Something that spreads faster than news of victory?
Lin Wanwan's words were like a bucket of just the right amount of cool water, instantly extinguishing the almost boiling ecstasy that had ignited in Xiao Che's heart due to the good news.
He stopped pacing, turned around, and looked at her with a slight frown, his eyes filled with confusion.
In his view, a swift report from the front lines, bearing the official seal of an imperial envoy, was the most persuasive and authoritative document in the world. What could be more effective?
"Wanwan, what do you mean?" he pressed.
Lin Wanwan did not answer immediately. Instead, she pulled him back to sit down at the imperial desk, poured him a cup of calming tea, and then began to explain her grander and more subversive plan to him at a leisurely pace.
"Your Majesty, think about it, who will see this report of victory?" she asked coaxingly.
Without hesitation, Xiao Che replied, "Naturally, it's all the civil and military officials, and the heads of all departments."
“That’s right.” Lin Wanwan nodded. “Besides them, can ordinary people in the capital see it? Can the disaster victims in Jiangnan see it? Can the millions of people across the country see it?”
Xiao Che's brows furrowed even deeper. He understood Lin Wanwan's meaning, but still hadn't grasped the core of it.
"I can issue an edict to publish the news of victory in the official gazette and announce it to the world," he said. This was the most traditional, and only, method of official propaganda.
"And then?" Lin Wanwan's lips curled into a meaningful smile. "Your Majesty, if I may be so bold, how many people do you think would care about that official gazette full of bureaucratic jargon and obscure language? Even if they did read it, how much of it would they understand? And even if they did understand it, how much of it would they believe?"
Her words, like sharp needles, precisely pierced the glamorous yet fragile veneer of official propaganda, revealing its pale and powerless core.
Xiao Che fell silent.
He knew that what Lin Wanwan said was true.
The imperial gazette was always distributed to officials at all levels, serving as a top-down transmission of government orders. To ordinary people, the words on it were as dry and dull as chewing wax, as distant as stories from another world. They neither cared about it nor believed it.
This has been the case for thousands of years.
“Therefore,” Lin Wanwan’s voice became incredibly clear and powerful at this moment, “Your Majesty, our traditional methods of propaganda are problematic. They are too aloof and detached from the masses. They can only make officials ‘know,’ but cannot make the people ‘convinced.’ And what we need to do is precisely the latter!”
"What we are fighting is not just a disaster relief battle, but also... a battle for hearts and minds, a war of public opinion!"
"Information war?"
This modern-sounding term once again sparked a mixture of interest and confusion in Xiao Che's eyes.
Looking into his eager eyes, Lin Wanwan knew she had successfully captured his full attention. She stopped beating around the bush and directly revealed her core concept—a concept capable of changing the propaganda landscape of the Great Liang Dynasty.
"Your Majesty, think about it, where in this capital city does news spread the fastest? Is it the government offices?"
Xiao Che shook his head.
“No.” Lin Wanwan’s eyes gleamed with intelligence. “It was a bustling teahouse, a theater packed to capacity!”
"Ten thousand official reports from the imperial court may not be as powerful as a good story! Because official reports speak of 'reason,' while stories speak of 'human nature'!"
"Therefore, I believe that our true voice should not be in the imperial court, but in the marketplace! It should be in the gavel of the storytellers and in the songs of the opera singers!"
These words struck Xiao Che's heart like a thunderbolt!
Teahouse! Theater!
Storyteller! Opera performer!
These beings, whom he, and indeed rulers throughout history, considered "low-class" and unworthy of respect, were, in Lin Wanwan's words, transformed into a "mouthpiece" capable of influencing people's hearts?!
This idea is so bold and unconventional!
But... it also seems to be filled with some indescribable, core-pointing magic!
Xiao Che's breathing quickened involuntarily. He looked at Lin Wanwan as if she were a peerless general demonstrating a brand-new weapon to him.
"You mean..." His voice was slightly hoarse with excitement.
"I suggest," Lin Wanwan said decisively, "that the royal family secretly fund the project, without going through any official channels. We can have Eunuch Wang Dequan use the guise of purchasing goods from the palace to support the most popular storytellers in the capital, as well as the largest opera troupe, 'Qingfengnian'."
“We don’t give them any orders, we just send them money, the best writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones, and the finest silk fabrics. We have only one request—to ask them to adapt a ‘story’ about a goddess appearing in a dream and the emperor saving the people from disaster into a popular storytelling and drama that the people would enjoy, and to have it performed in the major teahouses and theaters of the capital!”
"We want all the people in the capital to know how worried their emperor is about the disaster in Jiangnan, and how his benevolence has moved Heaven."
“We want them to know how compassionate and wise the goddess who appeared in their dream was, and how exquisite the ‘divine strategy’ she bestowed upon them was.”
"We want them to know how, in the disaster-stricken areas on the front lines, those who were initially in despair, rebuilt their homes and regained hope with their own hands under the guidance of 'Shence'!"
Lin Wanwan's voice was full of passion and infectious energy. What she described was not just a publicity plan, but a magnificent narrative involving the entire population!
In this story, the emperor is no longer the aloof and faceless ruler, but a sage monarch with flesh and blood and a heart for the common people.
The goddess is no longer a vague legend, but a living bodhisattva who saves people from suffering.
Those ordinary people who were originally indifferent to national affairs will, for the first time, experience the most direct and profound emotional resonance with the fate of the country through these easy-to-understand stories!
Xiao Che was completely stunned by Lin Wanwan's grand vision!
He could almost see it all over the streets and alleys of the capital, in teahouses and taverns, where his legendary stories were being told. He could almost hear the millions of people cheering and praising his "benevolence" from the bottom of their hearts!
This...this is a power more powerful than any military force! It is a supreme soft power capable of uniting people's hearts and minds!
"Wonderful! Absolutely... wonderful!" He could no longer contain his excitement, slapped his thigh, and stood up.
He looked at Lin Wanwan with an expression that went beyond mere admiration; it was an almost worshipful astonishment!
Just how many more treasures of transformation, like turning decay into magic, are hidden in the mind of his empress?
Just when he thought that was all the surprises he could expect, Lin Wanwan's next move left him speechless.
As if she had expected him to agree, Lin Wanwan calmly took out a stack of manuscript paper filled with writing from her sleeve and handed it to him.
"Your Majesty, this is a first draft of the play script that I casually wrote last night. I'm just afraid that the actors in those troupes won't grasp the spirit of it and won't write it well enough."
Xiao Che subconsciously took the stack of manuscript papers that still carried her body heat and faint fragrance, and looked down at them.
On the first page of the manuscript, a grand and majestic title was clearly written in a delicate yet elegant style of small regular script.
"The Emperor's benevolent heart moved the goddess, and the sage ruler waved his sleeves to bring peace to Jiangnan."
He turned to the first page, read only a few lines, and was instantly captivated by the simple yet infectious lyrics and the dramatic, suspenseful plot!
This is hardly a first draft script! This is clearly a polished masterpiece destined to become a nationwide sensation!
Holding the easy-to-understand, dramatic script in his hand, and looking at the empress before him whose eyes shone with endless wisdom and who seemed to have everything under control, Xiao Che knew that his empress was about to bring him and the entire Liang Dynasty a tremendous surprise.
At this moment, all his doubts transformed into absolute trust and support.
He immediately placed the script heavily on the imperial desk, and facing out of the hall, he loudly ordered in a tone full of high morale:
"Wang Dequan!"
"Your servant is here!" Wang Dequan, who was guarding outside the hall, hurriedly pushed open the door and entered.
"Issue my decree!" Xiao Che's eyes burned with an unprecedented blazing fire. "From this moment forward, all arrangements made by Her Majesty the Empress shall be regarded as my decrees! Everyone and every department must cooperate unconditionally and with all their might!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com