Huayu: The director just wants to save money

Chapter 851: Let the struggle become a little gentler (6k)

"Then comes the second question."

"explain."

"Since the current position of the prince depends on the emperor, why would he hope for the emperor's death?"

"He was not hoping for the death of the retired emperor. To be more precise, he wanted a violent conflict between the retired emperor and the emperor, and for the retired emperor to win again and take back the throne, but at the same time die soon, and eventually he, the retired emperor's legitimate son and grandson, would inherit the throne."

Liu Shishi felt that this process was quite cumbersome, but at the same time, she felt inexplicably familiar with it.

"Does this plot setting have a historical prototype?"

"Yes, it was Zhu Qizhen, a Ming Dynasty student studying abroad. After he launched the coup d'état, he successfully took back his power from his brother Zhu Qiyu and became the emperor again from the retired emperor.

After his death, his son Zhu Jianshen succeeded to the throne and became the Ming Xianzong in history, the Chenghua Emperor who liked his older sister. "

Liu Shishi suddenly realized and instantly understood where the sense of familiarity came from.

It turned out to be the true experience of Mingbao Zong.

"But the historical Zhu Qiyu is different from the emperor in Zhu Lou. Zhu Qiyu was of average talent and not very capable. Even after being emperor for many years, he was still unable to control the government.

In comparison, the emperor in "Red Mansion" is much more capable. He has seized a lot of power in just a few years. Logically speaking, it is difficult for the emperor emeritus to fight back. "

"You are right, so I arranged for the emperor to carry out reforms. Reforms in any dynasty would offend the whole world.

From the moment the emperor decided to reform, he changed from a "monarch comparable to the ancient saints" to a tyrant who "defied the world" in the mouths of his courtiers.

How can an emperor "compete with the people for profit", "ignore the scholars of the world", "act on his own", and "ignore his ministers"? This must be corrected.

Therefore, in the 23rd and 27th episodes of "Red Mansion", the court officials collectively signed a ten-thousand-word petition and knelt down to make a direct appeal to the emperor, determined to turn the tide and force the emperor to revoke his order. It is the greatest virtue to correct one's mistakes as soon as they are known."

After Zhou Mo's explanation, Liu Shishi instantly connected all the unclear points in the plot.

She followed Zhou Mo's words and said, "It's just that the emperor showed unprecedented firmness this time. He completely ignored the requests of the court officials and even dismissed three officials with good reputations in a row."

"Yes."

Zhou Mo nodded.

For the plot where all the ministers bowed in front of the palace, he originally wanted to arrange for the emperor to kill a minister who was somewhat similar to "Xu Jie" in order to show the conflict between the officials and the emperor, as well as the emperor's determination to reform.

In short, Xu Jie did some practical things, but he also allowed his family members to acquire land on a large scale, and the degree of his wealth accumulation was not much less than that of the Yan family father and son.

However, this idea was later slightly adjusted by Liu Heping.

The solution of killing court officials was changed to dismissal, allowing them to return to their hometowns.

It seems like he got away with it, but in fact he did not.

Soon, this court official will face a reckoning. The power from the court will make him lose the land he has annexed over the years, and the gossip among the people will make him infamous.

In the end, he chose to commit suicide to prove his "innocence".

At the same time, his death also became the starting point of the gentry's wave of opposition to the emperor.

Generally speaking, when the conflict between the court officials and the emperor reaches a certain level, they can only look forward to the succession of the throne and project their expectations onto the next generation of emperor.

But now, since the retired emperor is still alive, and he was quite generous in his time, it would be better to ask him to come out directly.

"The emperor is incompetent and ruthless. His actions are incomparable to those of the princes like Jie and Zhou. We scholars should restore order and ask the emperor to take charge of the court again and restore the preferential treatment given to scholars in the past!"

At this point, the conflict between the emperor and the emperor emeritus broke out completely.

But this outburst lasted only two episodes.

Two episodes later, that is, in episode 32, the emperor was in deep thought.

After watching the entire content of the 32nd episode, Liu Shishi always felt something was not right.

In episode 32, most of the content is the monologue of the retired emperor.

At the beginning of this episode, the notes sent into the palace by court officials through various channels every day were so many that they could fill up the bedside of the retired emperor.

One of them has extremely gorgeous words:

First, he recalled his past achievements, then he kept praising his statements and achievements, and finally he admonished him that the court was in chaos and the current emperor was doing evil things, and hoped that he could come out to take charge of the situation.

When the emperor saw the first note, he was deeply moved.

He handed the note to Manager Xia, his joy beyond words.

“Look, look, I said that the emperor’s prestige was insufficient and that if he forced reforms, he would inevitably be opposed by the whole world.

Governing a large country is like cooking a small fish. The more reforms you make, the less impatient you should be. You should split them into smaller groups and let them fight among themselves. The emperor will then intervene to solve the problem. This method may be slow, but it will be as effective as the spring breeze and rain, without causing any noise."

Manager Xia also immediately knelt on the ground, speaking words of congratulation.

"No one is wiser than the Emperor. I don't know anything about governing a country. I just know that since Emperor Taizu (Prince Fu, who re-established the Ming Dynasty and was called Emperor Taizu), the Emperor has been the most powerful emperor. He has pacified the Japanese pirates, cracked down on the chieftains, and defeated the savages in the north..."

Manager Xia praised him so much that the emperor burst into laughter.

"You old fellow, you are already old, but you are still learning to talk like your descendants."

"I'm telling you the truth. Your Majesty's achievements are so outstanding that even if you ask the whole world to judge, let alone the people in the palace, you would still be the wisest emperor."

The retired emperor was so happy with the coaxing of General Manager Xia that his face was no longer pale as before, and gradually regained some rosy color.

Seeing this, Manager Xia worked even harder, and sweet words came out of his mouth as if they were free.

Immediately afterwards, the emperor began to read the memorials again.

It is obvious that the contents of all the memorials are similar.

But he just enjoyed watching it, back and forth, over and over again, until the candles in the hall were half burned out. The smile on his lips became fainter, his face became more and more indifferent, and his eyes became more and more fierce.

boom!
The retired emperor slammed the table so hard that the note in his hand fell onto the table and was then blown to the ground by the wind created by his sleeves.

"Traitors! Traitors! They are all traitors!"

Manager Xia was quick-witted and caught the note. With a glance, he immediately understood why the emperor was angry.

The content of the note was very similar to the one that the retired emperor had shown him before, so there was no big problem.

The real problem is the person who wrote the note.

He was a minister who was trusted by the emperor at that time. At a young age, he was given great power and status by the emperor.
Later, when the retired emperor and the former crown prince had a bloody fight, it was this minister who submitted a petition to persuade the retired emperor to abdicate to the emperor, saying that this abdication was in accordance with the will of heaven and would preserve the father-son relationship of the royal family.

Why do you say that?

So the minister means:

It's not a good thing to be called an emperor who killed his son. So while you're still alive, you can help another prince ascend the throne (to prove that the death of the prince was not your intention, that you are not a heartless emperor, and that there are other princes who have a deep father-son relationship with you), arrange your affairs after your death, and with the many achievements you made when you were young, your reputation after death can still be guaranteed.

The emperor at that time was very pleased and thought that this minister was truly caring about him.

Today, the note that this minister submitted again still said that the succession of the throne was "in accordance with the will of heaven", but the direction was completely reversed.

"Abdicating is in accordance with the will of heaven, becoming emperor again is also in accordance with the will of heaven, bullshit of "in accordance with the will of heaven", it is clearly your way!"

"How dare this boy, how dare he fool me like this!"

However, these words did not ease the emperor's mood. Instead, they put him into another emotional dilemma.

The more determined a person is, the more likely he is to get stuck in a dead end.

When the emperor was young, he was invincible. He eliminated powerful ministers, was enterprising and made great achievements. In his eyes, all the court officials were his puppets, who could be manipulated by his ten fingers and make different movements for him to control.

How could such a proud person accept being deceived?
That's why he was so angry.

But after the anger, a huge feeling of frustration lingered in his heart.

The emperor is old, but he is not confused.

On the contrary, he was sober at this moment.

He knew very well that the reason such ministers were appointed and valued was ultimately because of his choice as the emperor.

As the saying goes, what the superiors like, the subordinates will like even more.

After all, it was his preferences that changed the direction of the court and the customs of the court officials.

"All of this comes from me!"

When General Manager Xia heard the emperor's mumbling, he immediately responded, "Your Majesty, don't take this man's words to heart. This man is ambitious and has no loyalty to his father or his ruler."

The emperor shook his head and remained silent.

At this moment, when he looked at the note secretly sent to him by his ministers, his feelings were different again.

He knew very well that the policies the emperor was now implementing were all beneficial to the world, the dynasty, and the people.

The only ones harmed were the gentry and some royal family members.

Therefore, this group of people hate the emperor so much and hope that he, the emperor emeritus, will come out and take charge of the country again.

However, do I really have to follow the wishes of the ministers in the court and comply with the "will of the people"?

The retired emperor actually knew very well that the emperor had not had an easy time over the years. He worked day and night and tried his best to stop some of the evil roots left behind by the emperor and bring the country back on track.

If he wanted to become emperor again, it was still unclear whether he could succeed, but the emperor's current policies would definitely be abolished, and the court would definitely return to the turbulent situation it had ten years ago...

The emperor suddenly felt very tired.

He closed his eyes, and suddenly his eldest son's words to him appeared in his eyes.

"I only wish that the Ming Dynasty will be forever peaceful, and the death of my son is not a pity."

Ming Yong'an...

The emperor opened his eyes, picked up the candle on the table, and without any reluctance, poured the candle liquid and flame onto the notes sent by the courtiers.

call.

The flame touched the paper and instantly turned into a ball of fire.

When Manager Xia saw this scene, he was so confused that he just stood there. It was not until the flames had consumed most of the note that he hurriedly tried to put out the flames.

However, as soon as he took a step, he was stopped by the Emperor:

"Stand still!"

"Your Majesty, the dragon's body is the most important..."

"What are you afraid of? I am the true dragon emperor. How can ordinary fire hurt me?"

Having said that, the emperor still moved away from the flames and waited until the combustibles were burned out. Then he waved his hand and asked Chief Butler Xia to call for someone to clean up the ashes. He then turned and walked towards the inner hall.

Seeing this, Liu Shishi asked Zhou Mo.

"Having come this far, does this mean that the Emperor Emeritus has given up the opportunity to return to the throne?"

"Yes."

"Then why did he burn these notes?"

"In order not to give the emperor a chance to settle accounts."

"He doesn't even plan to continue fighting the emperor, so why is he still trying to... uh, stop the emperor from settling accounts?" Liu Shishi asked as she thought.

"Because he didn't approve of the emperor's actions. Look at the lines of the retired emperor earlier. He knew that the emperor's reforms were beneficial to the country, but he felt that the emperor's methods were too crude. It had only been a short time before he had made enemies all over the world.

If he were to do this, he would definitely not be so eager for quick success. Instead, he would push the reform forward slowly and silently.

Therefore, although he had given up fighting the emperor, he still wanted to protect the ministers who had passed him the notes from the emperor, so he burned all the notes.

In other words, both the emperor and the emeritus emperor had goals that were good for the country, but they did not agree with each other’s methods, which led to great conflicts between them.

"So that's how it is. Is this the road dispute you specifically marked in the script?"

"Yes."

Zhou Mo asked Liu Shishi what she thought: "If it's a dispute over roads, wouldn't it seem more humane than a pure power struggle?"

Liu Shishi thought for a few seconds and nodded slightly.

A simple power struggle can make people feel cold-blooded.

Changing the struggle for power into a struggle for roads will add a thin veil to the originally cruel fight, making it easier for people to accept.

"However, this setting may not end well. The drama "Red Mansion" has been hinting at the struggle between the emperor and the retired emperor since the 20th episode. Now that the retired emperor has given up the fight, I think many viewers will be disappointed."

Zhou Mo nodded slightly.

What Liu Shishi said is indeed a problem.

In Zhou Mo's initial plot setting, there was indeed an unusually bloody palace coup between the retired emperor and the emperor.

However, considering the foreshadowing of the two emperors, it would be difficult to arrange the subsequent plot if the two of them came into direct conflict, so Zhou Mo and Liu Heping gave up this idea.

Although there is a gap in strength between the two sides, it is not particularly huge.

No matter which party is arranged to fail quickly, it will destroy the "capable" image that this character has previously built.

However, if one party is not arranged to fail quickly, the image of both parties will be ruined.

"Why did the war last so long when both of them were so powerful?"

That’s pretty much what it means.

After discussion, Zhou Mo and Liu Heping decided to leave the war to someone else, a prince of the same generation as the emperor.

After the death of the retired emperor, the prince gathered some people who had originally supported the retired emperor. These people were also the ones who were most opposed to the emperor's current reforms.

With the support of these people, the prince started a rebellion under the banner of "the emperor is unfilial" and gathered a group of people in a very short time.

When the news reached the court, the crown prince requested permission to go to the battlefield, but the emperor refused and instead sent the fourth prince to lead troops to quell the rebellion.

The Fourth Prince had strong military capabilities and it took him just over three months to pacify the Prince.

After returning, the Fourth Prince's strength grew rapidly, and he soon had the same level of prestige in the army as the Crown Prince.

In addition, this prince's rebellion actually provided cover for other ministers who supported the emperor.

These people were not so direct and chose to directly support a prince's rebellion.

They dispersed, some chose to support the three princes, and others joined the prince.

Although the prince's status plummeted after the death of the retired emperor, his power actually increased in private.

The ministers who surrendered to him told him that "the hidden dragon should not be used, the flying dragon is in the sky."

Now, he should keep a low profile as much as possible, reduce the attention he attracts, and wait for changes in the court.

The real struggle has just begun.

……

March 10th.

Zhou Mo left Yanjing and went to the crew.

There are still two months until the Cannes Film Festival starts in May.

During this period of time, he happened to shoot the second part of the "Warcraft" series.

The first part of "Warcraft" tells the story of how Arthas, as a prince, fell from the light side to the darkness under the temptation of Mal'Ganis and became the dark knight under the throne of the Lich King.

According to the normal plot, the second part of the "Warcraft" series should start with Arthas returning to Lordaeron. Amidst flowers and cheers, he stabbed his father's body with the long sword he got from the polar land, and then started the invasion of death on Lordaeron.

After thinking about it over and over again, Zhou Mo decided to put the above plot in the third part of the film series.

As for the reason, it is simple.

Arthas's behavior in Lordaeron was too cruel. First, he stabbed his father to death with a sword, then killed several of his colleagues in the Silver Hand, killed his master, and finally killed countless of his own people, infected them with plague, and turned them into kings.

(ps: This guy even used his own father's urn to hold Kel'Thuzad's ashes.)
This kind of plot only appears in the third part of the movie, when Arthas becomes the Lich King and the villain, and is then released to increase the justice of the protagonist group.

As for Arthas in the second part, he is still the protagonist, the main perspective of the movie is on him, and the plot will still show his invincibility.

To sum up, Zhou Mo placed the beginning of the second part's plot at the time when Arthas invaded Quel'Thalas and used the magic of Silvermoon City to perform a resurrection ceremony for his beloved minister, Kel'Thuzad.

In Quel'Thalas, Arthas killed the future queen, Sylvanas Windrunner.

Arthas first killed Sylvanas, then resurrected her with the power of Frostmourne, turning him into a banshee.

After Kel'Thuzad was resurrected, he told Arthas about the relationship between the Burning Legion and the Scourge, guided him to continuously expand the power of the Scourge, and led him to Dalaran (the capital of human magic). He wanted to use the power of the magic city to open up a passage from the universe to Azeroth for the master of his master (the Lich King) (the Burning Legion).

Not surprisingly, Arthas defeated Dalaran's defenses, and amid the continuous attacks of the magicians, he successfully summoned one of the leaders of the Burning Legion -

Archimonde.

As soon as Archimonde arrived, he handed over the command of the Scourge to his own lackey, Tichondrius.

As for himself, he was planning to do something big——

Completely open the Burning Legion's path to Azeroth.

As it turned out, what he did was indeed big, so big that it directly killed himself.

On the other hand, under the coaxing of Arthas and Kel'Thuzad, Tichondrius led the Scourge to expand everywhere, and was finally chopped into pieces by Illidan Stormrage who had been imprisoned for ten thousand years.

Illidan Stormrage is a lovesick young man who has loved his sister-in-law for ten thousand years and remains deeply in love with her.

There was no conflict between him and Arthas, but their goals were conflicting.

Arthas' master, the Lich King, used soul control to ask Arthas to return to him as soon as possible and protect his safety.

Arthas naturally obeyed the order and immediately led his troops to Northrend.

Illidan also received orders from his boss to stop the Lich King's plan and do everything possible to kill him.

The two sides eventually met in Northrend, where a stunning battle took place between Arthas and Illidan.

Both of them used all the strength they had except for themselves to desperately complete their goals.

In the end, Illidan was defeated by Arthas just one move away.

Arthas traveled alone to the Frozen Throne, where he met his controller, the Lich King.

The Lich King is a soul trapped in a suit of armor, which in turn is trapped in a massive block of ice.

The Lich King demanded that Arthas free him, and Arthas slashed the glacier with his sword.

Clang!
The glacier shattered and the armor fell to the ground.

Arthas picked up the helmet and put it on his head.

At this moment, his soul merged with the Lich King's soul, becoming a completely new individual.

At this point, the second part of the "Warcraft" series: "The Frozen Throne" officially ended.

The time has come for May.

Zhou Mo looked at Henry Cavill putting on his helmet on the set and a smile appeared on his face.

At this moment, Cavill was wearing shining armor all over his body. Under his white hair was a face full of fatigue, but extremely arrogant.

This is Arthas after he turned evil.

There is no more humility, kindness, or goodness.

All that was left was the arrogance of being a king.

The moment he chose to put on the helmet, he finally abandoned his last bit of humanity and completely became the spokesperson for the dead.

"Very well, I declare that the filming is over!"

(End of this chapter)