I am a director in Ark. If I am not banned, I will be considered successful.

"This seedling... did you lead people to cover it?"

"It's a subordinate."

However, just as the leader finished speaking, a sound of breaking through the air was heard! The long whip in Zhongyue's hand immediately hit the leader's face, leaving a fresh blood mark!

"Okay!"XN

Zhongyue's behavior immediately received cheers from all the officials. But Zhongyue did not stop there, he immediately shouted:

"Who else covered up the young seedlings just now? Come out now!"

Qi Jiguang, played by Zhongyue, obviously had great authority in the army, and under Zhongyue's stern shout, all the participating celestial masters stood in a row. Zhongyue didn't say much, and when he walked past each person, he whipped them hard in the face!

When Zhong Yue did this, Chen Qi also deliberately reviewed the actions of these Heavenly Masters in the TV series, so that the audience would not have the slightest sympathy for these people, but only the pleasure of applauding!

After giving everyone a horse whip, Zhong Yue finally vented a little of his anger, but looking at the people in front of him, he still couldn't hide his anger and scolded: "You cut off the water supply and covered the seedlings. Soldiers eat food - whose food are you eating?!"

"Of course it's the emperor's grain!" At this moment, Ma Ningyuan also challenged Chongyue. He realized that he must not let Chongyue transfer the troops away like this, otherwise he would not be able to carry out his subsequent work.

Faced with such a treacherous minister, Zhongyue naturally had no good face at all, and asked coldly: "Where does the imperial grain come from?"

"——Is all the land under heaven the king's?" Ma Ningyuan was also making a fuss. He did not mention the fact that he had mobilized troops to cover up the farmland. He even tried to bring up the emperor to justify his actions, saying, "Of course the imperial grain belongs to the emperor!"

"Hehe...well said!"

Ma Ningyuan's words made people wonder how to refute them, because his views were indeed correct under the Great Yan system, but Zhong Yue still found a way to refute them and said:

"Then you cut off the emperor's water supply and blocked the emperor's seedlings! Do you know what this crime is?"

"Death penalty!"

Chongyue's words were immediately supported by all the soldiers present. Ma Ningyuan, who had already started to return to the barracks under Chongyue's command, naturally knew that he had no soldiers and could not carry out any tasks at all, so he immediately tried to stop Chongyue.

"Qi Jiguang, the soldiers were assigned to me by the Ministry. You have no right to take them away!"

"——My soldiers were ordered to fight Hai Si!" Zhongyue responded to Ma Ningyuan without any hesitation. However, facing Ma Ningyuan's threat, he was not afraid at all. Instead, he said to him with disdain:

"I advise you to release all these people. Otherwise, once my soldiers take them away, they might throw you into the river!"

As expected, as soon as Zhongyue left with his soldiers, the people saw that the soldiers were not there, and with the support of Zhongyue's words just now, they suddenly became much more confident, and they all walked towards Ma Ningyuan, as if they wanted to eat him alive.

Seeing this scene, all the officials showed long-lost smiles, and some even rubbed their hands, as if they were ready to join the people in beating Ma Ningyuan up.

"This kind of bastard should be thrown into the river to fill it up!"

"Humph! If he were a brick, he would be useful, but this beast is not even as good as a brick! If he sneaks in, he will only make the dam unstable!"

Official Bai was filled with righteous indignation, but to everyone's surprise, facing the rioting people, Ma Ningyuan did not run away as they had expected. He was quite courageous and said to his colleagues who were thinking of retreating, "Are you afraid of death? If you are afraid of death, then leave your hat behind!"

The next moment, Ma Ningyuan was not afraid at all when facing the angry people. With a flash of determination in his eyes, he shouted:

"I am standing here alone! Come here if you dare to rebel! Throw me into the river!"

Ma Ningyuan's shout actually stopped all the people. After all, not everyone could bear the title of "rebellion". Even though these people were already living in poverty, they still had things they couldn't let go of.

"Changing rice fields to mulberry fields is a national policy! You can either change them yourself or sell the fields to others to do the changing!"

The prefect Ma Ningyuan also issued an ultimatum, but his words were chilling:

"One thousand people die, ten thousand people die - even if all the people in Zhejiang City die! We have to change!"

As soon as Ma Ningyuan said this, the whole hall fell silent. However, all the officials looked so gloomy that they didn't even want to curse. If looks could kill, Ma Ningyuan on the screen would have definitely been executed by all the officials using the most miserable punishment.

"Every word is so heartbreaking..."

The Grand Tutor also raised his head slightly, and after taking a deep breath, he managed to calm himself down. He felt even more sad for the Da Yan portrayed in Chen Qi's script.

The eradication of "Sui" solved a major internal problem, but it gave rise to countless more internal problems. Not only did Dayan not prosper because of the eradication of "Sui", but it became riddled with holes and no backbone could serve as a benchmark.

The Taifu guessed that this was probably one of the reasons why Chen Qi asked Chongyue to play the role of Qi Jiguang. Chen Qi wanted to tell them... "Years" is never the biggest internal threat. The biggest internal threat is always these treacherous officials who feed on the people and get rich.

Chapter 280: Lotus in the mud? Hu Zongxian's appearance

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Chapter 281: The Yan Party's mad decision to destroy dikes and flood fields! Leaving the people in a dead end

"I never thought... In clear water, it's not surprising to see a fat live fish; but now that the Great Yan court is like a muddy mud, such a tenacious live fish seems so precious."

In the hall, the Emperor of Great Yan finally smiled after a long absence when he looked at Hu Zongxian played by Zuo Xuanliao. All the officials he had seen before, from Yan Shifan to Ma Ningyuan, were beasts in human clothing who were not worthy of their positions. Now that he finally had someone who was like a pillar of the country, he felt more relieved than ever before.

"Your Majesty, corrupt officials need to be severely punished, but good officials should not be buried." After seeing the character of Hu Zongxian, the Taifu's heart, which had been quite sad about the future of Dayan, became active again, and he immediately said to the Emperor of Dayan beside him:

"Dayan's future needs more Hu Zongxians. If there are more pillars of society who care about the people, why would Dayan fall into this state?"

"If Da Yan is a tall building, then even if the surrounding brick walls are so broken and the house is so filthy, as long as there are these beams, it can still support the building. Sooner or later, someone will come to clean up the filth in the building."

"...We can't leave all the problems to our descendants." The Great Yan Emperor shook his head upon hearing this and said to the Grand Tutor calmly:

"There must be pillars, and the house of Dayan must be as clean as before. If you can't clean your own house, how can you clean the world? After all, cleaning the house is not the job of these pillars, but everyone in this house should maintain it together."

"... What's more, I still don't know the attitude of the owner of this house."

The person that the Great Yan Emperor was most curious about was the Jiajing Emperor played by Wei Yanwu. According to Chen Qi, although the Jiajing Emperor did not care about state affairs, he was well aware of all the affairs of the court. He should be aware of what the Yan Party was doing now, so why had he not taken any action so far?

The Emperor of Great Yan now has more or less the answer in his heart, but he is not sure yet, nor does he want to be sure... He dare not think about it. If the ruler of a country is the real reason for the decline of Great Yan, then what will Great Yan become?

When he thought that the Great Yan Dynasty might very well be the future of Great Yan, the Great Yan Emperor could not help but feel sad. What he could pray for now was perhaps that Emperor Jiajing was just an emperor obsessed with becoming a behemoth, and he would ignore the Yan Party and the Qingliu just to balance the situation and let them waste their energy.

So as to avoid becoming what he thought, the most corrupt person in Dayan who was above the Yan Party.

If even the king ignores the people, only has his own goals in mind, and makes the people of the world pay for his selfish desires... then the foundation of the house of Dayan is already unstable, so how can we talk about creating another prosperous era?

"At least from today's perspective, Jiajing used the Yan Party because he could enrich the national treasury. The money Jiajing used to build the palace was also from open accounts... He probably wouldn't have embezzled it, probably."

But the Emperor of Dayan obviously could not convince himself with such an excuse. After all, apart from the money for repairing the palace, the money for the elixir that Chen Qi mentioned to help him become a behemoth and various facilities and equipment had not yet appeared in the allocation for the first episode.

If all this money was from the Ministry of Revenue, it would be fine. But if this money was not from the Ministry of Revenue, but from Jiajing himself... where did his money come from? From the Yan Party? Then where did the Yan Party's money come from? The answer is obvious.

"Don't think the same as I do." The Great Yan Emperor was sad, and his eyes continued to look at the screen. Now, Hu Zongxian, played by Zuo Xuanliao, has made up his mind to temporarily postpone the national policy of changing rice to mulberry.

At least, we have to wait until Zhejiang City is fully prepared so that the government won't force the people to rebel. For this reason, Zuo Xuanliao also made his own choice and said:

"Immediately ask all rice shops to lend us grain. I, Hu Zongxian, will stamp all the IOUs with the seal of the Governor's Office. There are ships carrying grain on the canal every day. If they borrow, they will repay. How can we not be able to borrow money?"

"Those who are unwilling to borrow grain will be charged with hoarding - forcing them is better than forcing the people to rebel!"

What Zuo Xuanliao said at this moment was also recognized by all officials. As long as it does not arouse civil unrest, it is okay to wrong officials or merchants, not to mention that it is not a forced levy, and there is a return after borrowing. These rice merchants hoarded grain and did not contribute at the critical moment. Could it be that they would wait until the people in Zhejiang City had no food to eat, and then let them buy and sell at high prices?

What made all the officials recognize him was Zuo Xuanliao's responsible attitude towards the matter. He took the responsibility when something went wrong. Such a responsible official was hard to find even in today's Great Yan.

However, the scene changed, and the memorial written by Hu Zongxian to Jiajing suggesting to delay the change of rice to mulberry was naturally taken down by the Yan Party. In this regard, Yan Shifan, played by Lin Yuxia, was also very annoyed after reading the memorial.

She believed that this was a signal from Hu Zongxian to Prince Yu. After all, changing rice to mulberry was their national policy, which concerned the interests of the Yan Party. Now Hu Zongxian was promoted by Yan Song, and it was inevitable that people would think that Hu Zongxian wanted to find a way out for himself.

"That Tan Lun has a history with Hu Zongxian, and is now Prince Yu's confidant. Hu Zongxian is thinking that Prince Yu will take over, and since the cabinet minister is old, it is expected that he will leave a way out."

In Yan's mansion, a confidant also expressed his analysis in the same way. This passage seemed to make everything reasonable, but it did not mention the suffering of the people.

It is clear that in the eyes of the Yan Party, there is no such thing as "people". They have never thought about the possibility that Hu Zongxian did not force the people of Zhejiang City to rebel. They are only concerned about their own interests and their own tasks.

However, compared to his daughter's impatience, Yan Song, played by the Rat King, actually had a different reaction at this time, saying:

"Hu Zongxian is not that kind of person. He has to put himself in other people's shoes when discussing people and things. Tan Lun went, which means that Prince Yu is behind him, and Prince Yu is behind the emperor. He thinks for me, so he can't be reckless."

"To be honest, I read this memorial several times last night... I think what Hu Zongxian said is really mature and wise."

"There are so many fields and so many people, and it's also the place where the Deep Sea Church is causing trouble. If a civil uprising is really provoked - it will not be a blessing for you and me!"

As he spoke, the Rat King could not help but slap the table. Lin Yuxia was startled a little and remained silent for a long time, not knowing how to answer.

In the end, the Rat King also understood that the burden of enriching the national treasury now fell on the shoulders of the Yan Party. They had to find a way to have the best of both worlds, to achieve Jiajing's target without provoking a civil uprising.

Lin Yuxia was at a loss as to what to do. She knew, of course, that it was not a good idea to incite civil unrest, but the problem was that she could not think of any good solution other than asking the big silk tycoons to annex the people's farmland and convert it into mulberry fields.

"The purpose of converting rice fields into mulberry fields is to produce more silk, which can be exchanged for silver. But if the silk is not good, these western countries will not want it."

"If the people were allowed to change their ways and sell their silk to other small workshops, they would not be able to weave good silk and would not be able to sell it at a good price."

"At that time, the national treasury was empty, but the expenses in the palace were so huge! That's why we came up with this idea." Lin Yuxia was also helpless. The Yan Party, which seemed to be extremely powerful, was now treading on thin ice under the shadow of Jiajing and the crisis of Prince Yu's imminent ascension to the throne.

"If we can't hold on now... Dad, then we won't need anyone to knock us down, we will fall down on our own."

"...Young Lord is talking about both reason and momentum." At this moment, another confidant also spoke up in time: "To treat a serious illness, use strong medicine."

"We originally set this national policy to change the current dangerous situation and make the emperor inseparable from us. The mulberry fields in Zhejiang City can only be changed by those big silk producers, so that they can earn millions of taels of silver a year."

"The fields that have been converted to mulberry trees must be sold even if the people don't want to!"

As soon as this person finished speaking, all the officials in the hall, as well as Zhongyue and his party who were watching this scene in Gouwu, felt a chill running down their spines even after they had finished filming this scene.

At this point, the second episode of "The Great Yan Dynasty" was finally finished. The officials in the hall didn't even react. How could it have ended without them noticing?

"That's it? Isn't it too short?"

"What happened afterwards? Those beasts of the Yan Party, how are they going to force the people to sell their land?"

All the officials were still not satisfied. This TV series might seem a little bitter and difficult to understand for ordinary people. But for officials like them, they could immediately understand many of the tricks in it, and couldn't help but guess what to do next based on the situation in the play.

Nowadays, many problems revealed by the Great Yan Dynasty are rarely seen in the Great Yan Dynasty, but rare does not mean no. All officials hope that they can learn more experience from this TV series. In the future, when facing sudden changes, these experiences may save their lives!

For example, in the play, Hu Zongxian faced a choice between the interests of the Yan Party on one hand and the survival of the people on the other. How could he take both sides into consideration?

"——Everyone, do you know why I want you to watch this drama?"

At this time, the Emperor of Great Yan finally spoke. Facing the doubtful officials, he slowly stood up and said, "I am not just here to let you see the possible decline of Great Yan in the future, nor to let you see the treacherous officials and corrupt officials among us and reflect on yourselves."

"I believe that you are all loyal and wise ministers. However, we all have to work for the people of Dayan. I hope you can think about a question. If Dayan is now in the era in the play, how should we clean up this mess?"

"For example, in the play, how should Hu Zongxian deal with the disaster victims and the issue of replacing rice with mulberry trees? I hope that all officials can use this as a topic and come up with more plans."

"A month later, I believe that Marquis Liewen will have finished filming two new episodes. By then, we will know the answers given by the people in the play. I hope that the choices we make can be better than those made by the officials in the play!"

"Your Majesty is wise!"

……

"...Why do I feel that these officials are not much better than us giant beasts in Da Yan?" At this moment, Nian, who had become somewhat silent because of Ling's teachings, couldn't help but ask Chen Qi when he saw this scene:

"Then how should we shoot next? Should we continue to negotiate with the farmers and ask them to lend us their land to help us shoot the movie?"

"No, we can't use real scenes for the next scene." Chen Qi shook his head and turned his gaze to Xi not far away, and said:

"Xi, can I trouble you to draw a picture in your scroll?"

"Of course." Xi agreed without hesitation, as if her previous principle of "never accepting manuscripts" had changed. But she still asked curiously, "But, what do you want me to draw?"

“For the dikes, just draw them based on the dikes in Zhejiang City. We’ll need these dikes for our next scene.”

As soon as Chen Qi finished speaking, Liang Xun, Ning Ci Qiu, Zuo Xuan Liao and other officers and soldiers of Dayan all stopped and cast doubtful but serious looks at Chen Qi.

They all had a premonition that Chen Qi's sudden mention of the dam was definitely not a good thing, and combined with Yan Shifan's determination in the play, they all vaguely guessed a possibility...

"Hey, you won't let me do something so crazy, right?!" Lin Yuxia also reacted immediately. She was shocked by the possibility that Chen Qi would suddenly use the dam, and quickly said to Chen Qi:

"If I destroy the dike and flood the fields, I will be scolded to death! Will people in Da Yan criticize me for this?"

"Then try to become a good official, climb up from the sixth rank step by step, and then let everyone know that you are a good official." Chen Qi had already found an excuse for this, and while Chen Qi was comforting the furious Lin Yuxia, Liang Xun couldn't help swallowing his saliva and said with lingering fear:

"I hope everything we do is really useful... I hope that in the future of Great Yan, there will be no more treacherous ministers like Yan Shifan who are so cruel and crazy..."

Chapter 282: The collision between hard work and fantasy, Chen Huijie's first encounter with darkness

"Director Chen Qi... you are really bold and daring. Do you know that if this scene is filmed, let alone what the officials in the palace will say, what will the common people think when they see it?"

In Gouwu, Chen Qi and his team were ready to shoot the third episode of "The Great Yan Dynasty". Now that everyone had received the script, the pressure on the main actors in the third episode was great.

The saddest one among them is undoubtedly the prefect of Zhejiang City, Ma Ningyuan, who has the same name and position as the character in the Great Yan Dynasty. He was already under a lot of pressure to play a jerk official. He thought that this small role of his would not have much to play, but Chen Qi gave him a big job.

Destroying the dike and flooding the fields! Is this something a human being could do? Not to mention an official like him. Ma Ningyuan could totally guess that after he finished this scene, not only Zhejiang City, but also his fellow villagers in his hometown would scold him!

In comparison, the Rat King and Lin Yuxia felt even more pressured because they played the two biggest villains in the play! The destruction of the dike and the flooding of the fields were directly related to them.

After this scene is finished, how the people of Dayan will criticize him is no big deal. For the Rat King, after filming this drama, his family can be completely cleared, which is the most important thing. As for playing a corrupt official... can a corrupt official be more infamous than a gangster?

But what the Rat King and Wei Yanwu were worried about was what the people would think of Dayan after filming this segment.

"Old Wei, it's true that Dayan is now prosperous, but are there really no people starving to death in a prosperous era? Are there no beggars, no oppression, and no officials forcing the people to rebel in a prosperous era?"

Before filming, Chen Qi had already given his own explanation. Facing Chen Qi's explanation, Wei Yanwu and others were silent. For this issue, they, the senior officials, dare not say that they have done everything with a clear conscience over the years, let alone others?

"Oppression has always been going on. It's not that it won't happen if I don't film it. On the contrary, because I filmed it, more people will know about it. More people will dare to expose the things that the court doesn't know about and have been suppressed, and give justice to the people of Dayan."