlefield command, and will be unbeatable in the future!

A wiser choice...

is not to compete with Shire or become his enemy, but to become his supporter, his steadfast supporter!

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