Dragon, choose cultural victory to make money

Chapter 255: Drogo's Public Relations Class

A lot of people have gathered outside the church in Shuangta City.

They completely surrounded the church, holding banners and shouting slogans, demanding an explanation from the church regarding the steam engine curse.

However, they have not yet shown any more radical actions.

Encirclement is one thing, violent conflict is another.

Instead of engaging in violence with the church, it would be better to just burn some charcoal at home and solve the problem yourself.

Behind the gorgeous stained glass windows of the church, the new bishop of Twin Towers City looked solemnly at the angry people.

It is now two o'clock in the morning, nearly three hours have passed since the incident broke out, and the archbishops of the holy city have not yet reached a conclusion.

Because the steam engine curse affected the entire continent, as a bishop in charge of only one city, Twin Towers City, he could not decide on his own how to respond.

I don’t know how it will be handled in the end.

He didn't want to take too harsh measures because he knew most of the people outside.

Many of them are workers who participated in the strike a month ago.

They are fighting for themselves to have one day off a week and work twelve hours a day.

Such events have taken place several times, but were previously disrupted by threats from professional thugs hired by factory owners. Until last month, the protests turned bloody and the factory owners finally gave in after the workers proved they were willing to risk their lives.

The bishop of Shuangta City led many priests to provide free medical treatment to injured workers and provided burial and resting space for those who unfortunately died.

For many people here, "not being able to afford to die" is a common situation. The price of a cemetery is as high as a house, and sometimes even more expensive.

The relatives of the deceased have to pay the maintenance fee every year, otherwise there is no guarantee that the deceased's body will not "accidentally" appear in the necromancer's laboratory.

The bishop felt very sympathetic towards these poor people who could neither rest in life nor find peace in death.

He grew up in the Twin Towers City. When he was young, he joined the church with the ideal of redeeming the suffering.

Later I found that the church was not what I had imagined.

There are many different factions within the church, some of which have less devout beliefs and less noble aims.

Cursing the steam engine should also be the plan of these factions.

Although the bishop did not know the details about the curse, after watching the demonstration in the short film, he was sure that it was divine magic.

The corruption in the church was worse than he had imagined.

Now he even suspected that the final conclusion reached by the Holy City might be to completely deny that the matter had anything to do with the church.

The Goddess would surely be disappointed to see Her servants fallen to such a level.

The bishop sighed worriedly.

"Bishop," the parish deacon came up behind him, "the decree of the Holy City has arrived."

“What was the decision on how to deal with this incident?”

"No, it's for you personally."

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The Papal States, the Holy City.

Sitting around a long table were the current Pope, cardinals, and several patriarchs of the church.

The people at the top of the church's power gathered here.

Most of them are in their sixties or seventies and are not used to discussing things so late.

But the situation is urgent right now.

The church made a profit by cursing steam engines, the biggest scandal in hundreds of years.

Not the worst scandal though.

The church has been found to have done more extreme things before, but they were not as widespread as this time.

There was no Internet, magic vision, or even newspapers back then, so news could easily be blocked in a city and would not be known to tens of millions of people for hours.

If not handled properly, it will affect the public's belief in the goddess.

Faith cannot be produced by coercion.

They tried.

Therefore the church must maintain a good and holy image.

"Patriarch Cedric, you can no longer hold this position." The Pope's tone was irrefutable.

"Why?" Cedric asked in disbelief, "Am I not doing all this for the church?"

"The Church has never asked you to do such a thing," the Pope replied calmly.

"No request? Then who told me that the steam engine was a good invention? And who told me that divine magic, if used improperly, would lead to a curse?"

"I only warned you not to abuse the magic, as it could lead to disaster, but you didn't listen to my warning."

"Ha ha!"

Bishop Cedric was so angry that he laughed.

"If I wasn't there, where would the money come from to repair the church? How would I build the statues? And how would I plan and create some 'miracles' every once in a while to pretend that the goddess still cares about her servants!"

"As devout servants, we do not need the goddess' attention. We serve voluntarily. You have misinterpreted the doctrine." The Pope did not want to waste any more time on this matter.

"Blinded by profit, they have fallen into depravity and brought disaster to the vast majority of believers. Whether Patriarch Cedric and his followers need to be put on trial or not, the vote will begin now."

Patriarch Cedric, or to be more precise, the former patriarch, watched his former colleagues raise their hands one after another.

He was abandoned.

without hesitation.

He had anticipated this ending the day he joined the church, but he didn't expect it to happen so soon.

Cedric's purpose in joining the church was pure: he wanted to climb up in this system.

But he had no roots in the church, nor did he have any special skills that were far superior to others, and even his parents were not Christians.

If you want to get more opportunities, you can only do things that others are unwilling to do, such as becoming a pair of gloves that you wear when picking up dirty things and can throw away at any time.

Now he was thrown away.

After quickly cutting off the "culprit", the Pope initiated the second topic: how to calm public opinion and save the collapsing image of the church.

In the past, they would simply throw all the responsibility onto the person being judged and then wait.

Time is a useful weapon that can defeat everything.

People will gradually lose interest in what happened and slowly come to believe that it was the evil person being judged who caused everything and has received the punishment he deserves.

The premise is that no one will bring up this matter again and again.

"Did the Mammonites deal with it?"

"It's been taken care of."

"Are you sure the video was sent by them?"

"Confirmed. We found the corresponding magic crystals in the magic devices they used. They match the confessions of the cultists."

"Is it possible that the memory has been modified?"

"It's not ruled out, but no traces of magic from the use of the elf memory spell were found at the scene."

The Pope nodded.

Now things get trickier.

The church's dirty laundry is in the hands of the Mammon sect, and it is difficult to catch all of those Ascended Souls because, apart from their consciousness, they are completely indistinguishable from ordinary people.

The most common method used by the church is to solve the person who raised the problem if the problem cannot be solved. This method does not work well for those who are ascending souls.

Unless the goddess handles this matter personally.

However, as Cedric said, the goddess no longer cares about her servants, appears rarely, and will no longer be angry about the burning of the church.

The goddesses don't really need money. They are the ones who need money.

"Let's first decide how to calm the current public opinion." The Pope made the second choice.

The longer this incident ferments on the Internet, the more resentful people will be towards the church.

Their traditional approach doesn't work.

Churches across the country posted notices and all pastors were required to preach during church events, but the Internet was too slow.

"First, publish Cedric's crimes on the Internet and see the reaction." The Pope ordered.

After the entire church conducted a large-scale study on this new thing, the Internet, among the middle-aged and elderly people, they have some understanding of it.

A large screen was placed opposite the long table, displaying the church's certified account and real-time feedback in the comment section after the announcement was made.

The feedback was not optimistic.

Most of the comments were cynical, and some even engaged in conspiracy theories, believing that the so-called removal of the patriarch and his trial was just a show, and that when the storm died down, he would be transformed into an archbishop or something.

At the same time, since this announcement was tantamount to admitting that the curse was indeed related to the church, even the lay believers who had previously stood on the side of the church were unable to speak out.

"The Church will cover the cost of treating all those who are sick, remove existing curses, and provide subsidies to the families of those who have died as a result," the Pope added.

"Pope!" the cardinal could not help but remind him, "that is a huge expense."

“Can we afford it?”

"it should be OK."

"Then do it."

The Pope believes that the Church has come this far and people should regain their trust in the Church. After all, the Church is so "responsible" when facing a crisis.

However, the feedback on the Internet once again surprised him.

After the new announcement was issued, the expected scene of gratitude in the comment section did not appear, and the ridicule and sarcasm continued.

In their view, this is what the church should do. The curse was cast by the church, and the patients were caused by the curse. Now they are responsible for treating the patients, and they talk about it as if it is some kind of grace, which is somewhat shameless.

Faced with this situation, the old guys at the long table fell silent.

As a group of older people, although they are quite powerful and good at infighting, they now have an obvious flaw: they don't understand how to use the Internet.

Finally, the Pope gave up on solving the problem on his own and ordered: "Contact the bishops in the suburbs of Twin Towers City and seek cooperation with the Drogo Group to let them help solve this matter."

After saying that, he thought for a moment and added, "The tax-free period for the products of the Drogo Group in the Papal State can be further increased."

Thus, the Bishop of Shuangta City received such a handwritten order.

Ignore the people blocking the door and go find Drogo.

The Bishop of Twin Towers City was teleported to the headquarters of Drogo Group with doubts. It was impossible to walk out of the church now, so he could only rely on teleportation.

When we arrived at the headquarters of Drogo Group, we learned that Drogo was now at the Magic TV Station, urgently repairing the signal cutting system.

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Drogo was getting anxious now.

The negative information has been released for several hours, but why does it seem like the church has not taken any action?

According to his plan, once something happened, the church should immediately send people to the Magic TV Station to ask why the signal was not cut off. Aren’t there measures to cut it off?

Then he performed an emergency repair for the church. There was a problem with the signal cutting system. He told the church not to worry because he was also in a hurry.

The repairs are almost complete, but the people from the church haven’t arrived yet.

Then his performance was in vain.

Are all large organizations so inefficient? I haven’t heard of anyone practicing DEI in the church.

Finally, when the repair was about to be completed, a man wearing a church bishop's robe appeared at the Magic Viewing Station.

"Mr. Drogo, the church needs your help now."

"What, help?" Drogo immediately got into the role, looking anxious. "No time, we are repairing the signal cutoff system..."

Drogo took the bishop of the Twin Towers and told him why the originally planned emergency system failed, resulting in all the short films of the Mammon sect being released.

By the way, pretend to be ignorant of the situation and ask if there are any more riots in the city.

Were any tieflings ever created?
what?
No?

That's great.

It’s just that the church is now seriously affected by public opinion.

That's a shame. Drogo only expressed his sympathy for the church on behalf of the dragons.

Anyway, after about ten minutes, the bishop finally had the opportunity to state his purpose.

"We need to get the curse of the steam engine off the internet."

"That won't work. I'm just a businessman. Who can control what people want to say?"

"The Papal State can increase the number of years that Drogo Group's goods are tax-free."

"That doesn't mean there is no solution," Drogo said, pulling the bishop into the meeting room. "Come, let's talk."

After listening to the bishop's brief introduction to the church's demands, Drogo understood that the bishop was only here to explore the way, and after getting the plan from the Drogo Group, he would have to wait for the Holy City to evaluate it before implementing it.

"It was all caused by former Patriarch Cedric. It has nothing to do with the main body of the church."

Drogo nodded. Sure. He knew how to cut. What a patriarch. He had thought that he could only cut a few interns at most.

No, the church does not have interns.

"Bear all patient expenses..."

It's not bad either. He knows how to take responsibility and didn't hold a press conference to bow in public, indicating that he knows he was wrong, but he is not responsible for the mistake.

"And then what? Nothing else? You've only issued two announcements so far?"

"So far, that's it."

"No," Drogo said, looking distressed, "This is the only way to lie. It's wrong. I can't convince the netizens."

Zhuo Ge took out his mobile phone, opened Weibo, clicked on his verified account, and opened the comment area settings.

"Come, take a look at this feature. It's called Selected Comments. It can prevent comments that you don't want to appear. If you're too lazy to do it, you can also close the comments section."

"But doesn't this just stop people from speaking?" The bishop didn't think this would be of any use.

"It is important to keep people from speaking out. As long as no one can speak out, no more people will be affected. Believe me."

Zhuo Ge continued, "Then, the trending searches can be removed, but this service is charged per item. If you need to remove a large number of items, you can get a discount.

"The next step is not to just issue an announcement. The trial of Cedric must be broadcast live. You can't just say he is a villain. People need a visible target. Of course, we can provide the live broadcast service of the entire trial process for free."

Entertainment will dilute the seriousness of the incident itself.

At the same time, everyone will love to watch this thing live.

Zhuo Ge used to like watching a program about the politics of a certain place. Oh, it was so exciting.

"The last step is to create some other big news to divert attention and reduce the heat. People have limited energy. If they pay attention to other things, they won't be able to pay attention to this matter."

Drogo then proposed a bunch of plans, such as Astrid suddenly having a scandal, the Pope divorcing his wife, which church beat people up...

A series of eye-catching but not fatal scandals.

Half an hour later, the bishop left with this mess of plans.

Drogo waved his claws to see him off.

Doudou came closer and asked, "Are you sure that the ideas you provided to the church are good?"

"Of course not," Drogo answered. "They are useful but immoral ideas, and they will be used often."

Solve temporary problems and ruin long-term reputation.

Drogo hopes that the church will go further and further on this path.

(End of this chapter)