Chapter 393 : Propaganda (1)

"Amitabha."

Seeing Hyeon chant the Buddhist invocation in a sharp tone, the Shaolin Abbot and Gong Hwan swallowed their dry saliva.

Yet contrary to the two's concerns, Hyeon Am wore an impassive expression.

"It seems the timing is not right, so there's nothing we can do, Abbot."

"Y-yes, yes. Grandmaster."

When the Shaolin Abbot hastily replied, Hyeon Am opened his mouth.

"This old monk shall continue his Wall-Facing Meditation. If you ever catch wind that the Demonic Cultists have officially invaded the Central Plains, call for this monk once again."

"I shall do so."

"Amitabha."

Hyeon Am offered a polite half-bow as he chanted, prompting the Abbot and Gonghwan to bow back in return

"Amitabha."

"Amitabha."

Hyeon Am turned his back without the slightest lingering attachment and returned to that cave.

And a few days later, shocking news arrived at Shaolin that the Demonic Cultists had completely bypassed Gansu and launched surprise attacks against Mount Hua and Zhongnan in Shaanxi. 

The Shaolin Abbot and the Buddha Venerable rushed back to the secluded cave with their faces tight with anxiety.

— Seeing that you have come again already, it seems the Demonic Cult's followers have finally invaded the Central Plains.

Followed by the Mind Speech echoing in their heads, a dense and heavy wave of Qi flowed out from within the cave.

But that terrifying wave of qi vanished in an instant and Hyeon Am revealed himself outside the cave before long.

"Amitabha. I always wondered why Shakyamuni hadn't come down to claim my withering body yet, but it seems I still have one last mission to complete in this mortal realm."

This marked the historic day within the martial world.

The ancient monk who hadn't stepped a single foot off Mount Song in over a century finally resolved to descend into the martial world.

***

A few days earlier, right around the same time Supreme Ultimate Sword Immortal paid his visit to Mount Song, the Beggars' Gang was frantically mobilizing their beggars throughout every corner of the Central Plains to pay a visit to the major factions.

Shaolin in Henan.

The Zhuge Family and Wudang in Hubei.

The Mount Hua Sect and Zhongnan in Shaanxi.

Qingcheng, Emei, and the Tang Family in Sichuan.

Diancang in Yunnan.

The Jin Family and Hainan Sect in Guangdong.

The Mount Heng Sect in Hunan.

The Namgung Family in Anhui.

The Hwangbo Family in Shandong.

The Peng Family in Hebei.

The Moyong Family in Liaoning.

These seventeen formidable organizations were collectively hailed as the legendary Nine Great Sects and One Gang, alongside the Seven Great Families.

Among them, Emei and the Tang Family of Sichuan had already sealed their gates. Shaolin was excluded because the Supreme Ultimate Sword Immortal had already taken the matter upon himself. And the Beggars' Gang intentionally skipped visiting Mount Hua and Zhongnan in Shaanxi. 

The reason why they did that wasn't just because the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult and its allies were gearing up to conquer Shaanxi. It was mainly because of the atrocities those two sects had displayed back in Gansu, making the factions in the coalition despise them deeply.

Excluding the factions that’re already within the coalition and those crossed off the lists, the beggars really had to run around like madmen due to the distance and the number of factions they had to visit.

The beggars dragged themselves into each sect and family, looking completely ragged and exhausted, but when these beggars arrived to expose the Imperial Family's vile conspiracy and tyranny, the reactions they got were completely all over the place.

Some factions slapped on a fake smile and politely entertained them, some drew a hard line in the sand to reject them, and others treated them so viciously that it looked like they wanted to murder the messengers on the spot.

The factions that lashed out the hardest were undeniably the Mount Heng Sect and the Namgung Family.

"Hah! Do you take us for fools who could be tricked by those filthy Demonic Cultist scumbags!"

Yangmuja of the Mount Heng Sect scoffed arrogantly as he berated the exhausted beggars.

"Did you think that I would forgive those Demonic Cult bastards who dared to kill the martial artists of the great Namgung Family? Get out of my sight at once."

Namgung Jin of the Namgung Family went so far as to crush the beggars with his Qi, looking ready to rip them limb from limb.

But the Beggars' Gang wasn't the least bit upset by this brutal rejection.

In fact, quite a few of them were actually thrilled by the hostile reception.

At the very least, it meant they could officially stamp Namgung and Mount Heng as 'enemies' without losing any sleep over it.

The real headache was dealing with the remaining five factions.

Every single one of those five gave them frustratingly vague and non-committal answers like, 'We'll think it over and get back to you.'

"Well, I guess we have no choice but to leave the rest up to the heavens."

The beggar who had just left the Guangdong Jin Family muttered such words to himself and headed northward.

With an all-out war looming on the horizon, it was finally time for the beggars scattered across the Central Plains to rally together.

***

Around the time the beggars were running so hard their feet were bleeding and the main force of the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult was just advancing into Shaanxi, Il-mok was busy laying out the master plan for the Baek Family father-son duo back in their base in Gansu.

"From this moment on, the Missionary Hall Master simply needs to kickstart our religious propaganda campaign again, starting right here in Gansu."

Il-mok first turned his gaze to Baek Un-hak and elaborated.

"By now, the believers in Gansu are already aware that we're the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult, not the Maitreya Luminous Cult. However, there are bound to be those who have learned the truth and now waver. Our objective right now is to once again inspire faith in the believers through hymns, plays, and doctrines."

"Hahaha, you don't need to worry about a thing; I've already done my homework on the Maitreya Luminous Cult's hymns and stage plays. The Missionary Hall has already completely revamped those songs and scripts to perfectly glorify our Divine Cult."

Il-mok nodded in approval and chimed in with a brilliant suggestion.

"In addition to that, we need to pump out brand new plays and songs specifically designed to expose the Imperial Family's vile atrocities. However, the stories need not be confined to what they have actually done."

"What do you mean by that?"

When Baek Un-hak asked in return with a confused look on his face, Il-mok grinned.

"Isn't it common for innocent peasants to get harassed by filthy street thugs and greedy officials? All we have to do is spread the juicy rumor that the Imperial Family was secretly pulling the strings behind those thugs and officials all along."

Baek Un-hak seemed to grasp something and replied with a smile of his own.

"So we need to spread plays where our Divine Cult plays the heroes, whereas the villains are none other than the Imperial Family. Hahahah!”

"Correct, Missionary Hall Master. If we mix the plays with what those bastards have actually done, the impact would be massive.”

The two of them shared a villainous grin like two schemers hatching a diabolical plot.

"In Gansu, there is a dedicated group of believers whose faith hasn't wavered in the slightest, even after discovering we are actually the Heavenly Demon Divine Cult. Among them, there are also several women of courtesan origin who are gifted in dance and music. I ask you to teach them those songs and dances."

"Hahaha, leave it to me! Since I brought plenty of personnel from the Missionary Hall, I'll make sure our songs echo across the entirety of the Central Plains, starting right here in Gansu!"

"I leave it completely in your capable hands, Missionary Hall Master!"

After finishing his briefing with Baek Un-haek, Il-mok finally turned his attention to Baek Cheon.

"Young Master Baek, the task you shall bear is very important."

"Hahaha. The more important the task, the better, Young Master!"

Watching Baek Cheon beam so brightly like he might die of pure joy, Il-mok nodded as though he found him reliable and said.

"First off, the moment I finish explaining this, I need you to march straight back to Pingliang County to revive the Hall of Arts.”

"Consider it done!"

Baek Cheon instantly shot up from his seat and tried to sprint out the door toward Pingliang County, forcing Il-mok to grab him by the collar.

"Hold on, I haven't even finished explaining yet! From what I've heard, you have a pretty massive amount of influence over all the artists in Pingliang County right now."

"Hahaha. That is also thanks to you, Young Master. Those people came upon hearing the rumors of the Hall of Arts.”

"In that case, can you tell me how many of those artists in Pingliang County possess high-level skills in poetry, calligraphy, and painting?"

Baek Cheon organized his thoughts for a moment on that question.

"Back when I was stationed in Pingliang, we easily had over fifty, but I won't know how many stuck around until I go back and check."

Il-mok nodded with a slightly disappointed look on his face and issued his orders.

"The moment you return to Pingliang County, gather everyone skilled in poetry, calligraphy, and painting, and expose the entire Imperial Family's conspiracy to them. Then have them compose writings and paint illustrations that perfectly capture the Imperial Family's vile plots and atrocities. Make sure to emphasize that I will be handing out hefty prizes to anyone who produces an exceptional verse or painting that truly tugs at the heartstrings of the masses."

"Paintings and verses? Ah, are you planning to use these paintings and poems to boost the morale of our troops on the battlefield?"

Il-mok shook his head at Baek Cheon’s question.

"These aren't going to be used on the battlefield. These illustrations and verses are going to be systematically scattered across the entirety of the martial world.”

This was the brilliant psychological warfare tactic Il-mok had pulled straight from his past life's memories.

It was a method widely used during World War II and the Cold War, and above all, a concept that any older citizen in modern South Korea was intimately familiar with.

They were wartime propaganda leaflets and posters, colloquially referred to as bbira.

"You want to scatter them throughout the entire Central Plains, but will that be possible?"

When Baek Un-hak threw out that question, Il-mok nodded with a quite serious expression.

The only reason Il-mok had confidently proposed a massive propaganda leaflet campaign in a primitive world that lacked even basic printing technology was that he had a foolproof trick up his sleeve.

"Of course, trying to pull this off with a measly fifty artists would be impossible. In fact, since this involves openly slandering the Imperial Family, I guarantee a good chunk of them will wash their hands of the project out of fear. But, even if only ten brave souls step forward, that will be more than enough for my plan."

"How in the world are a mere ten people going to produce enough verses to blanket the entire Central Plains?"

"The verses they write and the paintings they paint are just going to serve as the templates. As long as someone is literate, wouldn't they easily be able to transcribe the text by simply copying what's in front of them?"

Only then did Baek Un-hak realize something and gasped in admiration.

"It is the same with paintings! One need only show the sample to anyone who has even a little talent in painting, and have them imitate it!"

"You hit the nail right on the head, Missionary Hall Master. While creating an original masterpiece from scratch requires outstanding talent, mindlessly copying something that already exists is incredibly easy."

There were undoubtedly plenty of Cultists with a knack for drawing, and among the former courtesans, there were bound to be several who were decently skilled with a brush.

The foolproof trick that Il-mok had been banking on all along is these people.

He is going to weaponize the overwhelming population of the Central Plains.

'We can't be the only ones to suffer the human wave tactics of the Chinese Communist Army.'

Naturally, the scale couldn’t be compared to the modern-era version due to the significantly smaller population of this era and the harsh conditions in which people lived. But it will be quite usable and effective.

That leaves one problem remaining.

Labor costs.

"And that is exactly why your role is incredibly vital, Missionary Hall Master. Only when our believers are drowning in religious fervor will they actively volunteer their time and energy to mass-produce these leaflets for us."

Normally, labor costs were never an issue for a cult.

But Il-mok wasn't foolish enough to harbor the complacent mindset that 'great unity through faith alone' would be enough to sustain this operation.

"Furthermore, in order to help those who find it difficult to sustain their livelihood through farming or labor, we should exclusively entrust this work to women, the elderly, and children. And naturally, we must pay them a base salary to compensate them for the amount of leaflets they produce."

Blind faith was great for a day or two, but if he treated his followers like slaves and worked them to the bone for months or years on end, it would inevitably spark a massive internal rebellion.

'Capitalism is cold-hearted. Indeed, it is.'

Thanks to the memories of his past life, Il-mok understood this fundamental truth far better than any crazed religious fanatic ever could.

"If we plan to mass-produce enough leaflets to blanket the entire Central Plains, we'll be talking about astronomical numbers. Will it be possible for us to pay wages to every single one of those workers?"

"Indeed, Young Master Il-mok. The Deputy Hall Master of the Missionary Hall is bringing in a lot of capital by running the Heavenly Light Merchant Guild, but with all the military rations and war supplies we have to prepare, we're going to be bleeding money."

Hearing their valid concern, Il-mok once again flashed them a wicked grin.

From the very beginning, Il-mok never intended to rely on the blind faith of cultists to fund his master plan.

"We do have the money, tho? It's just sitting inside the massive storehouses of the local government officials."

"!!!"

"Think about it. Under the rule of an Imperial Family that only cares about power, do you really think there is only one or two deeply corrupt bureaucrats hoarding wealth? From this moment onward, our objective is to conquer Gansu, Shaanxi, and Hubei completely. We are going to shake down those corrupt officials and empty their private treasuries. We'll use a portion of that seized wealth to fund our military campaign, and use the rest to pay the civilians who work for us."

At the end of the day, he possessed the glorious mindset of a conqueror: seize the enemy's money and use it to foot the bill.