Chapter 469 The First Step of the Cultural Offensive

Tonya Clark is a citizen of Idar living in the province of Stein and a follower of the Church of Light.

Long before the royal flag of the Paulsen family of Basel landed, he had many interactions with the Idar people in his life.

after all……

As a territory that once belonged to the Duke of Stein, before the Idar army conquered this land, this land, originally located at the southernmost tip of the Kingdom of Basel, had almost become a favorite trial ground for the agents of the Idar CIA.

Thanks to the continuous infiltration of Idar agents and the submission of Basel's southern nobles, the intelligence of the Kingdom of Basel can almost be regarded as one-way transparent to the Principality of Idar!

A large number of Idar merchants, Idar agents, and Idar craftsmen travel this land, and large plantations run by the Idar Chamber of Commerce are spread all over the coast of the entire Stein Province.

From Duke Stein onwards, Basel nobles, both large and small, had long been impressed by the tall and majestic personality charm of the Idar people in their frank exchanges with the Idar agents, and were willing to be pioneers and "voluntarily" contribute their own efforts to the development of the Principality of Idar.

so……

In a sense,

The Province of Stein, located in the southeast of the continent, is actually the one with the strongest control and administrative capabilities of the Principality of Idar among these newly established provinces.

As the first group of civilians to come into contact with the ideas and concepts of the Principality of Idar, the local people have long been accustomed to the existence of the Idar people.

Many of them, including Tonya Clark, worked directly for the Idar people, working on the plantations run by the Idar Chamber of Commerce.

Therefore, the local people naturally would not have any resistance to the Idar people who provided them with a source of livelihood.

In this era, there is no such rhetoric as "loyalty to the emperor and serving the country", but rather an era in which the view that "my vassal's vassal is not my vassal" is prevalent.

It can be said that, with the exception of the Principality of Idar, the only things that maintain the rights and obligations between vassals and lords are contracts and oaths.

Powers and obligations correspond one to one, and other than that, there is no other relationship between the lord and the vassal.

And since even these nobles who attach great importance to honor and face have never had a decent national identity, ordinary people who have to worry about food and clothing will naturally not have similar feelings.

So much so that a few months ago,

When Tonya Clark first heard that the Idar army had captured the Royal City of Basel... his entire heart was filled with an indescribable excitement.

There was no way. As a civilian living in the province of Stein, his frequent contacts with the Idar people made him learn too many rumors about the Principality of Idar.

Although he was also a believer of the Church of Light, at the same time, everything about the Principality of Idar fascinated him.

The Idar Chamber of Commerce implemented the same work system as the Principality of Idar in the plantations it operated.

It was also in the plantation where he worked so hard that Tonya Clark first realized that... civilians can also have dreams and enjoy the changes brought by magic! As the Idar army marched across this land, these dreams that he had never dared to dream of before gradually became a reality! However...

As a believer of the Church of Light, while feeling the changes brought about by the Principality of Idar... Tonya Clark was also suffering in her heart.

To be honest, what the Principality of Idar is doing now is actually very similar to the Kingdom of Heaven described in the teachings of the Church of Light, and they are even quite similar in nature.

However……

As the most powerful force in the eastern part of the empire, the Principality of Idar regards the Church of Light as its mortal enemy! Even though Bruno Stuart, Duke of Idar, never said it clearly,

But……

But we are not fools! After the Idar army conquered this land, what did they do first? Was it to deal with the nobles living on this land? No! Of course not!

The first thing the Idar people did was to surround all the churches in this land, and arrested all the clergy of the Church of Light who still remained in this land, and then threw them into the Bastille on the Valence Plain!

What is the prevailing religion in the Principality of Idar? Without a doubt, Protestantism!

Even Duke Idar himself is the guardian of the Protestant faith! But...

The Church of Light called this church, which was born in the eastern part of the empire, treason and heresy!

It is for this reason that not only Tonya Clark herself, but also the vast majority of believers of the Church of Light living in this land have extremely complicated emotions in their hearts.

On the one hand, they recognized the rule of the Principality of Idar, but on the other hand, they felt very conflicted because their beliefs were contrary to the mainstream beliefs of the Principality of Idar.

Although in Bruno's view, a more secular Protestantism would obviously be more in line with the needs of ordinary people.

But the problem is...

In many cases, especially when it comes to religious beliefs, people cannot easily accept something just because it is reasonable.

Without saying anything else,

It is very difficult to get hundreds of thousands of people to give up the beliefs they have held for countless years.

Even though Bruno had many "cleansing masters" like Mike, before that, the Principality of Idar had imposed extremely strict restrictions on the number of clergy.

In the past, on ordinary days, a scale of several hundred people would actually be completely sufficient.

But if it were now...

All right,

Hundreds of people and hundreds of thousands of people,

Such a difficult task of cleaning the floor cannot be easily completed in a short period of time.

It is precisely for this reason that countless civilians like Tonya Clark are suffering from the distress caused by the violent collision of two concepts.

As the Duke of Idar, Bruno Stuart would regard such a large number of church believers as an important factor that may affect the internal stability of the Principality of Idar.

indeed,

At this moment, they are feeling the changes in the Principality of Idar and obeying the orders from the Idar Government Office, but... what about the future?

No one can predict what will happen in the future! No one can be sure!

…

October 7, 539 in the new calendar.

For Tonya Clark, this should have been a normal day.

However……

Just as he was leaving his home excitedly and walking on the road to work on the plantation as usual, he saw a young newspaper boy running towards him quickly: "Uncle Tonya, do you want to buy a picture book?"

The boy selling newspapers with a cloth bag was named Arthur. He was the son of Aunt Stephanie from the next village.

Perhaps because he lost his father many years ago and was often short of food and clothing, he was well taken care of by everyone.

As Duke Idar decided to popularize spelling and reading education, little Arthur basically spent his morning time selling newspapers and his daytime time going to school.

Although life is still tight, at least there is hope.

only……

Little Arthur's performance today surprised Tonya a little.

"Oh, little Arthur, you know Uncle Tonya can't spell, let alone read, and he never wants to let me know those letters and words."

Hearing Arthur's words, Tonya couldn't help but smiled and shook her head, and said to little Arthur: "What did the newspaper say today?"

"This isn't a newspaper! It's a picture album!"

Hearing this, Arthur corrected very seriously.

"Album?"

"Well! There are no words in it. It's full of very good pictures, telling many different stories. Even Uncle Tonya can understand it!" Little Arthur explained.

I... can actually understand it?

Little Arthur's few words seemed to inadvertently poke at the fragility buried deep in Tonya's heart.

Are common people supposed to be ignorant? Are common people not worthy of spelling and reading? In the past, when she was young, Tonya certainly had dreams and thought about learning to spell and understand the wider world.

However……

The cruel reality slapped him hard in the face.

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Still learning to spell? You are a nobody, how can you do that? During the time when this land was ruled by the Bolson family, the lives of the common people could not be said to be peaceful and prosperous, but at least they were starving and cold.

In the past when even the most basic food and clothing was a luxury, how could ordinary people have the conditions to learn to spell? Even if they solved the problem of food and clothing...

Spelling and reading aloud were things that only nobles, as well as their attendants and followers, could learn.

How could a lowly person like Tonya, who only eats from the soil, expect these things? So...

Not being able to spell or read aloud is a regret hidden deep in the hearts of a large number of civilians.

But now, little Arthur told himself that he could understand the book! Although it was just a picture book, in the eyes of ordinary people, the things carried by paper and ink had extraordinary meanings.

"How much?"

Without much hesitation, Tonya searched her pockets.

This was not only to help little Arthur with his hard life, but also to satisfy Tonya's own hesitation.

You know, when the Idar people pay wages, they will never exploit them or try to deduct them in every possible way. Therefore, workers like him who work for the Idar people in the plantation can often get a considerable salary.

Buying a picture book on a whim is not a difficult decision to make.

"It's not expensive at all. Only three dollars."

Little Arthur paused, then added: "Only the latest version of Idar dollars are accepted, coins or banknotes are fine."

Hearing this,

Tonya paid the money without much hesitation and took the picture album from little Arthur.

Walking on the side of the wide road, Tonya curiously opened the wordless book, and then... a series of pictures suddenly came into his eyes.

Yes,

Because of its intimate knowledge of the Province of Stein, most of the policies implemented by the Idar Government Office in these newly conquered lands were first implemented in the Provinces of Stein and Basel.

The cultural strategy pointed out by Bruno Stuart, Duke of Idar, is naturally one of them.

And the book that Tonya bought from little Arthur was the comic book supervised by Bruno himself!

As a time traveler from the previous life, Bruno, who is well versed in all kinds of online writing routines, knows clearly how to make readers attracted by the opening content at the first moment.

so……

The moment Tonya opened the cover, he was deeply attracted by this wordless picture album.

There is actually nothing particularly interesting about the content of the comic strip.

But in this era of extreme emptiness of spiritual and cultural life, even a story that seems extremely boring or even childish to Bruno is enough to make an adult like Tonya read it with relish and unable to take his eyes off it.

Fortunately, there are no electric poles on both sides of the roads in the Principality of Idar, otherwise, when Tonya arrived at the plantation where she worked, she would have been hit on the head.

As for the content...

Take the third fairy tale in the comic strip as an example. It tells readers a fairy tale that takes place in the forest.

[In a distant forest, there lived two bears, Brother Bear and Brother Bear. They lived happily in the forest under the protection of the Bear God.]

[However, one day, a man named Datou Qiang broke into the forest and wanted to cut down all the trees in the forest.]

[In order to resist the attack of Datou Qiang, Brother Bear and Brother Bear prayed to the God of Bears whom they had always revered. However, the God of Bears abandoned them because Datou Qiang promised to build a place for the God of Bears to rest his soul after clearing the forest.]

[After losing the protection of the Bear God, Brother Bear and Brother Bear had to leave the forest and travel through mountains and rivers on their own. Finally, they found their helper on the green grassland at the other end of the forest...]

From Bruno's perspective, the story is boring, childish, and even has too many elements...

but!

For ordinary people like Tonya who have never read books, this is enough!

As the first attempt of Bruno's cultural strategy, the content of the comic strip could not directly point out the sins and ugliness of the Church of Light, but could only gradually convey relevant information in an indirect way.

It's not just the bear god in this story who forgets his principles for the sake of profit.

The content of the comic strip combines all the fairy tales, Greek mythology and fables that Bruno could think of, creating a variety of selfish gods and protagonists who achieve success through their own efforts.

And all this has only one purpose, that is...

In silence, the image of the god was pulled down from the altar, thus breaking the fixed mindset in some people's minds.

Gods are not necessarily perfect! Perhaps in the previous life, the effect of such an approach was minimal.

But,

Here, in this world,

The thoughts and cognition of the common people still need guidance, and a complete way of thinking has not yet been formed.

As the first book seen by many civilians who could not spell, the content of the comic book would undoubtedly be deeply imprinted in their minds.

therefore,

Almost the whole morning.

Those indescribable images of gods in the comic strip kept lingering in Tonya's mind...

This plot will end in the next chapter. The rhythm is not well controlled, so if nothing unexpected happens, it will still be updated in the early morning.

(End of this chapter)