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

"Sister Xi's painting skills have really improved after not seeing her for a few months."

Zhongyue was standing by, feeling the chill and warmth of the rain. Looking at everything that was vivid around him, he also intuitively felt that Xi's painting skills had further improved. He couldn't help but praise Xi and said happily:

"My sister Xi's painting skills were vivid and lively, but they lacked some of the flavor of life. I haven't seen you for a few months now, and you seem to have a lot of feelings."

"…I just listened to my elder brother's advice and tried to get a taste of the world. It seems I have gained some enlightenment."

Xi did not look proud of this, but unconsciously cast his eyes to Chen Qi, as if waiting for his praise. Chen Qi did not disappoint Xi, and praised her very seriously and sincerely:

"Thank you for your hard work, Xi. As expected, I and everyone in the crew can't do without you."

"...Humph, it's good that you know."

Xi pretended to be a little disdainful, as if she was a little blaming Chen Qi for such a brief compliment, but the fact that Chen Qi was not praising her painting skills but praising her as a person still made Xi's tail swing uncontrollably from side to side.

Chongyue also saw through his sister's joy, and when he saw this scene, he couldn't help but smile. Seeing that his sister and brother had such a good relationship, he was naturally happy as the eldest brother.

After calming Xi down, Chen Qi immediately began to arrange the shoot. Because he wanted to capture a panoramic view, he needed to use a drone this time. Of course, what was more important was the emotions of the leading actors.

Although it is in a painting, everything is lifelike. What will be filmed is not only the destruction of the dikes and the flooding of the fields, but also some scenes of ordinary people being affected. Everyone filming the movie is a good official and a good person who is dedicated to serving the people. Whether they can withstand this stimulation is another matter.

"Prefect Ma, Marquis Pingshun, and everyone else, can you bear it?"

"Yes!" Zuo Xuanliao and other leading actors answered Chen Qi in unison, especially Zuo Xuanliao, who had fixed his eyes on the dam in front of him from the beginning and said firmly:

"Today, I will take all of this into account and remember it in my heart. If there are treacherous officials who harm the country in the future, I will remember this scene and do my utmost to kill them and prevent them from doing anything that harms the people."

Zuo Xuanliao expressed his opinion, so Liang Xun and the others naturally realized the same. Chen Qi saw that everyone was mentally prepared, so he immediately said to Xi and the other filming members of the crew:

"Then everyone, get ready, turn on the camera now! Xi, blow up the dam!"

"boom!"

As soon as Chen Qi finished speaking, Xi, who had received the order, immediately waved his hand, and thunder exploded at the nine embankments at the same time, and even the ground of the scroll was shaking.

A moment later, this man-made natural disaster brought devastating floods to the nine counties around Zhejiang City. Moreover, Chen Qi strengthened this disaster a little considering that the civil engineering master of Da Yan could repair the dam. The Dragon Boat Festival flood originally lasted for three days of heavy rain, but it was changed to seven days.

During this period of time, the levees were heavily guarded by Yan's party. At a time when flood prevention should have been carried out every year, this rare torrential rain, coupled with human promotion, turned into a man-made natural disaster that swallowed up everything outside Zhejiang City.

In the camera, as the flood was raging, everyone outside the picture could see that the flood not only submerged the fields, but also the villages and people along the way. They were all defenseless in the face of this natural disaster, and everything was ruthlessly destroyed.

What made everyone feel even more depressed was that they all knew... this was not a natural disaster, but a man-made disaster. It was those high-ranking officials who claimed to "love the people like their own children" who brought this natural disaster upon the people.

"Natural disasters are terrible... but human hearts are even more terrible. Natural disasters are ruthless and can only destroy one or two dams, but no matter how ruthless they are, they are nothing compared to the viciousness of human hearts, which can destroy nine dams and cause millions of lives to be destroyed!"

"Is this my Da Yan... Is this my Da Yan..."

Seeing such a scene, even someone as resolute as Wei Yanwu could not bear to watch any longer. He knew that everything was fake, but when he thought about what Dayan would look like in the future, he felt hopeless and extremely sad.

Even Wei Yanwu, the ruler of Longmen who had seen many storms and issued cruel orders, was like this. When Lin Yuxia, Chen Huijie and others saw this scene, one can imagine how excited they were.

Anger and sadness seemed insufficient to describe their mood, more like despair... How could there be despair for the future of such a Great Yan? Today, the officials of Great Yan can destroy the dikes and flood the fields for their own selfish interests, so what will they do tomorrow? How many people will die in order to gather all the wealth in the world in their own hands?

In the drama, Li Xuan, who is now a member of the Supervisory Department and is responsible for river supervision, immediately found his godfather, Yang Jinshui, played by Wu You, when he learned that someone had blew up the dam.

Croissant had just arrived, and Li Xuan, who was soaked all over, was sweating profusely. He said in panic: "The weirs of the nine counties are all broken! Someone must be trying to break the weirs. This is to harm me and you, my godfather!"

"The entire levee and nine weirs were built under my supervision last year! They are as solid as a rock. It's impossible!"

"——In this world, is there any river bank as solid as a rock? Is there any weir as solid as a rock?"

However, Yang Jinshui, played by Wu You, naturally knew all of this. Representing the interests of the emperor, he condoned the actions of the Yan Party and naturally prepared his own backup plan.

He had already arranged everything for his godson. On the day when he decided to destroy the dike and flood the fields, he sent a message to the palace and made up an excuse to change Li Xuan's job.

After Wu You's reminder, Li Xuan seemed to react in a trance. Facing his godfather's back, he couldn't help but say:

"Godfather - you know all about this, don't you?"

However, when Li Xuan said that, Wu You's expression changed. His expression immediately became serious and scary, with alarm evident in his words. He squeezed out the words from between his teeth in a cold voice, and said, "Know what?"

Although Yang Jinshui acquiesced to the destruction of the dike and the flooding of the fields, the person he represented behind the scenes was the Imperial Household Department, which represented the interests of the emperor. If the emperor was involved in this matter, then the entire clan would be implicated.

Therefore, Yang Jinshui definitely didn't want anyone to let the secret slip. After hearing such a serious warning, Li Xuan understood the meaning. After hesitating for a long time, he swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue:

"I, I don't know what I know..."

"Not knowing is your blessing." Yang Jinshui, played by Wu You, spoke in a very serious tone, reminding his godson again and saying a classic line from the show:

"Let me tell you, some things are not as heavy as a pound if they are not weighed, but once weighed, they are more than a thousand pounds."

Wu You's words were said very cryptically. Although everyone outside the screen did not necessarily understand what he meant, they all felt a chill.

The reason is just like Victoria's "internal security investigation". Why can't the security investigation ever find any evidence? It's because all civil servants know that everyone's criminal record is basically not clean. If you really want to check, you will always find something.

But who knows who might be involved in what you find out? In the government, interpersonal relationships are complicated. There might be another person behind one person, and in the end, it might involve a character that even you cannot investigate.

Therefore, politically, it is not important what evidence is found when “investigating” a person. What is important is that the act of “investigation” has sent a signal to both the inside and outside that “you are unreliable”. Even if you are found to be innocent in the end, from a political perspective, you are completely useless.

They don't necessarily need you to die, but as long as your political values ​​are dead, all their goals will be achieved.

But who will bear the consequences of all this internal struggle?

In the scroll, Hu Zongxian, played by Zuo Xuanliao, also rushed to the scene as soon as possible. Looking at the roaring flood, the few civil engineering masters, even if they used the source stone skills, were unable to stop the flood in time and could only resist it with great effort.

Even the civil engineer Tianshi was so powerful, so the other soldiers of Dayan who were carrying sandbags seemed even more powerless. Hu Zongxian, played by Zuo Xuanliao, saw this scene with Tan Lun, and it took a long time before he asked in a bleak tone: "Can't you stop it?"

"Without any prior preparation, it was to be expected that we would not be able to stop it."

"-Where is the old Taoist priest from Zhejiang City?! Why is he not here! And where have all those capable Taoist priests of civil engineering gone?!" Zuo Xuanliao was somewhat desperate. He looked at the few remaining Taoist priests of civil engineering and asked unwillingly.

"They were transferred to Suzhou for flood control a week ago!" Tan Lun replied helplessly, "Nine counties, nine weirs. If we can't block the flood here, then we can't block the flood at the other eight weirs! This is exactly what they want!"

Tan Lun's words also made Hu Zongxian, played by Zuo Xuanliao, react. He should have noticed it when Ma Ningyuan sent him old mountain ginseng before, but because of his momentary negligence, he failed to discover the conspiracy hidden from him!

"Millions of people, a sin that will be committed for generations to come!"

"This is so outrageous and immoral. I have never seen such a thing before in history!"

But no matter how much they scolded, they could not change the fact that they could not stop the flood. In the end, they made a difficult decision, a decision of "choosing the lesser of two evils" - to divert the flood.

Gathering the floodwaters from nine counties and distributing them to one or two counties will reduce casualties among the people and make it much easier to prepare disaster relief food in the future.

But... How cruel is this to the one or two innocent people in the county? Aren't they innocent? After this flood, not only will the fields and houses be washed away, but even the entire county will be submerged!

The pressure brought by such a painful decision was like a mountain, pressing down on the hearts of all those who were watching this scene. Now, no one would forget this scene. This might be their closest contact with the darkest side of this world...

Chapter 285: Witnessing the decline of Da Yan, Zuo Xuanliao is disheartened

"This choice... is also a last resort. At least, it can reduce the number of drowning deaths and make disaster relief easier."

However, looking at the desperate situation on the screen, Wei Yanwu never put down the pipe in his hand. The smoke he exhaled now made the whole lounge smoky. One can imagine how much pressure he is under now. Just by putting himself in his shoes, he doesn't know what other good solution is except diverting the flood.

Flooding one county is still flooding, flooding nine counties is still flooding. Once this happens, no matter what you do, it will be a bad thing, and you will end up being cursed by the people. You can only try to reduce the losses as much as possible.

However, Hu Zongxian, played by Zuo Xuanliao, still plans to do his last human service before making such a decision - to use the flesh and blood of the Dayan soldiers to build a human wall to see if he can block the flood and buy some time for the civil engineers to release their source stone skills and build a new earth wall.

If the soldiers of Dayan did this, even if they died, they would not be able to stop the flow of people… then it would be an explanation to the people that they had done their best. And the people would probably curse them and Dayan less.

Not far away, Qi Jiguang, played by Zhong Yue, had already selected thirty strong Dayan soldiers. Facing these thirty heroes who were willing to sacrifice themselves for the country and justice, Zuo Xuanliao's eyes moistened. After a long time, he choked up and said:

"Have you memorized the names of these brothers?"

"If something unexpected happens, take good care of their families!"

Qi Jiguang, played by Zhong Yue, did not answer Zuo Xuanliao at this moment. He witnessed such a man-made disaster on the spot. Even though he knew that all this was a painting... but people are not plants, who can be heartless? Even looking at this hell on earth, they have unconsciously been immersed in it.

This time, for the sake of filming effect, Chen Qi also transferred some soldiers from Zhejiang City into the scroll. These Dayan soldiers also witnessed this scene. All the disaster relief scenes here are real scenes of Dayan soldiers and people from Tianshi Mansion who had already been on the scene.

These thirty soldiers who stood up were all true warriors who were willing to sacrifice their lives for their country. After all, no one told them what would happen if they "died" in the painting, and they were all mentally prepared to never wake up before making this decision.

Zuo Xuanliao understood and was more aware of the soldiers' awareness. He did not stop them, but bowed to all the soldiers, holding back the tears in his eyes, and shouted in a trembling voice:

“Please!!”

Following Zuo Xuanliao's deep bow, more than thirty soldiers had tied hemp ropes around their bodies, with several soldiers holding the ends. They jumped into the flood without hesitation. All of a sudden, it was as if more than thirty heavy stones had fallen.

But they are not stones, they are flesh and blood. Facing the raging flood, even huge rocks would be pushed away, let alone them?

But even so, none of the thirty soldiers chose to retreat, and none of the remaining civil engineers were willing to give up. Everyone tried their best to turn the "impossible" into the "possible".

Unconsciously, some soldiers swam until their bodies were exhausted and floated on the water; some finally lost their grip on the ropes and fell into the flood due to exhaustion; and the civil engineer Tianshi turned pale, spurted out a mouthful of blood, and collapsed to the ground...

All these scenes were recorded by invisible cameras and played to everyone in the lounge through the screen. Seeing brave people "die" in front of them, everyone's heart could not calm down...

Wei Yanwu, the Rat King and other old men all closed their eyes in pain. They knew that this was the best way to deal with it, so no matter how tormented or painful it was in their hearts, they had to do it.

However, young people like Chen Huijie and Lin Yuxia had already burst into tears, especially Lin Yuxia. When she played the role of Yan Shifan who ordered the destruction of dikes and flooding of fields, she was already under a heavy psychological burden. Now, seeing the soldiers who died because of "her own" decision, she found it extremely difficult to accept.

Lin Yuxia was seen curling up her body slightly, hugging her raised calves with her arms, burying her face, shaking all over, and constantly muttering words like "I'm sorry" and "I didn't want to do this".

Finally, when they were at a loss, Qi Dazhu, played by Huai Tianpei, brought a group of refugee villagers to find Hu Zongxian and others. As a representative, Huai Tianpei took the initiative to propose to the embarrassed Zuo Xuanliao a plan to divert the flood to their county.

"General Qi, Governor-General, we have our home over there, our wives and children, and we should be the ones to jump!"

"Now everyone has taken refuge with the help of the officers and soldiers! That day, you took the officers and soldiers away without destroying our young seedlings. We already recognized you! Just treat us as your soldiers!"

Finally, with the consent and help of Huai Tianpei and other people, the group finally decided to divert the flood to two counties. With the minimum cost of flooding half of the county, this man-made natural disaster was finally suppressed.

"I, Hu Zongxian, feel so ashamed of my fellow countrymen!"

After the rain, the sky cleared up. Facing a county and a half submerged by floods, General Zuo Xuanliao, who had fought in countless tragic battles, had a dazed look on his face for the first time... This general, who had guarded Yumen all his life and had only fought with the enemy all his life, tasted the power of the flood for the first time.

But compared to the flood, what touched him most was the kind of powerlessness that he had never felt in the prosperous Da Yan. The soldiers in the front were bleeding, and the ministers and officials in the back were enriching themselves and talking big... This feeling of powerlessness of fighting without knowing what to protect was what made him feel the most painful.

"Such a great flame... how can it not perish!"

In extreme grief, Zuo Xuanliao could not help but roar out such a disheartened sentence. Even when facing a more critical situation, Zuo Xuanliao, who had never thought of giving up, said such words for the first time.

He had never been like this when facing difficulties before because he believed in the national strength of Dayan. He believed that Dayan would not abandon him and his brothers. Everyone believed that as long as they persisted, Dayan would definitely send someone to rescue them, and they always had hope.

But now, this flood that killed only thirty-something people made Zuo Xuanliao feel more sad than the battle in which tens of thousands of people died. They... were killed by their own people!

"Ka! Everyone performed very well! Xi, quickly reset everything in the scroll, and don't let these brothers from Dayan sleep too long."

However, Chen Qi's words made everyone in and outside the painting come back to their senses. As the world in the painting twisted, the damaged dam was restored again, and the more than 30 Great Yan soldiers who had "sacrificed" also came back to their senses and found themselves standing in the same place again.

"Ah? I, I am drowned, am I not?"

"I remember I overdosed on Originium Techniques and passed out?"

"Didn't I hit the rocks in the flood?"

The soldiers of Da Yan were all surprised at their survival. In the scroll, Chen Qi's voice came again, saying with obvious ridicule:

"Everyone, rest assured, you will not die in Xi's painting, but the enlightenment you just showed will remain forever in our TV series for future generations to watch thousands of times."

"Each of you is great, and you are all heroes of Dayan. I will definitely report your achievements to your emperor, and have him award each of you a first-class merit!"

Chen Qi's words fell, and the next moment, he and Xi slowly appeared in the painting. The two of them came in front of Zuo Xuanliao and others who were in a trance, and finally made everyone react. Everything just now was just a dream.

Soon, over 30 Great Yan soldiers cheered with joy at the dual joy of surviving the calamity and gaining merit while the rest of the soldiers who had rushed over together, thinking they were going to see their brothers go, were also overjoyed and started wrestling with them, laughing and sobbing.

"I'm sorry to have frightened Marquis Pingshun." Chen Qi also bowed and came to Zuo Xuanliao. After a long time, Zuo Xuanliao took the initiative to bow to Chen Qi, bowed deeply and said:

"No, it should be me. Thank you, Lord Liewen."

"I have fought on the battlefield for many years, guarding Yumen for Da Yan. My enemies include giant beasts, evil demons, Ursus people, etc. I have never been afraid of any of them."

"But now, you have made me feel fear for the first time. I have also understood that the greatest enemy of Da Yan is not the giant beasts, not the evil demons, and certainly not the foreigners - but within Da Yan!"

"It is extremely difficult for us military commanders to shoulder both the civil and military duties, but if this work by Marquis Liewen were to be published, it would surely be a thunderclap that would rock the officialdom of Dayan! Here, on behalf of the officers and soldiers of Dayan, I would like to thank Marquis Liewen!"

After saying this, Zuo Xuanliao, who was convinced, bowed heavily to Chen Qi, and before Chen Qi could refuse, he immediately made his promise and said:

"Marquis Liewen, please send the work to the palace. When the time comes, no matter who wants to report you or blame you, even if His Majesty wants to punish you, I, Zuo Xuanliao, will be the first to take the blame for you! I will also ensure that this work is published in Da Yan, so that the people and officials of future generations can read it and learn from it!"

"...Then, I would like to thank Lord Pingsui."

Seeing that Pingsui Hou was willing to help him, Chen Qi thought that he might need Zuo Xuanliao's help in helping Sui's family obtain pardon in the future, so he accepted the reward immediately.

On the other side, Ling Henian also entered the painting unconsciously. Looking at Chen Qi and Zuo Xuanliao who were talking happily, his eyes couldn't help but turn to the side, where Xi was looking at Chen Qi's back with a gentle, even a little infatuated look.

"...It's bad, it's terrible." Ling felt extremely painful immediately. He closed his eyes and didn't know what to do. How could his silly sister be so stupid!

And when Ling didn't notice, the young girl beside her also had a dazed look in her eyes. She hadn't laughed as heartily as usual for a long time. At this moment, she was looking at Chen Qi's figure, and a long-lost smile appeared in her eyes.

"This guy is always so proud of himself, making those who look up to him thank him profusely, but he still concentrates on doing his own thing and thinks about those around him."

"Really? No wonder Sister Xi fell drunk beside him and never wanted to wake up again."

Nian murmured to himself like this, and unknowingly, a wave of sadness and entanglement welled up in his heart again. Nian, who could not hide his worries, showed almost the same expression as Xi at this moment, both of them were stuck in a dead end when faced with a puzzle that they could not solve.

Chapter 286: The Emperor of Da Yan watched the third episode and his fists hardened