I, the prince in distress, send money

Chapter 420 The New Dynasty's Elegant Governance (Part Two)

Compared to the cultural sphere, the religious sphere of Bagnia was less peaceful and less welcoming of Chris's ascension to the throne.

Dolan, who lives in the city of Hegland, has a personal understanding of this.

Near his residence was a sizable church dedicated to the goddess of agriculture, which was one of the state religious centers during the former kingdom and republic.

In the past, this stone church, decorated with ears of ripe wheat and a statue of a benevolent goddess, was always filled with the smoke of incense and a constant stream of worshippers, especially during the spring planting and autumn harvest seasons, when crowds would gather to pray for favorable weather and a bountiful harvest.

High priests and priests, dressed in exquisite robes, always wore a detached solemnity on their faces, enjoying the offerings of believers and the courtesy of nobles and even officials.

However, ever since His Majesty Christi swept through Bagnia, especially after his thunderous "religious reformation" took effect, the church's condition has deteriorated day by day.

Dolan passes by here every day on his way to and from get off work, and he has clearly seen the changes.

The once bustling church square is now often deserted.

The number of believers in the Church of the Goddess of Agriculture has dwindled sharply, with only a few elderly, white-haired, and deeply ingrained peasant women still persisting in their daily morning prayers.

Solemn hymns and prayers became sparse, and on some days it was even eerily quiet.

The towering goddess statue, seemingly colder and more lonely than ever, appeared due to the lack of incense offerings and human warmth.

Those clergy who were once arrogant now often wear an undisguised look of anxiety and disappointment on their faces.

The magnificent silk robes were still there, but the once radiant high priest now seemed to have a more hunched posture, and his eyes had lost their divine brilliance, replaced by a touch of worldly worry about daily necessities.

Dolan once witnessed a young priest awkwardly trying to sell cheap, homemade candles to passersby on a street corner to supplement his increasingly strained finances. His disheveled appearance was a far cry from his former holy image.

His Majesty Chris abolished the tax-exempt status of the Church of the Goddess of Agriculture and, incidentally, stripped it of its privilege of collecting religious taxes...tithes.

This is tantamount to cutting off the church's lifeline!

Without its legally mandated and substantial source of funding, the church's coffers quickly dwindled.

They can no longer easily build magnificent churches, hold lavish religious celebrations, or maintain a large and well-off clergy as they once did.

Financial hardship is the most direct and fundamental reason for the church's decline.

What pained the church leadership even more was that His Majesty Chris established a secular court system, explicitly stripping the church of its right to arbitrate in matters of marriage, inheritance, morality, and even some civil disputes.

This means that the church has lost an extremely important source of power and leverage for social influence.

In the past, people feared the judgment of the church and relied on its sacred rulings. Now, disputes are all turned to the king's judges. The church's aura of authority—shepherding God's sheep and controlling the life and death of believers—has been ruthlessly shattered.

In addition, Dolan learned from some private conversations that the church was not a monolithic entity.

Some of the more pragmatic priests or those from humble backgrounds began to try to adapt to the new policy.

They humbled themselves, learned some basic agricultural knowledge, and tried to attract believers with more practical help, such as guiding crop rotation, recommending new agricultural tools, and even tacitly allowing believers to hang up portraits of King Chris while worshipping the goddess... This was unimaginable blasphemy before.

However, conservatives, especially those high-ranking clergy from the old aristocracy who were accustomed to being high above others, abhorred this, seeing it as a betrayal of their faith and a compromise with a heretical tyrant.

Such internal disagreements and disputes further weakened the church's cohesion.

Dolan watched all this with little sympathy; instead, he felt it was only natural, even gratifying.

He remembered how, in the old days, the church colluded with corrupt nobles and republican elites.

They used divine will to endorse exploitation and oppression, and used hell to intimidate and squeeze the last bit of food from the serfs.

The church is rolling in wealth, while the believers who support it are struggling in poverty.

Have those high-ranking priests ever truly cared about the farmers toiling in the fields?

All they care about is their own privileges and enjoyment.

Now, His Majesty Chris's iron fist has shattered not only the corrupt privileges of the Church, but also the heavy shackles binding the spirit of the Bagnian people.

Whether it's the goddess of agriculture or the church of the Earth Mother Goddess, both have been suppressed. His Majesty is now encouraging the promotion of practical agricultural techniques and taking judicial power back to the state. All of this is to liberate the people from their blind reliance on ethereal divine power and guide them to look at the real land, tangible laws, and the royal power and state power that can truly bring about change.

He recalled his hometown of Hilla, where, since the land reform, farmers had placed not only traditional shrines to the Earth Mother in their fields, but also land deeds bestowed by King Chris and patterns of the new plows and harrows promoted by His Majesty.

The content of their prayers also changed from simply praying for a bountiful harvest from the Mother Goddess to thanking the King for bestowing land, praying for favorable weather, and promising not to fail the King's favor.

This is the true new nation, the new look!

Dolan withdrew his gaze, straightened his back, and walked toward the city administration office where he worked, where the king's flag and the emblem of New Bagnia hung.

In his eyes, the church's decay was like the burnt sausage he had swept into the trash can that day—an inevitable rotten remnant of the old era.

And the New Bagnia, which he was loyal to and which was founded by King Chris, was just like the neat Chinese characters he wrote and the carefully planned city blueprints, full of vitality based on reason, order and fairness.

The decline of the Church of the Goddess of Agriculture is an inevitable growing pain in His Majesty Chris's process of reshaping Bagnia, and also a clear sign that the country is breaking free from the shackles of the old theocracy and moving towards secularism and rationality.

To newly emerging scholars like Dolan, this was not a bad thing at all, but rather an essential path for the kingdom to become powerful and enlightened.

Overjoyed, Dolan decided to submit another article to the newspaper after get off work today, praising His Majesty's benevolence.

He walked briskly into the City Management Office, a small, somewhat simple but neat and orderly office building... He heard that the small building would be replaced by a newly built building this year, but he didn't know when.

Dolan had just sat down in his planning office and spread out the blueprints for the new town's sewer system when there was a polite knock on the door.

"Advisor El?"

The young clerk from the department entered, holding an official document stamped with the new emblem of the kingdom. His face showed a mixture of undisguised solemnity and curiosity.

"what's up?"

Dolan put down his beloved pen and looked up.

"An urgent message just transferred from the capital, from the newly established General Administration of Culture and Education of the Kingdom."

The clerk respectfully placed the letter on Dolan's desk.

"It's for you, Mr. Advisor."

"The State Administration of Culture and Education?"

Dolan's heart skipped a beat. He had heard rumors that His Majesty planned to vigorously reorganize the cultural and educational fields after his coronation, integrating the previously scattered functions of official schools, publication censorship, and ritual music. It seemed that this new department had already been officially established.

He picked up the letter and broke the sealing wax seal.

The paper was high-quality new official paper, with a clear bilingual label in Chinese and Baghnian printed at the top: "General Administration of Culture and Education of the Kingdom of Baghnia".

The letter is concise and powerful, beginning with a message addressed to Mr. Dolan Ayr, planning consultant for the Hegland City Management Office.

Seeing this, Dolan was genuinely happy and continued reading.

+Regarding the selection of the Director of the Hygrand Branch of the Kingdom's General Administration of Culture and Education

By order of His Majesty King Chris, in order to effectively implement the Kingdom's new cultural policy, standardize the education system, and promote the spirit of New Bagnia, the General Administration of Culture and Education of the Kingdom has recently been formally established.

Branch offices have been established in major cities throughout the kingdom to coordinate and manage local cultural, educational, publishing, ideological, and other related affairs.

The Higland branch office was one of the first branches established, and its chief's position was of paramount importance.

Following initial selection by the General Administration, Your Excellency, based on your outstanding knowledge, profound understanding and loyalty to the new policies, and past contributions, has been included in the shortlist of three candidates for the Highland Branch Manager position.

Job description: The Chief of the Highland Branch is a Level 10 civil servant of the Kingdom, wearing a red official uniform.

The branch director oversees all government schools in Highland and the surrounding three counties, cultural censorship, publication registration, and all ideological propaganda matters, including those related to the planned public library.

The head of this branch office reports directly to the General Administration of Culture and Education of the Kingdom.

Selection method:

The open selection examination will be held at 9:00 a.m. three days from now in the council chamber on the east side of the Hegland City Hall.

The exam content will cover:
An interpretation of the Kingdom's current cultural and educational policies and the spirit of His Majesty King Chris's related edicts.

Chinese written expression and official document drafting skills.

Case studies on local cultural and educational governance practices.

Understanding and elucidating the spirit of Neo-Bagnia.

Please make sure you attend on time.

Kingdom Culture and Education Administration
Date... Kingdom New Calendar ****+
Dolan's gaze swept over the letter repeatedly, especially lingering on the words "red official uniform" and "level ten civil servant rank." His heart pounded powerfully in his chest, and an indescribable surge of heat instantly coursed through his body.

Level 10 Civil Servant!
This means he will officially enter the ranks of mid-level officials in the kingdom, and as the head of a newly established, important local department directly under the central government. His powers will far exceed his current duties as an advisor to the city management office.

Controlling official schools, censoring publications, and guiding ideology... this practically gave them the power to shape the thoughts and culture of the people in Hegland and the surrounding areas!

What a profound trust and responsibility this represents!

Dolan took a deep breath, trying to calm his turbulent emotions.

He certainly understood what this "preliminary selection" list meant.

He is one of His Majesty's most steadfast supporters and beneficiaries of the new policies. His active performance in promoting the Chinese language, cracking down on conservatives, and advocating the new order has clearly been noticed by the higher-ups.

Those two unknown competitors must be no ordinary people either.

But this opportunity itself is the greatest affirmation of his past efforts.

The exam is in three days... He must give it his all!

Dolan's mind immediately started racing.

Regarding policy interpretation, His Majesty has thoroughly memorized all his public speeches and policies on culture, education, and ideology, and can even recite them from memory.

However, he needs a deeper understanding and to develop insightful governance strategies that are tailored to the specific circumstances of Hygrand.

Chinese official documents are his forte, but he must not be complacent.

To ensure precise word choice, standardized format, and rigorous logic, Dolan felt he needed to study some official document templates that the General Administration might issue.

As for practical cases, Dolan's experience working in the city management department, especially in handling cases involving old customs hindering new policies, such as certain guilds resisting government and education, and coordinating resources, are valuable assets that only need to be extracted and summarized.

As for the spirit of Neo-Bagnia, it is the very core of the core!

Loyalty, rationality, fairness, martial spirit, ambition, and national supremacy... How can these abstract concepts be transformed into concrete and actionable cultural and educational policies and propaganda content?

Dolan believes this is a question the director must answer, and it's the key point he's highlighted.

At this point, a strong sense of mission burned within Dolan.

He is now running for not just a position, but a battlefield!
A battlefield where culture and education are used as weapons to completely sweep away the remnants of the old era, consolidate His Majesty King Chris's great achievements, and shape a new soul for the people of Bagnia!

He must become the sharpest pen of culture in His Majesty's hands!
Dolan abruptly stood up, carefully put the official document away, and placed it in a folder close to his body.

He walked to the window and looked once again at the desolate church dedicated to the goddess of agriculture.

At this moment, the cold stone statue appeared even smaller and more powerless in his eyes.

The era of the old gods is coming to an end.

And the banner of the new culture will be raised high in Hegland by Dolan Ayr himself!

He turned back to his desk and pushed the unfinished sewer blueprint aside without hesitation.

Now, he had more important things to do. He spread out a brand new sheet of white paper and picked up his most treasured fountain pen, dipped in thick ink.

He paused for a moment with the pen tip, then firmly lowered it, writing down the first theme of his thought at the top of the page in the neatest and most powerful Chinese characters.

+On how the Hegland branch effectively promotes Chinese language education and cultivates the spirit of the new Bagnia+
The sunlight outside the window was just right, illuminating the square, powerful black characters on the paper, and also illuminating the eyes behind Dolan's glasses, which shone with unwavering determination and fervent light.

The examination hall three days later will be the first step he takes towards a new peak.

For His Majesty's sake, for the sake of New Bagnia, he was determined to succeed, and he was determined to wear that red official robe that symbolized supreme responsibility and honor!

Even if the goddess of agriculture descended to earth and stood in Dolan's way, he would still overcome the obstacles and achieve his life's goal!

(End of this chapter)