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

"Pointing out mistakes gives us a chance to make amends. This is the meaning of this play. Maybe people will always repeat history, but at least we can make this prosperous era last a little longer."

"…You're right, kid. We need to remind our descendants and leave something for them."

Chen Qi's words caused everyone present to fall silent, and in the end, the person who broke the silence was Wei Yanwu. He waved his hand and said to everyone:

"We are doing something that will benefit us for generations to come. What does a momentary stigma mean to us? Even a Duke like me is playing the biggest villain here. Everyone, get moving."

"Yes."

After Wei Yanwu finished speaking, the Rat King and the others naturally had no complaints. In fact, when they thought that this was for Dayan, Liang Xun and the others became even more energetic and immediately forgot about the matter of personal reputation.

Not far away, watching the people moving after being inspired by Chen Qi's words, Ling, while drinking, said to Zhong Yue beside him in his heart:

"Our thirteenth brother is more insightful than his two sisters. I thought he just wanted to vent his anger for our family."

"Thirteenth brother is a man of great wisdom. He is completely young among the giant beasts, but he did not waste his time like we did when we were (years old). From the moment he knew he was a 'human', he has been working for 'humans'." Zhongyue also expressed his admiration for Chen Qi very frankly, and said with a smile:

"I once thought that if he were just a human, I would be willing to be his friend regardless of age difference. Now that I know he is our brother, the joy in my heart is hard to describe in words."

"Ling, if one day, all thirteen of us brothers and sisters can regain our freedom... at least most of us can, then Thirteenth Brother will be our greatest hero."

"Yes... the first hero."

Ling nodded slowly, but his eyes were fixed on Xi and Nian who were not far away. After the lesson, they seemed to be more honest. Xi was more restrained, but still hadn't given up. Nian... seemed to have been scolded too much by her, and now he was still a little depressed?

Ling felt a little reluctant, but she finally suppressed her sisterly love. She didn't tell Zhongyue about this matter, lest her elder brother teach them a lesson. Ling's bottom line was that at least in the territory of Da Yan, her two sisters must not get too close to Chen Qi, lest Da Yan get nervous!

And as long as they leave Dayan...she can't see or control this secular ethics, but at least she can't do impulsive things in Dayan, this is absolute.

……

During the filming process, Chen Qi and his team had already finished filming the scenes of Wei Yanwu and Emperor Dayan before leaving the palace. After Princess Yu gave birth to a prince, Emperor Jiajing, played by Wei Yanwu, naturally had to go and see his grandson.

It is also funny that the relationship between Jiajing and his son is so tense, Prince Yu is afraid of his "god" father, and is afraid of him like a tiger. However, Jiajing, who has always been mysterious in front of officials, can hardly hide his love for the emperor's grandson.

"You have made great contributions." Wei Yanwu loved Princess Yu and naturally gave her many titles and rewards. He said, "I will not reward you anything else. Your family was born in poverty, so I will only confer a title of nobility on your father."

"There is more silk in Gouwu this year, so I will give 100,000 pieces to Princess Yu's family as a reward."

It must be said that when this scene was filmed alone, no one thought it was strange. But combined with the second episode, Yang Jinshui, played by Wu You, had the nerve to sell 500,000 pieces of silk to foreign merchants, which shows how extravagant Jiajing was.

Especially when the court's finances were so tight, he didn't even care about the officials of Gouwu. For the sake of these 500,000 pieces of silk, the people of Gouwu had been harmed. He only wanted the result and didn't care about the process.

Therefore, when Lü Fang, played by Lao Li, sent Hu Zongxian's memorial to him, he had no intention of reading it at all - Jiajing certainly knew that Hu Zongxian's memorial was a suggestion to change rice to mulberry. But as long as he didn't read it, he would be "unaware of it", and the rice-to-mulberry conversion would proceed as usual, and Jiajing would not be held responsible for anything the Yan Party did in collusion with Wu.

When it comes to the Yan Party, Yan Shifan, played by Lin Yuxia, sees that the emperor rejected the memorial without even reading it, so she naturally understands Jiajing's intention. As the "scapegoat", she should do all the dirty work for the emperor.

For this reason, she quickly made a decision, a ruthless decision - to destroy the dike and flood the fields!

Once the dams were destroyed and the fields were flooded, the people would have no way back and could only sell their fields to the silk tycoons arranged by the Yan Party in exchange for food to survive. It was like demolishing a house. Once the house was demolished, it could not be rebuilt. At that time, you had to sell it even if you didn't want to.

"Write a letter to Zheng Michang and He Maocai, telling them to ignore Hu Zongxian and just do it!"

With the support of Emperor Jiajing, Lin Yuxia's words were more confident, and she said in a chilling voice: "There is only one chance for life and death, the Dragon Boat Festival flood."

"—Flood those nine counties first."

Lin Yuxia's words made all the people supervising the filming shudder. Chen Huijie and other friends could not imagine that these words would come out of Lin Yuxia's mouth...

"Nine counties, that's tens of thousands of people... How could this happen? How could this happen?"

Chen Huijie muttered to herself unconsciously, but her hand unconsciously grasped the Chi Xiao on her waist. Judging from her expression, if Lin Yuxia really became like this in the future, she was afraid that her Chi Xiao would really chop Lin Yuxia's neck.

Fortunately, at this moment, a hand pressed on Chen Huijie's palm. Chen Qi, who was supervising on the side, relaxed Chen Huijie a little, and only heard him say:

"No, Lin Yuxia will not become like this. As long as you are all here, this day will never come in the future."

"Now is the time when we all need your integrity the most, Huijie, you must be prepared."

Chen Qi asked Chen Huijie to play Hai Rui because of her upright character! As long as Chen Huijie thought something was wrong, no matter who the enemy was, she would dare to point her sword at the enemy. Now Chen Qi asked Chen Huijie to watch the play in order to make Chen Huijie more aggressive.

After all, she will be acting opposite Wei Yanwu later, so Chen Huijie must not be stage-frightened. The best way is to let her face these evil spirits in the officialdom.

The camera turns to the rivalry between Hu Zongxian, played by Zuo Xuanliao, and Tan Lun. The old friends reunited after a long separation, but Tan Lun has always been concerned about Zuo Xuanliao's stance, whether he wants to continue to be involved with the Yan Party or join their Qingliu Party.

In response, Zuo Xuanliao gave a wry smile and said, "I, Hu Zongxian, have no way out."

"...It seems that they are good at identifying people." Tan Lun understood what Zuo Xuanliao meant. However, Zuo Xuanliao immediately replied, "Are you talking about the people around Prince Yu?"

"Then forgive me for being frank - they are just high-speakers and scholars."

Zuo Xuanliao's words were enough to disparage Xu Jie, Gao Gong, and Zhang Juzheng. He was also disdainful of the Qingliu Party, which only knew how to fight for party positions and never talked about reality, and had no idea of ​​the real needs of the people. He said:

"Everyone in the government and the public knows that I was promoted by Lord Yan. In the history books for thousands of years, I, Hu Zongxian, will still be Lord Yan's man."

"But why do you, Tan Lun, and those upright people in the court still value me? It's because I, Hu, never mislead the country or the people in major events."

"My hometown has built three memorial archways for me. I am already over 70 years old. I can only live for a few more decades to reach 100 years old. I will not let my hometown people tear down my memorial archways."

"You all think you know people and the situation. But how many of you really know people and the situation? Take for example the current national policy of replacing rice with mulberry trees."

"So many people want to take advantage of this opportunity to annex farmland. Have you ever considered that nearly half of the people in Zhejiang City will immediately be left without land?"

"So many landless people have gathered in this place with seven mountains, two rivers and one piece of land. If they don't rebel this year or next year, they will definitely rebel the year after next and the year after next!"

"When the time comes, there will be Hai Si outside and rebellious people inside, and the first criminal will be me, Hu Zongxian! My crime will be nailed to the wall in Zhejiang City for generations to come! So whether you come or not, I will not let them do this! Whether you want to persuade me or want to help me, there will only be one consequence - disrupting the overall situation."

The gap between ideal and reality was clearly revealed in Zuo Xuanliao's words. How many of the so-called "people-friendly" national policies that the higher authorities came up with on the spur of the moment really took into account the needs of the people and the implementation of local governments?

If there were people like Hu Zongxian in the local government who could consider the people, it would be fine, but how many Hu Zongxians are there in the world? How many people dare to take the risk of being the first to speak out, withstand the greatest pressure, and sing a different tune from the top?

The so-called strict party and clean stream, all the turmoil caused by party struggles will eventually affect the people, and Hu Zongxian, played by Zuo Xuanliao, sees through this, so he sneers at both factions. For a practical man like him, no matter whether it is the corrupt and lawless strict party or the clean stream who only talks big but does nothing, no good will come to power.

"The pillar of the country..." Even Wei Yanwu couldn't help but sigh when watching such a scene, and all the other audiences looked at the righteous Zuo Xuanliao with admiration, and remembered the character of this backbone official firmly in their hearts.

"In the next ten years, I'm afraid that all the officials in Da Yan will take you, Zuo Xuanliao, as an example. A good official who truly serves the country and the people... A real man should be like this."

Chapter 283: Ling: These people are more cruel than giant beasts when it comes to harming their own people.

"If you, Tan Lun, hadn't come, I could have made suggestions to Lord Yan, or I could have submitted a memorial to the Emperor to explain the situation. I could have done it slowly."

Hu Zongxian, played by Zuo Xuanliao, saw that Tan Lun still didn't understand, so he began to express his solution in the simplest and most understandable way:

"For example, if we divide the plan of converting half of the rice fields into mulberry seedlings this year into three years, there is still room for improvement."

"And because you're here, everyone from top to bottom regards me, Hu Zongxian, as a person involved in factional disputes. Can I still do what you want me to do?"

Zuo Xuanliao was also helpless. The situation could have been eased, but because of Tan Lun's arrival, both the Yan Party and the Qingliu Party wanted him to express his position, bringing the party struggles in the court to the local level. The consequence was that they were incompatible. In order to compete for his attitude, both sides would do more and more outrageous things to force him to express his position.

At that time, no matter what measures he wants to implement, there will be people from another faction who will oppose it. Behind the Qingliu is Prince Yu, and on the other side is Yan Song who promoted him. Which side can you let him afford to offend?

When it comes to Qingliu, Zuo Xuanliao is even more disdainful and says lightly:

"When the court discussed this national policy at the beginning of the year, if the Qingliu really wanted to stop it, they should not have let this national policy fall into Zhejiang City."

"Now, the higher-ups won't listen to what I say. They won't let me do what I want to do in Zhejiang City."

The final result was that Hu Zongxian had to take care of both the people and Yan Song. Yan's party would worry that he would defect to the Qing Dynasty, and would annex land more frantically to force him to express his position. How could he protect the people at that time?

No matter what Hu Zongxian does at this moment, he will inevitably arouse suspicion, and he will not be able to save the people even if he wants to.

"Alas...party strife."

Wei Yanwu, who had already understood all of this, couldn't help but take a puff of his cigarette. Beside him, Wen Yue said nothing, but just silently held Wei Yanwu's hand, not knowing what to say about the scene in front of her.

Wei Yanwu and Wen Yue were both extremely wild people back then, and they were able to hit it off right away and support each other for so many years. To a large extent, it was because the two had a high degree of consistency in their experiences and values.

The two were born in the royal families of their respective countries, and both had strong political talents and martial arts. However, because their talents were too high and they saw the bloodiness of political struggles too early, they immediately fled their original lives, hiding their identities and going to Longmen, becoming the rulers of this then controversial area.

In Longmen, after years of operation and paying a heavy price, Longmen has finally become a land that will not be polluted by political struggles. The rulers are a couple who will never be controversial. In important positions in Longmen, there are either trustworthy brothers or nieces who will never betray.

Why did they do all this? Just to stay away from this dirty struggle... And now, seeing all this again, Wei Yanwu and Wen Yue couldn't help but sigh - Xiao Chen was still exposed to this.

Wei Yanwu and his wife are both optimistic about Chen Huijie and think that she is the best senior superintendent of the Longmen Guard Bureau because Chen Huijie has the purest sense of justice and a chivalrous spirit that hates evil, which makes her the best law enforcer - but definitely not a ruler.

Therefore, they did not want Chen Huijie to get involved in politics, and just wanted her to be a senior superintendent all her life. This was the last compensation they could make for their niece who had lost her parents at a young age... Sometimes, the more you know, the more troubles you will have, and you will lose your original intention and become the kind of person you hate the most.

When Wei Yanwu thought of this, he looked at Chen Qi who had dragged Chen Huijie into this power struggle without any explanation, and his eyes were somewhat resentful. But at this moment, Chen Huijie's words came faintly:

"...Don't look at Chen Qi like that, Old Wei. Didn't Chen Qi say that? Just because you can't see it doesn't mean it didn't happen. I think I've seen too little, so I was shocked when I saw all this."

"But I still know clearly what is right and what is wrong. Maybe there is no absolute right or wrong in the world, but I think at least there is conscience and morality, which allows me to judge which one I should choose."

"I should thank Chen Qi for letting me see these. Otherwise, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to imagine the heights of evil and greed in this world."

Chen Huijie answered word by word, but the light in her eyes flickered more and more. Obviously, the filming of this drama made Chen Huijie understand a lot, and she had a hunch that in the subsequent filming, the "Hai Rui" she played would not only make her understand what to do, but also teach her how to do it so as to be worthy of the people and the world.

Back to the play, now, Yang Jinshui, played by Wu You, is also visiting the Manufacturing Bureau with Liang Xun and Ning Ci Qiu. And this time, there is an extra figure beside them - the Emperor!

That’s right, the emperor was also pulled in to film the play by Chen Qi this time, and the role played by the emperor this time is exactly the important character in the play, the official and businessman of the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, and the down payment of Zhejiang City "Shen Yishi".

However, this time, the richest man played by the emperor looks completely different from the moment he appears on the stage. Unlike the emperor himself who always wears sunglasses and a big gold chain because of his love of hip-hop, the character he plays this time is very restrained. Whether it is his personality or his dress, he does not look like a rich man from the beginning.

"These are all people who are at odds with themselves." In the play, Yang Jinshui, played by Wu You, drank the fine tea offered by the emperor, but saw that the emperor himself only drank water, and he couldn't help but joked:

"You have three thousand looms, tens of thousands of acres of mulberry fields, and hundreds of silk and tea shops, but you only drink plain water, eat vegetarian food, and wear coarse cloth. Haha, who are you pretending to be poor for?"

However, the emperor himself did not act like the richest man at all. He was not like the richest man in some movies and TV dramas who were so arrogant that they looked down on the ministers and even the emperor. Instead, he said:

"My loom and silk shops are all run by the Manufacturing Bureau. If Lord Yang gets upset with me one day and kicks me out, I can still survive."

What the emperor meant was that all his industries were directly related to the people in the palace. He was just a manager and did not make a lot of money from these. It was just that the palace needed his industries, and these riches could not actually be considered his - after all, everyone in the palace would be plucked away, so how much would be left for him?

Soon, the emperor negotiated with several people about the purchase of mulberry fields. Apparently, the emperor already knew about the incident of the damaged dikes and flooded fields. He negotiated with Wu You and several others about the price of grain to be paid for the purchase of farmland, and quickly finalized the matter.

The next step is to find someone to take the blame. After all, the matter of destroying the dike and flooding the fields will definitely be investigated. If someone is killed, it will be a small matter. If the whole family is executed, no one will be able to cover it.

Therefore, after several people discussed it, they decided that only one person could take the blame, and that was Ma Ningyuan, who was cultivated by Hu Zongxian.

"What?! You actually want to hide the destruction of the dike and the flooding of the fields from the Minister?"

"We didn't want to hide it from the ministry. It was the cabinet minister and the young cabinet minister who gave the heads up." Ning Ci Qiu also spoke up to correct him in time. Ma Ningyuan naturally knew that Hu Zongxian was promoted by Yan Song. Except for Yang Jinshui played by Wu You, everyone here was a member of Yan's party and they were all in the same boat.

"Old Lord and Young Lord, do you no longer trust the Minister?"

"You can't say you don't trust me." Liang Xun also began to deceive Ma Ningyuan. In order to let Ma Ningyuan take the blame, he could only put forward Hu Zongxian, whom he respected the most. Ma Ningyuan was born in a humble family and was always promoted by Hu Zongxian. Although after he became an official, he attacked the common people like himself severely, but for the sake of his mentor, he was still willing to go through fire and water.

"That Tan Lun is next to the Minister. We kept it a secret from him in order to hide it from the people above us."

"You still don't trust the Minister?" Ma Ningyuan obviously knew that his mentor was being suspected by the Yan Party and wanted to prove his innocence. At this time, Yang Jinshui, played by Wu You, finally spoke:

"Let me ask you, you listen to Hu Butang, then who does Hu Butang listen to?"

"...Of course I will listen to the elder and the young elder."

"Isn't that the end of it?" Wu You smiled cunningly and continued to deceive: "You are willing to work hard and recognize your superiors. This is your strength. But being willing to work hard does not mean you can just bow down to them when they point their fingers at you."

"You recognize Hu Bu Tang, and Hu Bu Tang recognizes the cabinet minister. If you follow the cabinet minister's wishes, can you be wrong?"

"Also, the reason why the Lord asked us to keep this a secret from Hu Bu Tang was to protect him."

Liang Xun also stood up slowly, and in order to help Ma Ningyuan make up his mind, he finally used his ultimate move "righteousness", making Ma Ningyuan believe that he stood up to protect his mentor. In this way, with righteousness, he could take the initiative to sacrifice himself and save all of them.

"Because Tan Lun and the others find out and report it to Prince Yu, the first person to be held accountable will be Hu Butang."

As expected, under the deception of Liang Xun, Wu You and others, and the fact that his current fortune was given by his mentor, and that he was willing to use his life to help his mentor get through this difficult time, Ma Ningyuan thought for a long time, and after a long while, he muttered two words:

“—I will.”

"But the most important thing is that after so many counties were flooded, we can't let people starve to death! I can't let the minister be embarrassed when the time comes!"

Afterwards, Ma Ningyuan asked the emperor for two hundred-year-old mountain ginsengs, intending to give them to his mentor Hu Zongxian. In response, Wu You also smiled and said:

"Great! Loyal and righteous—this is the kind of person who can accomplish great things!"

"...Loyalty, humph, these two words coming out of the mouths of these beasts who destroyed dikes and flooded fields are simply a taint of these two good words."

Seeing this scene, not to mention Wei Yanwu, Chen Huijie and others, even Zhongyue and several other "old men" couldn't stand it anymore. Seeing this, they couldn't help but sigh and said:

"Nianmei said before that these people are not much worse than the behemoths... It seems that they are even more cruel than the behemoths. The behemoths will at least admit that what they did was wrong, but they still put on a cloak of righteousness to justify their selfish desires and sins."

"...Director Chen Qi, next, it's time to start filming the scenes in Ximei's scroll, right?" But Zhongyue didn't want to comment on this at all. He didn't want to draw any pictures of this evil behavior. If he had a choice, he would stop it all by himself... But he was just an outsider and could only watch it all happen.

"Yes, we will go to Xi's painting world in a while and record the whole process of destroying the dike and flooding the fields." Chen Qi also nodded, and while telling everyone that this one was over, he replied:

"This time, we want to let the officials of Dayan see this tragedy. We will film the entire process of destroying the dikes and flooding the fields as a warning. I'm afraid that the officials of Dayan will not have the opportunity to witness such a tragedy in person in the future. We must let them remember it for a long time."

Chapter 284: Some things are not as heavy as a pound if they are not weighed, but they are weighed as a thousand pounds if they are weighed.

Everyone came to Xi's scroll world. Under the leadership of Ma Ningyuan, Xi looked at all the dams in Zhejiang City and surveyed all the villages and towns under the dams. Finally, he copied the completely realistic situation of Zhejiang City into his own scroll.

"Everything is ready." After Xi led Chen Qi and others to the scene, everyone was already standing on the embankment. Under Xi's power, there was now a violent storm in the scroll.

If it were normal times, this would be the time for Zhejiang City Governor Ma Ningyuan to mobilize the Great Yan Army to the military department to go to the towns and villages around Zhejiang City to fight against floods. But he never thought that in the play, he came here to destroy the dikes and flood the fields, just for the party struggle between Qingliu and Yan Party, and sacrificed millions of people.