Royal Gold Medal County Magistrate

With the advent of trains from the capital to Peach Blossom County, things have become incredibly convenient.

In modern terms, taking a train to Peach Blossom County isn't much different from the time a typical office worker spends commuting to and from work on the subway.

Of course, this kind of high-intensity commuting only exists in modern society.

The vast majority of the Great Jing's populace obviously wouldn't be foolish enough to spend an hour or two commuting each day, since life is so sweet, who would waste their life on that?

In fact, as long as the commuting time exceeds one hour, the competitiveness of the job will be greatly reduced, diminishing its appeal.

There are plenty of jobs in the capital now, and new factories are constantly being established. Jobs aren't that hard to find, so why go so far?

On this day of travel, Fang Zheng arranged for an entire train to transport the emperor and his officials.

Most of the officials riding the train seemed bored and even annoyed in the carriages.

They were only here because they had no choice!

Their superiors and the Emperor were coming, so even if it was their day off, they had to be dragged along.

Team-building on holidays is annoying to everyone.

Moreover, everyone really doesn't have much interest in tall buildings that are dozens of feet high.

Dozens of feet isn't much; they've all seen towers that are thirty feet tall.

They've all seen the world, so what's so interesting about a building?

Now, their day off is ruined, and they have to endure the faint smell of sweat in the carriage... How bitter!

In the first-class carriage, Fang Zheng was busy personally serving tea and water.

Emperor Jing raised his hand and said, "Alright, Zheng Yi, don't bother. Sit down. What exactly is the plan for today? Are we just going to see the skyscraper and then return to the capital?"

Fang Zheng sat back on the sofa and said with a smile, "It's rare to leave the palace. Your Majesty can do whatever you want. A Peach Blossom Dock Cultural Park has just been built in Peach Blossom County. Only part of it has been completed, but Your Majesty might be interested in taking a look."

This Peach Blossom Dock Park was modified from the Snow Moon Tower exterior project.

Since the last stock price surge, Fang Zheng personally wrote a letter, ordering the large-scale silver-themed project to be changed into a positive energy park.

The photinia, which had been prepared in advance to create an atmosphere, was burned by him in one fell swoop!

Unsurprisingly, the brothel's stock price plummeted afterward, but as the mastermind, he naturally sold off his shares and ran away in advance...

Emperor Jing asked curiously, "Peach Blossom Dock Cultural Park?"

Fang Zheng nodded and said, "That's right. This park is for the people of the city to relax and play. I even personally wrote a poem for it."

"Tell me about it," Emperor Jing said, his interest piqued.

Fang Zheng recited without hesitation:

"In Peach Blossom Dock is Peach Blossom Temple, in Peach Blossom Temple dwells a Peach Blossom Immortal; The Peach Blossom Immortal plants peach trees, then picks peach blossoms to sell for wine money.

When sober, I only sit before the flowers; when drunk, I return to sleep beneath them; Half-awake, half-drunk, day after day; flowers fall and bloom, year after year."

Emperor Jing clapped his hands and laughed after hearing this, "Good! A good poem. As expected of my virtuous son-in-law. When it comes to poetry, I have never seen anyone who can compare to you. But what about the rest?"

"There is no more below."

Emperor Jing was immediately disappointed and felt a slight anger in his heart.

Such a good poem, and yet it's another cliffhanger!

"When are you going to change this habit of yours? Chen Yu has already graduated from elementary school, why haven't you, as a father, made any progress at all!"

Damn it! What does this have to do with me being a father?

The Peach Blossom Temple Song is long, how can I remember it all?

The second half seems to have a line about not seeing the tombs of the powerful from the Five Mausoleums. If I remember that, how do I explain it? Where do I find the Five Mausoleums?

Fang Zheng chuckled twice and said, "Ahem... It's an old habit. I guess I won't be able to change it in this lifetime... Actually, when I ordered people to build this cultural park, I also gained some insights and pondered over them for a while."

"What insights?"

"Now that the imperial court's strategy for the Western Sea has been determined, if the court continues to develop commerce in a conventional manner, it will inevitably miss many opportunities. Whether it's commercial or state affairs, the core is actually in people's hearts." Fang Zheng said slowly, "Does Your Majesty remember that I once said in court that after the situation stabilizes, we should spread the ideas, thoughts, and image of our Great Jing overseas? So that the people of the world will know of our Great Jing's benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness?"

Emperor Jing nodded slightly, "I remember this matter."

"Now is the time! Although the Holy City is led by Father Solje, the doctrine is still there. It's not hard to imagine that the church's deep infiltration of the masses' minds will lead to ideological conflicts with the Great Jing in the future."

"So, the current focus is to transmit the culture of the Great Jing to the West, carry out localized reforms, and then promote it vigorously! As for the church part led by the Holy City, we must secularize them, and even make them inclined to worship the Great Jing... Only in this way can we consolidate the future situation."

Emperor Jing pondered.

From a practical point of view, this was a completely new problem for him.

In the past, the affiliated countries under the Great Jing had long-term contact with the Great Jing, and their cultures were also of the same origin as the Great Jing. Most of the time, they would take the initiative to come and learn. Even if people were sent to popularize the teachings of the sages, they could get the support of many high-level officials from the affiliated countries.

It can be said that the work of cultural promotion has always been smooth and natural.

The civilization to which the Western Church belongs is completely different.

He had studied the translated versions of the overseas collections, many of which had ideas in common with the Great Jing, but more were dominated by theology.

It would be extremely difficult and confusing to popularize the culture of the Great Jing in such a country.

"What you said makes sense, but I feel it's quite棘手. What are your thoughts?" Emperor Jing asked.

"Actually, I don't think it's as complicated as we imagine," Fang Zheng said, "This cultural invasion... No, we can't say invasion, but cultural infiltration is very simple for the common people."

"No matter where in the world, as long as it's an organization made up of people, it will definitely be able to find common values and ideas. We only need to find these common ideals and concepts, and then use commodities that the common people can access to spread them widely. It shouldn't be long before we can attract the people and insightful people from all over the world to deeply understand the Great Jing."

"As long as we have this beginning, with the vast collection of books of our Great Jing and the millennium of cultural heritage, we will surely capture the hearts of the people of the world. At that time, as long as we occupy their minds, the general trend will be on our side."

"Is it that simple?" Emperor Jing asked in disbelief.

Fang Zheng shook his head: "It's not that simple. There will definitely be some internal resistance within the imperial court. First of all, we must deeply believe in the concepts and values we are promoting. If we don't believe it ourselves, then there's no way to convince others."

"Secondly, we must rely on the power of the people, rather than the imperial court's leadership. The method of promotion needs to be easy, fun, inexpensive, and easy to popularize. According to the ideas of the old men in the court, I'm afraid they will indulge in preaching. No one is willing to be preached to. Once they start preaching, things will become troublesome."

"In the process of spreading, the culture of our Great Jing will also be affected by the local culture overseas. This is unavoidable. Of course, I don't think it needs to be avoided. Culture is not dead, as long as it's good, that's enough."

"But the problem will also lie in this link. Too many scholars pursue orthodox and legitimate explanations and cannot tolerate a little bit of change. In this regard, these people are no different from some fanatics in religious sects who pursue fundamentalism. When it develops to a certain extent, someone will definitely stand up to strongly oppose and reprimand it, to the point of restricting it and leading it to a dead end."

"So, in my opinion, if Your Majesty agrees with my idea, it's best not to announce this matter to the court. It should be directly led by Your Majesty, and silver should be allocated from the imperial treasury to carry it out overseas."

"Ah?"

......

(Two more chapters to go)