Royal Gold Medal County Magistrate

The exciting day arrived in an instant.

Just three days prior, with all the arrangements completed, Fang Zheng Yi had already reported a portion of the plan to the Imperial Court.

With Chen Hong's assistance and the willingness of so many foreign envoys to participate, no court officials objected.

After all, it was just hosting a friendly athletic event, and a celebration was also in order.

With everything prepared, why not proceed?

Many even held secret expectations in their hearts.

The civil officials weren't particularly interested in activities promoting friendship, as they considered these small countries eager to curry favor with Great Jing.

What was there to see?

However, the celebration sounded much more interesting.

Thinking back to the last grand 'celebration,' it was several years ago during Zhang Biao's battle with Heishan Chi Lie.

That was truly unforgettable, with a grand spectacle and cheers filling the sky.

Watching two strong men fight was indeed exciting, and the music played at the time still stirred the blood.

What form would this celebration take?

The common people had also been given a preview in the newspapers, which, after receiving collective approval from the Imperial Court, turned into fervent promotion.

Of course, this time it was all positive content, mainly promoting the spirit of sports and the details of each event.

And there was also the slogan of this year's Jing Games... Higher, Faster, Stronger!

The main goal was to attract advertising investment from private merchants.

Private merchants had already witnessed the power of advertising through newspapers and naturally flocked to this mega-event with participation from numerous countries.

Instantly, countless merchants with a keen sense of smell moved upon hearing the news, rushing to the newspaper office to sign up.

As long as the registration was successful, regardless of the size of the advertisement, they could declare themselves a "Strategic Partner of the First Great Jing World Games" when selling their goods in the future.

That sounded incredibly impressive!

Plus, the newspaper office would definitely promote it heavily after the Games, wouldn't their products sell like crazy?!

The public also opened betting pools, starting to predict the outcomes of various events.

Although the Games had not yet begun, the entire capital was already restless.

On this day.

Emperor Jing's holy carriage left the palace, heading towards Dongjiao University, surrounded by officials and countless Imperial Guards.

Behind them were the envoys from other countries.

Fang Zheng Yi accompanied Emperor Jing, looking cheerful.

Besides promoting culture, this event would definitely boost commerce, making a fortune!

Emperor Jing asked, "Zheng Yi, are you sure there won't be any problems with these Games?"

He was well aware of the reactions from the public and the court, but the more lively the event became, the more uneasy he felt.

After all, this was the first time hosting such an event to receive foreign guests.

If anything went wrong, the Celestial Dynasty would lose all face!

"Your Majesty, rest assured, this subject will definitely ensure everyone leaves satisfied, and the gifts for the foreign envoys have also been decided."

Emperor Jing nodded, still somewhat uneasy, and leaned in to ask, "You mentioned there would be an opening ceremony. Your Taoyuan County opera troupe isn't going to perform, are they?"

Hmm?

Fang Zheng Yi's face stiffened, "Absolutely not. This subject has already banned the opera troupe!

They won't have a chance to perform this time.

Besides, foreigners wouldn't understand the essence of our art."

"That's good, that's good," Emperor Jing reassured himself.

As long as they didn't perform those messy plays, he figured they wouldn't lose too much face.

"In the list submitted a few days ago, I didn't see the Fika Kingdom included. Do they still harbor resentment towards Great Jing and refuse to participate?" Emperor Jing asked.

Fang Zheng Yi said, "Your Majesty, those who came from Fika are missionaries and craftsmen.

It's not that they are unwilling, but that they don't have suitable personnel, so they were only invited to observe."

Naturally, he had to invite all foreigners to this event, so he specifically sent someone back to Taoyuan County to bring Father Solger and the others over.

Emperor Jing glanced back and immediately saw the sickly-looking Father Solger, asking, "Are those them?

Why are they in such poor spirits?

Is there perhaps a problem?"

Fang Zheng Yi also glanced over and smiled, "Your Majesty, rest assured, they probably didn't sleep well.

This subject will go take a look."

With that, he pulled on the reins and approached Father Solger, observing him closely.

Although the priest looked listless at the moment, the other missionaries seemed to be in good spirits, all looking cheerful.

There were no surprises, those people should have assimilated, after all, according to his experience, the time to brainwash a group shouldn't exceed five days!

Brainwashing was just playing with illusions, while Taoyuan County was different, the combination of illusion and reality was even more powerful.

After all, the standard of living was genuinely good, which no one could refute.

Fang Zheng Yi teased, "Father, long time no see, how is your health?"

Father Solger raised his head, his eyes showing unconcealable fatigue, and a hint of fear flashed in his eyes when he saw Fang Zheng Yi.

The devil, he saw this devil again today!

He forced a smile and said, "Thank you for your concern, Lord Fang, I'm fine."

"Seeing you so tired, you must be working very hard?" Fang Zheng Yi asked with innocent eyes, "In more than two months, have you all saved enough money to buy land and build a church?"

Mentioning the church, Father Solger's eyes reddened, and his mind was filled with unbearable memories.

Two hundred people worked desperately, fourteen or fifteen hours a day, eating the cheapest food, just to save money to buy land and build a church.

As a result, they discovered that land prices in Taoyuan County were outrageously expensive.

Roughly calculating, buying land and building a church would take a year of desperate work to save enough money.

Knowing this news, many people began to waver on the spot.

Continuing to work like this would break them!

Fortunately, he suppressed them with all his might and promised to represent the others in applying to the county government to switch to a 996 work schedule.

But when he arrived at the county government, he learned that switching to 996 required withdrawing from the association and registering as a resident!

Some missionaries who couldn't stand it defected on the spot for this 996 job, losing more than fifty people in this wave alone...

Originally, earning money was slow, but now that the number of people was reduced by a quarter, building a church was even more hopeless.

However, when Heaven closes a door, it always leaves a window.

Through his constant study of Great Jing culture after work, he finally discovered a magical skill of the local monks called alms begging.

So after work, he began to take the missionaries out to beg for alms.

According to Taoyuan County's requirements, he still couldn't preach, so he could only shamefully call himself a foreign monk...

Fortunately, the people of Taoyuan were considerate enough.

It was the first time they had seen a foreign monk begging for alms, and they finally helped them raise all the money to buy land before the notice prohibiting rewarding foreign monks in Taoyuan County came down.

As a result, when it came to buying land, they found that they could only buy a piece of land the size of a temple, and they weren't allowed to buy anywhere else!

One bad thing after another, not only could they only buy a small piece, but they also couldn't build it higher.

Taoyuan County also stubbornly refused to negotiate, and more than seventy people collapsed on the spot, applying to the county government to withdraw from the association and take a 996 job.

The remaining one hundred people decided to buy the land and start digging down.

The surface is small, but I'm expanding underground, you can't control that, right?

Besides, it's all wasteland next to it!