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

Ning Ci Qiu was a little dazed when she heard this, but after a moment, when she noticed the expression on Emperor Da Yan's face that indicated that she should take over quickly, a rare and obvious look of joy appeared on her face.

Liang Xun was rarely stunned and almost didn't react to thank him. Fortunately, the Emperor of Dayan didn't care. He had more or less figured out what was going on between the two when he was watching the filming. Although from the emperor's perspective, it was a taboo for officials from the six ministries to exchange information through this relationship, after he observed the interaction between the two for a while, his mentality quietly changed.

Both of them knew that they had different official positions, so they communicated with each other but chose not to break the window paper. So instead of persuading them to give up this idea, it would be better to think of a way to get them all to the same department... This way, he could avoid the mutual communication that he was worried about as much as possible, and he wouldn't have to break up a pair of lovebirds, which would then be made into a folk story and scolded by others...

After dealing with the matters of Liang Xun and Ning Ci Qiu, the Great Yan Emperor took advantage of Wei Yanwu's makeup time to ask Chen Qi, who was smiling at the side:

"Director Chen Qi, I heard from my brother that you are already filming the plot of Overthrowing Yan? I want to watch it, is that okay with you?"

"His Majesty the Emperor has come all the way to watch it, so how can I refuse?" When Chen Qi heard that the Emperor of Dayan wanted to watch this play, he immediately agreed. He knew that the Emperor of Dayan would definitely be interested in this play.

Because this time, not only the Emperor of Dayan, but also everyone in the "Sui" family, after listening to the script of the play, gathered together to watch the play as soon as possible. Even Xi, who had been autistic for a long time, came out from the world of the scroll to watch this drama, which could be said to be the climax!

……

In the previous plot, because the policy of replacing rice with mulberry trees was temporarily delayed, Yan Song, played by the Rat King, made two requests to Jiajing.

The first was to let Yan Maoqing go south to inspect salt to fill the deficit in the national treasury, to which Jiajing readily agreed.

The second one is somewhat unbelievable. Yan Song actually requested to arrest Qi Dazhu, who was suspected of colluding with the Deep Sea Church but was rescued by Hai Rui and sent to serve in Hu Zongxian's army.

Jiajing could certainly see through Yan Song's intention. Qi Dazhu was protected by Hai Rui. Although Zheng and He were killed, his suspicion of collusion was not completely cleared. In addition, as the head of the disaster-stricken county, he had repeatedly resisted the government's policy of replacing rice with mulberry trees, and thus became a chess piece of considerable importance.

Behind Qi Dazhu is Hai Rui, who was recommended by Tan Lun, and behind Tan Lun is the Qingliu Party. Yan Song is planning to do something about this so that he can do something to the Qingliu Party in the future. Just treat it as a small request to Jiajing from his Yan Party who sent people to inspect the salt industry in the south.

“…Permission granted.”

At that time, Jiajing's expression was extremely strange, with contempt and a little anger, but he still approved Yan Song's request. After all, the south salt inspection still depended on Yan's party. Yan Song also saw at that time that this might be a stupid move.

Yan Maoqing was on this salt inspection tour to the south until the end of the year. Heavy snow once again fell in the imperial city. Yan Shifan, Luo Longwen and his party finally waited for Yan Maoqing.

In front of the camera, Lin Yuxia's character Yan Shifan happily went to meet Yan Maoqing in the heavy snow, unable to hide his excitement, he said to his confidants beside him:

"Jingxiu (Yan Maoqing's pen name) is a great hero this time. Three million three hundred thousand taels of silver were transported all the way from Jiangnan. It is not too much to kowtow to him!"

However, as soon as Lin Yuxia in the camera spoke, the Great Yan Emperor frowned and said subconsciously:

"Three million three hundred thousand? So little?"

"Oh? Is this not enough?"

On the side, although Chen Huijie was also a Yan countryman, she was not clear about these things and couldn't help but ask. Lin Yuxia and others had gone to act. Except for Liang Xun and Ning Ci Qiu, she was the only young Yan countryman present who didn't know these inside stories.

"It's too little. I can't even describe it as too little. It's simply too much."

As Liang Xun and Ning Ci Qiu were officials, they naturally knew about the salt tax. Liang Xun immediately said:

"Da Yan's annual salt tax is usually around 8 to 9 million. Before the previous emperor challenged the gods, the salt tax even reached tens of millions. This is only over 3 million... something is wrong."

"...Could it be because the national strength of Dayan in this plot has not recovered after the war with Sui?" Upon hearing this, Chen Huijie immediately knew the problem and asked in speculation.

However, when Chen Huijie said this, the three of them immediately shook their heads. Ning Ciqiu also explained at this moment:

"Salt tax is different from household tax. Household tax may cause some turbulence due to population decline, but as long as the people are alive, they must eat salt. Salt tax is generally a very stable source of treasury income. Even if there is turbulence, it will not be that outrageous."

"What's more, the Jiajing in the drama has been in power for nearly forty years. Even if there is a sharp decline in population, it should have eased over the past forty years. The salt tax... must have been manipulated."

"But looking at the Yan Party, it doesn't look like they did anything wrong?"

However, when Liang Xun looked at the jubilant Yan Party members in the play, as if the 3.3 million taels of salt tax were an unexpected surprise, he also felt it was a bit strange.

Could it be that Director Chen Qi simply made a mistake in the data? That shouldn't be the case. Director Chen Qi is very meticulous and he only needs to ask them about the data to find out. Why did he make a mistake?

With such doubts in mind, as the camera shifted, Yan Maoqing and his party returned to Yan's Mansion. At this moment, Yan Song, played by the Rat King, looked a bit older. He looked lazy and a little hard of hearing. He didn't even have the energy to collect intelligence.

After some greetings, Yan Song directly asked Yan Maoqing about his gains from the salt inspection in the south. Yan Maoqing smiled and answered with a slightly higher voice:

"Lord, two million three hundred thousand!"

"…Why is it less again?"

However, as soon as Yan Maoqing said this, the faces of the Emperor of Dayan and others turned dark again. They seemed to have vaguely realized why the salt tax had become so low.

However, Yan Song did not seem to hear the problem. Judging from his expression, this number was a bit unexpected. After being stunned for a moment, he slowly said:

"It's enough to cover the salaries of the officials in the capital this year and the expenses of the various government offices... What about the palace?"

"Don't worry, Dad." At this moment, Lin Yuxia's character Yan Shifan finally told the truth, "The ambush in the palace has been set up long ago. The 2.3 million was sent to the national treasury, and I kept 1 million and sent it to the Ministry of Industry."

"I sent it to the palace half a year ago as a reward to the emperor. There is also 500,000 yuan. After the New Year, I plan to help the emperor repair the Wanshou Palace that burned down last year."

This time, the salt inspection was done well. The much older Yan Song also had a rare performance as his troublesome daughter. Seeing that he had been praised for a long time and had done things flawlessly, Yan Shifan, played by Lin Yuxia, was even more smiling and said shamelessly and proudly:

"With these 3.3 million, let the emperor see who are the loyal ministers of the Great Yan Dynasty? Xu Jie, Gao Gong, Zhang Juzheng and the others want to overthrow us?"

"Loyal ministers, oh, loyal ministers... The emperor took the lead in corruption, and the Yan Party was thinking about both the private treasury and the national treasury. Good, good, they are great loyal ministers."

The tone of the Great Yan Emperor began to gradually turn cold at this moment. The might of the true dragon that had just erupted in the morning court today was now gathering strength again, causing everyone present, except for "Sui", Chen Huijie, and Talullah, to feel an extremely uncomfortable sense of oppression.

There is no doubt that the Emperor of Dayan had murderous intentions, and the incidents filmed by Chen Qi are now showing a tendency to rise in Dayan. The previous corruption case has further verified this point.

And now, the Emperor of Great Yan believed that Chen Qi could explain clearly why the salt tax was so low. At that time... he might have to start dealing with whether Great Yan’s salt tax had the same problem.

Such thoughts also made the Emperor of Dayan feel helpless... He had to admit that this was a good drama and a magic mirror. Although it made him, the emperor, feel uncomfortable, it was indeed very effective.

Thinking about it this way... I don't want to let Chen Qi go anymore. The Great Yan Emperor couldn't help but think so in his heart, and he couldn't tell the pros and cons of keeping Chen Qi. He could only wait and see how many surprises "The Great Yan Dynasty" could bring him.

PS: Today is the second chapter! As usual, there will be another chapter in the evening (writing, writing, I love writing the most, woo woo woo, actually I feel that I have said too much, but I promised three chapters a day and there is no way... I definitely don’t want to move before I wake up... paralyzed...)

Volume 311: Chapter : The reason why Jiajing was suspicious, the truth about how he embezzled salt tax

"Now it seems that Jiajing really distinguished between state affairs and personal affairs. Previously, the money he used to build the palace came from the public account, but now it seems that the money he used to make elixirs, provide a scientific research team for himself, and reward money all came from his own private treasury."

"It's just that... the amount of money in the private treasury of an emperor accounts for nearly half of the national treasury. At this time, he still has to think about his own private treasury. Should we say that Jiajing is persistent? He would rather gamble on the tiny possibility than to govern the country. If he governs the country well, his income should be more, right?"

This time, after hearing Chen Qi say that there was a big drama to watch, the Sui family made a special trip together to watch the performance. When they saw the Yan Party on the screen distinguishing between the emperor's money and the court's money, Xi asked with a little confusion.

In Xi's simpler view, Jiajing's behavior was simply unreasonable. If he wanted money, with the imperial mind he had shown and his own strength, he could manipulate so many pillars of the Great Yan Dynasty. If he could really do it himself, handle the government affairs, and make the Great Yan Dynasty successfully revived, with his immortal lifespan, he should have plenty of time to gamble on that tiny possibility.

When the country is stable, the finances are stable. After the treasury is enriched, Emperor Jiajing wants to become a behemoth. Considering that he is the emperor, isn't that a very simple thing?

"My silly sister, you seem to take it for granted." When Ling heard Xi muttering to herself, he also showed a caring smile. Facing Ling and Xi, the two sisters who knew nothing about state affairs, Ling also taught:

"Taxes are collected from people, and fixed taxes can only be collected from fixed people. In other words, if the population is stable, then as long as there is a strong law enforcement agency, then the tax revenue will be stable."

"It can be said that if there is no major change, all the tax revenue of the country in a year should tend to be stable. If you want to increase this part of the revenue, either add more different taxes or increase taxes on the original taxes - but these taxes must be collected from the population anyway."

"...So?" Xi still didn't quite understand what Ling said, but fortunately, Chen Huijie now understood what Ling meant and asked tentatively:

"So... no matter how the people live, as long as there is no major population change and there are no problems with the law enforcement agencies collecting taxes, then the country's tax revenue will not fluctuate."

"And now the salt tax is so small, the only possibility is that there is a big problem with the law enforcement agency collecting the tax?"

"There are problems with the law enforcement agencies. The taxes collected must have been embezzled. For an emperor who only cares about becoming a giant and fiscal revenue, the money he receives has been embezzled once anyway. Even if he works hard, he can't change this situation. What motivation does he have to work hard?"

At this moment, Ling also agreed with Chen Huijie's words and directly told her thoughts. However, halfway through her words, she seemed to realize the expression of the Great Yan Emperor beside her. The smile on her face did not diminish at all, but she just stopped talking.

Zhongyue looked at his troublesome sister helplessly, and then said to the Emperor of Dayan: "Your Majesty, she has no ill intentions."

"I know, what you said is not wrong. Now it seems that someone must have embezzled the salt tax." The Great Yan Emperor also took a deep breath. He certainly knew that what Ling said was true, and he answered the question based on the facts:

"It's just... I can't imagine that they dared to embezzle so much. Even if Yan Shifan is so bold, he shouldn't have embezzled so much salt tax."

Jiajing knew that the Yan Party was corrupt, so the previous plot had already said that "twelve cents of one tael of silver goes to the national treasury, and four cents go to the Yan Party; or ten cents go to the national treasury, and six cents go to the Yan Party". But no matter what, Jiajing must be the one who gets the lion's share. No matter how bold Yan Shifan is, he would not dare to go against Jiajing's wishes.

Unless... there is another possibility, but the Great Yan Emperor does not really want to think about this possibility. Although his worst-case scenario has been verified several times before, this time is the one he least wants to be verified.

In front of the camera, Jiajing once again mobilized his accounting team. As the calculation reports came down one by one, Jiajing finally got the detailed accounts of this salt tax from Lu Fang, played by Lao Li.

"...How much tax silver did the imperial salt inspectors sent by the imperial court to various cities in Jiangnan collect last year?"

As for the emperor's question, Lü Fang, played by Lao Li, also answered respectfully: "About 1.4 million taels."

"…What about the year before last?"

"It's more than 1.7 million taels."

However, Lao Li's answer made Wei Yanwu, who was playing the role of Jiajing, show a sneer on his face, which was very similar to the one that the Emperor of Dayan had when he had the murderous intention.

And this sneer, although not an exaggerated and distorted expression, was enough to make everyone present feel chilled - it was a kind of decisiveness that was unique to the emperor. No matter how gentle and elegant the king was, as long as he was unhappy, he could easily decide the life or death of one or even a group of people.

But now, this tax silver, which is obviously twice as much as in previous years, made Jiajing want to kill. Because one of his ideas was verified - only if the Yan Party collected the money, the tax collection and law enforcement departments under his command would cooperate a little more obediently.

But now that he understood this, he asked Lv Fang, played by Lao Li, knowingly: "What do you think?"

"…It's still better to have Elder Yan's people."

However, Lv Fang's pretense of being confused this time made Jiajing extremely dissatisfied. Jiajing looked coldly at the old man in front of him who was said to be a minister but was actually a true confidant, and the next moment he asked:

"Why did you spit out the pill I gave you?"

It is snowing heavily now, but Jiajing, played by Wei Yanwu, is still wearing only a white robe. Lu Fang, played by Lao Li, is Jiajing's confidant and is called "half-immortal" by people in the palace. In order to cooperate with Jiajing's "playing tricks", he wears an extra robe to keep out the wind in the cold weather.

At that time, Jiajing saw that Lu Fang was cold, so he rewarded him with a pill to eat. The blood of the year could make their bodies quickly immune to cold and heat, but Lu Fang, played by Lao Li, did not eat it.

Seeing that his little trick was discovered, Lu Fang, played by Lao Li, had to admit that he had secretly hidden the elixir. However, he was not afraid of developing the same symptoms as Jiajing. Instead, he wanted to give the elixir to his godson Yang Jinshui, who had gone crazy.

"Yang Jinshui has made great contributions in Zhejiang City for four years. If he were not crazy, he would have collected 500,000 rolls of silk this year. Why should I still rely on others for food to make a living?!"

When Yang Jinshui was mentioned, Jiajing's expression first relaxed, but then he showed anger again. This moody king was always unpredictable. His anger scared Lao Li in the play and everyone outside the screen so much that they couldn't help but tremble all over.

"This guy is really moody. They say that serving a king is like serving a tiger. He is much scarier than those Philin beasts." Nian was also frightened and trembled. He said with lingering fear. At this time, Xi seemed to have noticed something and murmured:

"This should... also be a reflection of his lack of sense of security."

As soon as Xi said this, everyone's attention was immediately drawn. From this part of the plot, Xi seemed to have seen some similarities between Jiajing's performance and her own personality traits, and she was very perceptive:

"I heard from Chen Qi that according to the background setting, this Jiajing is the descendant of Chief Wei Yanwu. However, if the war between Great Yan and us broke out and both Chief Wei Yanwu and the Great Yan Emperor died in that war, then Madam Wen Yue should also be dead."

"So how did he, the emperor, grow up? I'm afraid this is the source of the power of people like Lu Fang. Jiajing's growth is inseparable from the care of these people, so for Jiajing, people like Lu Fang are of great significance."

"…But Jiajing was a natural born political animal. He knew what was important and what was not. He was also very suspicious. It was not difficult for him to accept that his closest relatives were hiding things from him or even out of his control. It was understandable."

Xi's words slowly fell, causing a long silence in the lounge. At this moment, Wen Yue, who was sitting not far away, looked at her husband, who was playing Jiajing, in front of the camera. Although she had never been a mother, Xi's words still made her feel a twitch in her heart.

No one wants to hear that their future child has a distorted personality due to lack of parental companionship... everyone will feel guilty.

However, it was because Chen Qi was supervising the filming and was not in the lounge. Otherwise, if he knew that his special settings to suit the national conditions of Dayan had actually made Wen Yue really believe that her future child would be someone like Jiajing, he would probably spray water all over himself.

But no matter what, now in front of the camera, just as Xi said, Jiajing clearly knew everything, but he just wanted Lv Fang to tell him all his true thoughts. He lacked a sense of security and had a strong desire for control. He said to Lv Fang, played by Lao Li, word by word:

"I want to hear what you have to say now!" Jiajing felt heartbroken, and even though his tone was extremely threatening, he couldn't help but have tears in his eyes. This was one of the few times this political machine revealed his vulnerable side.

Things have come to this, Lu Fang naturally would not hide anything anymore, and as he finished speaking, at this moment, the Emperor of Great Yan and everyone else completely understood why the salt tax in Great Yan in 1566 was so low.

"From Emperor Taizu to Emperor Taizong, Jiangnan's salt and silver taxes amounted to tens of millions every year, but since then, they have been decreasing year by year."

"Some of it was indeed directly transferred to a few key mobile cities for public use, but it is impossible to collect only over one million yuan a year like the year before last or last year."

"This year, when Yan Maoqing went there, he recovered 3.3 million. There is only one reason. The government offices in charge of salt are all under the command of Yan Ge Lao and Xiao Ge Lao. The money was embezzled by them layer by layer. They were all corrupt. Even if we send people to investigate, they won't find even a penny."

"But as long as Yan Maoqing goes there, they will all offer themselves obediently."

However, Lü Fang, played by Lao Li, seemed to have sensed Jiajing's determination to overthrow Yan. Whether it was to curry favor with the emperor or to cut ties with the Yan Party as soon as possible, he now added fuel to the fire by saying:

"To be honest, half of the keys to the Great Yan Dynasty's treasury are in their hands. When the court needs money, only they can open this door."

As soon as Lao Li finished speaking, the next moment, everyone felt a bone-chilling chill through the screen - and not just on the screen, but also from the Great Yan Emperor beside them, there was an extremely obvious murderous intent!

The might of the two real dragons enveloped the entire set at this moment, causing many crew members who no longer had any racial advantages to feel their hair stand on end and their bodies stiffen.

There is no doubt that the brothers thought of the same point. The tax revenue of their Great Yan has begun to decrease year by year, just as it is said in the play.

"Come here! Send a message to the Grand Tutor immediately, and ask him and the Minister of Revenue to pay all the salt taxes for the past five years!"

"Yes!"

As soon as the Great Yan Emperor finished speaking, the elusive imperial guards immediately received the order and rushed towards the residences of the Imperial Tutor and the Minister of Revenue.

Now, Chen Huijie and Zuo Le, Liang Xun and Ning Ci Qiu, who were planning to take action, looked at each other and swallowed their saliva seriously at the same time. They knew that this investigation... would probably cause another bloody storm.

PS: Today is the third chapter! (Everyone, please subscribe and support me. I will lie down for a while. It seems that the college entrance examination will be tomorrow. If there are students who are about to take the college entrance examination reading my book, please review it well. I wish the candidates a successful start~)

Volume 312: Chapter : Famous scene from the Great Yan Dynasty: My money!

"Do you understand now? Why did I not pursue Yan Song and Yan Shifan last time, but instead sent Yan Maoqing to inspect the salt industry in the south?"

Jiajing, played by Wei Yanwu, was naturally very angry after hearing what Lu Fang said. He certainly knew that the Yan Party was greedy, but he had clearly stated that he could turn a blind eye to the matter of corruption, but the premise was that they could not get the priority wrong.

It was Jiajing who wanted the Yan Party to exist, not that Jiajing could not do without the Yan Party. To Jiajing, the Yan Party was just a group of Pelo beasts who were more useful and could catch more prey and harvest for him. It was natural for the owner to give some meat to the pets when the Pelo brought harvest.

However, if the owner does not want to share the meat, and you as a pet still feel dissatisfied and want to hurt the owner, or even try to secretly steal the owner's meat... a pet has already been out of domestication, and has gradually grown from a greedy pet to a wild beast. Putting aside emotions, everyone knows what to do.

Unfortunately, Jiajing, a "master" with a strong desire for control, is best at putting aside emotions.