Chapter 108
Song Yilian is preparing for graduation.
She delayed her doctoral studies by six months due to incomplete data in her dissertation. Now, with her defense approaching, she is extremely busy every day.
After a busy day in the office, she returned to her dormitory and took out her phone to visit Feihong Novel Network. These days, reading an update of "Transmigrating to the Ming Dynasty to Take the Imperial Examination" has become her rare form of entertainment.
This book has been updated for a long time. If I remember correctly, it should be the novel with the longest update time by Er Yuetian. She has a feeling that this book is not far from being completed.
Don't let it end, at least not before her thesis defense. She relies on this one chapter of the novel to keep her going every day. She doesn't want to think about these things. Song Yilian shook her head and clicked on the latest chapter of the novel.
Foreign countries come to pay tribute.
As a key official in the Ministry of Rites, Cao Hongjing held a position second only to the Minister of Rites and was therefore responsible for all reception duties. However, what surprised the court officials was that he could speak a foreign language.
And it's not just one country.
Not only was he fluent in Japanese, but he also had some knowledge of Korean and Siamese languages.
The foreign countries were overjoyed by this.
The Ming Dynasty was a great empire, and Ming officials even taught themselves foreign languages to receive the envoys. This was something the envoys were very proud of and moved by.
Cao Hongjing was a gentleman, as pure and kind as jade. Coupled with his amiable speech, he won the hearts of the envoys from various countries in just a few days. Not only did they treat Cao Hongjing with great affection, but they were also unknowingly tricked into revealing a lot of information about him.
Cao Hongjing treated the envoys with great courtesy, which won the hearts and minds of all the nations.
However, this does not mean he will let the group of envoys leave easily. In the past few days, he has been intentionally or unintentionally taking them to visit the Imperial Academy and the Great Confucian Academy.
Faced with their longing gazes, his plan became even more certain.
The Ming Dynasty today appears glamorous on the surface, but in reality, it has been plagued by deep-seated problems for a long time. No matter how capable Cao Hongjing is, he cannot change it in just one or two years.
Although he was eager to reclaim these neighboring countries, it was clearly not the right time.
While recapture is not an immediate possibility, simply sending a few pedantic scholars to spread Ming Dynasty ideas is still achievable.
Since ancient times, scholars' pens have been most capable of distorting right and wrong. Sending them over there to subtly influence and corrupt the thoughts and souls of students from other countries, making them proud to study in the East and dream of settling down there, would be wonderful!
Cao Hongjing compiled his thoughts into a written document and secretly presented it to the emperor.
Although it was said to be a secret, all official memorials had to be reviewed by the cabinet to ensure there were no problems before being submitted to the imperial merchants. Therefore, several Grand Secretaries of the cabinet had also read Cao Hongjing's memorial.
"That Cao Dingzhi is truly insidious!"
Such a silent and insidious erosion of the nation's foundation is something no upright and honest person could possibly conceive of.
"If this method succeeds, every place will be our Great Ming..."
Objectively speaking, this was indeed a good strategy. The Grand Secretaries exchanged glances and then presented his memorial to the Grand Secretary.
......
The foreign envoys came with several carts of local specialties, but when they left, they were pulling more than a dozen carts full of precious treasures. Of course, they were also accompanied by a long procession of Confucian scholars that they had begged to join them.
The selection of Confucian scholars was indeed a difficult process.
After all, it was an envoy to barbarian lands, and there was even a high possibility that they would not return. Many people were unwilling to go, but due to the wrath of the emperor, aristocratic families could only send their unfavored illegitimate children to make do.
In addition to the Confucian scholars, the accompanying entourage also included the Imperial Guards, whom Cao Dingzhi had thoughtfully sent to protect their safety.
The envoys were extremely grateful for this.
Little did they know that these specially trained Imperial Guards, ostensibly escorting envoys back to their home countries, would actually use the pretext of returning home to secretly infiltrate various countries and gather intelligence once the envoys had arrived safely.
These countries also have abundant gold, silver, and iron mines. Now that Cao Hongjing has come to the Ming Dynasty, he can't possibly leave without taking a big bite out of them.
......
Cao Hong has been promoted yet again.
This time it's the Minister of Revenue.
He was rewarded for his service in receiving foreign envoys and for proposing such an ingenious strategy of cultural invasion. Overjoyed, the emperor promoted him to the position of Minister.
The fact that the Minister of Revenue was only twenty-nine years old was astonishing, and several Grand Secretaries of the Cabinet immediately felt a sense of crisis.
The Minister of Personnel is a second-rank official.
The next step for a Minister is to enter the Grand Secretariat.
These old fogies toiled until their forties and fifties just to barely reach the threshold of the cabinet, and now a mere twenty-nine-year-old has actually become a minister, and might even become their competitor?!
......
The author wrote over ten thousand words in this chapter, describing the male protagonist's clever strategies in detail before stopping. Song Yilian read it in one go and felt thoroughly satisfied.
"It's so beautiful!"
This subtle cultural invasion tactic is so ingenious, it's practically killing without a trace. Is the protagonist some kind of genius?
She opened the comments section, where readers who had finished reading this chapter were equally excited.
-I love how the male lead insults me, hehehe!
-The male lead is really clever. Just thinking about how young people abroad will yearn for the Ming Dynasty makes me laugh!
-The term "cultural invasion" is so clever! It's similar to the mulberry-dike-fishpond system. You're really good at describing and summarizing. Actually, if you put it that way, aren't foreign TV series and movies also a form of cultural invasion?
-That's true. When I was a child, I watched a foreign romance movie and became very fascinated by a certain foreign city, even thinking that it was the capital of love.
......
*
Not long after the second trailer for "Ming Dynasty" was released, it officially began airing on Channel 8, still with two episodes airing back-to-back every night at 8 pm.
This drama was produced during the year-end free time.
At this time, students were on holiday, and office workers were also taking their annual leave one after another. Eight o'clock in the evening was also a relaxed moment when the whole family had just finished dinner and gathered in the living room to chat. It can be said that this drama had all the right timing, location and people.
Therefore, even if "Da Ming Dynasty" flops, it probably won't be a huge flop. This is a consensus among many people, since the broadcasting platform is CCTV-8, which guarantees a certain level of viewership.
But everyone has their own internal scale.
If you have the best platform and resources, but can only barely get a decent viewership rating when it airs, then in the eyes of many netizens, this is a disgrace of forced promotion, which is even more hateful than a silent flop.
However, the first two episodes of "Ming Dynasty" surprised many viewers.
Because this drama not only did not flop as everyone expected, but its ratings were also very impressive. According to the highest real-time ratings compiled by Zhongyu 8 Channel, the peak viewership of "Da Ming Dynasty" reached 1.9%.
What does 1.9% mean?!
It's worth noting that a TV series is considered a hit if its ratings exceed 3%, but "Da Ming Dynasty" achieved a 1.9% rating on its very first day of airing, even before the plot had fully unfolded.
what does that mean?
This means that the viewership potential of "Da Ming Dynasty" is immeasurable. It is only a matter of time before it surpasses 3%, and it is even possible that it will surpass 4%. Those in the know have already calculated the pattern of viewership growth in their minds.
"1.9%, that's not bad."
After receiving the viewership statistics for each time slot from his subordinates, Li Hao sat in his office chair and casually flipped through them. When he saw the 1.9% rating following "Da Ming Dynasty," he immediately relaxed his shoulders and secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
He took a certain risk by buying back "The Ming Dynasty".
The leaders of television stations generally have a conservative style of doing things. They would rather be mediocre than take risks. Compared with up-and-coming directors, they prefer to choose veteran directors with whom they have worked many times. At least the veteran directors' level is stable, and they have confidence in them.
But this time he took an unconventional approach, choosing a TV series featuring a completely new face, February Sky. One can imagine how surprised these leaders were at first.
He spent a great deal of effort persuading the government to eventually buy back "Da Ming Dynasty." He practically made a pledge in front of his superiors.
He finally managed to persuade the leaders to take the risk.
However, despite his confident statements at the time, he wasn't entirely sure about the audience's tastes. What if the audience wasn't interested in the show he thought would be good?
Therefore, he had always kept his expectations very low. He thought that it would be good if the viewership rating of "Da Ming Dynasty" could break through 1% at the beginning.
In retrospect, he was too conservative.
This drama gave him a big surprise. The ratings for the first two episodes almost broke 2%, which he thought already showed the potential to be a huge hit.
Li Hao was contemplating the show's future ratings success when he suddenly received a call from an old friend, Director Wang from Jiaoyang TV.
Director Wang's call came at just the right time. He really had to thank him. It was thanks to his strong recommendation that he learned about this drama and was able to buy it.
"The Ming Dynasty is doing well! I've seen the ratings statistics, 1.9%, and that's no joke!"
Their TV station has a certain sensitivity to ratings. If a show can reach this level at the beginning, as long as the plot doesn't fall too far behind, it will basically continue to rise.
"Old Wang, I really have to thank you. When do you have time? Let's get together, hahaha!"
"Sigh, I'm starting to regret it now. I should have been more firm. If the boss didn't agree, I should have gone to the station manager..."
Director Wang was filled with regret as he looked at the first-day ratings of "The Ming Dynasty".
This show clearly has potential. Why was he so blind to this? He preferred to recommend it to a friend rather than try to persuade the station's leaders himself. Now, watching others enjoy the show, even the show he initially favored, he feels terrible.
"Alright, Lao Wang, stop overthinking. Even if you were given a chance, with so many leaders at your TV station, who could you possibly convince with your eloquence!"
Li Hao comforted him with a few words.
Director Wang didn't really come to complain; his intention was to congratulate him. However, he couldn't help but blurt out a few discouraging words.
After saying these discouraging words, he immediately felt much better.
"Congratulations, Lao Li! Judging from this ratings trend, your TV station might just produce a hit drama. I think you should seize the opportunity. The quality of the drama itself is very important, but the role of marketing should not be underestimated either!"
Director Wang's words made sense, and Li Hao was instantly tempted.
He was the one who strongly advocated for buying "Da Ming Dynasty". If the show becomes a huge hit, his position at the TV station will be secure, and he might even have the opportunity to rise to a higher level in the future.
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